Cambodia Part II, Siem Reap

Pictures from Siem Reap can be found here from Picasa!

Siem Reap is nowadays a popular tourist destination, with a large number of hotels and restaurants. Many of the smaller establishments are concentrated around the Old Market area, like our hostel Angkor Thom with rooms for 8 USD per night so 4 USD per head. More expensive hotels can be found between Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport and the town along National Road 6. There is a vast variety of mid-range hotels and restaurants along Sivatha boulevard, and mid budget to mid-range hotels in the Phsar Leu area. The Pub Street is the center of backpacker life day or night!

As the tripadvisor and lonely planet plus some local tour procures suggested we decided to do the small and grand circuit tours of the Angkor Temples, first starting with the small one and then next day the grand one. Of course we did some minor modifications to the plans so that we were able to catch the sunset and sunrises in best locations.

The Small Circuit takes in several of the major and minor temples in the area. Beginning at Angkor Wat and running for seventeen kilometers the circuit takes in the major elements of Angkor Thom, Ta Phrohm, and Banteay Kdei, and some of the minor but interesting temples such as the Baphoun, The Terrace of the Leper King, The Terrace of the Elephants, the Twelve Prasats, Spean Thma and Sras Srang before returning to Angkor Wat.

We started our tour from the Spean Thma and Sras Srang skipping the Angkor Wat on the first day because we had planned to catch the sunrise there on the next morning. We ended our first day with a sunset view from top of the mountain temple Phnom Bakheng.

Ta Phrom was built in the late 12th century by Jayavarman VII as a shrine to his mother and is another must for anyone coming to Siem Reap. As a monastery there were nearly three thousand priests here including eighteen high priests. Ta Prohm is unforgettable due to the massive trees that were left here intentionally by the archaeologists working on the site. While clearing back the forest it was decided to leave them in place to serve as a reminder of how the original discovers found it and other temples. Many of the trees have grown around and through the remains, and soar high above the temple.

Phnom Bakheng served as the temple mountain of the first city of Angkor as opposed to the previous center of Roluos. The capital built on a lone hill offers panoramic views of Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom and the surrounding areas. It is best visited in the late afternoon for a spectacular sunset or in the early morning for sunrise over Angkor Wat.

Angkor Thom was built by Cambodia's greatest builder, Jayavarman VII. This ten square kilometer city is enclosed by an eight meter high wall and encircled by a hundred meter moat said to have been inhabited by fierce crocodiles. There are five twenty meter high gates in the wall in each of the North, West and South walls and two in the East Wall. Access is via causeways over the moat that are flanked by the statues of fifty four Gods on the left and fifty four devils on the right, all seemingly engaged in a game of tug of war.

Bayon is located in the geographical heart of Angkor Thom. The fifty four tower temple is a quite remarkable sight. Initially the temple seems to be a shapeless mass of grey and brown stone but as one approaches one realizes that each of the towers is in fact carved and there are over two hundred huge enigmatic faces of Avalokitesharva bearing down on you wherever you turn. The amazing and unique temple of Bayon is easily the most popular sight after Angkor Wat.

The twenty-six kilometer Grand Circuit is an extension on the little circuit but taking in Preah Khan, Preah Neak Pean to the Eastern Mebon and the various monuments like Ta Som, Preah Rup, before returning to Angkor Wat and is highly recommended for anyone spending three or more days in the complex. The Big Circuit encompasses a good representation of the rich variety of architecture here.

We started the second day waking up at 4:30 am to catch the sunrise over the Angkor Wat and otherwise it went as preplanned. Although we decided not to visit the Rolous Group locating further away as it seemed that they had nothing more to offer for us. So we ended up changing our plans to cover the Water Village locate also further away.


Angkor Wat is the cultural home of the Khmer people and its form, in various guises has appeared and is still on the national flag. Had it been located in the Mediterranean basin it would have been one of the eight wonders of the world. The Lost City of Angkor was to remain undiscovered by Western archaeologists until the late 19th century and ever since has continued to amaze all who see it for the first time: neither words nor pictures do it justice. Angkor Wat is a legacy of the might that was once the Khmer Empire, a detailed history of which has been carved into the many walls of this fortified temple. The temple is accessible by a giant stone causeway across the hundred ninety meter moat, itself an incredible feat of engineering, to the west face of the Wat.

The tuk-tuk ride to the Water Village took around 30 minutes to get there followed by another 30 minutes of small boat ride. In the village we enjoyed some refreshments before renting local style canoes to visit the Flooding Forest and the Flooding fields. The trip took altogether around 4 hours back and forth, we were really pleased. A must thing to do if visiting, but just to note, make sure that it is watery season, because in two months those fields and forest will be without water, just bare land.

The tuk-tuk with a driver for two whole days cost us 31 USD for four people. In the end we decided to tip the driver with 4 extra making total 35 USD and he ended up hugging us. He was so kind to us with waiting and helping to get the best out of our trip, he was also really patient with us wanting to catch the sunset and sunrise. Normally you have to pay extra to see them. The 3 day tickets to see the temples were 40 USD per head.

On the third day I joined my Danish buddy to the shooting range, he was destined to shoot a clip with AK 47. After 30 rounds and 60 USD, the day followed with mostly all manly activities starting with beers, drinks and pizzas continuing 14 hours straight. We also enjoyed some great frog barbecue and burgers, yarrr! We also met again with some guys we first met in Phnom Penh and partied with them, great and crazy night!

Last day was just for resting before leaving to the next country. Actually there has been some changes to our plans. We are not continuing to Laos but rather than taking a night bus to Bangkok, Thailand from where I'll continue with just my Danish bro to Phuket with a domestic flight followed by a ferry ride to the Phi Phi paradise islands.

Ps. I already bought train tickets from Helsinki to Seinäjoki on December 23rd at 13:06 o'clock! Just wait Christmas, here I come!

Vietnam Part III - Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City

Pictures from Nha Trang and some from Ho Chi Minh City can be found from my picasa album!

Nha Trang

We arrived to the hotel at 6 am with the open bus. Found an affordable accommodation right away, only 6 USD per night. We booked the rooms and jumped back to bed to rest till 9 am, after which we enjoyed a breakfast on the roof terrace with beautiful view opening over the Nha Trang beach and city. After the breakfast we wandered couple of kilometers by the shore.

Nha Trangs is actually the most famous seaside resort-town in Vietnam. It is more lively and urbar in character than other beach destinations like Phu Quoc and Mui Ne, also serving as a scuba diving center of Vietnam. One cannot wander the street noticing that it has reached its current state due to Russian tourism, which can be seen everywhere as everything is translated also in Russian.

