Sumatra

New country, new letter. I've spent the last 6 weeks in Sumatra, Indonesia. I originally intended to spend two or three weeks here but couldn't seem to tear myself away when the time came. Out of all the countries I've visited in SE Asia this has got to be my favourite. I arrived in Medan and followed all the tourists straight up to Bukit Lawang, which is a village on the edge of the jungle where they have an Orang Utan sanctuary. The cool thing was being able to see the Orang Utan but I was a little disillusioned by the tourism of it all. The animals live in the wild but get fed twice a day and you can go up to watch that. It seemed all very artificial, lots of westerners standing behind a barrier, all ready with cameras. It was nice to see them though - especially when they'd come down to the river (to check the tourists out!) and you could watch them play.

After Bukit Lawang I went up to an island off the north coast called Pulau We. It was really lovely there. I was staying on a beach that was totally undeveloped and only had a few bungalows and restaurants. There wasn't even electricity so all our evenings were lit up by candles. The coral was really good there too and it was fun to snorkel - especially as there were lots of big turtles there. I also went diving one day and that was fun. I ended up staying 10 days on Pulau We, enjoying the beach, the sea, the seafood and the company.

After Pulau We I spent a few days in Banda Aceh and then headed down the West Coast to a place I’d heard about from other travelers. Hassan's place was great. Very few bungalows so only a limited amount of tourists, most of whom stayed a while. Hassan's family was lovely and we'd eat our meals together etc. Unfortunately it rained for about 7 out of the 10 days we were there but it was a nice place, with nice people, to sit out the rain in.

It was Indonesia's Independence Day whilst we were there and Hassan took us to a place where they were commemorating it. We'd thought we'd just be spectators but were told to line up along with the rest of the people and be "inspected" by the area chief. Then we all had to salute as the flag was raised. It was all quite amusing really. 

Our next destination was Blang Pedie, still on the West Coast of Aceh. We'd been told by some other travelers about a journey inland you could take from there, through the jungle, in a four wheel drive jeep. It sounded interesting so we wanted to give it a try. The journey was great. It took 8 hours to cover 77 km - the roads were dirt roads all the way and at times the path had been washed away in storms. Sometimes we went through rivers and at others the road was so narrow I really thought one of the wheels would go over the edge (and the drop was far down!). We even turned a corner at one point to find our path blocked by three trees that had fallen down in a landslide. So, everyone had to pile out of the jeep and people took turns hacking at the trees with a very small axe or a knife. Eventually the trees were chopped and we could continue our journey. 

We arrived in Trangon absolutely exhausted but also exhilarated by our journey. The next day we went to Kedah, between Trangon and Blang Kejeren, were we stayed in bungalows in the middle of the jungle.   We decided to do a jungle trek there, in the hope of seeing some wildlife. We didn't actually see anything but did have a very strenuous, and nice, trek through dense jungle. It was all up and down continuously and due to rains the path (when there was one) was very slippery. Most of the time our guide had to cut away at branches and create our own path. By the end of the day (and for several days later) I was strongly reminded how unfit I am! 

Our next stop was Ketambe. Kudah had been an unexpected stop and we had planned to trek from Ketambe but weren't really into it when we got there. Whilst there we heard of an American guy who had been arrested for having a gram of marijuana and sentenced to 4 years in prison. The police had (allegedly) gotten onto him because the guest house he'd been staying at called them in when they got annoyed at the guy for not eating his meals at their restaurant but going next door!  I've been evicted before for not eating at my guesthouse but I thought this was a bit extreme. 

Our next stop was Berestagi. We had been out of the tourist areas for a good three weeks and felt we wanted to meet some more travelers and have a change from always rice or noodles to eat! Berestagi offered both. One day we tried to climb one of the volcanoes there but we were heavily rained on about two thirds of the way up and didn't see the point in continuing as the top was all in clouds anyway. The next day the guys tried it again but I didn't bother. They did make it to the top and weren't rained on but it was still in clouds so they didn't see much apparently.

From Berestagi I jumped on a bus to Bukittingi – my first stop south of the equator on this trip.  A few days there were nice before I made my way back to Malaysia and Singapore.  I had a couple of days to kill in Singapore and spent them with some people from Ferrero Singapore and then I flew to Darwin!

Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand

My next stop was Singapore.  There is not much to say about that, partly because I only spent two days there and partly because it’s just a very western, very clean, efficient and boring place.  Well, I don’t know about boring - I’m sure it has stuff to offer but that will have to wait till I return.  I was supposed to go from there through Indonesia to Bali and fly from there to Australia but, with all the troubles of Indonesia, I changed that and now fly out of Singapore.  In the meantime I am spending time in Malaysia and Thailand. 

My first stop in Malaysia were the Tioman Islands, off the East Coast of Malaysia.  I’d met up with an Australian girl on the flight from India and we both wanted to go somewhere we could lie on the beach for a while.  Tioman was perfect for that.  On our way up to Thailand we also stopped in Rantau Abang, a place on the coast where leatherback turtles come to breed.  It’s quite rare to actually see the turtles but we got lucky.  At 4am we were woken up to calls of "turtle, turtle" and driven out to the part of the beach where the sighting had been made.  I hadn’t really known what to expect and was amazed by its size: it must have been one and a half meters long and apparently weighed 300kg!

I’ve been in Thailand about a week now and so far I really like it.  We’ve managed to stay off the tourist trail by visiting towns less frequented by western tourists and I think that has added to the charm.  In Narathiwat we met a lady who lives there and spoke English (rare in that town).  She kind of took us under her wing and invited us to eat at her house etc.  It was a really nice introduction to Thailand.  Then we got lucky in our second town, Phattalung, where we again met someone who took us to her home.  I’m sure these things helped influence my liking for Thailand.  In many ways Thailand is not dissimilar from India with its points of interest etc. but the people are so much friendlier and less likely to hassle or overcrowd you.  It has the good things of India without all the negatives.  Of course, I haven’t hit the tourist trail yet so that may change - we’ll see how I sound in my next letter!

About a month ago now I went to a Buddhist meditation retreat for 10 days.  I'd been travelling with an Australian girl and she wanted to go to this thing and I thought: "why not?" and went along with her.  I'd never done any meditation before nor knew much about Buddhism so it was going to be a learning experience all round. It turned out to be amazingly interesting. It was held at a Buddhist monastery and there must have been about 80 other westerners there. Normally that would be a recipe for disaster in terms of cultural learning but, as this thing was done in silence, we didn't get to talk to each other and that was good.  At first I had thought it would be hard to keep the silence for 10 days but it was okay - though I must admit that some of the girls (me included) broke the silence before the end.  It seems the guys were better at it than us (we were always separated).

The retreat was basically about learning how to meditate using your breathing as well as learning about Buddhism and Buddhist morality.  There were different speakers for each: a Thai monk for the meditation tuition, a Thai layman for the talks on Buddhism and an American ex monk (from that monastery) about Buddhist morality.  He was a very interesting speaker and I found he had a lot of interesting things to say - not necessarily things I hadn't already known but still an eye opener in certain respects.  I guess in the way he would relate it to your own life and how you could adopt some of it a little.

There had been a lot of talk about "stuff coming up" during the meditation and about learning to deal with it and let it go.  To be honest I hadn't thought that would apply too much to me, as I'd felt I'd gone through a lot of that "stuff" in India.  However, I was wrong, and the 10 days were partly used by me to go through some of those things.  It's hard to explain what I mean here without going into too much detail but lets just say that I saw things in me I wasn't keen on, reactions I was having, judgements I was making, and it was good to become aware of those and try to become less critical.  I don't know how much it worked but I do feel a lot more aware of it now than I had been.

So, I felt I got a lot out of it in those respects.  In terms of the meditation not so much - and that shows in the way I haven't once done any since leaving - but that doesn't bother me so much.  I got what I needed out of those 10 days and I learnt a lot about Buddhism which I definitely found interesting.  I like learning about a country's religion whilst there - in the same way that I learnt about Hinduism in India.  It makes it so much more interesting than doing it from a book at home.

After the retreat Alex and I went separate ways and I headed to Bangkok.  I spent just a few days there - enjoying the luxuries of being in a city whilst also hating it for being a big city!  No, it was interesting and a few days there were good to have.  I enjoyed using the riverboat taxis but couldn't help being reminded of James Bond each time I saw some of those colourful boats and remembering some of the scenes in one of the films using those boats.

