Bali & Jakarta

So here's my long awaited first post about the Asian leg of my trip. I'm in Manila right now, hiding away from the tropical rainstorm that's raging outside. I'll be hitting up a museum later on today, and also the Rizal Park, which hosts martial arts displays every Sunday afternoon (weather permitting- so hopefully it clears up!).

So my time in Bali was incredible. I spent the three days I was there in a village called Ubud. Ubud has historically been the artistic centre of Bali and numerous western artists have moved to the village to continue their work there. Unfortunately, the secret of Ubud has been let out, and it's become a lot more commercial over the years. When I went, there were plenty of tourists out and about, though it's still a safe haven compared to other places in Bali like Kuta Beach.

On my first night in Ubud I spent an hour or so wandering the pungent streets of the village, trying to avoid falling into one of the many potholes in the road. It was a very unique experience, I was followed by stray dogs, cats and chickens for much of my night of exploration. I did find a nice restaurant that served very cheap traditional Balinese food (approx. $2CAD for a meal)

The second morning I took a trip to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary- a site with a bunch of Hindu temples devoted to worshipping the monkey. It also houses hundreds of Balinese long-tailed macaques- a group of very cheeky monkeys. I was actually attacked by the monkeys on three separate occasions- on one occasion the monkeys thought it would be a good idea to cling onto my hair and face... that was a fun experience. Apparently, the monkeys also like iPhones, because one of them tried to steal mine:



Aside from the kleptomaniac monkey and the let's use Hakim as a jungle gym monkeys, I did manage to snap a few pics of some very cute baby monkeys:

After the monkey sanctuary, I went to the market in Ubud which had a lot of arts & crafts, but was definitely designed to rip off tourists. I did buy a couple of things though, after much haggling =)

The evening was spent going to a traditional Balinese dance. On my second night I went to the Legong Dance and on the third night I went to the Kecak Dance. Despite having the same subject matter (the Hindu Ramayana Epics) both dances were very different in nature. The Legong was more of a typical dance, with elaborate colourful costumes, while the Kecak had a chorus of 100 men, chanting and swaying in a trance.

Dance pics!:

^Legong Dance

^Kecak Dance

On my last day in Ubud, i stumbled upon a traditional Balinese cremation ceremony. That was unlike anything else I've ever witnessed. They've turned funeral processions in Bali into tourist attractions, but understandably so- it's a spectacle that I doubt any other culture celebrates as elaborately. There is a 100 man band that is split into two sections, one which leads the funeral procession and one which follows it, another 100 men are charged with carrying the giant tower, which the body is stored in for the procession, and the giant bull which the body is stored in for the cremation.

Here is a picture and video of parts of the event:

I also have a 6 minute video which covered most of the procession so if anybody wants to see that, they can just let me know when I get back. Aside from all these events, I went to a few art galleries in Ubud, which really surprised me with their breadth and professional setup. I also got a chance to walk along the Campu Ridge, which had some great lookouts to the rice fields surrounding the village

As soon as I stepped off the plane in Jakarta I knew that the city was very heavily polluted. The hotel I was staying in was also highly questionable in terms of hygiene, and the rumours about it doubling as a brothel were indeed correct. I encountered at least a half dozen sex workers on the street outside my hotel while trying to find dinner on my first night in Jakarta. Naturally, on my first morning there I woke up with a massive headache and ended up quite ill throughout my stay in the city. I did end up visiting a doctor in Singapore and again in Kuala Lumpur and thankfully after taking anti-biotics for 3 days I'm feeling much better. Unfortunately I didn't get to see much of Jakarta while I was there, but I do have a picture of the national monument, taken when some friends of my family took me out to see the sights for a few hours.

And that was my time in Indonesia! I'll post my Singapore and Manila updates fairly shortly- I'll save KL for when I get back and visit more of the city =)


PS- If the videos don't work- which they don't seem to be doing for me, try going to my youtube channel and watching them there http://www.youtube.com/user/hkassam

two weeks

Hah, so it's been a good two weeks since my last post... I doubt anybody reads this anymore... but I'm putting a reward out there. The first person to comment on this post will get TEN THOUSAND Indonesian Rupiahs from me when I get back home- now *that's* a lot of money.