Located on a small hill at the mouth of the Cai river at Nha Trang, we found the temple of Po Nagar. It is said to be named after the goddess of local origin who is said to have created the earth, eaglewood and rice. The temple was built and rebuilt in 7th-12th centuries during the Hindu period of Champa and thus the images of the goddess takes the form of Uma, wife of Siva.

The temple is nowadays used by Vietnamese people and they have dressed the goddess in Buddhist robes. There is speculations of comparison between this temple and the towers of Lolei, near the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which were built at the end of the 8th century.

Next place we visited was the Long Son Pagoda, which is the home of the giant seated Buddha, and it is the oldest Buddhist pagoda in town. The pagoda was established in 1963 and built on the site of the first pagoda in Nha Trang to honor the monks and nuns who died demonstrating against the Diem government. The famous giant seated Buddha is 79 ft. tall and has a shrine inside.

While walking back to the hotel we stumbled upon the Nha Trang Main Cathedral. The construction was started by the archbishop Louis Valet who had the top of the mountain blown off with 500 mines to obtain flat surface of 4,500 square meters. The cathedral was finally completed after 7 years of construction in 1935. The cathedral still holds its majestic beauty and its unique architecture.

When we arrived back to the hotel the girls met this older random Russian guy who was just arrived to the Vietnam and was completely lost. We continued to our room, but awhile later they all stumbled upon our door to ask us to join. Long story short, we ended up sharing a bottle of vodka with Igor on the roof sharing some stories. Apparently he had spent 20 years roaming the sea as a ichthyologist, and also that almost all of his cousins live in near Turku. The guy didn't speak any English so the girls worked a bit as a translators. It was a really weird evening and a night.

The next morning started with a walk around the close by quarters while enjoying some street food. We then separated to groups of boys and girls. I ended up resting a while before going to gym for one hour and thirty minutes followed by a solid thirty minutes of stretching.

Later, as a one group again, we enjoyed a nice dinner with some crocodile meat on the side. Others said that it was a bit more chicken like but for me it was a bit more white fish meat like than chicken - same same but different.

Also after the dinner my 1 year 11 months unplanned Movember ended. After the dinner we went to barbershop to cut my hair, and around 20 minutes later I had become 5 years younger. I love my new old hairstyle, how's that cutie in the picture? The whole thing was filmed and archived.

After the dinner we went actually to order a movie night on a local cinema like theater. The cinema had room for almost 20 people and you were allowed to book what you wanted to watch, we ended up choosing the Daybreakers. I could classify it as a B-grade vampire action strip with some idea in it, IMDB gives quite surprising 6.1 out of 10. In the end it was a entertaining movie enough but not that much to say or to add. We had the whole theater for ourselves which was nice. To note, it wasn't actually like a proper theater, it was more like a living room private cinema.

For the next day we had booked a 4 island boat tour. The boat got backed up with around 30 to 40 people ranging in age, sex and nationality, mainly some older Chinese and American people in our situation. First stop was an aquarium island, which we had to pay 50 000 dong (1.5 USD) more to see it. Was a bit of a ripoff though, it was even smaller aquarium than the one in Särkänniemi back in Tampere, but I still enjoyed it with all the sharks and weird coral fishes etc. they had.

Second stop was close by the Monkey island. There was a possibility for swimming, jumping off from the boat roof and lots of different expensive water sports. They also offered a change for scuba diving for the price of 25 USD, luckily snorkeling was free, but as a misfortune, the past night was so stormy that it had made the seabed unclear. I didn't feel like swimming although the sun was shining, ended up just blazing myself in the sun.

Third stop was close to the Bamboo island, we actually anchored ourselves next to a floating fishing village where you were able to buy some food to be cooked for you. The lobster felt really pricey, a one huge over a kilo in weight lobster cost 120 USD and the animals were left to rest in peace. After that the backs of the benches were turned down and they formed a big table. The lunch was offered, it was amazing, the food so vast and vary accompanied with fruits later. After the dinner was cleared it was time for a party, the "boat nr. 4 trip" crew had their own boy band and so they started to play music. We also tried some sea urchin.

Everyone from any different culture had something to sing, I had to sing "Jaakko kulta herää jo..." song. My Russian friends song the communist song that goes in Finnish something like this "Sirppi ja vasara ne taivahalla loistaa", but as a young girls they were, they didn't recognize the song. And we are quite unsure if the band was actually singing it in Finnish. It took me quite awhile to understand the "Jaakko kulta" song too from their pronunciation. My Spanish friend started with the Macarena song, which he didn't know at all. He actually guessed that song is going to be for him. The song was followed by a party song that got all the people dancing on the table. After that we heard or rather saw quite a good version of Spanish national anthem. And also other people from all the different cultures or countries song something; some French, Canadian, American, Chinese and Vietnamese to say at least.

Performances were followed by a open bar floating party in the water, so if you wanted to join you just had to jump in. The crew throw always some liferings "pelastusrengas" in to the water for everyone to float with while drinking the local port wine that was offered for the brave ones. And of course, what else, I was one of the first ones to jump into the water - styling the entrance with a back flip from the roof of the boat followed by applause. After a while of floating and drinking we started to do more jumping with my Spanish friend.

The last stop was on Moon island. It was a beach island, not a resort and you had to bay 20 000 dong (1 USD) entrance fee. The weather was rainy so the beach didn't tempt that much but we entered to the beach and started to play some cards. Just before leaving the island we got a grasp of sun to put a smile back on our faces. While going back to the shore the sky fell loose and water was pouring like never before, okay, I admit, a bit of execration.

In all together we enjoyed the boat trip, thank you crew of the boat nr. 4!

After the trip I stumbled upon some reviews about these 4 island tours on Internet. Most of them described our tour really precisely in details, except that on those tours the reviewer didn't enjoy, what a pity to them. But I guess it is always the group and the friends who makes the atmosphere. We had also already heard about these boat trips from other backpackers the girls met in Hoi An and they told the boat trip to be the most fun thing on their Nha Trang visit.

After the trip we chilled awhile and confirmed our open bus tickets to Ho Chi Minh on the following day. We went to book something for the last day too but in the end decided to skip ostrich and elephant as well as expensive water park rides. After that we divided, the girls wanted to party and I wanted to see a movie with my Spanish friend. We chose to see Peter Jacksons movie District 9. The movie was entertaining but not quite what we expected. It could have been a bit better if would have understood the aliens speaking to each other because the alien language of the Prawns was only translated in Vietnamese. Luckily we were still able to follow arch of drama in the movie. The movie has surprisingly high 8.1/10 in IMDB.

