Cambodia is the bomb, both figuratively and literally, as the country is littered with land-mines and you meet many people there who have been seriously injured by them. Nonetheless, the place is great. We especially liked Siem Reap. It didn't look all that great to begin with though. We had a pleasant enough flight from Singapore and the immigration people kindly arranged visas for us on arrival. The tuktuk trip from the airport to our hotel was very enjoyable and the hotel itself was cute and clean and had adorable sheets with pictures of gnomes on them.
But then our troubles began. We were unable to pay our hotel bill, as our credit cards weren't working. As we had no Cambodian money, we went on a mission to find an ATM and extract some funds. We were very successful in that we found a total of 6 ATMs but unfortunately, none of them were willing to spit out any money for us. After a while we began to feel despair, worry and dehydration creeping in. It was, after all 38 degrees and sunny and we didn't even have change for some water. We also got a bit lost. I didn't ejoy it one little bit! In the end, we went back to the hotel and broke out our emergency dollars. Whoohoo! Suddenly, everything was good again. We didn't even have to find a money changer, as dollars are as freely accepted in Cambodia as the Cambodian Riel. We took to the streets of Siem Reap brandishing our funds and suddenly it was a completely different place. The hot, dusty, crowded little town had transformed into a buzy and inviting haven, filled with appealing bars and restaurants. We lost no time in finding the best coffee in town (Angelina's Cafe - they also do a terrific Swiss breakfast), and then moving on to beer at the Central Cafe with great pavement seating where you can watch the world whizz by on a moped, carrying all it's belongings.
After that, we were entranced. The town is small and easy to navigate. The people are friendly and charming. The food, oh the food, is abundant, varied and always tasty. Siem Reap is worth visitnig just for the cafes and restaurants alone. But of course, that is not why people flock there.
It's all about the temples. And what temples they are! We took two days to explore just the closest and most famous ones. There was Angkor Wat itself, huge, massive, grand and impressive with endless stone carvings of battles fought and won by the Khmers in ancient times. And Angkor Thom! With the Bayon, covered in gigantic faces and the Elephant terrace and the terrace of the Leper King. Not to mention Ta Prohm, overgrown with giant trees and seen by many in the first Lara Croft film. All these magical and amazing places we saw on our first day. On the second day, we ventured further afield. After an hour and a half racing through the Cambodian countryside we came to Kbal Spean. Well, almost - we had to trek through the jungle for half an hour to get to the actual site (luckily it was not as muddy or leech infested as the Borenean jungle). Kbal Spean is a groovy and slightly naughty sacred place. In essence, it is a riverbed that hundreds of Lingas (phalluses) have been carved into. Very cool, very penisy! On the way back to town we stopped at Banteay Srey, the temple of women. It was designed, built and carved exclusively by women. It is smaller than many of the other temples, but most beautiful and richly engraved. It is also pink!
Yes, the temples were amazing! When you go to Siem Reap to see them, just remember to get breakfast at Angelina's Cafe (we're talking baguettes, croissants, ham, salami and gruyere - bliss after a week of noodles or overcooked eggs for breakfast) and dinner at the Red Piano. Hulda's Spaghetti Marinara was crazy tasty and my fusion coconut chicken carbonara was as sublime as it was unusual. I am definately going to try to recreate it when I get home! You can also get great Maxican food there, and yummy salads and anything you could ever wish for. Oh, Siem Reap, surprizing culinary Mecca and deliverer of so many of my food-based desires. (And of course, when travelling, food becomes of utmost importance and concern, along with toilets!)
From Siem Reap, we took the boat to Phnom Penh. We sailed down the river for a while in a rickety little boat and then tranferred to a bigger speed boat once we reached Tonle Sap, Asia's biggest freshwater lake. We sped past water villages, crocodile farms and even a floating basketball court while sunning ouselves on the deck and cooling off in the breeze. It was a most delightful six hour journey. When we got to the capital, we were floored by the intense heat and the size of it compared to little Siem Reap. We caught a tuktuk to our hotel, a lovely converted colonial house and collapsed for a bit in our air-conditioned room. Despite only staying in Phnom Penh for 24 hours, we managed to see the two places we were most interested in, Tuol Sleng - grim and the Silver Pagoda - shiny! Tuol Sleng is a former school that was transformed into a prison and ''interrogation centre'' during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Thousands of people were held captive there, tortured and killed. It is a horrible place, made all the more poignant by the fact that these things took place such a short time ago. The Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh in 1975, the year of my birth. There I discovered that Pol Pot, a man who must be in the top the list of most hideous and cruel people of the 20th century, was 50 years older than me, to the day. I must admit that I am none too pleased to share a birthday with such a person.
The Silver Pagoda was a much more pleasant place to visit. It is situated in the gardens of the Royal Palace and while it is not actually made of silver, it's floor is! It is stuffed with treasures, including a life-sized Buddha encrusted with over 2000 diamonds, the biggest a whopping 6 carats! My two favorite things in there were a lovely, although slightly out of place, French Art Nouveu mirror and the Emerald Buddha. He looked so lovely and minty fresh, I just wanted to lick him! Unfortunately, he was sitting on a 3 meter high gold platform.
After the delights and shinyness of the Silver Pagoda, we caught a Mekong Limousine bus to Ho Chi Minh City - or Saigon, as everyone stills calls it. It was a most pleasant bus trip. The bus was almost empty so we could spread out and we were provided with not unpleasant baked goods as snacks. The bus stopped smack dab in the centre of Saigon, just a hop, skip and jump away from our hotel. Perfection! And that was the end of our holiday in Cambodia.
