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Enjoy the Philippines.

The Philippines Wrap-up

The Great : Batad. The small village is difficult to access and requires trekkers to be in fit condition. However, Batad offers the visitor hands down the best rice fields in the world. The view is majestic and trekkers will enjoy the many walks in the surrounding mountains. A real gem on the island of Luzon.

The Hidden : The seven viewpoints in Banaue. Our travel guide talked about only one viewpoint. As we went up the mountain to the first “official” viewpoint, we decided to keep going up in the hopes of getting a better top down view of the valley leading to Banaue. Lo and behold, we found other viewpoints, some with picnic tables that provided even better views than the official viewpoint. So if you visit Banaue, make sure you go all the way up to the last viewpoint. The highest one provides the most spectacular view.

The Overrated : Historical Intramuros in Manilla. Intramuros is touted as a must-see in Manila because it features many historical landmarks. However, Manila was completely leveled during WW2 which means that the “historical” features of Intramuros left standing after WW2 are few and far between. The walls of Intramuros, another must-see, were a bit disappointing.

The Ugly : Stray animals. Wild dogs scared the living bejesus out of us quite a few times. The fabulous mountain walk from Batad to Banaue had an infamous “dog alley”. Walking briskly through dog alley took us no more than 30 minutes, but it must have lasted a lifetime for Ania.

Also, extremely thin, starving dogs and cats with ribs or backbone protruding are a heartbreaking sight. We saw a kitten slowly dying on the street in Manila. I could not function properly for the rest of the day.

My little journey back in time

Batad is a small village in the middle of rice paddies on the slopes of the beautiful Cordillera mountains. It is inhabited by the native Filipinos of the Ifaguo tribes. There is no road leading to Batad. The only way to get there is by hiking. Moreover, there are no roads in the village. In order to get from one place to the next, one has to walk on the stone walls of the rice terraces (very carefully, because some walls are up to 5 meters high).

Batad has become a somewhat tourist destination in recent years, meaning that there are maybe a dozen tourists coming for a day's hike, and five of them staying for the night. And I should add that the vast majority of these tourists are Filipinos.

With the advent of tourism came certain developments. Since 2005 the village has electricity and there are two guesthouses with restaurants. One of the guesthouses has hot water. Fortunately, these changes touched only the part of the village which lies on the tourist walking trail. The main part of the village is happily nestled far below the point where most tourists go. A lot of people there still live in traditional huts, cook on the fireplaces and in the evening gather around bonfires to spend time with their families (as far as I observed, only two houses in the main village were plugged).

This is not a joke. In the evening I could see from the terrace of my guesthouse the fires in front of people's houses. And when I was walking through the village during the day (or rather when I was walking on stonewalls of rice paddies between the houses), I saw people cooking on the fire and using traditional wooden tools to process rice. And they don't do it for tourists, this is simply their way of living.

Staying in Batad, I felt as if I was transported in a time machine back to history. And Batad is only one of many hidden villages in the Ifaguo region. One can take a guide and hike to some other, even more isolated settlements. And I am pretty sure that there is still a number of villages not penetrated by visitors from the outside world...

Banaue Rice Terraces - the Ultimate Experience

For some unimportortant reason we took an unpardonable decision to spend only 10 days in the Philippines. And when we discovered that we love the country it was too late to change our tickets. So we decided that we would at least visit northern Luzon - the main island, on which Manila is situated.

We started off in the direction of the Cordillera mountains to the town of Banaue, where we wanted to see the world famous rice terraces. To our surprise, it turned out that the travel time between Manila and Banaue (the distance of less than 350km) is 8 to 9 hours, and the buses depart only at night because during the day the travel time would be significantly longer.

Once we arrived, though, we knew instantly that the night in the bus was entirely worth it. The rice terraces in the Cordilleras are THE ULTIMATE rice terraces one can see. The Cordilleras are inhabited mainly by the native tribes of Ifugao people who have their own language, customs and traditions and none of the countries which at one point or another colonized the Philippines have left any mark on their villages buried in the mountains.

