August 13, 2012 - Looking back ... and forward
I know that for many long-time travelers, 6 months is peanuts as they have been on the road for years. Some of their blogs I follow like ...
http://everything-everywhere.com by Gary Arndt,
http://www.ottsworld.com by Sherry Ott
... and a few others.
I am not intending to become a long-time traveler myself but wanted to give it a try and see how I like being on the move for an extended period of time. My rediscovered interest in photography has given me a new motivation and makes me do things I would not do without a camera like attending a Muay Thai boxing night in Chiang Mai or taking a speedboat to one of the water villages of Kota Kinabalu. I am also not saying that this will be the end of my trip as I still have plans to go to Laos, Vietnam, revisit China and Cambodia and perhaps go to the Philippines although the wishlist is much, much longer.
The past 6 months have been - and now I am using a word I do not really like that much but perhaps it applies here - AWESOME. There have been many, many highlights and very few disappointments. I have traveled slowly, staying pretty much as long as I wanted in places I liked. Affordable accommodation made such decisions easier, in more expensive cities like Venice and Singapore, I still stayed for a week and airbnb-ing (www.airbnb.com) helped with keeping costs reasonable while getting a great place to call my home for those days, at the same time.
Enough said, I have selected one photos for each country and these are by far not representative, they just caught my eye when I went through my catalogs.
Venice (ITALY): It was not my first time in Venice but my first Carnivale di Venezia and if I can I want to do it again. The atmosphere, the costumes and of course the impressive setting in a city like Venice have surpassed all my expectations. Luckily, my hometown Vienna is just an overnight train ride away ...
I also went to Göreme in Cappadoccia (for my 1st time) but as I only chose 1 picture per country, those will have to wait.
Kathakali means Story-Play and is "a highly stylized classical Indian dance-drama noted for the attractive make-up of characters, elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion. It originated in the country's present day state of Kerala during the 17th century and has developed over the years with improved looks, refined gestures and added themes besides more ornate singing and precise drumming." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathakali)
For the first month I stayed pretty much put letting my ankles heal but during my second month I traveled to a number of places, visiting the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Ayutthaya, Sukhothai, Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet, and even extended my visa by hopping across the border to Laos from Nong Kai to see the Phi Ta Khon (Ghost) Festival in Dan Sai, Loei province before returning to Bangkok for my flight to Singapore.
Here is one of the typical and omni-present spirit houses of Thailand ...
Singapore:
My first time in Singapore and I really loved the city and all it had to offer. Unfortunately, it rained quite a bit while there but I found Singapore's museums, the zoo and all the sights I went to simply outstanding. Accommodation costs I kept in check by airbnb-ing with a Singaporean family in a nice residential neighborhood and it was great to be back in a city with efficient public transportation and standards like back in Europe. The food offer was amazing and besides housing costs, expenditures in Singapore are not that bad.
This is a photo of the Merlion "a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, used as a mascot and national personification of Singapore. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name - Singapura - meaning "lion city" or "kota singa". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlion)
This one stands majestically on a hill on Sentosa island and is huge. The perhaps better known Merlion tourist icon in Merlion Park downtown was under restaurantion and all fenced up. I said that I definitely will have to go back to Singapore as there is so much to see and do and one week was simply not enough.
Borneo (Malaysia): Another first, and this is where I still am. I started out in Kuching and visited a lot of the smaller cities along the way - Sibu, Kapit (only accessible by speedboat), Mukah, Bintulu, Miri, the National Park of Mulu, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, then passing through Brunei and arriving in Sabah just a few days ago, staying in Kota Kinabalu and a charming small town called Kota Belud, from where I am writing this.
Borneo offers a beautiful countryside, exciting National parks and animal conservation centers but ha salso shown its surprisingly modern face with huge shopping malls, up-to-date transport facilities and very friendly and helpful locals. This part of the trip is still ongoing and will last another 10-14 days before returning to West-Malaysia, mainly Kuala Lumpur but also Malakka and Penang.
I took this photo during an excursion to some of the caves in Mulu National Park and the water level of the river was quite low, so at times, we had to get out and push.
I only spent 3 nights or 2 full days in Brunei and somehow I was a bit disappointed. Brunei was not as colorful and lively as Malaysia was. Nevertheless there are some wonderful buildings like the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque in the very center of the city. Unfortunately, as it was Ramadan, non-muslims were not allowed to enter the mosque or the garden surrounding it.
I don't know if I will continue to travel for 6 more months or beyond that, time will show. Certainly, there are still many places I have not been yet, would like to go, and many others I would love revisit. For now, the journey continues ...
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