Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Gibbon Experience

The people behind The Gibbon Experience in Chang Mai with their 2km of zip lines has now build a new site in Chonburi, situated just 1 hour outside of Bangkok and 50 minutes from Pattaya Beach at Khao Kheeo, Chonburi, this beautiful forest site offers easy and convenient access from both destinations.


The new site in Chonburi features Thailand’s longest zip-line at over 300 meters! The entire course is over 3 kilometers in length and has 26 platforms.
They had a deal that if you booked online and took the early departure at 06.00 you would get a discount – and the whole rainforest to yourself it turned out!
We got rigged up with harnesses and very flattering orange helmets and we were on our way, after a short trek we could get started and soon we were flying through the tree tops! I am not scared of heights at all, and the equipment was safe and very secure, and the guides were extremely focused and consistent with regards to safety so there was nothing to worry about and I was free to enjoy the views from the very first zip, and was the views amazing! I have never seen a forest from above before and I defiantly recommend it.


A few tree-top houses and hanging bridges along the way keep it interesting.
There are three or so drops throughout the course which keeps things interesting. The last drop is 60+ meters down. For major fun ask to be attached by your back instead of your front. It’s much more exciting that way.
At the end a delicious meal awaits at the office/meeting platform in the forest.
To book your own adventure at the Gibbon Experience visit http://www.treetopasia.com/
Kids are welcome too!


Monday, July 20, 2009

Urumqi, capital of the Uighurs

We had a short stopover in Ürümqi in the western Xinjiang province, China, a city with a population of around 1.6 million. It is quite famous for its claim that is the most inland city in the world, that being the furthest from any ocean.

It served us as a good transition point between Central Asia and China, as the city is heavily influenced by both regions, the local population are Uighurs who are closely related to the Turks. The men were wearing little Muslim skull caps and some of the woman wore a scarf loosely tied around their heads.


We visited the downtown bazaar area, which reminded us a lot of bazaar and souqs in Syria and Morocco. There was a great vibe there, as we sat down to eat at a busy, open food market people smiled and laughed to us/at us, they seemed amused to see foreigners.


The food was delicious, served steaming hot with plenty of fresh coriander on top – yum! Here we also experienced our first moment of being sneak photographed, something the Chinese really seem to master we have discovered :-)


As we walked around the city we noticed how English could only muster up to be the fourth language here, the street signs were in Chinese and Arabic, and a few places we saw Russian writing too. Western influences seem a world away; the only thing that reminded us of the west was the large number of KFCs. Ürümqi and the Xinjiang province is extremely interesting for its cultural mix and far of any tourist trails.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Bottle Beach on Ko Phanang

Bottle Beach, in Thai known as Haad Khuad, is a beach on the north of Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand.
It lies in a protected cove with no road access, so you have to take a boat there from one of the nearby beaches. If you get a shared boat it is 100bath a person. The seclusion of this place means that it feels a million miles from the notorious Had Rin and its Full Moon Party.


Bottle Beach has developed from a little known traveler hide-away into a very popular backpacker beach with plenty of people having a beer or a bucket at night in one of the cozy little restaurants where you sit on cushions on the floor. The beach is beautiful and the accommodation, most of it fairly priced (bungalows start at 250bath) is good.

We stayed at “Smile Bungalows” for 350bath a night.

The long sweeping sand beach is quite lovely, particularly in early morning and late afternoon when the bulk of the day-trippers have left.

However my favorite thing about Bottle Beach was the look-out point. From the most eastern end of the beach you start a steep climb up a forested hill, after a little while you reach a small house where you pay 20bath per person and you can then keep on climbing. We encountered many small lizard-like animals and we also saw a long yellow snake. The climb up is a bit though – so bring water and don’t wear flip-flops !

The reward once you reach the top after about 40 minutes is well worth it though! You have an amazing view down Bottle Beach and the ocean and there is usually a nice breeze at the top to cool you down a bit.




Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A day in Makassar

Makassar is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the largest city on Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was formally named Ujung Pandang.
A good choice of hotel in the budget category is Pondok Suada Indah, according to Lonely Planet the closest you get to a boutique hotel in Makassar, and it is kinda cute, with a slight air of times gone by. This was our base from which to explore the city.



We started the day with “nasi goreng” (fried rice with egg) for breakfast (breakfast included), and soon we were on our way to Fort Rotterdam, which is one of the best-preserved examples of Dutch architecture in Indonesia. A Gowanese (The Kingdom of Gowa) fort dating back to 1545 once stood here, first built in clay and later on upgraded to stone. Still it couldn’t keep out the Dutch, and their cannon balls, who took over the fort and rebuilt it in Dutch style in 1667.


It really was a nice place to walk around, the gardens around the buildings were nicely laid out with palm trees and pink flowers, the Dutch architectural style reminded us of Danish buildings from that period, but the baking sun, the lush palm trees and the Indonesian flag waving in the hot air above still made the place seem pretty exotic.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

About the author

Hi, I’m Lily! I’m pursuing a bachelor in Southeast Asian Studies while travelling as much as I can – which is quite a lot; I’ve currently been on the road for a year. Fitting school and travelling together is sometimes a bit of a puzzle but I make it work. My partner through all this is my boyfriend through 9 years and we truly love experiencing the world together.


Lily in Udaipur, India


It all started in 2003 when I travelled to India for 3 months, having signed up to volunteer for a NGO in a small village in the Thar Desert called Shiv. But before starting the teaching I headed off to a lot of other things, I stayed with a host family, saw Taj Mahal, rafted down Ganges, rode elephants and camels, rappelled down a mountainside, saw a tiger in a national park, danced the nights away at Goa’s famous rave parties and so much more... That mixed with the rewarding experience of teaching in the school in Shiv made for an unforgettable trip that made an everlasting impression on me.

Left: Andaman Islands, India. Right: Bunakan Island, Indonesia


With that my eyes were opened to the incredible world out there – right at our feet, and I was amazed at how easy it is to experience it. I loved meeting other travelers and hearing their tales from previous trips, already before flying home I had started to plan my next trip – and this time I wanted to share it all with Martin.

Left: Southern China.
Right: Lily, Martin and Lenin in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan


In January 2005 we had saved up enough to head off for 6 months; back to India and to Southeast Asia. Since then we have had a hard time staying at home and have had numerous forays back to Asia and especially Southeast Asia. I have learned to speak Indonesian and we have lived in Bali and in Bangkok for longer periods of time. Besides Asia we have also developed a keen interest in the Islamic world and we have had some very rewarding trips to Syria and Morocco. In addition we are planning on going to Oman later this year. Africa has also awoken our travel-appetite, so you can expect tales from that corner of the world as well in the near future.

Left: On horseback in Kyrgyzstan.
Right: Teastall on the road to Khardung La pass at 5602 meters, Ladakh, India