The bus took a huge detour without any obvious reason before arriving at the bus station of Solo. Half an hour after walking out of the bus station, we discovered we were walking the wrong way, the detour seems to have disturbed our orientation. We have to ask for directions a few times and eventually walk for more than an hour towards…
In Pangandaran the only option to buy train tickets is at the supermarket. The Indomarket (sort of 7Eleven) sells train tickets, but the intended PC does not allows to enter letters in the passport number. Fifteen minutes later, we managed to explain the issue and the ticket system at the checkout counter seems to accept letters. Getting a train ticket at the railway station is…
Indonesian cities are crowded and noisy, so we are craving for some sun, sea and beaches. Pangandaran seems to be the perfect hide-out, but on the way to the coast we pay a short visit to Bandung, Cipanas and Garut. Bandung is this year’s host to the Asian African Conference and that opportunity was taken to give the city a…
To get familiar with some more of the Indonesian habits we decide to stay in for a couple of days. After all this time in Malaysia it is quite a bit getting used to, Indonesia really is something else. Semarang is a nice lively city with some interesting sights. The Sam Koo Pong temple is worth a visit and while…
Since we already got our visa for Indonesia, we can simply join the que at the Malaysian-Indonesian border in Entikong. And we are glad we can, because we are immediately confronted with the Indonesian chaos. A boy who travels at the same bus and speaks a few words English comes to the rescue and eventually we get our stamps. The…
After Kathmandu, Kuching is the second city we visit twice. Before we left Kuching five weeks ago the owner of the guesthouse agreed to receive a package from home. So of course we had to pick it up. The package appeared to be at the post office for two weeks; some papers had to be signed. The friendly Mr. Gawing…
Since the country Brunei is split in two, both parts enclosed by the sea and Sarawak and because Sarawak is a partially autonomous province of Malaysia with its own immigration policy and thus its own ‘stamp’, the bus ride from BSB, Brunei to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah is quite an experience. There are no less than 4 borders to cross within…
The day we travel from Miri to BSB (Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei) is also the first day of Ramadan. The bus ride is smooth and we collected yet another stamp. Upon arrival at our guesthouse we are immediately reminded that Ramadan has started and so we should not eat in the streets. Many restaurants are open during…