traveldiary.stracke.us

Today is Tuesday, August 18 and at 4AM a thunderstorm wakes us up at Hydro Hotel in Batu Farringhi, Penang. I peek out from our 11th floor balcony and am greeted by a tropical downpour and howling wind. For a moment, I thought that I am hearing the”Cape Doctor”, coming down the Table Mountain In Cape Town!
We are heading to Manado today, but the taxi ride to the airport takes over 1 hour and we are stuck in the morning rush hour traffic. The employees from all the tech companies near the airport are with us, stuck in traffic as well, coming out of Georgetown. After reading about Georgetown in the travel guides, we had expected a quaint colonial town. How wrong we were. We experience a large modern city with many high rise apartment buildings, a modern infrastructure and too many, late model cars on the multilane highways.
We barely make it to the airport in time, checking in with Air Asia only 40 minutes before departure time. Our Airbus A320 climbs to a cruising altitude of 35000 feet and, after about 10 minutes, begins the 15 minute descent to Kuala Lumpur. The landscape below us is mostly green mountains and some coconut palm plantations and rice fields near Kuala Lumpur. While waiting for our luggage at the airport, Gabi and I put on our N95 respirator masks. Now we walk around the crowded airport like bank robbers with pink duck bills!
(more…)

Today is a lazy day. After a sumptuous Asian/Western breakfast here on Penang, Malaysia, we had to go back to bed and catch up on a weeks worth of robbed sleep. At breakfast we could count the Western clientele on one hand. Almost every woman had her knees and shoulders covered (including me), about half also wore the burdaa, 10% the shador. I have no clue how they can do that in this 90 degrees, heat plus humidity. After breakfast, I had to go back to the room to recuperate in air conditioning. There  I also had to do some laundry, the old-fashioned way…..ruba dub dub and scrub, scrub, scrub.

After the well deserved nap, it was time for the Sunday High Tea Buffet. I assumed this would mean some tea and crumpets or small cakes, like in England. Well were we surprised to find a buffet fit for a king and queen, with Asian, as well as Western meal items, like curies, and fish soups, and kebabs, plus cakes, ice creams, and lots of yummy other items, I really don’t know the names of. We spent 2 hours at tea time eating. I think we can skip dinner! Oh yeah, and all this for $ 10. Money definitely goes a lot further here.

The waiter, as all people here, was super nice again. No, no tip expected. We really like their carefree attitude here. I am beginning to think, maybe we are treated so nicely all over…….. because we are older???  Respect for older people here is amazing. Something we  in the West could learn.

Today is Saturday, August 15th, and we are flying with Air Asia AK 363 from Bali, Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At first, the plane appears to be pretty empty, but we stay at the gate in Denpasar until the last seat is filled. It seems like a bus service, waiting for more passengers. I am glad that I had reserved exit row seats in advance. The regular seat pitch is measured for the smaller Asian race.
Finally, our Airbus 320 takes us northwest, back across the equator, and cruises up the Malaysian peninsula. We arrive in Kuala Lumpur and the first impression is a pleasant surprise. After just having paid 34 USD in departure tax in Indonesia (plus 50 USD for our two entry visas for Indonesia last week), we get our immigration stamp for Malaysia without having to fork over more cash! We check in our luggage for Air Asia 5374 from Kuala Lumpur to the island Penang and still have time left for a quick dinner in the airport. After just having eaten rice and vegetables and very little meat or fish for 7 days straight onboard Mermaid II, the Golden Arches of McDonald’s are impossible to resist. A cheeseburger to the rescue, followed by a hot fudge Sundae! Gabi and I are sweating like crazy, there is very little air conditioning in the airport. We are in a Muslim country and the customs appear to be stricter here, compared to Java or Bali. All the girls, working in McDonald’s, wear a black head scarf and clothing covering the entire body. How do they manage not to perspire a single drop of sweat, while I am having a melt-down?
Another Airbus A320, AK 5374, flies us to Penang and we take a taxi to our hotel on Batu Ferringhi. I notice a very modern and clean town, with good roads, many new cars and very few mopeds. This area must be rather rich, compared to what we have seen so far in Indonesia. Then we understand why: we pass one modern factory after another, including semi-conductor manufacturing and other familiar German tech-company names: Osram, Bosch and Blaupunkt. Amazing how small the world has become. We are at the Strait of Malacca and are looking at Germany in Malaysia. Incidentally, Gabi’s Dell computer, which I am using to write this, is also made, you guessed it: in Malaysia!

