Sunday, January 1, 2012
December 20th - 22nd, Day 42, 43, 44
Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh for 2 nights... then off to the beach of Mui Ne
December 11th - 13th - Day 33, 34, 35
Siem Reap (Cambodia)
Arriving at Siem Reap, there's something mystical in the air. Cambodia has a long history of both magnificence and horror - however, Siem Reap is tightly connected to the magnificent part and home to some of its greatest temples and the national pride - Angkor Wat.
The immigration process, despite all that has been said, was the smoothest ever. There's a visa on arrival but 20 USD and a passport photo are all that you need and you will be done with the whole thing in less than 10 minutes. The tuk tuk driver (tuk tuk is probably the most common means of transportation in Southeast Asia and consists of a small carriage pulled by a motorbike) was supposed to be outside waiting but... nothing! I call the hostel that I booked in advance and he tells that he should be there... 30 minutes later, still nothing and I call again: "He should be there, he told me that he is there". Well, there are about 5 people standing outside so he could hardly miss me... 10 minutes later and still nothing! I am starting to think that it's all a bit of a joke but the driver finally shows up and apologizes for the delay and takes us to the hostel.
The ride is short, some 20 minutes and the road is nicely paved. As we drive into the city, I see nothing but the fanciest of hotels on the way, some of them actually charge up to 1000 USD (that is right, one thousand) a night. I wonder who in its right mind comes all the way to Cambodia to stay in such hotels... there is plenty of choice here, every other house in Siem Reap is a guest house or a ho(s)tel... there are also no traffic rules here. People just follow their paths, always at the same speed and it all just works. The city is small but cosy, with different restaurants, bars, everything for the delight of tourists. Happy hours are everywhere, and prices for beer go as low as 0.40 USD during that time.
The first feeling I get is that (sadly) Siem Reap has been set up to explore foreign money. Western style restaurants, happy hours, 'the pub street', I see it all on the way to the hostel. As we arrive, we're lead up to the (most likely) nicest and cheapest room we have stayed in so far. The room is actually equipped with 2 single beds but... they are huge (probably a meter wide each) so no need to find another room :)
Although I doubt it that I will spend more than a full day visiting the temples, the booking is for 3 nights so that there's some time to relax as well...
The day is uneventful as I needed to recover from a sleepless night spent at the airport but there's always time/space for some good food :) We try to look around and look for some authentic Khmer food, in a Khmer(cambodian) managed place (not that easy of a task, trust me) and we finally settle for one a few minutes away from the main center and tourist trap. Amok and Lok lak... hmmmm, you will have to google for this, amazingly tasty food! We stay about an hour in the restaurant and talk to the staff about why we came to Siem Reap, a bit about Cambodia and then I head back to the room to get some rest...
Day 2 starts rather late (about 11am) and already too late to visit the temples. I talk with a guy who is sitting outside and he suggests that the sunset in the mountain temple is the best start for the tour and it's free (as long as you have a ticket for the following day) so I decide to take his advice and just chill for the rest of the day and walk around town a little more.
We knew that the owner of the hostel we were staying at had some kind of arrangement with another hotel with a pool so we asked about it... he promptly tells us that it's just around back and that they 'might' ask us to have a drink or something but they shouldn't. As soon as we arrive at the pool I told them which hostel I was staying at and they call the manager who is swift to tell me: "We have no such deal with Mark, he has to stop telling people that we have an agreement". Great, deceiving publicity... he even mentions it on the website! They are nice enough to let us stay there, as long as we have a drink.
Later it's time to head out to my favorite restaurant, one of the few in town with no foreigners in sight. Whenever I am traveling, I try as much as possible to help the local economy, try to shop around in small commercial areas, local owned restaurants and where the atmosphere is as authentic as possible. People wave as they see us coming and this way I make sure I eat local food, not some western style food cooked "just like home". As I said before, it's not easy to try and mingle with locals in Siem Reap, everything is directed towards foreigners: all those bars and happy hours places, not a single khmer eats or drinks is these restaurants and this makes it so different from Malaysia or the Philippines where there were only few places were no locals went to. The people in the restaurant speak absolutely no English so we just agree on food making use of body language. Once again, tasty-tasty food and a unique plus which is the surrounding ambience.
Before going to sleep we rent the bicycles and then head to bed, the following day will be long so... lights out!
It's 4.30am and the alarm rings, time to get up! Sunrise is at 6am and we still need to grab some food and ride to the temples which are a few kilometers out and there's no light so... might take a while :)
As I cycle in the pitch dark morning with a flashlight on my head, several tuk-tuk's, taxis, buses, mini-vans go next to me honking at times. They are not bothered or disturbed, they simply want to let me know that there's someone driving by. That is how it usually happens in Southeast Asia by the way - people use their hunk all the time, it definitely does not mean that they are mad or upset!
