Abu Dhabi
During Easter we spent a couple of days in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is a nice city for shopping, they have a lot of large shopping malls, but the only thing we bought was a T-shirt for Liam. We visited Emirates Palace where I had a cappuccino sprinkled with gold. We also tried the world's highest afternoon tea at Ethiad Towers. The view over the city was spectacular!
Emirates Palace
Gold, gold and some more gold inside Emirates Palace.
Le Cafe inside Emirates Palace.
Emirates Palace
The hotel we stayed at is called Capital Gate and it is the world's most leaning building!
Afternoon tea at Ethiad Towers.
The whole city is build on sand.
Emirates Palace from above.
The Grand Mosque.
Ferrari World.
Amazing chocolate cakes at Godiva cafe.
A refreshing passion fruit juice.
Northern Qatar
To see a little more than the capital Doha, while visiting Qatar, I booked an afternoon excursion to the northern parts of Qatar. The country is small and the roads are in a good condition, which makes it fast and easy to travel around. The first stop was in the fishing village Al Khor where they also have a corniche running along the bay, around which the village is spread out.
A date palm.
Our next stop was in Al Jassasiya where we had a look at rock carvings. Some hundred years ago the sea level was much closer to the rocks where the carvings were made and it's believed that seamen carved the figures while waiting for their ships.
A sailboat.
My Nepalese guide and his 4WD.The last stop was in Al Zubarah in the north western corner of Qatar to have a look at Al Zubarah Fort.
Doha
Doha is the capital of Qatar. The skyline in Doha includes a huge number of lifting cranes and it feels like the city is still under construction. The main attraction is the corniche, a walkway running along the bay from the city centre to the ultra modern business district, where all the skyscrapers are located.
Tall buildings in the business district.
The pyramid shaped Sheraton hotel.
Pedestrian crossing.
An art installation along the corniche.
The Pearl.
The Museum of Islamic Art.
A fountain along the corniche.
The Torch, a newly built hotel next to Villaggio Mall.
Inside the Venice themed Villaggio shopping mall.
The Islamic cultural centre.
The Souk.
A park in Doha.
A delicious breakfast at Mövenpick hotel.
Qatar
On the way back from Malaysia I stopped in Qatar for three nights to discover what this tiny Middle East country has to offer. My first advice is don't travel to Qatar during the summer months (July-August), because it's extremely hot during these months. It's a desert after all and irrigation systems are a must to keep some small spots green during the hot summer months. Temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius are normal during this time of the year. Luckily there are a lot of air conditioned shopping malls and hotels where tourists, as well as locals, can escape the heat and cool down for a while.
The route I travelled in Qatar. (Map from MapQuest)
Java
The last stops on my Indonesia trip where on the island of Java. I spent four nights in Yogyakarta at the fashionable Phoenix Hotel. This historical hotel dating back to 1918 is an architectural piece of art and reminds me of Raffles in Singapore. I felt like a queen during my stay!
Yogyakarta is a perfect hub for exploring some of Indonesia's most magnificent temples. I visited four temples during my days in Yogya. I have seen many temples in my days, but Borobudur was really impressing. After visiting Borobudur I stopped at Prambanan, but that temple failed to impress me. The temple complex was huge, but most of the temples were in ruins.
I also enjoyed visiting the small but decorative temples Candi Cetho and Candi Sukuh, and the hike that we did from one temple to the other. We were hiking through a varying landscape with sweeping views, vegetable farms and pine forests.
Borobudur.
Prambanan.
Candi Cetho is a temple for fertility worship. ;-)
Hiking through vegetable farms.
Candi Sukuh is also a fertility temple with a lot of "fertility sculptures".
After my days in Yogyakarta I did a brief stop in Jakarta, before I travelled back to Malaysia. Jakarta is a huge city with a lot of traffic and I just spent the day in a shopping mall.