Last morning in Nha Trang also my Spanish friends birthday started with a good two hours session exercising at the gym followed by some stretching. When leaving from the gym and walking across the street to buy some fruits for breakfast from a street stall, the saleslady popped up a question, where are you from? Followed by a statement, you are so handsome. Made my morning and got a smile on my face. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the hotel lounge and diner before the open bus company picked us up at 7.30 pm towards Ho Chi Minh.

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh, formerly Saigon, is the biggest city in Vietnam in terms of residents and population density. The capital of Vietnam, the Hanoi is still bigger in terms of ground coverage. Some say that Ho Chi Minh and Megong Delta has nothing to offer except views of reality of the harsh local life in Vietnam. They are not favored by tourist or backpackers that much.

We arrived to Ho Chi Minh early in the morning, around 6 am. We had scheduled to meet with our Danish exchange student friend at the Ben Than market at 7 am. One thing to remember from Ho Chi Minh was that in the morning the park was filled with people exercising, walking, running, stretching and playing badminton. Close to the big roundabout in front of the Ben Than market main entrance we reunited with Frederik and turned our heads towards a bus station, more precisely just a street to get a bus ride to Cambodia, more precisely to the capital Phnom Penh.

A quick visit to Philippines

You can find the pictures from here on picasa or facebook.

A short word about Tiger Airways punctuality. As I told my friend while heading to the airport, we are in no rush. Previously, we got a call from Tiger customer service on Saturday saying that my friends flight has been changed from the morning flight to the evening flight. After coming back from the beach party at Azzura beach club, I got a call around 6am on Sunday morning, just couple of hours before we were supposed to leave to the airport - my flight was postponed too, but that was okay, now we had the same flight to attend to. We arrived to the Changi Airport Budget terminal around 2.30pm where we realized that we didn't have any details about the flight changed. We started asking around the counters and they started bouncing us around, but finally after 30min waiting we got ourselves a tickets to Clark, Manila. And as always, we almost missed our flights boarding which for the first time happened like scheduled. Even though we boarded the plane in time, we had to wait an hour for permission to departure, all of this without any information shared.

And so we arrived to Manila Clark, 100km off the target - money gives and taxi gets. We ended up taking a two hours taxi drive to inner parts of Manila, to the area of Malate. Ermita and Malate are the one place in town where to see lots of travelers enjoying the old neighborhoods stretching south from Rizal Park and east from the Manila Bay. It offers accommodation in every price range.

We had looked up an backpackers estate named Pension Natividad from Lonely Planet. It is a nice budget place. Set a bit back from the street and couple hundred meters from the Manila Bay. Outside it offers a long shady area for meeting other travelers and it also hosts a 24 hours coffee house with excellent breakfast. On the first night we headed to a close by 24h Pit Stop market to get some water and couple of beers. And so we chilled outside the estate planning our next day.

Monday was a day for sightseeing. We decided to checkout what Lonely Planets "see Manila in two + two days" had to offer. We woke and got up around 9am and headed to enjoy the best American breakfast I've had in these past 4 months! After breakfast we headed out for a quest of finding a hanging lock for the secure locker to hold our valuables.

Around 11am our trip started, our primary destination was the old area of Intramuros with Fort Santiago and Rizal Park in Ermita. First we headed towards the bay to check out the view. I admit, I got scammed by a horse tuktuk rider, "let me take a picture my ass." I should have just took a picture of him contrary and asked to give me 20 pesos. But yeah, that's practically nothing, like 35 euro cents...

From the shore we started zigzagging towards the Intramuros, we  knew it was towards north, just before the Pasig River which is the main river. After 50minutes walking through the Rizal Park we had seen a local movie filmed, visited a Chinese Garden, gazed upon some memorial statues and miniatures of Philippines 7000 islands floating in a vast watery pool.

Around half past noon we had seen also the Plaza de Roma with the 7th reconstruction of Cathedral of Manila and found our way to the Santa Clara Street in Intramuros. There we visited the most famous Fort Santiago guarding the vital entrance to the Pasig River. The walled city of Intramuros was founded 1571 by Spanish troops and thereafter, has been invaded by Chinese pirates, threatened by Dutch forces, and held by the British, Americans and Japanese at various times, yet it survived till the closing days of WWII, when it was finally destroyed in the Battle of Manila during the US bombing.

As a culinary tourists we decided to get something really tempting, something that really hits the spot and... ended up smashing it at Pizza Hut... Around 6pm we reached home. It was time for some planning beers, and planning. I have actually been craving to get into a proper beach to bath in the sun - to get some manly tan lines! The late night was actually spent reading happenings in Finland, Europe, everywhere, I have to admit that I've been in a bit of a news shade. We also watched the movie Kumar and Harold go to the White Castle before calling it night.

Our plans were to hop on a charter bus and head about 30km south of Manila to a beach resort close to Cavite, although these plans were ruined by the rain that kept us in until half past noon. We were supposed to plan something new but the closing change of t-storm kept the Internet channels dead. Although it allowed us to revise our memories by watching the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Finally the rain stopped and we headed to a post office about 2km in distance from our apartment. Just hoping that the postcards will find their way, because we were just told to leave them standing on an empty counter.

After the trip to the post office we headed towards the roundabout of Del Pilar which we had passed previously. We entered a premiere restaurant Adriatico for a proper meal. We enjoyed a full three course meal under 15euros per head consist of the best Hummus with Pita bread I've ever have had, tasty Chicken Corn Soup, delightful Penne del Puttanesca, Caramel Glazed Walnut Cheesecake and Chocolate Dressed Banana Crepes with premium San Miguel beer and coffee America.

While eating we realized a flaw in our plan, we were supposed to walk around the area of Malate to Manila Botanical and Zoological Gardens, but we were just too full. After a while of digesting we were ready to continue. We walked through slums filled with people and animals coexisting. Chickens and roosters roaming free with cats, dogs and children while some folk sleeping on the streets or trying to make living by offering tuktuk rides or selling something - actually anything. At the gates of the Zoo and Garden thingie we immediately realized that I would not have anything to offer after the one we saw in Singapore. This one only had the size of an big football field enclosed by busy streets from all around.

After the refreshing walk in the cloudy, but really moist and warm atmosphere we arrived back to our estate around 4pm. The rest of the day was spent reading news from back home and around the world. We also spent couple of hours planning our upcoming spring semester back home in the Technical University of Tampere, and my friend finished weekly work for his bachelor thesis. We chilled outside the backpackers lounge zipping beer and enjoying ourselves until 1am before calling it night.

