Category: Asia 2014

I love Bali! I am writing these words two weeks after I left. But it is still vivid in my mind. Bali has changed me somehow! It has also changed how I see things.

I arrived to Bali at night after my very long bus ride. Decided to treat myself for the next two days since the bus ride was a kind of hell. So I spent the two nights in fancy places. The first night I received a gift from the heaven by sleeping in a suite due to a mistake in their booking system. A suite in a 4 stars hotel was enough to compensate me for the trip that made me tired and dirty!

Morning was slow as well. I moved to Kuta, another region in the island and moved to another hotel. Although I spent around 24 hours in Kuta, I feel now that I spent there a few days! 

Bali just feels nice! It FEELS…. and it feels nice. I don’t know how to convey these feelings differently but it is one of the few places I visited and decided to come back many times. Rome is a similar place in its closeness to my heart!

In Bali, I went to different beaches, had nice meals, shopped for art and gifts, did parasailing and taught myself swimming a bit. The island is rich of the things it can offer. A wide variety of things that i didn’t have time to experience. Volcano, jungle, underwater wonders… etc.. I will surely go back if life extends with health and grace.

People were extremely friendly as well. Of course they try to sell you things all the time. But still, I loved it.

I think when I love something or someone i exaggerate a bit. I felt some love even for the airport. And realized that my love for Bali was getting out of control and becoming somehow too much.

It was the cherry on top of the cake. A good conclusion of my trip. I have changed. I look different and I feel different and I have been told this many times since my return.

Traveling does not only teach you things and fills your memory with storie and scenes. It shows you how many possibilities are there for you if you ever decide to change. How many jobs to do.. How many people you can meet and love.. How many things to learn and teach.

It showed me also shit.. People’s shit.. And then I realize that my shit compared to their shit is no shit. Their smallest problem can be bigger than my biggest problem. Chen asked me about the spelling of "bumpy". It is expensive for him to have an English course so he finds anything written in English and tries to learn at home. He woke up at 5 in the morning, took the bus for 35 minutes to the city to give me a ride to the airport. He did that for $7. It is big for him for sure. But I thought how little is this money for me and how I spend everyday on things that are largely unnecessary amounts of money that can change many many lives. This was theoretical to me. But seeing it happening was a different thing.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not claiming to lead a hippy life from now on. I can’t change everybody’s life. But I think I have a high priority now of trying to make people happy. As many as I can. I have learnt that this is what really matters. Or wait. Happiness per sé is probably not the target. Probably these little moments of joy or surprise. This is living. Maintained happiness is a rare gift that not many can get. And definitely not many are ready to receive in my opinion.

Thank you Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia. I am grateful to what I felt, what I have lived and what I have learnt. 

I landed in Yogyakarta airport. Friday afternoon the 26th of December. Walked from the plane to the terminal with the sight of what looks like a volcano. Couldn’t verify it but it is not surprising since the region has one of the most active volcanos in the world.

I had no interest in seeing Yogyakarta. It is supposed to be beautiful and interesting but I had two clear targets in mind; the Borobudur temple and the merapi volcano nearby. Afterwards I would proceed to Bali to end my trip relaxing on the beach!

I took the bus fro. The airport to Magelang. 3 hours in the bus that costed around 3 euros. Indonesia is the cheapest out of the 3 countries I have visited. I arrived to Mageland around 9 with no place to sleep. Famega is actually in town but I felt too impolite if I call that late and request to stay the night. Wandered around hotels, they are all full. It is raining and I don’t the choice to sleep in the street. A policeman took me on the back of his motorbike to another hotel that I found to be also full. This is the high season is local tourism and all hotels are full of Indonesian families. I had no other option than to leave Magelang as well.. A taxi to Borobudour where I know that there are some hotels and guesthouses. The taxi costed 150,000 rupiah. Which is around 10 euros for a 20 minutes ride. I found a humble guesthouse where I met Jonny the manager. He was in Gothic cloths and I came to know later that he plays dark metal or heavy metal or whatever metal it was. I hate metal! lol. Jonny switched to speaking German when he saw my address in the form. A form that they have to give to the local authorities for each guest. Jonny told me that he lived in Mainz, got married there and has a daughter. He stayed there for two years only and did all that :D!

I went up to the room. Again, very basic. a one-star hotel. Everything looks like it is a century old. No hot water so I had to shower with cold water. This happened a few more times during this trip!

