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World trip - Anna & Bertram
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World trip - Anna & Bertram

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  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    24 hours on the Navimag ferry

    January 20, 2018 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Ferry life proved to be a good experience. To begin with, we got a cabin just for the two of us. No luxury onboard but decent food served in the canteen three times a day and comfy beds as well as nice common areas.

    The ferry ploughed through calm waters in foggy conditions while we read and listened to audio books indoors. In the afternoon, the weather steadily improved and we completed a 3,000-step walk around the ship and enjoyed the views.

    The evening had a stunning sunset and Bertram was busy to observe all the exciting things going on as we neared the port of Puerto Montt. 🔭

    We have now disembarked (it took 30 minutes to get down the ramp and get onto the bus...) and look forward to reaching the hostel.    Read more

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    Back in Santiago

    January 21, 2018 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We spent 1 day in Puerto Montt (due to a techno-heavy music festival going on in the main square we quickly termed it “Techno Montt”) and then took a flight back to Santiago, where we arrived in the evening.

    After being on the ferry for 24 hours, we were keen to go for a little walk in Puerto Montt, so we devised a little “Mirador-Route” (mirador=viewpoint) and enjoyed some views over the bay of Puerto Montt. There is a lot of German-speaking influence here, so a lot of places have German names (for example, we walked past a minimarket called “Ausblick View”.) We also managed to find a cafe that has soy milk and so Anna was able to enjoy a cappuccino again after weeks of tea only :-)

    Finally back in Santiago, we checked into our hostel (again a very nice historical building-turned-hostel) and went to bed. Tomorrow: two days of cycling around the wine region in the Maipo river valley. :-)    Read more

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    12

    Cajón de Maipo + Viña El Principal

    January 23, 2018 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We set out early with public transport to leave the big city and get our bikes at the beginning of the Cajón de Maipo. We had 63 km in total with a nice mix of ups and downs until we reached the wine valley which was quite flat. The roads we were on were unfortunately busy with traffic from cars, buses and also trucks for a lot of the way. No bike roads :-/

    Arriving just in time at Viña El Principal, we were greet warmly by Alexandra who would be giving us - ans just the two of us - the tour. As a boutique winery, El Principal produces only 3 types of wines and premium ones at that. We spent two hours with Alexandra, even driving out to the vines and looking at the different varieties. The tasting in the end was fantastic as well. Our favorite was the mid-range red wine “Memorias”. Let’s see whether we can find it at home as well! Having drunk three half-full glasses of wine, we still safely continued the journey in a bright mood 🍷

    The hotel that we chose for the night also played on the wine tune :-) La Calma de Rita is a really nice place with gardens, swimming pool and cabins. The highlight: our bed was inside a giant wine barrel. They also served great food onsite - and then only one thing to do: going to bed early.    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Viña Santa Rita and back to Santiago

    January 23, 2018 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    The initial plan to get up early and extend the tour by 15 km was stopped short at 08:00. Both our behinds hurt from yesterday’s bike ride and we already had 63 km to go anyways.

    So, we enjoyed the breakfast and left without a hurry at 10:30 to go to Santa Rita winery. The weather started out very cloudy but soon the sun came out and we couldn’t escape it on the flat roads of the valley.

    Viña Santa Rita is a publicly listed company and one of the big three producers in Chile (and South America). They have >3,500 hectares of vineyards with many different varieties of grapes - huge when compared to 90 hectares for the winery we visited yesterday.

    The tour with Daniel was again an interesting one, especially because of the longer history of the winery. We were a tour of 30 people which could of course not compare with El Principal. The wines that we tasted were nice but not as exquisite. The price points were much lower as well: 4.50, 5.50, and 12.50 per bottle compared to 20.00, 45.00, and 130.00 per bottle yesterday. So something for everyday. This is exemplified by the quantity of wine sold: Santa Rita sells 50 million bottles in Chile alone - for 18 million people. So they must be drinking it quite often :-)

    The way back to the bicycle rental was less difficult than we thought - we had to stop at the hotel again as Anna had forgotten a pullover - but it was a good occasion to use the pool again :-) Getting off the bikes was nevertheless a moment of celebration :-)

    We are now back in Santiago and ready to spend the last evening before leaving the continent.    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Off to Sigapore :-)

    January 24, 2018 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Our time in South America is coming to an end. We are leaving with a lot of good memories and thankful for the many sights we saw and people we met. There are lots of places we already put on our list for “visit again” or “check out with more appropriate gear” (for example the climbing regions).

