Beautiful Bali

After my exams, I went with Kris and Noen to Bali. We were there for 4 nights/ 3 days, just to relax. My flight there was horrible, it took me almost 12!! Hours to get there, but luckily I got a lot in return. The weather was great and the waves were huge, the first time I got stuck in one, I have to admit I was a little scared, but after I got used to it I had lots of fun. We rented a scooter (off course I did NOT drive) and I even went surfing! At night we went (on the scooter) to Tanah Lot to see a temple, which was closed because we came too late. But the ride to there and back already made it worthwhile for us (at least for me). It felt great to sit on the back of the scooter.

After the first night we moved to a hotel closer to the beach (big mistake!). The hotel looked ok but actually it was very dirty. The first night Noen and I had a long conversation (discussion) about a cockroach that was walking in the hall, I called Noen cause I thought the HUGE cockroach might crawl under the door inside my room. Noen said that it was way to big to do that. An hour later, Noen calls kris and me to tell us that the cockroach crawled under her door!! (Coincidence???)

The next morning we woke up at (6.30!!!) because we heard a really loud sound coming from the roof, it sounded like a HUGE rat that would fall trough the ceiling. I send Kris to find out what it was wile I went to pee. While I was sitting there I noticed that at the sink right in front of me there was a cockroach. And when I talk about cockroaches I do NOT mean those little ones you sometimes see in Holland, I mean HUGE (bigger than mice) cockroaches!!!! So I starting panicking cause off course I cannot just run while peeing. So I think that that pee in Bali was my shortest ever. After I was done I ran out of the room with my pants barely on. (ok maybe this is a bit too much information). Anyway luckily we found another hotel and did not have any more cockroaches in our room (as far as we saw).

That day we also went to the beach first Noen and Kris went to surf, I saw them standing on the board a couple of times (which both Noen and me were not able to do the day before). I started surfing after Kris. I could not believe I was standing already on my first wave. By the time I got near the beach I thought better jump off to prevent the surfboard from getting damaged. BAD IDEA!!! When I jumped off I hurt myself on a rock :’(. I had a hole in my toe, which bled quit a lot. So what I thought was my first wave turned out to be my last as well. Since I already started giving you too much info when I told the cockroach story, I’ll make it even worse by adding a picture of my toe. :D

The last whole day we used to go rafting. I was doubting I would go, with my bleeding toe I was walking kind of strange (very slow), But I am very happy that I went. Our tour guide was really funny, it was beautiful and a LOT of fun!. If you are ever in Bali you should really try it. After the rafting we went (on the scooter off course) to a beautiful beach called dreamland. (see pictures). The next morning I was off to Singapore again, and the next day my mom would come and visit me.




You can read about that in my next blog ;)

1) exams are over + 2) Phuket

1) exams are over + 2) Phuket

My exams did not go very well, not because it was to difficult but more because it was TOO MUCH!! The people who know me, know that I like to do things last minute. At NTU that is NOT possible! For psychology we had to learn 10 chapters (each about 30 pages) and when I say learn I really mean, learn by heart, (what does your hypothalamus do etc.) At NTU we learn in one week what we learn in Holland in one semester. I don’t even want to start talking about Chinese :( I really do not remember why I was so stupid to take a more advanced level than what was necessary. Ah well luckily it is over now.

Maybe one reason my Chinese went so wrong, is because of activity nr 2) Phuket.

I went to Phuket while I should be studying my Chinese. Luckily it was very nice. We were in a great resort, nice weather! I went with Sheau (roommate) and her uncle. The only downside was that I was suppose to study Chinese, which made relaxing difficult sometimes.

Sadly enough, most pictures are still on Sheau’s computer so for now just two pics from my cam.

Kris in Singa1

Kris came from Jakarta to visit me, and to solve some problems with his visa.

We did lots of fun and touristy things e.g. we went to little India and China town. Beneath i attached some pics.

Indian restaurant in little india.


Me eating ice on bread in Chinatown


Monks near a temple in Chinatown

To let you guys be jealous, I will also post some pics of Santosa (the "fake" beach here). They actually imported the sand from Indonesia :D But that does not make the beach less nice. Watch and see

Beautiful lighting

I'll post the rest of the pictures another time.