Between 3rd and 2nd century BC the Ifuago people conducted a huge engineering project - they turned slopes of the mountains surrounding their villages into rice terraces. The terraces cover the total surface of almost 10,400 square km. The irrigation system, using water from the rain forest on the top of the mountains and distributing it through pipes made of bamboo is still working today in the same way as it worked 2000 years ago. And the knowledge of maintenance of the terraces is transferred orally between generations.

However, the image is not all rosy. In 1995 UNESCO recognized the terrace as a world heritage site and, consequently, tourists became interested in visiting the place. The Ifugau people quickly discovered that tourist business is far more lucrative than hard work in rice paddies. Within a few years more and more terraces became abandoned and subject to erosion.

Apparently UNESCO in recent years provided subsidies to the farmers working in rice fields, so that this ancient cultural heritage doesn't disappear in a few decades. It looks like recognizing the terraces as a national heritage site may be a double-edge sword. The Filipino government also provided special funds for the maintenance of the terraces. Since a portion of that money remains in the pockets of officials, one can ask how much money really reaches down to the farmers. But that is another question. The good news, however, is that many of the abandoned terraces were indeed restored recently and the sights are still truly amazing.

In fact, Marc and I were charmed with the region beyond our expectations. And instead of racing through the rest of the island and spending half of our trip in long distance buses, we decided to stay in the Ifugao region and do some serious trekking. We didn't regret it one minute. We saw some traditional villages practically untouched by tourism, where the only visible concessions to the 21st (or even 20th) century are modern clothes. And we hiked through beautiful mountains and rice terraces. I could easily imagine staying in this region for two weeks. If only my calves would allow me. Because let me tell you - walking through the rice terraces is no easy task. The only paths are either horizontal or vertical. And there is only a certain number of stone steps one can climb in one day :-)

Two ruthless regimes - one trail of destruction

Please allow me to take longer than I should. Much of the following is a subject dear to my heart and has been the focus of my Master’s thesis.

This is Baluarte de San Andres, a dungeon where Japanese soldiers tortured and killed thousands to Filipinos and American soldiers during WW2. There are hundreds of similar landmarks scattered throughout Southeast Asia.

Filipinos are very emotional about the mass killing of their brethren and the almost complete destruction of their country during WW2. Did you know that an estimated one million Filipinos died during WW2 as a result of the Japanese occupation? Probably not.

We all know about Hitler’s crime. Hitler’s victims, primarily Jews, Gypsies, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, and pretty much everyone else, have made it a duty to explain to the world the horrors of Hitler’s regime. And rightfully so.

The oppressors have also recognized their guilt. Not a single young German who goes through high school can claim to ignore the bloodstained history of his country. The German government has also been active in paying billions in reparations to the victims. Germany has also shown humility and penance at the highest level, as Willy Brandt’s famous kniefall in Warsaw demonstrated. This gesture helped heal the open wounds from WW2 between Germany and Eastern Europe. By and large, Germany has done what no other nation has ever done in this world: apologize for past crimes and seek to repair the damage.

At the same time as Germany was waging war in Europe, another country was waging war against its neighbours: Japan. The 1931 invasion of China marked the beginning of 14 year long reign of blood and massacres that rival the bloodbath in Europe.

Yet, history couldn’t have been more lenient towards Japan. Two countries, two brutal wars of aggression, two very different associations.

Germans are forever tainted by Hitler. What comes to mind when one mentions “Germany?” Hitler.

What comes to mind when one hears “Japan”? Technological development? Sony? Now Fukushima?

We first saw evidence of Japanese war crimes in Darwin, Australia. In a 1942 raid the Japanese managed to destroy half of the city. Anybody who visits Darwin is reminded of the tragic events.

Japanese occupation during WW2 reached all of Southeast Asia. Singapore was occupied. So was Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Japanese occupation was ruthless: millions of women in occupied countries became the property of the imperial troops of Japan. Dozens of millions – in China in particular – were bayoneted, beheaded, hanged, worked to death, sent to death camps, or simply eliminated with a bullet.

And what has the Japanese government done after the war to repair the damage?