þriðjudagur, mars 31, 2009
Kambodiupostur
Fra Singapore flugum vid til Siem Reap i Kambodiu. Eftir sma Visabid a flugvellinum komum vid ut og fundum tar mann sem helt a skilti sem a stod Holda Asbjornsdottir. Eg for eitthvad ad hugsa ad nu vaeri kominn timi til ad slaka a i bjornum, Khmerarnir vaeru ad senda mer skilabod. Svo fattadi eg ad teir voru sko ekkert bunir ad sja mig tegar teir skrifudu skiltid svo ad tetta vaeru enginn skilabod, ergo....algjorlega astaedulaust fyrir mig ad slaka eitthvad a i bjornum. Madurinn, sem kalladi sig India, benti svo a tuk-tukinn sinn, hlod toskunum okkar a hann, baud okkur saeti og keyrdi okkur a hotelid sem vid vorum nybunar ad boka. Tegar vid vorum bunar ad koma okkur lauslega fyrir var adalmalid ad fara og na ser i einhvern pening. Ekki byrjadi tad nu vel hja okkur. 6 hradbonkum (med nokkrum mismunandi kortum) sidar hafdi okkur ekki tekist ad taka neitt ut og leist ekki a blikuna. I Kambodiu er hins vegar amriskur dollari algengur gjaldmidill og sem betur fer attum vid nokkra slika. (Reyndar fara eila oll vidskipti fram med amriskum dollurum, tad er bara ef madur tarf ad fa til baka 50 cent eda eitthvad sem er minna en einn dalur ad ta lata teir mann hafa kambodisk riehl). Vorum samt ekkert voda sattar, og i 38 stiga hita, med peningaahyggjur var litid annad ad gera en ad fa ser nokkra kalda.........fundum okkur prydisfinan stad, settumst nidur, pontudum okkur Anchor og hresstumst vid adeins vid tad. Fylgdumst med lifinu i Siem Reap tar sem vid satum ad sotri og skrifudum postkort. Framhja okkur oku margir menn a vespum med hinn fjolbreyttasta farm, 5 manna fjolskyldur sinar, bufenad ymis konar og risa klakastykki svo eitthvad se nefnt. Hittum tar lika Astralann Jim sem er frekar fyndinn kall og spjolludum heillengi vid hann. Hann fer vist i fri a tessar slodir mjog reglulega, reynir ad fara a 6 manada fresti og fer yfirleitt alltaf einn. Konan hann ferdast svo lika yfirleitt lika um ein, en hun er pilates kennari og er tonokkrum arum yngri en hann. Hann hefur verid giftur 4 sinnum og a heila dobiu af bornum og sagdi okkur tad ad hann og kona hans " have a kind of open marriage", hahaha vid vissum ekki alveg hvada merkingu vid aettum ad leggja i tad en tad var engu ad sidur gaman ad spjalla vid kallinn. Okkur var bara farid ad litast vel a pleisid og vorum vissar um tad ad einhver hradbankinn myndi nu a endanum spyta ut einhverjum peningum...........sem teir gerdu ad lokum. Naestu tveir dagar foru i ad skoda okkur um i Angkor Wat og tar i kring. A tessu svaedi eru ogrynnin oll af gomlum musterum sem eru alveg mognud ad sja. India kom og sotti okkur a tuk-tukinum a morgnana og keyrdi okkur um. Vid akvadum bara hvert skyldi naest og hann beid svo eftir okkur a medan vid skodudum okkur um. Hef aldrei sed neitt tessu likt! Heimsottum tonokkud morg musteri, m.a. Ta Prohm tar sem Angelina Jolie var eitthvad ad gaufast tegar hun tottist vera Lara Croft. Tad sidasta sem vid gerdum fyrri daginn i musteraskoduninni var ad fara upp i loftbelg og horfa yfir allt svaedid, massagaman.
Seinni daginn forum vid svo adeins lengra ut i sveit, skodudum tar musteri sem var byggt af konum eingongu og er ovenjulega mikinn utskurd ad finna tar. Gengum lika i hita og svita i gegnum skoginn ad Kbal Spean, sem kallast lika "The river of a 1000 lingas" en linga tydir tippi, tad er nefnilega buid ad skera ut heilan helling af frjosemistaknum i steinana sem ain rennur yfir.
Okkur fannst Siem Reap aedisleg, frekar litil borg, tar bua bara um 70 tus manns en tar er eitthvad fyrir alla. Vid fundum endalaust mikid af spennandi matsolustodum og urdum aldrei fyrir vonbrigdum med tad sem vid pontudum okkur, fullt af finum fusion mat i gangi tar. Tar var lika haegt ad fa almennilegt kaffi og alvoru ost!
Vid saum tad samt tegar vid vorum ad ferdast um ad fataektin i Kambodiu er mjog augljos, tetta er lika tad land i Asiu tar sem tidni HIV/AIDS er hvad haest og folk byr oft vid heldur bagar adstaedur, lika frekar stutt sidan tjodin var i heljargreipum raudu khmeranna sem gengu um allt og drapu mann og annan. Allir i kambodiu samt svo indaelir, stutt i brosid og djokinn ad tar var ekki haegt annad en ad brosa bara a moti.
Vid akvadum svo ad ferdast til Phnom Penh, hofudborgarinnar, med bat. Tad var aedislegt, fyrsta partinn forum vid a einhverjum skritnum riverbat med minnsta motor i heimi og mer leist nu ekkert a blikuna og efadist um ad med tessum haetti kaemumst vid a leidarenda a tessu ari. Sem betur fer skiptum vid svo um bat tegar vid vorum komin ad Tonle Sap, sem er staersta stoduvatnid i Asiu. Tad var bara ekki haegt ad fara a motorbatnum sem vid skiptum yfir i tar alveg til Siem Reap tvi nu er turrkatimi og svo litid i anni. Ferdin var yndisleg, madur gat setid uti allan timann i solinni og horft i kringum sig a oll fljotandi torpin sem eru vid ana. Tar eru fljotandi korfuboltavellir, verslanir, veitingastadir og allt til alls innan um oll fljotandi heimilin. Baturinn for flennihratt svo tad lek um mann dyrindisgola sem var akaflega velkomid i 40 stiga hita!
Komum til Phnom Penh skommu eftir hadegi og tar var algerlega olift, tad var svo faranlega heitt og engin hreyfing a loftinu. Tokum tuk-tuk beint a hotelid og blostudum air-conid a herberginu i smastund adur en vid treystum okkur af stad i nokkud annad. Vorum bunar ad akveda ad vera bara eina nott i Phnom Penh en langadi baedi ad fara ad skoda Royal Palace og Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. Safnid var vid somu gotu og hotelid okkar, bara rett yfir gotuna svo vid drifum okkur tangad. Toul Sleng er safn sem synir hormungarnar sem tessi tjod gekk i gegnum a tima raudu Khmeranna undir forystu Pol Pot. Adur var tetta skoli sem Pol Pot breytti i hagaeslufangelsi tar sem folk var miskunnarlaust pyntad og aflifad fyrir engar sakir. Tetta er svona safn sem manni lidur illa i en vildi ekki hafa sleppt, svipud tilfinning og tegar vid forum til Auschwitz i Pollandi fyrir einhverju arum. Tad sem er otrulegast vid tetta er ad tessar hormungar attu ser stad i Kambodiu fyrir alls ekki svo longu, seint a attunda aratugnum, og enn gaetir ahrifanna af tessum tima.
Seinni daginn okkar i Phnom Penh forum vid ad skoda konungshallarsvaedid. Tar er medal annars Silver Pagoda, tad sem allt golfid er ur silfri og er tar ad finna Buddha sem gerdur er ur smaragdi og fleiri ur skiragulli sem skreyttir eru med tusundum demanta, voda fint og glansandi allt saman ;) Pontudum okkur svo rutuferd til Saigon sem lagdi af stad skommu eftir hadegid og tok um 6 tima. Ferdin var hin taegilegasta, tad voru bara 11 fartegar i rutunni svo madur gat heldur betur dreift ur ser en teir hefdu alveg matt slaka a karaokidiskunum sem teir blostudu i dvd spilaranum og sjonkanum a leidinni ;)
Landamaeramalin gengur vel og fljott fyrir sig, ekkert vesen, ekkert mal.
Komnar til Nam, meira tadan sidar!
Seinni daginn forum vid svo adeins lengra ut i sveit, skodudum tar musteri sem var byggt af konum eingongu og er ovenjulega mikinn utskurd ad finna tar. Gengum lika i hita og svita i gegnum skoginn ad Kbal Spean, sem kallast lika "The river of a 1000 lingas" en linga tydir tippi, tad er nefnilega buid ad skera ut heilan helling af frjosemistaknum i steinana sem ain rennur yfir.
