Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Dirt off your shoulders
The past 48 hours have been quite interesting as i am trying to recess all the tiny bits of the adventures !
I left anuradhapura after having lost the interest in doing anything else since i saw most if not all of it with my amazing tuk tuk driver, hope you are still following till now.
The ride to trincomalee was quite something too, i got up super early to prepare the backpack, went to the checkout and dropped the last book i finished (some thriller called Flinch).
I got a tuk tuk to drop me at the bus station and since i was a bit early there , had time to go for the spicy breakfast with some chai on the side, refilled my water supply as i know i always drink a lot in the bus and here we go !
Glad i was there before the rush because it was full right from the beginning and i had the most annoyable neighboor all the way, i mean she was large and it was just one butt too many on that bench.
In the end i manage to forget about her and start enjoying the landscape which was getting dryer and dryer but i was dreaming to see some nice beaches and the sea again.
The ride was really long, almost 4 hours for 159 kilometers but the bus is stopping everytime someone is waving at him...the magic of privately own buses !
Arrived in trincomalee downtown at the bus station and from previous reading, i only knew one guest house name which appeared to be right accross the street so here i am entering, negotiating in some weird adapted english accentuation for locals and successing at it for a room.
The room appeared to be clean at first and i was just too tired to look carefully and i went for a little nap that was really short as i woke up surrounded by bed bugs all over the place..grrr and very disgusting ! jumped back to the shower and went on for a scandal at the reception showing them the problem.
few minutes later, new bed, new mattress, new sheets time for me to relaxe on the offered beer on the house and the same story repeats itself ! even more bed bugs concentrated !
i asked for a better room at the same cost which i got.
The adress is on 23 main street, its called mansion hostel ! would not recommend it anyway but its the only one offering low rates in the area.
After such a bad start, it was time to go see what this town was all about ! went all the way down to main street, missed the train station i was after, got lost by the lagoon and back again downtown through the maze of small streets not without being waved or whistled a few times at...
tourists arent that common just yet in sri lanka and it is slowly coming back !
7am tuesday 27th october
I am walking outside of the dirtier place i ever paid for in my entire life, still thing i should have walk out of it but they ve been very accomodating to my matter and took action so couldnt blame them forever.
Walked to the bus station nearby, ask for direction to go down south to batticaloa. Was quite happy with the first answer given which would make me change three times of bus until someone game me the inside tip that changed my day !
jumped off the bus into a tuk tuk, asked to be drop a the nearby harbor to make the boat to muthur (pronounce moutou for the french readers) and from there i ll be able to make the bus.
So i add not only another mean of transportation into my long list of already used but that was a hell of a cool one.
once again, i am the only white boy in there, being stared at but i am getting better at managing my success over kids not to add the rest of the crowd.
ended up at the back of the boat, watching the shore getting smaller and being even prevented from taking any more pictures reason being it was a private and very secret police camp ...anyway, i got enough of them in time !
Arrived in muthur in 45 minutes after a nice talk with someone studying political science and that couldnt find anyone to match his english skills.
Got the necessary connecting info at a charming place, even got a ride to the bus station nearby and enjoyed good times before making the 11am bus.
First time in the whole trip that i am really crossing the ancient war zones and you can tell there is a lot to be made to make it forgot but no such things as bomb holes or shuttered glass or whatever, only one big indicator : the number of checkpoints and the state of the road ! i didnt count but i would have lost it anyway. got controlled once for my passport in total and once for my luggage ! and that was without the others asking whose bags were belonging too or being asked for my name just to make sure i was really french ! such a laugh.
Lets go back to the road condition most primor reason i got so late in the end here !
Its like a safari trail, no such things as ciment or where there is some, its shared between two lanes, the cows, the bikes, the guys at work repairing it.
Anyway, i made it here around 4.30pm, walked around looking for a guest house knowlingly there were a few on the way back and in the end got advised to go in that direction too.
I am finally on the east coast and will certainly chill here for two nights before heading down south or straight into the mountains at ella !
More to come soon !
ciao all
antoine
Saturday, October 24, 2009
In the shoes of a japanese tourist
Today was like no other day !
First i got to be so freaking early last night that i was up rumbling in my room at 3am this morning wondering if i should start even walking to the destination.
Glad i didnt, it was quite far and in the end i went outside takeshi's inn to wait for the bus.
45 minutes later, i was still the only decoration tree on the side of the road, being waved by all the minibus certainly heading in the same direction but not picking me up.
Walked downtown to end up facing the same misery, only a rare bus once in a while that doesnt leave the city before being totally full.
Jumped into a tuk tuk who cut me a local deal and dropped me in front of the gate after i got into an arguement with him as he was willing to leave me at the entrance of the park when we agreed on something way different.
He was pretending it was only 300 meters showing me some gate but it avered to be the exit and in the end the 300 meters i was supposed to walk were well worth the discussion as he drove for another kilometer if not more in the dusty trail.
Felt like finishing a tennis match on clay court after that ride !
The Japanese run was about to start with quite a scenary ! let me tell you, sigiraya is worth every thing and i really mean it.
Its a huge block of rock, fallen out of nowhere thats has been conquered by some king a few thousand years ago ! sorry for the history lesson but i am sure you will find the necessary information online.
Few facts about that antique ! 1500 steps, a series of staircases that are breathtaking and leave most of the mortals awed if not by the beauty of hit or by the increasing difficulty it takes to end up the climbing.
But wow, the view you are getting from 600 ft is quite something , especially with the clear weather we keep on having around here !
I am entering a shooting frenzy that will only end once i ll be down the road , waiting for the ghost bus, reaching another tuk tuk and finally missing the chance to get that bus as we are crossing it a few hundred meters after i got in....
Reached the guest house, packed all of it again and merely had the chance to say bye to the owner that the bus to the anuradhapura was here.
When i say my day was packed up, i was very near the truth !
Arrived after a mere two hours drive at 2.45pm there and the story repeats itself. a tuk tuk come to me, know a great place, i start negotiating the price over the phone before even tagging along and got what i wanted but still used the last lifeline of the free visit before making the final decision.
The place is great though a bit pricy but got all the necessary even a wifi connection, yououhhh !
My tuk tuk driver is offering me a good deal to visit the whole thing there in the afternoon without paying the entrance fees to all the sights, magic !
I never saw that many things in such a short time , took way too many pictures but really enjoyed the experience. I am now wondering if i ll leave tomorrow because i lost the envy of staying here one more day or chilling and killing a day at the hostel watching the flies flying by !
Have fun and next destination is trincomalee !
Friday, October 23, 2009
Dambulla, A necessary stop on the way up north
Friday morning, 7th weeks touring, exploring, socialising, forgetting about my previous non exciting life !
I left early the guest house i was staying at for the past three days missing the chance to actually see the temple of tooth in kandy on thursday morning as i didnt have my trousers on and couldnt find a suitable drape to cover myself.
My last day in Kandy was well spent though since i went on visiting new areas , got lost just a little bit around before finding the tourist desk and the well sought after information needed for my next stop.
Exiting the office, i just couldnt resist the temptation of what was just looking at me for way too many days already, the buddah statue uphill !
Here i am then, full speed on, declining hundreds of tuk tuk offers on the way, making my path through traffic, pedestrians, sacred cow and dogs of all sorts and reaching out quite fast the base of the hill.
it was a very good hike, especially after some short eats (thats definitely a breakfast i am getting used to though a bit spicy making it quite fun at first for my empty stomach to enjoy.. internal curry burp as i like to call it those days).
I am getting quite fast climbing up and made it in barely 20 minutes but i was needing a rest to catch my breathe again especially under the hot sun , it was close to noon already.
The classic tourist entry fee was required to give a good look at the statue and smack buddah on the cheeks though it was much easier to access its rear this time around providing a very nice perspective of the city and a great panoramic angle too.
I stayed there for almost two hours relaxing and enjoying the fresh air of the city while the honking noise was finally being covered with the prayers of the monks.
Coming down to reality was not a choice i was willing to make but had no other solution and was definitely needing some internet time to finish uploading the dilmah pictures.
Finished that up under two hours, paid my dues and left back to the guest house by bus.
I was quite tired and felt asleep quite fast to in the end waking up too late to make it on time to the ceremony at 6.30pm at the temple. i guess i ll have to come again !
Today, i left the guest house deeply motivated at 6.30am and had to wait for 20 minutes to finally hop on in an empty bus..something really rare especially on a school day here !
Found my bus to dembulla , route 42 and had just no time to get some water or else to survive the trip ! 73 roupies for 2 hours, another good reason to chose the local bus here !
I crossed what seemed to be a never ending spices gardens territory and cities full of trees transforming shops. My great neighboor in the bus was even managing one of those in matale.
I made it to dambulla city center at 9.30 am and went for a well desserved breakfast, you know already what i had ! after this interesting break, being once again the center of all the attention (not so many western are stopping by or even eating out) i took my stuff out, looked around for a bit, chose a direction and few seconds after someone came to me asking if i was looking for accomodation !
Lucky me ! a tuk tuk driver who also owns a guest house... i am loving every second of that offer !
Jumped in the tuk tuk, found out that takeshi guest house was really clean, not so outcentered and very close to my connection to sirigaya by bus the day after !
Dropped my gear and my new friend drove me to the rock temple which i really enjoyed.
Spent a good hour resting on the steps, talking with the souvenirs salesmen, exchanging and even being invited to a house party tonight !
Too bad i already had an arrangement to sleep, i was being invited to stay with his family !
another thing i ll have to do next. "J'irai dormir chez vous in sri lanka ". I ll report this as soon as i succeeded in this new mission on that trip. knowing the good people around, it looks like an easy challenge.
The rock temple in dambulla was definitely worth stopping. Five caves in total, fully painted from ceiling to the floor, filled up of buddhas of all kind and all sizes, in a huge block of rock in the mountain. Photos to be followed soon but you can have a preview by clicking HERE.
I am now chilling again, certainly going soon to the guest house to meet up the family there and spent some good time before a good night out with my new friends here in dambulla !