Virtually nothing. Until very recently Japan considered “comfort women”, as the women forced to service Japanese soldiers during WW2 were called, to be either allied wartime propaganda or willing “lovers” of Japanese imperial troops. Today children in Japan learn from history books similar to those distributed in Soviet Union: the Nanking massacre, the gruesome killing of 300 000 women and children in 1937, is a fabrication of Chinese propaganda. Children also learn that Japan never acted as the aggressor during WW2; it was simply trying to protect its interests in the region. Worse, it is still customary for the prime minister of Japan to pay his respect at the Yasukini Shrine, a place of rest for Japanese war criminals who were hanged by the Americans in 1945.

Can you imagine what kind of hell would fall on Germany if its chancellor paid tribute to the men who were hanged at Nuremberg?

I am writing about this because in Southeast Asia, every major town was occupied by the Japanese and suffered enormously as a result. Yet the Japanese, having denied participation in the most heinous crimes of the 20^th Century, are the heroes who brought us Toyota and Playstation.

Unsurprisingly relationships are still strained between Japan and its neighbours. China, South Korea, the Philippines are among many nations who will not let Japan rewrite history because history is too “shameful”.

A nation is truly free when it is able to make amends for its crimes instead of denying them.

Welcome to the United States of the Philippines!

I always thought that the Philippines were this unique story where Spain meets Asia. There’s no denying that the Philippines proudly displays its Spanish heritage. But besides the churches, the names of the streets, and the few buildings left standing after WW2, there is always a feeling that Spain is so…passé here in the Philippines and that another country has had a much bigger influence in the Philippines lately: the United States of America.

It starts with the language. Let me make one thing clear: Filipinos speak the best English in Southeast Asia. They use Shakespeare’s language to communicate important information in light rail stations, shopping malls, or bus stations. Clerks in stores speak to customers – Filipino or not – in English. Filipino seems to be used as a last resort, for example when a customer has more difficulty understanding English.

And English isn’t just the language of business; English is spoken by almost everybody in the Philippines. We met 10-year-old kids in traditional villages of northern Luzon who spoke excellent English. Oh and kids love to give the “high five”. It is funny to see etiquette go out the window when kids – unknowingly – replace the formal “sir” with “hey man”, a clear indication to the visitor that American TV shows are pretty popular in this part of the world.

However, if language was the only thing in common with the United States, I would have a pretty weak case. Consider country music.

Country music is much in vogue in the Philippines. Many radio stations play songs with the steel guitar we come to associate with Nashville, Tennessee. And country music isn’t only popular with the old or depressed, even kids love to listen to it. How about a young village girl listening to country music from a portable radio while she works in a rice paddy?

Filipinos also love an all American sport: basketball. Even politics has U.S influence written all over it. Filipinos elect “congressmen” in the “House of Representatives”. The country is also divided in “congressional districts”.If things go awry, they can "impeach" the President. And just like the United States, the Philippine government is divided into three branches: the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches.

Clearly, Filipinos have taken the best in American politics. Unfortunately they also added a local flavor: corruption. According to a World Bank study in 2008, corruption in the Philippines is considered to be the worst in Southeast Asia. Means of corruption in the country include graft, bribery, embezzlement, backdoor deals, nepotism, patronage.

Left, right, front and centre, it is obvious that the United States has left a lasting impression on Filipinos. Some say at the expense of local culture.

A flamboyant means of traveling

Catch a smoke-belching jeepney for the smokiest ride of your life! The jeepneys were originally made from US military jeeps left over from WW2. They are now the flamboyant, fashionably decorated icon of Manila that have come to symbolize the supremacy of American culture in the Philippines (more on that in another post).

Riding around town in a jeepney is a cultural experience in itself. Sit close to the driver and you’ll be on change duty, for the driver never stops the jeepney to hand out change. Watch out for the head, too! Keep that neck crooked or you’ll bang your head constantly. Oh, and keep an eye out if you board an old jeepney: the many holes in old jeepneys will probably allow you to see straight to the ground.