Okkur fannst Siem Reap aedisleg, frekar litil borg, tar bua bara um 70 tus manns en tar er eitthvad fyrir alla. Vid fundum endalaust mikid af spennandi matsolustodum og urdum aldrei fyrir vonbrigdum med tad sem vid pontudum okkur, fullt af finum fusion mat i gangi tar. Tar var lika haegt ad fa almennilegt kaffi og alvoru ost!
Vid saum tad samt tegar vid vorum ad ferdast um ad fataektin i Kambodiu er mjog augljos, tetta er lika tad land i Asiu tar sem tidni HIV/AIDS er hvad haest og folk byr oft vid heldur bagar adstaedur, lika frekar stutt sidan tjodin var i heljargreipum raudu khmeranna sem gengu um allt og drapu mann og annan. Allir i kambodiu samt svo indaelir, stutt i brosid og djokinn ad tar var ekki haegt annad en ad brosa bara a moti.
Vid akvadum svo ad ferdast til Phnom Penh, hofudborgarinnar, med bat. Tad var aedislegt, fyrsta partinn forum vid a einhverjum skritnum riverbat med minnsta motor i heimi og mer leist nu ekkert a blikuna og efadist um ad med tessum haetti kaemumst vid a leidarenda a tessu ari. Sem betur fer skiptum vid svo um bat tegar vid vorum komin ad Tonle Sap, sem er staersta stoduvatnid i Asiu. Tad var bara ekki haegt ad fara a motorbatnum sem vid skiptum yfir i tar alveg til Siem Reap tvi nu er turrkatimi og svo litid i anni. Ferdin var yndisleg, madur gat setid uti allan timann i solinni og horft i kringum sig a oll fljotandi torpin sem eru vid ana. Tar eru fljotandi korfuboltavellir, verslanir, veitingastadir og allt til alls innan um oll fljotandi heimilin. Baturinn for flennihratt svo tad lek um mann dyrindisgola sem var akaflega velkomid i 40 stiga hita!
Komum til Phnom Penh skommu eftir hadegi og tar var algerlega olift, tad var svo faranlega heitt og engin hreyfing a loftinu. Tokum tuk-tuk beint a hotelid og blostudum air-conid a herberginu i smastund adur en vid treystum okkur af stad i nokkud annad. Vorum bunar ad akveda ad vera bara eina nott i Phnom Penh en langadi baedi ad fara ad skoda Royal Palace og Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. Safnid var vid somu gotu og hotelid okkar, bara rett yfir gotuna svo vid drifum okkur tangad. Toul Sleng er safn sem synir hormungarnar sem tessi tjod gekk i gegnum a tima raudu Khmeranna undir forystu Pol Pot. Adur var tetta skoli sem Pol Pot breytti i hagaeslufangelsi tar sem folk var miskunnarlaust pyntad og aflifad fyrir engar sakir. Tetta er svona safn sem manni lidur illa i en vildi ekki hafa sleppt, svipud tilfinning og tegar vid forum til Auschwitz i Pollandi fyrir einhverju arum. Tad sem er otrulegast vid tetta er ad tessar hormungar attu ser stad i Kambodiu fyrir alls ekki svo longu, seint a attunda aratugnum, og enn gaetir ahrifanna af tessum tima.
Seinni daginn okkar i Phnom Penh forum vid ad skoda konungshallarsvaedid. Tar er medal annars Silver Pagoda, tad sem allt golfid er ur silfri og er tar ad finna Buddha sem gerdur er ur smaragdi og fleiri ur skiragulli sem skreyttir eru med tusundum demanta, voda fint og glansandi allt saman ;) Pontudum okkur svo rutuferd til Saigon sem lagdi af stad skommu eftir hadegid og tok um 6 tima. Ferdin var hin taegilegasta, tad voru bara 11 fartegar i rutunni svo madur gat heldur betur dreift ur ser en teir hefdu alveg matt slaka a karaokidiskunum sem teir blostudu i dvd spilaranum og sjonkanum a leidinni ;)
Landamaeramalin gengur vel og fljott fyrir sig, ekkert vesen, ekkert mal.
Komnar til Nam, meira tadan sidar!
fimmtudagur, mars 26, 2009
A sample from Borneo and Singapore.
Enjoying the food at the night-market in KK
Asta on the rooftop of NAK Hotel, looking over shitty Sandakan 
Crocsy
Mama orangutan and her little baby, in Sepilok
A hornbill in a tree just outside our little cottage
Giant orangutan
A proboscis monkey, apparently they are in a constant state of arousal, as you can see if you look closely.
Very very wet after a trek through the jungle
A tribute to David Attenborough......sshhhh!
I can see it !
Ooooo, I can hear it!
Gomantong caves, bird's nests caves in Borneo.
In order to get to the bird's nest you will have to climb that ladder.
The busy port in Singapore
The prettiest house in Singapore!!! All the lovely colours!!
In little India in Singapore
On Sentosa island as the sun sets
Singapore in the nighttime
Hulda in Chinatown
Asta is taking on Buddha himself in Chinatown, Singapore
Asta making silly faces on the Singapore river
so pretty....oh so prettymánudagur, mars 23, 2009
Borneo and Singapore - worlds apart
Kota Kinabalu is the largest city in Malaysian Borneo. It isn't very big or attractive or much of anything, really. There is a night market, which is quite nice and there you can get a Filipino barbeque that is amazingly yummy and quite messy to eat. Our barbeque evening in the market was probably the most interesting thing we did during our first 3 days in KK. Mostly, we just relaxed around our hotel pool. That's the problem with pools, you lose all incentive to go out and discover the city (not that there seemed to be much to discover). After KK, we took the bus to Sandakan. We meant to take the 10 am bus, but it was fully booked and we could only get tickets on the 1 pm bus. When our bus was finally under way, it broke down. We then had to wait in a rainstorm for an hour for a replacement bus to come and pick us up. It's not as bad as it seems, we were able to sit and wait in our old bus, didn't have to stand in the rain. Unfortunately, the replacement bus seemed much more dodgy than the broke one and I am pretty sure the driver didn't actually have a licence. He wasn't very good at the driving anyway.
So instead of arriving in Sandakan at two in the afternoon as planned, we got there at around 10.30 at night, missing a whole afternoon of sightseeing in Sandakan. We quickly discovered that may have been a blessing. Sandakan is, on the whole, rather an unpleasant place. Dirty, ugly, hot with stary, leery men, most of whom were hairy, but luckily not too scary. We ended up spending most of our time in our hotel, which luckily had a rather nice rooftop cafe and bar. We even stopped going out for food after I saw a rat (yes, a great big, revolting rat!) running around in the restaurant next door. Everyone in the restaurant seemed quite surprized when we cancelled our order and left, as if rats in restaurant are totally Ok. Ugh!
After a couple of days of nothing in Sandakan, it was time for our jungle trip. We were picked up and first taken to Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, where they save orphaned or injured orangutans and train them to go back to the wild. Some of them choose to live in the surrounding jungle after they have been released and can come back for feedings of milk and bananas if they want. We went to see a feeding. Sadly, only one orangutan came out of the forest for a snack, the others probably weren't hungry. Happily, the one who we saw had recently given birth, so she had a teeny, tiny, baby with her. The Cutest Thing Ever!
