Singapore

Having spent nearly five months in Asia, Singapore was to be our last destination before heading to the more western countries of New Zealand and eventually America. After the more haphazard public transport system of Indonesia, it was great to get on the MRT (Singapore’s underground) straight from the airport and arrive quickly in the city.
First impressions of Singapore is that it is a spotlessly clean city, where people wait for the lights before crossing the road and car drivers actually stop at zebra crossings (a novelty for Asia). It is also considerably more expensive, hostel rooms are western prices, even in hawker centres food isn’t cheap and despite what we had heard, shopping is no cheaper than back home. As Raffles was a bit out of our price range for accommodation, we chose the next best thing, a private room in a hostel in the Malay village’s red light district!

With five days in Singapore before moving on, we headed first to the famous Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. Singapore Zoo is an ‘open zoo’ that uses moats and small walls to keep the animals in, rather than cages. The setup makes for a much more pleasant experience as your view is rarely obstructed and the animals all appear to have plenty of space. Timing our walk round to coincide with the feeding times, we saw, amongst other animals, gibbons, lions, rhinos (including a very sweet baby), otters and finally the very beautiful white tigers. Watching the huge white tigers swim and splash in the water while they jostled to be fed was an amazing sight and a definite highlight.
As the zoo closes for the day, the Night Safari opens to give you the chance, either via walking or using the tram, to see the nocturnal animals. Walking through the fruit bat enclosure was hilarious and seeing a flying squirrel was great. The whole park is beautifully setup; with easy to follow trails and informative signs. Two parts of the park can only be seen from the tram, but to be honest you can see just about everything by walking, plus you have the added bonus of moving at your own pace.

Having had a thoroughly enjoyable but tiring day at the zoo we decided that we would have a bit of quieter day looking around the shops. Heading for Orchard road (Singapore’s Oxford Street) and knowing that the ‘Singapore Sale’ was on, we arrived with the intention of getting some serious retail therapy. It all turned out to be bit of a let down, we quickly realised that there wasn’t much we actually wanted and what was there wasn’t particularly cheap! When you have been used to dirt cheap designer rip offs in places like Thailand, 30% off the real thing doesn’t seem that good a deal.

Giving up on the shopping, we spent the rest of our stay doing some sightseeing. We had an enjoyable time at the bird park; seeing Debs getting mobbed by Lories when she went to feed them was hilarious and the huge aviaries are very impressive (one even holds the world’s highest man made waterfall). Continuing the sightseeing we went to see the famous Merlion (the symbol of Singapore, half mermaid half lion), the old central district and of course Raffles. Raffles is very grand looking and its courtyard shop and restaurant area is beautiful, but rather wonderfully it has the shoddiest gift shop we have yet encountered on our travels.
Deciding that we couldn’t leave without having a night time trip on the river to see the city lights, we headed to Clarke quay. As they were practising for the national day celebrations, part of the river was closed, so we couldn’t go round to see the Merlion from the front. Nevertheless the short ride was very pleasant, but it is not the most illuminated city we have encountered.
All in all Singapore is very nice, but to be perfectly honest Kuala Lumpur is less sanitised, has great shopping, cheaper food, better accommodation for less money and just about everything Singapore has to offer except the zoo. The zoo is nearly enough to make us prefer Singapore though, but not quite!

Next: Christchurch New Zealand

Jogja to Jakarta

Getting onboard what turned out to be a very comfortable train to Jakarta, we settled down to what was supposed to be an 8 hour journey. Ten hours later, when we were thoroughly bored, we eventually arrived. There had been no announcement of any delay and none of our fellow passengers seemed unduly surprised, so we can only assume it was meant to take that long. With a place to stay already in mind we set off around the national monument knowing it wasn’t far. Stopping to ask for directions from a policeman, we were told that it was further than we thought and we would be better off taking a taxi. Hailing a taxi and being assured he knew where he was going we set off. 9km later for a journey that we thought to be about 1km, it became apparent that he had no idea where he was going! With the meter still ticking away we directed the driver back to roughly the right direction, paid some of the fare and abandoned him. Back at square one, we started walking to the hotel, rather ironically what we had intended to do in the first place. After a long train journey and the stifling heat of the city, we were looking forward to getting to the hotel. When the hotel turned out to have closed down we were not amused and were left with little choice but to go on a hunt for another one. Eventually finding the backpacker area, we found a reasonable hotel, booked a taxi for the morning and collapsed into bed. The whole journey had taken over 13 hours, with hindsight flying looked like a much better option!