On Wednesday we decided to travel a bit closer to the Clark Airport to the Angelos City. After a well slept night, refreshing cold shower and American breakfast with hot coffee, we were more than ready to checkout. The security guard of the pensions hailed us a cap and we drove to the Philtranco bus terminal in Pasay, Manila, 5km in distance. From there booked a tickets to a bus to Clark. Imagine the price difference, 4000 pesos taxi drive was only 450 pesos with a bus.

The bus took us directly to Clark airport and so we had to hail a cap to get us to the hotel in Angelos City close by. We had previously checked a quite affordable place online, stating only 1500 pesos night. Although in the end it was only 1350 pesos per head, due to 10% cash discount, it was just that we had to buy separate rooms so the price doubled. The hotel was nice, we had a quiet pool with a bar on the side and a restaurant at the back, and not to forget to mention, a free pool table to use - and so we did.

Angelos City was a bit contrary compared to the outskirts of Manila metropolis with 12million people and being the 18th biggest in the world. Although it wasn't as shady as the Malate, it showed another side of the Philippines. As one British guy stated to me at the poolside "Philippines is good for two things; one girls, two diving." He actually ended up sharing a part of his life... He had just found out that he had a three years old kid back here in Philippines and he had came here for two weeks time to make it legal, so that the bastard child would not be or get killed, and would have a change in life.

The reality hit you. The streets of Angelos City were filled with somewhat beautiful 20 year olds hanging out with older westerns, sometimes two to four with the same guy, and still the guys were flirting to some more girls. While chilling at the terrace of the Beer Garden bar and restaurant, enjoying some San Miguels and Nachos Grandes, we could see guys disappearing with the girls to the shady street across, and after a while later returning with a hint of a grin and a smoke on their lip. We called it night around 01am after some more pool and couple of more beers.

We woke up at 5am and backed our stuff and headed down for checkout. The nice girl at the counter helped us by ordering a taxi for us too. Everything went without surprises although at the airport we had to withdraw and exchange some extra money due to the airport service fee of 600 pesos per person on international flights. And so we arrived back to Singapore; for me to sleep on last night at UTown and for my friend to catch a flight back to Finland. It actually made me a bit homesick, but I think the morning flight to Vietnam will cure it!

NUS finished

On Saturday morning at 11am on 19th of November 2011 - I had finally finished my studies in National University of Singapore. I was actually first one that I know to finish the studies completely. Moreover, the upcoming two weeks are meant solely for final exams and some of my friends are finishing their studies in the beginning of December, good luck for all of you guys!

After my last exam, we headed out to celebrate with my Finnish visitor and a good Pakistan friend. We went into an Italian restaurant called OChre in Somerset, one of the busiest and most expensive areas in Singapore,  the Orchard Road. The restaurant has a wide range of excellent but a bit expensive pastas and pizzas. There is actually some thinking behind the decision to choose this restaurant. I had previously heard a rumor about all you can eat pasta and pizza buffet offer for the price of 22sgd on Saturdays from 11.30am to 3pm. It was there, when we realized that it wasn't a buffet, we were actually allowed to order as many pastas and as many pizzas we wanted from the menu with the fixed price even though the pizzas and pastas cost more than that price separately. In the end we managed to indulge ourselves with six different pizzas and three different pastas before our bellies started bursting - the best pizzas and pastas that I have had in a long long while.

The upcoming night was filled with excitement. I had some free tickets to a beach party I helped to promote and sell tickets to. The night was success in every way, the swimming and partying in the beach clubs pools was refreshing. We started heading back home at 4am and finally went to bed at 6am already anticipating the following trip to Philippines with my friend from Finland.

Ps. Pictures will follow later, it takes eternity and a half to upload anything here in Philippines...

Travels to come

While being visited by my good friend back from Finland, we are leaving to Manila (Clark) in Philippines on Sunday 20th of November. Don't yet know what to do there but it will come up in time, and I have my Lonely Planets, thanks! We'll return back from Philippiles on 24th for my friend to catch his flight back to Finland on that same day.

I'll have my second to last night in Singapore over the following night leaving to Vietnam on November 25th.

To sum up some of our plans, we are travelling in a group of four to Vietnam. I, my spanish roommate and two lovely Russian girls to accompany us. With my roommate we made a pact, if there is multiple points of interest to see, we'll throw a coin to decide, living the life by a change.

For Vietnam, we only bought tickets to go up north to Hanoi and will be travelling from there towards south to Ho Chi Min in two weeks, covering the distance spanning them apart.

From there we'll continue to Phom Phen in Cambodia and furthermore to Laos over the next one and half weeks. I've planned to return back to Singapore on December 20th to sleep my final night and catch a plane back to Finland on 21st of December arriving to Helsinki on 22nd.

So I'll see you all back home over the Christmas.

Ps. My journeys doesn't end there! I just booked the AlppiHupellus trip 5.1.-16.1.2012., to Méribel in Les 3 Vallees in France. To the largest unified skiing location in the world!

So whats next - keep em coming!

Past weeks

Here is pictures of my trips to Universal Studios, Pulau Ubin and Singapore Zoo!

There has happened quite a lot after the trip to Hong Kong and Macau. First of all, as I already realized after Bali, that I'm a bit late with my school work, I've been studying some long ten hour days filled with couple of hours of exercise at the gym or by the pool.

I was also visited by my good friend back from Finland who is an exchange student in Bali at the moment, and whom I met previously in Bali. He was accompanied by his villa-mate, a Finnish girl also as an exchange student. I shared our flat to them to couch surf for the duration of their trip. It was nice to have more life in the apartment and my roommates didn't mind at all, thank you guys!

With them and some other friends from Singapore, I also visited the acclaimed world tallest rooftop bar, the 1 Altitude on top of the One Raffles building. They enjoyed Singapore and we had some good times, even though I had to do some studying too at the same time.

After their visit, the trip to Penang was up, it was amazing, nice gathering of good friends I've made here in Singapore.

I also visited the Singapore Universal Studios, and to say, it was actually pretty amazing. I liked the roller coaster rides of Battlestar Galactica, the spooky trails under the pyramids filled with mummy's, gazed upon the varieties of dinos in Jurassic Park, enjoyed a full fledged Waterworld show with watery chases and explosions, saved the princess Fiona with Shrek in 4D, danced and sung with the Ass, stepped upon a 5level hurricane hitting Manhattan with Steven Spielberg and listened the Monster rock musical just to mention a few... We spent around 9hours there, it was worth the money!

