South East Asia Accounts

As I write this I’m on the airplane which concludes my two and a half years in South East Asia. I know I have the “Asia bug” and I won’t be able stay away for too long; I already have plans to be back before the end of this year. After all, I feel I have only got a taste of it, or just seen the trailer. When I land back in Turkey I will have all these comparisons in my mind and I’ll perhaps blog those also but for now I’m still dealing with the separation from a loved one.


Asia has been very kind to me. I had no seriously bad incidents but quite a lot of good to great experiences. During the 875 days I spent there I visited 9 countries, crossed borders 22 times but visited embassies only 6 times. I like it when friends DON’T ask me about my favorite country, but of course I had my favorite locations. This time I had Penang in Malaysia as my base and because of that I spent 28% of my days, 247 days that is, in Malaysia. The other countries I spent time in are Thailand (196), Philippines (171), Indonesia (116), Taiwan (60), China (57), Cambodia (22), Laos (6) and Myanmar (15 minutes). Each of these places left its unique impressions on me and I left a bit of my heart in most of them.



Although I mostly rented rooms or bungalows, I also camped out for 111 days, stayed in friends’ houses for 34 days, stayed at monasteries or retreat centers for 33 days and slept in busses and trains for 25 nights. I drove 22 different motorbikes, 4 different bicycles and no four wheelers. I completed three courses and received certificates for them (CFQ qi gong (My), PADI open water diving (In), and Agama yoga first month (Th)). I did two meditation retreats (Th) and I’m happy to have been a part of three rainbow gathering seedcamps (Th, Ch, Tw).



I fell in love with Asian food and this led me to gain 16 kilos but I lost half of it already (I’m no longer skinny, mom). I went up 3 volcanoes, dived 14 times and visited 13 hot springs. I got bitten by a dog once (Th), got mysterious jungle fever twice (Th, Ph) and got my spare money stolen once (La). But I’m happy that these have been the only unfortunate events. Ah, and the 7 times I had a flat tire on the bike.

I guess I grew up a little when I was there and I can easily say that this change has been in a very positive direction and this surely has something to do with the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met. Now that I’m in Turkey I can see how special it was to be there, how soft and gentle, how diverse and nourishing the feeling of being there in Asia. I know I can’t be away for too long.

I’ll be back.

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If you didn't know how obsessed I am with numbers, now you do :)

Taiwan Rocks

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell about this country in the most accurate way but I’m quite speechless. I don’t want to be unfair with it or other countries but I think Taiwan rocks.

Do you know where is Taiwan? It’s an island south of China. In the south it almost touches Northern Philippines, and to the East it looks like you can jump between the little islands all the way to Okinawa in Japan. A big part of the population is Chinese who came over from the mainland over hundreds of years but the indigenous people still thrive and are ethnically relatives to the people of Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. It has a unique interesting past of indigenous cultures and colonial invaders but I won’t go into that. If you are interested to know more about the history of Taiwan in relation to its Austronesian culture please visit this great website of my good friend Chris Anderson who is an anthropologist and has been doing research on this subject for some years.

Amis village chief and elders paying an official visit to our gathering in their traditional clothes. They still keep their traditional social structures such as the age groups. After a little talk and thanks giving they sang their songs, danced their dances and even thought us some. For them dancing and singing is a very high form of social bonding and they love it.

I arrived in Taiwan thinking that it would be much like China (well, isn’t it officially called Republic of China after all?) where I hadn’t felt such warm feelings. Then I thought “both my laptops were made in Taiwan and the world’s tallest building is in Taiwan. So it must be very developed, babylonized and expensive, more like Singapore or Hong Kong.” What a mistake to compare Taiwan to any of these, or any other country at all. It is really unique I think.

View of Taipei from the top of Taipei 101, world’s tallest building today. It was surprising that this was almost the only skyscraper there, Taipei not a city of high-rise buildings. It’s rather a widely developed flat city with rivers.