Next: Singapore

Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta (known as Jogja) is Java’s most visited city. As well as being of great cultural interest, it is situated within easy access of two of the islands most famous sites, Borobudur (the world’s largest Buddhist stupa) and Prambanan (the largest Hindu temple complex in Java). Deciding to avoid the noisier, modern end of the city we chose to stay in the quieter southern end, along Prawirotaman Road. Our hotel ‘Duta Guesthouse’ turned out to be a lovely, traditionally furnished hotel with a nice pool to relax by, when we got tired of sightseeing.

With five days in the city before we had to leave for Singapore, we first took a Becak (cycle rickshaw) to the Kraton to see the Palace. Having a completely incomprehensible guide certainly didn’t enhance the experience, but we doubt it made much difference. The palace is unfortunately just not that exciting. Having taken a shorter time looking around than we expected, we continued our tour of the rest of the old city. On the way to the bird market, we stopped to see some puppets being made and then had a look around a Batik gallery (I am pleased to say that we made a purchase in each). As well as birds, mainly pigeons (mahpati in Indonesian) the bird market sells all manner of creatures, including fruit bats, lizards and hamsters. After a brief look around we were taken on a tour of the Tamansari (water palace) by a local guide. When filled with water the palace must have been quite a sight. It was good to be shown around some bits that we wouldn’t have found by ourselves. Unfortunately the main palace has been rebuilt in a rather over restored way, so is something of a disappointment. Deciding that it was too hot to do much more, we made a brief stop at a local market and then returned to the hotel.

The next morning we got up at 4:20am to wait for the bus that would take us to Borobodur for sunrise. As it turned out we didn’t actually get to Borobodur at sunrise and on further reading of the advert it didn’t actually mention that we would. Having to be content with seeing the sunrise from the comfort of a minibus, we eventually arrived at Borobodur to be greeted by an $11 entrance fee. This went some way to explain why the tour was so cheap! Begrudgingly paying the entrance fee and noticing that the Indonesians didn’t seem to be paying at all (it is always nice to know that we are preserving other countries heritages for them!) we went in. The stupa is of quite breathtaking scale and the early morning mist gave it a beautifully silhouetted look. Photo opportunities were a little limited however, due to a film crew and all their gear obscuring the top. To top it all, it appeared to be the filming of a soap opera not a documentary (I bet they didn’t pay either!). Walking around the various levels admiring the many and varied carvings we encountered several headless Buddha statues. The opportunity proved too good to miss, so we had a bit of fun pretending to be Buddha and ordering the film crew from our stupa. Having had a good look around we headed down the steps towards the exit, only to get interviewed by some children on an English language course. We were happy to stop and chat with them, but having to write our details in all of their notebooks became a little tiring. After the interview was over we had to have our photos taken with them. Rather embarrassingly the second group photo was taken into the sun, so putting my sunglasses on, rather strangely I still found myself squinting. It wasn’t until we were halfway to the exit that Debs noticed that one of the lenses from my glasses was missing; heaven knows what kind of plum I am going to look on that photo!
The second half of our tour was to Prambanan temple. On the way we made a brief stop at Mendut temple, which instead of going into, we had a pleasant stroll around the garden of a nearby Buddhist monastery. Having been forewarned of the high entrance fees by our visit to Borobodur, the $10 entrance fee for Prambanan came as no surprise. What was a surprise was that you can’t actually get very close to the temples. Due to an earthquake in May 2006, the main Shiva temple has been deemed unsafe and the only view you can have is from behind a fence. There are further temples in the complex, but transport to these wasn’t included in our tour and several of them are too far away to walk. Prambanan, due to the fencing, is probably not worth the entrance fee, especially as they don’t tell you it is closed until you have paid your ten dollars. However the tour was definitely worthwhile if only for the visit to Borobodur.
On the way back from the tour we got dropped off at the train station so that we could book tickets for our journey to Jakarta. Having read the Rough Guides’ description of Jakarta, we had no real desire to stay there. The plan was to arrive by train in the evening, spend one night and then head to the airport early in the morning to catch our flight to Singapore. When we eventually found the ticket office, booking the tickets was very straightforward and we were soon in a taxi back to the hotel.
Looking for a bit of culture, we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening at the Ramayana Ballet. The ballet was performed in an open air theatre in the Prambanan temple grounds, with the Shiva temple in all its illuminated glory, as a backdrop. The Ramayana ballet tells the story of Rama and the kidnapping of his wife Sinta. We saw the condensed 2 hour tourist friendly version, complete with a hilarious English story board. The full version is performed over four consecutive nights of over 2 hours each and is probably a bit too involved.