Odd is the fact that every jeepney proudly displays a non-smoking sign. I guess that smokers don’t feel the pinch too much, for a regular 15 minutes jeepney ride in heavily polluted Manila will give the smoker every chance to inhale his daily dose of cancerous substances. At 15 cents a ride, jeepneys provide better (smoking) bang for the buck than cigarettes. :)

Exiting the jeepney couldn’t be easier for there is no door. More complicated is where you’ll be dropped: you’ll be lucky if the driver pulls over to the side of the road to allow you to disembark; you won’t be so lucky if the driver chooses the middle of the road, a common occurrence that forces you to dodge speedy cars and trucks to reach the sidewalk.

Love it or hate it, any visit to Manila must include a jeepney ride!

New pictures uploaded

I've uploaded the latest pictures. Please click on "View My Gallery" (just under the thumbnails) and select the Malaysia Trip folder to view the latest pictures. If you click on any of the thumbnails, you will not be able to browse the pictures in the right order.

Malaysia Wrap-up

The Great: The tea plantation at Cameron Highlands (Ania) and the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur (me). Ania absolutely loved the tea plantation and the jungle walk that led to it. For me, my “wow” moment came when I saw the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

The Hidden: The textile museum in Kuala Lumpur. I am not sure how “hidden” the museum is in general, but suffice to say that on the most touristy weekend of the year (Formula 1 event), we only saw a handful of visitors in the museum. The free entrance museum has a surprisingly interesting presentation of the history of textile in Malaysia. Unexpected and very pleasant.

The Overrated: Melaka. The historical city is enjoyable for a day or two maximum. There is an interesting night market and many local eateries, but we found that the city lacks a defining feature to make it a not-to-miss destination. After hearing other travelers rave about the city, Ania and I found Melaka to be below our expectations.

The Ugly : Transportation between cities. Three times out of four we never managed to be dropped at the convened destination. The bus simply stopped in a random location (see Ania’s post). It can be quite frustrating as we arrange our connections and lodging according to our landing point. Very annoying.

Compassion not yet on the radar

Kuala Lumpur is modernizing – fast. The new Petronas Twin Towers symbolize the rise of Malaysia and its goal to achieve international recognition as a city on par with other Asian Greats – Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo.

My fear is that Kuala Lumpurians may sacrifice their human side on the altar of unstoppable development along the way.

A surreal scene as we walked in the city: a pedestrian was hit by a bus as he crossed the road. The accident did not surprise me. Since our arrival in Kuala Lumpur, I noticed that drivers consider pedestrians a nuisance at best.

What was incredible in this accident is that the man lay on the road, unconscious or dead. Onlookers just stared for a moment and did not do anything. Then the bus driver came out of his bus, dragged the man on the side of the road, re-embarked on his bus and continued on his journey. The man was left there, motionless on the sidewalk.

Can you freaking believe it?

The unconscious man was a curiosity but nobody helped him or checked for his vitals. At some point, a man dragged the unconscious man further because he was – how dare he! – blocking the sidewalk. Again, there was no need to carry the man – it was faster to pull him by his shirt.

At last the man attempted to check the vitals - by gently kicking the injured man on the shoulder: the unconscious man woke up, visibly hurt and unable to get up on his feet. Nobody helped him to get back on his feet.

This was shocking. Are big cities all the same? Would the same situation happen in New York, London, or Tokyo?

I want to believe that the answer to this question is “no”.

Malaysian Transport: sort of efficient...

We came to Kuala Lumpur on bus from Singapore. When we bought our tickets we were informed that the bus was going to Time Square in KL. We noted addresses of some hostels nearby and happily set off.

The bus was very luxurious and comfortable - nothing to complain there. But then we arrived in KL and the driver said that the journey was over. We asked whether we were at Time Square and he said that it was not far. We later discovered that we got off about 50 minutes walking distance from where the driver was supposed to bring us. Anyway, we found a place to stay and didn't think about it any longer.

After a couple of days, we decided to travel to Cameron Highlands (a few hundred km north of KL). This time we booked a door-to-door bus. The driver picked us up from our hotel all right. There were three groups of people on the bus going to 3 different hotels. The first group went to the hostel associated with the bus company we used. They were brought directly to the entrance of the hostel.

