Borobudur

Selamat sore peeps,

So, tomorrow I am off to Lombok :D - but first, some updates.

This week I had my mid-term exams of the four fabulous subject I'm following here, which are Consumer Behavior Analysis, International Finance Management, Financial Management and Strategic Leadership. After three agonizing open-book exams and one closed-book exam,we decided that it was time to let off some steam.Immediately after finishing on Thursday, Arvid and I decided to take a massage. We've been like the dynamic duo in massage-taking hehehe. The people at the massage toko already know our names and stuff, so we don't even have to do much when we get there, which is really nice. The people are really nice and the massages are awesome. How can we afford massages? Well, a 30 minute massage is like Rp.30,000 which is like 2,50eu :D - Go figure.

So yes, after this we decided to have a pre-drinking night at the boys, which turned out to be just a drinking night since most of the people there were highly intoxicated. (I kinda like that word, it makes things sound more dramatic hehehe)

Julie's (housemate) brother is here for two weeks, and today is his last day so we decided that we were going to visit theBorobudur temples with him, later today. But, at 4:30am we decided, while Julie and her brother were highly intoxicated, that we were going to drive to Borobudur right then and there.

Flashback - A couple of weeks ago, we decided to drive to Borobudur on a great sunny day. Everything was going well, until we lost two members of the group (lack of orientation..pff). AFter an hour on waiting for them, it started to rain. I think I've mentioned it before that when it rains here, it RAINS. You get floods and shit, and the water levels rise like crazy. So imagine being on a scooter. Without any further details on what went down between loosing them and finding them, we decided that we were still going to drive to the temples since we were just "5 kilometers away" (right). The rain seemed to have stopped and then, boom, this fucking thunderstorm shit hit us on the way there. After like 20 minutes driving we were still "5 kilometers away" (I don't understand hehehehe). Arvid fell of his scooter, since he didn't have any grip due to all the rain. When that happened, we just surrendered to mother nature and gave it up. We decided to stop and hide from the rain, in this random waroeng stand. Pff..it's like they haven't had any customers for years or something. In the mean time we were an astonishing "2 kilometers away" from the temple. (right)

Things just didn't seem to get any better. One of the Dutch guys fell off his scooter too, scraping his arms and knees and shit. After 4 hours of driving up and down, we finally made it home. This was such a failure, it sucked. But back to yesterday.

So, after only 45 minutes of driving, we arrived at the Borobudur temples just in time for the sunrise. (I must note that I haven't slept for a day already). It was freaking awesome! We were climbing the temple when the sun was rising, and it was just beautiful. The architecture is super beautiful and well preserved. After walking around for maybe and hour we found Julie sleeping next to a statue hahahaha. Exhaustion kicked in as we were walking around and started to get really hot. (Note: it was around 7:30 - 8ish am) We decided to head back home. Julie's brother was still drunk and he even bought two beers on our way there hahaha. Later on, he fell asleep behind Aurelien (which was driving the scooter)..it was funny. You just saw the guy lean to the side like he was gonna fall of the scooter or something (fast asleep).

I must say, this was the most spontaneous shit ever, since it wasn't planned at all and Borobudur is like super far away hehehe (although we made it in 45 minutes compared to the last time that it took 1:30hr to just drive there - before loosing everyone). And lastly, at 6am I noticed I got an sms from Stephanie (she was at the house too) stating: "I'm coming with you guys toBorobudur. Where are you?". I think that by then we were long gone hahahaha. But, it was cool, period. (Pictures will follow soon)

Now I have to go pack because I'm leaving for Lombok tomorrow at 6am (for one week).

So guys, have a nice weekend and I'll see ya'll in a week!

Peace!

Bali weekend

Restaurant entertainment

Look at that horrible farmer's tan! :'( (we had to wear these surfer uniforms..damnit) - Me, Arvid and Stephanie.

Double Six *taraaaang*

Prambanan pictures!

Climbing a temple ;)

Mary Poppins?

Here are some pictures. The internet here is too slow to upload anything.

Bali Weekend! :D

Hello readers,

So, like you've noticed, I haven't been updating this a lot cause I don't have time or I don't feel like it, he!.

Like the title says ...BALI WEEKEND!!