Getting a new life

I thought that living at the other side of the world would be really tough and that I would probably feel lonely a lot. I was prepared for that and although I miss home and my friends. I don’t have a lot of problems with it because I know I’ll be back in a year.

I have been here for over two months now and I am really getting a “new” life here, making new friends, having new habits, new favorite places. I had not thought about the fact that it would be hard to leave this place. It is easy to never move because you will never have to leave the things and the people you love. I am trying not to get to attached to the things and the people here because I know I will have to be leaving again in a few months. So far,,,, it is not working. I am getting attached and I think I have to, to be able to enjoy my time here. The hard part about it is that I don’t know when I’ll be back. I know the things that I really like about my life here will probably not be part of my life anymore when I get back to Holland. With me getting a new life here I’ll always be missing something.

Bandung

My second (last) weekend in Indonesia, we went to Bandung. When we arrived Nico and Donny (friends of Kris) picked us up and drove us to the hostel. At night we went shopping, I bought a little suitcase and then we went to Ciater spa. This is a natural hot spring. In the morning we went to the volcano and at night we went to a club.

This is the REALLY short version, to read the longer version you should read Manon (Noen’s) story. On delanoen.blogspot.com. It’s a really nice story.

Bandung trafic

Jakarta

I arrived in Jakarta at 19.00 Kris, Manon and Ajeng picked me up and we went to Karawaci, to their awesome apartment. It is in a huge tower on the 55th floor. It is actually not on the 55th because they miss all the levels with the number 4 in it (and the 13). So it goes from 3 to 5 and from 12 to 15 etc. We watched a movie and friends of Robin (who also lives in the apartment) came over. While they got a bit drunk and one of them puked over the balcony, Manon and I just watched a movie and talked. I also got to meet Ssam and Rhia (his imaginary girlfriend ; ) They are really nice.

View from the 55th


Ssam fell asleep

The next day we went to Jakarta to a cheap shopping mall, I bought two long-sleeved shirts for about 6 euro’s. After that we met with Ssam, Rhia and Renra to get some food Renra had a really cool car, almost the entire roof looked to be made of glass, you could see through it. It was almost like you were in a convertible. After dinner we went out to a club called X2. We went with Kris, Manon, Ssam, Rhia, and three other friends of Kris from school. While we were waiting for the cabs Ssam went to get something out of Renra’s car. When two cabs came we went in without realizing we forgot Ssam, I even waved to him when I saw him at the car (really stupid haha). Off course when we realized we went back to fetch him.

Through the roof of the car you can see the sign of a building

Ssam, Kris and me at X2

X2 was a very beautiful club, everybody looked really nice. We were really underdressed because we did not really planned to go out. We slep at Renra’s house so that was really nice, he lived in one of the 8 big towers (see pic) . The towers had a great view and 3 pools!

We stayed in the tower most on the left

Kris, me, Ssam, Renra

One of the pools at the appartment complex

The next morning we went to the Monas I was not feeling too well so we did not actually go in since the line was probably over an hour. Than our cab driver took us to the beach, he was really nice, he stayed with us the whole day. At the beach we went into a cable car, and than to a party.

Rhia and Ssam in the cable car

The beach and the cable cars

The party was really fun, it was a birthday party of a friend of Ssam (her name is Inda). She was really beautiful, she looked like a ballet dancer and the location was fantastic; outside by the sea. They had food and a big stage and a really nice band. A guy and a transsexual hosted the party. They did a really good job! When you arrived at the party you got a manicure set, with a number. The number was for a lottery held later. Off course I (who never win in lottery’s and being the only white person there) was one of the five to win. We all had to come to the stage and do a dance. Ssam also won and his dance was far out the best! It was really funny, in the end everybody got a present. There was only one down point in the evening and that was when we went to cut the cake and sing the birthday song. They had this fireworks people held in their hands and it would shoot some kind of little fire balls in to the sky (or at least that was the idea) someone pointed it the wrong way and the fireworks went into the people singing (us). One girl got one in her face and Kris got one on his arm. Luckily nobody got really badly hurt. But I know now why they do not allow fireworks in the Netherlands usually. Other than that I had a really great time there.

