Phil free to visit

After nearly two years spent in South-East Asia and plenty of travels in the region, I consider I've been pretty spoiled with paradise islands, beautiful unspoiled nature, charming little remote villages, fancy jungle treks, you name it. However none of all those great landmarks can compete with Philippines!

Our trip started with an overnight layover in Metro Manila, where Ines was kind enough to show us around and bring us to the very friendly and casual Penguin Bar in Malate, Remedios Circle area. We also had a chance to hang out in Intramuros, where we really appreciated the relatively quite atmosphere compared to the rest of the city. The Rizzal Memorial Park is a real green haven in an ocean of concrete and smoky jeepneys... But we didn't stick too long in the capital since we felt the urge for nature.



Our next hop lead us to Palawan Island, aka The Last Frontier. Believe me, Palawan is totally worthy of this nickname. After few days visiting Puerto Princessa, the capital of the Island, and its surroundings like Honda Bay, or the Subterranean River in Sabang, we headed up North to El Nido. El Nido is a place you got to deserve: we got there by bus from Puerto Princessa. It's only a 250 km journey, but it took more than 9 hours! Indeed, the only road that crosses the island is only paved about half-way, then it gets really rough. The bus was already full long before we reached the departure bus station, so the driver offered us to seat on the roof. After few seconds hesitating, we seized the opportunity to benefit from a perfect view point all along the way. That's only once the bus left that we realized how stressful it is: many power lines or branches are just slightly higher than the roof of the bus, and passengers heads could have gotten chopped off several time. In order to prevent such thing from happening a bus attendant seats on the roof as well: he yells whenever he sees a wire or a branch approaching, in order to make sure everyone bends over... A couple of times, the powerlines were so low that the attendant actually made the driver stop the bus and go very slowly while the first row of roof's passengers grabbed the powerline above their heads and handed it over to the second row, etc... I decided not to imagine what could happened if the isolating coating was worn out. Security standards are not the same in the Philippines...


We eventually made it to El Nido totally exhausted, but with our heads still attached! And that's when we realized that it is totally worth the ride: think of beautiful limestones archipelago like Ha Long Bay in Vietnam or Krabi in Thailand, and remove all the pollution and the tourism infrastructure. Replace the muddy waters with crystal clear turquoise water and the resorts with fisherman stilts villages. That's El Nido. This is pure heaven.


One fun thing about El Nido is that there is not enough electricity for the whole village, so they round robin different streets of the village. One street can be "the place to be" one night, and be dark and gloomy the next night... Disorientating! We chilled out few days in El Nido, island hoping or motorbike riding. This is a really remote area, pretty much untouched and preserved from tourism industry. Believe it or not, Marie and I managed to find a 4 km long perfect beach just for us! Well, by just for us, I mean no tourist at all, but we spend most of the afternoon playing with a group of young kids. One thing struck us is that they weren't begging for money: as a westerner tourist in Manila or any city in Philippines, you get used to being target number one for beggars, especially for children. But at no point those kids ever asked for money. They were first curious and shy to see foreigners, and then really, sincerely happy to play with us. They saw Marie collect some shells, so they mimicked her and brought her several fistful of it!! They built sand castles with Marie, they taught us some Tagalog words, we taught them some English, asked them about life in the village, school, what they wanna do later etc... A true meaningful exchange. And that shows how untouched Northern Palawan is from the tourism: because unfortunately one of the first things that tourism dollars create in a country like Philippines is beggars.

We met some westerns pioneers who settled in Palawan and live of a small business like boat services, motorbike rental, coffee place, guided tours, diving, etc... They really brought up some doubts in my mind... What kind of life am I really looking forward to?...

Anyway, all things come to an end and we left Palawan, en route to Bohol island, next to Cebu, South of the Visayas. Bohol is much less adventurous, but as friendly as Palawan. There are some really nice rice paddy landscapes to be seen on Bohol. We took the chance to have a look at the two landmarks of the island: the very touristy Chocolate Hills and the Tarsier. We met a very friendly Filipinos at a market, who happened to have spent some time in Kuala Lumpur. She invited us over at her place for some fruits and drinks, that was very thankful of her.