From Sri Lanka with love !
Antoine
I left early the guest house i was staying at for the past three days missing the chance to actually see the temple of tooth in kandy on thursday morning as i didnt have my trousers on and couldnt find a suitable drape to cover myself.
My last day in Kandy was well spent though since i went on visiting new areas , got lost just a little bit around before finding the tourist desk and the well sought after information needed for my next stop.
Exiting the office, i just couldnt resist the temptation of what was just looking at me for way too many days already, the buddah statue uphill !
Here i am then, full speed on, declining hundreds of tuk tuk offers on the way, making my path through traffic, pedestrians, sacred cow and dogs of all sorts and reaching out quite fast the base of the hill.
it was a very good hike, especially after some short eats (thats definitely a breakfast i am getting used to though a bit spicy making it quite fun at first for my empty stomach to enjoy.. internal curry burp as i like to call it those days).
I am getting quite fast climbing up and made it in barely 20 minutes but i was needing a rest to catch my breathe again especially under the hot sun , it was close to noon already.
The classic tourist entry fee was required to give a good look at the statue and smack buddah on the cheeks though it was much easier to access its rear this time around providing a very nice perspective of the city and a great panoramic angle too.
I stayed there for almost two hours relaxing and enjoying the fresh air of the city while the honking noise was finally being covered with the prayers of the monks.
Coming down to reality was not a choice i was willing to make but had no other solution and was definitely needing some internet time to finish uploading the dilmah pictures.
Finished that up under two hours, paid my dues and left back to the guest house by bus.
I was quite tired and felt asleep quite fast to in the end waking up too late to make it on time to the ceremony at 6.30pm at the temple. i guess i ll have to come again !
Today, i left the guest house deeply motivated at 6.30am and had to wait for 20 minutes to finally hop on in an empty bus..something really rare especially on a school day here !
Found my bus to dembulla , route 42 and had just no time to get some water or else to survive the trip ! 73 roupies for 2 hours, another good reason to chose the local bus here !
I crossed what seemed to be a never ending spices gardens territory and cities full of trees transforming shops. My great neighboor in the bus was even managing one of those in matale.
I made it to dambulla city center at 9.30 am and went for a well desserved breakfast, you know already what i had ! after this interesting break, being once again the center of all the attention (not so many western are stopping by or even eating out) i took my stuff out, looked around for a bit, chose a direction and few seconds after someone came to me asking if i was looking for accomodation !
Lucky me ! a tuk tuk driver who also owns a guest house... i am loving every second of that offer !
Jumped in the tuk tuk, found out that takeshi guest house was really clean, not so outcentered and very close to my connection to sirigaya by bus the day after !
Dropped my gear and my new friend drove me to the rock temple which i really enjoyed.
Spent a good hour resting on the steps, talking with the souvenirs salesmen, exchanging and even being invited to a house party tonight !
Too bad i already had an arrangement to sleep, i was being invited to stay with his family !
another thing i ll have to do next. "J'irai dormir chez vous in sri lanka ". I ll report this as soon as i succeeded in this new mission on that trip. knowing the good people around, it looks like an easy challenge.
The rock temple in dambulla was definitely worth stopping. Five caves in total, fully painted from ceiling to the floor, filled up of buddhas of all kind and all sizes, in a huge block of rock in the mountain. Photos to be followed soon but you can have a preview by clicking HERE.
I am now chilling again, certainly going soon to the guest house to meet up the family there and spent some good time before a good night out with my new friends here in dambulla !
From Sri Lanka with love !
Antoine
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A sweet city called Kandy
Hiyahhhhhhhhhhhh !
After leaving my host at 6.45am tuesday morning using a tuk tuk (no bus at that time would allow me to get in with two backpacks unless i pay three to four times more than the usual 23 roupies rate) which costed me 500 to be dropped like some common merchandise at the railway station.
Went on trying to find the next departure to Kandy which after quite a thinking (a mere 5 seconds the night before) was going to be my next stop in Sri Lanka.
Went on to ask for information but their limited understanding of the english either make them believe i am a brit or an american , maybe i had too many couchsurfers from there !
in the end i got the information right, no direct trains were available since the last portion of the track was broken or under repair... got a ride for 180 roupies till the junction which is 6 kilometers south of the city and here i am again on the go with the 9.45am departure train.
Being a tourist but not feeling like one is quite hard to justify when you are the only white in a 5 kilometers radius but i have some good interactions with the locals , thats when they are not trying to rip me off with some stupid scam or miscalculating the total bill when i had previously my breakfast
Hard for them to give it a shot as i know my way round the pricing now so i just politely decline to pay and they came back with a more suitable result for my wallet ! 270 became 220 ..
The ride itself was quite a scenary that i would have gave up for nothing in this world, ok maybe a little skydive but things are coming in line as they should, a born traveller ! i am getting quite addicted to the feeling of freedom on this trip.
Train left on the clock and i got myself a nice seat by the window to shoot around ! i ll try to give you a little extra but kinda lost most of the pictures i took on the way but the region you are crossing is really nice... rice fields, coconuts trees all over and a slow progression in the mountain that make you at some point so close to the edge ! really worth every second.
so beautiful that i even missed my stop at the junction thus forcing me in another bus ride which i found almost instantly after exiting the station at gambulla.
Arrived at kandy in the end around 2pm, contacted at first a friend of ananda which couldnt in the end host me as he was in colombo. i called a guest house nearby and arranged pick up at the restaurant i was protecting from the heavy rain.
The guest house is simply great, clean and uphill giving an extra sense of liberty !
its somehow well connected and tomorrow i ll head towards the elephant orphenage few hours away.
bye bye
After leaving my host at 6.45am tuesday morning using a tuk tuk (no bus at that time would allow me to get in with two backpacks unless i pay three to four times more than the usual 23 roupies rate) which costed me 500 to be dropped like some common merchandise at the railway station.
Went on trying to find the next departure to Kandy which after quite a thinking (a mere 5 seconds the night before) was going to be my next stop in Sri Lanka.
Went on to ask for information but their limited understanding of the english either make them believe i am a brit or an american , maybe i had too many couchsurfers from there !
in the end i got the information right, no direct trains were available since the last portion of the track was broken or under repair... got a ride for 180 roupies till the junction which is 6 kilometers south of the city and here i am again on the go with the 9.45am departure train.
Being a tourist but not feeling like one is quite hard to justify when you are the only white in a 5 kilometers radius but i have some good interactions with the locals , thats when they are not trying to rip me off with some stupid scam or miscalculating the total bill when i had previously my breakfast
Hard for them to give it a shot as i know my way round the pricing now so i just politely decline to pay and they came back with a more suitable result for my wallet ! 270 became 220 ..
The ride itself was quite a scenary that i would have gave up for nothing in this world, ok maybe a little skydive but things are coming in line as they should, a born traveller ! i am getting quite addicted to the feeling of freedom on this trip.
Train left on the clock and i got myself a nice seat by the window to shoot around ! i ll try to give you a little extra but kinda lost most of the pictures i took on the way but the region you are crossing is really nice... rice fields, coconuts trees all over and a slow progression in the mountain that make you at some point so close to the edge ! really worth every second.
so beautiful that i even missed my stop at the junction thus forcing me in another bus ride which i found almost instantly after exiting the station at gambulla.
Arrived at kandy in the end around 2pm, contacted at first a friend of ananda which couldnt in the end host me as he was in colombo. i called a guest house nearby and arranged pick up at the restaurant i was protecting from the heavy rain.
The guest house is simply great, clean and uphill giving an extra sense of liberty !
its somehow well connected and tomorrow i ll head towards the elephant orphenage few hours away.
bye bye
Monday, October 19, 2009
Loading the first container to France from Dilmah HQ in Colombo
Some circumstances cannot be planned...
Sri Lanka...first impressions
I will try to be as thorough as possible though internet connections here seems to be stuck to dial up speed and that shall not help me to wake up as it is so slow to get a page up !
I arrived early morning last friday the 16th at 7.10am, magnific weather, super hot and not humid for a change which pretty means the end of heavy sweating session like i was just getting used to in malaysia.
Back to a more normal life you might think ( i mean thought it too myself ) but soon to discover the state of the art transportation system !
Wow quite a shock, nothing can really put words on what i had the chance to grab in the first few hours here ! i heard stories from eric after he got back , from my parents also and i am still sure i did get the real thing...no expensive limo driving me with full ac from the airport !
arriving there, i just had to set up a few things ...money and simcard which was easy to find since only one operator was working the airport and the change rates is the same all over the place.
You do get 166 roupies for one euro (which is not so bad knowing it was around 135 in march).
Here i am, holding my two backpacks, looking like a mule being offered really great chance to spend my roupies in a überexpensive taxi (2200 roupies is quite nothing back in euros but its my daily allowance budget).
My aim is to spend the three weeks in sri lanka with a mere 500 euros no more ! quite a challenge isnt it ?
Thanks to couchsurfing, i found myself a host living in colombo 7 and i am down to his place after a great touk touk ride from the airport....pollution, constent horns communication, smokes of all kind, dirts, dust you name it, i had it all ! the shower back to kunishke was leaving trace of a black colored water...cool ! finally a shower that has a purpose....
I am finally enjoying myself for a few hours, sleeping a little bit watching a movie before "business" duties are finally catching me back just a few expected hours before the original plan.
dad is quite happy to reach me on the phone and let me know the container is due to leave dilmah in a few days and has not yet been loaded..after a few phone calls, pickup is being arranged and here i am enjoying the first ride to dilmah hq on negombo road....
had the chance to see the factory but they were all cleaning and thus not producing anything.
Spent a few hours there before being sent home by the same locomation and meet my host for the first time and few of his buddies.
To cut the story short, i was supposed to stay at his place through monday but somehow he changed his mind during the night and asked me to leave as i was preparing my breakfast tea..here i am trying to see what went wrong, trying to sort out the situation as i am also packing up the mess and also getting my plan b online...got luck, got it worked out few minutes before i left the house to go back to dilmah attend the loading of the first container !