The second group of people were told that the road leading to their hotel was too steep for the bus. They were dropped off at the main road and had to walk their way up. And then the last group - us - was informed that the road leading to our hostel was broken and so we had to walk too. Needless to add that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the road, we inquired just out of curiosity.

Finally, we planned to go from Cameron Highlands to Melaka, a town in southern Malaysia. There were no direct buses but we were informed that the bus from Cameron Highlands would arrive at the Central Station in Kuala Lumpur, where we could take the bus directly to Melaka. Well, guess what. We were left off at some big parking lot at the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and the driver disappeared before we could ask him where we were.

We started asking around about buses to Melaka and a taxi driver confirmed that we needed to go to the central station. We went with him. When we arrived at the station and asked him if he new which direction we need to go to find buses to Melaka, he answered: "Oh, you wanted to go to MELAKA? Then you need to go to a completely different part of the city!" I suppose he expected that we would pay another taxi fare and then who knows where we would end up - Thailand? :-)

So once again I have a confirmation black on white: trains are the best! And if you can't take a train? Well, prepare for a lot of unplanned sightseeing...

Malaysia versus Indonesia: so similar, so different

Some might say that it is not fair to compare Malaysia to Indonesia because we saw different things and didn't spend the same amount of time in each country. But then - I never said that my posts would be fair. The following is my very subjective comparison based on personal experiences only!

Having experienced all kinds of reckless driving in Indonesia, before buying tickets to get from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, we asked several times about the quality of the bus and the driver's record. The lady at the ticket office looked at us in a bizarre way but she assured us that the drivers in their company were not reckless and their buses were fully functional.

Once we crossed Malaysian border I understood why the lady was so surprised at our questions. Roads in Malaysia resemble much more those in North America than in Indonesia. There are actually proper highways between cities. Drivers tend to stay within their lines and nobody goes at high speed against the traffic. Huge difference!

In general, Malaysia looks much richer than its neighbour. One can see it on the roads, in the cities and even in little towns. In Indonesia even bigger cities looked sort of shabby (granted, I never saw Jakarta but I warned you that the comparison might not be fair!). In Malaysia, while obviously not everything is new and shiny, most constructions gave the impression of being solid and built with a plan. We also saw several residential developments of houses very similar to those in the suburbs of Warsaw or Ottawa. And we never encountered anything like this in Bali or Java - most places there seemed run down even if they were quite new.

On the other hand, Malaysia doesn't seem to be the first choice destination. Every person I met was there on the way to (or from) some place else. There is a simple explanation for that: Malaysia cannot boast on any landmark even remotely as significant and impressive as several places we saw in Indonesia, such as the temples from 9th century we wrote about in a different post. Indeed the most impressive thing I saw in Malaysia were the twin towers in Kuala Lumpur.

What surprised us a lot, is that we could use in Malaysia everything we learnt in Indonesian language. I knew that both languages were similar but I had no idea to what extent. And not only do people in Malaysia speak an almost identical language, they are also as nice as Indonesians, which was another agreeable surprise. We only visited relatively touristy places in Malaysia, so people were not as curious about us as in Java, but it was enjoyable to talk and laugh with them. We still feel that Indonesians are the friendliest though!

One could say that Indonesia felt like emotional roller-coaster in terms of impressions it left upon us. Malaysia is less impressive both in a negative and a positive sense. It didn't leave us in awe but it gave us some very pleasant days and some beautiful views (my personal favorite is the view of hills covered in tea plantations). I would recommend it to anybody who is looking for a light version of south-east Asia :-)

Trip Monthly Update

Mar. 9 2011 – Apr. 8 2011

Summary of the fifth month of our trip

Number of countries visited: 5

Number of flights taken: 5

Number of posts added to our blog: 23!!!

Number of marital conflicts: 0. Did Marc finally acknowledge that I'm always right? :-)

Best overnight stay: Hotel Sorga in Kuta. Definitely the best hotel we stayed in, although situated in the town we liked the least... It was located away from all the noise, and had a beautiful garden with a swimming pool. And we met there a few very nice people, including our new friend JP.