    We are now travelling to Singapore - via Buenos Aires and Frankfurt (where we’ll briefly meet family). Here we go again :-)    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler
    1

    Stopover in Frankfurt

    January 25, 2018 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Our three day journey (we left Santiago on 24.1. and will arrive in Singapore in 26.1.) included a 11 hour stopover in Frankfurt.

    Bertram’s parents made the arduous journey from Salzburg to join us for a an afternoon coffee and tea. It was great to see you!! :-)

    Now we’re back in the lounge, waiting for the ~11 hour flight from Frankfurt to Singapore to board. It feels a bit surreal being back in Germany. We feel the blues a little for leaving “home“ again for another three-months stint. But surely it will all feel different once we’re in Singapore with 35° and 90% humidity. :-)    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Arrival in Singapore!

    January 27, 2018 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    After our 2-day / 36-hour travels, we have finally arrived in Singapore. The weather is much nicer than Frankfurt with warm and humid temperatures, not too hot as it seems.

    We will have ample time in 2.5 days to visit several sights, starting with Marina Bay, the gardens and potentially a river cruise tomorrow.

    Tonight we only checked in into our capsule hotel - very nice experience - and went out for a burger/salad in the Chinatown quarter.    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Discovering the consumerism city

    January 28, 2018 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We had a full day today: we woke up at 08:00 and with remarkably little jet lag given the 11 hour time difference to South America, had breakfast - but after it felt a bit like sleeping again ;-) However, we got going to Marina Bay Sands with its incredible man-made gardens, super trees, luxury hotels and shopping malls.

    We had a great time strolling through the super tree garden (which also produces environmentally friendly electricity in its roofs) and then went up the Marina Bay Sands building on the observation deck to enjoy spectacular views across the city. The super tree garden was amazing - the high (man made) trees are reminiscent of movie scenes set in the jungle :-)

    The afternoon was spent indulging in the constant display of items for sale. The result is a new Fitbit for Anna :-) Now, we can compete on daily steps walked and hours of exercise per week ;-) As a final treat we went to a foot massage place: a real treat with 30 minutes of massage for about 10 EUR.

    We came home quite exhausted, just barely taking part in some early Chinese New Year festivities taking place in Chinatown where our hotel is located. At the hotel we rested a bit and then went out again for dinner (we chose a nice Singaporean vegetarian restaurant). To top it off, we then met Patrick, a friend from Munich who is currently in Singapore for work, and enjoyed some cocktails in one of Singapore’s many bars.

    Now it’s finally time for bed! :-)    Read more

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    2

    Jubilee walk, shopping, zoo/night safari

    January 28, 2018 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Another big day! We started off walking the jubilee walk along the old river front. It was great to see the old buildings which are part of Singapore’s history as a free harbor. There were boats crossing the river but we stayed on the promenade and admired the contrasting views of old buildings and ships vs. skyscrapers. And we also saw the famous Merlion Singapore’s mascot animal half lion, half fish.

    As the heat and sun started the burn down on us, we went for shelter in an ice-cold Starbucks with a Matcha Frappuccino :-)

    We then went into another mall for some Yoga clothes shopping (Anna needs to be prepared for Indonesia) and then met with Lara, a friend from Munich, to go visit Singapore Zoo. The bus ride there was already an adventure as the bus was filled with pet animals :-)

    The visit started out great with free-roaming monkeys 🐒 in the trees, a herd of white rhinos 🦏🦏 , giraffe 🦒 feeding. The latter was - in true Singapore style - available as an upgrade and for “only 5$ you can feed the giraffe yourself”. Everything is for sale here.