Booked through the excellent ‘Via Via’ café, we spent our last day doing a Batik course at Kelik Batik gallery and school. Firstly we chose a design (I chose a gecko and Debs chose an elephant) from a selection of pictures and then using a pencil we had to trace the design onto a piece of white cotton. The next stage, after some practice, was to cover the lines in hot wax using a ‘chanting’; a kind of pen with a reservoir that you fill with hot wax. After the lines were covered, we coloured the different areas by painting them with dye, which was then fixed with acid. Rather laboriously the whole area that we didn’t want re-coloured then had to be covered with paraffin wax. The whole picture was then died black, rinsed and then boiled in water to remove the wax. Our pictures turned out really well and it certainly made us appreciate how much work goes into the amazingly intricate designs available in the gallery. Naturally we couldn’t leave without purchasing a couple of pictures.
With just the evening left we went to Sonobud museum, where they run a nightly puppet show of the Ramayana story. The museum is supposed to be the best place to see this traditional story telling method. All we can say is that it was one of the most incomprehensibly dull things we have ever seen. The puppets barely move, everything is in Indonesian and the synopsis given to us doesn’t seem to tally up with what you are watching. After about an hour we gave it up as a bad job and headed to a restaurant for some dinner. As it was the last night and Jogja is supposedly famous for it, I couldn’t leave without eating King cobra! I had my cobra curried and it was good, but whether I would rush to have it again I am not sure.
We had a really good time in Jogja, with more time maybe we will be back to have a look at the rest of the Island.

Next: Jogja to Jakarta

Back to Senggigi then onward to Yogyakarta

After the rocking motion and engine noise of the boat, it was really good to have a quiet night in a proper bed. Even the call to prayer didn’t wake us! After breakfast we headed to the Peramatour office to have our flight reservations for the next day confirmed. After several phone calls, where it started to look doubtful, we were confirmed on the flight for the following morning.
Deciding that it would be a good idea to book some accommodation in Yogyakarta, Java before we arrived, we set out to find an internet café. The café that we did eventually find advertised the fastest internet in Lombok. All we can say is that the rest must be truly terrible. With a good deal of patience we eventually managed to book a nice sounding hotel in the Prawirotaman Road (the nice part) area of the city. With the hotel booked and the flights confirmed, we spent the rest of the day having massages (Debs that is), resting and repacking our bags ready for the morning.
Having been told that it would take about 30 minutes to the airport, we arranged a taxi for 6:30am, giving us plenty of time before our flight. In typical fashion the journey only took about 15 minutes, so we ended up with even more time to kill at the tiny Mataram airport. When our friends Brian & Pat had flown from West Timor, they had told us how they had been made to sit on the scales and be weighed before boarding the plane. When the same thing happened to us, it wasn’t quite the shock it might have been, but it was still very strange. Watching Debs slide about on the rollers on the scales was hilarious. How they got an accurate reading is beyond me! Safely weighed and informed that we were 4.5kg over (4.5kg over what?), the check-in staff let us go through. This weighing procedure wasn’t repeated on the other flights we took, so perhaps it is only on the short propeller powered flights.
Flying on a Fokker F50 was quite exciting as we hadn’t been on one before. Our flight carrier ‘Indonesian Air Transport’ didn’t sound too special, but the plane seemed to be brand new and the flight duration of only about 15 minutes didn’t give us a lot of time to be worried. Arriving on time at Denpasar airport, Bali we went to check our bags in for the onward flight to Yogyakarta. As we had arrived at 9:30am, we knew we had a reasonable wait until our flight left at 1pm. We weren’t quite prepared for being told that the flight had been delayed by 3 hours! To be fair to Garuda Air, we were all given a meal voucher for the restaurant, which is more than a lot of airlines would have done. In the end the time went fairly quickly, although we were going slightly stir crazy by the time we came to board. With no further delays we arrived in Yogyakarta airport after about an hour, retrieved our bags and went to meet our lift to the hotel.

