It is 7pm in Bangkok right now and we are done our shopping and heading for the airport. Although it will be a long flight with two major stopovers we are very excited to begin the new leg of our trip: Europe. Our itinerary for the flight is Bangkok to London arrive at 6:20 am, wait 12 hours and fly to Vienna, wait 14 hours and fly to Kiev. We should arrive in Kiev at 10:30 am on May 20th. I dont know what the internet situation will be like there and when we will be able to blog, but as soon as we have a chance we will.
Au Revoir
Monday, May 18, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
La Cucarocha
It's been a while I know. Pro, i have at least one good story to share with you. Con, I can't think of any. As Veronika mentioned we are back in Thailand and our first stop was Chang Mai.
The reason we chose Chang Mai is because we felt that it would be easier to cross the border from the North of Thailand. Turns out we had no idea of how long it was going to take us so we are killing the rest of our time in Thailand before Europe. Veronika mentioned that I did a good job finding us a place to stay on the first night. That is partially true. Yes I did find the area and hotel to stay at, which was surprisingly cheap in comparison to what we have become accustomed to. The problems are that we had a massive room with a tiny, piece of crap rotating fan. It was like lying down in a sauna. The other thing was that we had an issue with yet another "crazy insect".
Cockroaches are without a doubt a super bug. I'm sure they are the envy of all the insects in the world. People always talk about (at least i do) what one super power they would most like to posses. Insects would tell you that they would want to be a cockroach. They are lightning quick, gross, move best in the dark and now we have learned they could fly as well. My choice is a no brainer, to be indestructible.
The fiasco starts when Veronika went to brush her teeth and I was left in the bed completely exhausted and turned of the main light while leaving the lamp beside the bed on. With my incredible peripherals I noticed something crawling on the wall. When my eyes finally adjusted on the unwelecomed guest, I was watching the biggest cockroach int he world enjoy a jog on my wall. I was obviously freaking out but when Veronika came out of the bathroom, the cockroach flew to a new hiding place. Out of sight. It was similar to Shaggy and Scooby telling the rest of the gang they had just seen the ghost (which was always a guy in a costume). Veronika didn't believe what I told her and decided to take a shower. She will deny this. Once again I was left alone in the lions den with this man eating bastard. I don't know if they actually eat people but at this point I wouldn't be shocked at all. Veronika steps into the shower and the terrorist reappears. At this point he/she was messing with my head. Breaking me down psychologically so I tire out and then it can defecate on my forehead while I'm sleeping. I watched the roach parade on my bag, into the carry on and then into the corner at the foot of our bed. Veronika came out and I had already ran to the other side of the room to find a hiding place. I spoke in tongues when filling her in on what the situation was. The roach reappeared and one of us had to get rid of the bug while the other curls up in a ball to fight back tears on the bed. I made the choice for the both of us by nominating Veronika as the one to get rid of it. I sat there screaming like a little girl and Veronika did what most men would have done in that situation.
So yes, I found the place for a good price but we had to sleep with the lights on, it has made me completely paranoid which in turn is effecting my sleep. Also, if Veronika ever decides to break up with me I know it is because of how girly I get around bugs. She will deny it when I ask her to admit this but to her friends she will let them know I have a mangina. To an outsider that has never met me they might think that I might actually be a woman. I hate to brag but I am quite the mans man. I chop down trees, love cars, tools, hunting drinking beer out of a can and crushing it on my forehead when I am done. Last but not least I always try my best to participate in one puerto rican knife fight a month. All man!
The train from Chang Mai to Ko Lanta was supposed to be a 10 hour ride on an express train. I think the Thai's don't fully understand the concept of an express train. We stopped at every single train station with some stops lasting half an hour. To add to my displeasure I saw some baby cockroaches running around certain areas of the filthy train. The cabin we were in appeared to receive the type of cleaning you would do to your house the day your parents would come home from a weekend trip. Sweep everything underneath a carpet. The train didn't have a carpet so the trash was piled under neath our seats/beds. What the hell are we paying for? How much does it cost to hire a child to clean the trains? I know it sounds harsh but it beats them begging on the streets while their parents are sitting at a bar getting smashed while having engaging conversations with prostitutes. Needless to say I unwillingly slept for about 45 minutes on an overnight train ride that lasted 14 hours.
The bus ride from Bangkok to the pier took another eight hours and the ferry took a half an hour. Lets round the entire trip up to 24 hours of continuous travel with no sleep. I slept like a baby that night and was ready to relax on what could be the final beach we will see on the remainder of our trip. Oh wait it is time for the monsoon.