    We then continued to a large territory for birds and flying foxes which look a bit like bats but are cuter and bigger. Unfortunately, it soon started to rain ☔️ and it did not stop for 1.5 hours ;-/ We could not make use of our - also dearly paid for - tram tickets as the tram was always full with people and once we got in, the thunderstorm was in full bloom. The craziest thing was a lightning striking next to us with electric buzzing audible seconds before :-O

     We still had the highlight of the day coming, though: we also booking tickets for the night safari and loved it. First comes a 40-minuted tram ride - with commentary on the animals that one sees but overall too noisy and loud. We were especially sorry for the animals at this point but maybe they were already accustomed? They did not seem too mind too much, especially the smaller ones. A great opportunity was that one can additionally tour the night zoo on foot and it was great to see so many nocturnal animals minding their business: hippos, bats, flying foxes, lions, tigers, various smaller cat-like creatures on trees, porcupines... really cool!    Read more

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    1

    Last day in Consumtopia

    January 29, 2018 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    The day started early at 07:00 - Anna got a complementary Yoga class from her purchases at Lululemon. Then we set out for haircuts and other beauty services.

    Bertram also got a new pair of leisure shoes. Same color (dark blue) though - the change is kept to a minimum and mostly includes fresher smell :-) Finally another soy latte at Costa Coffee ☕️

    We then set out to the airport. The airport facilities are great and we got some tax refunds. The only thing that we did not know: security checks at the gate and no drinks allowed to take onboard. Two full Starbucks coffees gone :-/

    Now, it’s adventure time again, with Cambodia next!    Read more

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    2

    Hello Cambodia!

    January 30, 2018 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    We had a packed first day in Cambodia today. After arriving in Phnom Penh late last night, we checked into our hotel and enjoyed a very restful night in a great room.

    You can get very cheap accommodation in Cambodia if you only stay in hostels, but as soon as you’re prepared to spend a little more (say 20-40 USD) the rooms and hotels become significantly nicer :-)

    Our plan for today was quite full: after breakfast, we went to see the National Art Museum featuring Khmer artwork (all around 700-1600 AD). We learnt a bit about the different epochs in Cambodia and some of the beliefs surrounding Cambodian’s flavour of Buddhist religion. Plus, the building itself was very impressive. Built by the French in the 1920s, it was modeled on classic Khmer architecture and has a fantastic interior square and impressive facade.

    After the Art Museum, we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (also known as S-21). Tuol Sleng was one of more than a hundred torture and prison centres during the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979. The building is a former school, converted to become a prison and torture centre, designed to coerce “confessions” from the prisoners about their anti-regime activity. The torture would only end if you named other alleged “traitors”. The confessions were of course all fake, but that didn’t stop the Khmer Rouge from torturing more than 14.000 people here and then murdering them in a killing field (mass grave) south of the city. More than 3 million died during the Khmer Rouge rule overall, 25% of the total population at the time!

    The museum was a somber experience - it is incredible to learn about the types of cruelties humans are capable to inflict on each other in the name of some system of belief or system of government. We highly support these efforts to expose the atrocities of the past and hope that a significant share of Cambodians will have the opportunity to learn about them as well - currently only 5% or school children have been at the museum...

    In the afternoon, we left dusty and noisy Phnom Penh behind (for now) and took a bus to Battambang, a supposedly very relaxed and scenic place :-)    Read more

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    3

    Circus, art, and heat in Battambang

    January 31, 2018 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    We had a great first day in Battambang! After the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh yesterday, Battambang feels a lot calmer and much less crowded. Sure, there are tuk tuks and street vendors here too, but there are also lots of Pagodas and a relatively clean river in which the locals bathe.

    After breakfast in our hotel (think Bamboo-house with a natural pool :-)) we went to explore the city as well as its coffee places ;-) We started to read up a bit more about Cambodia’s past and how it got to where it is today (did you know that Cambodia was the first and only country that was once placed under direct UN control?).

    In the evening, we went to the Phare Ponleu Selpak school for arts, dance, music and performance. The students study there for three months per year for three years to graduate in their course. The students for music and performance put on a well-known circus show. Anna read about it in the “REPORTAGEN” magazine back in Germany and so we were curious to see it for ourselves. The school is a very good opportunity for local kids to learn skills (such as video game animation or graphic design) that helps them build a career and escape poverty. Many of the students go on to work in Phnom Penh.

    We then had dinner in a great restaurant offering Khmer cuisine with locally sourced ingredients and a variety of vegan options - including dessert :-)
    On our way back, our tuk tuk driver took us past one of the Pagodas where we were able to see some of the Magha Puja celebrations. All the pagodas are lined with candles, creating a wonderful atmosphere in the temples :-)    Read more

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    2

    Cooking class, temples and bat cave

    February 1, 2018 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    The second day was also a true highlight!

