I arrived yesterday at KL’s hyper modern bus terminal and took the commuter train to the city centre. The public transport system is fast, efficient and cheap, a real pleasure to discover the city (if there was so much to discover). I went directly to a guest house, which was recommended by the owner of my guest house in Melaka. It was really horrible with rooms as large as prison cells and without outside window (needless to mention that there was no private bathroom and no air condition neither). A single room was “on offer” for 50 Ringgit (12,50 EUR) which was out of question for me. The next guest houses were similar and I really started to worry. At the end I found a brand new place with rooms for 65 Ringgit, including private bathroom and air condition (and very good mattresses). It has a window to the interior, not to outside but it is very quiet, so ok for me. Actually I didn’t want to spend more than 10 EUR per night for accommodation (and I have never passed this limit except the first night in Bangkok) but in KL I have to make an exception. A room for 10 EUR in KL is definitely not fun!
Yesterday afternoon I was strolling through Chinatown, where my guest house is located. It’s also the centre of KL. Just before sunset, I went to Merdeka Square (where the country’s independence was proclaimed) to take pictures of the sunset and KL’s skyline. There are some colonial buildings, so it’s a nice contrast. Then I had dinner in a food court in Little India before going to the roof-top terrace of another hostel, which is almost next door to mine. I met some people there and it was a nice final of the day.
Generally spoken I am really impressed how multicultural this society is. If you go to KL, you almost don’t need to go to India or China. For me the main problem is that I don’t know which dish to try first; there is so much great food everywhere!
Today I woke up at 7:30am to get entrance tickets for the Petronas Towers. There are 15 min time slots available for visiting the Towers and if you arrive late it may happen that all tickets are sold out. When I arrived the queue was already huge. I was really surprised that you have to pay 50 Ringgit. Someone told me recently that it was for free but obviously since 2010 you have to pay. I found it quite of a rip-off and so I decided to go back to the guest house and continue sleeping. It was raining anyway and I guess the views you have from the tower are quite poor under these conditions. There is also a kind of television tower in KL (called Menara KL) with a platform 276m-high. It’s not as high as the Petronas Towers but I thought that you probably have a great view of the Petronas Towers from there. On the foot of Menara KL there is a small leisure park. I only wanted to go up the tower but tickets are only sold in combination with the 3D cinema and the zoo – for 45 Ringgit. What bullshit! Why do I have to pay for a cinema and a zoo when I only want to ascend the tower? On principle I didn’t buy the ticket! Besides, it was still raining. At the end I don’t care about their towers here. They take advantage of the fact that the towers are the main touristic highlights (in a city which doesn’t have too many other sights) and I will not support this rip-off. I will come back to KL anyway, so the chance was still there if I wanted.
I planned to leave KL on Monday but I think I will already leave tomorrow. There is not too much to do and the weather isn’t very good, drizzling all day long.
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Melaka (March 27-29)
Some say that Malaysia is a bit boring because travelling is so easy. The infrastructure is like in a Western country, transport is comfortable and punctual and everybody speaks English. Generally spoken, Malaysia is a lot more advanced than its neighbours in Southeast Asia (except Singapore). But boring? I know there are travellers who need their daily dose of unreliable and uncomfortable transport, chaotic street life, etc but I would definitely not call this country boring. It’s the most multicultural country I have ever been to with a rich mix of nationalities and religions. Although dominated by Islam, there are also large communities of Hindus, Buddhists and Christians. The population is composed by Malayans, Chinese, Indians, Westerners and many others. This is the main reason for its fabulous cuisine. Unfortunately there are very high taxes on alcohol which turn the evening beer into a luxury.
I decided to go first to Melaka instead of Kuala Lumpur. The airport lies between the two cities, so it made more sense to go first to Melaka and then to Kuala Lumpur. Melaka is a city full of history. First conquered by the Portuguese, it was then taken by the Dutch and finally by the British before Malaysia gained independence in 1957. There are still various monuments and buildings from the different periods.