I slept well. In the morning it was raining cats and dogs so I had a relaxed breakfast. At some point, I decided to go to the temple which is 5 minutes walking.

It is impressive to see from far. Once you climb it, it is not really that impressive! I think the landmark is the design of the inverted bells. It started raining crazily when I was on top of the temple. Thanking God I listened to Valerio Raco’s advice. I have placed all my important books and documents inside a plastic bag inside my backpack. The rest of me was completely wet. I was dripping water like a melting ice cream. I stayed a bit wandering around the temple and then decided to leave.

Near the temple there is the volcano. Since the weather is bad, I had no hope to see the volcano neither to climb up and take a dive in its lava! In a more beautiful day, the volcano looks like this:

Then started the longest bus ride in the history. Since all the tickets were booked. Flight and trains.. I had to take the bus to Bali! Google says it is a 12 hours ride. But Adham didn’t take a decent bus. When I asked where is the bus, some locals took me to a bus stop. They said take the bus here to Surabaya. Then the ferry to Bali. The bus was also full. So another guy told me take the bus to Jembert, then another bus to Bali with the ferry. I was tired, so I took the bus to get the hell out of Yogya. And in the bus was a true experience!

It was a very local bus. 5 seats per row. People can smoke and they do a lot. No air conditioning and the condition of the bus itself is miserable. Space is very limited. I thought of all the luxuries I had in my life and then thought that it is just a bus ride. I should be fine. Nobody spoke English on the bus. So I couldn’t really talk to anyone. For some unknown reason, one passenger had a live chicken on board. So, over the night, with the traffic jam, it was me, the smoke of the cigarettes and the chicken! 14 long hours till I arrived to Jembert. As soon as I got off the bus, the next bus was leaving soon, so I jumped in. Almost the same bus, for another 12 hours. However, this time I had some immunity against all these bad conditions. But I couldn’t help with boredom. I read a bit, my phone was out of battery so I couldn’t listen to music or do bullshit on the internet.

I arrived to Denpasar in Bali on Sunday night. After my bus experience, I decided that I will try to enjoy Bali to the maximum. And it was the highlight of my trip.

It is Thursday the 25th of December. A relatively sunny day. I decided to leave Jakarta, destination is Yogyakarta where I can visit the Borobodour Temple, the biggest Buddhist temple in the world. All the tickets are booked, planes and trains! So I decided to take the hitchhiking experience!

Nenad and I woke up around 10:30, we had a relaxe coffee in the terrace of this building where we were joined later by his neighbour, Bjorn, Bjorn’s father and son as well! The three generations! The father is half British half American, a geologist that has been looking for gold for more than 25 years in Indonesia. He found copper instead!

Bjorn has traveled for 10 years living in different countries after growing up in Germany! He then got married and settled in Jakarta since 5 years! He and his brother made a film company. The son, Gabriel, one year old, was too young to talk to and therefore I don’t know much about him :D!

I went with Nenad to the mall for a quick breakfast and some shopping for my long trip. Yogya (short for Yogyakarta) is about 500 km far. It can take about 12 hours to reach due to the poor roads and the traffic jam! The Christmas followed by a weekend makes a great time for holiday and Indonesians seem to travel a lot inside the country to enjoy it. Indonesia is huge. From east to west it is bigger than Europe! I heard it has 7000 islands.

Nenad chose a spot at the entrance of the highway! Wrote a sign that I would hold and told me which number plates to target with my big smile. He said "you choose the car and not the car that chooses you!"

I started my mission at 1:16 pm. I always calculate the time needed to find a car. (Last time in Germany it was 5 minutes). Cars passed by, many smiled at me. Many pointed to their fellow passengers and laughed. It seems to be a very unusual event here. Some good English speaking young people wished me luck and apologized for not having the same road! One young woman offered to give me a ride to the airport, then asked to take a selfie with me and my sign to post on her social networks. I wonder what would be the caption for that photo!

An hour and a half passed by, I saw a car with 3 young men looking at me, they seemed to be in conflict whether to pick me up or not. They passed by and 10 minutes later, they came again and stopped to offer me a ride!