45 minutes later and Angkor Wat stands in front of me. Hordes of people move to its interior to get the best place to watch the sunrise: in front of a small pond facing the towers at the end, where the sun slowly comes up and lights it from the east reflecting the whole structure on the water and causing a breathtaking view... however...
December 2th - 4th - Day 24, 25, 26
Brunei
Early in the morning we set sail heading towards Brunei. A 3-hour trip in a freezing cold ferry (yes, people around here love to put their A/Cs as low as 17.C... go figure!) takes us to Labuan - this town is the equivalent of Aland, an island where all the ferries from Finland/Estonia stop on the way to Sweden and it functions as a little tax paradise for alcohol lovers. Malaysia is mainly a muslim country which leads to high taxes on alcohol, especially beer (I haven't even seen wines on supermarkets or restaurants menus) that is priced at about 8 Ringits (roughly 2 Euros) for a small can - given that you can easily have a full meal for 3-5 ringits, this is clearly a luxury in Malaysia! However, in Labuan you will find alcohol at normal Asian prices (0.50 Euros a can) causing people to invade all the duty free shops in the place in order to help themselves with cheap booze.
At Brunei a bit of a different experience awaits us: for the first time we're not staying in some lodge/hostel but chose to do some couchsurfing (for those who don't know what this is... google it:P) instead and have a different look at the place! Judging from the info in LP (short for Lonely Planet), we thought we'd be entering a rather strict country, extremely conservative and so the fact of bringing in some alcohol (even as a gift!) sounded like a bald idea to us!
However, reality turned out to be quite different. Bruneians are actually very relaxed in this sense and, in fact, only 65% of the population is muslim which might give a little insight to the reality "behind the scenes". People were extremely welcoming and, having been a British protectorate until very recently, a lot of people speak English flawlessly (in fact, many people use it as a first language together with Malay!).
Zaza (our host) comes to pick us up at the harbor and her style makes me believe that Brunei is indeed far more relaxed towards physical contact and in appearance than what I thought: "No physical contact between a man and a woman", "Dress conservatively" are some of the sentences that come to my head from the guide... well, Zaza was dressed in surfer shorts and with 2 piercings on her upper left eye-brow... she definitely does not strike me as a conservative person! Sure, there are always exceptions but as I quickly found out, Brunei is indeed far more different than what is sold to us on the books!
She drives us into Bandar Seri Begawan center (the capital) in her Mini Cooper S and I'm positively impressed at the traffic (nearly non-existent) and the surrounding nature. The whole 25km drive on the freeway is bounded by forest on both sides and the air feels somewhat more fresh and clean! A few very important facts about this little sultanate: no taxes, free education, free health care, low prices, high salaries... sounds like a bargain, huh? Well, it is! Cars cost less than half of what they do in Europe and the fuel costs... well, let's say that the price per liter of unleaded is around 0.30 EUR while diesel does not even reach 0.20 EUR! With that said, it is clear that EVERYONE drives a car, public transportation is very limited (also bear in the mind that the population in the metro area is of only 200.000 people) and you don't see many people on the streets... they are probably shopping or eating! The 2 major entertainments for Bruneians... officially ;)
Zaza has clearly done her homework (born in Brunei but brought up abroad) when it comes to the country's history, culture and society. She explains what buildings we're looking at, which Sultan ordered it to be constructed, what year and often the 'reason' why it was ordered to be built. After arriving to the city center, she drives around for 2 minutes and says... that's it! The number of 'sights' is actually pretty small and you can easily visit them all in a single day. However, the hour is late (4pm) and the stomach is empty so we decided to just grab something to eat and head home to freshen up.
A few hours late, we go to town for a little party... unfortunately, I will leave the details of this evening out of this blog, just like an author often writes that a certain topic is off the scope of the book ;)
The alarm rings early (8am) on December 3rd and it's time for some sightseeing. We start near the infamous Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin :) and stroll around the park sitting in front of it. As I attempt to enter the mosque I'm confronted with a guard that tells me I need to come back at 1.30pm. I check the board on the stairs... it states 'non-muslim visitors allowed from 1.30 till 3.00 pm) - how did he know I was not a muslim?:) I decide to head back and visit the water villages, set just next to the mosque: this is a very different view from what you except in Brunei! Very humble wooden houses sitting on thin trunks and as far as the eye can see. This is clearly a different part of the city, one that you will not usually see in postcards (I actually found one or two but clearly not the most popular of sights in town!) and that people don't really talk about much. Visitors are also not very common around these areas as most of it is accessible by boat only... and the ride is not that cheap. Dozens of locals driving small boats come around offering their services: "Sir, want to see the proboscious monkey, I can find them all" - he has no idea I have spent the past 5 days watching all different kind of apes, dawn till dusk and have no intention to get another shot at them!