I am currently uploading the pictures on my flickr so stay put !
Saturday ended well as i met my second host, ananda right outside his place just a bit further on the suburbs of colombo...which is promissing more funnier moments in transportation.
We spent the whole afternoon in colombo exploring parts he never went too, from buses to touk touk, cant really remember how much time we changed directions but it was for the greater good as we reached the cinnamon grand hotel for a small gathering at the cheers pub with locals couchsurfing members.
Met the 10pm bus back to his place at the last second as the bus was leaving the depot and made it in no time back home for a good recovering session of due sleep.
Sunday was no different but ananda was working and he gave me instructions as things i could go see and i went on a day trip to negombo. by train this time for the inbound (40 roupies for 90 minutes worth) and ended following someone to a nice hostel in the region to enjoyed the beach, the cocktails and the parades of so many western people in their bikinis (some should have chose something else) when it was not their full body swim suit ...
negotiated my unlimited buffet for a few euros with the assistant food manager, got even his card (he offered me some discounted rate if i was to come back to the hostel...i wont but i played the game to save a few hundreds roupies).
I made the return by bus with the intercity number 4 (90 roupies) since i had no envy to wait in the heat for another 70 minutes for a slow train.
Connected with my host again around 6.20pm outside the shortcut leading to his parents' house.
All for now, feel good to have this out !
i am leaving colombo next wednesday to kandy and will certainly spent a few days around there to see whats available (mostly the elephant ) but a few other things before heading up north then to tamil country ! its supposed to be much safer now so i might just check that out and see something worth after such a time at war.
blue skies,
antoine
I arrived early morning last friday the 16th at 7.10am, magnific weather, super hot and not humid for a change which pretty means the end of heavy sweating session like i was just getting used to in malaysia.
Back to a more normal life you might think ( i mean thought it too myself ) but soon to discover the state of the art transportation system !
Wow quite a shock, nothing can really put words on what i had the chance to grab in the first few hours here ! i heard stories from eric after he got back , from my parents also and i am still sure i did get the real thing...no expensive limo driving me with full ac from the airport !
arriving there, i just had to set up a few things ...money and simcard which was easy to find since only one operator was working the airport and the change rates is the same all over the place.
You do get 166 roupies for one euro (which is not so bad knowing it was around 135 in march).
Here i am, holding my two backpacks, looking like a mule being offered really great chance to spend my roupies in a überexpensive taxi (2200 roupies is quite nothing back in euros but its my daily allowance budget).
My aim is to spend the three weeks in sri lanka with a mere 500 euros no more ! quite a challenge isnt it ?
Thanks to couchsurfing, i found myself a host living in colombo 7 and i am down to his place after a great touk touk ride from the airport....pollution, constent horns communication, smokes of all kind, dirts, dust you name it, i had it all ! the shower back to kunishke was leaving trace of a black colored water...cool ! finally a shower that has a purpose....
I am finally enjoying myself for a few hours, sleeping a little bit watching a movie before "business" duties are finally catching me back just a few expected hours before the original plan.
dad is quite happy to reach me on the phone and let me know the container is due to leave dilmah in a few days and has not yet been loaded..after a few phone calls, pickup is being arranged and here i am enjoying the first ride to dilmah hq on negombo road....
had the chance to see the factory but they were all cleaning and thus not producing anything.
Spent a few hours there before being sent home by the same locomation and meet my host for the first time and few of his buddies.
To cut the story short, i was supposed to stay at his place through monday but somehow he changed his mind during the night and asked me to leave as i was preparing my breakfast tea..here i am trying to see what went wrong, trying to sort out the situation as i am also packing up the mess and also getting my plan b online...got luck, got it worked out few minutes before i left the house to go back to dilmah attend the loading of the first container !
I am currently uploading the pictures on my flickr so stay put !
Saturday ended well as i met my second host, ananda right outside his place just a bit further on the suburbs of colombo...which is promissing more funnier moments in transportation.
We spent the whole afternoon in colombo exploring parts he never went too, from buses to touk touk, cant really remember how much time we changed directions but it was for the greater good as we reached the cinnamon grand hotel for a small gathering at the cheers pub with locals couchsurfing members.
Met the 10pm bus back to his place at the last second as the bus was leaving the depot and made it in no time back home for a good recovering session of due sleep.
Sunday was no different but ananda was working and he gave me instructions as things i could go see and i went on a day trip to negombo. by train this time for the inbound (40 roupies for 90 minutes worth) and ended following someone to a nice hostel in the region to enjoyed the beach, the cocktails and the parades of so many western people in their bikinis (some should have chose something else) when it was not their full body swim suit ...
negotiated my unlimited buffet for a few euros with the assistant food manager, got even his card (he offered me some discounted rate if i was to come back to the hostel...i wont but i played the game to save a few hundreds roupies).
I made the return by bus with the intercity number 4 (90 roupies) since i had no envy to wait in the heat for another 70 minutes for a slow train.
Connected with my host again around 6.20pm outside the shortcut leading to his parents' house.
All for now, feel good to have this out !
i am leaving colombo next wednesday to kandy and will certainly spent a few days around there to see whats available (mostly the elephant ) but a few other things before heading up north then to tamil country ! its supposed to be much safer now so i might just check that out and see something worth after such a time at war.
blue skies,
antoine
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Wednesday 14th October
Already one month in my thirties and i kinda celebrate it by going to a small exhibit right outside town
The ride there was fast , merely 35 minutes by bus 6 from the stc bus center in kuching. I just missed the previous one by 4 minutes which made me wait in a local restaurant for a good hour to take the next one at 11.30am.
I made it so right at the door of the preservation center after a little 25 minutes walk from the road entrance.
Cost was cheap, 3RM to enter the forestry reserve.
I went around at first to see when was the feeding involved and walked myself to the start of the trail in the jungle excited to see some wild animals , supposedly aggressive, willing to take a bite on my french body to replace their original diet made of watermelon, sugar cane and bananas !
The forestry managers (the official guides) were just trying to force me into taking someone to come with me but i ll quote his words ( you should take a guide)...no compulsory then i thought so here i was, exploring this little bit of forest hoping for the best encounters....
And few minutes after i started the walk in the park, my luck struck back again !
And two medium sized Orangutans !
At some point, i even thought they were throwing me stuff as they were looking for food and they are mostly in fact making dead branches meet gravity !
At the same time, i was being attacked by hundreds of mosquitoes and without my repellent and the proper shoes, its been quite an experience !
I encountered quite a few group of tourists so freaking louds that it made almost "my animals" scared.
Not with the warning being issued again and again that i shouldnt be in the jungle alone, that it was dangerous and so on ! made me laugh ... no way i would pay 40 RM to be in somone's foot steps for two hours when i can do the whole 2.5 kilometers in less than 70 minutes for Free.
feeding time was fastly approaching thus allowing some closer shots that i have enclosed here.
was good to be back online for a while.
i have a better idea of my sri lanka tour now after a few slow days of planning here at tracks b&b.
happy family !
I am leaving Kuching tonight with the 8.50pm flight to KL with airasia and will be connecting with my flight to colombo at 6.15am tomorrow morning.
I am due to be in colombo at 7.15am friday and i finally managed to get a couch there so yeepee !
I ll be in touch soon with another cellphone number !
blue skies
antoine
Already one month in my thirties and i kinda celebrate it by going to a small exhibit right outside town
The ride there was fast , merely 35 minutes by bus 6 from the stc bus center in kuching. I just missed the previous one by 4 minutes which made me wait in a local restaurant for a good hour to take the next one at 11.30am.
I made it so right at the door of the preservation center after a little 25 minutes walk from the road entrance.
Cost was cheap, 3RM to enter the forestry reserve.
I went around at first to see when was the feeding involved and walked myself to the start of the trail in the jungle excited to see some wild animals , supposedly aggressive, willing to take a bite on my french body to replace their original diet made of watermelon, sugar cane and bananas !
The forestry managers (the official guides) were just trying to force me into taking someone to come with me but i ll quote his words ( you should take a guide)...no compulsory then i thought so here i was, exploring this little bit of forest hoping for the best encounters....
And few minutes after i started the walk in the park, my luck struck back again !
And two medium sized Orangutans !
At some point, i even thought they were throwing me stuff as they were looking for food and they are mostly in fact making dead branches meet gravity !
At the same time, i was being attacked by hundreds of mosquitoes and without my repellent and the proper shoes, its been quite an experience !
I encountered quite a few group of tourists so freaking louds that it made almost "my animals" scared.
Not with the warning being issued again and again that i shouldnt be in the jungle alone, that it was dangerous and so on ! made me laugh ... no way i would pay 40 RM to be in somone's foot steps for two hours when i can do the whole 2.5 kilometers in less than 70 minutes for Free.
was good to be back online for a while.
i have a better idea of my sri lanka tour now after a few slow days of planning here at tracks b&b.
happy family !
I am leaving Kuching tonight with the 8.50pm flight to KL with airasia and will be connecting with my flight to colombo at 6.15am tomorrow morning.
I am due to be in colombo at 7.15am friday and i finally managed to get a couch there so yeepee !
I ll be in touch soon with another cellphone number !
blue skies
antoine
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Welcome to Kuching baby !
Tuesday 6th, 6am and i am being dropped at the airport by Chel, a local girl my partner in crime convinced to turn into an early taxi, i never asked what he did though i ve got quite a few leads !
The flight was pretty luxury considering they were not so many people with us and i managed to secured a nice row by the emergency exit and sleep for the entire length of it..made me at least recover the lack of sleep accumulated while in KK.
Landing was by no meaning soft but i am still here to speak about it so i guess that it is as good as it gets here when rushing a plane down to meet the hour !
Romain and I were quickly welcomed by the local committee in the person of Mathias (another french couchsurfer from Paris) and Kelvin, a local active host that just graduated and will soon work for two years for the government as a doctor.
So here we were riding towards some destination (original plan was bako national park but the conditions were not optimistic) thus forced us to find a different heading !