In the week of January 28th we had a long weekend, starting from Thursday, which was awesome. We decided to take a spontaneous trip to Bali. Yes, BALI!! So, Bali..We all hear that Bali is beautiful, nice beaches, sunny, great weather bla bla bla.

Well at first, it seems like that. We got there at night after a turbulent flight with Lion Air, we managed to get there alive. Seriously, these planes have duck taped seat and shit, go figure!

At least our hotel was awesome. We arrived in Denpasar (the capital of Bali) and drove of to Kuta (the touristy place) And oh it is super touristy. You only see tourists. The locals there are only there to offer you massages, sell you souvenirs, taxi rides and well, most recreational drugs and prostitutes (women, men, children, grandma's...whatever you want) I was surprised to see that they weren't offering organs or something. All you could here while walking on the street was "taxi, transport, taxi, taxi?". Jesus, that was rather annoying. But yes, besides that, Bali has its goods. We only stayed in Kuta (Kuta Beach to be exact), and so we didn't get a chance to see all of Bali (yet).

That night, the scenery was freaking awesome. There was a full moon and it made the sky look so beautiful ( see picture) Even though the picture is kinda blurry.

Afterwards we went to have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (of course hehe..I'm a fan). There was a live band playing, like in all other indonesian clubs/bars/resto's. Once again, they covered Paramore. They are seriously obsessed with them. Later that night we walked around in search of a club but that gave up and went to the hotel. The agenda for the next day was surfing, surfing and more surfing, with a splash of clubbing :).

So Arvid and I got up "early" in the morning and went on a shopping spree (i.e. surf shorts and tops). Once those were found, we went to rent some boards and headed out to the ocean. P.S. It was scorching hot ! it must have been like almost 40degrees or something. ( You could see the heat rise from the asphalt) So yes, we went surfing. You would expect the beach to have white sands and turquoise waters, well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but everything was grayish. Really. But that didn't stop us. You would think that the water would provide some kind of cooling from the heat, well..the water was as hot, which really sucks. But I wasn't complaining :p.

Surfing was, well, okay. It took some getting used to again, but the waves were't that great. Even though they told us at the place, that the tide was low (since we were late), but oh well.

After surfing we went to relax in our infinity pool and had some drinks. Later on we went into town to have a meal. Nightfall :D..YES!..PARTY!! Our dear friends Stephany and Phlo went along as well, and since Stephany is from Bali, she knew the spots. We went to this club called Sky Garden (AWESOME!). It's like 4 clubs in one with different music areas (hip hop/r&b, house, techno, and a live room) All you could see in the clubs were Australians and Europeans. It was like I was in Australia again, the only drawback was that they were all wasted and aggressive *nice*. So yes, the club. It was really cool, the music was good and well the crowd went wild. Besides the Aussies, the locals there (moslty girls), apparently, were all hookers? That's what they told us, which could have made sense, since they are like everywhere. But yeh, we stayed there until like 5:30 or something.

On our way to the hotel, you see all these people with children on the street begging for money, poor kids. Apparently they kids are not even theirs. They just use them to get money...sad, sad sight. Besides that, you get offered all kinds of things (like I mentioned before).

The next day, we went to take surf lessons which was really cool. The only thing was that one of the teachers was really annoying since everyone had to be the "perfect" surfer. I think the man didn't grasp the concept of "surf lessons for beginners". But the other instructors were really relaxed and laid-back, which made the day fun. This time, the tide was awesome and the waves were rather big. After two hours of constantly fighting the waves, we were dead tired. We went back to sleep and than to the airport. Since we only bought one-way tickets to Bali, we had to book our return flight for only 35euro's or something :D.

That night, we went to Seminyak. This is like the place to be once you're in Bali. Its has the best clubs, malls and restaurants. We had dinner at a rather fancy restaurant. Fancy here is like you pay 10 euros for a entree, main course, desert and drinks :D Gotta love Indonesia :D. Afterwards, we went to this bar called "Vida Loca" which was awesome. I met some people from Colombia there hehehe. This was followed by another club(don't remember the name) and then club Double Six. Apparently this is THE club in Bali. There was seriously nothing special about this place besides the bungy jump area! After that, we went back to club M (I think) and then later to Sky Garden. By then, it was already about 5am, and Aurelien and I decided to go to the hotel.