After Sepilok, we were driven to our jungle lodge by the banks of the Kinabatangan river. There we stayed for two days, going on lots of boat rides on the river and one trek in the jungle. The boat rides were great (apart from hard seat-induced achy bum). We saw lots of wildlife, all kinds of birds, a few crocodiles and 5 different species of primates, including the hilarious and lovable proboscis monkeys and a very fine and handsome orangutan male. The trek was a little bit more hard work and slightly less rewarding. It took about 3,5 hours. We trudged through the mud to a lake, rested there for about half an hour and trudged back. The only wildlife we saw were insects, mostly leeches. There isn't really much of a chance to see anything else, because you have to keep your eyes on the ground to keep from falling on your face in the mud. It was still a good thing to do, just to have been on a jungle trek. And it wasn't as bad as I had expected. Even though we were walking along in over 30 degree heat and very high humidity, we didn't actually feel all that hot. We seem to be becomong acclimatized to the tropics. Jungle bunnies are we! Also, even though I was bitten by a leech, that wasn't too bad either. It didn't hurt at all and I didn't freak out. (Although I must admit, that is only because I didn't notice the bite until the leech had long since sucked its fill and slithered off. If I had seen it gorging itself on blood from my armpit, I'm afraid a full scale freak-out may have occurred). Our house in the jungle was really nice too. We had a fan and en-suite and electricity. Total luxury! After two nights there we went back to Sandakan via the Gomatong caves. These are caves where edible birds' nests (for soup) are harvested. The caves are very fine indeed, beautiful and impressive and it is lovely to see the swiftlets (and even the bats) flitting overhead. Not all good, though. The cave is filled with a mountain of guano and is consequently rather foul smelling. It is also a breeding ground for some horrible creepy crawlies like poisonous centipedes and masses of cockroaces. We quickly regretted wearing sandals in there!
After on last night in Sandakan (the night of the rat incident) we took the bus back to KK. In our absence, it seemed to have transformed itself into a gleaming, cosmopolitan place. A throbbing metropolis of lovelyness. Maybe that's Sandakan's reason for being; to make Kota Kinabalu look good by comparison. Anyway, we had a lovely last evening in Borneo, eating obscene amounts of pizza and flolloping in our gigantic suite. Yes, SUITE! The hotel was hosting some sort of conference and all the cheapo rooms were full, so they were forced to put us in a suite. Ha,ha,ha,ha! We felt slightly out of place in there, still in our jungle clothes, but we enjoyed it nontheless.
Now we are in Singapore. It is different from Borneo. Everything is clean and organized and safe. There is a bewildering array of shopping malls here. I'm talking hundreds of really massive shopping centres, pretty much covering most of the city. We went to the supermarket. It was like going to heaven. There was cheese, lots of cheese. And yoghurt. Yum! We got tickets for the tourist sightseeing bus and have had at least a glimpse of most of the city. We even went on a river cruise today. We have wandered around Chinatown and Little India and sat in all kinds of lovely cafes and restaurants. It is pleasant here. But now it is time to leave. Off to Cambodia in the morning. I wonder what that will be like?
So instead of arriving in Sandakan at two in the afternoon as planned, we got there at around 10.30 at night, missing a whole afternoon of sightseeing in Sandakan. We quickly discovered that may have been a blessing. Sandakan is, on the whole, rather an unpleasant place. Dirty, ugly, hot with stary, leery men, most of whom were hairy, but luckily not too scary. We ended up spending most of our time in our hotel, which luckily had a rather nice rooftop cafe and bar. We even stopped going out for food after I saw a rat (yes, a great big, revolting rat!) running around in the restaurant next door. Everyone in the restaurant seemed quite surprized when we cancelled our order and left, as if rats in restaurant are totally Ok. Ugh!
After a couple of days of nothing in Sandakan, it was time for our jungle trip. We were picked up and first taken to Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, where they save orphaned or injured orangutans and train them to go back to the wild. Some of them choose to live in the surrounding jungle after they have been released and can come back for feedings of milk and bananas if they want. We went to see a feeding. Sadly, only one orangutan came out of the forest for a snack, the others probably weren't hungry. Happily, the one who we saw had recently given birth, so she had a teeny, tiny, baby with her. The Cutest Thing Ever!
After Sepilok, we were driven to our jungle lodge by the banks of the Kinabatangan river. There we stayed for two days, going on lots of boat rides on the river and one trek in the jungle. The boat rides were great (apart from hard seat-induced achy bum). We saw lots of wildlife, all kinds of birds, a few crocodiles and 5 different species of primates, including the hilarious and lovable proboscis monkeys and a very fine and handsome orangutan male. The trek was a little bit more hard work and slightly less rewarding. It took about 3,5 hours. We trudged through the mud to a lake, rested there for about half an hour and trudged back. The only wildlife we saw were insects, mostly leeches. There isn't really much of a chance to see anything else, because you have to keep your eyes on the ground to keep from falling on your face in the mud. It was still a good thing to do, just to have been on a jungle trek. And it wasn't as bad as I had expected. Even though we were walking along in over 30 degree heat and very high humidity, we didn't actually feel all that hot. We seem to be becomong acclimatized to the tropics. Jungle bunnies are we! Also, even though I was bitten by a leech, that wasn't too bad either. It didn't hurt at all and I didn't freak out. (Although I must admit, that is only because I didn't notice the bite until the leech had long since sucked its fill and slithered off. If I had seen it gorging itself on blood from my armpit, I'm afraid a full scale freak-out may have occurred). Our house in the jungle was really nice too. We had a fan and en-suite and electricity. Total luxury! After two nights there we went back to Sandakan via the Gomatong caves. These are caves where edible birds' nests (for soup) are harvested. The caves are very fine indeed, beautiful and impressive and it is lovely to see the swiftlets (and even the bats) flitting overhead. Not all good, though. The cave is filled with a mountain of guano and is consequently rather foul smelling. It is also a breeding ground for some horrible creepy crawlies like poisonous centipedes and masses of cockroaces. We quickly regretted wearing sandals in there!
After on last night in Sandakan (the night of the rat incident) we took the bus back to KK. In our absence, it seemed to have transformed itself into a gleaming, cosmopolitan place. A throbbing metropolis of lovelyness. Maybe that's Sandakan's reason for being; to make Kota Kinabalu look good by comparison. Anyway, we had a lovely last evening in Borneo, eating obscene amounts of pizza and flolloping in our gigantic suite. Yes, SUITE! The hotel was hosting some sort of conference and all the cheapo rooms were full, so they were forced to put us in a suite. Ha,ha,ha,ha! We felt slightly out of place in there, still in our jungle clothes, but we enjoyed it nontheless.