Kelvin drove us to the caves, Wind and fairy to be more precise.
here is the first we visited, Wind caves with a lot of bats flying around and the mysterious things they were bombing on us !
hats necessary and torch lights...
The we moved on to the fairy caves and after a few steps up the mountain via the structure outside and also quite a lot more inside followed by a series of staircases, we end up to the main part of it !
really cool i have to say and had to pay my respect to the fairy in person.
View from the top of the fairy cave.
a little climb, crawling through a hole in the rocks that led to a small flat piece of rock from where i shot this.
Soon after the caves, we went for lunch in some local foodcourt and killed a few meat buns and some specialty fried chicken rice on my side. the rest of the afternoon was pretty cool...rain felt on us around 3.30pm and we agreed once we secured our guest house to meet for drinks.
Mathias and Diana a local couchsurfing host in Kuching.
The end of the "party" was fast, i was falling asleep really soon after with the aim of going to bako the morning after thus waking up early to get the bus.
A few hours later, we are stuck in a taxi because the girl side of romain kicked in and he took him humm let me think 10 minutes back and forth to go pick up some flip flop in the room..anyway, 40 RM shared with the french trio later, we were on the edge of the bako national park, talking to a taiwanese girl i never understood the name and a guy from the usa that i instantly located to be originally from texas which kinda surprised him...if he knew i hosted 160 US citizen, he would not be so surprised !
The boat ride that we are forced to take is merely costing 94 RM return for 5 people, do the maths, in the end we all payed 19rm.
our "skipper" was pretty skilled at avoiding the waves as the low tide was barely starting and dropped us on the beach with mere directions as "follow the others foosteps". fair enough, lets use our flair.
The view from the boat !!
So here we are, starting the trek ! first warm up party is to do the T Paku trail which will allow us to see some ugly monkeys..yeah !!!!!!
View from Bensar beach, third trail we followed before heading back to meet the 2.30pm boat
The rain was on time and we avoided a free shower by a mere two seconds as me and romain made it to the bed and breakfast that afternoon.
Thursday 8th
I have waited for romain to come back to do the check out and change to another guest house , much more comfortable and that will anyway cost me 15RM/night (3 euros).
My idea was to aim to the crocodile farm in the afternoon once i had said bye to romain after a last lunch, i ll meet the man again in indonesia in a few weeks.
Soon after being dropped by the bus, one kilometer away from the entrance of Jong crocodile farm.
well the legend said, missing tail croc !
cant beat that description i think but it was time to go to the show worth 16rm...the feeding of the crocs !
Et voila !
another good day in paradise ! will see what i do tomorrow as some locals are finally calling me and inviting me over to do stuff ! yeah, i cannot be left alone, i am telling you...
more to follow in the next report of antoine's adventure ....
online soon
antoine
The flight was pretty luxury considering they were not so many people with us and i managed to secured a nice row by the emergency exit and sleep for the entire length of it..made me at least recover the lack of sleep accumulated while in KK.
Landing was by no meaning soft but i am still here to speak about it so i guess that it is as good as it gets here when rushing a plane down to meet the hour !
Romain and I were quickly welcomed by the local committee in the person of Mathias (another french couchsurfer from Paris) and Kelvin, a local active host that just graduated and will soon work for two years for the government as a doctor.
Kelvin drove us to the caves, Wind and fairy to be more precise.
here is the first we visited, Wind caves with a lot of bats flying around and the mysterious things they were bombing on us !
hats necessary and torch lights...
The we moved on to the fairy caves and after a few steps up the mountain via the structure outside and also quite a lot more inside followed by a series of staircases, we end up to the main part of it !
really cool i have to say and had to pay my respect to the fairy in person.
a little climb, crawling through a hole in the rocks that led to a small flat piece of rock from where i shot this.
Soon after the caves, we went for lunch in some local foodcourt and killed a few meat buns and some specialty fried chicken rice on my side. the rest of the afternoon was pretty cool...rain felt on us around 3.30pm and we agreed once we secured our guest house to meet for drinks.
Mathias and Diana a local couchsurfing host in Kuching.
The end of the "party" was fast, i was falling asleep really soon after with the aim of going to bako the morning after thus waking up early to get the bus.
A few hours later, we are stuck in a taxi because the girl side of romain kicked in and he took him humm let me think 10 minutes back and forth to go pick up some flip flop in the room..anyway, 40 RM shared with the french trio later, we were on the edge of the bako national park, talking to a taiwanese girl i never understood the name and a guy from the usa that i instantly located to be originally from texas which kinda surprised him...if he knew i hosted 160 US citizen, he would not be so surprised !
The boat ride that we are forced to take is merely costing 94 RM return for 5 people, do the maths, in the end we all payed 19rm.
our "skipper" was pretty skilled at avoiding the waves as the low tide was barely starting and dropped us on the beach with mere directions as "follow the others foosteps". fair enough, lets use our flair.
The view from the boat !!
So here we are, starting the trek ! first warm up party is to do the T Paku trail which will allow us to see some ugly monkeys..yeah !!!!!!
the view on the beach was definitely worth the hike !
we went back to the crossroads to aim at another difficulty, certainly the second hardest i endured after cameron highlands but my boots were ready to meet up with dirt again.
T Pandan Kecil was the objective of the second hike (2.6 kilometers one way, same on return you got it ).
The view was just splendid and we gave ourselves 20 minutes to recover.
View from Bensar beach, third trail we followed before heading back to meet the 2.30pm boat
Thursday 8th
I have waited for romain to come back to do the check out and change to another guest house , much more comfortable and that will anyway cost me 15RM/night (3 euros).
My idea was to aim to the crocodile farm in the afternoon once i had said bye to romain after a last lunch, i ll meet the man again in indonesia in a few weeks.
Soon after being dropped by the bus, one kilometer away from the entrance of Jong crocodile farm.
well the legend said, missing tail croc !
cant beat that description i think but it was time to go to the show worth 16rm...the feeding of the crocs !
Et voila !
another good day in paradise ! will see what i do tomorrow as some locals are finally calling me and inviting me over to do stuff ! yeah, i cannot be left alone, i am telling you...
more to follow in the next report of antoine's adventure ....
online soon
antoine
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Aux Francais qui me lisent
Bonjour,
Utilisons un terme matinal bien qu'il soit presque déjà l'heure d'aller chercher un petit rafraichissement ici sur Kuching, plus grosse ville de l'état de sarawak, Bornéo !
Un vol bien matinal depuis kota kinabalu(KK) avec un pote rencontré sur place (on avait demandé à la même personne avec un léger décalage pour surfer son canapé)..je ne citerai pas le nom de l'heureux perdant à cette lotterie mais j'ai fini par prendre l'hôtel (4€/nuit en dortoir) au final une nuit avant de dormir chez pei et rencontrer donc romain, également en partance de France depuis une semaine pour quelques mois à venir.
Le hasard faisant souvent bien les choses, romain partage une de mes passions favorites pour le parachutisme et il est en malaisie pour participer à un événement de base-jump.
Mon dernier jour sur KK s'est plutôt bien passé. nous nous sommes loués deux petits scooters 125cc, en poussant un peu on flirte le 100 kl/h...bonne sensation en attendant de reprendre le parachutisme en australie en janvier certainement...
on s'est fait une petite visite de la tour mustafa, de la mosquée d"état avant de se perdre vers l'ouest tout en revenant par chance sur la bonne direction juste avant que j'explose la courroie et perde toute distribution sur mon cher scooter...bref il était 14h et je me retrouvais sur le bord de la route à faire l'attraction locale pour les malais coincés dans les embouteillages pendant une bonne heure avant que la dépanneuse n'arrive.
quelques instants plus tard, nouvelle monture, nouvelle destination..la first beach, très proxi de l'aéroport pour une baignade dans les vagues vers 16h.
La fin de journée ressemble un peu à toutes les autres, rencontre avec mon hôte Kuni et direction un petit restaurant pas trop cher (quelques euros tout au plus pour un plat vraiment géant) ! je me demande déja comment je vais pouvoir aimer payer mon entrecôte 15 euros lors de mon retour si d'aventure il reste encore des boeufs !
je vais faire dans le court, la météo semble redevenir plus clémente après une bonne douche tropicale qui nous a rappelé les derniers événements dans la région..quelques typhons restent à venir! je prévois toujours d'aller en indonésie mi novembre !
ciao à tous et à toutes
blue skies
antoine
Utilisons un terme matinal bien qu'il soit presque déjà l'heure d'aller chercher un petit rafraichissement ici sur Kuching, plus grosse ville de l'état de sarawak, Bornéo !
Un vol bien matinal depuis kota kinabalu(KK) avec un pote rencontré sur place (on avait demandé à la même personne avec un léger décalage pour surfer son canapé)..je ne citerai pas le nom de l'heureux perdant à cette lotterie mais j'ai fini par prendre l'hôtel (4€/nuit en dortoir) au final une nuit avant de dormir chez pei et rencontrer donc romain, également en partance de France depuis une semaine pour quelques mois à venir.
Le hasard faisant souvent bien les choses, romain partage une de mes passions favorites pour le parachutisme et il est en malaisie pour participer à un événement de base-jump.
Mon dernier jour sur KK s'est plutôt bien passé. nous nous sommes loués deux petits scooters 125cc, en poussant un peu on flirte le 100 kl/h...bonne sensation en attendant de reprendre le parachutisme en australie en janvier certainement...
on s'est fait une petite visite de la tour mustafa, de la mosquée d"état avant de se perdre vers l'ouest tout en revenant par chance sur la bonne direction juste avant que j'explose la courroie et perde toute distribution sur mon cher scooter...bref il était 14h et je me retrouvais sur le bord de la route à faire l'attraction locale pour les malais coincés dans les embouteillages pendant une bonne heure avant que la dépanneuse n'arrive.
quelques instants plus tard, nouvelle monture, nouvelle destination..la first beach, très proxi de l'aéroport pour une baignade dans les vagues vers 16h.