We planned to spend few days South of Bohol, at Alona beach. We came in at evening time, and ended up leaving the place the very next morning: we couldn't stand the atmosphere: this beach is packed with the eye hurting mixed couple of a thin, beautiful, shy young Filipinos lady with an old, fat, sunburned, drunk and rich Westerner. A German guy told us that you can "rent" a lady for 24h. She will do whatever you want. She can do your laundry, cook some food, massage you, or... And it will cost you only 1,500 P, he said. 20 Euros. That's what one day of their life is worth. Just plain horrible. Modern slavery. I hate that. To make things up, we heard many stories of such guys who got manipulated by their lady and end up being tricked into coughing up lots of money. It sounds bad, but somehow I figured it is fair enough. Come on, those repulsive guys can't take advantage of Filipinos beauties for nothing!

We were back in Manila just for new year's eve. Quite impressive: fire crackers all over the streets, lot of people celebrating. In a nutshell, a big mess! Before midnight we ran for our lives and came back in the guesthouse: outside was really too dangerous!

To wrap-up, this trip was one of the best I did in Asia! I was just amazed by he friendliness of the Filipinos. Every country has its own culture, but the Philippines have less in common with most countries of South-East Asia. That's probably due to the strong Spanish and then American influence. The Philippines is definitely the least Asian country of Asia.



As usual, a batch of my favorite pics:

Borneo

I'm not even gonna try to apologize for the looooong time I didn't upload this blog. What can I say? I have really gone through a rough time at work...

Anyway, I still found time during the last two month to do something I kept postponing for too long:

After traveling here and there, I can now claim that I know peninsular Malaysia pretty well. However I never stepped on East Malaysia (Borneo Island) before. In order to catch up, I flew to Sarawak state (Southern Borneo) two weeks ago to attend the Rainforest World Music Festival. This festival is especially famous because of its location: it takes place at the Sarawak Cultural Village, just in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by hills. Definitely a great location, but I wasn't that enthusiastic about the music itself. Also I was expecting some roots/trash/hippie experience with w33d smell floating all around but it was actually more a "friendly event". The day workshops were fun though! And guess what? I had a chance to listen to the unique Breton bombarde noise! So far away from Brittany, that was quite unexpected!


Bottom line: the festival was nice, but I definitely had a crush on Bako Park where Marie and I went for 3 days trek just before the festival. Bako is located on the south-west coast of Borneo Island. It's a wild park, we met only very few other trekkers. What is great about Bako is that after a really tiring walk into steep hills and moist jungle comes a great reward: the sea. Bako is surrounded by beaches and with a moderate luck you can expect to reach a desert beach just for you before sunset! It feels so good to spend a few nights in the simple wilderness. As opposed to Taman Negara, Bako discloses much more variety in the landscapes alternating rainforest with beach ecosystem or dryer meadows. I definitely hold it as the best place I've been in Asia for trekking so far. Big up for Marie who found the strength to carry my bag and find a remote river to get some water while I was literally paralyzed by recurring cramps.

We spent one day in Kuching, the main city in Sarawak before reaching back to KL: it's a very charming city. The riverbank is amazing, very calm and beautiful. Strong contrast with the average large Asian city, usually much more bustling...

Overall, a short trip (only 5 days), but as usual, very well filled!

Java, one Island, two worlds

I had the chance to flight to Java twice over the last weeks, once for personal travel, once for business trip, but I definitely feel like I've been traveling to two different countries: the urban sprawl of Jakarta is a the exact opposite of the quiet and gorgeous remote countryside of the rest of Java.