Now we are in Singapore. It is different from Borneo. Everything is clean and organized and safe. There is a bewildering array of shopping malls here. I'm talking hundreds of really massive shopping centres, pretty much covering most of the city. We went to the supermarket. It was like going to heaven. There was cheese, lots of cheese. And yoghurt. Yum! We got tickets for the tourist sightseeing bus and have had at least a glimpse of most of the city. We even went on a river cruise today. We have wandered around Chinatown and Little India and sat in all kinds of lovely cafes and restaurants. It is pleasant here. But now it is time to leave. Off to Cambodia in the morning. I wonder what that will be like?
Fra Bali til Borneo til Singapore
Forum fra Bali til Borneo, eyju sem er talsvert mikid staerri en litla Bali. Forum til Sabah sem er i Malasiuhlutanum. Lentum i Kota Kinabalu sem er hofudstadur Sabah og gistum tar 2 naetur. Okkur totti nu ekki mikid koma til teirrar borgar, litid um ad vera, heldur sodalegt svona og litid spennandi. Svo rigndi lika svo mikid ad vid eyddum mikid af okkar tima a hotelinu bara. Turftum svo ad koma okkur adeins sudur til Sandakan tvi tadan attum vid pantada ferd inn i frumskoginn. Maettum a straetostodina i KK an mida tvi hotelstaffid hafdi fullvissad okkur um tad ad tad tyrfti ekki ad panta fyrirfram, bara maeta a svaedid. Alla vega ta aetludum vid ad na rutunni klukkan 10 en tegar vid komum a rutustodina kom i ljos ad fyrsta mogulega ferd sem var laust i var ekki fyrr en klukkan 13. Tad er reyndar frekar fyndid system tarna, tad eru morg mismunandi rutufelog sem oll eru ad keppast um kunnana svo um leid og madur maetir a svaedid streyma ad manni fullt af monnum og reyna ad draga mann ad sinum midasolubas. Reyna ad taka af manni toskurnar svo madur verdur ad elta ta og ljuga tvi ad manni ad teir eigi laust miklu fyrr en allir adrir. Tad endadi med tvi ad eg turfti ad rifa bakpokann hennar Astu af einhverjum manni sem var ad reyna ad fa okkur med ser en vid vorum bunar ad finna annan bas sem atti fyrri ferd.....................hann var ekki sattur ad hafa misst potential kunna enda vildi hann ekkert lata toskuna alltof viljugur af hendi!
Logdum svo af stad rumlega 13 og eftir um klukkustundar akstur biladi rutan einhvers stadar uppi fjallarassgati i hellidembu. Tar turftum vid svo ad huka i ruman klukkutima adur en kom onnur ruta ad saekja okkur. Allt i allt tok ferdin 9 tima en hun atti bara ad taka 6. Ekki vart tad nu skarra sem tok a moti okkur tegar a leidarenda var komid. Sandakan er algjort skitapleis, vidurstyggileg og drepleidinleg. Ekkert nema ogedisdonakallar uti um allt ad senda manni fingurkossa og glapa og klaemast og litid vid timann ad gera tarna. Okkur fannst ekkert serstaklega speslegt ad vera ad rolta um tarna og sem betur fer var aedislegur takgardur a hotelinu okkar med agaetis utsyni sem var algjort haven. Vid reyndum einu sinni ad fara a veitingastadinn vid hlidina a hotelinu og vorum bunar ad panta okkur laksa til ad taka med en tegar Asta sa rottu vera ad rolta um inni a veitingastadnum fannst okkur nog komid, sogdum teim ad haetta bara vid pontunina okkar og halfuhlupum ut.
Frumskogurinn var frabaer. Forum fyrst til Sepilok sem er rehabilitation center og sanctuary fyrir orangutana og vorum heppnar ad sja eina orangutanamommu med litid baby tar. Forum svo inn i frumskoginn og fengum tar litinn kofa vid Kinabatangan ana. Forum i siglingar klukkan 6 a morgnana og aftur seinni partinn a daginn og forum lika i gongutur i gegnum regnskoginn (sem var frekar sveittur!). Saum fullt af dyralifi, alls kyns apa, fugla, krokodila o.fl. Nadum meira ad segja ad sja risa orangutan i sinu natturulega umhverfi. Flugurnar bitu okkur adeins og iglurnar bidu eftir okkur a hverju laufbladi tegar vid vorum ad ganga i gegnum frumskoginn. Madur turfti ad vera fljotur til tegar taer lentu a manni ad kippa teim af adur en taer bitu. Ein nadi samt Astu i handarkrikann en hun tok ekkert eftir tvi. Tad var ekki fyrr en eg tok eftir skritnum blett tar nokkrum dogum seinna ad vid fottudum ad hun hafdi verid bitin af iglu.
Turftum ad stoppa eina nott i skita Sandakan aftur eftir frumskoginn en tokum svo rutu aftur til KK. Eins og okkur fannst KK eitthvad litid spennandi fyrst ta fannst okkur hun aedisleg tegar vid komum tangad i seinna skiptid. Leid bara eins og vid vaerum komnar til Parisar ad vori til............i samanburdi vid Sandakan er allt yndislegt. Tad var lika einhver radstefna i gangi a hotelinu okkar i KK og buid ad leigja ut oll venjulegu herbergin svo vid vorum uppfaerdar i svitu sem okkur totti ekki leidinlegt.
Fra KK flugum vid svo til Singapore enn eina ferdina, en forum i tetta skiptid ut af flugvellinum. Ohaett ad segja ad su borg se toluvert mikid orduvisi en teir stadir sem vid hofum komid til i nagrenni hennar. Strax eftir ad vid hofdum tekkad okkur inn kom tessi svaka torrential trumustormur, tad var svakalegt ad fylgjast med tvi. Brjaladar trumur og eldingar stanslaust, laufblod fuku um allt og greinar brotnudu af trjam. Stormurinn klaradist svo jafn skyndilega og hann hofst. En Singapore er stormerkileg. Aldrei hef eg sed jafnmikid af alls kyns skiltum um tad sem ekki ma gera, og hotanir um 1000 Singapore dollara sektir ef madur hlydir ekki. Hvert sem madur litur eru risastorar verslunarmidstodvar og borgin er oedlilega hrein, varla ad sja laufblad a gotunni sem er skritid midad vid tad sem gengur a her tegar vedur gengur yfir. Hofnin her er svoleidis stutfull af gamum , kronum og gamalyfturum einhvers konar og uti um allt eru risafraktarar. Tratt fyrir ad frambord verslunarmidstodva her se meira en nog virdast taer alltaf vera fullar samt. Eg er ekki mikill addaandi svona verslunarmidstodva, finnst taer bara sjuga ur manni lifsorkuna en vid hofum nu samt kikt inn i 1 eda 2 tvi oft tarf madur ad labba i gegnum eitthvad mall til ad komast a naesta afangastad, og tad er audvelt ad villast inni i tessum risagimoldum. Skil samt ekki hvad folk er svona mikid ad versla herna tvi tetta er frekar dyr borg. Vid erum nu bunar ad vera her i 3 daga og forum svo til Kambodiu i fyrramalid. Agaett ad komast adeins i skipulag og snyrtimennsku svona a milli ringulreidarinnar annars stadar i Sudaustur Asiu. Hofum runtad um allt i turistastraeto, silgt nidur ana, forum til Sentosa og renndum okkur nidur einhverja rennibraut tar a halfgerdum kassabilum og saum vaemnasta ljosa- gosbrunna- og lasershow sem til er held eg.
