Currently I sit in an internet cafe in Chang Mai, Bangkok. In the interim between crossing the border from Malaysia and ending up here in Bangkok, Jon and I accomplished a pretty stellar tour of Southern Thailand. Like my Malaysia picture catchup, time constraints force me to perform a series of drive-by summaries. Where to start, how about at the beginning? Krabi town.

Based on a recommendation from a Vietnam war vet named Bill, currently living out his retirement in Cambodia, Jon and I decided to check out Krabi town and its surroundings environs as our first stop in Thailand. Stumbling bleary-eyed off the bus from Malaysia, it was immediately apparent we were in a much different country. A dancing troupe performed in the streets, a market displayed food wares with nary a ‘Nasi Goreng’ to be found, and the travel agency had pictures of topless girls behind the counter. But we weren’t in Krabi yet, we were in the regional travel hub (Hat Yai) and still had a significant trip ahead of us.

Ok, ok. I’ve been remiss at keeping this blog updated. Actually to be honest, I’ve been downright negligent, considering that I’ve almost spent 15 days in Thailand and haven’t even finished my Malaysia updates.

So I’ve decided to cop out and only provide a drive-by summary of the rest of my Malaysian experience. Plus some photos!!!

Due to some arcane rule whose justification is only known to some bureaucrat in Bangkok, when crossing into Thailand via land, you are only issued a 15 day visa. A woefully inadequate time to explore Thailand.

So, I was introduced to the wonderful world of the visa-run. A practice known to expats the world over, a visa-run can be defined as an exit and re-entry of a country for the sole purpose of extending one’s visa. The most convenient visa-run for Southern Thailand is to dip into Myanmar. Yep, Myanmar.

Taman Negara is a rarity in penisular Malaysia. An untouched jungle, the fauna and flora in the park are much as they were eons ago. After the Cameron Highlands, it was also our next destination. Visitors to the park arrive with anticipations of encountering all manners of jungle wildlife. We were no exception. Unfortunately for us, even after a sweaty trek followed by a jungle sleepover in an animal hide, our most notable wildlife encounter was an angry swarm of bees. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Prior to leaving for this trip, I was quite honestly totally unfamiliar with many of the countries I planned to visit, Malaysia being one of them. In my head, I had this vision of Malaysia as a very challenging country to travel in. Actually, so far it’s dead simple. Unlike free-wheeling Indonesia, it’s actually difficult to get ripped off here. English is very prevalent and the people are very, very friendly. People were friendly in Indonesia too, but sometimes you weren’t sure if your new “friend” wanted money for the imparted advice. In any event, since travelling around has been so easy, Jon and I have managed to do quite a bit since the last post.

Right now I’m in Kuala Lumpur, desperately trying to catch up on my neglected blog updates.

Ok, here goes. After flying out of Jakarta, Jon and I arrived in beautiful, easy, pristine Singapore. If you want to see a little bit of Asia, but with complete ease, travel to Singapore. An intensely modern city, Singapore is an amalgam of Chinese, Malay, and Indian cultures. And the place possesses an orderliness that’s unreal at times, especially when arriving from Indonesia.

The initial plan was to bus across Sumatra, starting at Jakarta and ending at Pekanbaru. From there, Jon and I planned to take the ferry to Singapore. In the previous post, I described our mind-numbing journey to Krui from Jakarta. That was a long trip. The thing is, Krui is not very far along in our Sumatra route. When I inquired as to travelling times to get to Pekanbaru, and was told 3 or so days, I immediately balked. After a quick huddle, Jon and I jettisoned our no-flying rule, and decided the best route was to flee back to Jakarta with our tails in-between our legs and simply fly to Singapore. This saved us time and money, and I think it was the prudent choice.

Yesterday Jon and I embarked on a very long journey from Jakarta to Sumatra. A lot has happened in the meantime, but the tiny town I’m staying in (Krui) can only boast of pedestrian internet speeds, so I’ll keep this post short.