The first time I went there for a one week tour on Central and East Java with Pilou, Marie and a bunch of expat friends. Pilou is a good old school pal of mine. We had plenty of great times few years ago in our campus in Brittany, and we hang out a bit every now and then whenever I crash in Paris for few days. Pilou was kind enough to come visit me all the way to M'sia for a few weeks. It was also the opportunity for me to get to know his lovely special one: Aurelie.



In order to immerse Pilou straight away in a true Asian experience, we left KL almost upon his arrival, after only a very short night. There we go, en route to a one week intense experience in remote Java. On the menu: discovering the legendary Hindu and Buddhist temples of Prambanan and Borobudur ; climbing the grand volcano of Bromo (noticed the new banner on this blog?) ; visiting Surakarta and Jogyakarta ; discovering Madura Island before the Indonesian government succeeds in his attempt to transform this farmer's Island into a place for tourists. Knowing me, needless to mention that we traveled on a budget (local buses, dirty guesthouses, fried rice at the stalls, etc...) That's the only way to get an authentic taste of Java

All along our journey, I was constantly amazed by the kindness and the openness of the Javanese people. Everyone was curious to know where we came from, what we where doing in such places so far from the tourists roads. Everyone was willing to give us directions, and most of the time without ulterior motive. At some point in Surakarta bus station a crowd of Javaneses gathered around us in the blink of an eye, and everyone was shouting to advise us on the best way to reach the next hop. Don't give me wrong, I'm not naive and I know that our wallet was also very attractive, but most of the time I didn't feel that I was pushed to purchase anything. I really believe that people where flattered that we come from so far to visit their villages, and that we were able to speak (a little bit) their language. They wanted us to have the best experience of their country. This simplicity in the human contact is really appreciable. Quite a change for a European! However this is only true for the remote countryside villages. In the tourist spots (the temples for instance), it's a whole different story, and you are not a traveler anymore: you become a prey.

Bottom line: a great experience, a lot of contacts with the Javaneses, UNESCO-like sites (BTW, Prambanan and Borobudur are listed).

Only a week after this trip, I was requested to travel to Jakarta for business. IMHO Jakarta is definitely another world, made of pollution, traffic jam, violence, prostitutes, greediness. The landscape is spoiled and Jakarta is a huge soulless urban sprawl. The taxi is the only was of transportation since it's not possible to walk around.

What a contrast! I'm not Marxist at all but I can't help thinking that human beings are not made to live in big cities and that government should kick everyone back to the countryside...

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Livin' with the Orang Asli

Long time no post, again! What can I say, I've been crawling under big workload and also I'm a bit lazy... But for those who where wondering about me, good news is I survived the Taman Negara.

Taman Negara is the main national park of peninsular Malaysia. This 4,500 sq. km wild area has been established about a century ago in order to preserve the untouched rain forest of Malaysia: this forest is 130 million years old and hosts some endangered species like the Indochinese Tiger, the Sumatran Rhinoceros, the Malayan Gaur (seladang), the Asian Elephant and the mahseer fish. On top of that, Taman Negara is a perfect place to watch a crowd of colorful birds like the horn bill (my favorite one, it woke us up every morning with its unique fireman siren noise)... Really a nice place, and two thumbs up for Malaysian authorities for the effort they put in preserving the rain forest (unfortunately, that is really not the case in many other places where tourism incomes take over nature preservation).

This trek was among the most memorable treks I ever did. After a looooonnng drive (traffic jam because of Chinese New Year), we finally made it to the Taman Negara. I give credit to Minh, Sandrine, Audrey and Sam (yes, you counted 4 heads) for being cramped on the rear seat of the car during 5 hours with almost no complaining! (yes, traveling on a budget...)

The first view of the park was a bit surprising: having traveled across USA and having enjoyed most of the gorgeous American national parks, I was expecting a huge parking lot with rows of RVs, big park headquarter with plenty of information booth, camping gear stores, hotels, etc... Well actually when we arrive we saw some guest houses, some food stalls installed on floating barges and that's pretty much it!! Cool :-)

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking for a good guide and working with him on the best itinerary. We made it clear that we wanted to go as deep as possible in the rain forest, as far as possible from the so touristy "canopy walk". Well, our guide clearly understood that we wanted adventure, lack of comfort, loneliness, etc...