They are not heading to Yogya, but to Bandung. I agreed since it is closer and I was getting hopeless and bored. From the first sight, my helpers didn’t look that manly. The way they talk, they sit and the way they echoed some songs that were playing in the car. However, I came to know and observe that this is common in south east Asia and does not necessarily reflect sexual interests. The three of them are in the banking business and the oldest, 44 years old is the Vice President of some bank! They were super friendly. We had some few chats till I noticed that the oldest, call him Mr. G. is touching my arm a lot. I grew suspicious but then attributed my suspicions to my few years of living in Europe where people don’t touch each other. My doubts were fed by busting Mr.  G. looking at my body the way we, straight men, sneak the looks at women’s boobs! And I now understand how weird this is!

After a couple of hours with high traffic, we stopped for some rest, a snack and they needed to pray. Mr. G. insisted on paying my lunch saying that I was their guest. I appreciated this gesture and the Indonesian hospitality. By the time we finished food, it was time for the sunset prayer. We went all to the beautiful mosque that I didn’t expect to be that nice in a gas station on the highway!

He showed me the Quran in the car. Since his driver drives him to work every morning and he has like 45 minutes to go and come back, he spends this time reading the Quran. We talked a bit about my research and they told me that there are some villages suffering from Epilepsy in Indonesia and that the government made many campaigns to raise the awareness and integrate these patients in the society since they are stigmatized.

The guys invited me to spend the night with them in Bandung and take the train in the early morning to Yogya. Bandung is famous of its cuisine and fashion outlet stores. They call it "Paris of Java". I thought, why not! On my phone, I checked flights from Bandung to Yogya and found a flight next day afternoon for a fair price, 40 euros! Since it wasn’t purchasable by credit card, I asked Mr. G. if he can book it for me with his online banking and I pay him in cash. He agreed without hesitation.

We arrived to the hotel, it is raining and dark. The hotel is nice, called "hummingbird". Welcoming drinks and cookies and it has the "hello kitty" feeling. Creativity is something I noticed in Indonesia and Malaysia quiete many times. The other two guys went to one room while Mr. G. and I would share the other room. He paid both rooms with his credit card. I noticed that there is one bed. It is huge, bigger than the queen size. But still! I tried not to be paranoid. After showering, I found Mr. G. on his praying carpet with a hat they believe it is somehow related to religion. We went all together for dinner in some very local restaurant in the hill with a city view. We sat on the floor and we ate rice with our hands as the tradition in this place is.

They invited me again for the dinner. Then we went home to sleep. Mr. G. already finished his rituals and took his place in the bed. I did the same and kept a great distance. Then things started to get not so funny. He said "you can come to the middle of the bed". That was it! I turned my face to him and said "You don’t only like women, do you?". He shyly replied "Not only!". I thought "Shit". I told him that I only like women and that I am not interested in anything. He seemed to understand. But then asked me "at least don’t give me your back". I said "I always sleep on my right side, it is sunnah" it was funny enough for me. He said "we can exchange sides". I then became very uncomfortable and communicated this to him clearly. Lost all the sleep in my mind and started thinking of possible consequences and scenarios. I had to prepare the violent program in my brain, just in case. 5 minutes later, I told him that I will sleep on the floor in my sleepin bag. He felt guilty and apologized many times. He is a good person I believe. But I didn’t like this. That night I half-slept for only 4 hours or so! Ache in my muscles from the cold ceramic floor. In the morning there was actually no tension. We discussed last night clearly like any two adults. He told me when he started to like men, after his divorce. He liked only one man before me he said. He actually has a girlfriend now. He had never had sex with a man but he likes touching them. We discussed love! And human relationships in general. It sounds strange but it was an enriching conversation that I was comfortable to have with him. He was a bright successful man that companies seemed to chase him for his services. He offered to accompany me to Yogya! Then later he offered to travel to Bali as well! Finally he said he will come to Kuala Lumpur to meet me in my final distinction. He was worried about me traveling alone! He wanted to "take care of me". I told him that I don’t want him to come.

We had breakfast all together in the fancy restaurant of the hotel. We discussed religion and how we both saw other religions! We held different views and they seemed to reconsider!

We went all to Friday payer in a nearby mosque. Mosques are full here and they told me that the majority of Indonesians are observant and practicing. I saw also all kinds of girls go to the mosque. Many without scarf and many didn’t look particularly Muslim. I think I liked that. Probably because I feel religion should not have one form or template.

I offered to pay Mr. G. All what I owe him. Probably around 100 euros. He refused strictly which I expected! It is strange to accept all these givings knowing that the guy is attracted to me. I didn’t want to abuse him. However, people are free to make their own choices. I also believe we should allow people to express their feelings as long as this doesn’t harm any of us! I remember the words of my friend Nadja: "We have responsibility towards people who love us".