The next day was hell. I got sick due to the heat. It was TOO hot. And probably due to something I ate too, so I spent my last day in bed throwing up and shit *great end*. The next morning we had to catch out flight back (at least I made it back without getting sick).

All and all, the Bali weekend was fun. The only annoying thing was the local people harassing you all the time. But I am for sure going back a couple of times before I leave this place.

Peace!

Update..

Selamat sore,

What's up everyone? So now that I got my mac back, I can finally update this thing.

So let's see......

• Every week: Clubs:

So the place to be on Wednesday nights or pretty much every night, is club Liquid. Liquid is the "youngsters" club where you find people from 15 to 30, looking all fabulous and sh*t. Here the people really dress up when going out. It's like prom or something. As I mentioned before, the clubs mostly have dancers, a dj and a band. The band plays like a 1 hour Paramore's set, than the dj and the dancers kick in. They keep on rotating all night long. The freaking bands cover "Ignorance" ..ahaha..and "Jai Ho" from the Pussycat Dolls/Slumdog Millionaire. They play those two songs in every single club or bar. I personally think that the house music here is way better than Holland. I mean, you don't hear the same stuff over and over again, which is good.

Oh...when you buy a bottle of alcohol, they treat you like you're God or something. you get a private table with people serving you and everything. A bottle is 'expensive' for the people here but for us, it's like 25 euro (+/- Rp 300,000) for a vodka bottle? And if I'm not mistaken, JD is like 40 to 50 euro?

Club number 2 is called Caeser (Friday nights). Caeser is a pool/restaurant/cafe/club with a very loungy interior. We know the managers so that makes life very easy hhehehe. Discounts on drinks, free pool and vip tables ;). What can I say..hehe. The music is good and the people are nice.

You also have VVIP Boshe. This is more of a older people's club hehehe. But from what I heard, it's still cool.

Lastly, there is the Bintang cafe. This place is like "The Tropen" (for those that lived on Curacao). It really reminds me of Curacao. Every night there is live music from local bands. Most of them are like old skool rock 'n roll bands or blues bands. the atmosphere here is really laid-back and cool. I love it. The food and drinks are cheap too ;)

• 2 weeks ago: Prambanan (click for info):

It was a sunny sunday morning and we were on our way Prambanan. But first, we needed some scooters. On the way to the scooter place we were harassed (once again) by all the locals to take taxis or buy stuff or take a becak. We finally arrived at this tourist information place and rented 4 scooters.

First of all, the traffic is on the other side. Not only that, but traffic here is horrible. You can drive anywhere...left, right or in the middle of the street; it doesn't matter. People here ride around on scooters with entire families hahaha...it's funny. But yeh.

So we got our scooters and off we were to Prambanan. (it's like an hour by scooter..normal speed ;))

It was hot and to my great surprise, I got a horrible farmer's tan. Great. It's like you spent 5 minutes in the sun and you have a tan. But the sun was burning through my jeans and than out of nowhere, it starts raining. Thank got we arrived at Prambanan on time. Once there, we rented umbrellas and went on our way.

There was a show of some sort at the entrance but we didn't actually stay to watch. We took a walk to the part where the temples were. Most of them were being restored and so we couldn't get into them. But they looked really cool. Cool photo moments :). It's funny, we were like the only 'tourists' there. Since all the other people there look like indonesians or chinese hehehehe. People really stare at us like we are aliens or something.

• The Blackberry-mania: Blackberry, blueberry and strawberry

Blackberry here is like THE accessory of the moment. Everyone has a blackberry ...really!..There are also fake versions of the blackberry i.e. Strawberry and Blueberry ;)..go figure!

More will come ...we are going to dinner now.

Take care everyone!!

*Pictures will follow soon. Since my hard-drive crashed I lost most of my software including Aperture. So I have to figure something out.

Back after 3!

Selamat malam,

(good night)

Hello everyone...so, I've been slacking regarding updating this blog, but things have been a bit slow. And not to mention the non existing internet facilities that were part of my first two weeks here. But anyways..time for some updates..good and bad

My first day/night (January 2nd) here was, well, weird ehehehe. Arriving in a country where english is BARELY spoken, was a first for me. I mean, seriously.....barely!!