    We had to get up early to be at our Khmer cooking class at 09:00. We were 6 people altogether and used the facilities of Coconut LyLy’s restaurant to prepare 4 dishes until 12:00 o’clock:
    - green mango salad
    - taro-carrot spring rolls
    - traditional “amok” dish with mushrooms
    - coconut-lime dessert

    The best thing about Khmer cuisine are the flavors: it’s not too spiced but rather emphasizes the abundant flavors of different herbs (e.g., lemongrass, coriander), roots (e.g., kurkuma, ginger), and spices (e.g., kampot pepper, chili). Also great for me, Anna, is that a lot of dishes are vegetarian/vegan :-) and if not: most can be modified and as portions are often cooked separately, one can even vary the ingredients person by person.

    We first went to the local market to by a couple of fresh ingredients. It was great to see the different colors of fruit and vegetables as well as the “coconut milk cow” in action: it’s a device which produces coconut milk out of freshly ground coconut flesh 🥥

    Cooking was fun and quite easy - also due to our great instructor Lim Ly whose wife came home during the session with their 1-day-old son :-) - but most importantly: we loved the results :-) my favorite: the taro-carrot spring rolls with a pepper-sugar spice mix, Bertram’s one was mushroom “amok” which is made with ground lemongrass and lime leaves as well as coconut.

    Afterwards, we left for an art exhibition which was unfortunately closed. So, we had a massage instead. The specialty: the massage was performed by blind people and, thus, helps them to make a living - great concept.

    In the late afternoon, we went for another tour in a tuk tuk: South of Battambang is a temple on a mountain whose caves are also full of bats 🦇 Before we waited for them to come out at dusk, we climbed the mountain for the temple and the view of the plains. Bertram also successfully added another animal selfie - monkey - to his collection. We briefly saw another horrific place of the Khmer Rouge regime: a killing cave into which hundreds of still unidentifiable die persons had been thrown after having been killed.

    The bats were quite an event: 20 minutes of bats flying out of the caves by the hundreds while screeching bat sounds :-) - see the attached video!

    Tomorrow, we will be in Siem Reap to get ready for Wat Angkor.    Read more

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    Arrival at Siem Reap

    February 2, 2018 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We started early again to get onto the bus from Battambang to Siem Reap. The bus ride was supposed to take 4 hours - 1.5 of which were spent at the gas station, toilet stops and lunch :-)

    We also had a moment of shock when Anna realized when boarding the bus that her wallet was lost :-/ we called at the hotel but nothing could be found. There was nothing on the pick-up bus either. We will thought, however, that it would eventually still turn up at the hotel. There was only 1 dollar inside 💵 (plus credit card, driver’s license, identity card)... in the afternoon the hotel luckily called and reported that it had been found and would be sent with the bus tomorrow morning - let’s hope that the handover works out :-)

    We also rented bicycles for the coming days and went out to discover Siem Reap which seems quite hip. Great coffee including soy milk at Little Red Fox 🦊 and a great vegan Khmer dinner at Chamran:
    - fresh summer rolls with a lot of herbs
    - peanut-coconut dip with bread
    - pomelo-tomato salad
    - fried cassava with dip and rice
    - tapioca pearls with banana and coconut milk
    - crispy caramelized rice with ice cream

    Maybe, we need to sign up for another cooking class!?

    Tomorrow we will set out to explore the first set of temples of the Angkor complex - really looking forward to that!    Read more

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    3
    1

    Exploring the Angkor temples

    February 3, 2018 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    We had a long and exciting day in the different temples of Angkor. We bought an audio guide which helped to put together a great full-day itinerary which went to a number of small temples first and finished with Angkor Wat.

    We loved to get to the different less famous sites and in the beginning took an opportunity to climb a very tall temple in restoration to look over the area. Unfortunately, the forest is quite thick and we only saw the tips of Angkor Wat’s towers - not sure why so many people recommend it as a sunset viewpoint.

    A first highlight was the area of Angkor Thom with vast terraces lined with elephant reliefs and high towers to climb. As with the Inca in Peru, it’s incredible again how the Khmers managed to build these complexes - but we will hopefully find out more in tonight’s BBC documentary session on YouTube.