They drove me to the very tiny airport of Bandung that is inside the city! Chaotic and crowded. In its small size, it competes only with Maastricht airport in my experience.

I boarded my Lionair flight. You just get out the gate and walk to your plane, no stairs and no bus. At the door of each plane stands one guy that you can ask about the destination! "Yogya?" he said yes! It felt more like a bus terminal!

Mr. G. Kept texting me in the next few days friendly non-awkward texts that I replied to only one of them. I decided I will cut my contacts with them and hope the best for them.

That was my time in Bandung, I have grown up a bit in these 24 hours.

First day in Jakarta! It is Wednesday! A quick breakfast with Nenad and Famega and then I accompanied Nenad where he had to print some brochures for a Party tonight! Meanwhile, I was trying to arrange meeting the three girls that offered to meet for a drink or a walk. Unlike the rest of the world, Couchsurfing in Asia seems to be mainly populated by females! During my one day stay in Jakarta, I received messages from a lot of people. Very hospitable and welcoming place!

Nenad and I went to a shopping mall to distribute the brochures before we take the motorbike to meet "Connie". Between any two events I describe here, fill the gap with about one hour of biking.

Connie is an ambitious young Indonesian girl. Her outfit is not different from any European girl you meet in Italy or Spain. Her hair is well taken-care of and she strikes you from the first sight by her confident attitude. Since she has been waiting for an hour, we moved for a late lunch. The usual introductory conversations that becomes part of your daily routine when you backpack for enough time. Although it is the same and kind of boring, every new person has some new question or experience to relate to you. It was Connie, Nenad and I. Both didn’t to be getting along so well. I could clearly see that an not being surprised. Connie being a real estate agent and dealin with posh rich people all the time. Nenad being a person who likes to mingle with simple local people. The dreams of each, the lifestyle and the different attitudes in life shaped their conversation that was spiced by some sensitivity and polite criticism. I somehow found myself trying to stir the atmosphere every now and then to keep things under control.

Nenad wanted to show me the old town of Jakarta! Weather is not good and jakarta is too big for me! The traffic was the highlight beside Nenad dribbling other motorbike and cars with his Honda like Lionel Messi. We went to the old town for a quick stroll. A lot of stalls selling everything. A lot of tattoo stands in the street if ku fancy top-notch hyegenic standards! We sat down in a local cafe where workers yelled at Nenad inviting him to have a coffee! Then we went back to the south of the city!

****

I come from Egypt. I know Chaos! Organized chaos or harmony in chaos are also other names. Riding in Jakarta was a fine reminder! I felt in the jungle because of the massive number of variables moving around us. There seem to be no general physicial low that govern how different vehicles move here. Nevertheless, it still flows! Probably not the fastest flow but it is in genera without accidents.

Space belongs to who redeems it first. Others respect precedence in occupying space. No hard feelings! We reached home. Showered and cleaned and then went o Beehive, the cafe where Nenad works on organizing live events! A cute band of young Indonesian musicians! We had drinks and dinner and exchanged a few conversations.

 Then we went to the Wednesday couchsurfing meeting where also a Christmas party was taking place. Nenas warned me that local girls will approach me because I am a foreigner. I believed him bit didn’t expect that the first girl k meet wraps her arms around my neck to whisper her name in my ear. A pity she wasn’t pretty. Not even OK. I mingled among people. Small talks here and there till I met Connie again. We talked at long. Discussed our earlier meeting and her and Nenad. It is enjoyable when you meet people thy you will probably need meet again (Although life has taught me that you will probably do). The lower the probability of meeting someone again, the easier it is to speak your mind out.

We left around 1:30 am. Nenad giving me all his advices about hitchhiking tomorrow! A decision that lead to a series of unexpected events!

At 5:40 am I sneaked out of my dorm room and checked out! Sun was waiting for me outside with his big welcoming smile. "Hello my friend". We arranged my backpacks and started the journey to the airport. Sun thanked me "thank you for giving me job today my friend". In many parts of the world, the opportunity to work is every day’s wish!

Another transportation day, many hours in reading, music or just observing other travelers. I still had a remenant sadness and apathy from yesterday! Discussed it a bit with Rachel, from England on the plane. She has been working in Cambodia for a bit over a year and told me about interesting aspects in this society. She has been working abroad since she was 18! A stimulating story that triggers excitement and unrest inside my head! She lived in Mexico, Kenya, Australia and other countries!

