Wow, it's a long time since either of us posted anything, sorry about that. Since the last post we've been to Cat Ba and come back, and then been to Bangkok and meandering off in Thailand, and now we're back in Bangkok.
The journey to Cat Ba (an island off the coast) should have been fine - you get on the bus and pay a combined fare for the bus to the port and then the ferry to Cat Ba. It didn't work like that, of course, we were kicked out of the taxi at the bus station (a slight exaggeration) and then as soon as we mentioned "Hai Phong" (the port) we were pointed towards a bus - it did say Hai Phong on it, I think, but it hardly mattered, people were actually poking us onto the bus. We found that it cost less than we expected it would.
(Cat Ba is the island; Hanoi isjust off to the left. You can drag the map around.)
The journey to Hai Phong was fine. Once we got off the bus however we discovored that the port to catch the ferry was a long way away from the bus station, and so we had to catch a long and therefore rather expensive taxi (well it didn't cost more than four pounds for the entire taxi journey but for Vietnam that's expensive!) through a load of industrial estates to a makeshift port to catch the ferry we shoulds have gotton a bus directly to. Ah well, you learn from these things.
Cat Ba was beautiful- the scenery was amazing. Jungle on the inside, a few rice paddies, lovely blue ocean with karst limestone scenery just like in all those pictures advitising the area. We got off the bus and found an empty hotel (they're all pretty empty), we we're there only guests for most of the time. Then we explored the area which was pretty much just a street of hotels and restaurants overlooking the bay filled withj lots of little boats which we throught was strance- they filled a massive area of ocean. There were also a few beaches a small walk away, accessable by rickerty wooden walkways built over the ocean around the cliffs seperating them. They were rather built up beaches with a restaurant, shops and huts you can pay to use, but it was low season and the beaaches were pretty much empty, so there was lots of unused sand to go around!
The second day we took it pretty easy- we slept in, had a leisurly lunch and a beer by the beach In fact I'm not really sure what we did that day we took it so easy. The next day we had signed ourselves into a boat trip. We were on it with a group of five spanish guys who were extremly friendly. The boat tpook us out through all those boats in the bay and we discovoured why there were so many- it was a floating village! Up close you could see all the little houses floating in the water, cmplete with little boats for getting around and pet dogs. There were more little water settlements along the way as well, all just as interesting as the scenery around us!
The boat tour first took us to a cave we explored- we got off the boat and went deep into this cave with only one tourch in the hands of the guide which was an experience. The cave was massive complete with bats and dripping stalagtites, and miraculously noone got injured! We then sailed away to a beatiful laggon where we got on some kayaks and exploired the aread, going through a long natural archway into a secluded pool area, and then into another cave. Same as last time (one tourch, 7 followers, oh and the guide didn't speak a word of English) only this time in kayaks in a pitch black cave, an experience we wont forget. The day continued with a pleasant Vietnamese style lunch on board, some snorkelling and diving off the boat, and a long leisurly trip back (where almost everyone fell asleep due to the combination of food, sun and the gentle rocking of the boat).
The next two days unfortunatly weren't as eventful. I started feeling ill on the boat ride back and speant the next two days only getting up from bed when Rory was hungry (I couldn't let him eat alone). I managed to finally starve the bug out of me enought for us to spend the final day by the beach. We swam again the final day and the water was wonderful- it was soo warm and clear and the sand fine- you could wander a long way out before going out of your depth. The next day we took a mini bus back to Hanoi (booked it all the way through this time) and headed back to the jazz club for our last dinner in Vietnam.
Monday 24 September 2007
Monday 17 September 2007
Fwd: Hanoi 2
Right...where was I? The internet's going a bit funny here, but I
think I was talking about the prison.
After the prison we wandered further to the Văn Miếu (Temple of
Literature). It was basically a university for very accomplished
scholars. The archetecture's very chinese and old, and in between the
gardens and trees there's a complex of buildings and quaint tablets
mounted on stone tortoises (Hanoi has a bit of a fixation with
tortoises) with a lake in the middle. We slowly wandered through,
taking it in, and then inside the last building was a stage - after a
few minutes a band of musicians started playing. It was amazing; they
were so talented, and of course they were playing on instruments we'd
never seen before. We stayed for a while and a tour group arrived, and
when they started "audience participation" we slipped away. On the way
back Alex bought a small souvenier water puppet as we looked round the
gift shop. The chess sets were beautiful but there's no way I could
even fit it in my bag!