Worst overnight stay: The choice is easy: our hostel in Singapore. The location was great and I had no particular complaints about the room, but the rest was DIRTY. I will spare you the details but Marc had a post on this place and if you want to know more, he is always happy to tell our saga at Kal****** River Backpackers hostel :-)

Best Call we made: Deciding to go to Hong Kong after all. Hong Kong was on our initial route but we scratched it out because it was too much for our stay in Asia. While in Bali, we decided that Egypt might be out of the question for our trip and we thought that in this case we could at least go to HK... Boy, was it worh it! Visitng HK made me regret that Eastern Asia wasn't on our itinerary. Well, maybe I shouldn't say so after the events in Japan...

Worst Call we made: Making plans to stay and relax in Kuta, Bali. The original concept was to stay there at least a week, relax, I wanted to take a surf course, too. The first evening when we saw the town and, especially, the beach, we amended our poor plan immediately. This means that we saw many more geat things than anticipated, but also that we didn't have time to relax. We need a short vacation from our holidays :-) changing places every few days is fun but can't be done forever. New plan: a relaxing week in Thailand.

Hong Kong pictures uploaded

Enjoy!

Hong Kong Wrap-Up

The Great: The night market in Kowloon. You can buy everything at a discount. Just make sure you negotiate the price down (50 to 80% - depending what you are buying).

The Hidden: Ten Thousand Bhuddas Temple. The main statues inside the temple are covered in gold and the view outside, being on top of a hill, is impressive. The site is mostly empty.

The Overrated: Hong Kong Island itself. We enjoyed much more the mainland part of Hong Kong where Kowloon is situated. Hong Kong Island is worth seeing but you’ll surely want to spend more time in Kowloon.

The Ugly: Pollution. Sewers emit a nauseating stench and ocean water is stinky and dirty. Smog makes it near impossible to snap a good picture of the skyline. What a shame.

Sky-Walking in Hong Kong

The center of Hong Kong Island is home to numerous impressive skyscrapers and highways. But the most interesting feature to me (well, apart from double-deck tramways) are the numerous elevated pedestrian passages. They don't just serve to cross one street or two. They constitute a large web spanning over the whole city centre, much like the underground passages in Montreal.

Almost every square centimeter (hihi, I almost wrote "inch") in Hong Kong is already developed in one way or the other. Indeed, few buildings rise to less than 20 floors. So why not elevate the sidewalks as well? It saves the precious space on the ground and admiring Hong Kong from some height is definitely the right thing to do:-)

Marc and I just let ourselves be lead by the sky walks. Definitely a new way of visiting a city!

Hong Kong - City of Lights

Hong Kong is a city that truly shines – at night. I’ve never seen so many lights, so many colors, so much life at a time when other cities are fast asleep.

The best way to enjoy Hong Kong is to sleep late in the morning, a time when the city is still half awake. Take your breakfast early in the afternoon. Stroll around town and have a rest late in the afternoon. And go out at night.

Start at 8:00 pm with the Symphony of Lights, a signature Hong Kong light show. Ideally you want to watch the show from Kowloon and not from Hong Kong Island. After the show head to the Night Market where you’ll be able to dine cheaply and shop for incredible bargains. Finish up the night in one of the many bars around town. The streets will still be crowded when you are ready to go back to your hotel.

Hong Kong never sleeps at night. Make sure you adjust your clock and follow the rhythm!

學廣東話!

Have you brushed up on your Cantonese lately? Yes? Good because you will need it in Hong Kong. Ania and I were surprised to discover that Hong Kong, a former British Colony, prefers Cantonese to the language of the Queen. Sure the main hotels and restaurants will have English speaking staff, but your local eatery will not.

We found countless restaurants with menus in Cantonese. Knowing that Chinese people love to eat delicacies that I would never want to eat in a lifetime (pig skin, shark fin, dog meat, etc), we found ourselves spending too much time looking for a restaurant in a city where restaurants are everywhere.

So take up the challenge and learn Cantonese before you visit Hong Kong! Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to order in Cantonese a spicy fish head marinated in ginger - or is it duck head? :)

Latest pictures uploaded

I've uploaded the second set of Bali pictures.

Enjoy.