Jakarta was quite the city. What surprised me the most was how hedonistic certain parts of the city can be. Jon and I slept at a place above a bar called Memories Cafe. Unbeknownst to us, I think we stumbled on a major focal point for the gay scene in Jakarta, as at night the place filled up with gay and transvestite expats and locals. The party usually continued until 4AM, but I typically checked out earlier and tried to get some sleep admist the booming music. Everyone was extremely nice and we made some great friends.

On a more seedy note, based on a recommendation from Lonely Planet, we checked out a place in the city called Blok M. Prior to leaving, our new friends warned us that it was "not nice." What they didn’t tell us, was that Blok M serves as the main venue for expats to find girls for the night or to find ‘girlfriends’ interested in compensated dating. The entire place was literally filled to the brim with gorgeous girls and a smattering of white men — usually either old and lecherous or very creepy and young. It’s hard to describe in words how sordid the place was, so I’ll leave it at that. I imagine you can find many of these places in SE Asia, but since this was our first encounter with this sort of thing, we were quite honestly a little scandalized. Thanks for the recommendation Lonely Planet.

In any event, we quickly gulped down our beers and fled back to our familiar haunt, to be back in the company of decent and down-to-earth friends. Well that was Jakarta in a nutshell. A fun and very surprising city, one that I would enjoy exploring more than I was able to. But Jon and I have many places to see, so we departed for Sumatra yesterday morning. The first leg of the trip began at 10AM and concluded at 5:30PM in a city called Bandar Lampung. The bus was very nice, luxurious even.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the second leg from Bandar Lampung to a small coastal town called Krui. We took the local Sumatran economy bus, which fulfilled many of the stereotypes one thinks of when considering travel in the developing world. When I entered, I was pointed to my seat, which was a tiny spot so confined that I had to sit with my legs sideways but my torso turned straight ahead. I was next to the window, but could not sleep because of a metal bar placed next to my head. Because of my odd seating position (due to my long legs), I encroached on the leg room of the lady next to me. As a result, she spent most of the ride using me as her backrest. At least she got some sleep. Every once in a while, the bus would echo with the panicked crowing of a rooster that someone brought along for the ride and stuffed in a sack. The road literally cut through jungle and was filled with gigantic potholes. The bus we were using required a jump start every time. At one point, it started raining, and I was disconcerted to see that the wipers only cleared a pathetically tiny area of the windshield, so much so that the driver was forced to crouch down while driving in order to see the road. We left at 7PM and arrived at 5AM. Worst bus ride I’ve ever taken.

Today we recover and tomorrow we take a bus to Padang (not the economy bus).

P.S.

Due to rain, my SLR broke in Yogyakarta, which I’m pretty bummed about. I’m hoping to pick up a new one in Singapore, but it’s an expense I would have rather have avoided.

Stumbling out of the public bus (bemo) in Denpasar, Bali, and still reeling from being abolutely overcharged despite our best efforts, Jon and I barely had time to take in the bus terminal before an attendant rushed us to an ‘aircon’ bus to Probolingo, Java. Probolingo is the jumping off point to the Bromo mountains, a series of volcanoes stunning to see, and it was crucial for us to get there before 5:30 PM to allow us to take the bus up to Cemero Lawang, a village literally on the lip of an active volcano. “Arriving at 4PM?” “145,00 rupieh is the same price charged to Balinese?” The attendant assured us all that was true. He lied.

Yesterday Jon and I arrived back in Bali, except this time we journeyed to Ubud, a city very different from the permanent spring break fever in Kuta. Ubud is often considered the cultural capital of Balinese Indonesia, exhibiting many cultural displays and artefacts of the island’s Hindu heritage. Last night, Jon and I watched a Balinese dance depicting a passage from the life of Rama. A chorus of tribesman served as the accompanying music, producing an interesting mix of island culture and Hindu religion. After the Hindu dance, some dude trotted out on a hobby horse for a fire dance. This basically involved him dancing all the while stamping and kicking burning coconut husks. It was a great show, but the dude must have been new, because he misjudged one of his kicks and sent a burning husk into a tourist.

Although I’ve still only scratched the surface, what makes Ubud  such a fascinating place is that Balinese culture literally smacks you in the face. It’s impossible to escape. And in terms of cultural experiences, today was even better than yesterday!