Vid hofum lengi verid addaendur svokalladra travellatora, sem eru svona gongubelti sem manni lidur alltaf eins og madur se ad labba otrulega hratt a. A Changi flugvellinum i Sigapore er nog af sliku en her i verslunarmidstodvunum hofum vid fundid nyja utgafu af travellator, sem fer upp og nidur, samt ekki rullustigi tvi tad eru engar troppur. Vid kollum tetta uppgang og nidurgang.
I fyrramalid hefst svo adalaevintyrid. Turfum ad fara af stad eldsnemma tvi vid eigum flug til Siem Reap i Kambodiu, tar verdur kaos! Svo aetlum vid ad reyna ad koma okkur fra Siem Reap, til Phnom Pehn og yfir til Saigon i Vietnam. Tadan svo nordur upp allt NAM til Hanoi en tadan eigum vid flug pantad einhvern timann i april. Rutur, batar, lestar, tuktukar verda medal teirra farataekja sem vid munum ferdast med en tad a eftir ad koma i ljos hvernig tetta gengur allt saman. Hofum 18 daga til ad koma okkur fra Siem Reap til Hanoi, vonandi ad tad hafist!
Aetlum nu ad reyna ad vera spakar i kvold en i tessari ferd hofum vid haft tann leidindaosid ad verda fullsosadar sidasta kvoldid okkar a hverjum stad tegar vid eigum ad vera ad pakka nidur og fara snemma i bolid. Veit ekki akkuru, en tad gerist bara einhvernveginn alltaf! Her er bjorinn hvorteder svo dyr ad tad gerist orugglega ekki i kvold. Sjaum hvernig okkur gengur ad hemja okkur i Vietnam tar sem vid turfum kannski ad borga 20 kall fyrir bjorinn ;)
Set inn myndir fra Borneo og Singapore i naestu faerslu vonandi...........tad fer eftir gaedi netkaffihusanna i Kambodiu og Nam.
Logdum svo af stad rumlega 13 og eftir um klukkustundar akstur biladi rutan einhvers stadar uppi fjallarassgati i hellidembu. Tar turftum vid svo ad huka i ruman klukkutima adur en kom onnur ruta ad saekja okkur. Allt i allt tok ferdin 9 tima en hun atti bara ad taka 6. Ekki vart tad nu skarra sem tok a moti okkur tegar a leidarenda var komid. Sandakan er algjort skitapleis, vidurstyggileg og drepleidinleg. Ekkert nema ogedisdonakallar uti um allt ad senda manni fingurkossa og glapa og klaemast og litid vid timann ad gera tarna. Okkur fannst ekkert serstaklega speslegt ad vera ad rolta um tarna og sem betur fer var aedislegur takgardur a hotelinu okkar med agaetis utsyni sem var algjort haven. Vid reyndum einu sinni ad fara a veitingastadinn vid hlidina a hotelinu og vorum bunar ad panta okkur laksa til ad taka med en tegar Asta sa rottu vera ad rolta um inni a veitingastadnum fannst okkur nog komid, sogdum teim ad haetta bara vid pontunina okkar og halfuhlupum ut.
Frumskogurinn var frabaer. Forum fyrst til Sepilok sem er rehabilitation center og sanctuary fyrir orangutana og vorum heppnar ad sja eina orangutanamommu med litid baby tar. Forum svo inn i frumskoginn og fengum tar litinn kofa vid Kinabatangan ana. Forum i siglingar klukkan 6 a morgnana og aftur seinni partinn a daginn og forum lika i gongutur i gegnum regnskoginn (sem var frekar sveittur!). Saum fullt af dyralifi, alls kyns apa, fugla, krokodila o.fl. Nadum meira ad segja ad sja risa orangutan i sinu natturulega umhverfi. Flugurnar bitu okkur adeins og iglurnar bidu eftir okkur a hverju laufbladi tegar vid vorum ad ganga i gegnum frumskoginn. Madur turfti ad vera fljotur til tegar taer lentu a manni ad kippa teim af adur en taer bitu. Ein nadi samt Astu i handarkrikann en hun tok ekkert eftir tvi. Tad var ekki fyrr en eg tok eftir skritnum blett tar nokkrum dogum seinna ad vid fottudum ad hun hafdi verid bitin af iglu.
Turftum ad stoppa eina nott i skita Sandakan aftur eftir frumskoginn en tokum svo rutu aftur til KK. Eins og okkur fannst KK eitthvad litid spennandi fyrst ta fannst okkur hun aedisleg tegar vid komum tangad i seinna skiptid. Leid bara eins og vid vaerum komnar til Parisar ad vori til............i samanburdi vid Sandakan er allt yndislegt. Tad var lika einhver radstefna i gangi a hotelinu okkar i KK og buid ad leigja ut oll venjulegu herbergin svo vid vorum uppfaerdar i svitu sem okkur totti ekki leidinlegt.
Fra KK flugum vid svo til Singapore enn eina ferdina, en forum i tetta skiptid ut af flugvellinum. Ohaett ad segja ad su borg se toluvert mikid orduvisi en teir stadir sem vid hofum komid til i nagrenni hennar. Strax eftir ad vid hofdum tekkad okkur inn kom tessi svaka torrential trumustormur, tad var svakalegt ad fylgjast med tvi. Brjaladar trumur og eldingar stanslaust, laufblod fuku um allt og greinar brotnudu af trjam. Stormurinn klaradist svo jafn skyndilega og hann hofst. En Singapore er stormerkileg. Aldrei hef eg sed jafnmikid af alls kyns skiltum um tad sem ekki ma gera, og hotanir um 1000 Singapore dollara sektir ef madur hlydir ekki. Hvert sem madur litur eru risastorar verslunarmidstodvar og borgin er oedlilega hrein, varla ad sja laufblad a gotunni sem er skritid midad vid tad sem gengur a her tegar vedur gengur yfir. Hofnin her er svoleidis stutfull af gamum , kronum og gamalyfturum einhvers konar og uti um allt eru risafraktarar. Tratt fyrir ad frambord verslunarmidstodva her se meira en nog virdast taer alltaf vera fullar samt. Eg er ekki mikill addaandi svona verslunarmidstodva, finnst taer bara sjuga ur manni lifsorkuna en vid hofum nu samt kikt inn i 1 eda 2 tvi oft tarf madur ad labba i gegnum eitthvad mall til ad komast a naesta afangastad, og tad er audvelt ad villast inni i tessum risagimoldum. Skil samt ekki hvad folk er svona mikid ad versla herna tvi tetta er frekar dyr borg. Vid erum nu bunar ad vera her i 3 daga og forum svo til Kambodiu i fyrramalid. Agaett ad komast adeins i skipulag og snyrtimennsku svona a milli ringulreidarinnar annars stadar i Sudaustur Asiu. Hofum runtad um allt i turistastraeto, silgt nidur ana, forum til Sentosa og renndum okkur nidur einhverja rennibraut tar a halfgerdum kassabilum og saum vaemnasta ljosa- gosbrunna- og lasershow sem til er held eg.