Lombok
When Linda travelled back to Europe I continued to Lombok, where I headed out for a mountain trekking adventure. I climbed up to the crater rim on the volcano Mount Rinjani. It was raining the whole day and when I finally reached the camp at the crater rim I was wet and cold. Luckily I had brought a set of extra clothes so that I could change and have dry clothes for the night! The night in the tent was cold and the sleeping mat was thin as a leaf, so I didn't have many minutes of sleep that night.
The guide woke us up just before the sunrise and when I got out from the tent and saw the beautiful view of the crater lake I forgot all my troubles. What a view! In the other direction I could see the Gili Islands and Mount Agung on Bali in the distance.
On the way down from the mountain it started raining again and the path was transformed to a small river. I kept on walking almost without stopping and when I came down I went straight to Senggigi on the east coast. I had booked a night at a beach resort and there I had a well deserved massage and a three course dinner.
You can not always be lucky with the weather, but I'm so grateful that is was clear and sunny in the morning at least, so that I could enjoy the view from the crater rim.
A local boy is having a refreshing shower. The water was too cold for me, hehe...
I had an amazing view from Mount Rinjani. I could see the Gili Islands and Bali's tallest volcano Mount Agung in the distance.
The crater lake with little Mount Baru inside.
Relaxing at a beach resort in Senggigi after my Mount Rinjani adventure.
Gili Islands
After the amazing days in Komodo National Park we travelled to Gili Islands for some days filled with beach life and excellent sea food. We stayed on Gili Trawangan but we also did a boat trip to see the other two islands. My favourite was without doubt the smallest island Gili Meno.
Breakfast with a view!
A visit to the turtle centre on Gili Meno.
Enjoying an evening cocktail.
Komodo National Park
To get the most out of our trip to Komodo National Park we had booked a three days and two nights boat trip through the company Komodo Mega Tours Indonesia. We are very happy with the tour and the service provided by the owner Mr. Yuventius during the planning process. He was very service minded and quick to answer all our questions. We highly recommend him and his company if you are planning a trip to Komodo.
Our trip started in the harbour in Labuanbajo on Flores Island where we stepped onboard the wooden boat that would be our home the coming two nights. Onboard the boat we had everything we needed! We had our own little private cabin, a toilet, a lounge area, a crew of three persons (including a captain and a chef) and a guide.
We left the harbour in Labuanbajo behind and travelled out to Komodo Island. A journey that took us three hours. We had dinner onboard and enjoyed the scenery on our way out to Komodo. It was already dark when we arrived so after standing outside and brushing our teeth in the moonlight we went to bed.
The next morning we woke up early and prepared ourselves for hiking on Komodo Island. We stepped ashore and met a ranger who was leading our search for the Komodo dragons. The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard in the world and has a maximum lenght of about three meters! We didn't really know what to expect and after spotting the first dragon lying under a tree we were so happy. There were more to come! When we left Komodo Island we had already seen three Komodo dragons! What a perfect start of the day!
The boat we travelled with in Komodo National Park.
Komodo Island - a World Heritage Site.
The first meeting with a representative of the population on Komodo Island.
Hello Mr. Komodo dragon!
Amazing scenery with green hills and a calm sea.
Look at the tounge!
Next stop was Rinca Island where we met the ranger Oscar. He took us out for a hike and we managed to spot four dragons on Rinca and one of them was a baby. We were so lucky! The baby dragons live in trees to protect themselves from predators (read other larger dragons). Compared to the dragons on Komodo Island the dragons living on Rinca are a bit smaller in size. The reason for that is that there is more food available on Komodo Island.
Don't worry he is just yawning.
A Komodo dragon baby.
Our ranger Oscar is armed with a stick!
Me and Linda with the ranger's weapon.
After two amazing hikes in a Jurassic Park landscape on Komodo and Rinca Islands we stopped in a bay next to a mangrove forest. Around sunset we climbed up on the roof of the boat and sat there and watched thousands of bats coming out of the forest for their nightly hunt for insects.
Thousands of bats coming out from the mangrove forest.