La fin de journée ressemble un peu à toutes les autres, rencontre avec mon hôte Kuni et direction un petit restaurant pas trop cher (quelques euros tout au plus pour un plat vraiment géant) ! je me demande déja comment je vais pouvoir aimer payer mon entrecôte 15 euros lors de mon retour si d'aventure il reste encore des boeufs !
je vais faire dans le court, la météo semble redevenir plus clémente après une bonne douche tropicale qui nous a rappelé les derniers événements dans la région..quelques typhons restent à venir! je prévois toujours d'aller en indonésie mi novembre !
ciao à tous et à toutes
blue skies
antoine
Friday, October 2, 2009
Kota Kinabalu, Borneo
Wednesday 30th, i took an early flight with tiger airways out of singapore to Kota Kinabalu (KK) at 9am.
The flight was spent without any much of a problem and we even arrived earlier than scheduled, guess i just found the equivalent of swiss air for asia continent !
Took me just a few minutes to get ready and picked up my gear from the belt and here i was in the terminal looking for the best connection to go to town. this time around, i had no couch though i have sent quite a few requests beforehand so i was aiming at a cheap hostel down town. i called from the airport and secured a space !
went outside in the hot air, almost 31 °c and here came the sweat again...i end up at the end of the taxi line, talking to a local guy that seems pretty helpful as he soon gave me a ride outside the airport.
i thought, yeah i am getting super lucky but it was for a short while only as they dumped me at the bus station right outside the airport pretending a bus would come fast...25 minutes later i was still stranded, one car stopped to ask me if i was needing a ride and of course charging me 25rm for it that i quickly declined. thats pretty much at that time i decided it was time to stop being a virgin hitch hiker and here i was, thumbs up, smiling at the car passing through ! one stopped almost immediately but was not going in my direction but soon i found my luck !
This nice family took me in and dropped me right outside the tourism office on jalan gaya from which i walked to the akinabalu youth hostel for one night.
Arriving at the hostel and once secured on the bunk bed for a mere 20rm per night, went to check my mail and soon received a reply to my former couchrequest sent to pei.
she was pretty much telling me that she could not host me before she got the approval of another couchsurfer she has just started to host.
funnily she told me he was french and also quite found of skydiving...small world small world !
No need to say that soon i got contacted by romain, the crazy skydiver and we ve met downtown by the shore in front of the meridien hotel for a few hours that were pretty much well spent ! i ll let you judge by yourself.
Few beers later, i understood he had already more than a thousand skydives and 330 base jumps ! hell yeah...
romain is actually in the region as soon there is a base jumping gathering in kuala lumpur and in fact a few stops were being planned in borneo but had been cancelled last minute.
I will travel with him to kuching next tuesday morning !
I soon met his host who is actually reall cool and she allowed me to stay for a few nights over here so i wont even need the help of Kuni, a japonese i ve met in singapore earlier this week.
Couchsurfing situation : 3 weeks couchsurfing, one week hostel !
Thursday 1st october :
This morning i left the guest house, not without a little difficulty to get my money back from the desk office but after a little bit of argument, i came victorious and saved 20% of 20rm ! yeah all of this for 4 RM, not even a euro ! but here you can have a meal with that much !
I walked all the way to pei's mansion, a nice condo situated on the beach front and joined romain there. quickly after we were enjoying a relaxing time by the pool before heading downtown. the idea was to visit the island nearby but we came quite late at the jetty and didnt made it !
I have finally managed to include a few pics within the writing so lets see how it goes. send me your feedback !
antoine
Wednesday 30th, i took an early flight with tiger airways out of singapore to Kota Kinabalu (KK) at 9am.
The flight was spent without any much of a problem and we even arrived earlier than scheduled, guess i just found the equivalent of swiss air for asia continent !
Took me just a few minutes to get ready and picked up my gear from the belt and here i was in the terminal looking for the best connection to go to town. this time around, i had no couch though i have sent quite a few requests beforehand so i was aiming at a cheap hostel down town. i called from the airport and secured a space !
went outside in the hot air, almost 31 °c and here came the sweat again...i end up at the end of the taxi line, talking to a local guy that seems pretty helpful as he soon gave me a ride outside the airport.
i thought, yeah i am getting super lucky but it was for a short while only as they dumped me at the bus station right outside the airport pretending a bus would come fast...25 minutes later i was still stranded, one car stopped to ask me if i was needing a ride and of course charging me 25rm for it that i quickly declined. thats pretty much at that time i decided it was time to stop being a virgin hitch hiker and here i was, thumbs up, smiling at the car passing through ! one stopped almost immediately but was not going in my direction but soon i found my luck !
This nice family took me in and dropped me right outside the tourism office on jalan gaya from which i walked to the akinabalu youth hostel for one night.Arriving at the hostel and once secured on the bunk bed for a mere 20rm per night, went to check my mail and soon received a reply to my former couchrequest sent to pei.
she was pretty much telling me that she could not host me before she got the approval of another couchsurfer she has just started to host.
funnily she told me he was french and also quite found of skydiving...small world small world !
No need to say that soon i got contacted by romain, the crazy skydiver and we ve met downtown by the shore in front of the meridien hotel for a few hours that were pretty much well spent ! i ll let you judge by yourself.
Few beers later, i understood he had already more than a thousand skydives and 330 base jumps ! hell yeah...
romain is actually in the region as soon there is a base jumping gathering in kuala lumpur and in fact a few stops were being planned in borneo but had been cancelled last minute.
I will travel with him to kuching next tuesday morning !
I soon met his host who is actually reall cool and she allowed me to stay for a few nights over here so i wont even need the help of Kuni, a japonese i ve met in singapore earlier this week.
Couchsurfing situation : 3 weeks couchsurfing, one week hostel !
Thursday 1st october :
This morning i left the guest house, not without a little difficulty to get my money back from the desk office but after a little bit of argument, i came victorious and saved 20% of 20rm ! yeah all of this for 4 RM, not even a euro ! but here you can have a meal with that much !
I walked all the way to pei's mansion, a nice condo situated on the beach front and joined romain there. quickly after we were enjoying a relaxing time by the pool before heading downtown. the idea was to visit the island nearby but we came quite late at the jetty and didnt made it !
I have finally managed to include a few pics within the writing so lets see how it goes. send me your feedback !
antoine
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
my last food franzy in singapore
I think i ll never really forget the great community of people singapore got ! there are definitely some people worth meeting thus my mission to connect with them as my trip moves forward.
Monday i met yinyu for dinner with her couchsurfer nacho from mexico. we went to a place called to the harbour front mrt station and sanjay joined us there as well.Monday was pretty busy as i left around 11 am from my host place to reach out to the singapore zoo ! it sent me back to my childhood , very interesting and lots of walking there.
tuesday, i went straight for lunch meeting with priscilla for one singapore specialty, pork ribs tea ! i just cant get my head to find the name of what we eat but perhaps future online pics will give you better indication ! anyway it was beautiful and extra delicious and cheap nonetheless !
from that lunch , moved to a few chinese temple nearby in the cbd, to holland village by bus then to priscilla's place to then make it back to bugis junction for the dinner.
Programme last night was a steamboat ! if you never had one, then come and get one because thats just as good as one meal can get if meal applies here ! its pretty much a all you can eat chinese fondue ! dipping meat, chicken, fish, pork skin, veggies, potatoes, ...and so much more i just cant quote everything here.
it was my departure dinner from singapore and had a really good time so thanks again dear friends for the wonderful experience here and lets keep in touch!
from changi airport !
antoine on its way to kota kinabalu
Monday i met yinyu for dinner with her couchsurfer nacho from mexico. we went to a place called to the harbour front mrt station and sanjay joined us there as well.Monday was pretty busy as i left around 11 am from my host place to reach out to the singapore zoo ! it sent me back to my childhood , very interesting and lots of walking there.
tuesday, i went straight for lunch meeting with priscilla for one singapore specialty, pork ribs tea ! i just cant get my head to find the name of what we eat but perhaps future online pics will give you better indication ! anyway it was beautiful and extra delicious and cheap nonetheless !
from that lunch , moved to a few chinese temple nearby in the cbd, to holland village by bus then to priscilla's place to then make it back to bugis junction for the dinner.
Programme last night was a steamboat ! if you never had one, then come and get one because thats just as good as one meal can get if meal applies here ! its pretty much a all you can eat chinese fondue ! dipping meat, chicken, fish, pork skin, veggies, potatoes, ...and so much more i just cant quote everything here.
it was my departure dinner from singapore and had a really good time so thanks again dear friends for the wonderful experience here and lets keep in touch!
from changi airport !
antoine on its way to kota kinabalu
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Singapore , hospitality and diversity
here i am, thursday night at the father's guest house in cameron highlands really wondering where i ll end up sleeping in singapore on friday after having sent quite a few couchrequests. as i was having a great conversation with federico, telling him pretty much that everything good happens to good people and then i would soon receive a phone call offering me a couch and badaboum, someone is calling me and willing to save me for the full length of my stay. lucky me !
So here i am accepting the help of this generous and wannabe first time host on couchsurfing, Mr Singh satnam !
The ride by bus from cameron highlands was pretty luxury considering the price i had to pay 125RM but great large seat, more like a business class in a plane.
No need to say, the road was really peaceful, got drop on time at 8pm at the bus station on beach road and here was my host jumping in my arms and soon after making me jump into a taxi towards his place on circuit road.
Great Great moment that was, shopping locally and hop, in the flat for a good night of problems with the computer that ended by it being totally reset to zero !
just had no other choice as something has totally screw all my settings and in the process made me lost all my mp3s so no more music available on this trip !
Saturday morning, we went on to visit singapore all together, showed around his house to help me out locate the mrt station and direction little india, money changers and sim card shopping as the couchsurfing meeting i was organising was due to happen only a few hours later.
From wandering to super visits, we ended in the national museum for a good 3 hours of great fun and history lesson.