A monsoon sounds like a big deal in the same category as a hurricane or tsunami but really it is just the wet season. We are getting the opportunity to relax and eat at some restaurants we are familiar with. We did however, try a new Italian restaurant. I was starving and we all know Italians eat until there pants don't fit and the only way they can move away from the table is if someone has a wheel barrel handy. This Italian restaurant was the complete opposite. The prices were through the roof so I wanted to select a dish that will do the trick. I ordered the Crunchy Lasagna which included duck, salad, a bed of risotto and sun dried tomatoes. Whoever wrote the menu is a bloody con artist. The lasagna was two layers of pasta that were roughly the same size as half a toilet paper square. The salad was two forks of lettuce, the bed of risotto must have been the equivalent size of jimmy the crickets (of Pinocchio fame) mach box bed. The duck breast was way to small to be from an actual duck. It was closer to the size of a quail. Thankfully Veronika agreed that half of her real person sized pizza was a good trade for the three fork fulls of food I gave her. I know that there are restaurants that the chef provides quality food in small portions but in Thailand? You kidding me? The Restaurant was located in a part of the island that might be comparable to the most undesirable part of Scarborough. That is if Scarborough replaced all of the building with sheds and shacks.
Despite all of the above I have enjoyed my time in South East Asia very much. I will cook Thai food for anyone that wants and will wear an apron for show. I will do it on my own terms and not wear any clothes underneath. That's what I call dinner and a show.
Laters
The reason we chose Chang Mai is because we felt that it would be easier to cross the border from the North of Thailand. Turns out we had no idea of how long it was going to take us so we are killing the rest of our time in Thailand before Europe. Veronika mentioned that I did a good job finding us a place to stay on the first night. That is partially true. Yes I did find the area and hotel to stay at, which was surprisingly cheap in comparison to what we have become accustomed to. The problems are that we had a massive room with a tiny, piece of crap rotating fan. It was like lying down in a sauna. The other thing was that we had an issue with yet another "crazy insect".
Cockroaches are without a doubt a super bug. I'm sure they are the envy of all the insects in the world. People always talk about (at least i do) what one super power they would most like to posses. Insects would tell you that they would want to be a cockroach. They are lightning quick, gross, move best in the dark and now we have learned they could fly as well. My choice is a no brainer, to be indestructible.
The fiasco starts when Veronika went to brush her teeth and I was left in the bed completely exhausted and turned of the main light while leaving the lamp beside the bed on. With my incredible peripherals I noticed something crawling on the wall. When my eyes finally adjusted on the unwelecomed guest, I was watching the biggest cockroach int he world enjoy a jog on my wall. I was obviously freaking out but when Veronika came out of the bathroom, the cockroach flew to a new hiding place. Out of sight. It was similar to Shaggy and Scooby telling the rest of the gang they had just seen the ghost (which was always a guy in a costume). Veronika didn't believe what I told her and decided to take a shower. She will deny this. Once again I was left alone in the lions den with this man eating bastard. I don't know if they actually eat people but at this point I wouldn't be shocked at all. Veronika steps into the shower and the terrorist reappears. At this point he/she was messing with my head. Breaking me down psychologically so I tire out and then it can defecate on my forehead while I'm sleeping. I watched the roach parade on my bag, into the carry on and then into the corner at the foot of our bed. Veronika came out and I had already ran to the other side of the room to find a hiding place. I spoke in tongues when filling her in on what the situation was. The roach reappeared and one of us had to get rid of the bug while the other curls up in a ball to fight back tears on the bed. I made the choice for the both of us by nominating Veronika as the one to get rid of it. I sat there screaming like a little girl and Veronika did what most men would have done in that situation.
So yes, I found the place for a good price but we had to sleep with the lights on, it has made me completely paranoid which in turn is effecting my sleep. Also, if Veronika ever decides to break up with me I know it is because of how girly I get around bugs. She will deny it when I ask her to admit this but to her friends she will let them know I have a mangina. To an outsider that has never met me they might think that I might actually be a woman. I hate to brag but I am quite the mans man. I chop down trees, love cars, tools, hunting drinking beer out of a can and crushing it on my forehead when I am done. Last but not least I always try my best to participate in one puerto rican knife fight a month. All man!
The train from Chang Mai to Ko Lanta was supposed to be a 10 hour ride on an express train. I think the Thai's don't fully understand the concept of an express train. We stopped at every single train station with some stops lasting half an hour. To add to my displeasure I saw some baby cockroaches running around certain areas of the filthy train. The cabin we were in appeared to receive the type of cleaning you would do to your house the day your parents would come home from a weekend trip. Sweep everything underneath a carpet. The train didn't have a carpet so the trash was piled under neath our seats/beds. What the hell are we paying for? How much does it cost to hire a child to clean the trains? I know it sounds harsh but it beats them begging on the streets while their parents are sitting at a bar getting smashed while having engaging conversations with prostitutes. Needless to say I unwillingly slept for about 45 minutes on an overnight train ride that lasted 14 hours.
The bus ride from Bangkok to the pier took another eight hours and the ferry took a half an hour. Lets round the entire trip up to 24 hours of continuous travel with no sleep. I slept like a baby that night and was ready to relax on what could be the final beach we will see on the remainder of our trip. Oh wait it is time for the monsoon.