I found a very nice guest house with large common areas and a roof-top terrace. The staff is really cool, they organise a bike tour every evening to different markets and eateries. Some of the other guests stay here for longer; it’s really like a big family! The bike is the perfect means of transport as Melaka is not very big and because it’s flat. The biggest surprise for me was the climate. I expected unbearable heat and humidity but it’s really enjoyable. The temperatures are moderate, between 22°C and 32°C and there is always a nice wind blowing from the sea. All other places I have been to at similar latitudes were a lot worse (Melaka is only 240 km north of the equator). I didn’t witness yet one of the torrential rainfalls which occur quite often. It sometimes seemed as if it was about to rain with dark thunderclouds appearing but then there were only some few drops.
Yesterday I did a little bike tour around the city. Although not very exciting, I also went to the sea front to have a look at the Strait of Melaka and the ships passing by. The Strait of Melaka is one of the busiest shipways in the world, chokepoint for all ships operating between Europe and the Far East but Melaka’s harbour is not playing a major role any more; it has been replaced by Singapore.
Tomorrow I will go to Kuala Lumpur and continue my culinary journey!
I decided to go first to Melaka instead of Kuala Lumpur. The airport lies between the two cities, so it made more sense to go first to Melaka and then to Kuala Lumpur. Melaka is a city full of history. First conquered by the Portuguese, it was then taken by the Dutch and finally by the British before Malaysia gained independence in 1957. There are still various monuments and buildings from the different periods.
I found a very nice guest house with large common areas and a roof-top terrace. The staff is really cool, they organise a bike tour every evening to different markets and eateries. Some of the other guests stay here for longer; it’s really like a big family! The bike is the perfect means of transport as Melaka is not very big and because it’s flat. The biggest surprise for me was the climate. I expected unbearable heat and humidity but it’s really enjoyable. The temperatures are moderate, between 22°C and 32°C and there is always a nice wind blowing from the sea. All other places I have been to at similar latitudes were a lot worse (Melaka is only 240 km north of the equator). I didn’t witness yet one of the torrential rainfalls which occur quite often. It sometimes seemed as if it was about to rain with dark thunderclouds appearing but then there were only some few drops.
Yesterday I did a little bike tour around the city. Although not very exciting, I also went to the sea front to have a look at the Strait of Melaka and the ships passing by. The Strait of Melaka is one of the busiest shipways in the world, chokepoint for all ships operating between Europe and the Far East but Melaka’s harbour is not playing a major role any more; it has been replaced by Singapore.
Tomorrow I will go to Kuala Lumpur and continue my culinary journey!
Monday, 26 March 2012
Pai & Chiang Mai (March 25-26)
Bye Thailand! It has been a great time with you! I am sad because Thailand is the ideal place to travel with an impressive cultural heritage, nice people, great food and also because it is so easy to meet people here. I really enjoyed my stay and who knows if I come back one day!
Tomorrow I fly to Malaysia. I’m really curious because it’s a different culture and also a different climate zone – 100% tropical. Let’s see how I come along with humidity and daily rainfalls.
My last days in Pai were very similar to the previous days, so I won’t go into details. Only one thing: the rats the French girl was talking about (see previous blog entries) really exist; I have seen them in my bamboo hut last night! I finished my stay yesterday evening in a very Pai-authentic way, that means going to a reggae bar. The offered songs from the funny little band were “No woman, no cry”, “Redemption song” and “Buffalo soldier” – in an infinite loop. They suddenly stopped playing in order to get some alcoholic “refreshments” and I think they never got back to their instruments. We left earlier.
This evening I will enjoy Thai food for the last time here in Chiang Mai, go to bed early and have a 6 am wake up tomorrow. I have an appointment with Borja from Madrid (I met him in Pai). Let’s see if he is there. He was quite surprised when I told him that I don’t use a mobile phone. He seriously asked me how I can make appointments with people without a mobile phone. I told him that in the classical way (from the old times before everyone had a mobile phone), that means agreeing a place and a time. It’s so easy!
Tomorrow I fly to Malaysia. I’m really curious because it’s a different culture and also a different climate zone – 100% tropical. Let’s see how I come along with humidity and daily rainfalls.