Indah; the girl who's party we went to

Then it was Monday and the classes started for Kris and Manon. Since Karawaci is pretty far from Jakarta we stayed there for the last couple of days. I sleep in or they park me at delifrance to do some homework or go online. At night we went to the mall for a movie or out to eat. Today (Wednesday) Ssams friend, Ivan took us to a really nice seafood restaurant we ate with six people. I had really HUGE shrimps they almost were mini lobsters, we also had scallops, squid, a white flat fish and little fish you could just eat as a whole and then off course rice and veggies (kankung). The bill (in total) was not even 35 euro’s!! That is what I love about Asia.

A HUGE shrimp

The whole group

Tha girls!

Tha guys (boyband;-)

A cute little cat

Clubbing

Noor en ik in St James

I am starting to see more and more of the Singapore clubs and of my schoolmates when they have been drinking ; )

On a Saturday night Noor, her cousins and me went to St James Power Station, a club in Singapore, some people from my school also went (you can see some on the picture of my last blog). We met some new guys who we first thought were gay, because it was an after party for the Chingay parade. Off course they just played along and waited till the end of the night to tell us they were not gay, they (like us) did not know that it was a gay party until after they went in.

Noor's cousin and her husband (Bob)

Understand why I thought they were gay? ;-)

Anyway because we had so much fun we went clubbing with them again on Wednesday and it turned out that one of the guys was a male version of Noor ;D, same dirty jokes, same showing their food while eating etc etc. It was really funny!
After the club (Zouk) closed we went and sat on a quite bridge and just talked, also because it was Noor’s last night clubbing and the last night I would see her. At about 7 we went and got breakfast and talked some more, actually we probably laughed more than we talked. It was the strangest breakfast I have ever had, talks went from Chinese zombies to police chasing ghosts, to split tongs, Jason had a very nice and long story about how to pick your nose and Noor found it so funny that she fell of her chair laughing. Which off course made it even worse. By that time Sheau and I were planning there wedding and thinking about how terrible it would be to baby-sit their children. And in case you are wondering, YES we all were sober :D

Gongxi fa cai / xin nian kuai le !!!

Happy New Year!, it is a bit late since it has been the “Chinese” new year since the 7th of Feb. On Wednesday night (6th) there was the countdown and then fireworks in Chinatown we went to Clarque Quy to go out. I finally went to a club here. I went with Noor and here cousin, his girlfriend and two other friends of them it MOS (ministry of sound). It was a lot of fun; the dance floor in one of the rooms actually turns around. After the club closed we got some drinks and sat by the canal it got really late and by the time we got home the sun had come up.

The MOS crew


After MOS; I am texting Annemarie

The first day of the new year I spend with Denyse, she is my appointed “buddy”. She is really sweet and outgoing. I went to her house and I got to meet her whole family. They were also really nice to me. I had a lot of fun spending my new year with a Chinese (Singaporean) family, and especially this family. So once again I need to express my gratitude.

The second day of the new year I went with a Dutch /(Indonesian) girl from my class and her friends to East coast beach and then to esplanade to watch fireworks and eat. After dinner I finally got to see Merlion up-close. Then we took a “tourist” boat from there to Clarce Que and then we went home.

Then it was Saturday and time for schoolwork again. I had a group meeting, for a presentation I had on Friday. The presentation didn’t go very well but I think we will still get an A (-). My group was really nice, we are an all girl group with all different nationalities.

I have been going out again too, on Wednesday, its ladies night then. We went to a club called Zouk. They play really cheesy music on Wednesday, 80’s and 90’s hits, and people on the stage do a dance that all the guys follow. It was REALLY funny. I could not see Dutch guys singing their harts out (with the song uptowngirl) and following a dance that go’s with it. Before we went to Zouk I went to a bazaar in school which was also really nice. You got a balloon when you entered, I put it on my bag and kept it there, even when I went in the club, apparently you are allowed to carry balloons inside ; )

OH and Sheau and I got our hall t-shirts!! Yeah now we are really part of hall 4!

I am getting less and less sleep but more and more fun.