On arriving in Taipei, the first thing I realized was that it was quite a big and crowded metropolis but it seemed to work better than most others I had the chance to visit. It was very clean and orderly, and there were no traces of chaotic corners or aggressive or oppressive behaviour. There were instructions all over the place “Mind your rubber sandals in the escalator. Speak slowly on the mobile phone. Toilets 30 meters.”, etc. Just when I was thinking maybe this was too much, I saw in a toilet right above the urinal a sign saying “come closer” to activate the flush. But it was not like the signs in Singapore where they’d be more like “Flush after using. Penalty $5”. I didn’t see any fines printed except for the new West induced fascistic smoking ban stickers. And it seemed that although it’s a big crowded metropolis, Taipei worked really smoothly, without needing a visible police force or security guards everywhere. When I realized that there are no policemen around I started looking for them and for many days only saw them around the police stations and no where else. The Taipei Metro, which has been awarded the title ‘World’s most reliable public transport system’ for four consecutive years running, has contributed immensely to the clean streets where traffic is no longer disturbing. As nice big cities go, Taipei was pleasant for a short time.

Taipei metro with helpful instructions. Hush now baby, 100 meters left.

I can’t say that this sign was too much. In Taiwan I saw relatively people having a loud chat on the phone in public spaces. As it says “Good citizens create a happy atmosphere in Taipei Metro”

First SARS and then avian flu has been used to create much public fear in Taiwan. Still in some airports and railway stations have fever scanners (to see if any passengers have fever) and some people go around with a mouth cover. And the buses have these ‘no birds’ signs.

Mind your Crocs on the escalators. One can hardly walk a few meters without instructions and warnings in the metro and inside the metro cars there is hardly any advertisement, all that is posted are instructions.

Although it seems a very safe place there are these ‘night time safe zones’ in metro stations which are monitored by surveillance cameras, in case some guys are too drunk perhaps.

Then I discovered other aspects. Dealing with people first of all was very easy and pleasant. Many people speak English and even if they don’t they still do their best to help you when you need it but don’t bother you when you don’t. There is this general feeling of being taken care of and sometimes being accepted like a local, which I have felt only in Malaysia before but even there not to this degree. There is no double pricing for the foreigners and even the taxi drivers are decent people (doesn’t happen anywhere else it seems) who take the shortest road to your destination. The food is great with many options and vegetarian restaurants are widely available. The night food markets are great to explore ones own taste buds but coming from Chinese culture they also have a taste for “strange” things such as snakes, turtles and snails. I was surprised that food prices were almost the same as Thailand, as well as cheap clothing prices which were even cheaper.

Downtown Taipei has all the scenes we so very well know of scenes of Hong Kong or of Japan. When you have those Chinese characters with which you can tell a lot with just a few lines, then you write, it seems. It’s colorful and I was happy they didn’t mean anything to me.

Chinese new year is the biggest holiday in Taiwan and lasts 9 days. During the weeks before the holidays the markets swell and get very colorful. This stall sells all different golden decorations for the year of the Ox along with very necessary sweets. The downside is the interest in explosives, they just keep going day and night for a whole week.

The most intense food experience I went through while I was there was the Shaodofu or stinky tofu. It is one of a million way of cooking tofu which is first fermented and then fried. Shaodofu places can be found by their smell much easier than by the eye. The stink reaches far , sometimes a hundred meters away you can smell something strange, very strange, something between lightly dirty socks and wet carpet mixed with rotting meat. The smell hits the back of the nose and makes one wonder. But when you sit down and order one there comes this brown crusty tofu which is inside spongy, tastes a bit like meat and you eat it with a sauce of soy, vinegar and lots of garlic accompanied with sweet cabbage pickles. It is the most delicious form of tofu I’ve tasted so far and the experience of going through this smell and taste process is at least as transformative as learning to eat durian.

Candied fruits in the night market. These are like the shish-kabab of mixed fruits dipped in sugar. Yummy.

Another colorful aspect of the markets, dehydrated vegetables and fruits.

Later we went south along the East Coast, which is the less developed, more natural side of Taiwan. We crossed the Tropic of Cancer and very surprisingly the climate changed dramatically. It was supposed to be the dry season but during the two months I was there, we had maybe once or twice two days on a row with no drizzle. It was drizzling all the time, or anytime. Meanwhile the Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan proved to have the most unreliable weather forecasts. Everybody accepts that the weather in Taiwan is simply unpredictable.

