TJ 6

My last day in Cambodia is slowly coming to an end. It is a reminder of the fact that this entire journey, which has lasted over one year and three months already, is about to reach its conclusion. I know I haven't written anything in the blog for a very long time (since Singapore), but it is only a sign of how busy I've been getting to know Indochina and its people (and sitting on buses...).

I will have to leave telling you about Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia until I get back home and have more time. There will be pictures then too.

I spent my last days in Cambodia on an island (Koh Russei, also called Bamboo Island) an hour's boat ride from Sihanoukville, the largest city on the Cambodian coast. Whereas Sihanoukville and its beaches were a disappointment, the island offered everything I wanted.

Fanned by cooling puffs of air from the sea, I lie in my hammock and read a book while the sun sets over the azure ocean.

The bungalow resort (Koh Ru) where I stayed is probably the closest you can get to what the southern Thai islands used to be before the crowds arrived. There were no touts, no hassle, no disturbing elements. Just an 800 metre long beach on the sunset side of the island, beautiful green-blue water, about a dozen bungalows and a big dorm house (all made of wood and straw), a bar/restaurant and about 30 laid-back, friendly, mostly young people. Oh, and hammocks. I shouldn't forget about the hammocks. Or the book exchange shelf. Or the sunset fishing trips.

These are the ingredients of success. Not surprising, quite a few of the people had been there for weeks. Some had only planned to stay a few nights, but never got around to leave. That's what the lazy atmosphere did to you. Your only worry was "what should I eat next?".

I found myself wishing I had arrived a few days earlier, as three nights seemed way too short, but such is life.

You just don't see sunsets like these back home.

Tomorrow I'm heading towards Thailand again. My flight from Bangkok leaves on Sunday morning. I'm going to Copenhagen for five days to volunteer for Greenpeace during the COP15 United Nations climate negotiations (Thanks Emma!). I look very much forward to it, and to get back home and see all of you guys.

TJ 6...

Java and the Lion City

I quite like the title this time. It sounds like an epic fantasy novel set in a far away, exotic country. Maybe something to be written some day :-)

This blog post will wrap up my travels through Indonesia, and outline what you can afford to do in Singapore when travelling on a tight budget. Just like last time, I have focused on the photo captions and I'll only make a few remarks here. The links to the photo albums are:

• Jovial Java
• Lion City

From Bali I travelled by bus (and a short ferry ride) to the beating heart of Indonesia: the island of Java. Now that I'm in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and can do a bit of comparing, I have to say that I had an absolutely amazing time in Indonesia, especially in Java. Though not as rich a country as Malaysia, Balinese and Javanese life and culture seemed extremely vibrant and colourful. Don't get me wrong, the Malaysians are a wonderful people and I especially like the lack of touts, who were like flies on stool in Indonesia, but there was just... something about Indonesia that really appealed to me.

As far as experiences go, in Indonesia, surfing was an awesome thing to try out, as I've already pointed out. I'll definitely try to surf again during my time in Southeast Asia, but it depends on finding a beach with suitable surf for beginners (by the way, my ear is much better already). Otherwise, looking down at the moonscape of the Bromo national park in Java gave me an otherworldly feeling. The three volcanoes - one of them a smoking caldera - looked simply stunning as the light of dawn hit them. This is something I would not have anyone coming to Java miss, unless you've been to the Moon.

Bromo national park.

Singapore didn't rock my world. Sure it was nice to be able to drink tap water again, however, after Indonesia the big city felt like dreaming of spooning, and waking up to find you've been hugging the pillow. Singapore is also a lot more expensive than the rest of Southeast Asia. I hardly did any activities that weren't free, and I still exceeded my daily budget of 20 €. If you have the money, I reckon there are lots of cool things to do in Singapore, like visiting the zoo and doing a night safari. Still, walking around Chinatown, the Muslim quarter Kampong Glam and the Indian quarter Little India, is free and very interesting.

Forget the skyscrapers and the modern quarters of Singapore; Kampong Glam and Little India is where the charm lies!

Furthermore, there are many temples you can visit for free, and many museums are actually free after 6 pm. Another good way of saving money is to not order any drinks (not even water or soft drinks) when eating out (which you do all the time, since you can hardly prepare cheaper food yourself and most guesthouses/hostels don't have kitchen facilities). Drinks of any kind are usually quite expensive at food stalls and in restaurants, and you can easily spend almost as much money on a soft drink as on the meal itself. At least this is how I do it; after leaving the restaurant I take a swig out of my own water bottle, which always rides with me.

Tomorrow I'm off to the island of Pulau Pangkor on the west coast of Malaysia. Hopefully it's like paradise. Let's see how long I can lie on the beach and read a book before becoming restless. Only another 7 more weeks to go...