At school it has been quite a work, I would really much like to tell what I've been up to with my studies but I haven't had the time or concentration to do it. Just to sum it up quickly... As a group project, we composed a video lecture of Chinese remainder theorem. I held two presentations about Context-Sensitive Program Analysis as Database Queries and one presentation on topic of Analysis and Usage of Fuzzy Logic for Optimized Evaluation of Database Queries. As a pair project we implemented three algorithms on Hadoop, the algorithms were PageRank, Shortest Path and K-Means Clustering and returned a 25 pages report on it. On another module we are at the moment finishing our 35 pages survey on Software Outsourcing.

I've noticed that for me to be efficient, I need to work out, that is one of the reasons I started to go to the gym or / and to the pool four to five times per week. I also started running again a while back, whit my roommate we circled through the university's inner route which spanned over 5.5 kilometers in around 40 minutes.

Over the past week on November 10th, I received my Student Pass. Now I'm legally finally legally in Singapore after my first three days in July. As you might know, tourist visa is a single entry 90 days, but I've been abusing that fact... Now I can travel safely for the rest of my stay before handing the Student Pass back before departing back to Finland.

I also got a Finnish visitor arriving from New Zealand, where he had spent the past ten months as an exchange student. After four nights, actually just yesterday, he continued his journey to Germany.

At the moment I've been visited by my good friend back from Finland! I consider myself lucky to have visited by so many friends here. Just this Monday, 14th of November, we visited the close by island Pulaud Ubin, which is a part of north east Singapore, located between the countries Malaysia and Singapore.

I had visited the Pulau Ubin already past year, but my two Finnish friend had not. The ride to the ferry terminal took around 1h30min with MRT and bus. The actual bum boat ride from the Changi Point Jetty Terminal to the Pulau Ubin took only around 10 minutes.

While visiting the island, you can experience the Singapore 20-30 years in the past. Fishing village with roaming wildlife and uprising civilization. The Pulau Ubin can be seen in half a day riding a mountain bikes. We actually saw over three meter long Komodo Dragon and some fishes wiht lime green glowing eyes while cycling through the jungle and mountain bike trails.

We also visited the Singapore Zoo, it had quite a lot to show us, actually we both recalled that last time we had been in a Zoo was back in preliminary school in Korkeasaari or Ähtärin Eläinpuisto.

Now I'm facing my final project deadline on Friday and one and only upcoming exam Saturday morning. Hope to cope them through!

To celebrate the end of the school, we are having a beach party on Saturday, it is actually managed and organized by a business student from Germany who asked me to promote the event too. The party is called Rapture of the deep - Berlin meets Singapore!

Penang revisited

Pictures can be found from picasa and facebook!

If you can recall, I actually visited Penang already on my first weekend as an exchange student. It was a bit controversy decision for me to go there for a second time, but as planning it, I realized that on the first time we really didn't see that much of it.

The day to travel arrived, twenty of us backed our backs and headed towards the Kranji MRT station and continued to Singapore customs in Woodlands. For me it took a while to get past the border...

I actually have to make a confession, I don't yet have my student pass (visa). I had three months of time from 7th of July onwards and I arrived to Singapore on 27th of July. I went to ICA to complete the formalities on 17th of October but after three hours of queuing and paper swapping they realized that my in-principle approval letter from the National University of Singapore had become void already, no shit... I was asked to contact my University and obtain a new letter immediately, cause I've practically been living and traveling as a illegal immigrant since the first weekends journey to Langkawi and Penang, and back. I reapplied for the letter and made the 90 SGD payments again to complete the formalities, I received my new IPA letter on Thursday 27th of October but decided not to go to the ICA for completion cause I had an exam on my PhD module on Friday just before leaving to Penang.

So now you know the reason why it takes a bit longer for me to go through the customs, to clarify, I don't have any problems at the border and they didn't have any questions (this time). But just to be sure I had my IPA letter with me to Penang. After crossing the Singapore customs we continued to cross the border bridge to Johor Bahru border in Malaysia and towards the bus terminal in Larking.

We ordered the bus to depart from Larking just to save some bucks with the travel costs. The trip cost were around 110 SGD per head which included the ten hour bus rides both ways and a accommodation in serviced apartments. The night was spent driving like crazy, of course we stopped to meet our good friend 7 Eleven to get some drinks which followed by a series of toilet stops. The bus was great, seats big enough and comfortable to sleep or have a movie theater in it! We occupied the last rows and put up a movie theater, I had speakers with me as always, who else would provide the party music. I recall us watching Captain America and American Psycho.

Brakes squeaked, we had arrived to our destination in Pulau Penang, to the town and beach resort area of Batu Ferringhi with lots of hotels like Hard Rock Hotel with Hard Rock Cafe night club. We left our bags to the reception of our serviced apartment cause there were no rooms empty at the moment, respectfully it was only 7am. We brushed our teeth and refreshed our travel strained bodies beside the pool.

As a group we started to walk along the beach street to find a open breakfast place. It felt weird, everything seemed empty like in a ghost town, no lights in the hotels, only some people washing cars trying to make a living. After a short walk we found two open restaurants that had a breakfast menu, and guess with what I settled; an American breakfast with bacon, sausages, beans, fried eggs and toasts, but of course I ate my precious dragon fruits that I had brought along all the way from the UTown Cheers. I just can't get enough of dragon fruits, It makes me a bit sad to imagine how will I replace those in my diet back in Finland.

By the way, to rewind couple of days, we went to see a movie in cinema back in Singapore. We watched the Killers Elite and there was a man bringing Dragon Fruits to Jason Stathams character! I believe they are the reason behind his real charm and power.

After the breakfast we walked back to the apartments to check if anyone had returned, but none had. We decided to jump in to bus and head to the main city of Pulau Penang, to the Georgetown.

Georgetown is actually the second biggest city in the whole Malaysia and the capital of the island and state of Penang. It has been made as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. The atmosphere of Penang is often likened to reflect Singapore back in the 1960s and 1970s.

We take our tour around the harbor scenery, visited the Little India and Chinatown sightseeing all the heritage buildings, the temples and markets. To note, the rainy season in Pulau Penang is in September and October turning down a bit already on November. Nevertheless we had a good weather for the most of the day until we decided to take a taxi towards the Penang Hill.

Penang Hill is a mountain reaching 833 meters above the sea revealing astonishing view over the Georgetown and the surrounding ocean. It is only reachable by either Penang Hill Railway viaduct build between years 1906 to 1923 or by a jeep trail which is only allowed for walking and small vehicles like scooters etc.