Grateful

It has been a while since my last blog. My reason?! The fun’s over ;-) When I am home I have a lot of homework so no time to write my blog, sorry. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote.

Noor aka Noraishah aka Aishah aka Sasha aka Steven is here visiting her family. This meant that I would also visit them. “two for the price of one;-)” I really like her family and I feel really welcome. It is so different from the Dutch. Here I can eat as much as I can (and people who know me, know how much I can eat) without feeling guilty about it. Or I can take a nap while still in their house. In Holland that would be "not done". Anyway I spend a lot of time with Noor and her fam, it is nice to see how they live and get a “family feeling”.



Time is going so fast now but with time I am beginning to like Singapore more and more. I am beginning to build my own life. You know? I get to know more people and do different things, getting to know the school and see school activities. For example we went to a cheerleading competition of our hall (hall 4), we did not win but it was lots of fun, and they were all really good. It is to bad we do not really have these kind of things at the HES (my school). It is really nice to see the team spirit.

KUALA LUMPUR



Last weekend Noor and me went to Kuala Lumpur (KL). We stayed at her “auntie’s” house. (she is actually a good friend of her mom but they call that aunty here) the first and the third night. I really enjoyed it, and again I felt very welcome. We were there from the Friday the 25th till Monday the 28th. We arrived in KL after about a six hour drive (by a very luxurious bus). It was night when we arrived in KL but that didn’t stop the family (including the 5yr old kids) from taking us out, eating and shopping etc. Noor’s “cousin” Nazirul drove us everywhere, which was really nice. We went to sleep at about 4.30

26th> We woke up late Nazirul picked us up, we went to the twin towers and shopping. We had dinner (I had a huge hamburger).  Nazirul brought us to Aglam's house and waited for us to get ready (see pic). At night we went out with a friend of Noor (Ahlam) we also slept at her house.

27th We woke up late again, at about 16.00 Nazirul picked us up and took us to Times Square (there is a rollercoaster in the mall!!). After we went to China town to do some more shopping than we went home, makan (eat). 

Then Nazirul took us (night) fishing, can you imagine Noor and me fishing ;-D?? I always learned you had to be quiet. The fishing was really fun we played cards and ate Durian. I did not really like it, it was ok but it has a very strange structure. At one point Noor and I really needed to pee but there was no toilet so Nazirul had to drive us there, We (Noor and I) were so happy to find a toilet (I thought) but when we got to the stall there was a HUGE spider (the size of the palm of my hand). We were too scared to go in the stall and called Nazirul out of the car to take away the spider but he decided it was too big and we went back in the car (4.30 in the morning) to find another toilet. Luckily we found one and after that we could go back to continue to “fish”. Off course nobody caught any fish, but it wasn’t less fun because of it. After fishing we went home but we were lapar (hungry) and tak ngantok (not tired) so after a wile we decided to go out again (in our pyjama’s) . We went and had teh tarik (a special tea with milk and sugar) and ate noodles, while seeing the sun come up. When we got home some people already went to work/school and we passed out on the floor in the living room.

28 Last day KL
Tidor, tsidor, tidor (sleep, sleep, sleep) than we left for the bus stop. Arrived at the busstop there were 2 busses there, the “stuart” told us we had to go in the back bus. So we waited but at 18.40 there was still nobody there and the other bus was getting ready to leave. We found this strange since our bus was suppose to leave at 18.45. We asked the personnel from the other bus (again) and he said it would be ok, we just had to wait. So when the first bus left and the personnel of the other bus arrived we found out that we were actually suppose to be in the first bus!! Lucky us, we had the same
“stuart” as we had on the way to KL so he recognized us and told us it was an extra ride and there were only six people on the bus (dubble decker). Since nobody had “vip” tickets we could sit downstairs. It was GREAT!! Check the pics, it looks more like a hotel than a bus!


                                           

Grateful
During this trip I am realizing that I am (and should be) really grateful for the opportunities I have of studying here and doing all these things. That I should be really grateful for the way Noor’s “family and friends” are treating me and allowing me to be part of their live, if only for a short time. So if any of them will ever read this; THANK YOU!!