We walked back via the Lenin Monument. It wasn't spectacular, just on
the way...but I'm not quite sure why it's there, even. Incidentally,
the hammer and sickle symbol is as about as prolific in Hanoi as the
Vietnamese flag, which you can generally see one or two of wherever
you happen to be standing in the city.
Back to the hostel for a bit of a rest (the room's up four flights of
stairs so even if we didn't need one before, we definitely did by the
time we got there) and in the evening we ate at a resturant
specialising in vegetarian food, that we found in the Lonely Planet.
After, we headed next door for a beer (cheapest in Hanoi, according to
the Lonely Planet) and then somehow ended up in two more places for
beer as well. Alex is beginning to get a taste for Eastern lager.
The next day we headed to the train station to book tickets for the
next stage of our journey. The train station itself seemed to be
reasonably efficiently run, but the standards of the rooms and seats,
etc was the same as you might expect in India (or maybe a bit worse!)
The person behind the counter managed to explain to us that you could
only buy tickets from two hours before departure, so we went back
empty handed. It was a good job too - one of the guys that runs the
hostel suggested that the bus was a lot easier, as it includes ferry
crossing and transfers, etc.
We took a taxi back and then headed out, vaguely with the idea of
finding a mall that might have a cinema in. We eventually found one;
compared to what we're used to it was a bit disappointing, but I
suppose we've been spoilt by KL and Singapore! There was definitely no
mall. We went in search of cinemas (the Lonely Planet has a few in it)
and, as it started raining, we discovered that the first no longer
existed, and the second only showed two films a day (both fairly
rubbish and neither for several hours). So we headed back, stopping to
eat a cafe on the way.
In the evening, I forget where we ate, but we did go to a Jazz Club. It
was really expensive (one cocktail cost as much as a meal elsewhere)
so we made our drinks last and watched the live band, sitting in
squashy sofas bathed in the glow from neon signs on the walls. It was
really good!
The next morning we began our journey - to Cat Ba island, a small
island off the coast that we thought would be relaxing (we still
haven't had enough of sea and sand!). The journey
was...interesting...but I won't go into that now.
We're still at Cat Ba at the moment; I'm sitting on my own in the
internet cafe because Alex hasn't been feeling that great for the last
couple of days. We've both had the odd bout of illness while we've
been travelling, it's just the different foods and waters (and maybe
some questionable cooking) and they only seem to last two or three
days.
We're here until the 17th, then we're heading back to Hanoi for a
night, and then flying to Bangkok the next day.
think I was talking about the prison.
After the prison we wandered further to the Văn Miếu (Temple of
Literature). It was basically a university for very accomplished
scholars. The archetecture's very chinese and old, and in between the
gardens and trees there's a complex of buildings and quaint tablets
mounted on stone tortoises (Hanoi has a bit of a fixation with
tortoises) with a lake in the middle. We slowly wandered through,
taking it in, and then inside the last building was a stage - after a
few minutes a band of musicians started playing. It was amazing; they
were so talented, and of course they were playing on instruments we'd
never seen before. We stayed for a while and a tour group arrived, and
when they started "audience participation" we slipped away. On the way
back Alex bought a small souvenier water puppet as we looked round the
gift shop. The chess sets were beautiful but there's no way I could
even fit it in my bag!
We walked back via the Lenin Monument. It wasn't spectacular, just on
the way...but I'm not quite sure why it's there, even. Incidentally,
the hammer and sickle symbol is as about as prolific in Hanoi as the
Vietnamese flag, which you can generally see one or two of wherever
you happen to be standing in the city.
Back to the hostel for a bit of a rest (the room's up four flights of
stairs so even if we didn't need one before, we definitely did by the
time we got there) and in the evening we ate at a resturant
specialising in vegetarian food, that we found in the Lonely Planet.
After, we headed next door for a beer (cheapest in Hanoi, according to
the Lonely Planet) and then somehow ended up in two more places for
beer as well. Alex is beginning to get a taste for Eastern lager.
The next day we headed to the train station to book tickets for the
next stage of our journey. The train station itself seemed to be
reasonably efficiently run, but the standards of the rooms and seats,
etc was the same as you might expect in India (or maybe a bit worse!)