Walking back to the mosque I see a fancy shopping center and quickly discover where all the Bruneians are during daytime: hiding from the sun and spending money in malls! You will see all the 'hot' brands there and at much more attractive prices. Clearly Brunei is a place to visit if u're into shopping, I dare comparing to Paris or New York where some people like to go for their 'xmas shopping' - however, flying to Brunei is not that cheap and they have no interest in attracting more tourists, certainly not a place for 'backpackers' (there is a single hostel in town and u can't even book it online) - many foreigners working in Brunei, mainly Filipinos, actually go through the hassle of taking a 7 hour boat ride to fly from KK to their home countries in order to avoid the high prices charged by Brunei Airlines (which is also the reason why I decided to backtrack to KK to fly to Kuala Lumpur... it was really worth all that extra effort).
Finally the clock shows 1.30pm and it's time to see the mosque. The inside actually looks much like any other Muslim place of worship but given where it is located it certainly gives it a different feeling. I like the fact that give us the black gowns to enter, it makes the visit much more authentic then entering in simple khakis and t-shirt! The inside is humble and non-muslims are only allowed to talk in a single carpet... as I quickly understood as soon as I accidentally stepped out and got warned by the guard. The visit lasts no longer than 10 minutes :)
Outside the view is rather spectacular - there's a lake surrounding it and the reflection makes it look like there's an exact copy of the mosque turned upside down... and since it's mostly sunny, u can enjoy this view pretty much all year 'round.
The city is nearly in its entirety already covered on foot although we do walk a little more and visit a chinese temple (the only chinese temple in Brunei) to then finish our tour in the National Regalia Museum. This is definitely a place worth visiting... as u walk inside u are kindly asked to leave all your belongings in a safe and then head through a well laid out path similar to the one you find in IKEA (if you follow the arrows you will see the WHOLE supermarket and it's no different here). The items displayed are amazing the say the least: everything shines, gold is everywhere (at least golden :D) and it's all impeccably displayed - all the gifts offered by different states and events describing the state's history and events, all is there! From the crown used in the coronation to a photo of the current sultan while in school at the age of 3, nothing is forgotten! The visit last for nearly 2 hours, and I must say that it's a museum that u soon don't forget!
One curiosity... often Portuguese hear the sentence/question "Why is your name so long??". Well, let me just tell you something. The current sultan of Brunei is: Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Al-Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Almarhum Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien. How about that for a long name? ;)
One great thing about being a tourist here is that all the sites are for free. You don't have to pay to go anywhere and it makes the whole thing muuuuuuuch more enjoyable :) There's enough to see and experience in Brunei (I wish I had the time to see the rest of the country...) and that together with the fact that you don't need a car nor to pay for most of the sites make it really worthwhile, even if you are on a tight budget. Just hope that you will find a place to stay... ;)
The sun has now set and Zaza picks us up and drive around a little more for dinner and some other stuff really not worth sharing here... except for the shopping center experience we had later! We wanted to do some shopping before the boat trip and we head for yet another shopping center totally packed with Bruneians entertaining themselves playing some dancing games on Xbox Kinetic in the middle of the mall! There's a huge competition going on, points are assigned to each participant and the top 5 are qualified for the final the day after! People are going totally nuts there, cheering, applauding... nearly a football match!:D
On the way out we pass by a shop that, among other items, has all the material required for... Christmas! Trees, Santa suits, everything is there! This is only one more detail that shows how open and relaxed the society actually is regarding religion. One thing that is not tolerated though is alcohol, so bars and discos simply do not exist in Brunei: people choose their homes as the venue for their 'secret events'...
Needless to say that by 11pm we're dead tired and want to grab some rest before the 7.30am boat...