We experience super service from the Thai crew of Mermaid II. Gabi and I are in cabin #2, which is at the stern of the ship, about 5 steps away from the dive platform. The diving takes place from 2 dinghies and we literally get served on hand and foot. The boat boys set up our dive gear, help us into our wetsuits and carry the tanks into the dinghy. Once seated in the dinghy, they put the BC and tank on our back and help us putting on our fins. All that is left for us to do, is to put on our masks, make a backwards roll into the Flores Sea and enjoy the diving. The same service takes place after the dive and we never have to carry the weight of the tanks on our back. We are asked to hand the weight-belt and tank to the dinghy driver, before we climb back into the boat! They even take our wetsuits and rinse them for us after each dive. Within minutes, after we have returned from a dive, our tanks are filled again, ready for the next jump into the ocean (after the appropriate surface interval). All this service is being done with a big smile in a country where no tipping is expected. Unbelievable!

Diving in Indonesia is an extraordinary experience. The last few days we have been diving the Flores Sea in the Indian Ocean. I am happy to report the reefs are alive and well. I’m sure it’s because it took forever to get to the location we are in… right now,  Komodo Island  Marine Preserve.  We have done some incredible dives this week from our water home, Mermaid II.  For every dive, we are helped suiting  up in our wet suits on the big boat before stepping into the dinghy and being “scuba dressed” by our personal dinghy driver. He actually puts on my fins, scuba jacket and takes super care of my camera. This is what life as a queen must feel like.  We then have a 2 minute dash to the dive site because they do not moor right on top of the sites, so as not to ruin any corals. Our Indonesian dive master Adnan ,  then makes a final check…air, weight belt, mask, camera? Check!  1,2,3, backward negative entry roll and we are off  again into another dimension. I never tire of the water world. In my previous life, if there was one, I must have been a fish.  Fish and coral life is as healthy as we had hoped. There is an abundance of  colorful  fish of all sizes, as well as masses of soft corals. When we have to use our reef hooks so that we don’t end up down the channel somewhere, it is often difficult to find a stone, everything seems to be made of hard or soft corals. Beyond that, this area is well known for all it’s nudibranches, small, mostly vibrantly colored sea slugs , that adhere to their host coral. With their beautiful patterns and colors, they are warning the fish…I am poisonous!

This morning, Mermaid II is at anchor in the bay at Loh Liang, Komodo Island. At 7 AM, our dinghies take us ashore and we follow two young Indonesian park rangers into the bush, searching for the Komodo Dragon. First we come across some big deer and birds, but no big lizards. After about one hour, the trail climbs out of the forest into the dry savannah. In the meantime, the heat of the equatorial sun is beating down on us. We have read the dragon info and learned, that they lie in the morning sun, in order to raise their body temperature and wake up from their night-time low temp and near coma. Now they should be getting ready to hunt for food. We would be easy dragon food, with the heat and sun making us more and more sluggish and them faster and faster!
(more…)

On Dive day three, the Gods were not with me.  My camera a Canon G9 was new this year and I am still discovering all kinds of new functions. Yes I know, they have always been there, but to me, they are new.  At home I never have, or better said, I never take the time to just “play” with the camera. Then on a trip, I use the same programs again and again. I vowed it would be different this time! Due to so many people on board our boat being camera enthusiasts, I am learning so much.

So today I discovered that the camera actually has a wide screen mode. So on Dive # 3 I was excited to try out this new function.  I must have clicked 30-40 pictures and our knowledgable  dive master Adnan out another beautiful nudibrach specimen for me to photograph.  Before I could even think about focusing, he motions to me that I should give him the camera.  I thought, ok I may not be an expert here, but at least give me a chance to try it myself.  I almost wildly dislodges the camera from my arm and puts it tele lens down. I still questioned his judgment, since the said nudibranch was not in that direction.  Then the realization struck me, my waterproof camera housing had a leak, he saw it and acted like only a pro knew how. For the next 20 minutes of the dive I agonized about my camera.
(more…)