Anyways, the last couple of weeks have been a pretty crazy adventure. Started off in Auckland where I was staying with my mum's uncle and aunt. It was a nice harbour city- reminded me of a smaller version of Sydney. I also went to a Baha'ii service with my relatives, who introduced me to a lady from Indonesia who asked me to send a package to her sister in Jakarta who in turn showed me around the city... but that's me getting ahead of myself.

Heeere's Auckland:

After Auckland I went to Wellington by train. It was advertised as an incredible scenic experience. While it was quite a view, I don't think it compared to what I saw in the South Island. The city of Wellington itself though was a lot of fun to visit. As the capital of New Zealand, it had the country's Parliament, and it's best museum- one of the better one's I've ever been to. There were also a bunch of really nice cafes on Cuba St. in Wellington. It was also the city where I watched the FIFA World Cup Finals... though I had to be up at 6am to do so.

Welly pics:

After my 2 days in Wellington, I had to fly back to Auckland- because I already booked my ticket from Auckland to Bali before adding Welly as a destination. The Auckland to Bali flight had a connection in Sydney. This meant that in 24 hours I flew from Wellington to Auckland to Sydney to Bali. Crazy stuff.

Anyways, I'm going to save my Indonesia and Singapore posts for when someone claims that Rupiah prize!

Goodbye =)

Christchurch/Queenstown/Auckland

Well it looks like I already broke my promise. It's not my fault! The Christchurch and Queenstown hostels both had limited bandwith on WIFI.

So my last day in Christchurch was a lot more interesting. I stumbled upon a Maori concert on my way through Cathedral Square. The Maori are the indigenous population of New Zealand and from what I've seen so far, protection of Maori culture here is a lot better than our treatment of native Canadians. Here's a short clip of their concert... they were pretty awesome =)

Maori performers!

After that surprise encounter, I made it out to the Gondola, which gave pretty cool views of the city and surrounding geography. In retrospect it wasn't nearly as cool as the Queenstown Gondola which I got to enjoy just a couple of days ago. Here's a shot from each:

Christchurch Gondola View

Queenstown Gondola View

Clearly Queenstown wins on the Gondola battle. Oh, sidenote, the Queenstown Gondola also has a luge track at the top of the mountain. THAT was a lot of fun.

The busride between Christchurch and Queenstown was pretty long (8 hours) but it was incredible in terms of the scenery we passed through. The Southern Alps were visible for the majority of the ride, but unfortunately Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand was covered by cloud that day (that always happens to me!)

Queenstown was effing cold when I got there... well compared to what I'm used to for July. The daily high would be around 5-7 degrees, but for most of the day it was around 0C. I also went on a day cruise to Milford Sounds, part of the Fiordland National Park in New Zealand- A park so big that it's about the size of the Netherlands. That trip has so far been the highlight of my time in New Zealand- the most magical scenery I've enjoyed in my life. The weird thing is I also met a dude who lives in Toronto and graduated from Queen's Artsci '09. All the way in some random town in New Zealand! Totally random. Anyways, here are a couple of pictures from Milford:

So that was the extent of my trip to the South Island. I arrived in Auckland, North Island, New Zealand last night and spent my first day at the Auckland Art Gallery and the National Maritime Museum. Both were pretty cool, but I preferred the Art Gallery. I'll be back soon with more stories! (probably Friday morning EST)

Peace out!

Hakim

Christchurch

So I realized this morning that I'm not spending 4 days in Christchurch, it's 3... which is a really good thing to have realized because my whole trip would have been thrown off if I had missed that bus tomorrow morning!

Christchurch has been nice, It's a pretty sleepy small town. While the population of 350,000 may suggest that it'd have more of a small city feel, much of the city shuts down by 5pm and there's not much going on in the evenings. Yesterday I visited the Christchurch Cathedral- one of the more famous spots in town- and climbed to the top. Afterwards I went punting (gondola style boat) on the river Avon, which was really nice and relaxing... reminds me of when I went paddle boating with Queen's friends through the Amsterdam canals =)

The most amazing thing about Christchurch so far was the flight in. The views over the southern alps were magnificent. Later today I'm going to the cable-car gondola about 20 mins out of the city, so I should be able to get some great photos from there. Unfortunately, the hostel I'm staying at has limited bandwith, so I can't upload photos to the blog unless I want to pay a crapload of money. I'll post a few next time I have unlimited wifi!

Next post will be from Queenstown in a couple of days!

Cheers,

Hakim