Moments to remember

Some memorable moments during the last few weeks (sorry for some insider jokes):

-dancing on the bar until 4am at Manchester club in Jakarta
-the bus from Jakarta to Yogja having a 'small' delay of 5 hours and thus taking 17 instead of 12 hours
-walking to Mount Bromo in the dark and nearly getting lost so we had to hire a guide on the way
-going art shopping in Ubud with Pascal
-having too much Indonesian(!) vodka on my last night in Bali
-playing scrabble until 5am with Pilli and Dimitris (I know I'm pretty competitive when it comes to this game- Pilli thanks so much for hosting us by the way)
-A Greek, a Kenyan, a Swiss going to a Salsa bar in Kuala Lumpur (to my Colombian friends: I actually danced Salsa with several Chinese(!) men)
-daily Sunset Gin n Tonic with Dimitris, Brian and Alice
-my pink book, our pink room and Dimitris pink back (and belly ;-))

Diving on Koh Tao, Thailand

The past week I have spent in paradise: Koh Tao Island, Thailand. I’m not so much of a beach person, but here I probably for the first time experienced what it is like being at the beach, chilling, doing nothing for most of the days. And I learnt to appreciate it… ;-)

Koh Tao is known for its diving and its marine life. So once we went out snorkeling for the day and all in all I went for three dives while I was here. Diving is just one of the best things I have ever done, especially the night dive, I did the other day. For once I had my buoyancy figured out really well, so it felt like flying. They give you a torch and then off you go into the dark. The ocean is even more fascinating at night, the corals have different colours, you see fish that usually sleep during the day, the orientation is much more difficult, meaning at some point I didn’t know where was up or down… I can’t wait until I get to Australia, to the Great Barrier Reef! Diving is truly addictive…

The evenings are usually spent by the beach, watching the sunset and enjoying our mandatory gin and tonic. This is followed by dinner at one of the many beach restaurants. The fish (barracuda and snapper) they have here on the barbecue must have been the most delicious thing I ever tasted. Heaven!

Tomorrow I will have to leave this fantastic place, as I’m heading North to Chiang Mai. I’m now ready for more adventures ...:-)

Indonesia pics and small update

My last day in Indonesia :-( Tomorrow I’m flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The cool thing is that I will meet up with some friends there! :-)

The time here has passed much quicker than I imagined. The first week we traveled around in Java. First some time in Jakarta, although I have to say I definitely prefer other cities. The traffic there is just insane! I think it comes pretty close to Beijing in that regard. Yogjakarta I liked much more, saying the Buddhist temple of Borobudur has been one of the highlights of this trip so far. I want to take some time while I’m in Thailand to read more about Buddhism, as again I was confronted with my huge knowledge gap when it comes to other religions. Next was a stop in Mount Bromo, a volcano in the east of Java. We got up at 4am to be there for the sunrise at 6am. – you see I’m developing into an early bird :-)

Then we moved on to Bali, to a little town in the north called Lovina. We stayed there for a couple of days and enjoyed the beach environment: watching dolphins, snorkeling, diving, hanging out at the beach…I loved it there. I prefer the less crowed villages to the tourist resorts in the south. For the last two days, we stayed in Ubud, the artistic centre of Bali. To those who know me better, they know that I’m the world worst artist plus I have never really gotten into painting etc, but here I really did get into the spirit and I a bought actually two paintings! As I write these lines, I’m here in Kuta, the party and beach capital of Bali. The best way to describe it for me is to say it is the Ibiza of Bali: wild parties, beach and tons of shops!

Art shop in Ubud, Bali

Water temple in Bali

Going to our dive site

View on the rice fields from our hotel room in Lovina, Bali

On Mount Bromo, Java with David, Patric and Pascal my travel mates

Buddhist temple in Borobudur, Java

plans for the next few weeks

I'm about to leave Jakarta and head off to explore the rest of Java. Some other wedding guests are also travelling, so it looks as if I will join them for a bit. While being in Indonesia, I also wanna check out Bali and if possible parts of Lombok before taking a flight on the 18th of May to Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia. There I will meet up with Dimitris. As it looks now we will check out Malaysia for a few days before going to spend a few days on the beach in Southern Tailand. After that I will go on North: North Tailand, Laos and Southern China, before heading back to Singapore. Thinking of the weeks ahead I'm very excited, as I feel that my experience here will be quite different from the experience so far, as I don't have my AIESEC network to rely on any more, plus the fact that I don't speak any of the languages of these countries will make things a litttle more complicated I think. I also wonder how I will be dealing with the heat and the humidity. So far it is kinda ok, although I must admit that air con is not such a bad invention after all...:-)

Missing Colombia

It’s not to say that I don’t enjoy Indonesia so far, but there are already a few things that I’m missing about Colombia:
-Learning Spanish every morning
-sipping Colombian Coffee
-Hanging out at Juan Valdez
-enjoying the stunning view from “el Penol”
-eating crunchy Dulcitos while sitting on the bus
-hearing Pipe say ‘dear Lord’ :-)
-Listening to Colombian music
-Dancing Salsa and Merengue with men who really know how to dance
-Indulging in the yummiest Lulo, Mango and Maracuya juice you can imagine

But what I miss most are Colombian people: people with such a big heart, joy of life, passion, people who are so friendly and hospitable. Thank you so much to everyone who I had the chance to get to know, especially to all my hosts and city guides, all of you really made my five weeks in Colombia some of the best of my life!

Mike and Ikas wedding in Indonesia

Just a short entry, just to say that I made it safe and sound to Indonesia! I arrived here on Friday late afternoon, so that I could make it in time for the wedding for Mike and Ika. Actually it was quite a trip to get here. I left Colombia for Panama on Tuesday. I did so with a bit of a nostalgic feeling, as I really didn’t wanted to leave! I spent one day in Panama city, checking out the old town, visiting the Panama canal museum (highly recommended), hanging out with other travelers and generally taking it easy. On Wednesday lunchtime I started my trip to Indonesia: Panama-Miami, Miami – Los Angeles, Los Angeles-Hong Kong, Hong Kong-Jakarta. 36 hours later I got to Jakarta, where I met up already with Bong at the airport. Friday night was spent at an Indonesian Restaurant with all the international guests attending the wedding. It is so cool to catch up with many old AIESEC friends again: Marco, CK, Lubo, Magnani brothers, Urs, Liv, etc.

Saturday was the big day then: the wedding. It consisted of three parts: First a traditional church ceremony, followed by the most amazing wedding reception I have ever seen in terms of size and decorations and rounded up by one of the best after parties I’ve been to in a long while. Pictures will follow I soon as I manage to download them. Gotta run, as we are invited at the brides parents place for lunch.

At the reception with the bride's and grooms parents

The happy couple :-)

Old AIESEC friends

More happy moments...