Next: Yogyakarta

Peramatour: Flores to Lombok

Day 4:
Breakfast is served as we approach Rinca Island. The seas between the islands have been considerably calmer than the previous few days, so we arrive at the island at 8:30am. It is nice to see that Rinca Island has a jetty so we don’t have to use the dinghy to get to the island. After the relative disappointment of Komodo Island, we are not sure what to expect from Rinca. We go to meet some rangers who will take us on a walk through the park, although this time their English is better. Starting at the main camp we once again come face to face with several resident Komodos, although this time there is a lot more of them and they appear to be more active. The setting of the camp is also much nicer; in fact from the start, the whole island seems a lot more attractive than Komodo. Following the trail from the camp we are lucky enough to see several dragons on and around the path. The trail takes us through jungle and up into more open savannah like scenery. The vegetation and scenery are stunning as we climb up a hill to get a beautiful view of the island and its surrounding seas. Back at the camp we get to see some smaller dragons and as we head back to the boat we encounter one more sitting on the rocks near the jetty. Although it means longer on the boat, we are already glad that we decided to do the return journey. Rinca has been a definite highlight; apart from the name it is a surprise that Komodo remains the more famous island.
From Rinca Island we sailed to Gili Laba to do some more snorkelling. This time the dinghy wasn’t used as we could jump straight from the boat and swim to the nearby reef. We were told that there was the possibility of seeing stingrays in this area but we weren’t lucky enough to see any. Nevertheless the snorkelling was again excellent, with crystal clear waters and beautiful coral.
The rest of the day was spent sailing towards Moyo Island where we would visit a village and waterfall the next day. The only thing that marred what had been a good day was when a cockroach fell from underneath my bunk and landed on my chest while I was reading my book. A quick inspection later and more were discovered, so evacuating the room while the crew sprayed we eventually ended up with a roach free room. We did hear more complaints of cockroaches elsewhere after the spraying, so they clearly just moved on!

Day 5:
As the weather had been bad during the night, we arrived on Moyo Island a little behind schedule. After breakfast we climbed into the dinghy, this time bound for Labuan Haji village on Moyo Island. As so far we had encountered very few locals, it was really nice to see children playing on the beach and a gathering of the villagers waiting to greet us. Once we were all safely on the island we followed a local guide to a nearby waterfall and swimming area. The waterfall was equipped with a rope swing into the pool below. After a demonstration by Effendi, we are pleased to say that we were the first ones to have a go. The water was refreshingly cool and the rope swing was great fun. Once again, the return trip had started out much better than the outward one.
Returning to the village we waved goodbye to the villagers and got back on the boat heading for Keramat Island. This was to be our final stop before we reached Lombok, so we spent the next hour snorkelling around the tiny island. One of the more curious things we encountered during our snorkelling was a tiny fish that seemed quite happy to sit in our hands and hover directly in front of our masks. Tired from swimming around, we climbed back aboard the boat for the final leg of the tour. Perhaps it was because we knew that we were nearly back, but the last bit seemed to take ages. By the time we had docked, said goodbye to the crew, got our gear loaded on the bus and set off, it was already 9pm and we still had a 2 hour drive to Senggigi. It was with some relief when we finally made it back to Rajah’s Bungalows and collapsed into bed.

We must mention that the Perama boat crew were all great; they tried there best to make sure we were ok at all times. Most of what happened on the outward journey can only really be blamed on the weather. The return journey was for us much better than the outward one and if we were doing it again, we would probably fly to Flores and then take the boat back. The main problem with the trip is that the distance is too far, the boat is probably not big enough and there is no built in allowance for bad weather. One of our fellow passengers wrote a letter of complaint, and received a reply from Mr Perama himself, who rather strangely denied everything and blamed global warming! Quite how global warming overloads a dinghy, hides the life jackets and capsizes a boat, will clearly remain a mystery.
If you see this Dennis, send me a copy of the email and I will publish it.

Next: Back to Senggigi, the onwards to Yogyakarta