It was soon the time to go towards the cs meeting and took us a little while to find our direction on orchard road but in the end everything worked out and all the couchsurfers were soon stalking my cellphone to get directions or asking where i was in the pub.
we stayed there till 9pm then went to have a proper dinner which only cost me 10 sgp ( 5 euros) but the all night made my budget skyrocketting over the rooftop and 140 dollars later, it was 8 am sunday morning.
I did nothing as a consequence sunday, stayed all day in the flat planning the rest of the trip, stupidly missed on the chance to fly out for cheap on thursday thus forcing me to buy an earlier way out to kota kinabalu for wednesday morning.
i think i ll pass on brunei as it is just super expensive to get out of it by any means of transportation...might lose 65rm in the process as my flight from kinabalu is non refundable but better lose 30 euros than being forced to buy a 120 euros airplane ticket to kuching.
tomorrow, i ll visit the zoo and meet up with yinyu a local couchsurfer that almost had the chance of my visit !
good day and blue skies
antoine
So here i am accepting the help of this generous and wannabe first time host on couchsurfing, Mr Singh satnam !
The ride by bus from cameron highlands was pretty luxury considering the price i had to pay 125RM but great large seat, more like a business class in a plane.
No need to say, the road was really peaceful, got drop on time at 8pm at the bus station on beach road and here was my host jumping in my arms and soon after making me jump into a taxi towards his place on circuit road.
Great Great moment that was, shopping locally and hop, in the flat for a good night of problems with the computer that ended by it being totally reset to zero !
just had no other choice as something has totally screw all my settings and in the process made me lost all my mp3s so no more music available on this trip !
Saturday morning, we went on to visit singapore all together, showed around his house to help me out locate the mrt station and direction little india, money changers and sim card shopping as the couchsurfing meeting i was organising was due to happen only a few hours later.
From wandering to super visits, we ended in the national museum for a good 3 hours of great fun and history lesson.
It was soon the time to go towards the cs meeting and took us a little while to find our direction on orchard road but in the end everything worked out and all the couchsurfers were soon stalking my cellphone to get directions or asking where i was in the pub.
we stayed there till 9pm then went to have a proper dinner which only cost me 10 sgp ( 5 euros) but the all night made my budget skyrocketting over the rooftop and 140 dollars later, it was 8 am sunday morning.
I did nothing as a consequence sunday, stayed all day in the flat planning the rest of the trip, stupidly missed on the chance to fly out for cheap on thursday thus forcing me to buy an earlier way out to kota kinabalu for wednesday morning.
i think i ll pass on brunei as it is just super expensive to get out of it by any means of transportation...might lose 65rm in the process as my flight from kinabalu is non refundable but better lose 30 euros than being forced to buy a 120 euros airplane ticket to kuching.
tomorrow, i ll visit the zoo and meet up with yinyu a local couchsurfer that almost had the chance of my visit !
good day and blue skies
antoine
Friday, September 25, 2009
cameron highlands to singapore
My very last day in cameron highlands was pretty intense as i climbed the highest peak there with federico.
We shortly met with a german couple soon after exiting the bus that took us from tanah rata to the outter of brinchang for the beginning of the trail.
took us barely 90 minutes to reach the top after quite some climbing, muddy moments, trees all over the place and more i just cant recall !
we got lucky to get to see some because soon the clouds were making their way up the mountain making it just impossible to get a clear vision of the valley.
i ll run this short as i am now in singapore after a boring ride by bus and being picked up by my host singh at the coach station on beach road.
see you all
We shortly met with a german couple soon after exiting the bus that took us from tanah rata to the outter of brinchang for the beginning of the trail.
took us barely 90 minutes to reach the top after quite some climbing, muddy moments, trees all over the place and more i just cant recall !
we got lucky to get to see some because soon the clouds were making their way up the mountain making it just impossible to get a clear vision of the valley.
i ll run this short as i am now in singapore after a boring ride by bus and being picked up by my host singh at the coach station on beach road.
see you all
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The adventure tour at cameron highlands
Wednesday the 23rd.
We booked an adventure tour in the cameron highlands region with kang travellers company !
Really great peeps and lee our guide was right on time to pick us up at the entrance of our lodge.
The programme today was to see the rafflesia , swimming under the cascade, visiting a local village and use a blowpipe, visit a tea factory, an insect farm and a strawberry producer.
Let me tell you, the program is dense and super interesting.
So here we are, 8.45 am, all set, geared up to be more precise, top shoes, long pants, short shirt and the envy to kick it for sure.
The rides by jeep was pretty long and after 55 minutes we were at the bottom of the track and starting our way up to the dropping location to start a hike. After a 20 minutes of up and downs (see attached picture), we arrived and started following our guide spencer who pretty much grew up in the jungle.
The idea of that hike was to see one of the biggest flower on earth (in fact the 3rd biggest in the rafflesia family). Climbing up was no difficulties, crossing rivers piece of cake, climbing over trees almost a dream coming true but how slow was that group was quite a pain especially because of an indian family who wore their Sunday outfit, this causing all the groups behind us to catch up on us and beat us to the fairy flower.
From the flower who is only blooming once every 6-10 months for a week at most then it dies, we went on to the cascade and had quite a blast until i had the nice idea of going in with my sunglasses that i lost quite fast after using the water feature as a shower. Too bad, they were my only pair.
Visiting the village was not loads of fun but playing with the blowpipe got my excitement level slightly increased though i missed the target.
Rest of the day was pretty simple and i ll let you see with the pictures down how good it was !
Blue skies
antoine
We booked an adventure tour in the cameron highlands region with kang travellers company !
Really great peeps and lee our guide was right on time to pick us up at the entrance of our lodge.
The programme today was to see the rafflesia , swimming under the cascade, visiting a local village and use a blowpipe, visit a tea factory, an insect farm and a strawberry producer.
Let me tell you, the program is dense and super interesting.
So here we are, 8.45 am, all set, geared up to be more precise, top shoes, long pants, short shirt and the envy to kick it for sure.
The rides by jeep was pretty long and after 55 minutes we were at the bottom of the track and starting our way up to the dropping location to start a hike. After a 20 minutes of up and downs (see attached picture), we arrived and started following our guide spencer who pretty much grew up in the jungle.
The idea of that hike was to see one of the biggest flower on earth (in fact the 3rd biggest in the rafflesia family). Climbing up was no difficulties, crossing rivers piece of cake, climbing over trees almost a dream coming true but how slow was that group was quite a pain especially because of an indian family who wore their Sunday outfit, this causing all the groups behind us to catch up on us and beat us to the fairy flower.
From the flower who is only blooming once every 6-10 months for a week at most then it dies, we went on to the cascade and had quite a blast until i had the nice idea of going in with my sunglasses that i lost quite fast after using the water feature as a shower. Too bad, they were my only pair.
Visiting the village was not loads of fun but playing with the blowpipe got my excitement level slightly increased though i missed the target.
Rest of the day was pretty simple and i ll let you see with the pictures down how good it was !
Blue skies
antoine
Ciao perhentian kecil
Today was the time to leave perhentian kecil and our great host at the d’lagoon. I even get a t-shirt on my last night that i wore that morning. The dream team (federico, herma and me) took the early speed boat at 8am and made it on the mainland around 9am just in time to relax and get to see where we would make the minibus to Cameron highlands.
The minibus left a bit late around 10.30am and it was almost a ride without any incident until we changed ride to finish the last bit to our destination and actually didn't much enjoyed the risk our chauffeur was taking to speed it up, not to add that the drivers from the banana tours company were pretty rude beforehand as they were refusing toilet breaks or earlier lunch breaks.
I had to eat my indian curry at light speed as our ride was using its horn to call on us. It seems everything is pretty much arranged in advance and commissioned.
We made the ride with a spanish couple that hook me up with their accommodation plan that i eagerly called to see if they had any openings. Lucky me, they were not so busy and we got our three bunk beds secured for a mere 10 rm/night.
Soon after we went in town exploring, looking for some money and cheap booze and ended again at a local indian restaurant specialized in south indian treats. Really good, quite expensive though but we bargained the price of the beer . everything can be negotiated ! how cool is that.
A good evening that finished by grabbing gaps of the big blue, the film by luc besson ! that was just a killer and soon after i joined the other in bed.
The minibus left a bit late around 10.30am and it was almost a ride without any incident until we changed ride to finish the last bit to our destination and actually didn't much enjoyed the risk our chauffeur was taking to speed it up, not to add that the drivers from the banana tours company were pretty rude beforehand as they were refusing toilet breaks or earlier lunch breaks.
I had to eat my indian curry at light speed as our ride was using its horn to call on us. It seems everything is pretty much arranged in advance and commissioned.
We made the ride with a spanish couple that hook me up with their accommodation plan that i eagerly called to see if they had any openings. Lucky me, they were not so busy and we got our three bunk beds secured for a mere 10 rm/night.
Soon after we went in town exploring, looking for some money and cheap booze and ended again at a local indian restaurant specialized in south indian treats. Really good, quite expensive though but we bargained the price of the beer . everything can be negotiated ! how cool is that.
A good evening that finished by grabbing gaps of the big blue, the film by luc besson ! that was just a killer and soon after i joined the other in bed.
Monday, recovering ....
Monday 21st
Today my friends went on the turtle trip and i while they were at sea, i was pretty much at rest. The scenery is still as beautiful and we are about to go for a little expedition to another beach early this afternoon with the gang and a swiss girl named andrea.
The hike to adam and eve beach was pretty peaceful and we found the hidden track without much problem…just had to know that a blue plastic bag was serving the purpose of a recognising signal to turn.
We didnt much enjoyed the beach though the view was really nice but we were looking for a good spot to observe the sunset so after a few tries at going deeper in the sea (it was low tide) and hitting the rocks and corals all the time, we split into two groups and me , federico, andrea and dasa went on rock climbing using the coast line.
Quite an adventure when you are facing 6 meters high wall and you are only using sandals or mere flip flop to climb those…same apply when you must go down from the same height ! glad i am not afraid on being on such a tight spot.
Turtle beach was definitely better and the chance for me to get the swimsuit for a while and enjoy a little bit more this freedom sense i have been searching for a while. Believe me when i say so, this kind of moment are really rare to catch and i am just so happy i got to live this till the very end.