Very fortunately for travelers, just the opposite is true for people of Taiwan. Nowhere else I have traveled I felt so easy to rely on people I didn’t know. And this covers all aspects of life. For example if you forget your map, you may get lost anywhere but in Taiwan it is more likely that this way you’ll get to meet people and always will get to where you want. I’ve been doing hitch-hiking all my life (not that it is my main means of transport but I use it) and it has never been so easy. Usually I didn’t even reach the place I thought to start hitch-hiking, a passing car would just give me a lift when I’m walking. And people are inviting. I don’t know how much of it was because of the area I spent most of my time (the East Coast) but we received many invitations and when we accepted them we saw they were from the heart. And a very important thing that contributes to a traveler’s perception of Taiwan is that it is a safe country, once again, the safest I’ve been so far. It’s been a while since left all my bags in the waiting room in a train station and went to toilet, got tickets and snacks for half an hour and didn’t have to worry. Observing the local or localized friends around me I realized how attached I am to locks and keys; people simply didn’t lock their cars or bikes or homes all the time. Of course they do it when they leave for long and of course there is some crime, such as breaking into houses where noone lives and stealing things but the petty crime seems not to exist and it has a very cooling effect on the soul, especially after having spend 2 years in other countries of South East Asia.

Jinzun beach is one of those long beautiful dark sand beaches of the East coast.

Some parts of the east coast are steep cliffs and big waves. Still the corals give this amazing colors to the sea.

Traveling inside Taiwan can be quite pleasant also. There seems to be a good reliable train network as well as bus companies. And it’s a small country, a short overnight train will take you between the northern and southern ends of the island. In the last years cycling is being promoted and there are bicycle lanes on all highways and in Taipei you can even bring your bicycle inside the subway trains in most stations. Along the East coast, which is far more natural than the West coast, I saw many groups of cyclers and campers although it was the cold season (down to 14 C) and was drizzling most of the time. And if you cannot find a place to camp, you can always camp in the garden of the local police station; they usually have a nice set up with camping grounds, shades, showers and toilets and other conveniences.

Dulan mountain is one of the most sacred mountains of southern Taiwan. And the foothills are full of, well, rice fields and betelnut trees of course.

The nature I have had the chance to experience during my short stay there was quite stunning and I was very surprised because I expected none of these. The East coast has many nice beaches which range from black sand to white sand to colorful stone. I heard that there are many surfers’ paradises along the coast and there are plenty of people carrying around surf boards even in the cold season. And some parts are rocky with cliffs going straight into the sea, leaving just a tiny space for a little beach and perhaps a couple of caves. Then there are the central mountains which are home to some of the indigenous communities and are mostly well preserved. At most places they look almost impenetrable. Although they are not massive mountain ranges, they are full of amazing valleys with clear rivers and waterfalls, lots of great forests, many hot springs and peace. As an amateur bird watcher I was very happy to see such diversity of birds even being close to the hills. I hear that in most parts there are some poisonous snakes and trekkers need to have boots, but I love the snakes and the way they serve to keep the land pure. I had the chance to visit the famous Taroko Gorge and I’ll never forget it. It’s a gorge, or a network of gorges and valleys, carved into a mountain made of marble. Yes, it’s all marble and when water slices through it you can see the whole marble face inside the mountain. It is breath taking. The roads leading up to the gorge are also very unique in the way that they are carved into this marble and look like many ant paths. I think this is a must see in Taiwan.

The entrance to Taroko gorge where nature’s majesty is humbly touched by human creation.

Clear waters, marble walls reaching up to the clouds and roads carved into these in a manner of ants in Taroko gorge.

The road in Taroko Gorge took decades to build and it's very easy to see why.

This mountain area, they say, has the greatest concentration of marbles in the world. It takes your breath away to see it like this.