By this stage my Thai visa was up so it was time to leave the country.  I headed for the Perhentian Islands off the East Coast of Malaysia.  I had hoped to meet up with some people from the retreat there but it looked like we'd missed each other.  It didn't matter though as I had a great time anyway.  I did a diving course whilst there and that was amazing.  I had done a dive once before but had forgotten how incredible it feels to be breathing under water.  One of the coolest things is the weightlessness your body takes on whilst down there. It is like there is no gravity.  I really enjoyed it. The coral was really great and we'd see things like sharks, giant turtles etc. as well as some really cool colours down there.  I don't know half the names but it didn't matter as I was just enjoying the beauty of it all. At times the coral took on the look of a giant flower garden - it was so spectacular.

After the course I couldn't just leave the diving so I went on more "fun-dives" and ended up spending 10 days on the islands.  It was a lot of fun and as always the people around helped make it so enjoyable.  The diving school was basically run by travelers and the place we stayed at was a bit secluded from the rest and we got to know the staff etc. really well as well as the other guests so it really felt like home for a while.

After tearing myself away from there (running out of cash is always a good reason to go and find a bank) I left the people I'd been spending time with to go to Thailand and I went to Penang.  There I met a girl I'd met in Nepal in May and the two of us came across to Sumatra a few days ago.  It's been fun here so far.  In many ways it's reminded me of India, the way you have the little hole in the wall shops or the rickshaws, even the touts (and there are plenty of them).  But, in other ways it's really different, no cows, no rubbish everywhere, nicely manicured lawns etc.  It's really rather pretty.

Nepal

After leaving Delhi I went to see the Taj Mahal.  As often happens with things that are too hyped you get disappointed when you finally see them and that was what I expected with the Taj.  In some ways I was disappointed but not really due to a lack of magnificence of the buildings, mainly due to the immense crowds that were there.  I had gone on a Friday and that is a free day for Indian monuments so it was horrendously overcrowded.  I think to really get a feel for the Taj you need to see it in more peace (Indian tourists are very loud as a rule and constantly asking to be photographed with you).

At this stage India was really beginning to get unbearably hot and I felt the need to escape the heat for a while.  My options were the Himalayas on the Indian side or Nepal.  I decided to opt for the new country and culture.  It was the best move I’d made in a while.  I loved Nepal.  I had gone with the intention to only spend a week, 10 days at the most and ended up there for three weeks.  Unfortunately I had come at the wrong time of the year for trekking and rafting as the monsoon had already started but that didn’t matter.  It can be a reason to go back (not that I need one).

I split my time between Katmandu and Pokhara with a stop at the Royal Chitwan National Park in between.  Chitwan was unbearably hot and humid but worth every minute as I got to see a tiger there!  We only briefly saw it but the excitement was still there.  We also got to ride elephants and see rhinos up close from the elephant so that was really cool.

In Katmandu I think I mostly enjoyed the coolness and getting a dose of western food and company.  After my time in India I felt in need of that!  I was there when they were celebrating Buddha’s birthday so we followed the monks up to the main Buddhist stupa to celebrate that.  In

Pokhara I just spent lazy days on a boat on the lake and taking day hikes.  I met so many people returning from treks and it sounded like an amazing experience but that will just have to wait for another time.

After Nepal I had to return to India to catch my flight to Singapore.  I decided to stop in Varanasi, which was a great place, but unbearably hot.  It was an average of 48 degrees Celsius!  We’d get up at 4.30am to get out onto the Ganges on a boat and watch the sun rise.  By 8.30am it was too hot to do much (and so we didn’t do much!).  We did brave the sun occasionally and visited Benares University and some nearby Buddhist monuments.  I’d like to return to Varanasi one day - at a better time of year.

I was flying out of Mumbai so on the way I stopped in Wardha which is where Gandhi’s last ashram is located.  It was from there that he negotiated much of India’s independence.  There are several affiliated ashrams there which were interesting to see and the one I stayed at was one devoted to helping leprosy sufferers.  It was really interesting to learn more about the disease, what can be done about it now and how people are dealing with it.  I only spent a few days there but they were some of my most relaxing and informative days.

So, after three and a half months in India and Nepal it was time to leave.  I had gone through many sentiments about India - from loving it to hating it - and I guess, though I was ready to leave, I was also sad to leave.  I wonder if I’ll be back…

-------------------------------------