The person behind the counter managed to explain to us that you could
only buy tickets from two hours before departure, so we went back
empty handed. It was a good job too - one of the guys that runs the
hostel suggested that the bus was a lot easier, as it includes ferry
crossing and transfers, etc.
We took a taxi back and then headed out, vaguely with the idea of
finding a mall that might have a cinema in. We eventually found one;
compared to what we're used to it was a bit disappointing, but I
suppose we've been spoilt by KL and Singapore! There was definitely no
mall. We went in search of cinemas (the Lonely Planet has a few in it)
and, as it started raining, we discovered that the first no longer
existed, and the second only showed two films a day (both fairly
rubbish and neither for several hours). So we headed back, stopping to
eat a cafe on the way.
In the evening, I forget where we ate, but we did go to a Jazz Club. It
was really expensive (one cocktail cost as much as a meal elsewhere)
so we made our drinks last and watched the live band, sitting in
squashy sofas bathed in the glow from neon signs on the walls. It was
really good!
The next morning we began our journey - to Cat Ba island, a small
island off the coast that we thought would be relaxing (we still
haven't had enough of sea and sand!). The journey
was...interesting...but I won't go into that now.
We're still at Cat Ba at the moment; I'm sitting on my own in the
internet cafe because Alex hasn't been feeling that great for the last
couple of days. We've both had the odd bout of illness while we've
been travelling, it's just the different foods and waters (and maybe
some questionable cooking) and they only seem to last two or three
days.
We're here until the 17th, then we're heading back to Hanoi for a
night, and then flying to Bangkok the next day.
Wednesday 12 September 2007
Hanoi, Vietnam
We arrived in Hanoi at about 8 in the morning, having spent the night in the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal of the airport. The taxi in was fine, and we got our first glimse of the Vietnamese countryside. The oddest thing is the buildings - in slightly built-up areas, you get really long, thin, tall houses, often painted in bright colours. The nearest I can get to a comparison is Amsterdam, but of course in Amsterdam all the houses are side by side and often here, the houses on either side are one-story dwellings, so this one tall thin building looks decidedly odd.
We had booked a room for several nights in a widely-known backpacker's hostel. It had the usual bright colours and sofas etc and I can see why it gets such good reviews, but to our bleary, sleep deprived eyes it was crowded and busy and we couldn't move into our room until about twenty past twelve, having arrived around ten (we suspect a mess-up on their part that they didn't admit to us; they blamed another couple not checking out in time and then put us in a luxury room with tv, dvd player, kettle etc for one night. We didn't complain).
As usual, much of the first day was spent sleeping or resting. We emerged as it was getting dark and walked to the nearby Hoàn Kiếm Lake, in the centre of the Old Quarter. I think Hanoi is probably even worse than Bali when it comes to scooters. It's absolutely incredible how many there are and they fly around all over the place, with little or no obediance to things like centre lines or traffic lights. Crossing is a totally different skill: if you waited for a gap in the traffic you'd be there forever. The secret is to edge out a little at a time - as long as you are moving slowly and predictably the scooters will "flow" around you. It does mean that you sometimes realise you're in the middle of a huge road with mopeds flying past on both sides, but you get used to it. And avoid cars and anything bigger; they won't "flow" around you.
We ate in a little resturant we found. I was pleased to discover that they don't give you a knife and fork - you have to use chopsticks! Alex was less impressed at the idea; I just like showing off, I think.
We found ourselves outside the water puppet theatre, and we (mostly Alex, actually) decided to buy tickets for the next show. I've never heard of Vietnamese Water Puppetry before, but it's really amazing. The music and voice actors were live, and the slapstick, lively performances were really entertaining, and often a little bizarre. We both really enjoyed it, and I took loads of pictures.
We headed back for a (relatively) early night. The next day we didn't do anything until we had to check out of that room and then strangely had to wait until 12 to get into the other one (I thought it was empty..?).
We headed out and made for the Hoa Loa Prison (it's now a museum), with interesting and sometimes gruesome exhibits (like a real-life, used guillotine). Generally it was well done, although their description of the treatment of US pilots differs substantially to what you might find elsewhere!
We went on to the Temple of Literature, but I'll have to talk about that next time - I've run out of time again!