My last days in Pai were very similar to the previous days, so I won’t go into details. Only one thing: the rats the French girl was talking about (see previous blog entries) really exist; I have seen them in my bamboo hut last night! I finished my stay yesterday evening in a very Pai-authentic way, that means going to a reggae bar. The offered songs from the funny little band were “No woman, no cry”, “Redemption song” and “Buffalo soldier” – in an infinite loop. They suddenly stopped playing in order to get some alcoholic “refreshments” and I think they never got back to their instruments. We left earlier.
This evening I will enjoy Thai food for the last time here in Chiang Mai, go to bed early and have a 6 am wake up tomorrow. I have an appointment with Borja from Madrid (I met him in Pai). Let’s see if he is there. He was quite surprised when I told him that I don’t use a mobile phone. He seriously asked me how I can make appointments with people without a mobile phone. I told him that in the classical way (from the old times before everyone had a mobile phone), that means agreeing a place and a time. It’s so easy!
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Pai (March 22-24)
Yesterday I went out with some people I met on the streets. Some of them were belonging to the “alternative” scene, visible through their tattoos, piercings and clothes. It has to be explained that Pai as a tourist destination has once been founded by hippies in the 90s and that this place is especially attracting “alternatives” from around the world. In Pai, “alternative” has already become the mainstream. There are loads of tattoo and piercing studios and shops selling all kind of “alternative” insignia.
Yesterday evening I had to leave this group of people because from my point of view, a normal conversation was simply not possible. The list of discussed topics was reduced to drinking, smoking (not tobacco), tattoos and piercings (combined with an elevated alcohol level). They think they are different and cool compared to the “normal” people but I don’t think it is very alternative to get tattoos and piercings, drink latte ice shakes, eat veggie burgers (because meat is bad!), get spiritual enlightenment by drinking fancy tea sorts (to balance body and soul) and enjoy all the other Western amenities which are offered here. By consuming alcohol and marihuana and who knows what else, body and soul will never be balanced anyway, useless to spend money on fancy Indian tea!
The really alternative people (in a positive sense) would never go to Pai anyway because this place has as much to do with traditional Thailand as wearing rags, piercings and rastas has to do with being alternative. For me being alternative is having a specific mindset. For me it means being extremely tolerant and open for new things, having the absolute will to immerse in new cultures. I am not this person but I met people who are like this, obviously not in Pai. They don’t need to wear specific clothes (if you can call rags clothes) or piercings or whatever because being alternative is part of their mindset and doesn’t need to be defined through their outward appearance.
Wearing rastas, piercings and tattoos is equal to wearing suit and tie, it means belonging to a specific group of people. This is nothing bad (and I don’t have a problem with that) but I cannot hear these comments anymore from “alternatives”, who think that they are so tolerant because they discover “exotic” countries like Thailand. At the end of the day, the only reason for them to come to Thailand is because it’s cheap, an important factor taking into account that a large part of their travel budget is spent for alcohol and marihuana. Pai is a very nice town (otherwise I wouldn’t have come back) but it could be everywhere on earth. “Alternative” towns look pretty much the same everywhere. Fortunately, the mainstream alternative places also attract lawyers or investment bankers (who can live like kings with their fat bonuses and pay-offs from previous jobs). They are the new “alternatives” in Pai. Long live capitalism!
Yesterday evening I had to leave this group of people because from my point of view, a normal conversation was simply not possible. The list of discussed topics was reduced to drinking, smoking (not tobacco), tattoos and piercings (combined with an elevated alcohol level). They think they are different and cool compared to the “normal” people but I don’t think it is very alternative to get tattoos and piercings, drink latte ice shakes, eat veggie burgers (because meat is bad!), get spiritual enlightenment by drinking fancy tea sorts (to balance body and soul) and enjoy all the other Western amenities which are offered here. By consuming alcohol and marihuana and who knows what else, body and soul will never be balanced anyway, useless to spend money on fancy Indian tea!