A monsoon sounds like a big deal in the same category as a hurricane or tsunami but really it is just the wet season. We are getting the opportunity to relax and eat at some restaurants we are familiar with. We did however, try a new Italian restaurant. I was starving and we all know Italians eat until there pants don't fit and the only way they can move away from the table is if someone has a wheel barrel handy. This Italian restaurant was the complete opposite. The prices were through the roof so I wanted to select a dish that will do the trick. I ordered the Crunchy Lasagna which included duck, salad, a bed of risotto and sun dried tomatoes. Whoever wrote the menu is a bloody con artist. The lasagna was two layers of pasta that were roughly the same size as half a toilet paper square. The salad was two forks of lettuce, the bed of risotto must have been the equivalent size of jimmy the crickets (of Pinocchio fame) mach box bed. The duck breast was way to small to be from an actual duck. It was closer to the size of a quail. Thankfully Veronika agreed that half of her real person sized pizza was a good trade for the three fork fulls of food I gave her. I know that there are restaurants that the chef provides quality food in small portions but in Thailand? You kidding me? The Restaurant was located in a part of the island that might be comparable to the most undesirable part of Scarborough. That is if Scarborough replaced all of the building with sheds and shacks.
Despite all of the above I have enjoyed my time in South East Asia very much. I will cook Thai food for anyone that wants and will wear an apron for show. I will do it on my own terms and not wear any clothes underneath. That's what I call dinner and a show.
Laters
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Back in Thailand
Yes we are back in Thailand. I know we were supposed to go to Laos to do the tubing that is highly recommended. Unfortunately, in the last few weeks we have been poor planners and even worse executioners. Hence we are riding our last few days before we leave for Ukraine in the North of Thailand.
I will begin this blog in the airport on the way from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. As we arrived in Bangkok and found the airline booths we frantically ran around to find the cheapest airfare to Laos. There was no cheap way directly so we settled for a close border connection and a city that we wanted to see often nicknamed as Bangkok's prettier twin sister, Chiang Mai. We bought a ticket with Bangkok Air since we heard about their free lounge. Unfortunately, we only had 35 minutes to check our bags and make it for our boarding time. We ran through the airport, found the lounge and raided it. They didn't have take away bags because this lounge was used for killing clock and relaxing before the flight, so we invented our own. We used tiny little popcorn bags and stuffed them with food. We grabbed cups of coffee and juice (after all this is the first time we saw free food). Needless to say the other passengers on the flight were not impressed with us. We boarded the plane, tired from all the running around that we did but not hungry, only to find out that they do serve quite a delicious meal on board (we ate that one too).
When we got to Chiang Mai, Marc did great research and found us a hostel in the center of backpackers town. What we didn't properly research is the best way to get to Laos. Although on the map Chiang Mai looked like the closest border connection with Laos, we failed to see the brown markings on the map which in fact are mountains. Unfortunately for us this is the furthest spot from Laos and if we took a bus from Bangkok we would have been there in ten hours. As we learned this information we realized that Laos was just not meant to be. We managed to make some friends with a group of English and Australian travelers. Last night we went out to a Western bar together, we exchanged interesting travel stories (now we sound quite professional at this) and had an overall great time. When we were back in the room Marc professed his disappointment at the poor drinking habits of the English. I assure him that once we are in Ukraine and meet up with Andrei he will not be disappointed.
In the last few days we have been quite active. We visited a Thai farm and learned how to make five different traditional meals. The beauty of it is that Marc and I learned 9 different meals in total and can host a traditional Thai dinner party. We first visited a local market which was an experience on its own. And then got a tour of the farm where we picked spices and vegetables for our individual meals. We met a girl from Australia (Kerry) who lives in Chiang Mai and volunteers at an orphanage. We met up with her the next day and she showed us around the orphanage. There were over 200 children living in one building. More than half the children have parents but they are either in jail or can't afford to take care of them. The section for toddlers was the saddest. They had 20 kids in one room to three women, half of the children were crying. Kerry said that the toddlers develop their motor skills much later in life than the average child because they don't leave their beds for three months at a time, not even for a stroll of fresh air. The only time they are out of their beds is to be showered or fed. We saw a deaf child and he was quite sweet. We took him out of his bed and played with him. Kerry said he really took a liking to us. When we were leaving, we made a significant donation and gave a flyer to our hotel so they can send more tourists there.
On a lighter note, we also visited the Chiang Mai zoo. We saw a lot of different animals and got to feed the Giraffes. I will post the pictures in a few days.
We have finally booked our Eurail Pass which allows us 10 travel days in 5 countries. So far we know that after we visit Ukraine we will visit Amsterdam, Brogues (Belgium), Brussels (Belgium), Frankfurt (Germany), Berlin (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria), Rome (Italy), Venice (Italy) and the Amalfi Coast (Italy). We then fly to London and back home sweet home.