We left right before it get really darker and the storm we have seen coming was on us short after we return…it was just a bit of rain, nothing too dramatic but a really great deal of wind which somehow didnt help the clothes getting dry.
Night went on as i was sharing my time between the long waited curry noodle chicken and a game of tarot that i lost quite miserably but hey, no luck in games aint a discovery i made since i started this trip.
This interesting couple from lyon, karine and guillaume were really good at giving me right directions and things to do. Tomorrow would be the time to leave d’lagoon and hoped for the best in cameron highlands.
Today my friends went on the turtle trip and i while they were at sea, i was pretty much at rest. The scenery is still as beautiful and we are about to go for a little expedition to another beach early this afternoon with the gang and a swiss girl named andrea.
The hike to adam and eve beach was pretty peaceful and we found the hidden track without much problem…just had to know that a blue plastic bag was serving the purpose of a recognising signal to turn.
We didnt much enjoyed the beach though the view was really nice but we were looking for a good spot to observe the sunset so after a few tries at going deeper in the sea (it was low tide) and hitting the rocks and corals all the time, we split into two groups and me , federico, andrea and dasa went on rock climbing using the coast line.
Quite an adventure when you are facing 6 meters high wall and you are only using sandals or mere flip flop to climb those…same apply when you must go down from the same height ! glad i am not afraid on being on such a tight spot.
Turtle beach was definitely better and the chance for me to get the swimsuit for a while and enjoy a little bit more this freedom sense i have been searching for a while. Believe me when i say so, this kind of moment are really rare to catch and i am just so happy i got to live this till the very end.
We left right before it get really darker and the storm we have seen coming was on us short after we return…it was just a bit of rain, nothing too dramatic but a really great deal of wind which somehow didnt help the clothes getting dry.
Night went on as i was sharing my time between the long waited curry noodle chicken and a game of tarot that i lost quite miserably but hey, no luck in games aint a discovery i made since i started this trip.
This interesting couple from lyon, karine and guillaume were really good at giving me right directions and things to do. Tomorrow would be the time to leave d’lagoon and hoped for the best in cameron highlands.
Sun is shining...its sunday in paradize
A beautiful Sunday !
Today it is the celebration of the hari raya, the end of the ramadhan period for the muslim and we woke up with the smells of the delicious cooked prepared by the family of mr razak, the manager of the d’lagoon. He shared the meal with every single travellers that were present here…from peanut sauce, noodles, rice balls, mixed fried rice, chicken curry, sweets, tea..the delicatessen that was !
From there my newly joined comrades in the name of Dasa and lenka from slovakia ; federico from cremona (italy) and Herma from the Netherlands we decided on visiting the turtle beach to which i led them sooner after breakfast.
They were totally amazed by the beach and the quiet there is as we were almost the sole visitors dipping in the hot water that early in the day besides the actual fish residing here.
I found a better way to enter the sea and avoid the rocks so it was cool all in all to get to swim a little bit since i caught that sun burn Friday. I didnt stay there too long as my back start itching again and i ran fast to get a shower , rinsed myself and enjoyed the biafine for a little bit less than an hour before my partner in crime came to rescue me from my boredom.
The rest of the plan was to make the walk to long beach (more or less an hour through the jungle) which we started around 2.30pm that day. After a good half an hour of climbing up the hills and down, we were all pretty much exhausted ! it was without counting on an another extra steep road to make it to a nice view point.
No need to say, it was breathtaking. Crystal clear sea, sand beach just a quick hundred meters away from the d lagoon by swimming but so much worth it. Went on going down the stairs hoping it was on the path to long beach (o f course it wasnt) but who knew !
My dear friends went on a good bath while i was pretty much stuck there, still recovering in the heat ! i only joined them in the end to write a big capital letters, couchsurfing.org on the beach !
(attach the photo here)
Beach time was off, we were ready to leave the paradize and finish the hike to long beach but most of us were pretty tired and willing to jump in a taxi. Herma quicker that lightning stroke again and jumped on the first boat that stopped at the jetty. The driver was really cool and spent time taking pictures with the girls in his classic suit for hari raya, ready to tag them on facebook i believe ! i wasnt spared.
The driver told us he would take a break as he had not so much work and we went on waiting for him in the boat…time flew by but we soon had been waiting for an hour and forty minutes and were really fed up as federico had decided he was willing to walk to long beach and not make the taxi.
The driver came back at the moment we were ready to leave to let us know he was not a taxi and he was willing to charge us ! no need to say w e were quite angry about the situation, flatten this out and jumped in the boat. He dropped us at long beach around 6pm at no cost ! finally something free ! went on to look for federico who sure had been waiting for us for an hour at least and couldnt get our hands on him, found a quick shop and bought food and beverages before making the taxi back to d’lagoon short before 7pm (as the fare is doubled after).
Federico was wating for us there and he had to walk back to the jungle according to him thanks to the adrenaline of being surprised by the darkness and its stamina.
A good all in all that ended with a great dinner and futures plans discussions and a great camp fire we set on the beach watching at the fireworks.
I stayed there with lenka for quite some time, almost sleeping, with for only companion the noise of the waves breaking few feet away.
A moment of pure bliss !
See you !
antoine
Today it is the celebration of the hari raya, the end of the ramadhan period for the muslim and we woke up with the smells of the delicious cooked prepared by the family of mr razak, the manager of the d’lagoon. He shared the meal with every single travellers that were present here…from peanut sauce, noodles, rice balls, mixed fried rice, chicken curry, sweets, tea..the delicatessen that was !
From there my newly joined comrades in the name of Dasa and lenka from slovakia ; federico from cremona (italy) and Herma from the Netherlands we decided on visiting the turtle beach to which i led them sooner after breakfast.
They were totally amazed by the beach and the quiet there is as we were almost the sole visitors dipping in the hot water that early in the day besides the actual fish residing here.
I found a better way to enter the sea and avoid the rocks so it was cool all in all to get to swim a little bit since i caught that sun burn Friday. I didnt stay there too long as my back start itching again and i ran fast to get a shower , rinsed myself and enjoyed the biafine for a little bit less than an hour before my partner in crime came to rescue me from my boredom.
The rest of the plan was to make the walk to long beach (more or less an hour through the jungle) which we started around 2.30pm that day. After a good half an hour of climbing up the hills and down, we were all pretty much exhausted ! it was without counting on an another extra steep road to make it to a nice view point.
No need to say, it was breathtaking. Crystal clear sea, sand beach just a quick hundred meters away from the d lagoon by swimming but so much worth it. Went on going down the stairs hoping it was on the path to long beach (o f course it wasnt) but who knew !
My dear friends went on a good bath while i was pretty much stuck there, still recovering in the heat ! i only joined them in the end to write a big capital letters, couchsurfing.org on the beach !
(attach the photo here)
Beach time was off, we were ready to leave the paradize and finish the hike to long beach but most of us were pretty tired and willing to jump in a taxi. Herma quicker that lightning stroke again and jumped on the first boat that stopped at the jetty. The driver was really cool and spent time taking pictures with the girls in his classic suit for hari raya, ready to tag them on facebook i believe ! i wasnt spared.
The driver told us he would take a break as he had not so much work and we went on waiting for him in the boat…time flew by but we soon had been waiting for an hour and forty minutes and were really fed up as federico had decided he was willing to walk to long beach and not make the taxi.
The driver came back at the moment we were ready to leave to let us know he was not a taxi and he was willing to charge us ! no need to say w e were quite angry about the situation, flatten this out and jumped in the boat. He dropped us at long beach around 6pm at no cost ! finally something free ! went on to look for federico who sure had been waiting for us for an hour at least and couldnt get our hands on him, found a quick shop and bought food and beverages before making the taxi back to d’lagoon short before 7pm (as the fare is doubled after).
Federico was wating for us there and he had to walk back to the jungle according to him thanks to the adrenaline of being surprised by the darkness and its stamina.
A good all in all that ended with a great dinner and futures plans discussions and a great camp fire we set on the beach watching at the fireworks.
I stayed there with lenka for quite some time, almost sleeping, with for only companion the noise of the waves breaking few feet away.
A moment of pure bliss !
See you !
antoine
Biafine , my friend
Saturday 19th september
Day Two on biafine diet. Yeah, my back has pretty much the nice red color i used to have when younger kid playing for hours in the swimming pool and being punished almost every single time ! this is quite good memories i sherish of my brother , me and pauline in line to be dosed of biafine all over our bodies by dad …i am telling you, one happy family bonding time that is.
The tough part of the back being hit is that i just cant reach every single part of it with my hands letting one hurting spot non being taking care of and thus not removing the pain as much as i would like.
Today was then a very quiet day so far. Got up 9am, attracted by food like usual, went back to my room after a nice shower and started spreading biafine like nuts which also had the effect to wake some good neighboors with the smell of it.
I found one bias to biafine…it really does attract mosquitoes and have the opposite counter effect to the repellant i am using to be safe from those flying fearless blood sucker.
I took finally a go at the sea this afternoon as it has been 24 hours or more since i returned and started the cure and was pretty much fed up of seeing everyone taking the sun while i was safely stuck inside my room. I went there with a t-shirt just to play it safe.
Thats it for today, i m hoping to feel better by tomorrow and make the hike to long beach. Hari raya is super close now and the gifts are starting to pack up here.
Blue skies
antoine
Day Two on biafine diet. Yeah, my back has pretty much the nice red color i used to have when younger kid playing for hours in the swimming pool and being punished almost every single time ! this is quite good memories i sherish of my brother , me and pauline in line to be dosed of biafine all over our bodies by dad …i am telling you, one happy family bonding time that is.
The tough part of the back being hit is that i just cant reach every single part of it with my hands letting one hurting spot non being taking care of and thus not removing the pain as much as i would like.
Today was then a very quiet day so far. Got up 9am, attracted by food like usual, went back to my room after a nice shower and started spreading biafine like nuts which also had the effect to wake some good neighboors with the smell of it.