We had booked a room for several nights in a widely-known backpacker's hostel. It had the usual bright colours and sofas etc and I can see why it gets such good reviews, but to our bleary, sleep deprived eyes it was crowded and busy and we couldn't move into our room until about twenty past twelve, having arrived around ten (we suspect a mess-up on their part that they didn't admit to us; they blamed another couple not checking out in time and then put us in a luxury room with tv, dvd player, kettle etc for one night. We didn't complain).
As usual, much of the first day was spent sleeping or resting. We emerged as it was getting dark and walked to the nearby Hoàn Kiếm Lake, in the centre of the Old Quarter. I think Hanoi is probably even worse than Bali when it comes to scooters. It's absolutely incredible how many there are and they fly around all over the place, with little or no obediance to things like centre lines or traffic lights. Crossing is a totally different skill: if you waited for a gap in the traffic you'd be there forever. The secret is to edge out a little at a time - as long as you are moving slowly and predictably the scooters will "flow" around you. It does mean that you sometimes realise you're in the middle of a huge road with mopeds flying past on both sides, but you get used to it. And avoid cars and anything bigger; they won't "flow" around you.
We ate in a little resturant we found. I was pleased to discover that they don't give you a knife and fork - you have to use chopsticks! Alex was less impressed at the idea; I just like showing off, I think.
We found ourselves outside the water puppet theatre, and we (mostly Alex, actually) decided to buy tickets for the next show. I've never heard of Vietnamese Water Puppetry before, but it's really amazing. The music and voice actors were live, and the slapstick, lively performances were really entertaining, and often a little bizarre. We both really enjoyed it, and I took loads of pictures.
We headed back for a (relatively) early night. The next day we didn't do anything until we had to check out of that room and then strangely had to wait until 12 to get into the other one (I thought it was empty..?).
We headed out and made for the Hoa Loa Prison (it's now a museum), with interesting and sometimes gruesome exhibits (like a real-life, used guillotine). Generally it was well done, although their description of the treatment of US pilots differs substantially to what you might find elsewhere!
We went on to the Temple of Literature, but I'll have to talk about that next time - I've run out of time again!
Bali
AirAsia are pretty good, except when it comes to Indonesia it seems. The flight from Jakarta to Bali was delayed, but worse than that it wasn't advertised. The check-in desk wasn't announced, the number of the gate was different on the ticket to what the board said, and the flight wasn't shown on either gate! But we got there in the end.
We arrived late at night and, with our backpacks on, we searched the area for a place to say (cheap, preferably with a pool). We were directed by a whitey to a place round the corner that has decent rooms for 50,000 a night (about 2 pounds 60). I thought it was fine, but Rory being a snob made us move the next morning to their sister hotel, 5 pounds a night but much cleaner (which I was thankful for, I did keep expecting to see a cockroach every time I looked at the floor!)
We rested from the night of flying by the pool, and for the first day that's pretty much all we did. As the sun set we walked to the beach to watch it, and we were surprised by the sheer amount of surfers there were! Australians everywhere, and the local activities that follow them- people selling things on the beach, surfboard renters, surfing schools, motorbike rentals and the lazy people laying on beach instead of surfing (like us)! The whole area we were staying in was pretty touristy really, both a blessing and a curse. There were plenty of nice cheap little restaurants dotted around the busy roads (shops, tourists, motorbikes and surfboards), and after we had dinner we wandered back to the hotel, stopping at a 'tourist information center' to book ourselves a snorkeling trip for the next morning.
Up early (8am!!) the next morning for breakfast, and then picked up in a jeep to take us and a couple of girls from France across to the other side of the island where there are less surfers and more fish. There we split up, and Rory and I were given a private boat to take us out to the coral. That part I really enjoyed, it was a quaint little fisherman's boat, long and thin with two wooden outriggers roped on (and a little motor strapped to the back). Rory had never been snorkeling before and there was plenty to see, but it didn't quite match up to the Red Sea or the Maldives etc. However they did give us little bags of bread in to feed the fish with, and once we were in the water and got them out the fish swarmed to snatch bits of the bread right out of our hands! We even saw an evil looking eel at the edge of the coral!
That afternoon we spent by the pool again, and ate in a different restaurant that showed the new Harry Potter film projected onto a big screen. This is the life.