The next morning we left early and boarded in a very thin dugout for a 3 hours trip upstream the river. I still wonder how come we didn't end up in the river, eaten by piranhas... Congrats to the dugout driver! We had a chance to see some Orang Asli (native people of Malaysia, still leaving in the jungle).

We made it to Kuala Keniam on the far North of the park. As soon as the dugout driver dropped us, we knew that the only way out of the jungle was to walk three days along the elephants path to reach kuala Tahan. This was the non-return point! The walk was very intense. Imagine a thick jungle, a constant moist heat, a swamped path, occasional heavy rain, bugs, hungry leeches (those are the worst of all). But don't give me wrong, in spite of all that I really enjoyed it, we had fun!

And the first night by itself was worth all the pain: we slept in a cave. A really impressively big cave. The kind of cave in which you totally imagine a tribe of prehistoric people living there decades ago. It felt really weird to be in such a place, so surrealistic in the middle of a wild jungle. We made a fire, made some drawings on the walls (just kiddin' for the latter). It would be perfect place except for the bats: I didn't realize at first because the ceiling is like 50m high, but it is packed with bats. And at night time, bats shit... Just on you when you feel asleep after a long long hike day... Not only the idea of bats dropping on you is disturbing, but also when this dried feces hits you after a 50m fall, it really hurts!!!

The second night was a bit less fun: we fought with rats all night long. And by rats I mean monster rats. The kind of rats that look more like a dog. There where looking after our food, and even hanging the backpacks didn't solve the issue because those clever things found a way to climb along the rope. We basically spent the night round robining to chase them with our flash lights.

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Selamat tahun baru cina!!

Happy Chinese new year!!!

Taking advantage of the extended week-end, we go trekking for 4 days in the inner jungle at Taman Negara! 4 days in a moist heat, fighting with mosquito's, giant ants, leeches, snakes (among 100 species, only 36 are dangerous for human being :-), tigers...

We are a group of 6, target is to come back with 4 at least.

Back in a few days (hopefully) with great pictures!

Koh Lipe picts

There we go:

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One week with the Sea Gypsies

Get there ASAP, before it becomes overcrowded and corrupted by tourism and easy dollars!!!

Koh Lipe is a small Island located in the South Western Thailand, in the Andaman sea. This Island is part of the Tarutao national park, spreading over a small archipelago. Most of the Islands are wild. Nobody lives there permanently. Koh Lipe is the only inhabited island.

To reach the Island from M'sia, it's a hell of a journey... Count 24h, two buses, three boat hops (including one with the most noisy engine I ever heard in my life (and will ever ear because I'm deaf now), one cab ride. But believe me, Koh Lipe is worth it!

The Island is really like in the movies: thin white sand, lagoon blue water, coral reefs, multicolor underwater life, etc... We lived in a very simple bungalow with a perfect view on the lagoon. We shared our room with plenty of animals, including a fleet of cockroaches, a giant worm and believe it or not, a spider bigger that my hand!

One remark, though: I read on the 1999 Lonely Planet about Koh Lipe that it is a wild Island with almost no facilities for tourists, and that opportunity is given to the visitors to live like the fishermen. On the 2003 edition, some bungalows and guest houses + restaurants are mentioned. And my 2006 experience is that there is a lot of tourism facilities! Especially on Pattaya beach. And not only there are already a lot of them, but also there are a lot being constructed currently... I even got to meet a French girl who settled there, living from necklaces she sells to the tourists! Until recently Koh Lipe was wild and authentic, visited by only a few respectful tourists looking for true experience. My sad feeling is that this time is over, and Koh Lipe is "growing" very fast. In a few years it will just be like Koh Phiphi or Koh Lanta, i-e transformed into a giant recreational park for tourists in spite of its own soul...