Kissess
Veronika
I will begin this blog in the airport on the way from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. As we arrived in Bangkok and found the airline booths we frantically ran around to find the cheapest airfare to Laos. There was no cheap way directly so we settled for a close border connection and a city that we wanted to see often nicknamed as Bangkok's prettier twin sister, Chiang Mai. We bought a ticket with Bangkok Air since we heard about their free lounge. Unfortunately, we only had 35 minutes to check our bags and make it for our boarding time. We ran through the airport, found the lounge and raided it. They didn't have take away bags because this lounge was used for killing clock and relaxing before the flight, so we invented our own. We used tiny little popcorn bags and stuffed them with food. We grabbed cups of coffee and juice (after all this is the first time we saw free food). Needless to say the other passengers on the flight were not impressed with us. We boarded the plane, tired from all the running around that we did but not hungry, only to find out that they do serve quite a delicious meal on board (we ate that one too).
When we got to Chiang Mai, Marc did great research and found us a hostel in the center of backpackers town. What we didn't properly research is the best way to get to Laos. Although on the map Chiang Mai looked like the closest border connection with Laos, we failed to see the brown markings on the map which in fact are mountains. Unfortunately for us this is the furthest spot from Laos and if we took a bus from Bangkok we would have been there in ten hours. As we learned this information we realized that Laos was just not meant to be. We managed to make some friends with a group of English and Australian travelers. Last night we went out to a Western bar together, we exchanged interesting travel stories (now we sound quite professional at this) and had an overall great time. When we were back in the room Marc professed his disappointment at the poor drinking habits of the English. I assure him that once we are in Ukraine and meet up with Andrei he will not be disappointed.
In the last few days we have been quite active. We visited a Thai farm and learned how to make five different traditional meals. The beauty of it is that Marc and I learned 9 different meals in total and can host a traditional Thai dinner party. We first visited a local market which was an experience on its own. And then got a tour of the farm where we picked spices and vegetables for our individual meals. We met a girl from Australia (Kerry) who lives in Chiang Mai and volunteers at an orphanage. We met up with her the next day and she showed us around the orphanage. There were over 200 children living in one building. More than half the children have parents but they are either in jail or can't afford to take care of them. The section for toddlers was the saddest. They had 20 kids in one room to three women, half of the children were crying. Kerry said that the toddlers develop their motor skills much later in life than the average child because they don't leave their beds for three months at a time, not even for a stroll of fresh air. The only time they are out of their beds is to be showered or fed. We saw a deaf child and he was quite sweet. We took him out of his bed and played with him. Kerry said he really took a liking to us. When we were leaving, we made a significant donation and gave a flyer to our hotel so they can send more tourists there.
On a lighter note, we also visited the Chiang Mai zoo. We saw a lot of different animals and got to feed the Giraffes. I will post the pictures in a few days.
We have finally booked our Eurail Pass which allows us 10 travel days in 5 countries. So far we know that after we visit Ukraine we will visit Amsterdam, Brogues (Belgium), Brussels (Belgium), Frankfurt (Germany), Berlin (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria), Rome (Italy), Venice (Italy) and the Amalfi Coast (Italy). We then fly to London and back home sweet home.
Kissess
Veronika
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Mount Batur - Volcano Trekk
After long deliberation to go or not to on the Volcano Trek, we decided it would be a waste since we are here not to go. Everyone said the trek up the Volcano called Mount Batur will be really easy (everyone being people that were selling us the trip). The idea is you are picked up at 1am from the hotel, drive for 2.5 hours and then climb for 1.5 hours, wait for the sunrise have breakfast at the summit and climb down for 1.5 hours. It was anything but easy, and I will tell you why.
We were picked up by a driver that started to complain from the beginning that he is really tired, he has been driving for more than 24 hours. He stopped over 5 times to splash water on his face to wake himself up. He tried everything, he listened to music, opened the window, he drank water, pulled over and still he couldn't stay awake. I was so scared that I decided to forgoer my beauty rest and sleep in the car before the hike, for our safety. I talked to him occasionally and remembered what my dad told me about falling asleep behind the wheel. "Chew gum or nuts, as long as your jaw is working you will stay awake." Well I passed this wise tip to the driver in hopes that he had some gum to chew. He didn't but decided he will try anything to stay awake and found in his pocket, to my dismay a red hot chili pepper. He ate it at once and woke right up. However, he underestimated the strength of this little red pepper. He had to pull over yet again as he now couldn't drive because he was screaming in pain. At least he woke up and then I went back to sleep happy at an accomplished mission.