The Northern Territory of Oz and beguiling Bali

I know I haven't updated the blog in a long time and much has happened since my last proper entry. The things is that the spare time I have apart from the sight-seeing, is easily used on writing emails and such, writing my journal (by hand) and reading and doing research on my next destination. Today is a different matter though. I'm in Singapore for the third day, have seen all the free attractions I'm interested in and I have already exceeded my budget for the city-nation. So I'm lying low and just waiting for tomorrow when I'm heading into cheaper Malaysia.

Kings Canyon in central Australia.

In the mean time I'll use the opportunity to catch up on recent (ehm...) events.

Rather than writing humongous blog post about all that has happened since the Great Ocean Road in Australia, I'm going to do things differently this time. I'll post the links to the photo albums here, but the telling will be done by the captions of the images. For those who care to read a bit more, I'll briefly summarize my best experience in Australia and Bali further down in this text. I was hoping to post pictures from my entire stay in Indonesia today as well, but I didn't get further than Bali, so Java will have to wait until next time, not to talk about Singapore. Sorry.

Here are the links to the photo albums in the gallery:

• The Red Centre of Australia
• "The Track" - from Alice Springs to Darwin
• Beguiling Bali

As far as experiences go, by far the best thing I did in Australia was visiting central Australia: Alice Springs, Kings Canyon, Uluru and Kata Tjuta. It is a unique area and so very different from anything else I've ever seen. The problem I found with the East coast was, that it resembled the north island of NZ too much. Sure it's beautiful, but not until I got to Alice Springs did I feel like I was in the Australia I had always imagined. Sleeping in swags under the stars. The heat. The red sand and rock. The dryness. These were the things I came to see in Oz.

Me by a funny looking termite "mound". I believe "tower" suites better. Check the image gallery for a much larger mound!

My ear which got hammered while surfing on Bali, is now much better. I will surf in Southeast Asia again before long, no doubt about it! Surfing was my best activity in Bali, it was so much fun and such an experience. Why is there no surf back home?

Pretend that's me.

Melbournia

The time flies and it's already two weeks since our ways separate with JBB. He tries to cope with an unpleasant surfing accident in Bali whereas I am still settling down here in Melbourne. My first priority is to find a flat and of course a decent job, because living in a hostel is only bearable for so long. And more permanent form of residence brings the possibility to achieve my aim to built up a "normal" life instead of almost constant travel like in New Zealand.

Even thought our journey together with JBB was the most pleasant and a success I do feel pretty happy about the decision which take place about three weeks ago. JBB clearly had find what he was looking for and the new situation gives me all the time and freedom to find the answers and experiences which where originally the reason for me to leave.

I really hope that JBB:s Southeast Asia experience continues without any more accidents and he's professional surfing career continues successfully. But now it's time to tell you a couple of words about the Australian sporting and cultural capital Melbourne:

Federal Square in the evening.

Melbourne lies on the natural bay of Port Phillip and it is Australia's second largest city (population approx. 4 million) and constant rival for Sydney. In 1880 Melbourne was one of the most wealthiest city of the word because of the huge amount of gold fields and from that time there is still many beautiful building and architecture remaining. That combined whit new contemporary architecture boom before the recession (especially in banks of the Yarra River) and many beautifully maintained parks makes Melbourne nice place to live. Melbourne does have many nominations on the most livable city list.

Federal Square and The Flinders Street Station.

My favorite thing here is the public transport. World largest tram network provides good options to explore the city. And if you want to explore suburbs its relatively cheap: our trip to Mornington Peninsula which take 2-3 hours one way costs only three dollars! Could you imagine to travel to Turku or Tampere and back for only 3 euros?

The spring is good time if you don't mind the unpredictable weather. The Spring Carnival consist of the biggest sporting event in Australia: The AFL Grand Final where Geelong was slightly better than St Kilda (80-68) and The Melbourne Cup which stop the whole country for a moment. These events run weeks before the actual day and provides loads of news and side events. The great sandstorm in Sydney was only a minor news compared to the 30 odd articles about the upcoming Gran Final. To better understand how massive these events are there is two examples: 1. In the AFL Grand Final there is only 15 000 tickets for normal punters and the rest 75 000 tickets is sold for different corporate packets and the prices vary from 500 to 20 000 dollars! 2. When the actual Melbourne Cup is held the whole country stops for approx. 10 minutes and it's as much an horse race than a massive fashion show.

Before JBB left from Melbourne we did have time to explore the city. For the cultural side we visited in the Day in Pompeii exhibition in the Museum of Victoria and the Dali: Liquid Desire exhibition in NGVI (National Gallery of Victoria International) which was smartly composed.

NGVI. The Dali: Liquid Desire exhibition.

We did also enjoy the diverse food culture and various attractions, but that's all for now..

More pictures of Melbourne are available here.

And last: We just started "kesäaika" as it is in Finland called.. isn't it great!