Climbing the volcano Batur

Two days ago we spent a night in a guesthouse on the foot of the volcano Batur. The next day we planned to climb the volcano. Our travel guide book  said that there was no need to take some real guide to take us to the top of the volcano. And even though the guys from the guesthouse said we must have one guide per 4 people (so we would actually need two of them), we decided not to take them (it was really expensive - they required us to pay them around 600 000 Rupiah per a guide) and to go on our own. We woke up at 4 o clock in the morning.  We drived to the village called Selatan. From here the hike was supposed to be just 1 hour. We started hiking and realized there was a motorbike  following us. Two local guys came and told us we need two guides otherwise we cannot hike. They offered themselves to accompany us (and of course wanted lot of money for that). We tried to ignore them, however we could not find the right way leading to the start of the hike so finally we gave one of them little money (50 000 Rupiah) to show us the right way. He took us to the path.  He looked quite unhappy with such a little amount and started to act a bit stupid, but we ignored him and finally he gave up and we got rid of him.

We were so stupid and took no water with us. Luckily, at the peak there was a guy running a little stand with drinks. Miso says this guy was one of the few large-minded people he met in Inodonesia. He even knew where Slovakia is and he wrote down how to says thank you in Sovak. To me the guy seemed to be like some clever "mountain guru".

Moneky on the top of Batur

...by Miso

 

Papa Jero

During last days I had only a few chances to use internet and was super tired, so now be ready for many pics. After Ubud we (me Lula, Dominika her cousin and brother and Miso)rent a car and travelled through the island. We went to a beautiful temple on the lake Bratan called Ulun Danu.
Afterwards we spent a night at Dominika s friend s guest house near village Wonogiri. It is a dreamy place. The guesthouse is run by the family of Papa Jero (Dominika s friend - he is supposed to have some special healing power), they welcomed us with a dinner and really nice, family and friendly atmosphere. The guesthouse is placed near two lakes and there are many possibilities for nice hike.
In the evening, before dark, me Lula and Miso took walk to one lake and went for a swim. Though afterwards we found out that there is a risk of leeches but fortunately I got none of them.

Ulun Danu

...around Ulun Danu

 

Ubud

Well, we met with our friends Dominika and Miso (and Dominika s brother and cousin) in Ubud. Ubud is a little city in the middle of Bali. Ubud is the cultural center of Bali, it is the centre for fine arts, dance and music.Ubud focuses on culture, yoga and nature. We even met a famous yoga teachaer in one restaurant -).
In Ubud we found lot of lil shops with traditional art, textiles etc.
Dominika and Miso took us for a trip on scooters - was so nice. The traffic on Bali is extremely crazy and I would not dare to drive here anything. We visited some nearby villages famous for wood carving (village Mas), jewellery (Celuk - village), and stone carving .). We were driving through the land - it was exactly like my imagination about Bali - I loved it....

BALI - Finally

We came to Bali late at night, cause our flight was delayed. A bunch of taxi drivers were waiting for customers in front of the main entrance.  They were trying to persuade people to give them a ride, offering the best price, being quite annoying. People here try to make money on every occasion. We were two girls, I was a bit scared, because we had no plan where to sleep, or what to, it was late in the night... Scaryyyyy ....
In our guide we read something about a place "Poppies 2" (should be a street with accommodation, bars etc.  near the famous party "place" Kuta, which is close to the airport). We just decided to go there. We found a nice guesthouse and stayed over night. We could not wait to see the beach so the next morning ... actually it was midday, we for a swim and a sunbath. The Kuta beach was a big disappointment - it was dirty and crowded, the sea was full of rubbish (I eve saw some sneakers swimming next to me) - simply an opposite of the "Bali dream" (We heard that the sea pollution is due to the rubbish coming from Java).

