wanderlust: Jonas Hunford

It has been a while since my last update. I think it is because I thought a lot of Asia was the same, but I guess in reality I have just been doing a lot of the same things. After a week in Malaysia I decided to go to the Cameron Highlands to take a break from the beaches and islands and do something new. Cameron is famous for its tea fields and plantations. There are also a bunch of great trekking trails, ranging from casual walks in the forest along well maintained paths to more challenging, rugged trails that require high fitness levels. Needless to say Joel and I chose the most difficult path. The forest was very misty and full of moss, so much that at times you could bounce on the ground. There wasn't very much wildlife, due to the high altitude but it was still a very nice hike/climb.

After Malaysia, we flew into Bali, Indonesia and stayed 6 nights at Kuta beach. Now if you had a bad impression about Phi Phi from my last entry, Kuta is even worse. Kuta is a major vacation destination for Australians, It is much like Cancun, Mexico for Canadians and Americans. The locals in Kuta make about 2-4 dollars a day which leads many of them to be very money-grubbing and willing to do anything for cash. You can't relax on the beach for 5 minutes without someone walking up to you trying to sell you ice cream, sarongs, fruit, hats, carvings, blow darts and bow and arrows, and of course the bar girls handing out VIP drink tickets. At night, people try to sell you marijuana and mushrooms or what ever other drug you might want. A lot of the time the police are right close to them. There is a lot of prostitution and I think even child prostitution. I had many guys asking me if I needed transportation (on motorbike) and then immediately ask me if I would like a young girl. I also got attacked 2 nights in a row by transvestites trying to grab me, one guy I know got stabbed in the arm by one. We had enough of Kuta and decided to go to the Gili Islands, which is a group of three small island just off the west coast of Lombok. We stayed at Gili Trawangan, the biggest and most commercial island of the three. There are no vehicles or motorcycles on the island, the only transportation is by bicycle or horse carriage. The ocean there was probably the cleanest and clearest I've seen in Asia so far. I met some new friends on the island, Johan and Anton from Sweden, Jeff from Belgium, and his girlfriend Tess from Melbourne. They were all really good people and we enjoyed dinner together every night in the cabana huts by the sea. After being travel companions for more than a month, it was time for Joel and I to split. He wanted to go back to Kuta and do more surfing and i wanted to go to Ubud with Johan and Anton. It was a little sad to split, you get so use to doing everything together and getting to be good friends. But it was also nice to meet new people to travel with.
Ubud is a nice quiet town in the rainforest, the streets are lined with shops selling painting, carvings, ceramics and souvenirs there are also a lot of nice trendy restaurants which I haven't seen much of in Asia. There wasn't much of a night live there, but I didn't mind, it was nice to have some quiet early nights. I shared a room with Johan for the duration of our stay in Ubud. Monkey Forest was right down the street from us, it is full of a few hundred year old carved statues and temples and it was full of monkeys, hence the name. I took quite a few photos from the forest. Johan, Anton and I rented motorcycles for the whole time we were there, and we did many trips touring the country side visiting small villages and looking for good trekking spots. My mother would not be to happy if she saw the busy roads we were on and how we were passing people. They were also filming a movie while we were there with Julia Roberts 'Eat, Pray, Love'
Johan and I decided to do a volcano trek at night to watch the sunrise. They picked us up from our hotel at 3am and it was an hour drive to the volcano where we met our guide. We immediately started climbing, our guide maintained a good pace to determine our fitness level, but we kept up just fine. The path was illuminated for us by the light of the full moon, we were the only group with out a flashlight. We made it to the top rather quickly, maybe 70 minutes, passing nearly every group. There was a very cold, strong wind at the top, which was nice because of how much we were sweating but once it cooled us off, it became really cold and some people were not dressed for the weather. The sun rose above the larger volcano to the east and you could also see the volcano from the neighboring island Lombok in the distance. The sunrise was beautiful but quick. After the sunrise, our guide showed us some other creators and vents and told us about the past eruptions. The volcano is still active. Then we pretty much ran and slid down the volcano, it was quite fun and I could tell our guide was having fun as well. We got back to our room at 8am and slept for half the day. A couple days later we went back to Kuta and I said goodbye to the guys and then got on the plane to Brisbane.

As I pace the network of alleyways and side streets of this town, I continue to hear a constant echoing in my head from: 'hello massage' to 'taxi boat?', 'taxi boat?' by day. Once the sun disappears over the horizon, it changes to 'free shot' or 'buy one bucket get 2 free'. People constantly handing you flyers for bars and cheap drinks. This place is catered to the tourist's every need, and more. I feel Thailand has lost a lot of its culture due to the mass of tourist's that flood in from Europe and Australia and all over the world to attend events like the infamous Full Moon Party, which is a cesspool of drugs and alcohol and immoral behavior. Attractions such as Ma Ya Bay which is where the movie 'The Beach' was filmed are way over commercialized. The beauty of the bay is lost, with speed boat after speed boat lining the shore and a packed beach full of tourist's on day trips.
I also hear people say: "you're only in Thailand once". This being my second time in this country, I am beginning to realize why people asked me why I was going back to Thailand since I've been there already and I understand why a lot of people don't go to the same place twice. I feel this country has become stale to me, I have lost the drive to explore more of the country. (notice the lack of video lately?) My time in Thailand is coming to an end, although there is one last thing I want to do, camping on Bamboo Island. Anyway, I think I might change my flight out of here to an earlier date.
Don't get me wrong, Thailand can still be a great place to visit, just don't over do it.
Perhaps I sound so negative and feel a little down as a result of not feeling well the last couple days.

I have a headache so I think I will go for a massage.