We arrived at the bottom of the mountain in complete darkness. Our driver was already getting ready to sleep and our guide has introduced himself. He gave us a pair of flashlights and away we went. To my asking of how long this will take and how far is the climb he said "very close and very easy." I was really happy about that. At this point it was 3:30 am in the morning to be fair I was really really regretting my decision to conquer this mountain. Who cares about the sunset, why am I here in the middle of the night with a flashlight and 3 hours of climbing ahead of me??? There was not turning back, so I looked forward and followed the guide. The walk at first was really easy. One foot after another, one after another. I kept checking my watch to gauge our progress, what felt like 30 minutes was really 10 minutes. The woods were dark and I couldn't see anything. Marc was right behind me still asleep and in his own world. I tried to talk to the guide but his English was no good and my Balinese was even worse. I checked my watch again only another 5 minutes have passed, I was getting really tired but I couldn't help notice that the road was getting steeper and we were definitely just starting our uphill climb.
When we have climbed for 30 minutes (serious uphill trekking) the guide allowed us a break. My shirt was drenched I was breathing heavy. I was really hoping that Marc was on the same page that we should just turn around and call it a night. He was fine and muttered a few words (his first in the last 30 minutes). I asked the guide again if it gets harder from here, he then pointed at the mountain and my jaw dropped. I finally saw our destination. We were walking on a flat surface and had 80%of the mountain left to climb. The mountain was 1770 high and one way climb was 5 km.
I decided to stick it out. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. We took a break every five minutes as my feet were just giving out. The guide after our break gave me his hand and dragged me up. We were climbing the mountain with rocks falling beneath our feet in the middle of the night in the dark. When we climbed for 1 hour and 20 minutes I said I was done. I did not care about anything other than stopping and getting my breath back. Marc made a good point that it is longer to go down hill. We sat for 10 minutes and then I got enough courage to finish the climb.
Forty minutes later we reached the top. I literally felt like I was on top of the world. My feet were shaking, my clothes were drenched, my chest was hyperventilating but we made it. The sun had another 1.5 hours till sunrise. We were the first to reach the top, and gathered at a restaurant. The chef was making boiled eggs and bread (not much of a choice there but you take what you can get) and we sat in the kitchen trying to get warm. Slowly other people started gathering and by the time the sun came up there were more than 50 people on the mountain. Everyone shared a secret bond through our sense of accomplishment. People were chatting, eating, trying to stay warm and waiting for the sun to come up. We ran into a Canadian group that we have travelled with previously. It was a surprising place to run into one another.
The scenery was truly breathtaking. In front of us was another mountain covered by clouds. At the bottom was a river, on top of the mountain the sun was rising and a few feet away we saw the Crater erupting with warm springs. Once the sun came out so did the monkeys. Marc fed them tomatoes that the guide has picked and we even saw some monkey business. In the end I do feel great that I did it, but in the future I need to prepare physically for such a hike.
Unfortunately, we are leaving Bali tomorrow and going to Laos. Not that we don't want to see Laos, but we really love it here. We are now researching a temple where Monks grow tigers and they run free and are very friendly (the tigers run free not the Monks, although I'm sure that they both run free and are really friendly). Marc said he will sit this one out, but I am really excited. We are not sure what the Internet situation will be like then, but as soon as we can we will blog.
Marc and I would like to wish a very happy mothers day to Mama and Charlene. We are sorry we couldn't be there in person but we love you and miss you very much. Please also wish Babushka Dina and Babushka Asya, Tetya Ala, Tetya Bella, Tetya Ira, Polina, Marina, Vika, Rita and all the mothers a very happy mothers day from us.
Kissess
Veronika
Monday, May 4, 2009
A working Day
I would like to announce that after a hard days work we are the proud owners of a new baby Canon camera!!! I cant explain how happy I am that we are able to once again take pictures and capture this trip. We have definitely missed some beautiful spots in the north and south of Lombok where we rented a scooter and explored the island. We drove by Buffalo's that were hanging out on the side of the road along beautiful mountains. Dined and wined at a seafood buffet by the ocean. Almost learned how to surf. Witnessed an Indonesian motorcycle race and saw 40 ft waves from a deserted white sand beach.
We are now back in this crazy city called Bali in our old hotel. I guess we just cant get enough. It felt like I was coming back home, a place I know and place I love. We are leaving Indonesia and going to Laos on May 7th. We are finally planning our trip to Europe and will order a Eurorail pass online to Kiev Ukraine. In a few weeks I promise to update with some pics from our new baby camera.
Till then Au revoir
We are now back in this crazy city called Bali in our old hotel. I guess we just cant get enough. It felt like I was coming back home, a place I know and place I love. We are leaving Indonesia and going to Laos on May 7th. We are finally planning our trip to Europe and will order a Eurorail pass online to Kiev Ukraine. In a few weeks I promise to update with some pics from our new baby camera.
Till then Au revoir
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Paradise Lost
As cliche as it is, all good things come to an end. Our 11 night stay on the Gilli island was absolutely incredible but the wheels started to fall off after the 9th night.