I should have studied our dive boat’s itinerary more carefully before booking this adventure to the Komodo Islands! Now Gabi and I are laying in our cabin and experience constant movement in all 3 dimensions: Mermaid and our bed are pitching, rolling and yawing through the swells of the Flores Sea. Today is Saturday 8/8 and we had a nice flight on Garuda Indonesia from Yogyakarta on Java to Denpasar on Bali. Along the way, we also spotted the volcanic peak of Bromo jutting out of the clouds.
We are being shuttled from the airport to our dive boat and cast off around 6:30 PM. We are 18 divers and 16 staff on board. 7 of us are German speaking from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, all the other divers are from Japan. The Captain and boat crew are from Thailand, the dive masters from England, Belgium, Mexico and Indonesia. Everybody seems very nice and we have our first dinner on board while the boat is already under way. The first night takes us from Bali along the north shore of Lombok and Sumbawa to Pulau Moyo, our first dive site tomorrow morning. Gabi and I each take 100mg Dramamine before dinner and have to retire to our cabin at 9PM, unable to keep our eyes open any longer! As Gabi and I are rolling around the bed in a synchronous ballet, choreographed by Mermaid II plowing through the swells, I seriously begin to wonder if coming on this trip was a good idea. It is not the perfect storm, but the constant motion makes sleeping very difficult. My towel on the bathroom door swings from side to side like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. I better close my eyes, in order to avoid having to see my dinner for a second time. We actually survive our first night on board without any of this happening. We also learn that our boat will be cruising for four out of seven nights. What situation did I get ourselves into? I should have read the fine print!

We are on the island of Java and I am talking about the amazing driving skills of the Indonesian people. We hired a driver for today and had plenty of opportunity to admire his aim!
Most of the time, he takes an imaginary center lane of the two lanes going in our direction. Indonesians drive on the left with thousands of mopeds, Vespas and motorbikes occupying the left lane and cars passing on the right. The only problem is that buses and trucks also stay in the right lane, so he has to fight for space with the mopeds, in order to pass in the left lane. He has an amazing aim and can judge to pass trucks on the right and mopeds on the left with only inches to spare on either side of our Suzuki car! There is usually enough space for mopeds to pass us on either side. At each red light, there is a timer counting down the seconds until we can launch. All the mopeds squeeze by the cars, fighting for a pole position.
The drivers must be very alert and are constantly weaving around each other. From time to time, pedestrians are standing on the center line, trying to cross the street. The cars and buses pass the adults or small schoolchildren going 55 MPH, with about 10 inches to spare. This is like standing on the Northway and cars passing you from both directions!
The moped operators are also very steady drivers. Any lack of balance, wobbling or weaving of a few inches would be fatal!
The road is shared by trucks, buses, cars, horse carriages, bikes, mopeds, bicycle rikshas (becak) and all of mankind, but no other “animals”. The moped is the main form of transportation. It moves rice harvest bundles, building material, groceries, bamboo and any kind of cargo imaginable.
Parents with one child usually make do with 3 people on one moped. What do they do when they have a second child?
Buy a second moped, I guess.
I have to admit that the average driver appears to be a much better driver than what I have witnessed in many other countries. Luckily, our driver is staying with the flow and is not going really fast. After driving us all day long and taking us to several temples, he drops us back at our hotel in Yogyakarta safely.

On Wednesday, August 5, we are again up in the air. We are flying from Singapore to Yogyakarta on the island of Java. As we are getting off our Air Asia jet, it does not feel quite as hot here, until I feel the jet blast from another plane, taxiing right next to us, warming up my back! We pay our 25 USD per person visa fee and are allowed to enter Indonesia.
On Thursday, the call for prayer wakes us at 5AM. Now I also understand the reason for the arrow, which is glued to our Novotel hotel room’s ceiling. It is pointing west toward Mecca, so the faithful know which way to turn for prayer.
We explore Yogyakarta and have to spend only a few Rupiahs. A 15 minute taxi ride costs USD 1.20, a 400ml bottle of water is 12 cents and a one hour becak tour (bicycle rickshaw) with “Dr.J”, our human pedal power, is costing us the equivalent of 50 US cent.
We keep taking our meals in our base camp, the Novotel. The food is tasty and we do not get sick!
On Friday, August 7, we have a private Taxi for the whole day. Our driver takes us to Prambanan Temples. This is an impressive complex of Hindu and Buddhist temples, built between the 8th and 10th century.
Afterward, we enjoy a trip into the countryside and get to see how the village people live here. We stay at some distance from the Merapi volcano, after I have read about lava flows with a speed of up to 300kmh possibly coming down the mountain. At the end of the day is a visit to Borobudur, a big Buddhist temple, built on a hill around 800 AD with 2 Million stone blocks. We enjoy the impressive, multi-story temple in the late afternoon sunlight, minus the tour bus tourist hordes.
Today, I whisper a wish into a holy stone-cow’s ear at Prambanan temple and touch the stone foot of a Buddha statue at Borobudur.
Hopefully, this will give us some good Karma.