Taiwan rocks. It is just along the same fault lines with Japan and Philippines which create all the earthquakes. And Taiwan has typhoons which are sometimes very strong. In the two months I was there I felt about 10 minor earthquakes some of which made strange grumbling noises which scared the s*** out of me but I didn’t have any typhoons thanks to the season (all the typhoons I experienced when I was in the Philippines between June and October, either started near Taiwan or more often were exported to Taiwan from the Philippines). But Taiwan seems to have the best infrastructure I’ve seen in a country with a rainy season and typhoons. And they are good at engineering marvels such as the world’s tallest skyscraper (over 500 meters) and world’s longest highway tunnel (over 20 kms). It surprises me that in places like Philippines and Thailand they have the rains every year and each year they seem to be caught unaware. This wouldn’t happen in Taiwan I think.

Right on. I want to put this stickers in all toilets, on all paper towel boxes. In fact they should print these on all tissues like the warnings on cigarettes "tissues kill". It hurts me to see people dry their hands with dead trees and even waste them. The point is, some of the warnings and instructions can be very useful.

The plan in Riuesiue hotsprings. Do you see anything strange? Chinese in general are pretty superstitious and the Chinese in Taiwan are no exception. Apparently the character for 4 resembles the one for 'death' so they always leave it out anyway but here they also had a fear of number 9. Funny enough the place was established 1919 and it was the 90th year when we were there (sometimes you just can't help it, can you?)

Of the other unique things about Taiwan I can count the betel nut chewing culture which has found it’s way into a modern society. I have chewed betelnuts in India but the ones in Taiwan are whole fresh nuts and they are more fibery so they don’t disintegrate inside the mouth and are quite pleasant to chew. I know they are addictive but they are also great after the meals or anytime one needs to get going. And you can get betelnuts everywhere, and they are conveniently always 50 NTs (Taiwanese money) for a bag of 10 to 20 green nuts wrapped up in half a vine leaf. They have these ‘betelnut beauties’ which are good looking and scantily clad girls in glass boots selling betelnuts by the highways. It’s funny how this marketing strategy using colorful fluorescent lights and a very sexy outfit to sell something you chew and spit out works for so many years but it is there and it is unique to Taiwan.

Most younger people seem to speak English but as it is with any other place, sometimes English is just spokening.

Taiwan is a small box of wonders, a country of pleasant surprises and it’s there waiting to be recognized. If you ever get the chance go visit Taiwan, you won’t regret it and it won’t be a hard experience. In fact you’ll most likely be so spoilt that traveling in other places will feel not so nice any more. Of all the westerners who choose to settle and live in Taiwan (and there are many of those) the most common reason for this I have heard has been “because everything is so easy here”. Of course people are people and there are some rotten apples everywhere, and we have our individual karmas also, but Taiwan is a great place in many senses. I pray I go back there soon, I love Taiwan.

Photo journals: Cambodia

I was in Cambodia for the new year of 2008 for 3 weeks. We had this great idea of escaping from the crowds in Thailand but we sadly realized that we were not the only ones. Cambodia with its proximity to such a touristic country and its peacefulness in recent years is receiving more and more tourists, seemingly almost more than it can handle. We made the classical tour of entering the country from the south, sampling the beaches in Sihanoukville, Kampot, visiting the capital Phnom Penh and of course visiting the magnificent ruins of Angkor ruins near Siem Reap.

When you enter Cambodia from the southern border with Thailand there are 4 rivers on the way to Sihanoukville which don't have any bridges on yet. But when we were there they were building a good road and also bridges. So these scenes of homemade rafts with two side engines operated by two guys in harmony will soon be history. Although this makes the journey longer it was nice to have a short stop every 20-30 kilometers. Some of the jungles around look very untouched thanks to the great number of landmines.




Sihanoukville has some nice beaches but they were not this empty at all.





Phnom Penh city started developing around a hill temple sponsored by a lady Penh who is today raised to sainthood and this is a place where everyone comes to make wishes.




In capital cities there are palaces and Phnom Penh, the capital of Kingdom of Cambodia is no exception. After all the turmoil the country has been through, the palaces are restored for service to a growing tourism industry.