A few hours transit in Kuala Lumpur airport, mainly sleeping on a bench.

Second flight to Jakarta was smooth and uncomplicated. Visa procedure the same, $35 and you are in. The whole world should be like this.

In Jakarta, my old friend Nenad will host me, he is Serbian and we met 4 years ago in Venice while surfing the couch of Massimo, both Nenad and Massimo are some of the most famous couchsurfers in the world. Our story at Massimo’s is one of the most interesting experience I had in couchsurfing! Massimo forces all his guests to wrestle with each other. Judo! Since couchsurfing is about sharing, and this is what Massimo knew the best, he hosted people and taught them how to play judo. This very close physical contact in sport, and the animalistic instinct inside you with the care about not hurting your opponent is something I learned from Massimo. A way to unleash the animal inside you, to try to overpower your opponent, but with positive intentions and care about their safety. You learn a lot about ourself and human nature from these situations.

 Couchsurfing is a place where many of the people you meet make it to the world news! A couple of years ago, after we met, Nenad traveled from Serbia to China overland and surfed even the couch of some guys from Taliban!

Read here:

http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/on-hitchhiking-across-asia-and-couchsurfing-with-the-taliban/

I was also contacted by a few local couchsurfers to meet and show me around Jakarta.

*****

The taxi took more than an hour in Jakarta! A lot of traffic and the taxi driver didn’t speak English. Luckily he spoke broken Arabic because he lived in Saudi Arabia for 6 years!

Nenad was waiting for me at home! He said I still look the same like 4 years ago! I left my stuff, a quick shower and then we went out for a drink. On the back of his motorbike, he crazily accelerated through the streets of Jakarta to one area full of cafes and night life. Nenad told me about the past 13 months he has been living in Indonesia. How he likes this place and Indonesian people. He speaks intermediate Indonesian and I could observe him having many conversations and asking people for directions. On the way back, we got a flat tire. We had to stop a repair and then we went home!

At home there was his girlfriend Famega, an Indonesian girl who lost her job at Yahoo after they closed all their offices in Southeast Asia!

Famega and Nenad gave me many advices about what to see in the country and the best route to take. I had two wishes in Indonesia, a temple and a volcano. Actually three wishes! I want to go to Bali island as well for more sunburn!

The couple have recently moved in their new home two weeks ago! I noticed that they gave me their mattress and slept on the floor. I wanted to object but then I didn’t know how to do that since i noticed and they didnt tell me. Nenad is one of the most experienced couchsurfers I have met, around 700 references in his profile. If you read the link above (which I believe you should) you will see why I envy Nenad!

Hotel-bus they call it. A night bus with beds so that you can sleep at night. A brilliant idea that I haven’t seen before. For $14, I took the bus overnight to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia! I slept almost all the road. You actually share a tiny bed with one other passenger! You can’t really turn or sleep on your side of you are not a couple. My neighbour was "Ahmed" from Bahrain! Such an unexpected surprise! Ahmed runs his own business in Siem Reap, a wine bar. Not very common for a gulf-state citizen as far as I know. Ahmed offered me "Valium" again! He took some himself and told me he had several "happy" meals today to help him sleep at night!

We arrived around 8 in the morning.. Arrived to a random hostel called "lovely  jubbly place" and it was both lovely and whatever is the meaning of jubbly, it was jubbly! I hanged out there writing and waiting for the check-in. Then I went to the street to look for lunch and a motorbike driver. Motorbike is my favorite way of transportation now. Can’t wait to get back to Germany and make a license. Everyone here is on a motorbike, young, old, grandmothers and even children.

I found Sun, he agreed to take me to the killing fields. As the name suggests, it is a horrible story which was the main motivation to visit Cambodia after I came to know about them from Daniel!

The ride went through the chaotic city of Phnom Penh, big highways, small alleys, and some dusty roads. At the beginning, I was concerned with safety and a bit worried and shouted "becareful", then I decided to drop it and let go! Sun knew what he was doing!

We arrived at the field! We arrived to the beginning of a few hours of sadness and deep sorrow that took over me!

Imagine that tomorrow, your country is in the hand of a regime that recruited uneducated, young low IQ soldiers.