    One other temple was noted as one of our favorites as nature had partly claimed it back and it was overgrown with trees - some of them really huge. No wonder that the movie “Tomb Raider” was shot here at Angkor Wat...

    After eating a traditional bamboo rice cake (Anna), we finished the bike ride with the main attraction of Angkor - the Angkor Wat = temple of Angkor. It is majestic because a large moat and a plain preempts the premises and, thus, it can be seen already from far away. We climbed the tower and had stunning views over the various temples that are part of Angkor Wat!

    Tomorrow we will rest a bit and move to another hotel for 3 more nights in Siem Reap to explore more of the temples before going to Indonesia.

    PS: we also have my wallet back - even with the 1 dollar in it :-) probably that was the reason as nobody steals a wallet for 1 dollar :-)    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Hotel move in Siem Reap and rest day

    February 4, 2018 in Cambodia ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    It was a rather relaxed day for us today. We went to a German bakery for breakfast (“Bang Bang Bakery”) - but then both took a bagel :-)))) Coffee was quite good as well and, thus, we stayed until 11:30 and read our magazines.

    Afterwards we changed the hotel - the first one was good and the staff very friendly but we
    a) wanted a pool and
    b) reckoned that 43$/night for 2 people in a 5* hotel wasn’t that bad of a deal ;-)

    Hotel was great as well and we relaxed a bit before venturing our into the city for more coffee and cake. Then came yoga and pool time.

    For dinner Bertram chose a really nice Khmer restaurant with very few but authentic and fresh dishes. I ordered vegetables with fried rice flour as a starter and rice dumplings with chives as a main dish - they were very much the same dish, just in different forms :-) While the starter was a pancake from rice flour and coconut with vegetabkes on top, the main was the photo attached: three fried rice flour-coconut balls with veggies on the side. Indeed, it was even very much identical to Bertram’s starter - just 3 different names ;-) However, the taste and texture were really great and Bertram was also happy with the Beef lok lak. All in, the cost including drinks ended up $21.50 which was very fair!

    We then went around the night market but soon decided that this Mallorca-style party feeling paired with cheap mass goods and repetitive “Lady, good price for you” and “Sir, need tuk tuk now” was not for us. The only fun thing we may still try: fish spas where fish in tanks eat away the dead skin of your feet. 🤔

    Home at the hotel we failed to launch the “Tomb Raider” movie - maybe another time    Read more

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    2

    Visit Banteay Srei + relaxed afternoon

    February 5, 2018 in Cambodia ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    We started early with our tuk tuk driver Mr. Coin towards the lesser known, smaller but very well preserved temple “Banteay Srei” (Girls’ Temple) in the north of Siem Reap.

    The journey was pleasant but even with the tuk tuk tool more than 1:15 - glad we did not venture out with the bikes...

    The temple was quite stunning: it is indeed much smaller, but the site has been reconstructed to display the original landscape. Thus, we walked past rice paddies and small lakes besides visiting the temple. The red sandstone was a different material compared to what we had seen in Angkor Wat and the carvings were much more elaborate. Many scenes depicted ancient Hindu myths and thanks to a great documentation center we understood who the figures were! (Also different to Angkor Wat where we did not see anything like this on-site.)

    We returned around 01:00 pm and Bertram went to relax at the pool while Anna ventured into town for a cashew latte and almond cake while studying a yoga book for the upcoming teacher training starting this Friday in Nusa Lembongan. Yeah :-)

    Tonight, we will go to another NGO-based restaurant near our hotel which supports the local community by training disadvantaged youth as waiters. Again, this is consumption that tastes even better :-)    Read more

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    1

    Last day at the temples & funny fish spa

    February 6, 2018 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    More temples today :-) We rented bicycles for a half day (1 $ for each one) and got on the Grand Tour up to the north of Angkor. We visited a couple of smaller temples. They were built unlike the others we saw 3 days ago as the main building material was small bricks instead of larger blocks. Originally, carved stucco was mounted onto these bricks - nowadays one only sees the holes in the brick.