Being that most people in this part of the world are Muslim, there are a few things that I found weird but don't care to talk about. I do want to comment about what they are doing to piss me off. Every day there is a loud speaker that blasts out the sound of a man singing. If this man was say, Micheal Buble I wouldn't be able to control myself. However, the voice is similar to the one heard in the Indian song that everyone seems to know and make fun of. Since all the locals on the island wake up at un-godly hour, the first song is played between 4:30 and 5:00am. What the hell do people do so early? The song does not only wake me up but also wakes up the incredibly large population of roosters. You can find these roosters all over the island but they normally like to hang out where tourists are sleeping. All the roosters on the island proceed to cock-a-doodle-do at each other for 45 minutes which should be enough to wake everyone on the island up. But it seems to only wake up babies who then cry for the next half hour. I have nothing against babies but the shrill sound of their cries at this hour in the morning reminds me of someone scratching a chalk board with a nail.
Everyone knows that Muslims are elaborate planners and have worked out a perfect plan to get under my skin. To anyone other than an expert on human behaviour (which I am) they would blame the baby or the parents for that matter. I, however, know to trace back through all the series that lead to me lying awake in my bed from 4-7am.
The morning I made this discovery, we were evicted from our beautiful room because someone made reservations a few months in advance. How anyone other than Veronika and myself know about this diamond in the rough is beyond me. So I started to think about it and came to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe we were being kicked out of the presidential suite because we hadn't paid a dime up until that morning. I have never been kicked out of a place (sober at least) and it was a tough pill to swallow first thing in the morning.
Veronika and I sat down for breakfast, which is provided by the lady who owns the bungalow. The breakfast progressively got worse as the days went on. We still got our eggs and toast but what the hell is the point of having sunny side up eggs if the yolk is cooked solid? Some would call this nit picking but I say those should keep their opinions to themselves. Anyway, the lady offered us the room across the hall for $3 less per night. Veronika wasn't having it and wanted to negotiate so we ended up getting $10 off per night. Scores!!!!!!!! The odd thing was that the lady put up no fight. When negotiating, Asians are known to fight for every 50 cents. I knew something was up.
And my hunch was right. The new room looked like it was at one point a closet and they gave their retarded nephew a bunch of materials and a whole afternoon to turn it into a profitable closet. The result was absolutely incredible. One wall was stone, which we thought was a nice touch, had a head board for our bed which was on a 45 degree angle. Half the head board was attached to the wall while the other was dangling. The 2x4's on the ceiling were crooked so I started to think that this retarded nephew might have been blind as well. The bed was partially inside the room while the part directly under the head board was resting on gravel and soil. The bathroom was a diamond shape. Only issue with this is the dimensions were completely out of whack and every time I used the toilet it felt like I was in a phone booth. The experience very much reminded me of London Pub. This room sucked but we really needed to get to the beach for our after breakfast nap. So we took it for one night.
Later that night our A/C didn't work and our room was hotter than the sun, I'm sure. We decided to play cards outside and take our towel because the only couch in the lobby was being used by an uncle who had no place to stay and used the couch as his home. Veronika grabs the towel and we head out. Then Veronika's bracelet started to move. Then she freaked out and flung her bracelet onto my shorts. Wait a minute. The bracelet was a massive cockroach. I screamed like a girl and wasn't the same for the rest of the night. I enforced the rule that we should sleep with the lights on and in the morning to find a new place to stay for our last night.
Morning came and this time the man singing on the speaker didn't wake me up. I didn't fall asleep. We started to pack and more of the roaches decided to show their face. What purpose do cockroaches serve anyway? Can someone please find out and post it in our comments section? Some big angry spiders also showed up. I have been damaged psychologically. Every time I get dressed now, I make sure to throw my pants and shirt against the wall three times before I stomp on it before I even consider putting the clothes on.
We have since left the island and now find ourselves in some hole in the ground called Sengiggi. It is a road divided into three sections: North, Central and South. I read about it in the Lonely Planet and it was literally described as a ghost town. There are plenty of buildings and shops but they are all boarded up and have long been abandoned by their owners. Veronika and I make up two of the ten travelers currently here.
While looking for a place to stay I came across some grass looking bungalows that wanted $30 per night. "What do you get for $30 per night?" I asked, and the response was "a bed and a fan." In North America that is what you would expect but in Asia there should be a lazy river and a chocolate fountain in my room. And who the hell makes buildings out of grass? Hasn't anyone here read "The 3 Little Pigs"? If the wolf from said story were to find out about Sengiggi, CNN and BBC would have to rip themselves from their 24 hour a day coverage on the global economic crises to cover this tragedy.
We wanted to book a 3 day volcano trek from Sengiggi and decided to read a few brochures about it provided at the travel agency. Normally brochures really embellish how great things are, which is a good strategy to help sales. This brochure took the opposite approach. One portion of the brochure read: " Every 3 feet we moved up we slid 1 foot back. The gravel is like walking in bean paste and the ice cold winds make it difficult to look up. When you finally make it to the volcano's summit in a frozen stiff and exhausted state you will rest for an hour and watch the sunrise."
We for some reason inquired about the price and were told that it was $200 US. Sign me up!