As a permanent student of architecture I enjoy these little beauties around. Cambodian architecture is quite similar to Thai architecture, with it's gold, glazed roof tiles, multiple roofs and intricate details.

Another interesting architectural piece is this art-deco French central market of Phnom Penh. It was amazing to see jewelers, electronic dealers, clothes merhants and butchers under the same roof.

Phnom Penh has a little swampy lake and by the lake are poorer neighborhoods and cheapest tourist accommodations. We didn't stay there but went there to enjoy the chill after a day in the busy streets.

This gamelan made me think why they didn't think about this in other countries where they have the same kind of music, such as Indonesia. But here they use much smaller gongs -along with the big ones- and perhaps that's why.




For many foreign visitor Cambodia means Angkor ruins and it's no surprise considering the magnificence of these ancient cities and comparing with the shape of the country today. The day after we arrived, as if we had no more time, we got on the bicycles and started our tour and 3-day intensive course of the Angkor ruins.




The most pictured stone faces on earth, Bayon temple, Siem Reap.




There are a few stories behind who these faces depict. It's either Lord Shiva or the King of Angkor empire at the time (which sounds like so much arrogance). However when you are dwarfed by their presence, these big compassionate smiles radiate a timeless peace.




Kids enjoying the ancient pools of Bapuon
and us tourists sweating and taking photos.




Angkor Wat temple is always as crowded as it can be so you give thanks that there are some alternative roads :)




Apsaras, dancing and singing heavenly beauties are the most common decoration in Angkor temples and they keep on enchanting visitors.




This frieze in Banteay Srey temple depict Lord Vishnu's man-lion incarnation. According to this story from the Vedas, a demon was granted immunity from being killed by a man or a beast, during day or night, in or our of his palace. So Vishnu took the form of a ma with a lion's head, took the demon to the palaces doorstep and killed him there at sunset.




Another very interesting decoration from East Mebon. Ganesh riding himself! Strangely similiar to those tattoos found on the body of the mummified Pazyryk chief.




This is an ochestra performing everyday by the temple complexes. There are many such bands and some of them make pretty good music. What makes them unique is that all the musician in these bands are disabled people. The homicidal Red Khmer regime left great many people disabled and still today people die or get disabled by remaining thousand of landmines all around the country. This is one way they found to make a living but there are far too many of them.




Sunset in Angkor Wat. I remember I was so tired after 3 days of waking up by sunrise and walking around ruins all day long, but every sunset in front of this magnificence takes some of the tiredness away.




When wars were over and the time of big empires was past, nature took it's turn in eating into the ancient Angkor cities. Today in most places these trees are cut down to protect the ruins but sometimes they shoot out from the old stones reminding us once again of the ultimate temple of nature and its beauty.


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Photo journals: Sumatra

Sumatra is the westernmost island of Indonesia. I was there with Maya for two months September-October 2007. But it felt too short and eversince I have a feeling I'll go back there soon. Indonesia is a great colorful place, almost like India but not as demanding perhaps. Sumatra is less crowded then the rest of Indonesia and still has some great nature. It is where I climbed my first volcano, did my first scuba dives, rowed an inner tube from a truck on a raging river for the first time in my life. It is so rich, sometimes it makes you just stop and inhale. There are places which are very hard to leave and people very easy to love. Indonasians are the most talented people I've seen, or at least they have the biggest percentage of talented people and guitars per household. And they play that guitar, paint that house, carve that wood. You are always welcome.

Main mosque in Medan
Medan is where we arrived Sumatra by boat during Ramadan. Around the mosque was a whole fast breaking food market for the evening. But it was not so great to have this room (where I took this photo from) because they really go at it on the loudspeakers and not all have a good voice, good thing to consider when traveling in Indonesia.



The place we stayed on Lake Toba.
The great tranquil lake welcomed us with this great peaceful place outside the touristic ghost town of Tuktuk.



Our house by Lake Toba. It's a very old Batak house which was transported here and has two floors and a veranda right by the lake. It looks and feels like a boat, especially when you're inside because of all the heavy wood, angled walls and small windows.