The really alternative people (in a positive sense) would never go to Pai anyway because this place has as much to do with traditional Thailand as wearing rags, piercings and rastas has to do with being alternative. For me being alternative is having a specific mindset. For me it means being extremely tolerant and open for new things, having the absolute will to immerse in new cultures. I am not this person but I met people who are like this, obviously not in Pai. They don’t need to wear specific clothes (if you can call rags clothes) or piercings or whatever because being alternative is part of their mindset and doesn’t need to be defined through their outward appearance.
Wearing rastas, piercings and tattoos is equal to wearing suit and tie, it means belonging to a specific group of people. This is nothing bad (and I don’t have a problem with that) but I cannot hear these comments anymore from “alternatives”, who think that they are so tolerant because they discover “exotic” countries like Thailand. At the end of the day, the only reason for them to come to Thailand is because it’s cheap, an important factor taking into account that a large part of their travel budget is spent for alcohol and marihuana. Pai is a very nice town (otherwise I wouldn’t have come back) but it could be everywhere on earth. “Alternative” towns look pretty much the same everywhere. Fortunately, the mainstream alternative places also attract lawyers or investment bankers (who can live like kings with their fat bonuses and pay-offs from previous jobs). They are the new “alternatives” in Pai. Long live capitalism!
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Pai (March 18-21)
66 days are lying behind be and 66 days ahead. This is approximately half time. In Pai my life has completely decelerated. I’m moving my ass from bed to the hammock (checking mails and Facebook and reading news on the internet), then walking 2 minutes to town (breakfast, consisting in some toast, fruit salad and mango shake), then back to my hammock (reading one chapter of the book, about 25-30 pages), then lunch (normally a rice or noodle dish), then back to my hammock (surfing the web or in the best case reading another chapter). In the dusk I go back to town to check out if new people have arrived. I already know the hippies and Rasta people who live here or get stuck for a longer time, so I’m looking for normal travellers. I have dinner and then check out the bars.
On Monday I met a French girl I had already met in Chiang Mai. I recommended her my guest house in Pai and she actually showed up. On Tuesday morning I met her in a very bad shape. She told me that she hasn’t slept because there were rats in her bamboo hut and that she has been crying. She decided to leave Pai immediately and go back to Chiang Mai (although she wanted to stay a whole week). I have to admit that rats inside the hut are not very delightful but is that a reason to immediately leave? She could have changed the guest house... By the way, I have the bamboo hut next door!
I think I haven’t mentioned yet that on Saturday evening I went to a very nice bar with Lauren. They had really good live music there and the bar was full of people (tourists but also a lot of Thais). It was the bar’s 16th anniversary and obviously they organised gigs of the best bands you can get in Northern Thailand. The weekends seem to be quite busy here compared to “working days”, so I’m looking forward to the next weekend. It will be my last one. On Monday I go back to Chiang Mai and on Tuesday I will fly to Kuala Lumpur. The laziness of Pai will have an end then (and also the chilly nights)!
On Monday I met a French girl I had already met in Chiang Mai. I recommended her my guest house in Pai and she actually showed up. On Tuesday morning I met her in a very bad shape. She told me that she hasn’t slept because there were rats in her bamboo hut and that she has been crying. She decided to leave Pai immediately and go back to Chiang Mai (although she wanted to stay a whole week). I have to admit that rats inside the hut are not very delightful but is that a reason to immediately leave? She could have changed the guest house... By the way, I have the bamboo hut next door!
I think I haven’t mentioned yet that on Saturday evening I went to a very nice bar with Lauren. They had really good live music there and the bar was full of people (tourists but also a lot of Thais). It was the bar’s 16th anniversary and obviously they organised gigs of the best bands you can get in Northern Thailand. The weekends seem to be quite busy here compared to “working days”, so I’m looking forward to the next weekend. It will be my last one. On Monday I go back to Chiang Mai and on Tuesday I will fly to Kuala Lumpur. The laziness of Pai will have an end then (and also the chilly nights)!