However even if it seems pessimistic, there is still hope for those looking for an adventure a la Robinson Crusoe: the neighboring Islands are still untouched (Koh Adang, Koh Rawi, etc...) For a few bahts a fisherman will drop you there for a week... That's actually what we planned at first for this trip, but due to several reasons we couldn't do it :'-( Next time, for sure!

Koh Lipe is inhabited by a handful of sea gypsies, or Chao Lae, the Thai for "people of the sea". Traditionally, they were nomads who traveled from island to island fishing and collecting shellfish. Ethnologists believe their ancestors were some of the first inhabitants of this area. Most of them settled now and they live mainly from fishing. They ride the famous "long-tail boats": their propellers are at the end of a pole, so the person steering the "long-tail" boat looks like a gondolier. We had a chance to walk through their little village, we could see how those gypsies live their life outdoor.

This sounds like they are a bunch of people having a very peaceful and simple life, by the sea, self-sufficient, etc... However the reality is a bit darker than this perfect picture: I had the chance to meet Chris, a German guy who has been wandering in the area for the past 7 years, and who lived the last two years on Koh Lipe. He lived like the Sea Gypsies and and was adopted by them (they named him after the Thai for "our older child"). He had a chance to realize how dark the future is for this People: first they have not been granted citizenship by the Thai government, although they were the very first inhabitants of this land centuries ago. However the Thai government conceded them ownership of lands on the Island. But there came the ruthless Chinese who offered them to buy their land for a few fistful of dollars... Ugly scam! However the Chao Lae are not educate, they are simple people living by the sea. Of course they accepted! They have now just enough land to built their houses that's all. It so reminds me of pioneers buying off Indian lands with alcohol. On top of that they suffer strong racism from the other few inhabitants of the Islands. They are really regarded as inferior human beings. Add to this that they are exposed and were strongly hit by the Tsunami two years ago... And they are still smiling at us. One of them invited us to have a curry dinner at his place and was delighted to help us the best he could when my friend Guilhem lost his passport... Really really nice people.

Overall this was a great trip! So good to leave the noisy KL for such perfect place. However I keep a slight taste of bitterness because I was expecting a truly wild Island... Now I'm informed, next time's gonna be just perfect :-)

PS: pictures to be posted soon!

Off to Koh Tarutao, Thailand!

Long time no post... I have been kept really really busy by my job lately! I didn't even have a chance to have dinner with my dear one in the last two weeks :-(

But half of next week is public holidays in Malaysia (combinaison of Indian Deepavali festival + muslim Hari Raya celebration for the end of the Ramadan). And tonight I'm off to Koh Tarutao in the Southern Thailand with some friends! Plan is: reach one of the desert wild islands off Satun region and settle there for some days, living like Robinson :-) Hum... Ring a bell? "The Beach" maybe ;-)

Checklist:

-matches: ok
-fishing gear: ok
-booze: ok

Alright Charly, I think we're good to go!...

Bali forever!

Bali is great! Bali is full of variety. Bali is a glimpse of Paradise! Bali absolutely deserves the worldwide fame it is entitled to. However it's really surprising to notice that what it's mainly famous for is not the best part of it, namely Kuta!

Anyway, I'm too lazy for the full story, so here is a must do/"mustn't do". (disclaimer: all this is just based on my humble own experience)... Let's keep the best for the end and start with the (few) mustn't do:

The South West coast (Kuta, Seminyak, etc...). It's like Cancun for the American springbreakers, except you replace Mexico with Bali, American students with Aussie ones and pesos with rupiah. In a nutshell: beaches packed with tourists, seafront covered with MacDonald's, nightclubs, etc... In a word: you won't find authentic Bali there. Great waves, though: we enjoyed bodysurfing for one or two hours before taking off to KL on the way back.