Needless to say we are leaving this hell hole first thing int he morning and will not look back.
Love,
Marc
P.S. I would like to apologize to all of the following, if they happen to still be reading this:
Muslims
Asians
retarded nephews
the people of Sengiggi for tipping of the wolf that will wreak havoc
Muslim roosters
babies
Being that most people in this part of the world are Muslim, there are a few things that I found weird but don't care to talk about. I do want to comment about what they are doing to piss me off. Every day there is a loud speaker that blasts out the sound of a man singing. If this man was say, Micheal Buble I wouldn't be able to control myself. However, the voice is similar to the one heard in the Indian song that everyone seems to know and make fun of. Since all the locals on the island wake up at un-godly hour, the first song is played between 4:30 and 5:00am. What the hell do people do so early? The song does not only wake me up but also wakes up the incredibly large population of roosters. You can find these roosters all over the island but they normally like to hang out where tourists are sleeping. All the roosters on the island proceed to cock-a-doodle-do at each other for 45 minutes which should be enough to wake everyone on the island up. But it seems to only wake up babies who then cry for the next half hour. I have nothing against babies but the shrill sound of their cries at this hour in the morning reminds me of someone scratching a chalk board with a nail.
Everyone knows that Muslims are elaborate planners and have worked out a perfect plan to get under my skin. To anyone other than an expert on human behaviour (which I am) they would blame the baby or the parents for that matter. I, however, know to trace back through all the series that lead to me lying awake in my bed from 4-7am.
The morning I made this discovery, we were evicted from our beautiful room because someone made reservations a few months in advance. How anyone other than Veronika and myself know about this diamond in the rough is beyond me. So I started to think about it and came to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe we were being kicked out of the presidential suite because we hadn't paid a dime up until that morning. I have never been kicked out of a place (sober at least) and it was a tough pill to swallow first thing in the morning.
Veronika and I sat down for breakfast, which is provided by the lady who owns the bungalow. The breakfast progressively got worse as the days went on. We still got our eggs and toast but what the hell is the point of having sunny side up eggs if the yolk is cooked solid? Some would call this nit picking but I say those should keep their opinions to themselves. Anyway, the lady offered us the room across the hall for $3 less per night. Veronika wasn't having it and wanted to negotiate so we ended up getting $10 off per night. Scores!!!!!!!! The odd thing was that the lady put up no fight. When negotiating, Asians are known to fight for every 50 cents. I knew something was up.
And my hunch was right. The new room looked like it was at one point a closet and they gave their retarded nephew a bunch of materials and a whole afternoon to turn it into a profitable closet. The result was absolutely incredible. One wall was stone, which we thought was a nice touch, had a head board for our bed which was on a 45 degree angle. Half the head board was attached to the wall while the other was dangling. The 2x4's on the ceiling were crooked so I started to think that this retarded nephew might have been blind as well. The bed was partially inside the room while the part directly under the head board was resting on gravel and soil. The bathroom was a diamond shape. Only issue with this is the dimensions were completely out of whack and every time I used the toilet it felt like I was in a phone booth. The experience very much reminded me of London Pub. This room sucked but we really needed to get to the beach for our after breakfast nap. So we took it for one night.
Later that night our A/C didn't work and our room was hotter than the sun, I'm sure. We decided to play cards outside and take our towel because the only couch in the lobby was being used by an uncle who had no place to stay and used the couch as his home. Veronika grabs the towel and we head out. Then Veronika's bracelet started to move. Then she freaked out and flung her bracelet onto my shorts. Wait a minute. The bracelet was a massive cockroach. I screamed like a girl and wasn't the same for the rest of the night. I enforced the rule that we should sleep with the lights on and in the morning to find a new place to stay for our last night.
Morning came and this time the man singing on the speaker didn't wake me up. I didn't fall asleep. We started to pack and more of the roaches decided to show their face. What purpose do cockroaches serve anyway? Can someone please find out and post it in our comments section? Some big angry spiders also showed up. I have been damaged psychologically. Every time I get dressed now, I make sure to throw my pants and shirt against the wall three times before I stomp on it before I even consider putting the clothes on.
We have since left the island and now find ourselves in some hole in the ground called Sengiggi. It is a road divided into three sections: North, Central and South. I read about it in the Lonely Planet and it was literally described as a ghost town. There are plenty of buildings and shops but they are all boarded up and have long been abandoned by their owners. Veronika and I make up two of the ten travelers currently here.
While looking for a place to stay I came across some grass looking bungalows that wanted $30 per night. "What do you get for $30 per night?" I asked, and the response was "a bed and a fan." In North America that is what you would expect but in Asia there should be a lazy river and a chocolate fountain in my room. And who the hell makes buildings out of grass? Hasn't anyone here read "The 3 Little Pigs"? If the wolf from said story were to find out about Sengiggi, CNN and BBC would have to rip themselves from their 24 hour a day coverage on the global economic crises to cover this tragedy.
