Goodbye Asia

6 months 2 days
11 countries
6 sleeper trains
Goodness knows how many busses
5627 mosquito bites (at least)
16 waterfalls
7 caves
Countless beaches
256 temples (I'm guessing)
11 forts
10 days noble silence
102 hours meditation
1 surfboard induced nosebleed
4 visits to Bangkok (3 too many)

4 flat tyres (1 car (India), 1 rickshaw (India), 1 autorickshaw (Cambodia), 1 bus (Indonisia))

I will miss Asia. I will be back! 

A quick stop in Denpasar - Bali

I loved Java so much that I don’t have any time left to see Bali. I arrive in Denpasar exhausted from the bus and ferry and a really strange border crossing in the middle of the night. It was another crossing where I did wonder if I was going to make it back onto the right bus but it all worked out fine. My bus arrived at Denpasar bus station at about 5am and after an hour or so sitting on my bag we are squeezed onto a mini bus and taken further into the city. Then it is into a taxi to a hotel to catch finally up on some sleep.  Once suitable recovered it is out onto the streets in search of food.

Rainbow Waterfall & Malang, East Java.

Still travelling East through Java towards Bali where I will pick up my flight to Australia. Malang is a bustling town but luckily we are staying in a quiet area and find an amazing restaurant local restaurant where we proceed to have breakfast lunch and dinner. We hire a little scooter and head out to see the Rainbow Waterfall. Unfortunately the heavens open on the way back and the temperature rapidly drops. We are shivering for the whole of the hour long ride back. The rain is like freezing needles on our skin. There is no hot shower waiting for us when we get back but it feels heavenly just to get into some dry clothes and then it is over to our favourite restaurant for some more tempeh. Time is also spent with Lesley trying to renew here visa. I am somewhat envious that she will have more time to spend in Indonesia as I am gearing up to leave for Aussie.

Borobudur

After a spot of breakfast we are off to explore Mahayana Buddhist temple

 of Borobudur with all the other tourists

Sunrise over Borobudur and Mount Merapi

We have a really early start... So early in fact that it was hardly worth going to bed. The alarm goes off at 3am and the guide is already waiting for us in reception. We have a sleepy ride in the car out to the viewpoint to watch the sunrise over Borobudur and Mount Merapi. We arrive at a little hut and it is raining hard. It is pitch black and we slowly make our way up the track to the viewpoint. The next hour is pretty spectacular, not the great sunrise view we had been hoping for but still we get to witness the Borobudur temple emerge from the low clouds as the day breaks.

We don’t really notice all the other tourists arriving but by the time we due to go back down to the hut the little track has turned into a mud slide. And of course we are wearing the backpackers footwear of choice, flip-flops! Miraculously we arrive back down at the car in one piece and not too covered in mud.

Freedom tea

When we arrived back in Yogya after meditation we headed to the market and Leslie bought lots of spices and a big metal kettle and once back at the hostel she brewed the most amazing tea. We kind of turned the hostel lobby into our living room for the afternoon. It was heaven and the tea was delicious.

A few thoughts on my 10 day vippasana meditation

How did I end up spending Christmas 2013 meditating in Central Java?
When I left England 7 months ago, I had hadn't heard of Vipassana or ever considered trying meditation. Then a friend I met in Cambodia, who had completed the course at a Dhamma Centre in Thailand, told me all about his experience a few years before he spoke about it with such passion and enthusiasm my interest was ignited. He spoke of the immense positive benefits it had brought him and how he was trying to find the time to go again.

Yogyakarta, Java. Indoneisa

Once I eventually drag myself away from Pangandaran. I find myself in Yogyakarta, the last stop before my 10 day vipassana course Klaten. It was so tempting to stay in Pangandaren with Shannon and Kurnia and have my non Christmas at the beach. Still if the meditation does not work out I tell myself I can always escape back to the beach.

After the peace and tranquillity of Pangandaran, Yogyakarta is an assault on the senses. There are too many people squeezed into too smaller space. And this is a tourist hub and so has all the trappings that come with that. We explore and shop and generally try to enjoy our last days of freedom before the meditation and silence descends.

Pangandaren

I stumble across Pangandaran, I cannot even remember when I first heard about the place or why id decided to visit. I arrived in Jakarta, I have a couple of weeks to get to Klaten, Pangandaren seems to be a sensible place to stop along the way. And it is, it is really wonderful.

For one thing, there are only a handful of visitors here.  

The English Students on Holiday in Pangandaran

My new Indonesian friend, Kurnia, said he would take me to the market to get some new flip flops to replace the broken ones, abandoned in Jakarta. On the way there, he announced that he had to go by his surf school on the beach to see if there are any clients about. No new students, just Matius, a Danish guy who has been surfing in Pangandaran for a month already and a couple of local Indonesian guys. I don't really understand the conversation but I get the impression it is about me. I am then asked if I would mind going to spend some time with some Indonesian high school students who are on a weekend trip to Pangandaran with 'English Club' and the want to practise their English with a native speaker. They are gathered just down the road. I had nothing planned for that day other than flip flop shopping, a swim and lots of hammock time so, of course I agreed. Matius has spent the pervious morning with them and tells me that it is great fun.

After I quick trip to the market to purchase some bright orange flip flops, I am dropped at the park where all the students are gathered. They are sat in groups of 10 to 15 students and there are at least 8 groups. I feel as if all eyes are in me. I also feel slightly in appropriately dressed as I am dressed for the beach and not for meeting a hundred or so, very modestly dressed, Muslim, 14 to 16 year olds. I head over to the first group and join their circle on the grass. There are lots of smiling faces and nervous giggles and it feels very alien that it is my presence causing this excitement and I also feel very uncomfortable being the centre of attention.

The Green Valley - Pangandaran

I am sitting outside my room eating my breakfast of scrambled eggs, when the guide I met last night arrives. His name is Kurnia and he is a really interesting guy. He seems to have travelled the world working for a shipping company but is heart is in Pangandaran so he came back to teach surfing and take tours. He only earns a fraction of the money doing this but it makes him much happier. At 32 it is really unusual that he is not married but he knows he will have to work abroad again and he doesn't want to leave anyone behind.

Jakarta to Pangandaran

I arrive in Jakarta with 11 days to fill before the medetation course starts in Klaton, Central Java, on 22nd December. After deciding to skip out of Jakarta after only two nights that leaves 9 days to fill with only Yogyakarta on my radar. I then stumble across a place called Pangandaran on the south coast and after KL, Singapore and Jakarta quiet surf town is very appealing.
I decide to take the bus and as the bus station is an hour south of where I am staying I arrange a ticket and transfer to the bus station through a little travel agent. So two buses, the first one for an hour and the second for 9 hours.

Jakarta

I arrive in Jakarta and I am struck by how incredibly vast and busy it is. The food is amazing and the people are wonderfully welcoming and helpful. Any apprehension I had about stopping in this city was miss founded. 

More Singapore

Walking The Southern Ridges - Singapore

Singapore

Orchard Road, Singapore is slightly different to Orchard Road, Horsham.

The Gardens by the Bay - Singapore

I didn't think I liked orchids....

...after a visit it The Botanic Gardens in Singapore, it turns out I do!

Malaka

Jonker's Walk Night Market - Malaka