Bali being on a volcanic hotspot, there are of course a lot of craters here and there. One of them happens to be particularly impressive. According to our guide, GunungBatur is the largest crater in the world (17 km diameter, he said). It was erected hundreds years ago. But then 1962 a second eruption provoked a second crater to appear inside the initial crater. We climbed this inner crater, and from the top, at 1,800m above sea level, the view is just breathtaking. One can walk the whole tour on the crest of the volcano. Needless to mention the perfect 360 degrees view. We could stare at the lake and villages laying inside the outer crater, as well as at the Agung volcano some miles away and the long lavas trail leaking from the inner crater. Just perfect. OK, if it seems so perfect, then why did I mention about Gunung Batur in the "mustn't do" list?? But then, I have to admit that part of the pleasure has been spoiled by the "GunungBatur Gangsters"... A few local inhabitants decided to bar all the slopes to the volcano and despoil the tourists passing through. If you don't pay, it's easy, they beat you, and I am not sugar coating it! Don't give me wrong, it's not that I am not ready to participate and help developing this very remote and rural area. But thing is, they steal 80 USD from every tourist. 80 USD! In one day those guys make the money it takes 6 month to the farmer next door to make! And it really looks like it's not shared at all among the Batur community... I can't help but just hate being screwed like that! Of course, no way I could pay that amount. So after 1 hour bargaining, I cut down the price by 8. And to finish with a positive thought: the trek was a real delight. My advise if you wanna climb a volcano in Bali: forget about Batur and drive 20 more miles to reach Gunung Agung which is supposed to be more wild although as beautiful!

Well, even after a few minutes brainstorming, those are the only mustn't do I could come up with! On the must side:

Ubud, its artist galleries, its Hindu temples and just the atmosphere in those tiny streets. Balinese people are really friendly. At some point you wonder if it's just for marketing purpose, but after having some talks we couldn't identify any ulterior motive. It is natural for Balinese to be smiling. At least I want to believe it...

The North coast (dark volcano sand). The Liberty wreck is really worth some dives! It is just incredible how dense the underwater wildlife is down there! Anywhere you look at there will be some weird colorful specimen... It's like making 10 dives in one! We took some underwater pictures. Soon to be on this blog. Beyond that, we felt like the North coast is much closer to the traditional life. It hasn't been spoiled by tourism and easy made dollars, yet...

Driving in Bali is a truly intense experience, especially at night! First, there are very few signs to find your way. Buying a detailed map is really worth the money! Plus, the road are really narrow! At some point we ended up being lost in a very remote area, and the road became no larger than a bike path... Also, it reminded me of Senegal in Africa were the inhabitants settle along the roads. You can drive half a hour and still feel like you are in the same village, a huge village. But actually this is not a village: there are at best two rows of houses and then the jungle... People live on the road. At night time you can see barbecues setup on the sides of the road, people actually sitting on the sides of the roads, etc... On top of that, add a crowd of motorcycles and you as a driver get really nervous!!!

The mountains, and the wonderful rice plantation landscapes. Even better than in the National Geographic. You got to stop by a little town and stare at the vista while tasting some unusual fruits you never had before.

I am in love with Bali and I plan on discovering the Island further anytime soon. To be continued...

Almost there!

From now on, plan is: 3 hours sleep, pack the luggage, take a cab towards KL Sentral, shuttle to the airport, flight to reach Denpasar, cab to get in Kuta, rent a jeep, make it to Ubud, and finally enjoy some rest in the cheapest guesthouse in town before waking up with the dawn to climb Batur volcano...

That's what I call vacation!

Off to Bali!!!

Thursday night, almost 10p, and I am just about to get it over with this endless working day. The whole day was pretty intense. Worthless mentioning how exhausted I am now. Also, I'm already late for the dinner I am supposed to have tonight at some friend's in KL near suburb. I should be bored.

But you know what? I'm definitely not! I don't care, because tomorrow I am... off to Bali!!! For 4 days! Can't wait to take off :-)

Well, obviously one can argue that Bali deserves a longer time frame than four days. Let's just say we are making initial eye contact...