So because of the stormy weather we decided to head back towards the city and back to the Batu Ferringhi to meet others for dinner and pre-partying for the Saturday evening. Rest of the day was spent in a joyful spirit in the apartments, by the pool, in the streets and inside Hard Rock Cafe.

Sunday morning started with a mediocre headache, actually the worst that I have had on my trips, but it was fine after some painkillers. My friends had rented scooters to drive around the island and I asked to join. We were driving two on. We headed towards the mountains. We crossed the area of Teluk Bahang with the artificial freshwater lake and dam and all the way through the Kampung Batu Kecil to the town of Balik Pulau. The view from the spiraling mountain roads were breathtaking. We stopped for breakfast at a fruit farm in the mountains after passing the Teluk Bahang Dam. From there we continued the rest of the way. On our way back we found the other scooter boys and got our gang together for a picture.

Rest of the day was spent on a beach in front of the Hard Rock Hotel, we did some water sports like banana driving with seven people. Quite nice but a bit disappointing, the speedboat guy didn't make us all drop off until we started to tip the banana by ourselves.

After that I took a one to two hours nap at the shore of the beach while waving water cooling me down. My friend woke me up by bringing me a drink to refresh myself and we decided to go chill in the ocean. After the drinks we had a great idea of doing back flips from each others shoulders. After couple of jumps it was my turn. On the second jump I felt like stepping on top of something alive while my leg going in it. But I wasn't sure. I jumped the third time and while making my way back to the surface I felt like a whip hitting around my wrist burning and electrocuting it all at the same time. I had accidentally got my hand inside jellyfish tentacles and it was wrapping around my wrist. Luckily I was close to the shore, I walked out of the water without knowing what to do, my hand burning and swelling. My friend poured some fresh water on it which was amateur mistake, but how could we have know. One local from the beach shouted to me and told us to get some vinegar from the hotel to rub on it and so we did. Other solution and said to be better would have been peeing on it. Just for you to know! I was told not to take a shover or use any soaps for at least one hour to let it settle.

While walking back from the hotel pool we saw the warning signs indicating jellyfishes. Luckily these weren't the poisonous ones as the local guy told us. You could feel the hand burning a bit over a 24 hours but now it's already starting to be fine. It seems like I won't be getting a permanent scar from it after all, which is actually most usual in these cases.

Five minutes after we had threated my hand we saw the guy darkening like it was falling down, the locals told us to get inside in five minutes and so we did. The rain was amazing, it emptied the streets of people and filled them with water. The storm was over as suddenly it arise, although it roamed almost an hour.

Around 6pm our bus had arrived and we jumped in for the trip back. The movie theater was again formed and this time we enjoyed movies like RED (recommendable action movie) and Gladiator (legendary as always). Around 4am we reached the border customs of Malaysia and Singapore and got home back to UTown just before 5am.

Again a great trip with lots of memories. Thank you everyone!

Destination Bali, Part II

Here is a link to my photos of the second part of the recess week trip to Bali on facebook II and picasa! These pictures cover the trip to Lovina through temples, waterfalls, hot springs etc. and back to Kuta and Kerobokan.

From Ubud we started heading to Lovina, a seaside town with various water activities to offer. We rented a charter for just two people for the whole day to drive us through the mountains to the northern side of the island. On the way there we visited numerous of attractions varying from lake temples to waterfalls and hot springs.

First on our route was Taman Ayun, the Royal Temple of Mengwi Empire in Bali. It's strategically located beside the major roadway between the two main cities in Bali, the Denpasar and Singaraja. The temple is set on a land surrounded by a big fish pond so it looks like drifting on the water like an island. Inside it has a beautiful temple building with multistoried roof and Balinese architecture. The beautiful landscape of the garden in front courtyard is very welcoming. Even though it's the Royal Temple it was the most un-touristic temple we had visited on our journeys in Bali with a most calming more natural like garden.

After the temple we continued our journey towards Lovina. When driving through the beautiful landscapes of rice terraces and high soaring mountains we stopped to admire a breathtaking view opening to every direction.

The next stop on our ride was a local food market called Candi Kuning Market. It's located in Bedugul. It provides fresh fruits, vegetables, spices, and such exotic flowers as delicate orchids and roses. The combination creates an array of wonderful colors. Spices include nutmeg, pepper, paprika and turmeric. A wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables can be found here, as well as jeruk bali (pomelo) and durian. From the food market we bought some local chips resembling snacks like dried vegetable slices, spinach leafs and flower pedals. We also bought some local strawberries they raise on the mountains all over the year due to suitable climate. The market was supposed to be only for locals but the increasing tourism had brought the small stalls with all you can imagine stuff to buy also there.

The ride continued only for 15minutes and we arrived to the lake temple of Ulun Danu Beratan. It's a Balinese Hindu Temple located at Candi Kuning countryside, Baturiti sub district and Tabanan regency. The distance from Denpasar town is about 50 km north from Denpasar towards Singaraja, so on our way. The temple is surrounded by a beautiful view of surrounding mountains on a lakeside of Beratan. It is situated in the plateau area with a cooler atmosphere. On the northern side of the temple is Pucak Sangkur mountain and in the east side there is the Beratan mountain which is also referred as Pucak Mangu or Pucak Pangelengan. On the southern side locates the Terate Bang mountain and in the westside there is the Tapak and Watukaru mountains. A part of the temple is located in the lake creating a mystical atmosphere especially on a foggy day.

From the temple we continued our way through the mountains to our next destination before Lovina. The Gitgit waterfall is a very beautiful tourist destination in north part of Bali. Gitgit waterfall is located in the plateau area with the height about 35 meters and it is surrounded by tropical tree and emits the constantly natural water debit during the year. There are some plantations protecting the rain forest around the waterfall and in this place we often met the wild monkey to get the water from this waterfall. The waterfall is free to visit. From the road it was nearly 20min walk downhill to the waterfall. When we got down and had taken some pictures we changed into our swimsuits and hopped in to the water. To be honest it was more of a scary sneaking through the slippery rocks to the pouring water. The water was coming down so hard that you were barely able to withstand it's force and balance in it to keep yourself standing. I had to hold my friends hand to get her to accompany me to the waterfall too.

From the waterfall we continued our ride through the city of Singaraja to check-in to our hotel in Lovina before continuing to hot springs. The driver took us to a quite nice looking complex of four buildings with four bungalow style apartments in each. You could always get a room for cheaper price but the room was nice enough and not too costly, in the end only 175 000 IDR for two people.