That they decided that anyone who is smart can be a threat to the state. They all must die! Anyone who is an intellectual! Anyone who wears glasses! Anyone who speaks a foreign language! And their families, so that they don’t seek revenge! And the innocents, because "it is better to kill an innocent by mistake than to spare an enemy by mistake". Imagine that hundreds of thousands of people believe in this and they start arresting and killing people. That was Khmer Rouge. Lead by Pol Pott. In 1970s. Killed around 3 millions out of 8 million people living in Cambodia! I was there, in the place where 40 years ago, killing was being done with axes, bamboo sticks, palm branches, knives.. Etc! Bullets were too expensive to kill all these people! Loud music was played on loud speakers to cover the moans and cries of the victims! Mothers and children included. Children were held from the legs and their heads smashed against trees! Then thrown in pits! I was walking in the field. An auditory guide on my ears.. trying to mind my steps not to step on bone fragments and teeth!

A horrible feeling and concern. I visited the Auschwitz 6 years ago, the biggest concentration camp for the Nazis. I could remember. Humanity seems to have the disease of hatred and aggression deep under cover. Surfaces when enough people are on board, and then expands exponentially! It is not the history that bothered me a lot. Rather the fear of the future.

I finished my tour, will leave it a mission for you to google the Khmer Rouge and read more. It is a recent event in the lives and the memory of Cambodians. Many of these criminals are still alive. Some are being trialed.

Sun was waiting for me outside, I appeared with a different face. He thanked me for coming to this place. He said "I want everyone to know about this" I promised him I will write about what I saw! Sun’s brother in law was murdered by Khmer Rouge 20 years ago. Because he had Chinese blood. They thought he was Vietnamese and that was enough to die! His daughter is now 23! This is how much the story is still alive in the country. A country that strives to emerge to the world after it was sent decades back in history by the loss of its talents and elites!

The rest of the day had actually nothing! I rested in the hostel. Then went to the cinema in the evening to watch the movie "The Killing Fields". An old movie based on a true story during that era! The movie is played in the theater everyday at 8:30. One more way not to forget!

It was my last night in Cambodia. I didn’t want to meet anyone or talk to anyone! I wanted to be left alone. Sun will pick me up at 6:00 in the morning to take me to the airport where I leave Cambodia to Kuala Lumpur and then to my new destination, Indonesia!

It is Saturday evening, Daniel arrived to the dorm room and we started chatting a bit! On his way back from London to New Zealand! He decided to travel around this region on the way! A bright young man, an engineer and I have learnt a few things from him in the few minutes we talked. I told him I take the night bus, so he offered me "Valium" pills to help me sleeping!

I left him to go for dinner. Somewhere on trip advisor I read about the "Happy Pizza" a pizza with a little bit of Marijuana on top. I went there and ordered a medium sized pizza. The waiter asked me slyly "do you want some weed on it?" I said yes! Do you want to smoke? I said no!

On the next table there was Ralf sitting, a Dutch guy thy started breaking the ice by asking me "how do you like Siem Reap so far?" We started talking and chatting and then he joined my table with his glass of wine! We talked about many things! A big deal about politics in the Middle East and ISIS, while I was eating my pizza! We finished the food, went to pay to find the waiters checking my face eagerly to see the effect of the weed. I didn’t notice anything myself. We started walking back in the direction to my hostel. Somewhere on the way, the cannabis started kicking in! I believe it was the time needed to be digested and absorbed into my blood! For the next 18 hours or so, I wasn’t me!

I started feeling thy I have an aura of absence of perception. That my perception starte around 20 cm far from my skin! Started perceiving questions slowly, a few seconds after they are said. Ralf found this to be hilarious. I felt half of my brain is not functioning, while the other half was monitoring it and making scientific remarks and theories. By the time I arrived to the hostel, 3 or 4 people offered to sell me weed! WTF, do I look like an addict already?!

I went directly to my bed in the top bunk, intending to rest for an hour before taking my bus. I woke up 14 hours later!! I didn’t sleep immediately however, I started being disconnected/slow from the outside world. While my brain was working on a turbo speed inside. I remember clearly the patterns that started forming in my brain! The flow of new ideas that I wished I remember later. However, i rememered none! I felt that my brain can solve any problem in the world! That I have great clarity! In a few seconds, I could evolve ideas! However, solutions disappear even faster. Easy come easy go! I felt that I have solved 100 problems but I remember none of them. Like my brain can solve but can’t retain any information!