Of course, the first day we got a sun-stroke. In the evening we started to feel really bad. We were walking through the streets in our surrounding and started to feel dizzy and really sick. It was a nightmare -  all the street sellers were asking something (no idea what), everything was smelly and .... just like a bad dream.
We came home and felt immediately asleep . The next day was not any better, but we knew we had to leave the place otherwise it would drive us crazy. We came to place called Sanur. There, we were sleeping all day long. Today we felt finally better and spent few hours on the beach. We were scared not to get sun-stroke again, so we were cowered with our scarves, sunglasses and hats - we looked just ridiculous (especially Lula with her white Crocks shoes - sorry for that -). Locals were shouting at us: Salam aleikum !!!  LOL :D

feelin better again

finding a sea-star after the ebb tide

A bit more than 24 hours in Singapore

15th of April we arrived to Singapore. My friend Vivien picked us up from the airport. Firstly, we placed our stuff at a couchsurfers (Bob) place. His family welcomed us very warmly. Then, we started our tour through Singapore. We met lot of my exchange friends, one friend of Vivien Reia and the couchsurfer Bob. It was really nice evening. We ate a lot, walked a lot and had a lot of fun:

 

 

 

with Vivien and Bob

The Wong Tai Sin Temple

Lamma Island

Last day in HK

The very last day in HK, we decided to go to the Lamma Island .
Lamma Island is the third largest island in HK. Lamma was named after the shape of the island which looks like the limb of a tree peaceful and tranquil, with relatively natural scenery. Buildings higher than three storeys are prohibited and there are no automobiles. On the island there are penty of little gardens, or few fising villaes. The whole island is a nice oposite to the hectic spirit of HK.
We took a ferry from Central (Pier number 4) and arrived to Yung Sue Wan (village in the northern part). In the village we found number of tiny, cute shops with home-made products (like f.e. shrimp paste), fruits, jewellery and furtermore. After passing the village, we hiked trough the island and passed gardens planting fruits and different strange-looking plants. We came to a beach. I was really sleepy, coz the day was quite warm, so I took a little nap under a tree and Lula went for a swim (oh lazy meee). After that we "picknicked" and continued hiking to anoter village (southern one), where we took a ferry home.
Sorry for not bringin any photos (just one from google), but my camera ran out of battery .(and I forgot to check it even tough Lula reminded me to do so.
In the evening we met up with Tanya to say Goodbye and a drink (oh I ll miss her so muuch).
 

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Jade

Jade market is a quite famous place in HK. It is a place were you can find lot of stalls selling jade (stones, jewelery...). The price of jade should reflect  its quality. Therefore the real jade should be quite expensive. I bought a bracelet from jade and Lula bought a bracelet from black jade (of course we did not pay very much).

Jade is an ornamental stone. Chinese jade are carved-jade objects produced in China from the Neolithic Period onward. Chinese people have always considered this stone to be very valuable and they even equated jade with human virtues because of its hardness, durability, and (moral) beauty. They used it to produce tools, or talismans and they have  believed in the protective powers of jade. The Chinese written character for jade means a combination of beauty and purity.

In the evening we met with TSE family and Desire and they took us to a really nice restaurant (we even met there some HK star). I tasted real Peking duck - so yummyyy .) Thank you Tse family. The dinner was so nice and we had lot of interesting talks with them. Actually the topic "jade" came up and we found out that our bracelets are just fake .(( At least they look really nice. But be careful at the Jade market, cause they fool people.

Hike and beach @ HK Island

Hong Kong is really a very quick city. On Monday we decided to take a break from the rush and went for a hike and a beach.

 

 

Desserts, Couchsurf, Ladies market, Arts

Yesterday, we left Chris place and went with him and Andy to the Hong Kong Arts Center. It was a really nice place and there were many interesting exhibitions. Already checking their homepage makes me feel really jealous, cause I wish Bratislava had more spaces like this. After seeing the exhibitions we had a pick nick in front of the center and Andy said this was his first time doing something like this in HK, so I hope he enjoyed.