During our visit in Komodo National Park we also did a snorkelling trip and a visit to the Pink Beach. The sand appears to be pink because of a mixture of white and red sand. The snorkelling was excellent in the national park. The sea is very nutritious and we saw a lot of impressive corals and colourful fishes.
The Pink Beach.
A glimpse of the underwater world in Komodo National Park.
Bali
This was actually my second visit to Bali. My first visit was in the beginning of year 2003, which was only a couple of months after the terrible bomb attack that destroyed a nightclub and killed a lot of people in Kuta. It was raining a lot when we were there and because very few tourists visited Bali during that time the local people were desperate for money and didn't leave us alone for a second. After that I thought that I would never return to Bali again.
You never know what will happen in the future and this time I was travelling together with my friend Linda and she had not been to Bali before, so she wanted to spend at least some days of our Indonesia trip there. I decided to give Bali a second chance because I have many friends that like the island. Now I'm very happy that I decided to come back.
Bali is an allround destination that suits most people. Bali has tourist resorts with all the shopping and restaurants you can dream about. There are also a lot of activities for the active tourists. There are some nice scuba diving sites to explore, you can go hiking on vulcanoes and Bali has a number of beaches with good surf breaks. If you want to relax and reload your batteries you should visit one of the SPA resorts in Ubud.
I spent the first night in Bali in a touristy manner at Hard Rock Hotel in Kuta. The following day I had a morning walk along Kuta Beach before I took a taxi to the temple Tanah Lot. The temple is located on a rock in the sea. During low tide you can walk out to the temple.
Kuta Beach.
Hard Rock Hotel in Kuta has a huge swimming pool!
Strawberry Margarita at Hard Rock Café.
Tanah Lot temple.
After visiting Tanah Lot I continued to Ubud. Linda had been out on a scuba diving trip and I met her at Kamandalu Resorts and SPA where we had decided to stay. That showed out to be one of the best hotels I have ever stayed at! As another tourist I talked to said: The whole hotel area looks like a botanical garden. I went to the SPA and there I had the best massage I have ever had! :-) I definitely want to come back to Ubud for a SPA holiday!
Outdoor shower.
Since we wanted to see more of Bali we decided to rent a car with a driver for a day and he drove us around on the island. We started our round trip by visiting the Monkey Forest in Ubud, where a lot of macaques are living. After that we continued to the beautiful green rice terraces in Tegallalang.
Our next stop was at a coffee house along the road where we were shown how they roasted their coffee in a traditional way. We also got to try some different types of coffee. We continued to Lake Batur surrounded by the volcanoes Gunung Batur and Gunung Abang. There we had lunch at a floating restuarant. Our last stop was another lake, called Lake Bratan, where we visited a temple located on a small island in the lake. The round trip took us the whole day and we both agreed that it was definitely a very convenient and time efficient way to see more of Bali.
The Monkey Forest.
Rice terraces in Tegallalang.
Coffee beans being roasted in the traditional way.
The 1717 m Gunung Batur.
A floating restaurant on Lake Batur.
The Ulun Danu Bratan temple.
Indonesia
Finally I have had time to start organizing all the photos from the second part of mine and Linda's Easter trip. After visting Timor-Leste we spent some time in Indonesia.
The trip started in Bali and from there continued to Komodo, Gili Islands, Lombok and finally Java. Travel reports from these destinations will be uploaded during the coming week.
(Map from MapQuest)
Jaco Island
We continued our Timor-Leste round trip by travelling along the north coast to the "beach resort town" with the funny name Com. We made some stops along the road to visit a local market, Portugese churches, Japanese bunkers and rice fields.
Vegetable market in Manatuto.
A Portugese church from 1933 in Laleia.
A shop along the road.
Rice fields outside the town Vemasse.
Water buffaloes cooling down in a river outside the town Laivai.
On top of an old Japanese bunker close to the town Laivai.
More bunkers on the beach.
The "beach resort town" Com.