Our predefined final destination was the hot springs of Air Banjar located close to Lovina beach. The sacred hot springs "Air Panas" of Banjar are set in the midst of the jungle in a landscape of a beautiful tropical garden. It consists of three public and one private pool. The sulphuric water is of volcanic origin and has an warm temperature around 40 degrees Celcius. It's said to be ideal for people suffering from rheumatic diseases. The hot spring water gushes from the mouths of eight stone carved nagas which are mythical dragon-like creatures, into the oblong shaped upper pool.

From the upper pool the water overflows from the mouths of five more nagas into the largest of the three pools, which is square shaped and situated at a lower level from the depth of one to two meters. Adjacent to these pools is the third and smallest one from which the water pours down via three four meter high spouts, giving you a strong, reviving massage.

After the refreshing and replenishing bath we headed back to Lovina and the driver continued back to his home in Ubud. At that night we watched a beautiful sunset over the quiet seashore filled with sailboats arrived from all over the world. We had a nice dinner and a good chill night in a local club with live music. We didn't stay in the tourist filled beachside restaurant clubs but headed a bit further away. We also booked a dolphin watching ride on sunrise and morning snorkeling on the coral reefs of Lovina beach.

We woke up around 5.30am and headed towards the beach. We were picked up by a local guy with a balinese style boat and headed to the sea. There were at least 20 other boats too. We headed towards the city Singaraja while the sun was rising behind the receding island. We round a bit of circle with all the other boats trying to catch a climbs of dolphins in their morning swim in their natural habitat. We saw around 3-4 dolphins about 4-5 different times and told our driver head back to the beach. We were a bit hungry and wanted to have a breakfast before the snorkeling. 

The snorkeling was amazing, even though the corals weren't so colorful the fishes and the sea stars were. I have always been sceptic about snorkeling due to the mud ponds of Finland I have snorkeled in, but not anymore. I could recommend coral reef snorkeling to everyone! After the morning we booked a new charter to drive us back to Kuta for the rest of the week and weekend.

My friend wanted to stay at Kuta for her last days and I headed towards my friends villa in Kerobokan where I could live for free. Actually my friends from Singapore were also invited but only one took the offer beside me. Other exchange students from Singapore gathered to Kuta for the last days too, mainly because the close distance to the airport.

The Villa Onga was really nice, it consist of big green yard, swimming pool, fish pool, kitchen, living room, two story with 4 double bedrooms, outside chilling balcony etc. It was a home to my friend, five other finnish girls and two german guys. By that week the girls were on a boat trip so we were allowed to stay there for free in their apartments.

I spent my last to days there chilling, having fun, surfing, scootering around Kuta, Double Six, Old Man etc. We also visited the beautiful oceanside temple of Tanah Lot that could only been reached on low tide.

We had a lot of fun that weekend jumping to the pool with the Tarzan rope I plaited from three different ropes. Actually we had a minor accident too, I was the first one to test it... We had put a small wooden stick through the rope as a handle to hang on while swinging. I swung towards the pool, in the middle of the way the stick cracked and I fell on the poolside. I was lucky not to hit my head tough. My friend got terrified because it looked so bad, but I only got a minor head smoothie and back pain and a big bruise in my left calf. My back and head got ok over the day and weekend. But otherwise it was fun jumping to the pool.

After the trip while I was stretching in the gym I noticed a huge rip in my left calf inside the muscle, but from outside there was just big bruise the size of the whole calf. I should have gone to the doctor but you know me... At the moment the rip is getting smaller and I can't fit my whole finger inside of it anymore and also it's not that touch sensitive anymore, it doesn't hurt to walk or exercise. It's good, gooood!

On that weekend we also visited the bar and club complex of Double Six, the Sky Garden which consists of 5 story with total of 10 clubs and bars. There or after that my wallet got stolen, luckily I had only some money and my credit card there, nothing else important that I could have remembered or missed. For the last two days I had to borrow money from my friend to sleep, eat, surf, take a taxi to airport and get of the country with the airport service fee of 150 000 IDR per person.

In the end amazing trip and not feeling bad about losing the wallet.

Ps. I might be going back to Bali at some point to visit my friends again and to learn to surf properly!

Destination Bali, Part I

Here is a link to my photos of the first part of the recess week trip to Bali on facebook I, facebook I½,  and picasa! These pictures cover the Kuta, trip to volcanic lake Batur and finally to the cultural village of Ubud.


Where to go on the recess week, that was the question? After the Bangkok I was asked by my french friend to accompany her also over the recess week. In the end there was a group of five girls and of course yours truly planning the trip. The first destination was to go to Philippines, but that was turned down later on by the fact that there is a typhoon season and one couldn't move or see much for that reason. Still I would have liked to go and see the typhoons, just loving big waves and strong winds!

The final group of us consisted six girls and two guys. Two girls from france, another two from Finland (although swedish-finns), one pakistani from Canada and one from Italia, then another one of my roommates from Spain and me. A solid group with only half of the trip planned, actually only four of the ten upcoming days, but thats the way I like it. It allows you freedom to choose what to do and where to go or just stay and chill out, maybe just inhale the culture. Main part of the group left already on wednesday 14th and rest of us, me and the french girl on friday after our lessons.

When going through the boarding I got picked from the line, maybe because of my long hair tied up loosely and shady "getting there" beard and my Indian style reggae clothes with saggy bag and a travelers backpack. The security guard wiped my whole backpack with clean tissue and then put it through some machine to test it for residues... but I was clear and allowed to board. After the boarding gate we watched some freakish Singaporean quiz show until we were allowed to board the plane, hrrr... just gives me chills.

The things that I can recall from the airplane was that I dozed before take off and woke up all high. On the air - I decided to start gathering the story for this trip, mainly because I had a feeling that it's going to be long one. We arrived to Depensar airport at Bali after 9pm, the sun was set already, as it was back in Singapore too. When you took your first step out of the airport and to the street, you could really feel it... the weather at Bali is colder and less moist than in Singapore, but the 26 degree night was still nice. To add, I actually like it here too, because you really can wear long reggae pants and long sleeve shirt.

Kuta

We met around 11pm in the Poppies lane I close to Kuta beach. From there some of the group continued to sleep while rest of us headed to the beach to enjoy some Bintang and just chill by the beach to gaze the scenery of people sending away beautiful lanterns over to the opening sea. At that night we also met my finnish friend studying here in Bali who arrived to the shore to greet us. Around 2pm we called it for the night. Sponsored by Bintang beer...