I found one bias to biafine…it really does attract mosquitoes and have the opposite counter effect to the repellant i am using to be safe from those flying fearless blood sucker.
I took finally a go at the sea this afternoon as it has been 24 hours or more since i returned and started the cure and was pretty much fed up of seeing everyone taking the sun while i was safely stuck inside my room. I went there with a t-shirt just to play it safe.
Thats it for today, i m hoping to feel better by tomorrow and make the hike to long beach. Hari raya is super close now and the gifts are starting to pack up here.
Blue skies
antoine
Turtles be aware, a bigger fish is in the sea
I guess before keeping on writing about the adventures here, i need to quickly think ! its been now officially two weeks that i left France and though i sometimes miss my relatives and friends, i found it easier to adapt than i previously anticipated.
No more heavy swet but that could be explained thanks to the considerate weather here and the non stopping wind ! d lagoon is pretty much the northest place on the kecil island and he took me a bit of time to feel at ease as its only full of europeans frenchies, a full carriage of german to name a few…
I went this morning to my first extracurricular activity besides playing the dead french meat on the beach…today i went turtle snorkelling…yes the whole thing ! tuba, mask and speedboat nonetheless…
Great great experience, saw way too many good things and swam not even further than a small meter away from a huge turtle looking to go get some air ! the rest of the time, they are swimming at the bottom of the sea making it impossible for us, mere humans to follow them on their path,
The guide was really knowledgeable and always managed to deliver though i didnt get the chance to meet the sharks. Its okay, i had enough turtles just for myself while the rest of the group was chasing the one !
This activity made me come back to the d’lagoon for half noon and i jumped back in the book i started yesterday (the story of J belfort, the wolf of wall street). Quite interesting piece as i am already down 350 pages ! i always loved anyway books on money makers (especially the funny way they got to spent it), it gives you a chance to feel happy with what you have.
From that moment, i felt the urge of sleeping and then realised i actually caught quite a nice sunburn..my first thought are now dedicated to the biafine treated me and making me feel stupid again..thats what happen when you dont cover the whole surface of your back before going out at the sea !
Anyway now it is almost 7pm and our hosts here on the island are about to break the fast thus closing the restaurant for a good hour before everyone can order food and this very expensive beer that i am not going to try again…8rm for a mere can, thats insulting !
The view is really great, i am enjoying every second of this miracle scenery and will be sending some news really soon.
The hari raya celebration is approaching really fast now and it will all depend on the moon but the little fairy among backpackers is pretty sure it will fall next Sunday if not next Monday ! thus forcing me to leave the island by next Tuesday so as to aim to the national park.
I dont know yet how i ll get there, i am still hesitating between using the minibus geared up by the d’lagoon or making my way up north to kota bahru then south again. I am trying to weight the pros and cons of such a choice also depending on how much money will be necessary to experience a good hiking experience down there. I still aim to make it to singapore before the end of the month to fly to borneo.
Though i havent sorted out the planes tickets for that final weeks just yet.
P.S : its more likely that you will read this way after the events occured but aint no internet service i can rely on here to upload the text and pictures.
With love from d’Lagoon
antoine
Wednesday the 16th september...touring around penang island
Wednesday the 16th september
This morning i got up quite early, following the flow, enjoying the vibes, knowing it would be a very good and sunny day.
The plan proposed by alexandre was to take advantage of the bike for the final day to go touring around Penang island and thats pretty much what we did from that moment.
We left home at 11am just to get enough time to prepare the road and went on for the first stop by the sea, believe it or not but it was the closer i even get from the shores in the past two weeks and it was nice to ride along some lost dirty and smelly canals with mosquitoes as our only companions.
Getting close to the excitation, i was very enthusiastic as we were finishing that little section of the road to end up at a very small fishermen spot, all pretty much relaxing as they are fasting…thus meaning for us no way to get our first meal !
It was already 1pm when we reached that place and soon our primary worry was to get some petrol in the small tanks of our rides to finish the tour.
On the way to bhatu ferrangini, we saw the new hard rock café (barely opened two days prior ), the elegants hostels that seems to show that its the malaysian riveira ! lots of european in the streets, not as many locals !
Not to add this place was totally out of our range to get lunch, we kept moving on as alex knew just the right place to end our quest for food.
Went to kill a nice little burger, mine was called the Big Mouth Bites !
Wednesday couldnt finished before visiting one more time the cheapest « bar » in the region…really outrageous pricing (5 RM for a pint when most places charged 15rm) !
I went back home on alexandre’s bike as i returned mine and thus had no way or time left to get the bus to his place , prepare my backpack and make the 9Pm bus to Terengganu.
Later on, day yann and alexandre took me by car and dropped me at the main bus station right on time after grabbing a quick bite (some local fried rice).
It was time to say goodbye to a new friend and keep going on to follow the path traced for this exploration of malaysia.
I arrived after a good 6 hours of bus that i pretty much slept through in some lost spot where «taxi drivers » impersonated by locals were waiting for us to overcharge the remaining kilometers to Besat.
I can tell you, they are very much organised and it seems that the early backpackers are all ending at the same local ticket dealer ( i reckon he is called M traveler).
Enjoyed anyway the rest of the night in the office on the couch after paying my 70 RM boat return ride to Kecil.
The boat ride itself was quite fun, bumpy all the way, having my first natural brushing in many months for free, understand here that we were all pretty much washed, rinsed and salted at the end ! quite a bunch of nuggets…
I arrived in my room early Thursday morning around 8am and get the chance to pick the one called Stingray. Farely simple piece of furniture, one bed, one shelve , one fan and no internet, no electricity in the bunkhouse.
Soon after i went to have a quick breakfast, a good shower really well desserved and my first bath in the ocean was just at reaching hands.
I thought first i would go for the lazy option of jumping in the d’lagoon but it looked pretty much infested by boats engines, polluted in some other word so crossed the whole island to reach turtle beach !
Really really nice beach, ok no sand but who cares ! i was the only one there and sandals are quite appreciated in this water full of big rocks though not that slippery or cutting.
And what an amazing feeling the first seconds i went under water to discover i was not the only fish in the sea ! tons of them were twirling, spinning around me or just fleeing away as i was trying to get closer…the very first time in 30 years that i had a see that warm and so nicely populated !
More adventures coming as i plan on taking the snorkelling adventures tomorrow morning and certainly get a small hike to join long beach (its about an hour walk using the trail from here) just to see what that beach as that i dont have here.
Maybe i will got there partying a little bit with the other backpackers later tonight just to get the chance to dive in one more time and get a social bath i tend to miss really quickly when not around couchsurfers.
Blue skies
Antoine
This morning i got up quite early, following the flow, enjoying the vibes, knowing it would be a very good and sunny day.
The plan proposed by alexandre was to take advantage of the bike for the final day to go touring around Penang island and thats pretty much what we did from that moment.
We left home at 11am just to get enough time to prepare the road and went on for the first stop by the sea, believe it or not but it was the closer i even get from the shores in the past two weeks and it was nice to ride along some lost dirty and smelly canals with mosquitoes as our only companions.
Getting close to the excitation, i was very enthusiastic as we were finishing that little section of the road to end up at a very small fishermen spot, all pretty much relaxing as they are fasting…thus meaning for us no way to get our first meal !
It was already 1pm when we reached that place and soon our primary worry was to get some petrol in the small tanks of our rides to finish the tour.
On the way to bhatu ferrangini, we saw the new hard rock café (barely opened two days prior ), the elegants hostels that seems to show that its the malaysian riveira ! lots of european in the streets, not as many locals !
Not to add this place was totally out of our range to get lunch, we kept moving on as alex knew just the right place to end our quest for food.
Went to kill a nice little burger, mine was called the Big Mouth Bites !
Wednesday couldnt finished before visiting one more time the cheapest « bar » in the region…really outrageous pricing (5 RM for a pint when most places charged 15rm) !
I went back home on alexandre’s bike as i returned mine and thus had no way or time left to get the bus to his place , prepare my backpack and make the 9Pm bus to Terengganu.
Later on, day yann and alexandre took me by car and dropped me at the main bus station right on time after grabbing a quick bite (some local fried rice).
It was time to say goodbye to a new friend and keep going on to follow the path traced for this exploration of malaysia.
I arrived after a good 6 hours of bus that i pretty much slept through in some lost spot where «taxi drivers » impersonated by locals were waiting for us to overcharge the remaining kilometers to Besat.
I can tell you, they are very much organised and it seems that the early backpackers are all ending at the same local ticket dealer ( i reckon he is called M traveler).
Enjoyed anyway the rest of the night in the office on the couch after paying my 70 RM boat return ride to Kecil.
The boat ride itself was quite fun, bumpy all the way, having my first natural brushing in many months for free, understand here that we were all pretty much washed, rinsed and salted at the end ! quite a bunch of nuggets…
I arrived in my room early Thursday morning around 8am and get the chance to pick the one called Stingray. Farely simple piece of furniture, one bed, one shelve , one fan and no internet, no electricity in the bunkhouse.
Soon after i went to have a quick breakfast, a good shower really well desserved and my first bath in the ocean was just at reaching hands.
I thought first i would go for the lazy option of jumping in the d’lagoon but it looked pretty much infested by boats engines, polluted in some other word so crossed the whole island to reach turtle beach !
Really really nice beach, ok no sand but who cares ! i was the only one there and sandals are quite appreciated in this water full of big rocks though not that slippery or cutting.
And what an amazing feeling the first seconds i went under water to discover i was not the only fish in the sea ! tons of them were twirling, spinning around me or just fleeing away as i was trying to get closer…the very first time in 30 years that i had a see that warm and so nicely populated !
More adventures coming as i plan on taking the snorkelling adventures tomorrow morning and certainly get a small hike to join long beach (its about an hour walk using the trail from here) just to see what that beach as that i dont have here.
Maybe i will got there partying a little bit with the other backpackers later tonight just to get the chance to dive in one more time and get a social bath i tend to miss really quickly when not around couchsurfers.
Blue skies
Antoine
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