Indonesia Borobodur

This temple complex, not far from Yogjakarta was constructed in the 9th century, has been destroyed by several volanic erruptions and contains more than 72 buddah images. The complex on the side is decorated by Budha Gautamas story of life. For those who dont know, Budah was actually Prince Sidharta. During his exploration outside of the palace he experienced things, that he has never seen or done before. The met bind people, people who were sick and dying. After this, he left the palace and became a hermit. When he became a hermit, he was not satisfied with what his scholars were teaching him so he joined Bodhi tree in India and got the highest knowledge. After this he has changed his name into Budah Gautama. This story is engraved into the walls of the temple complex and whilst walking up the complex clockwise you can see the story of his life.

Ind onesia Yogjakarta Prambanan

after our first knock out from sickness in Solo, we arrived to the other cultural centre of Indonesia Yogjakarta. Sosrowijayan area, where we stay too, is a maze of tourists but therefore quite cheap too. Trip one from here went to Prambanan, the grandest hindu temple complex in Java. Most of the temples have been destroyed during several earthquakes, tough the biggest ones such as Shiva Temple, Brahma and Vishnu temple still stand.



with a wise tourguide we took the tour but from all the useful information that we got on scence, it seems like i have forgotten it almost all. I do remember tough that the temples have each one a statue representing the god it is honoring. Underneath the statue lie some relicts which were there for some kind of praying honor.
The temples were constucted in 3 levels. the lowest was representing the mortal, the middle piece of the temple was for the holy and the highest, that means the top was for the god.

Indonesia Gunung Ijen

From Bali back to Java we continued our trip with a nice hike again. For wanting to see the sunset at Gungun Ijen, we woke up at 4 oclock to see the sunrise from the mountain. On arrival at the lowest point the bus was going it was freezingly cold. On way up we were passing by sulphate workers carrying down 50 kg sulphate that was mined on the top of the crater. Those workers walk up 2 times a day for 6000 rubih per kilo *which is 60 euro cents*.
Sweating off they asses and when just imagining for having to carry down this weight whilst I was almost dying from the heat, just to make two end . . . uff . . .

After 1, 5 hours of hike we finally reached the top of the crater. Sulphate smoke was intoxicating. While inhaling it was acidy and after it was burning in the lungs. Men were breaking the sulphate out from the mountain which then got carried down the mountain. The volcanic lake was boilingly hot so after a quick break we continued our way back down.

Indonesia Bali

5 Hours bus ride to reach the ferry port in Java to cross the sea to reach Bali. My previous toughts have always been shattered by tourists and simply too much. But as we reached the north coast of bali our impressions were positively surprised. Everywhere on the road one could see little hindu shriners decorated with flowers to worship the gods. Surrounded by gigantic green mountains the north coast was everything but mediocre. Destination 1 Lovina.
The first exploration tour was with a motorbike. No dont worry mum, I wasnt driving it. Nor was Jan. Here you can cheaply hire drivers to take you from a to b without causing any accidents. A buddist temple was our first destination which was distributed to 3 floors. We had to put on a saron, which is a textile that you bind arround your waist. The last floor was where the big temple was found, which was surrounded by water and sea flowers. Everywhere were lotus trees aromatizing the entire area. Simply fabolous.From there wer went to hot springs in the middle of the jungle were dragons were spitting the water on top of our heads.

Ubud, the apparent cultural highlight of Asia was pretty much a tourist accumulation. But when walking outside of Ubud, the real treasure got discovered. Passing rice field, we got to know a local called Gusti who in the end invited us to his house for some coffee and lead us all the way trough little streets and rice paddies to the Elephant cave and some other local sights.
Another local sight was the monkey forest. Yeah I know. Imagining nothing but a zoo. but truth is around 300 monkeys were running around freely in a national park in ubud. . . and of course they were nothing but fluffy and cute. I got attacked 2 times. THe first time a cute little monkey tought my water bottle was some food and from behind he jumped onto me and attacked me. shock shock i tell you. 20 minutes later an even smaller monkey started haunting my feet, so in the end i started running around in circles around jan, who was laughing his ass of for my monkey friendly appearance.

Indonesias Gunung Bromo

Two days have passed and we decided to go into the 2 main islands of indonesia since the major ones are sumatra and java. we flew to java to surabaya and from there we went to propolingo which turned out to be our base for the hike to Gunung Bromo. This is a 2392m high moiuntine which gave us one hell of a lifetime experience. we went up with the bus through serpentines, crossing the most beautiful landscape filled with rice fields, banana trees and all the possible flowers one can imagine. At our arrival, we climbed down to the plateau which was the field for the active volanco crater and Hindu Temple. Imagine nothing but that, and that is where we went. Bromo Volanco turned out to be quite a work out since we first had to reach the plateau and then go towards the crater bottom and which was followed by an approximate 300 stairs up to the sulphate smoking crater. the view was spectacular and when overlooking the pure nature, one could only hold their breath.

Indonesia Pulau Bintan

From Singapore we were heading towards a little island called Pulau Bintan. Just one hour away from the gigantic metropole where everything seems prohibited, we arrived in our first indonesian destination. crossing the island and leaving most of touristic attractions behing, we arrived at our little bungalow located on a white sandy beach.
Really nothing but us and the big wide sea. In front of us, tough quite far was a street of ships parked or fishing. we didnt quite figure out what they were doing but they were there. So a bunch of days of relaxation, and il dolce fareniente.

Singapore First Impressions

finally arrived, somehow got rid of the yetleg in no time. what can i say the stay was not really advantegous. uncomfortable seats on the airplane, delicious food and long waiting hours. had a little 8 hour stay in dubai but due to the tiredness we decided not to go out to the city. at approximatly 4 oclock local time, muslim prayers woke me up from my beauty sleep in the cold airconditioned airport.

now we re here in Singapour . still tired and it is extremley hot. what i can say from my impressions so far is that it smells like curry, fresh fruits and everyone is from somewhere else. apparently there is 75 percent chinese, 15 percent malai and the rest is from somewhere else. honestly, i guess i couldnt disstinguish locals from foreigners, since everyone is from somewhere else.

A definite brandmark of this citystate is that everyone / at least at first sight everyone wears brand, owns an I Phone and appears to be pretty well off. . . Due to the high luftfeutigkeit, we sewat every little drop of water out of our bodies.
The area in which we stay is called little India. Mostly Indian of course.
The last day in singapore we decided to explore the art scence a little. whilst passing through the city it was interesting to observe, that everything seemd to be prohibited. to eat, drink, smoke in the bus and train, to trespass the airport area, they d even shoot you. *see picture* The national university turned out to be quite some fun. First we dropped into a graduation party, then we could have sampled free food from the feast, and the art was astonishing. Cheong Soo Pieng was the main artists name. if you have a chance, check out his work. its defnitly worth a view.