    I liked especially the elephant statues we saw at the temple of East Mebon as well as the hidden path along the old city wall that Bertram found when we reached the Victory Gate of Angkor and pushed our bikes up a little path. The wall went all around the moat of Angkor Thom - the former Khmer capital in the Angkor period (~900-1400). Aside from the moats which are still filled with water, there are also a lot of reservoirs. In the Angkorian Empire time, these artificial lakes were used for storing rain during the monsoon season and irrigating the rice paddies in the dry season. Today, we saw quite a few people still going to fish in it - or herd water buffaloes and cows.

    We used the rest afternoon for more time at the pool, then went into town for coffee and dinner. We went to a Khmer vegan restaurant again with a great set menu at only 10 $ 🌱

    Today’s highlight was, however, something else: we visited the fish spa :-) 🐠🐟🐠
    It was a really fun experience though getting the feet in took some courage at first :-) Also, the fish tickle the feet quite a lot from time so mental strength was required, too.

    Now, it’s time for bed as we want to get up early tomorrow to arrive in Phnom Penh in the early afternoon.    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Travelling from Cambodia to Indonesia

    February 8, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We spent most of today travelling from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Denpasar on Bali Island in Indonesia. The route took us via Kuala Lumpur where we had a couple of hours at the airport (we’ll be back).

    After a leisurely breakfast we took a motor-riksha to the airport. Mainly for the experience, but it was also cheaper than the taxis used - so it seems - almost exclusively by the tourists.

    All went well until at check-in, the lady at the counter wanted to see our proof of onward travel from Indonesia. Basically, Indonesia doesn’t let foreigners (travelling on a one-way ticket) come into the country unless they can show a ticket with which they will leave Indonesia again. It’s extremely stupid: if you really wanted to stay in Indonesia, having to buy a flight out of the country (and later not using it) wont stop you.

    Anyway, we, of course, didn’t have proof of onward travel. On the contrary, we were actually quite happy to be in one place for a couple of weeks and wanted to work out the details of where we would go afterwards while we stayed on our little island. Still, the last would not let us check-in, claiming she had cases where the Indonesian immigration sent people away who didn’t have proof of onward travel. So we scrambled at the airport to quickly buy the cheapest tickets we could find from Indonesia back to Kuala Lumpur. We thought of going there for a couple of days - and now those plans were being finalized while standing at the check-in counter in Phnom Penh. After we had that sorted, everything went well. Needless to say, no immigration officer in Indonesia asked us about proof of onward travel when we arrived there...

    We arrived in Bali after dark, avoided being scammed by a taxi driver (after negotiating the price in advance, he later claimed that was meant per person - yeah right), and went to bed.    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Settling into our home for next 3 weeks

    February 9, 2018 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Today we travelled from Bali island over to little Nusa Lembongan. It’s a small village, about 4x4 kilometers large. We took a little ferry to get here (you’re about mid-thigh-deep in the water when you board, showing us the advantages of always wearing your swimsuit here :-)).

    There’s also not a lot of cash on the island and few opportunities to pay with card. So we each picked up 10 million rupiahs (about 600 EUR) before leaving mainland Bali - easiest way to becoming a millionaire :-)

    Our place is right on the beach, a traditionally built bungalow with a bedroom and balcony on the first floor and hammocks and the bathroom on the ground floor. A nice place and easy to spend the next couple of weeks here :-)

    Anna will be completing a three-week yoga teacher training while Bertram will spend the time surfing 🏄 and enjoying beach life (see the first of many sunsets to come in the pictures).    Read more

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    1

    Starting the Yoga Teacher Training

    February 14, 2018 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Today is already the last day of week 1 of my yoga teacher training (YTT). It has been a fantastic experience so far and I am glad that we chose to come - Bertram has the great opportunity to go surfing nearly every day every day so that balances it out nicely :-)

    We are a group of 31 students from all around the world: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Israel, ... The only dimension without much variation is gender: 4 males only ;-)

    Our teachers at the moment are Thia from Indonesia and Megan from the USA and both are great, dedicated teachers which is a must for days that start at 05:00 and finish at 19:45 :-)

    I really enjoy the variety of our curriculum - we always start with 2.5 hours of asana (yoga poses) practice and pranayama (breathing meditation) every morning and then have posture, anatomy and teaching workshops over the day before finishing with 1 more hour of asana. The evening session features singing, meditation, yoga philosophy.
    After building the foundation and practicing very basic poses on Day 1, we are now adding 2-3 poses per day - so much so re-learn after practicing yoga for quite some time and sometimes differently.