The boys took us to do some more sight seeing and then we met our new couchsurf Quiniee (really sweet girl, originally from Shang Hai). We put our stuff there and after me and Lula met Andy and went to the Ladies market.  This place reminds me on Mileticova markets in Bratislava strongly -)).

We were quite tired and felt like eating something sweet after walking through the markets and  watching  street performances. Andy took us to eat some typical Chinese sweets. I really cannot say what exactly we ate, but it contained mango, vanilla, jelly and more stuff which I have never seen before. Though it was so goood .)

Pics

Finally, I uploaded some photos, so this entry will contain pictures mainly:

 

Landing in Moscow

 

This how is we were sleeping in the aeroplane. Thought we did not sleep that much.

 

We established a "Coalition against air condition" (Lula came up with the name and I am the chief executive) .  I thought air condition is only on aeroplanes ... ha ha ha... In HK it is in all public spaces and it is killing my.

 

First moments in HK -)

Hong Kong Part 2

First of all I have to mention that I decided to write in English, cause otherwise it takes too much time.

Saturday (9th of April) was our second day in HK. We woke up quite late and we went to a supermarket to buy some food for breakfast. We bought lot of exotic fruits and some mango yogurts.  We made really good breakfast - do not want to sound too confident, but Chris said he was impressed a lot.

After the breakfast we went to the part of the city called "Happy Valley" by the double decker tram. The ride was really nice, we were sitting on the second floor, we were looking on the city and finally there was no air condition inside (omg I hate it so much).

Chris took us to a little Japanese "pudding shop" called "Wasakuraya". It was really small and really cute place and the pudding there was just perfect. Me and Lula we shared (cause Lula really likes to share -) a soya pudding with a green tea flavor. At first the taste felt a bit strange, but finally I liked the sweet sooo much. Funny story: When we were leaving the shop, Lula crashed into the glass door cause she did not realize it was there (maybe more sitcom but I hope u smiled at least -).

                                                     The green tea flavored pudding


After that we went to the Hong Kong Park, where we visited Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware. This was nice cause we learned a lot about Chinese tea, its healing effects, way of preparing it and also saw some interesting pottery.

After the Hong Kong Park we went to a very famous place in HK called "the Peak". There was a tram (huge qeues were waiting there but we managed to fool it -), which took us to this place. Here we waited for the sunset and enjoyed the beautiful view on HK.

We finished the evening with a Japenese dinner with Chris and with my friend from exchange Andy and afterwards with a drink with Tanya (finallyyy) and Desire (Tanya s friend) in a really nice bar with a view on HK.

Hong Kong - The first day

Do Hong Kongu sme dorazili okolo desiatej honkongskeho casu (asi o 3 nasho casu). Let bol dost unavny a dokopy sme naspali maximalne asi nejake tri hodinky  za 24 hodin. Na letisku sme vyriesli vsetky dolezite veci ako octopus card (carta na ktoru si clovek uploadne kredit a moze s nou cestovat miestnou MHD a platit nou v obchodoch), sim karta a voda. Okolo jednej po obede sme sa konecne pravili do mesta, do casti Central.

Zistila som, ze HK som si v hlave predstavovala viac ako Japonsko (vsade sushi stanky, sklenene mrakodrapy a chery blossoms everywhere -). Realita bola vsak trosku ina: mrakodrapy su tu strasne nahustene, zvacsa betonove, mesto je strasne busy (konecne som pochopila Tanyu, preco bola taka nadsena z tej "relaxed atmosphere of Helsinki"), v uzkych ulickach svieti a blika neuveritelne mnozstvo poulicnych reklam, v uzkych ulickach su stanky s ovocim ake som este ani nevidela (take minimango), masy ludi tu prudia takou rychlostou, ze clovek si tu pripada ako na nejakej zrychlenej planete... proste sialene mesto... pre turistu asi pozotivne sialene.