I, however, tried to write some of the ideas to read later! Some had really shitty handwriting that I couldn’t read afterwards. One was about a theory, that of horoscopes are right, and that the locations of stars tells about your personality, then there should be in principle a certain constellation of stars that is the best time to have a child, therefore is the best time to plan pregnancy. This, however, might give some reason for discrimination. If you are born on that day, you are cool. If you are born on another bad day, you are doomed to be a shitty person! Now while writing these words, I remember that Hindus plan the day of marriage based on the stars, If I’m not mistaken.

It was a horrible night. I wanted to checkout and catch the bus, but I didn’t dare to get off the bed and climb down in this state. I preferred to sleep and sacrifice the bus. I leave tomorrow!

However, I needed to go to the toilet. I climbed down in the middle of the night with great care. Walked slowly to discover that o can’t make it to the toilet probably. I sat on the floor in front of my dorm room waiting for my balance to settle. It improved marginally! I went on slowly with success. I felt burning under my skin. It wasn’t really painful but rather remarkable. Not extremely annoying either. But it was there.

In the morning I was dry! Dehydrated somehow. Went for breakfast to recognize that I am still stoned! No hallucination, just as if you haven’t slept for 2 days. There were gaps in time. I trie to sleep in my chair in the restaurant but I think It was noticeable that this guy has something wrong!

I went back to the hostel and sat beside the swimming pool, waiting for my brains to come back to me! It took sometime and was gradual. I spent sometime reading in hope of boosting my cognitive recovery!

I now remember that the fucking happy pizza was written in a comment in a forum and not trip advisor! It was not happy. It was interesting though! I could see clearly how some geniuses use it to boost their creativity and problem solving. But probably not as much as they put in my pizza! I didn’t enjoy the abscence of my brain! 

Toni started racing everyone with his Honda! Asking me about my religion and making jokes that Christians will kill me! Asked if I would like to have a girl tonight since e knows his ways! We passed by a very small restaurant where Toni ordered for me and taught me how to avoid pork in Cambodian! Hyegenic standards are even lower here than in Malaysia! We had a quick lunch and we headed to the famous temple Angkor Wat for sunset!

It is huge, I spent there a couple of hours and a few hours in the next morning. This is where the events of Tomb Raider take place. Many temples that actually look the same m, style-wise but different in the organization with some characteristics for each!

Angkor Wat:

I finished my tour and NOT taking a lot of pictures then went back to Toni to take my to the hostel. There, I unpacked my stuff and met Pei from Malaysia and Amanda from England. Pei has been traveling around the region for 7 months! After quitting her job. Amanda was a police officer in Manchester and she also quit to go live one year in Australia. I haven’t met anyone who is only traveling for 3 weeks like me! Still good enough for me :)!

We had a BBQ in the hostel and talking about our travels. The number of the stories you hear from travelers provides you with even more experiences than the ones you live yourself! Pei told me about a solo-traveler she met in Thailand. He is from Pakistan, traveling alone. However, he is blind!! Even a blind man is traveling alone in a country not expected to be prepared for handicapped.

I went to bed to resume my activity early in the morning tomorrow!

****

Next morning, Saturday! I am ready earlier than expected I walk the streets looking for breakfast and I see Locals eating noodles, beef, pork etc..  Too early for me! I found a food stall that sells fried bread!

Afterwards I went for coffee and sat in a place where the TV was showing "Cambodia’s got Talent"! What I saw on the TV striked me in tw face! The other side of the country! Faces people see on TV and realize they won’t ever be there! Or even closer! The permanent disappointment in your life! The ceilings to your ambitions since you are born! Again, I remember Egypt a lot!

At 9:30, Chen arrived, another rider that Toni sent instead of him! Younger, 32 years old, slower bike, married with one son! His dream is to go to spain to pratice his Spanish and come back to work as a tourist guide and earn more money for his family!

With his motorbike, Chen took me around the temples, a few hours I spent in different temples and sling photos! Google "Angkor wat, Angkor Thom and Ta prohm".

Around noon, we went for lunch and then decided that I am not going to the floating village! Instead, I asked Chen to take me to one of the poorest neighborhoods of Siem Reap, and he did!

The whole Cambodia trip was inspired by my friend Daniel who showed me some photos that touched me! I wanted to see this poverty with my own eyes! I believe it is a good practice to see other people’s difficulties and appreciate what I have. However, the scenes were more touching than expected!

Chen took me back to the hostel, I was supposed to rest a little then go for dinner and then take the bus to Phnom Penh! This would have happened if I didn’t have "Happy Pizza" for dinner!