The next morning we decided to be brave, and wandered down to the beach to inquire about surfboarding lessons. We bargained a guy down to two two-hour private lessons including board and a surfing top for about 5 pounds each and headed to the ocean. I had never been surfing before (and Rory had but a long time ago), but I found it pretty easy-once you were up there! You have to get up pretty fast though, and after dragging the board out and energetically jumping up, balancing, falling/jumping off and battling the waves to get out again we got tired pretty quickly. However by the end of the morning we could each say we rode a few waves all the way in, without looking scared/stupid/like a novice. The afternoon was spent recovering by the pool of course.
On the morning of the forth day we were still tired from yesterdays strenuous activities, so swam or read by the pool. However in the afternoon it started to get a bit crowded by bored Australian surfers (we heard 'there's no surf dude' more than once) so we walked up and down the shopping streets looking at what was on offer. As the sun set over the sea we wandered up the beach north to the next little town and found a restaurant there that was showing Balinese dancing. It was too expensive for us though so we were cheeky and just ordered a cheap local beer each and watched the show for a while, before wandering back in the direction of the hotel, stopping off to eat at a place more in our budget (but surprisingly a really nice place, with the best food we had so far!).
On our final day we checked out of the hotel early and hired ourselves a little jeep for the day. With it we headed north- past the beautiful hills of stepped rice-paddies to the arty village of Ubud. Here there's a monkey sanctuary, where tourists come from around, buy a load of bananas and then act surprised when the monkeys jump at them to get the bananas. The place was actually really beautiful- with butterfly's, Balinese temples and tall dangly jungle trees. There was even a bright fat lizard that fell form the tall tops of a tree inches next to Rory with a loud 'splat' before running off (I named him the kamikaze flying lizard).
We then drove further north, getting steadily higher till we came out at a hill town overlooking a deep valley and the a volcano on the other side. Neither of us had seen a volcano before so we drove down to the valley and around the crater lake in the middle, looking at the weird large volcanic rocks lying around as it they were thrown there(which of course they were, as the volcano last erupted in 1991 we found out). We ate lunch at a very pleasant restaurant in the hill top town overlooking the breathtaking scene, before getting back in the car and heading back to the airport.
We arrived late at night and, with our backpacks on, we searched the area for a place to say (cheap, preferably with a pool). We were directed by a whitey to a place round the corner that has decent rooms for 50,000 a night (about 2 pounds 60). I thought it was fine, but Rory being a snob made us move the next morning to their sister hotel, 5 pounds a night but much cleaner (which I was thankful for, I did keep expecting to see a cockroach every time I looked at the floor!)
We rested from the night of flying by the pool, and for the first day that's pretty much all we did. As the sun set we walked to the beach to watch it, and we were surprised by the sheer amount of surfers there were! Australians everywhere, and the local activities that follow them- people selling things on the beach, surfboard renters, surfing schools, motorbike rentals and the lazy people laying on beach instead of surfing (like us)! The whole area we were staying in was pretty touristy really, both a blessing and a curse. There were plenty of nice cheap little restaurants dotted around the busy roads (shops, tourists, motorbikes and surfboards), and after we had dinner we wandered back to the hotel, stopping at a 'tourist information center' to book ourselves a snorkeling trip for the next morning.
Up early (8am!!) the next morning for breakfast, and then picked up in a jeep to take us and a couple of girls from France across to the other side of the island where there are less surfers and more fish. There we split up, and Rory and I were given a private boat to take us out to the coral. That part I really enjoyed, it was a quaint little fisherman's boat, long and thin with two wooden outriggers roped on (and a little motor strapped to the back). Rory had never been snorkeling before and there was plenty to see, but it didn't quite match up to the Red Sea or the Maldives etc. However they did give us little bags of bread in to feed the fish with, and once we were in the water and got them out the fish swarmed to snatch bits of the bread right out of our hands! We even saw an evil looking eel at the edge of the coral!
That afternoon we spent by the pool again, and ate in a different restaurant that showed the new Harry Potter film projected onto a big screen. This is the life.
The next morning we decided to be brave, and wandered down to the beach to inquire about surfboarding lessons. We bargained a guy down to two two-hour private lessons including board and a surfing top for about 5 pounds each and headed to the ocean. I had never been surfing before (and Rory had but a long time ago), but I found it pretty easy-once you were up there! You have to get up pretty fast though, and after dragging the board out and energetically jumping up, balancing, falling/jumping off and battling the waves to get out again we got tired pretty quickly. However by the end of the morning we could each say we rode a few waves all the way in, without looking scared/stupid/like a novice. The afternoon was spent recovering by the pool of course.