From Com we continued inland and after some hours on bad roads we reached the area Desa Rasa. It's an area with a lot of traditional houses and traditional graves belonging to the Fataluku people. The number of buffalo skulls on top of the grave shows how important a person was when he or she died.
Graves decorated with buffalo skulls.
Traditional Fataluku houses.
After driving through the Desa Rasa area we reached the coast again on the other side of the island. First we stopped at a view point before we continued down to the sea. We spent one night in a simple chalet on Tutuala Beach and from there we made an afternoon trip to Jaco Island. Jaco is a true paradise island with clear turquoise water and white sand beaches and the best thing no other tourists!
Tutuala beach.
Our home for the night.
Jaco Island.
After exploring Timor-Leste during one week I can highly recommend others to visit the country. It might be a destination for the more experienced travellers since the roads are in a very bad condition, the public transportation is not reliable in many areas and the standard of accomodation and food is simple.You need a lot of time and patience if you want to travel around on the island. The way I see it, is that all things mentioned are just parts of the adventure when you are discovering something outside the main tourist tracks.
Mount Ramelau
The highest mountain in Timor-Leste is the 2963 meter tall Mount Ramelau. The mountain is located south west of the capital Dili. To reach the mountain you have to travel along a road that might be the worst road I have ever travelled on. :-) Our car broke down on the way back and we had to wait a couple of hours for spare parts to arrive from Dili, but that's just part of the adventure when you are exploring places outside of the main tourist tracks.
It takes some time and a lot of patience to reach the base of Mount Ramelau, but the drive is rewarding because of the scenery along the road. It's a mix of mountains, valleys, rice fields and small villages with traditional houses. We were there in early April which is the last month of the rainy season so everything was still green.
We stopped at the old Portugese house Pousada Maubisse for lunch. The house is located on a hill with a view over the town below.
I bought pink bananas.
We stayed one night in a guesthouse before our climb. We woke up in the middle of the night and started the climb to reach the summit before sunrise. Later it showed out that our guide had underestimated us and our walking pace! We reached the summit one hour before sunrise and had to wait for the sun. :-) It was windy and a bit cold up there so we had to walk around in circles to keep warm. Our local guide was more experienced and had brought a blanket so he just laid down under a bush and slept for a while.
At the top together with the Virgin Mary statue.
Dili
Dili is the name of the capital of Timor-Leste. It's a rather small city with around 200 000 inhabitants. First of all Luis took up to the hill where the large statue of Christ is located. We climbed up on the hill and from the viewpoint up there we could see Dili on one side and a beautiful white beach on the other side.
Timor-Leste has a dark history filled of conflicts. To learn more about the history we continued by visiting the Resistance Museum and the Santa Cruz Cemetery. The later was the site of the 1991 Dili massacre where more than 200 people were killed by the Indonesian army during a demonstration for independence.
Sebastião Gomes was one of the young demonstrators.
After visiting the museum and the cemetery Luis took us to another viewpoint on the other side of the city. On top of the the hill was a big statue of the Pope.
A traditional style chapel.
The landing strip at Dili Airport.
View over Dili and in the distance Atauro Island.
Timor-Leste
(Map from MapQuest)
Upon arrival in Timor-Leste the guide Luis Martins from ECO Discovery met us at the airport. Luis was going to be our guide and driver during the week we spent in Timor-Leste.
Our round trip started in the capital Dili. From Dili we travelled up in the mountains to Mount Ramelau, the highest mountain in the country, which we had decided to climb. After climbing Mount Ramelau we travelled back to Dili and then we continued along the north coast to the eastenmost tip of the country.
The Art of the Brick
I'm continuing on the Lego theme, hehe... I just wanted to show you some photos from last year when I was in Singapore and visited the Artscience Museum next to Marina Bay Sands. There they were showing The Art of the Brick exhibition by Nathan Sawaya. Nathan is a very creative guy and he has built a lot of cool sculptures of Lego bricks. At the moment you can see some of his creations in New York and Brussels.