November 28th - 30th - Day 20, 21, 22
Uncle Tan's wildlife survival camp
The day started with a visit to the Rain Forest Discovery Center in Sepilok, not far from the Orang-utan rehab center. It's only 9 o'clock and we're the first visitors to arrive at the park. This is not your usual park where you just walk around and see animals in cages and just 'admire them'. It's a huge protected territory, with nothing but a bunch wooden pathways and an under construction high steel canopy that boasts 3 towers of the 6 to be built in total. The total path is about 7km long if I did my math right so you can easily spend the whole day and... not see a single animal. Naturally wildlife tends to keep itself that way, far from the big human predator and it's really not that easy to see animals there: within the compounds there are orang-utans, monkeys, kingfisher, humming birds and even crocodiles and snakes. Despite not being able to see any of the aforementioned creatures, one become easily fascinated with the views from the top of the canopy where you see nothing but exotic trees, as high as 50m that have been growing for generations! The stroll is cut short by a massive rainfall... after all, it is the wet season and we're stuck in the cafeteria for the rest of the day :(
The bus back to KK leaves at 2pm so we make our way to the junction about 45 minutes before... however, I am unhappy with going back, feels like we've done so little in Sabah when there's so much to see and do! And what the heck am I gonna do in KK for 3 or 4 days! We decide to say 'screw the budget' and head for Uncle Tan's base of operations which is halfway between the rainforest and the junction. The tour starts in 30 minutes... do we go? We have enough money to make it to the camp but... only 1 ringit left :) And we will need some spare cash to buy fresh water, at least! No atm's around, just 10 euros... luckily they could change that cash but then how would we go back to KK? The bus ticket clearly stated no refund nor changes allowed... a phone call later and no problem, they'll take us 2 days later anyway... awesome, we're off to the Kinabatangan(??????????) and into the jungle!:)
We sit down and grab a quick lunch, followed by a 1.5h jeep ride and a 45min boat ride to the camp! Arriving at the camp, I am impressed: I thought it would be a tiny thing in a slightly deserted area but no! The operations camp is actually pretty big, all built a few centimeters above the ground to help avoid flooding (which happens often, preventing any tours on the camp) and the staff is immense! Actually, the staff was far superior in number than the guests, there were only 5 of us there :)
As soon as I check the premises where we're gonna sleep, I start laughing... this is gonna be fun! There's nothing but a mattress and a mosquito net, covered by a simple metal plated roof to protect from the rain. That's it, as simple as that. No doors, just some small side walls to protect from the wind and the rain but they only cover things half way! Under us, some swamp and I immediately get a glance of a pretty big lizard! We were also told to put any medicines, food, water, etc. in a special bucket sitting outside the 'cabin' in order to avoid unwanted guests... aka, rats! Just the night before, one rat went into one german girl's 'room' and pierced a huge hole through her backpack... Welcome to the jungle!
I make my way back to the dining area and see some of the staff and nearby villagers are playing what they call shaolin soccer! The ground is wet, more like mud, and most of them are playing with no shoes on... of course, I immediately ask to join and spend some good 45 mins playing and mostly... sliding! Pretty hard to play any real football in such conditions but I don't really care, I just want to spend some time with them and get to know them and I know that football is one of those things that just opens doors 'that easily'. After the match, we all shake hands and the inevitable question of where I'm from comes from one of the guys, the best player of the staff I must add and as soon as I say Portugal, the stereotype takes form! 'Oh, I love Ronaldo, my favorite player! He's so much better than Messi (he really said that, no bullshit :)' and so we form an immediate bond. It's amazing how easily it happens once u are traveling and being from Portugal definitely helps these days when football is so global and Portuguese are becoming very well known in the sport. After a 20 minute chat he tells he needs to get some work done and I go and have a bucket shower (or whatever you wanna call it, u just pour water into a bucket and then on yourself!) before the night tour.
The night tour consists of traveling by boat upstream for about 1 hour and checking wildlife that is mostly active at night. The first thing that dazzles me is how on earth the guide (or better said, the 'spotter') is able to find animals! He was able to spot and owl from 30 meters away followed by a monitor lizard quietly lying on a tree at about the same distance! Obviously they know the place like the back of their hands but I find nevertheless impressive to see how they can so quickly and easily find animals in pitch dark light and immediately identify the exact species and variant that they belong to! We spotted some birds, night owls, lizard but for me the most impressive was the civet cat, a wildcat that lives in this area and was near the shore climbing on one of the trees. They were not bothered at all with our presence, they didn't seem to care at all, all they wanted were the tasty fresh figs sitting on that tree...
Soon enough the tour is over and we need to head to bed. As I arrive back we see an uninvited guest, a lovely huge spider crawling on the bed... I'll play the tough guy's role here and say they don't scare me but... the truth is that I have no idea whether it's poisonous or not so, just in case, I call some of the guys who belong to the staff. They come around and soon just smile at me: "this is only a wolf spider, don't worry about it!". Hmmmm, a wolf spider... sounds harmless!
That night I didn't really get much sleep. I must admit I didn't feel all that comfy sleeping outside and I probably did not sleep more than a couple of hours...