Every morning before sunrise I saw these fishermen putting their nets in the lake on their tiny single trunk canoes. They feel one with the lake.



Toba volcano is one of those mega volcanoes, it's so huge it is impossible to see it as a single mountain. And in its crater there is this Lake Toba which is the largest volcanic lake on earth (100x30 kms), the biggest lake on earth on an island. When the volcano erupted 75.000 years ago it reduced earths population to only 10.000 people through a sudden ice age and acid rain. When one sees how big and how tranquil it is, it's hard to imagine it exploding. Luckily, that kind of thing happened only once in in the last 2 million years.



Another view of Lake Toba with its warm waters and breath taking grandeur.



A Batak house by Lake Toba. These houses are famous with their unique design and the roof is a prestige symbol and appears even in little low cost houses like this one.



The main cathedral on Samosir island on Lake Toba. Batak people were not muslimized perhaps due to living up the mountain away from trade routes and vast agricultural lands. So later on they were christianized and they form one of the few Catholic tribes of Indonesia. This big church looks just like a batak house and the wood carvings on it depict local deities and spirits next to Jesus and Mary. Christianity here adopted much fromthe local animistic traditions.



Batak tombs are a whole different world. They are the ancestors' abode after death so the whole Batak land is full of very well made and maintained, very interesting tombs. This one, which has a common concept, has a perfect replica of a Batak house over a pyramidal tomb.



Another Batak tomb. These tombs are hardly christian and someof them like this depict the person who's resting there. The guy was perhaps a soldier.



Some people explain these intereting roofs with the horns of the carabao or water bufallo, but more in Minangkabau then in Toba. The church on the back is another tomb depicting a church.



A local deity or spirit protecting a Batak house. There is much magic mushroom around and the people were shamanic, of course.




Stone circle on royal burial ground in Toba.




Tomb of a Batak king.



School bus. Hard to believe but true, these vans compete to take more people and there is always space for more. This one possibly has close to 80 on it (with 10-12 seats inside)



A great thing about taking busses in Indonesia is the busking one hears. When the bus is stopping these people jump on with guitars and ukuleles and sing one song (usually very well) and collect their money and empty the space for the next busker. Indonesia is a very talented and musical country. I love it.



Canyon near Bukittinggi. This is the land of Minangkabau people who are muslim and matriarchal. This canyon lies between Merapi and Singgalang volcanos.



Minangkabau houses also have unique roofs. Minangkabau means "winner water buffalo" and it's said that the pointed ends of the roof reaching heavens represent the horns.



Another Minangkabau house. They usually follow the same design with the little storage for rice in the front and are very ornamented.



Many times Minangkabau houses are like gingerbread houses straight out of fairy tales.



Majestic tree with a cute fairy in a graveyard. Although most of Sumatra's jungles are extinct, it is possible to come across such ageless trees in places like this.



Playing the royal drum by a royal Minangkabau residence. Sometimes these huge drums have houses of their own.



Although cultural things and natural oddities are more photographed, in fact most of the land is covered with these: rice and coconuts.



Enjoying Padang food. Although it comes from the town of Padang on the south coast of Sumatra, Padang food is very popular and available all over indonesia. It is normally lots tastes from different foods, very spicy and oily and sometimes surprising.



Lake Maninjau, another volcanic crater lake where we went hiding during the Id-ul-fitri holiday time. This one was easier to perceive as a crater because it was smaller, still warm and nice to swim with lots of great fish.



Going up the Merapi volcano (Singglang volcano at the back). It took us 4-5 hours to come to the edge of the crater on the full moon night when the rainy season gave a 2 days break for us. It was really cold and energy consuming but well worth it.



Victorious climbers on the Merapi peak just before sunrise. The air changes, the feeling changes, all tiredness disappear. After a little inhalation of the sulphur smokes from the active volcano we are tripping.



Contamplating on being on another world on Merapi. Around us are many other volcanos, some still smoking, slowly receiving the first lights of the day.



Always wanted to be on the moon and here I am on the ash covered center of the Merapi crater.