The trip took a freaking day, more or less. 

Let's see:

1. AMS - LND: 1 hour 
2. LND: 5 hours (waiting time (blegh))
   
3. LND - DUB:  7 hours and 45  minutes
4. DUB: 2 hours (transfer time) - the I got a free upgrade to business class with Emirates :D
5. DUB - JKT: 7 hours
6. JKT: 2 hours (transfer time)
7. JKT - JOG: 1 hour

So in total that's like 25 hours and 45 min...great sh*t, huh? oh well.

I arrived at my hotel, to this freaking crappy room. God. things just kept on getting better and better...hehehe. Anyways I decided to suck it in and tried to get some sleep. Well, sleep did not come either...wonderful. At like 6am I fell asleep and woke up at like 10 or something. 

Anyways, I decided to take a stroll down Malioboro. This is like the 'main' street in Yogyakarta, where you can find a lot of traditional clothing and art etc. By the way, it is freaking hot here. So imagen leaving Holland (-1°) and arriving in 30°. It was suffocating..god. There aren't a lot of tourists here, so you stick out like a sore thumb. People really stare at you and they want to take pictures...which was really weird and annoying. And every 5 minutes you are approached by a becak (pronounced as 'bechak') driver, to see if you would like to take a tour of the city. They tend to rip you off, so that was a 'no-no'.

But yeh..it was way too hot to walk around so I decided to go to the mall. I was surprised to see that they had a mall. Yes, a mall. Not as big as those we know...but reasonable!

Walked around a bit but later decided to go back to the hotel. I called up the guys to see if they wanted to meet up, and so we did. I've never met them before so, that was interesting.

We decided to meet at this place called 'Ambarrukmo Plaza'. Well, it looked like I was in America. This was a MALL!!!! Massive :D but yeh..I was really surprised at the fact that this place has a lot of American influence (stores, food etc)..

Anyways, they were cool guys....who turned out to be awesome heheheh!

So we hung out in Ambarrukmo for a while than had dinner and we gamed for awhile. 

I had class the next day at *drum roll* 7A.M! Who does that? Jesus!! Classes take 2:30 hours WITHOUT a break. But yeh, I have classes 4 times a week and you can't miss anything, which sux. But yeh, classs here are retarded maar ja, I just have to endure these for 4 months... 

Nothing interesting happend in the first week. Besides meeting some other students and finding a house. Oh yeh, and going out hehehe.

Going out here is like a fashion show for these indonesians. Seriously!!  And the clubs? hahahah They have live cover bands every night. It's funny cause they sing in what sounds like english but it's not. They try to sing the lyrics but hahaha, I think they just listen to the song and try to figure out what they are saying. Like the song 'rumba'. They are like '1,2,3,4 - blablabla' hehehe. And besides the band, you have exotic dancers too; in every club!! So you see all of the guys drooling.. You basically have a DJ, band and dancers; they tend to rotate.

Did I mention that everything is cheap? As in really cheap? hahaha .. a 30 minute taxi ride is like 2euro and you still divide it amongst each other hehehe. A meal ranges from 0,50 to 5 euro (including drinks). You go to the supermarket and you buy like 3 bags ( AH bags), you pay not even 10euro hehehe. Awesome!!

Going out is cheap.  Drinks are cheap...everything is cheap. We met these guys that turned out to be club managers and how good is that. We get in for FREE, we get free drinks and AWESOME discounts, and VIP tables heheheh :D...

Hmmm what else...When I think of something I'm gonna update this. We are going to dinner right now.  And tomorrow we are renting scooters to go to Borobudur. These are buddist temples!

oh...since it's a muslim country...You have the reminder 'wake-up' call thing  6 times a day which starts at 4AM..great!

So, see you guys!

oh..my nymber here is +6281328899570

Selamat Datang ke saya blog!

Halo di sana pembaca,

*hello there reader*

Happy New Year to ya'll!!

So once again folks, I'm off to some far away land. This time it's Indonesia.

Just like last time, I'll be keeping ya'll posted on what's going on here.

I'm super excited to go but I will miss everyone and especially my baby Pancakes.

So...I'm off to Indonland in T minus 8 hours and 40 minutes :)

Until the next one!