 Po precestovanej noci sme v piatok behali po meste ako uplni zombici. V nejakej velmi zvlastnej jedalni (alebo co to bolo) sme si kupili nudle s curry a sli sme do pristavu, kde sme to v opojeni velmi zvlastnej vone (poviem to na rovinu, pristav v HK smrdi) jedli. Btw.Hong Kong doslova znamena: Hong = fregrance, Kong = harbor - takze atmosfera v miestnom pristave bola velmi menu zodpovedajuca. Po tomto skvelom zazitku sme sa prechadzli po Central, vbehli sme do roznych malickych galerii a nakoniez smeskoncili v  europskej kaviarni (trapas, trapas).
Vecer sme sa nakoniec stretlis Christopherom u ktoreho sme couchsurfovali. Sli sme s nim na veceru a kedze sme boli na smert unavene, potom sme sli k nemu. Christopher bol perfektny couchsurfer, ale o tom viacej neskor. Nemam zatal moznost travit vela casu na internete a uploadovat fotky, ale budem sa snazit coskoto napisat a nacitat co najviac....


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Friday, the 8th of April we came to HK tired as hell. After buying a sim card and an octopus card (travel card and paying card) at 1pm we arrived to the part of HK called Central. I realised that in my head I have always  imagined HK like Japan (sushi, cherry blossoms and glass skyscrapers). However, the reality was completely different: the skyscrapers are usually very dense and built from concerete, the city is really busy (finally I could understand, why Tanya was so impressed by the "relaxed atmosphere of HK"), everywhere there are shining billboards, in the narrow streets there are markets with fruits that I have never ever seen, the crowds of people are moving extremely quickly... crazy city... crazy city....
We bought some curry noodles and went to the harbour to eat them. HK harbour has really strange odour (to behonest, it s quite stinky). Quite ironically, the meaning of the name Hong Kong  is Hong = fragrance, Kong = harbour . After the "harbour experience" we took a walk through Central, went to some little galleries and ended up in a European caffee (so lame I know).

In the evening we met with Christopher at whose place we were staying. Christopher is a perfect couchsurfing guy. But about this I will write more later. I have only little opportunity to be on internet and upload photos so everything will come as soon as it will be possible.

But HK... so far so good .))o r... so far so crazy.))

Goodbye Slovakia

Huraaa !!!

Zajtra sa letiii.)

No dnešok bol strašne vyčerpávajúci.

Behačky po auparku s mojou maminou a zháňanie posledných "najdôležitejších" vecí.

Nakoniec som ukončila večer s mojimi kamošmi v cafe St. Germain na Obchodnej ulici, kde sme sa rozlučili. Doteraz som sa ešte balila, chystala foťák a napĺňala ipod.))

UUUFFF ...

Už chcem len postielku a dlhýýý spánok.

Uipiii!!

Tomorrow we finally flyyy !!

But today was really exhausting. Packing, long shopping with my mum and evening with my friends in cafe St. Germain (it s such a nice place). Till now I ve been finishing the packing, putting songs into my ipod and preparing my camera.

Now I just need my beeeed .))

Here u are, some picks from the cafe:

Bed-hair-day! (I am sorry but today I really did not manage to look as awesome as usually.))

Lula does not like to be in pictures, she prefers to take them (her gallery).

My travel song

This song means "traveling" for me. I always (always, always) have to have it in my old ipod, when I leave somewhere. It is from the stupid cliche movie "The Beach". Actually I did not like the movie (however the scenery was just perfect) that much, but the book used to be my favorite one (when I was 15 years old) and I still love the soundtrack ♥♥♥.

Before I leave

Viem, že neodchádzam na veľmi dlho, ale napriek tomu je ešte pár vecí čo chcem stihnúť kým odídem.

Ešte aspoň jedna yoga class (yoga je teraz moja najvačšia namotávka).

Trošku podstrihnúť vlasy.

Ešte jeden horúci kúpeľ - keďže predpokladám, že tak skoro sa do horúcej vane nedostanem.

Postretávať čo najviac kamošov.