Going down from Merapi to Bukittinggi facing Mount Singglalang, feeling very small.



Then we went all the way up to the northern tip of Sumatra, to Banda Aceh where an earthquake had triggered the devastating Tsunami of 2005. The only thing left of the old city is the old mosque. The seaside where I took this photo is still covered in debris but the seaside line has changed dramatically and there is building work everywhere. Now there are these signs everywhere with an accompanying sign showing the direction to the nearest high ground. But from where this sign is, nearest high ground is a few kilometers away.



Pulau Weh is a tiny island off the coast of Banda Aceh. It has great corals and very clear waters (visibility up to 40 meters). This Gapang beach is where I took my diving course and even on my first dives I saw such variety of fish, I'd be afraid to tell.



One of our neighbors on Iboih, Pulau Weh. I couldn't beleive it, when we rented this little bungalow with its veranda right on the water, that the whole coral in front of us was full of all colors of fish and other sea creatures. They were also quite friendly and we snorkeled a lot and made friends. Later they inspired me to learn diving.



Another neighbor, a gecko which looks like a leopard, looks stoned, and makes this really loud gek-koo sounds sometimes freaking us out.



Our last stop in Sumatra was the orangutan reserve in Bukit Lawang. These are some of the orangutans (forest people) reintroduced to the wild after being captured from illegal traders. They seem to be doing pretty well and happy about the attention (and the bananas) they are receiving.




But to reach the orangutans we had to cross this raging river on this tiny canoe which is tied to a cable overhead and pulled to eather side. This is because they cannot build a rope and let the orangutans out and the poachers in. Ok, I was scared a bit but I survived, even after the crazy tubing experience on the same river when I had my nearest-to-death experience.



Abdul, one big male orangutan giving us a private show after his banana and milk meal.




These guys really have the looks like they have some important things in their minds, even when they are peeling fruit.



Then we discovered a bat cave, a huge line of caves in fact. In in places where it opened we discovered vines and roots, just like those in Tarzan. I couldn't help but at least try the Indiana Jones moves on these roots, just before we leave this beautiful magical land of Sumatra.

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Maya's blog has more photos and impressions of this trip here.

Photo journals: Laos

We crossed Laos on the way from China to Thailand. We didn't have much time and we only stayed in Luang Prabang and spend a day in Vientiane. We left wishing to come back one day.

Luang Prabang is a little city by river Maekong. It has much colonial influence from the French and many temples. Still in most parts green is predominant and the city is like a tiny anthill.



Long boats on Maekong. This river is one of the main blood vessels of Indochina, it runs from China to Myanmar, Laos to Cambodia and Vietnam. These kind of boats carry everything. In most parts there were not many roads until recently, simply because there was not much need for roads when there was this river and all it's capillaries.



Colonial main street of Luang Prabang. LP is perhaps the most touristic city in Laos and this one street is where all the nightlife is. And it gets crowded, sometimes very crowded.



Among all the lush green, one suddenly sees a temple, with it's stupa sticking out between the trees. You want to be there, feel the peace, yet you don't want to disturb it, and you realize you have peace right where you are, right now.



Just like in Thailand, in Laos also most men leave their families to live like a monk for some years. It is amazing to even imagine a whole society where so many people at one point in their lives went into a long retreat to learn how to look inside and be peaceful. It certainly has its effect in Laos society.



Humans are not the only followers of Buddha. Perhaps they feel the peaceful vibes or smell the tasty offerings. With whatever reason temples and monasteries are always home to many dogs and sometimes cats. There is a peaceful coexistence (mostly, I must say, because I was bitten by a dog while meditating in amonastery inThailand)



House of Buddha in Luang Prabang. Laotian temples are extremely decorated and many things are covered in gold even more so than in Thailand



Waterfalls near Luang Prabang. The steep hills covered with rainforest is home to much wildlife, giant insects, amazing big trees, snakes. And many many streams sometimes form these gorgeous waterfalls and ponds.



Taking a dip in the waterfalls. When it's that hot, it's a great blessing.



Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is perhaps the flattest city I've visited so far. Even the buildings spread out like a thin layer with nothing sticking out except for this unfinished replica of the arch of triumph from Paris.

Survived my 37, got really high and found love

I survived 37 and I can't believe it. A part of me is reborn, dead and reborn. I wonder which part.

I had a great birthday. A unique one with no cakes, no parties. Yet I fully enjoyed it.

I got really high, as high as I can get when I'm in a city. Then I asked a very nice girl how I can find love. She told me the way to reach love and I found it there. Once again, I was in love.

I know it's cheesy but it was much fun. It was a great way to start my new life :)

The biggest phallic symbol on earth, Taipei 101. I wanna get high.

As high as I can get, at almost 400 meters high feeling dizzy.









And following the directions of the nice girl finally I'm in Love...
(check out the shoes, brand new birthday gift Koji found in the rubbish)

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Photo journals: China

After 5 months of blogging I realized, perhaps I won't have the time to write about the previous parts of this trip. So I decided to post a series of photo journals of places I've traveled between May 2007 - June 2008.

When I first arrived in Southeast Asia I didn't have a camera. When I went to China for the Rainbow gathering and met Maya there, we started to travel together and take lots of photos with her camera. So the photo journals start in Dali, China, where we met. I hope you enjoy it. I'll write a little about the places in photo captions.

Dali Old Town, Yunnan Province, Southwest China
Dali is a beautiful historic city at 2.000 meters enclosed in square shaped walls and moats.
It's one of the biggest local tourist attractions but when I was there I didn't feel it as being a negative influence. In fact it was very romantic.



Erhai Lake, near Dali.
This is one of the biggest lakes in China and a sacred one with many monasteries around.
We had the gathering just across the lake on a sacred hilltop.




Temple on the hillside near Dali.
Yunnan is a kind of autonomous region in China and they still have living temples and monasteries, as oppose to fossilized ones in East China. They are also allowed to make more than one kids. The mountains behind are full of rivers, waterfalls, little sacred locations and cable cars.



We saw this map at an entrance to the hills near Dali.
We looked at it some time, tried to figure out, deided to take a photo in case we get lost.
And we got lost anyway.




Shangri-la, Yunnan, Southwest China
I thought Shangri-la was an imaginary place but apparently it's likely that this remote plateau with it's peaceful Tibetan population was the Shangri-la which the early plane crash survivors told us about. Today it is known as Zhong-Dian and is a fast developing tourist spot.



The plateau where Shangri-la is located is a vast flat land surrounded by high mountains.




Streets of Old Shangri-la.
The Town is already around 3.000 meters high.
Everything moves s-l-o-w-l-y.



Old folk on Shangri-la streets.
They don't have much teeth but they have the biggest smiles.



Their corner in Shangri-la.



Turning the big prayer wheel in Shangri-la.
This is the biggest one I've ever seen. Fortunately there is a kind of engine inside so you can make it faster but it never stops. People literally run and fall around it, it's a fun way to pray.



Every evening people gather in the main square of Shangri-la. Music comes from the speakers and hundreds of people do this amazing circular dance. It's not just a simple walk, there are many quite complex moves but people eaither know them or pick them up quite fast. It's great to watch people practice harmony together in this way.



Rock honey in Shangri-la market. It's sweet and medicinal.



The famous Tibetan butter tea. It's literally hot butter, milk and tea, more like soup.
Very suitable for the cold climate and almost a complete food.



The big Tibetan monastery near Shangri-la.
We were very surprised to see this little model of Potala palace in Lhasa. They are continously building and expanding it and there is a little town growing with it.



The big Tibetan monastery near Shangri-la.
We thought religious activities were restricted in China but apparently things are changing fast. That's why they are also uilding very fast. This huge temple-monastery complex looks pretty new with some age old parts.



I love the natural materials they still use today (except for the rain water drain pipes).
And as temples usually do, we felt tiny and surrounded by a greater energy.



Old gate in the modern city Kunming.
The last couple of decades China developed so fast sometimes old structures are almost sandwiched between new ones. But it's still a pleasant surprise when you're walking in busy streets full of shopping malls.