We wanted to book a 3 day volcano trek from Sengiggi and decided to read a few brochures about it provided at the travel agency. Normally brochures really embellish how great things are, which is a good strategy to help sales. This brochure took the opposite approach. One portion of the brochure read: " Every 3 feet we moved up we slid 1 foot back. The gravel is like walking in bean paste and the ice cold winds make it difficult to look up. When you finally make it to the volcano's summit in a frozen stiff and exhausted state you will rest for an hour and watch the sunrise."
We for some reason inquired about the price and were told that it was $200 US. Sign me up!
Needless to say we are leaving this hell hole first thing int he morning and will not look back.
Love,
Marc
P.S. I would like to apologize to all of the following, if they happen to still be reading this:
Muslims
Asians
retarded nephews
the people of Sengiggi for tipping of the wolf that will wreak havoc
Muslim roosters
babies
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Some thoughts by Marc
Much to popular demand and numerous emails, I am back. Thank you to everyone who wrote to me, your emails were all touching. We are still on the Gilli island with absolutely no intention on leaving anytime soon. Our lives have become very simple. We wake up, go to the beach and sleep then we go out partying with the people we have made nice with on the island. Since it has been so long I have a few things to write about.
Yesterday we rented a boat for the day so we can go fishing and snorkeling. Veronika organized the entire thing and what started out as a fishing trip for 8 people turned into a boat party of 14 (Germany, England, Sweden, Canada, Indonesia and US). Some of the guys started fishing but we soon found it a lot more fun to jump off the top deck into the water. We caught one lousy fish and gave it to the family that works at the hotel. It was a good day and by far the best experience of the trip so far.
A couple of nights ago we had a beach party with our friends and needless to say there was a lot of drinking. It was getting late so Veronika and I decided to go get some noodles. We walked with our friend Eric and stumbled (literally) on a little cafe where a bunch of locals were watching TV. Veronika confirmed that they have noodles and we both walked in. I turned to ask Eric to join us and his eyes were wide, almost terrified to go in. At the same time he used his eyes to suggest that we shouldn't eat there either. It's too bad I couldn't translate what he was trying to say. Veronika and I sat down and I found the situation hilarious. Veronika and I walk into a cafe (where they also live) at 2am. We were covered in dirt and sweating profusely (just left the beach after looking for glow in the dark shrimp). We demanded they make us noodles and we got rice. I was absolutely disgusted and refused to eat it. Instead, I moved the rice around my plate trying to make it look like I actually ate. The locals were watching us the whole time.
Veronika mentioned the day trip we took to the coffee plantation and the volcano in Bali. I would like to say that yes the volcano was a beautiful site but if it's not erupting, isn't it just a mountain. Big deal right? I was secretly hoping that it would erupt while we ate our lunch. It would have been of no danger to us as we were several kilometres away and pretty high up in the hills. The cat that takes a dump and they make into coffee got me thinking about business opportunities when I get back. I would choose not use cats (they are reincarnated bad souls) feces. It is brilliant really. Buy a pet and you use it's feces to make coffee that you can call a delicacy and you can sell it to tourists.
On the ferry over here there was a group of people travelling with us, majority are Australian. Veronika and I both agree that Aussies behave like a bunch of rowdy Americans in Mexico during spring break. Anyway, we were a few hours into our ferry ride when a foursome of Aussies came up to our deck. The deck we chose was for the people that wanted to read and sleep. It was not the Aussie deck. The leader of the group was an intimidating guy. He was big, with a fake Mohawk. You know the ones the shave their heads on 2 different setting to make it look like a Mohawk. I'm pretty sure David Beckham made this haircut popular in the late 90's. So this guy and his stupid haircut are wandering around looking for a place for him and his "mates" to sit. He finds a table near us with only 2 chairs. There was a couple that were sleeping right beside them and happened to be using two chairs to rest their feet on. It was like watching a car wreck, I couldn't look away. This guy wakes the couple up and asks if they are using the chairs. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????? The people were completely shocked and still half asleep so they gave the goof their chairs.
Finally he and his mates can have a seat. I really didn't want these guys on our deck but they would have kicked the crap out of me. If we weren't on a boat I would have smacked one of them with great confidence that I can out run them and hide somewhere. But on a boat, it's too risky. The leader with the faux hawk pulls out an old portable CD player while huge speakers. Not only is his haircut out of date but so are his electronics. I bet this guy has the biggest VHS collection going today.
He puts a burned CD in and presses play. Out comes Bon Jovi. Not any Bon Jovi but all of their slow jams. A group of four bad ass looking Aussies sitting around a table listening to "Bed of Roses" Three of them sat still staring at each other, the leader was playing air drums....To "Bed of Roses"!!!!!! I know that Bon Jovi has a big fan base but I always thought that it was women that were fans. More specifically women that were between the ages of 18-25 during Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet tour.
ummmm. that's it
P.S the picture is not us - we dont have a camera
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