Vid hofum lengi verid addaendur svokalladra travellatora, sem eru svona gongubelti sem manni lidur alltaf eins og madur se ad labba otrulega hratt a. A Changi flugvellinum i Sigapore er nog af sliku en her i verslunarmidstodvunum hofum vid fundid nyja utgafu af travellator, sem fer upp og nidur, samt ekki rullustigi tvi tad eru engar troppur. Vid kollum tetta uppgang og nidurgang.
I fyrramalid hefst svo adalaevintyrid. Turfum ad fara af stad eldsnemma tvi vid eigum flug til Siem Reap i Kambodiu, tar verdur kaos! Svo aetlum vid ad reyna ad koma okkur fra Siem Reap, til Phnom Pehn og yfir til Saigon i Vietnam. Tadan svo nordur upp allt NAM til Hanoi en tadan eigum vid flug pantad einhvern timann i april. Rutur, batar, lestar, tuktukar verda medal teirra farataekja sem vid munum ferdast med en tad a eftir ad koma i ljos hvernig tetta gengur allt saman. Hofum 18 daga til ad koma okkur fra Siem Reap til Hanoi, vonandi ad tad hafist!
Aetlum nu ad reyna ad vera spakar i kvold en i tessari ferd hofum vid haft tann leidindaosid ad verda fullsosadar sidasta kvoldid okkar a hverjum stad tegar vid eigum ad vera ad pakka nidur og fara snemma i bolid. Veit ekki akkuru, en tad gerist bara einhvernveginn alltaf! Her er bjorinn hvorteder svo dyr ad tad gerist orugglega ekki i kvold. Sjaum hvernig okkur gengur ad hemja okkur i Vietnam tar sem vid turfum kannski ad borga 20 kall fyrir bjorinn ;)
Set inn myndir fra Borneo og Singapore i naestu faerslu vonandi...........tad fer eftir gaedi netkaffihusanna i Kambodiu og Nam.
fimmtudagur, mars 12, 2009
Balipics
Our hotel
Our pool
We found a chopper platform with an amazing view
Asta on the chopper platform
Elephant playing tricks, I like it
Asta giving Harim the elephant some love
Elephant rafting
Harim says hello and smiles
A giant butterfly
Rice paddies
Hulda in front of the temple
Inside the temple
That's the way home, I know it! (it is very difficult to find your way around, like a maze)
A spontaneous parade, happens every day apparently in Bali
Offerings to the gods
The curious incident of the dog(s) in the nighttime.......there was after all a full moon......or maybe this is just the Balinese doggy-style? Balitime, excellent!
Bali was nice, I recommend it. Although, thinking back, we didn't really do much there, so this might be quite a short blog. Mostly we just hung out by our pool working on our tans, had some spa treatments and checked out the local restaurants. Perfect holiday behaviour, really.
We did take a car into Kuta one day to check the place out and do a spot of shopping. One must fine-tune one's haggling skills from time to time, just to them sharp. The Balinese are generally lovely, calm, unaggressive types but that all changes a bit when they've got you in their shop. Then it's the hard sell all the way, baby! One lady was absolutely astonished that Hulda only wanted to buy one pair of shorts from her and quite offended that I didn't want any shorts at all. Well, until I pointed out that my bottom wouldn't possibly fit into any of the shorts she had for sale. She conceded the point and let us be on our way. It was fun to go out and look at tat and buy a couple of things.
The highlight of our stay in Bali, and certainly the most interesting thing to write home about was our day of adventure. We went on a fun-filled tour around southern Bali. In the morning we went white water rafting on the Ayung river. It only had grade 1 and 2 rapids, so not too strenuous or scary but quite good fun. It's a good thing too, because the other people in our boat were really crap rowers so we would probably have gotten into trouble in a bigger river. Luckily, us Asbjornsdottir sisters have AWESOME rowing skillz! (And we also had a great river guide who may have had some part in us getting succesfully to the end). For the last part of our trip we jumped off our boat into the river and floated downstream. A beautiful sensation.
After a shower and change of clothes we had a most excellent lunch in Ubud. Then, that very afternoon, one of my childhood dreams came true. I got to ride an elephant! Woohoo! It was kind of what I had expected, only slightly more scary. Our elephant was an extremely skittish creature and on a couple of occasions she got startled. You don't really want to be on top of a startled elephant, they're not easy to control and they are absolutely massive! We had to hold on for dear life. It was still amazing, though.
The next day we had very achy muscles. I'm not sure whether it was from the rowing or from holding on to the elephant. Well, folks, that's pretty much it. We only had 5 days in Bali, so we didn't have time to do more exciting things. One facinating (in my opinion) thing that I learned in Bali is that Asta is an Indonesian name. So is Gusti, that was our river guide's name. Bintang is good but Bagus is great. Air is water.
Kisses!
We did take a car into Kuta one day to check the place out and do a spot of shopping. One must fine-tune one's haggling skills from time to time, just to them sharp. The Balinese are generally lovely, calm, unaggressive types but that all changes a bit when they've got you in their shop. Then it's the hard sell all the way, baby! One lady was absolutely astonished that Hulda only wanted to buy one pair of shorts from her and quite offended that I didn't want any shorts at all. Well, until I pointed out that my bottom wouldn't possibly fit into any of the shorts she had for sale. She conceded the point and let us be on our way. It was fun to go out and look at tat and buy a couple of things.
The highlight of our stay in Bali, and certainly the most interesting thing to write home about was our day of adventure. We went on a fun-filled tour around southern Bali. In the morning we went white water rafting on the Ayung river. It only had grade 1 and 2 rapids, so not too strenuous or scary but quite good fun. It's a good thing too, because the other people in our boat were really crap rowers so we would probably have gotten into trouble in a bigger river. Luckily, us Asbjornsdottir sisters have AWESOME rowing skillz! (And we also had a great river guide who may have had some part in us getting succesfully to the end). For the last part of our trip we jumped off our boat into the river and floated downstream. A beautiful sensation.
After a shower and change of clothes we had a most excellent lunch in Ubud. Then, that very afternoon, one of my childhood dreams came true. I got to ride an elephant! Woohoo! It was kind of what I had expected, only slightly more scary. Our elephant was an extremely skittish creature and on a couple of occasions she got startled. You don't really want to be on top of a startled elephant, they're not easy to control and they are absolutely massive! We had to hold on for dear life. It was still amazing, though.
The next day we had very achy muscles. I'm not sure whether it was from the rowing or from holding on to the elephant. Well, folks, that's pretty much it. We only had 5 days in Bali, so we didn't have time to do more exciting things. One facinating (in my opinion) thing that I learned in Bali is that Asta is an Indonesian name. So is Gusti, that was our river guide's name. Bintang is good but Bagus is great. Air is water.
Kisses!