Bali-Java Wrap-up

The Great: Gunung Kawi Temple on Bali and the Indonesian people on Java.

The Hidden: Easily the city Yokyakarta on Java. This is a city with a rich history, beautiful UNESCO temples and…virtually no tourists!

The Overrated: I mean, do you really want me to write on this subject again? Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last two weeks (or have not read our recent posts :)), you know the answer. Denpasar/Kuta. The place stinks. Period.

The Ugly: Pollution. It’s hard to see the locals just chalk their trash outside their homes.

Other observations:

• It felt weird to withdraw a few millions from the ATM. I felt so rich :) But then at 9000 rupiah for a dollar…

• Bali was an interesting destination. We completely veered off our initial plan. Initially our plan was to visit Lombok and possibly the Gili islands as well. However, somebody we met on the plane to Bali convinced us to visit Java instead. Both Ania and I are really happy with this change of plan. The best part of the Bali trip was our escapade on Java.

Now truth to be told, Bali is not entirely the destination I expected. I expected beautiful beaches, a relaxed atmosphere (and people) and a strong, distinct culture. The history, culture and architecture of Bali are definitely its strong points. However, after having seen fabulous beaches in Fiji, Australia, and Hawaii, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with the beaches we saw in Bali. Heck I’ve seen nicer beaches in Canada (friends who come to our yearly trip to Sandbanks know what I am talking about). Also, Balinese people in general view tourists – to borrow an expression my brother-in-law used – as walking wallets. It becomes tiring to say “no thank you” every two meters. Our experience with people on Java couldn’t have been more different.
That still leaves us recommending Bali but make sure you visit Java as well to get a real taste of Indonesia. Also if you come to Bali stay in Ubud, a great and relaxing art city. Whatever you do make sure you do not stay more than one day in Denpasar/Kuta (transit).

April Fools! - prima aprilis!

April Fools!!!!

Well, we got you! Who actually believed that Marc got into a fight?:-)

Let's clear this up, shall we?

The post about trekking mafia was partially an April Fools' joke. Everything about guys chasing us on the motorbikes and the argument is true. However, the fight and the part about the police is pure fantasy!

What happened in reality is this: the guys got in front of us and really said that we would be in trouble if we proceeded. We really got into an argument, however there was no physical contact whatsoever.

We found that the situation was so absurd that it was simply asking to be posted on April 1 :-)

And for your information, the trekking mafia is a fact and everybody around knows about it. I would have loved to climb some mountains in Indonesia, but I simply refuse to reinforce this unjust system.

Trekking Mafia

Marc, our friend JP and I planned to climb a volcano in Bali. We only had time for a little escapade so we picked Gunung Batur, where ascension takes a couple of hours. Moreover, unlike other volcanoes, climbing Gunung Batur during the day is allowed without a guide. Just to be sure, we confirmed it on the official internet website and with a tourist police officer starting our ascension.

We had to drive on our scooters a little bit before arriving at the beginning of the trail. On the way, as we had expected, a lot of local guides offered us their services but we declined them all.

The last guy we refused insisted more then the others. When we said firmly that we were not interested in his services, we pretty soon realized that he and his friend were following us on their motorbikes. They got in front of us and then blocked the way. Marc asked them to move so we can pass. They answered that if we go any further without hiring them, we would regret it.

Marc got very upset about the situation and that's when a verbal argument started. The guides were claiming they worked for the government and required an equivalent of 35 CAN per person (an astronomical sum in Indonesia) to make the two-hour trek with us. We  insisted that we don't need to hire their services. They in turn suggested that we might not find our scooters when we go back down. Or, alternatively, that we would have to fight our way through them.

At some point one of the guides advanced his bike and ran over JP's foot. This was too much for our friend. He pushed the guy off the motorbike and they started fighting. When the other guide grabbed JP as well Marc had no choice but to help out JP.

Some of the villagers must have called the police because suddenly two policemen arrived and ended the fight. The "guides" talked with the policemen for over two minutes. The result: Marc and JP were fined an equivalent of 100 CAN for starting a fight!

So if you think about climbing mountains in Indonesia, one word of caution - beware of the trekking mafia!