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Pai (March 16-17)
Yesterday was the most perfect day since I started travelling. I was picked up at the guest house and taken to the place where minivans leave from Chiang Mai to Pai. The minivan was real luxury with comfy seats, leg space and a driver, whose target was to arrive in Pai as soon as possible. I had the same target. We made the route in sensational 2,5 hours and arrived at 11 am. I met Lauren, a Canadian girl on the ride and also two English whose names I have forgotten. In Pai, Lauren accompanied me to the guest house where I had already stayed when I first came to Pai. The woman at the reception smiled. She recognised me and said: “You are back! Have you been trekking?” I was a bit confused and told her that yes, I have been trekking but that I have also been to Laos and Cambodia in the meantime and that 6 weeks have passed since last time. Then she was surprised. I asked if number 4 is vacant and it was! I am back to my old bamboo hut! Then she said that the price is now 200 Baht instead of 300 because it’s low season. I was really close to tears; Pai is so nice to me!
The town is really quiet now, nothing compared to six weeks ago. The streets are half empty and not packed with people. I don’t know what happened and why all of a sudden, many tourists have disappeared. In Bangkok for instance, the guest house was almost fully booked and I didn’t have the impression that it is low season. Same applies for Chiang Mai which is only 150 km away from here.
Anyway, I went to the Yellow Sun bar yesterday (my favourite place), then had dinner with Lauren and finally went back to the bar. Yes, life is quite simple here! The night was cool as expected, guaranteeing a relaxing night.
My permit for Thailand expires March 26 (because you only get 15 days entering at land borders), so I will at least stay here until that day. Depending on my mood, I will probably extend the visa. This would mean having to pay a visa-run service to Myanmar, which is quite expensive. I will see. I guess that the days here will be quite similar. I will inform you in case there is some variation, such as an excursion but don’t expect too many blog entries during the next week.
The town is really quiet now, nothing compared to six weeks ago. The streets are half empty and not packed with people. I don’t know what happened and why all of a sudden, many tourists have disappeared. In Bangkok for instance, the guest house was almost fully booked and I didn’t have the impression that it is low season. Same applies for Chiang Mai which is only 150 km away from here.
Anyway, I went to the Yellow Sun bar yesterday (my favourite place), then had dinner with Lauren and finally went back to the bar. Yes, life is quite simple here! The night was cool as expected, guaranteeing a relaxing night.
My permit for Thailand expires March 26 (because you only get 15 days entering at land borders), so I will at least stay here until that day. Depending on my mood, I will probably extend the visa. This would mean having to pay a visa-run service to Myanmar, which is quite expensive. I will see. I guess that the days here will be quite similar. I will inform you in case there is some variation, such as an excursion but don’t expect too many blog entries during the next week.
Chiang Mai (March 15)
The last weeks I was dreaming of eating a burger with fries but I resisted the temptation because it didn’t seem coherent to go to McDonalds or Burger King in a country with such fantastic food like Thailand. Finally at Bangkok’s airport there was an opportunity. At airports food is always expensive so it didn’t make a difference going to McDonalds or having local food. Furthermore there was free Wi-Fi so the choice was easy. As a big surprise, the Big Mac tasted like everywhere in the world. It is like you had never eaten anything else in your life, food without soul.
When I left the airport building in Chiang Mai, I had this great experience of a different climate. It was a great relief compared to Bangkok – hot, but not humid and the sky was blue! I shared a taxi with two French and found a nice German run guest house in the centre. I really like Chiang Mai, the people are amazingly friendly and life is so relaxed – what a contrast to Bangkok’s big city madness! I used the evening for going to the barber and eating at the town’s abundant food stalls. I am so slim that I really have to gain weight. Chiang Mai is the perfect place!
When I left the airport building in Chiang Mai, I had this great experience of a different climate. It was a great relief compared to Bangkok – hot, but not humid and the sky was blue! I shared a taxi with two French and found a nice German run guest house in the centre. I really like Chiang Mai, the people are amazingly friendly and life is so relaxed – what a contrast to Bangkok’s big city madness! I used the evening for going to the barber and eating at the town’s abundant food stalls. I am so slim that I really have to gain weight. Chiang Mai is the perfect place!
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