6am and one of the staff comes to wake us up. No need, I'm already up! Early morning is one of the best times of the day when one can go and see the wildlife... most animals, like ourselves, have just woken up and head to the shores in order to drink some water and find some food. We start with a bunch of birds, namely an eagle, and soon enough a kingfisher - easily identifiable through its long and thin beak and shiny colors! But the most interesting part is yet to come and apes are definitely the main attraction! Soon enough we see a big bunch of monkeys jumping around... the so called, long-tailed macaques aka 'jungle mafia' due to the fact that they always move around in large groups!
As we continue upstream, we become slightly disappointed as we missed the orang-utans... and time is up for the trip. We drive back to the camp at full speed until we see a single urangutan up on a tree enjoying his morning breakfast! Very nearby we get a glimpse of 2 gibbons as well: far lesser in size, the gibbon manages to swing effortless and gracefully between branches thanks to very long arms and flexible wrists. Watching these animals in their natural habitats is impossible not to get a smile on your face and... think about taking on of them home with you :)
The rest of the day is rather quiet. We have scheduled a jungle walk at around 10am which lasted for 2 hours but... no wildlife was to be seen. Mostly due to the intense heat, no animals came out to greet us! We took that time to get to know our guide a little better and I immediately get the feeling that he really loves what he does, to be in the wild and show people what that is all about. He tells me how they need to go through a specific training and how they need to learn and all the animals, plants, trees, etc. that live in the region! He is actually a Filipino who has never 'visited' his own country, and even struggles to speak Tagalog. He spends 2-3 months straight in the camp he tells me: "This is what I love to do, this is where I feel at home". He sometimes walks around and records the sounds he hears and then heads home and looks up info on the specific animal... he can recognize any animal by the sound it emits!
Nothing happens in the camp between lunch and dusk. The animals are resting and so is the staff... so I follow them as well and try to get some rest... there is another jungle trek scheduled for 5pm but it's pouring down and no wildlife is to be seen so we postpone everything until late evening. A couple from Switzerland and a girl from UK have just joined the group so we're no longer the only ones in the camp... the night trek is interesting, some frogs, spiders, night birds and bats are seen during this hour out in the jungle... soon that is over as well and we had back to the dining area.
The staff has gathered and is happily singing some local songs at the sound of a guitar played masterfully by one of the staff. They are all extremely young, my guess is that most of them are under 20 and hardly anyone gets even close to 30! Still, they all act very professionally and certainly know what they are doing! I definitely get the feeling that this is their dream job, that this is what they are happy doing every day: just spending time with each others in the nature, far from the stress of larger cities, free from concerns and simply enjoying what we all like the most which is to simply be with those around us who we like the most. They do this every day, they have no weekends, they don't really talk about vacation nor do they worry about it! And an interesting part of it, there is never any alcohol involved... something to think about, huh?
And thus comes the end of the day... it has been a long one and this time I fall asleep like a baby...
The last day includes a last boat ride but nothing 'new' happened so it's not really worth mentioning here. The camp is, however, turned into a huge football stadium! There is a tournament going on organized by the camp staff and other village chiefs, and everyone has formed a team and gathered there in order to promote the 'inter-connection' of different villages.
They are dress in jerseys by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool among others and they take it seriously! I really don't know how some of the guys are playing without shin pads but... that seems to be the way! The ladies are screaming, cheering for their young ones and guess what: there is nobody screaming at the ref, no one is angry nor pissed at teammates... what the heck, isn't this football?!? Seems like it's just one huge party :)
Unfortunately time has come to leave the premises... can't stay long enough to see the event through. I farewell some of the people I met there and one of the guys tells me: "Tiago, keep practicing football, good luck for the Euro!". Feels somewhat sad to leave... and it's only been 3 days!
We then head back to the base camp in Sepilok for lunch and then walk to the junction to wait for the bus.... which was supposed to come at 2. Several companies do this Sandakan-Kota Kinabalu route (Sandakan is on the very edge of Borneo, about 25km further from Sepilok) and one bus passes by at 1.45 and stops... I show them the ticket, the conductor says I need to wait for another bus but the driver tells me to get on, he will just take me! Would he have taken me without a ticket I wonder? :)
The trip is long, 6 hours on the bus before the early boat trip to Brunei the day after... Again I get no sleep and there we are back in KK for a few hours, back in North Borneo Cabin. One issue after these days... laundry! I had packed only for 2-3 days (left the bigger backpack in the hostel in KK) and my clothes stink, horribly!!! The laundry shops are all closed and I don't have a single clean t-shirt, underwear, nothing...
Meanwhile, Ly feels a bit sick and we decide to postpone the trip to Brunei for a day! This gives us some time to rest, do some laundry and catch up on our blog posts and so on :)
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