It's really amazing what you can do with those bricks! Your imagination is the limit! :-) Lego must be the perfect toy for engineers!
A Lego version of the Artscience Museum in Singapore.
Skiing in Dubai
After the helicopter ride we visited Atlantis which is located on the Palm Island. There we went to the Lost Chambers Aquarium. I have been to many aquariums all over the world, but this one was by far the best aquarium I have ever visited! The aquariums were clean and well maintained. The diplays were amazing!
If you are riding a helicopter in the morning and go skiing in the evening, does that count as heli skiing? :-) Yes, the evening was spent in the ski slope. There is an indoor (!) ski slope inside Mall of the Emirates. It's known as Ski Dubai and I just had to try it! The slopes were of course not very steep and a bit short, but it was a cool feeling to ski indoor! Finally I got the opportunity to dominate in an 'experts only' slope! :-)
Before we left Dubai we watched the Dubai Fountain show. I had heard a lot about it before, but I have to admit that it wasn't very impressive. It lasted for less than 5 minutes and there were no colours in the light show. I have seen better fountain shows than this. The background was nice however, the tallest building in the world beautifully lit up in the dark.
Dubai from Above
Last year I got the best Christmas gift ever from my parents. A helicopter sightseeing in Dubai! We took off in the morning from the helipad next to Atlantis hotel and saw all the famous Dubai landmarks from above. We flew by the Palm, Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Beach, Burj Khalifa and the World Islands. It was so cool to see everything from above! :-)
Thank you so much mum and dad! This was an amazing experience!
Dubai Landmarks
Our second day in Dubai started on top of the world! We went up in Burj Khalifa which is the tallest building in the world. It's 829.8 meters tall! The view up there was excellent! A good thing was that they have an outdoor viewing balcony. The air was really nice and fresh up there! :-)
When we were back on ground level again we went to Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, which is located in Dubai Mall. We walked through the aquarium tunnel and had a look at all the fishes.
One of the highlights during our days in Dubai was a dinner at Burj Al Arab. The sail shaped hotel has been rated as a seven star hotel. The building is as beautiful as you can imagine and the location, on a man made island, is perfect.
We had reserved a table at Al Muntaha Restaurant located on the 27th floor. It was dark when we were there, so the view was a bit limited even if we had a window table. The restaurant was very nice and modern. We had a two course dinner. As a starter we had King Crab and Ratatouille Ravioli, Steamed Obsiblue Prawns in XO Sauce and Hot Gaspacho Sauce. The main course we chosed was Atlantic Cod Marinated in Ginger and Soy Sauce with Braised Chinese Lettuce and Wild Mushrooms. This was absolutely one of the best dinners I have had, not just because of the food, it was mainly because of the setting.
Dubai - Desert Tour
Dubai is a crazy city with a lof of amazing architecture, but it is also an oasis in the desert. To see what most of the area looked like before the construction boom we went out on an afternoon desert tour. The tour included a 4WD drive through the desert, camel riding and a visit to a Beduin camp where we had a buffe dinner and watched a dance show, which also included belly dancing. It was a very nice tour! When we came back to the hotel and took off our shoes we found out that we had brought a piece of the desert home. :-)
Historical Dubai
We started our Dubai sightseeing by exploring Bur Dubai, the neighbourhood where the old town is located. We had a morning walk in the historical Bastakia Quarter before we visited Dubai museum to learn a little about the history of Dubai.
After exploring Bur Dubai we crossed Dubai Creek in an Abra, a traditional wooden boat. On the other side of the creek is the neighbourhood Deira located.
In the neighbourhood Deira in Dubai you can find the famous Gold Souk and also the Spice Souk. We started by having brunch at a cafe by the creek. I had a wonderful Avocado Smoothie! It sounds really strange so I just had to give it a try. It was a nice mix of avocado, milk and honey. It was absolutely delicious. I have to try to make one at home! :-)
After our brunch we walked through the Gold Souk. We saw the world's heaviest golden ring, with a total weight of 63.856 kg, including the precious stones on it!