On the morning of the forth day we were still tired from yesterdays strenuous activities, so swam or read by the pool. However in the afternoon it started to get a bit crowded by bored Australian surfers (we heard 'there's no surf dude' more than once) so we walked up and down the shopping streets looking at what was on offer. As the sun set over the sea we wandered up the beach north to the next little town and found a restaurant there that was showing Balinese dancing. It was too expensive for us though so we were cheeky and just ordered a cheap local beer each and watched the show for a while, before wandering back in the direction of the hotel, stopping off to eat at a place more in our budget (but surprisingly a really nice place, with the best food we had so far!).
On our final day we checked out of the hotel early and hired ourselves a little jeep for the day. With it we headed north- past the beautiful hills of stepped rice-paddies to the arty village of Ubud. Here there's a monkey sanctuary, where tourists come from around, buy a load of bananas and then act surprised when the monkeys jump at them to get the bananas. The place was actually really beautiful- with butterfly's, Balinese temples and tall dangly jungle trees. There was even a bright fat lizard that fell form the tall tops of a tree inches next to Rory with a loud 'splat' before running off (I named him the kamikaze flying lizard).
We then drove further north, getting steadily higher till we came out at a hill town overlooking a deep valley and the a volcano on the other side. Neither of us had seen a volcano before so we drove down to the valley and around the crater lake in the middle, looking at the weird large volcanic rocks lying around as it they were thrown there(which of course they were, as the volcano last erupted in 1991 we found out). We ate lunch at a very pleasant restaurant in the hill top town overlooking the breathtaking scene, before getting back in the car and heading back to the airport.
Saturday 8 September 2007
Jakarta
We arrived at Jakarta airport at nearly midnight. It was all pretty painless...we met two girls from Leeds and we shared a taxi with them to our hotel (they hadn't booked anywhere, and our hotel was right in the middle of the main backpackery area, Jalan Jaksa). We checked in fine; the description of the room in the Lonely Planet was accurate: clean, but a little heavy-handed with the mothballs.
Jalan Jaksa is bright and colourful, full of little stalls selling everything and lined with cheap restaurants and guest houses. We were fortunate (!?) enough to arrive at the annual Jalan Jaksa carnival, which meant that there were processions meandering up and down and a stage at one end of the street.
The first full day we went to the bank to get some money, and the ATM managed to freeze on us - after deducting the money from the account but before giving us cash or reciept - so we spent most of that morning in the bank waiting, or talking to reluctant Indonesian banks on the phone, or trying to communicate with a helpful security guard who knew no English. We walked down to a nearby mall (Plaza Indonesia) to kill some time and eat something. So around we wandered, eating in a food court in the basement and pondering the other problem, getting a Vietnamese visa.
We had thought that Vietnam issued visas on arrival, but they don't - you have to apply in advance via an embassy. We tried calling the embassy in Jakarta but there was no reply.
We got back to the bank as the tecnicians arrived to fix it: they gave us back the card that had been stuck in the machine and assured us that no money had been taken from our account. Still, we took pictures of the security guard's badge, just in case.
It had been a long, tiring day of waiting and stress, and so we went back to the mall and saw a film in the cinema. The cinema was amazing! It was quite expensive by Indonesian standards, costing 50000 rupiah (about 2.50 in GBP) for a ticket, but you could barely touch the seats in front with your feet, and the seats were big, squashy armchairs...amazing.
We ate back in Jalan Jaksa while the celebrations were going on, and then (shamefully) went back to the cinema for the midnight showing of another film. Unfortunately, the nearer cinema wasn't quite as comfortable (but still good, and half the price) and we both enjoyed the film immensely, because it was so laughably awful! Seriously, if you want to know how to make a good film, you can learn more by watching one really terrible one than fifty good ones.
The next day we went to the old colonial Dutch section near the harbour. There wasn't that much to see - the square was being dug up and re-paved - but we found a really good restaurant facing the square (Cafe Batavia), and we spent most of the afternoon there. It had black and white pictures hanging absolutely everywhere, big sofas, live music - really colonial and comfortable (and expensive..but not by English standards).