Kúpiť si nejaký "čepček" nech nedostanem úpal.

Každý deň sa dobre vyspať a papať veľa zeleninky nech naberiem ešte posledné sily.

Kúpiť si nejaké praktické a pekné letné botičky (existujú také ??).

Zájsť k babke na palacinky - plán na stredu večer.

EDIT: A vidieť najnovšiu Big Bang Theory.)

A hlavne zbaliť sa, zbaliť sa, zbaliť sa.

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I know I wont be away that long, but there are still some things I need to and want to do before I leave.

At least one yoga class (my current addiction). 

Cut my hair.

One hot bath, cause I know I will not be able to afford this luxury for at least few weeks.

Meet as many friends as possible.

Buy some head cover to avoid sunstroke.

Every day sleep, eat and rest well to gain strength. 

Buy really good and really nice summer shoes (is this possible?).

Have pancakes at my grandma s place .))

EDIT: See the newest Big Ben Theory.

And to pack all stuff ....

I wish myself good luck.

Welcome

Tak teda

VITAJTE !!!

Bazhinku si zakladám pri príležitosti mojej prvej veľkej cesty von z Európy. Ja a Lula (best dude ever) sa 7. apríla vydáme na asi 6 týždňov do Ázie. Juuuj ... vytešená, napätá, zvedavá som najviac .))

Hrubý plán našej cesty je už dlhšiu dobu jasný:

7 - 15 Apríl: Hong Kong !! Tu navštívime "my best friend from exchange" Tanya (tu je jej blog, ktorý si viedla počas nášho spoločného exchangu v Helsinkách v roku 2010 a kde nájdete takmer všetko o jej a našich spoločných zážitkoch ). 

15 - 16 Apríl: Singapore. V Singapore mám ďalšiu dobrú kamošku Vivien, ktorá nám dúfajme ukáže tie najlepšie veci zo Singaporu za jeden deň (už teraz ma bolia nohy). Singapore - hlavne žiadne žuvky, tie sú tam vraj zakázané (ževraj, aby ich ľudia nehádzali na ulice a nešpinili tak ulice).

16 Apríl - 26 Máj: Indonézia. Na Bali sa stretávame s našimi kamarátmi Dominikou a Mišom, ktorí sú v Indonézii na vzdelávacom pobyte. Na navnadenie tutok jeden link na ich cestovateľskú fotogalériu (týto dvaja už videli riaden kus sveta). Júj more, pláž, slnko, dobré jedielko... a ani si neviem predstaviť čo ešte na nás čaká. Už len pár dní ... 

Hurá !

Dúfam že sa Vám v bazhinke zapáči. Nájdete tu všetko možné aj nemožné, bude o ceste, ale aj o všetkých pekných a kludne aj škaredých, zaujímavých veciach čo ma v živote postretnú, čo mám rada a tak.

Enjoy my bla bla bla !!

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Welcome to bazhinka !

I start this blog  on the occasion of my big journey to Asia (first time out of Europe, I can t wait .).

April the 7th me and Lula (best dude ever), we are leaving to Asia. I am so excited, curious, happy .))


This is the plan of our journey:

7th - 15th April: Hong Kong. In HK I am meeting my best friend from exchange Tanya (I spent spring term 2010 in Helsinki, for more information on our exchange check Tanya s blog). Oh, I really cannot wait to see her. 

15th - 16th April: Singapore. We will spent one day in Singapore. i am really excited cause I will meet my good friend (also from exchange) Vivien. I hope in one day we will get as much as possible from Singapore. 

16th April - 26th May: Indonesia. We are meeting our friends Dominika and Michal at Bali (uiihiii !!). Michal and Dominka are on an educational stay in Indonesia. They are real travelers and really nice and interesting people (here you can get inspired by their travels). Oh maaan I can't wait to see the amazing beaches, ocean, good food and .....

I hope you all we enjoy "bazhinka"... and... ehm... also enjoy my bla bla .))