    Friends at home: there will be new yoga teachings soon :-)    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Rest days... aren't alwas the best days

    February 15, 2018 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

    After the first week of my fun and very informative yoga teacher training, it was time for the first day off - yeah!

    Originally, we had planned to go snorkeling with the manta rays but the trip was cancelled due to the bad weather forecast with lots of wind, rain, and thunderstorms 💨 ⛈ . So, surfing wasn’t an option either. :-/

    In the end, we had a nice, relaxed day in various cafés, reading our books (still on Cambodia and its difficult history for me, some historical fiction for Bertram). Following the recommendation by Bertram’s surf buddy Fabio, we even had pizza 🍕:-)

    We also started to plan the rest of our trip, looking into the possibility to visit Laos before going to Iran as our last stop. We will let you know once we figure the flights and timing out :-)

    The evening was short again with take-away food and beer on our balcony as the yoga teacher training will start at 05:00 am for our 2.5 hour asana (yoga pose) and pranayama (breathing mediation)...

    PS: photos all look a bit alike - we will work on that ;-)    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Yoga, surf, beach, rain Nusa Lembongan

    February 17, 2018 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Another typical day on the beautiful island of Nusa Lembongan:

    05:00-07:30 - Yoga (Anna ;-))/sleep
    07:30-09:00 - Breakfast at EcoDeli
    09:00-11:30 - Yoga/Surf
    11:30-13:30 - swimming and lunch
    13:30-16:45 - more yoga and surf :-)
    16:45-18:15 - thunderstorms ⛈ and trying to get to a dinner place
    18:15-19:45 - Yoga/chilling :-) (while the sun sets :-))
    19:45-22:00 - Reading, travel planning, showering

    It’s nice to have that little routine which will next be broken up a little when I have 2 days off the yoga teacher training on Wednesday and Thursday next week.    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler
    21

    More yoga, surf, and beach dogs :-)

    February 20, 2018 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    More time spent on Nusa Lembongan - and it’s already the end of week 2 of the yoga teacher training :-O You will see some evidence of my practice in the pics as we are now encouraged to develop our own sequence to practice daily at home.

    We celebrated the achievement of week 2 with some radlers in a beach bar :-) and finally I painted my toe nails :-))))

    The other part of today’s post is dedicated to the many beach dogs on Nusa Lembongan that we see every day - all of which very skinny. Similar to South America, many dogs do not have a fixed home but roam around and scavenge for food/are fed by different persons every day. Or they feed on the daily offerings that the locals put into the streets every morning day to appease the gods and spirits and bring good fortune to every one who passes by.

    Tomorrow’s day off will feature a snorkeling trip to hopefully see manta rays and surfing in the afternoon, yeah!    Read more

  • placeswetravelledWorld trip - Anna & BertramTraveler

    Snorkeling & surf on rest day No. 2

    February 21, 2018 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    We had a fantastic day off! After an early rise from bed we started a snorkeling trip with 10 other people from the yoga school at 07:30. It was a great experience! We first visited a garden of underwater Buddhist statues and Bertram managed to dive down for 4 meters and swim around the biggest Buddha statue in the center of the arrangement :-)

    We then went further around the Nusa Lembongan island and landed on Crystal Beach which had beautiful colored corral and thousands of fish. I highly enjoyed swimming into the large schools of tiny and medium-sized fish while Bertram chased the biggies down to the sea bed :-)

    The final two stops where dedicated to seeing the graceful, big manta rays - it was stunning! Nevertheless, it felt a bit intimidating when the manta turned around and came directly at you. They measure 2 meters across their “wings” and move pretty quickly with just one flap :-)

    The only really sad thing about the snorkeling trip was the rubbish - in the manta ray bay there were so many plastic pieces in the ocean it made you want to cry: tooth paste tubes, bottles, bags, yoghurt cups, ...

    We then went out for a 2.5 hour surf session in the afternoon which was good fun even though the waves were pretty soft which gave us a hard time to catch them :-)

    The evening ended with us running away from another of the well known tropical thunderstorms which drench you instantaneously :-) we made it to the pizza place only after seeking shelter under a hut...    Read more

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