TBC!

So it goes! Woke up early and checked out! Mansour picked me up with his mini-bus and drove me to te airport. Explained to me that this whole region was floode in tsunami in 2004! And that the government funded the rebuild by half. If you want to build a house, they pay half. Then he told me about the behavior of some arabic tourists, specially the Saudis. Well, more specifically from Riyadh and Dammam! That they were arrogant and not friendly!

I flew first to Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian airlines! I don’t believe in superstitions 😉 the view of Langkawi from the sky is amazing! 

Luckily we flew over the beach where o was swimming yesterday! Managed to take a photo:

From Kuala Lumpur, I flew to Siem Reap with AirAsia, a low cost airline. Things started to look like The Middle East in the flight already. Three forms to fill! One for the immigration office, one for the customs, and one practically for Ebola!

When we landed in the basic airport of Siem Reap, and we walked to the terminal, a fourth form for the application for the visa was waiting for me! I withdrew 200 USD to pay the 30 dollars fees. Filled the form and handed it in. When they saw my form and password, it was sent to a different officer who asked me to follow him out of the queue! Started asking me all the usual questions. Where do you stay, how long? Why? Do you have enough money? I said i have 200 USD and credit cards. He wanted to see the cards, my stay permit in Germany. How much money is the limit in each card. Then to insure I have money, he asked me to withdraw another $250! So I did. Went back to him after he made another phone call. Then asked me to withdraw another $250. WTF, man? It is Cambodia for 4 days! He wanted to ensure that I have money to cover my stay. In a country where you can find a hostel for 2 USD.

They finally gave me the visa! I proceeded to the immigration office and the officer asked me, who is coming with you? I said I am coming alone! She first looked at me In surprise. I read in her face: "People from your country don’t come here alone for backpacking" she actually repeated the question two more times in different occasions. And finally shouted at someone in Cambodian in surprise. I only picked the word "Egypt". Wasn’t a rocket science to know she was talking about me!

Phewww. Visa is a big word in the life of anyone with a "lovely" passport. We know how it can change our lives and it actually does!

I changed 50 USD to get Riels. 1 USD is around 4000 Riel! You can do everything in Cambodia with dollars though! Outside the airport, I rented a motorbike for 2USD with the rider "Toni" to take me to the downtown, where I can find a hostel!

I checked-in in "Downtown Siem Reap" hostel. 6 beds per room and 6 USD per bed! Cheap! Run by an English man with Malaysian workers. Toni was outside waiting for me, no wasting time! He will take me with him to the Angkor Wat temple. The landmark of Cambodia.  If I buy the ticket for tomorrow, the sunset tonight is included! This is a new nice trick. Let’s goooo Toni! With his Honda, we were faster than tuk-tuk, bikes and even cars! 💨

A night earlier, I discussed with Denim the possibility of renting a scooter. Pretty cheap 30RM per du which is less than 8 euros. I have no experience in riding scooters but that sounded like a great price to get some hands-on experience. I don’t have a license which is a problem for the renting agencies and the local police. Denim lended me his scooter to try it in front of the guesthouse before I risk my life! I rode it back and forth a couple of times to get some confidence and estimate my success rate.

In the morning, I went down to pick up the scooter to hear from Denim that the agency didn’t want to rent the scooter because I don’t have a license. I was disappointed. I can only now rent a bike! 

I started biking towards Cenang beach, around 10 km far. Stopped in the middle for some Malaysian pancakes "Roti Canai" which I really liked and some tea with milk which I loved!

It is impressive that Malaysians can eat meat and chicken and rice for breakfast!

I resumed biking till the beach. It was partly cloudy but still sunny enough to burn me by the end of the day!

I spent the day on the beach. With my polish couchsurfing friend Linka that arrived today from Penang where we met two days earlier. We spent around 10 hours!! swimming, talking, exchanging couchsurfing experiences and talking about travels. Lunch and dinner took their place and time with Laksa, te fish broth, for lunch and beef and rice for dinner.

It was a relaxing day muh needed after the intense week before. I considered a couple of water sports but thought it would be much nicer in a sunny day! Talking to Linka was also interesting and the time passed unnoticed!

At night I biked back to my guesthouse. One hour of biking in the darkness that seemed too stupid of a decision. I have to admit I like these kind of tricky situations that challenge my comfort!

Tomorrow I fly out of Malaysia to Cambodia! Another country.. My knowledge about it before this trip was ZERO!