We headed back through the Freedom Square, with lots of people playing football and shouting "Hello, how are you" and "Lovely Jubbly" and things at us. We walked past a massive and vaguely phallic monument (Lonely Planet's words) and back, not to the hostel, but to Plaza Indonesia to cool off and ended up watching yet another film - it was just so comfortable!
The final day we hit the huge, crowded, cramped malls in the North selling everything from fake DVDs and clothes to mobile phones and accessories and shoes. We worked our way down this street, eating at some fast food place and even going in a place with an amazing curved escalator! We took a Bluebird taxi (reliable, curteous, metered) back to the hostel to get our bags and then on to the airport to catch the incredibly delayed flight to Bali.
Jalan Jaksa is bright and colourful, full of little stalls selling everything and lined with cheap restaurants and guest houses. We were fortunate (!?) enough to arrive at the annual Jalan Jaksa carnival, which meant that there were processions meandering up and down and a stage at one end of the street.
The first full day we went to the bank to get some money, and the ATM managed to freeze on us - after deducting the money from the account but before giving us cash or reciept - so we spent most of that morning in the bank waiting, or talking to reluctant Indonesian banks on the phone, or trying to communicate with a helpful security guard who knew no English. We walked down to a nearby mall (Plaza Indonesia) to kill some time and eat something. So around we wandered, eating in a food court in the basement and pondering the other problem, getting a Vietnamese visa.
We had thought that Vietnam issued visas on arrival, but they don't - you have to apply in advance via an embassy. We tried calling the embassy in Jakarta but there was no reply.
We got back to the bank as the tecnicians arrived to fix it: they gave us back the card that had been stuck in the machine and assured us that no money had been taken from our account. Still, we took pictures of the security guard's badge, just in case.
It had been a long, tiring day of waiting and stress, and so we went back to the mall and saw a film in the cinema. The cinema was amazing! It was quite expensive by Indonesian standards, costing 50000 rupiah (about 2.50 in GBP) for a ticket, but you could barely touch the seats in front with your feet, and the seats were big, squashy armchairs...amazing.
We ate back in Jalan Jaksa while the celebrations were going on, and then (shamefully) went back to the cinema for the midnight showing of another film. Unfortunately, the nearer cinema wasn't quite as comfortable (but still good, and half the price) and we both enjoyed the film immensely, because it was so laughably awful! Seriously, if you want to know how to make a good film, you can learn more by watching one really terrible one than fifty good ones.
The next day we went to the old colonial Dutch section near the harbour. There wasn't that much to see - the square was being dug up and re-paved - but we found a really good restaurant facing the square (Cafe Batavia), and we spent most of the afternoon there. It had black and white pictures hanging absolutely everywhere, big sofas, live music - really colonial and comfortable (and expensive..but not by English standards).
We headed back through the Freedom Square, with lots of people playing football and shouting "Hello, how are you" and "Lovely Jubbly" and things at us. We walked past a massive and vaguely phallic monument (Lonely Planet's words) and back, not to the hostel, but to Plaza Indonesia to cool off and ended up watching yet another film - it was just so comfortable!
The final day we hit the huge, crowded, cramped malls in the North selling everything from fake DVDs and clothes to mobile phones and accessories and shoes. We worked our way down this street, eating at some fast food place and even going in a place with an amazing curved escalator! We took a Bluebird taxi (reliable, curteous, metered) back to the hostel to get our bags and then on to the airport to catch the incredibly delayed flight to Bali.
Thursday 6 September 2007
Langkawi
Okay, this needs some explanation .
Instead of renting a car and exploring Taman Negara, we took a ferry north to the island of Langkawi, and booked a flight back to KL. The car hire is really expensive, especially if you want to pick up and drop off in different cities, and the roads aren't that great so we'd have to drive most of the way down to KL before heading northeast. That, and the fact that it was forecast to be really rainy in Taman Negara.
The ferry was pretty comfortable actually, and after arriving we took a taxi to the main touristy bit of the island - Pantai Chenang - and wandered up and down looking for a place to stay. The places listed in the Lonely Planet guide looked a bit...dirty...so we walked on, and eventually found a really nice place, just off the beach, and somehow ended up in a deluxe room complete with TV and minibar! (It cost the same as our tiny, non-ac room in Batu Ferringhi.)