First night was spent in a premium hotel, the costs was around 550 000 indonesian rupees which equals to amount of proximately 50euros. It was not bad for huge triple (family room), with inclusive buffet breakfast, air-con, hot shower and bathtub, balcony, two swimming pools etc. In the morning we headed for the breakfast and chilled a while by the poolside. By then I noticed that I had forgot my swimming pants to Singapore, but naah, what to do, it just life. We headed out to do some shopping, I found a pair of swim trunks for the price of 75 000 IDR from which I only paid 50 000 in the end. When I asked my friend to estimate the prize of my surfing trunks he estimated 700 000-800 000 IDR which equals to 70-80euros, bua-ha-haa I said! Ps. you can really calculate it by yourself too later on, just take off four zeros from the price and you'll be good. Actually at the moment it's divisible with 12 000 but that's just minor pricking.

By noon we headed to the Padma beach which is a part of the huge Kuta beach, of course to hit the best waves. When arriving I messaged my friend, but he was surfing. So we decided to get our own surfboards and hit the waves too. The salesman trie to lure me with his beach prices, 100 000 for one hour. I knew that from the shops that were not on the beach you could get board for a whole day by just 50 000 IDR. In the end we ended up paying 50 000 IDR for two hours upfront. Just to say that in the end I surfed almost three hours, they really don't care that much.

So we hit the first waves with my finnish swedish friend. I think she was a bit smarter, because I just paddled to the big waves and wasted my time while she tried to ride the whitewash waves closer to the shore. After one hour of consistent trying my friend found us and we headed to "their usual place" to meet the others and to chill out. There we enjoyed some good fruit plates and continued back to the ocean. With my friend I was actually able to catch some waves properly.

After the sunset we headed to meet my other finnish friend studying here at the Bali as an exchange student. They had a housewarming party at their new Villa. It was nice, actually felt a bit like back home in finland because there were around 20 finns there. We partied until the morning hitting at least five different clubs around Kuta close by to the Poppies Lane I, II and also Legion road. From the last club we decided to take a taxi to the Villa to have after party. I think around one third of the way to the Villa I came to my senses and jumped out of the cap. From there I got a scooter ride from local for a small fee back to Poppis I directly to my hotel. I was home around 6-7am.

You could actually conclude the whole day by the words of Kaija Koo: "Kantakaa sitä kaljaa pöytään taas / vaahtoharjan aalloilla surffaillaan". And the same in english: "Just keep the beer coming / we'll be surfing on the whitewash waves"

On sunday, after the breakfast we headed out to the beach to gather a group together. From there I continued walking by the shore again to the Padma beach to see my friend.

The waves were far too direct and rough to be surfed on the Padma beach, so we decided to jump on some scooters. There were five guys of us on three scooters heading towards another beach closer to their Villa but a bit further away from Legion. We didn't have an extra helmet so I had to ride without one. The road from my friends Villa to the beach was amazing, a narrow road covered hardly with any cement snaking trough beautiful rice terraces.

That beach had a bit more dangerous reef seabed but it was high tide so we didn't worry. It was also my friends first time at that beach and on reefs too, but another guy told us where to surf a bit more safely. I rented a surfboard for one session, the price I paid in the end was only 35k IDR. The waves looked really good but they lacked the power and you really had to paddle to even try to catch the biggest waves. By that day we also organized ourselves (a group of four with variety of finns and swedish) a four wheel ride with a driver from Kuta to Ubud for 110 000 IDR per head.

Trip to lake Batur and Ubud

The trip started around 9am from the swedish girls accommodation that was located on the same Poppies Lane I. First we visited some Balinese cultural craftsmanship boutiques where you could see the manufacturing process of handmade textiles, carving of stone statues and figurines and assembly of silver jewelry. From there we continued towards one of the active volcanos in Bali and to the crater lake Batur beside it. We had a good view of the scenery from a buffet restaurant where we enjoyed our meal.

From there we started to head back towards Ubud to settle for the night, but we still wanted to see other stuff. On the way to a certain temple we first stopped to a natural coffee shop of Luwak coffee. It sells 60 000 IDR per mug, so quite expensive. It's actually a product of an animal called luwak (like a small weazel/dog animal) eating red coffee cherries. After that the seeds are collected from the pile of poo, washed and roasted to coffee beans. From there we continued to the Temple with sacred water ponds of replenishing power. Inside the temple you had to wear respective clothes to cover your legs and a yellow sash over your hip. I found the temple a bit too touristic and the feeling just got stronger in the end. They had made the exit route to go through a maze of shopping stalls and you were forced to walk through it.

Around 5-6pm we arrived to Ubud. There we just booked an accommodation before heading out for a walk around the Ubud's Monkey Street area. Even though the sun was already set we had a nice walk with some shopping by the side. When the night was closing in we headed for a lunch as a group.

Tuesday was spend around the Ubud tourist market, though I have to admit that I just walked it through for couple of times. I didn't feel like buying anything, even though my friend got a whole set of silver jewelry for under 300 000 IDR: earrings, ring, wristband, necklace and a pure silver chain. Tip: bargain, the first price for the wristband was 350 000 IDR, she got it for 60 000 IDR.

From there I continued my day just by myself walking around the city for an hour taking picture and visiting side streets for sightseeing. I ended up to the gates of the sacred temple area of monkey forest. To admit, it was a bit touristic place but quite nice. I actually got away from the main tracks and found a three-four story bamboo cafe treetop house that had been previously abandoned. I defied my fate by going in and climbing all the way to the top floor of the squeaky shack reaching over an opening gorge underneath. In the monkey forest there was also a temple, a tiny riverside road going inside of one gorge and lots of monkeys doing all kinds of stuff. At on place the wild monkeys were playing a game resembling the king of the hill. There was a small branch of old tree hanging over a shallow pond. There were around five monkeys trying their turn to be the last one hanging, the king of the branch pond. The monkeys were pushing and showing each other into the watery pond below.

And again I was able to delete all the photos I had taken. Luckily the town of Ubud is now days so civilized that they had an music shop that could sell memory card readers and a interned coffee to borrow one. I was able to recover my photos again with the PhotoRec software.

By the night we headed out for a drink or two. We ended up buying a jug (1.5liters) of beer by four of us: meaning me, one finnish girl, one italian girl and one french girl. I also bought a mixed olives tapas, just had to buy some tapas when I saw them been sold. Although it wasn't free and as good as in Spain, and the olives did cost as much as a proper meal I was still satisfied with my decision. We listened some live cover music for a while, after that we headed back to the apartment to chill and to enjoy a last beer of the day.

On the way back we also planned and booked a trip for us for the next day towards Lovina on the northern side of the island.