Baun i Bali
Bali var aedi, vorum eiginlega strax a degi tvo bunar ad akveda ad tangad yrdum vid ad fara aftur, vera lengur og ferdast meira um eyjuna og naerliggjandi smaeyjar. Nadum bara 6 dogum tar og vorum bunar ad akveda ad nota eitthvad af teim tima i ad slappa bara algjorlega af, synda i lauginni og lesa i bokum. Vid gerdum alla vega nog af tvi, vorum lika bara flottar a tvi og pontudum okkur room service reglulega, drukkum ur minibarnum og letum faera okkur mat og drykki ad sundlaugarbakkanum, tid vitid svona hluti sem madur gerir venjulega ekki a hotelum tvi tad er svo dyrt. A Bali er tad nebbla ekki svo dyrt, vorum a hoteli sem heitir Mutiara Bali sem er svona litid Boutique hotel og tau eru oft odyrari tratt fyrir ad vera alveg jafn fin. Vid lagum to ekki eins og skotur allan daginn alla daga og gerdum ekki neitt. Forum adeins til Kuta og letum brjalada solumenn radast a okkur desperately ad reyna ad selja okkur hitt og tetta.....og ef madur spurdi hvad eitthvad kostadi ta var svarid alltaf tad sama....How many you want?? Eins og madur hafi eitthvad mikid vid 10 por af somu stuttbuxunum ad gera, eda 10 saronga!!!! Teir voru alla vega akaflega agengir en vid sluppum to nokkud vel fra tessu ollu saman, erum lika med svo litid aukaplass i toskunum ad vid hugsum okkur tvisvar um adur en vid kaupum eitthvad, og ta eru tad lika oftast bara eyrnalokkar eda eitthvad alika litid plassfrekt. Gengum lika adeins um i Seminyak, skodudum musteri og svoleidis. Adalutstaelsid fra hotelinu var samt dagsferd med Bali Adventure Tours. Vorum sottar snemma morguns og keyrdum nordur til Ubud og nagrennis tar sem vid forum ad river rafta nidur Ayung ana. Tad var otrulega gaman og hressandi, ringdi allan timann sem skapadi bara meiri stemmara. Umhverfid tarna storkostlegt og upp eftir ollum klettunum var buid ad grafa alls kyns myndir af hinum og tessum dyrum og taknum i steininn. Sidasta spolinn hentum vid Asta okkur ut i kukabrunu ana sem var ansi straumhord og tvilikt gaman ad liggja bara i flotvestinu og berast nidur med straumnum. Eftir ana turftum vid svo ad ganga aftur upp ur gilinu sem vid gengum nidur i til ad komast ad anni, tetta voru vel margar troppur og tok helviti vel i laerin. Tegar vid komumst loks upp a topp gatum vid fengid ad fara i sturtu og hafa fataskipti adur en vid gaeddum okkur a ljuffengu hadegisverdarhladbordi. Med okkur i ferdinni voru 4 akaflega hegomagjarnar, sjalfhverfar og pirrandi japanskar stulkur. Taer voru ad byrja ad borda tegar allir hinir voru ad klara tvi taer turftu audvitad ad blasa a ser harid og setja a sig meikuppid eftir drullugu ana. Hver hugsar annars um ad mala sig i 30 stiga hita? Vid turftum tvi ad bida i oratima eftir tvi ad taer klarudu oll 4 hrisgrjonin sem taer settu a diskana sina adur en vid gatum lagt af stad a naesta afangastad. Teim virtist lika alveg vera sama to allir adrir yrdu ad bida......tad a natturulega ad sla svona folk utanundir. Tegar taer loksins letu sja sig aftur keyrdum vid i Elephant Safari park til ad skoda alla filana tar. Tar eru 27 stykki, flestum hefur verid bjargad fra Sumotru en svo eru nokkrir sem hafa faedst tarna i gardinum. Forum a bak a fil sem var nu ekki alveg su traustasta tvi hun var naestum buin ad henda okkur af baki tvisvar sinnum. Hun faeldist vid minnsta tilefni og atti stjornandinn fullt i fangi med ad roa hana. Verd ad vidurkenna ad hjartad tok nu nokkra kippi tvi tetta eru flennistor kvikindi (samt ekki kvikindi, voda saetir og allt) og ekki spennandi ad detta nidur. Vard svo soldid stressud tegar stjornandinn okkar baud okkur ad taka myndir af okkur tvi eg helt ad hann myndi fara af baki og skilja okkur eftir einar tar. Tegar eg for a filsbak i Thailandi ta hoppadi kallinn tar bara af og vid Sigrun fengum ad sitja einar a hausnum a filnum en tad var mjog fint og afslappad tvi sa fill var ekki med musarhjarta eins og tessi. En Balistjornandinn for semsagt ekki af baki heldur tok bara myndir tadan. Gafum svo filinum adeins ad borda og fylgdumst med teim syna listir sinar. Tetta var mjog skemmileg ferd tratt fyrir japonsku leidindalummurnar. Sidasta kvoldid i Bali forum vid svo ut ad borda a stad sem vid hofdum fundid fyrsta daginn. Hofdum nefnilega sed ad teir bjoda uppa lemon cheese cake og langadi ad profa. Eftir matinn pontudum vid okkur tvi einn skammt af ostakokunni. Tjonninn okkar for yfir i naesta sal sem var eins konar bakari og kaffihus og kom til baka eftir nokkra stund med kokusneid a disknum. Kokusneidin var samt ekki gul a litinn heldur dokkbrun, sko sukkuladibrun. Eg hvordi hann hvort tetta vaeri lemon cheese cake og hann sagdi ja audvitad, ja ja ja. Eg benti honum a ad sennilega vaeri tetta nu sukkuladikaka en hann vildi sannfaera okkur um ad tetta vaeri sitronuostakaka. Tad var ekki fyrr en eg for yfir i hinn salinn tar sem allar kokurnar voru og spurdi stulkurnar tar hvort tetta vaeri nokkur ostakaka ad nidurstada fekkst. Skiludum sukkuladikokunni og fengum i stadinn alvoru sitronuostakoku sem vid bordudum af bestu lyst a medan vid fylgdumst med undarlegu hattarlagi hunda i nagrenninnu...........tad var nu einu sinni fullt tungl.
Bali er aedi, verdum ad fara aftur, vera lengur og hafa med okkur fleira folk svo vid getum leigt villu :)
Flugum svo til Kota Kinabalu i gaer med stuttu stoppi a flugvellinum i Singapore.
Bali er aedi, verdum ad fara aftur, vera lengur og hafa med okkur fleira folk svo vid getum leigt villu :)
Flugum svo til Kota Kinabalu i gaer med stuttu stoppi a flugvellinum i Singapore.
laugardagur, mars 07, 2009
OZ Pics
We're in Sydney, Yay
On our way to Luna Park
....for when things are generally pants!....otherwise, just use bras'n'things
I loooove my sheep, baaaaa
Flying foxes in the Royal Botanical Gardens
That spider was HUGE, trust me
At Mrs Macquarie's Point, with Sydney harbour in the background.....duh
Hulda the opera diva!
Hulda and her lollipop on Bondi Beach
Asta doing some pseudosurfing around Bondi and Bronte
Hulda and The Three Sisters in The Blue Mountains
Asta and her friend the kangaroo!!
Whenever I see a statue I have the sudden urge to do something silly..........
........and so does Asta!
Gearing up for the steepest trainride in the world!
Asta poser!
Sun sets over Sydney harbour
Sun sets over Hulda
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