We had a wander up the road; for some reason, Langkawi is designated a duty-free zone, so there's plenty of shops selling perfumes and alcohol (a can of beer costs about 15p and apparently a Jaguar costs about 15,000) which is fine unless you are looking for a can of beans. So we had a look in some duty free shops and bought the usuals (bread, peanut butter etc) and went back for a nap. In the evening we ate at a restaurant on the beach and then played cards and raided the minibar back in our room.
Neither of us remember the next day very well, so we probably slept in and read, and ate, and slept some more (we might have made it out onto the beach for dinner).
The third day, we went on a boat trip to a nearby island, where we hired a paddle/solar boat thing and explored the lake in the middle of the island, and watched the monkeys. On the way to another island with a white beach (which was full of people like us, trying to find a deserted white beach, and idiots feeding monkeys) we stopped to feed the eagles! The guide threw some meat in the water, and eagles emerged from all sides, circling above us and then swooping down to pick up the meat. It was awsome.
In the afternoon we hired a car and set off to explore some of the less touristy parts of the island. We soon discovered that it's all pretty touristy, but we did find a few waterfalls that didn't have anyone else around...there were some huge spiders though - we're not entirely sure what they were, but they looked poisonous. Alex liked the butterflies. We also did the really long walk up a hill to the top of a waterfall (Seven Wells) which was tiring. From the top you could see this awesome cable car, which was absolutely huge, and I found it much more interesting than Alex(!).
The next morning we flew back to KL. We weren't bothered about the prospect of spending most of the day in the airport because, as previously mentioned, KL airport is amazing, but we soon discovered that Air Asia flies out of the Low Cost Carrier Terminal which is more like an Indian airport. So, we took the shuttle to the main building, and spent the afternoon there - we got back in time to wait for the delayed flight to Jakarta.
Instead of renting a car and exploring Taman Negara, we took a ferry north to the island of Langkawi, and booked a flight back to KL. The car hire is really expensive, especially if you want to pick up and drop off in different cities, and the roads aren't that great so we'd have to drive most of the way down to KL before heading northeast. That, and the fact that it was forecast to be really rainy in Taman Negara.
The ferry was pretty comfortable actually, and after arriving we took a taxi to the main touristy bit of the island - Pantai Chenang - and wandered up and down looking for a place to stay. The places listed in the Lonely Planet guide looked a bit...dirty...so we walked on, and eventually found a really nice place, just off the beach, and somehow ended up in a deluxe room complete with TV and minibar! (It cost the same as our tiny, non-ac room in Batu Ferringhi.)
We had a wander up the road; for some reason, Langkawi is designated a duty-free zone, so there's plenty of shops selling perfumes and alcohol (a can of beer costs about 15p and apparently a Jaguar costs about 15,000) which is fine unless you are looking for a can of beans. So we had a look in some duty free shops and bought the usuals (bread, peanut butter etc) and went back for a nap. In the evening we ate at a restaurant on the beach and then played cards and raided the minibar back in our room.
Neither of us remember the next day very well, so we probably slept in and read, and ate, and slept some more (we might have made it out onto the beach for dinner).
The third day, we went on a boat trip to a nearby island, where we hired a paddle/solar boat thing and explored the lake in the middle of the island, and watched the monkeys. On the way to another island with a white beach (which was full of people like us, trying to find a deserted white beach, and idiots feeding monkeys) we stopped to feed the eagles! The guide threw some meat in the water, and eagles emerged from all sides, circling above us and then swooping down to pick up the meat. It was awsome.
In the afternoon we hired a car and set off to explore some of the less touristy parts of the island. We soon discovered that it's all pretty touristy, but we did find a few waterfalls that didn't have anyone else around...there were some huge spiders though - we're not entirely sure what they were, but they looked poisonous. Alex liked the butterflies. We also did the really long walk up a hill to the top of a waterfall (Seven Wells) which was tiring. From the top you could see this awesome cable car, which was absolutely huge, and I found it much more interesting than Alex(!).
The next morning we flew back to KL. We weren't bothered about the prospect of spending most of the day in the airport because, as previously mentioned, KL airport is amazing, but we soon discovered that Air Asia flies out of the Low Cost Carrier Terminal which is more like an Indian airport. So, we took the shuttle to the main building, and spent the afternoon there - we got back in time to wait for the delayed flight to Jakarta.
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