Indonesia

Indonesia.... what can I say... For weeks I am trying to find the inspiration to write the blog about Indonesia. I think that already says a lot as normally I am really excited to share our adventures in all the different countries. But bluntly said, we both didn't like Indonesia so much. Let's say it like this.... we started in Bali that was absolutely amazing. Like little heaven on earth. Beautiful places to visit, amazing weather and lots of little nice markets and shops to buy beautiful souvenirs. We really enjoyed visiting the Tanah Lot temple that you can only reach when the water is low or the Uluwatu temple where you can take beautiful pictures of the walls of the temple next to the sea and where it’s so worth waiting (with hundreds of other

people :-) ) to get the most perfect sunset picture with the temple. Or Yohan's favorite, the Ubud Monkey Forest where we saw the cutest baby monkeys and where the hundreds of monkeys that live there are so not afraid of people that they jump on you all the time, so much fun!! :-) And I had the crazy experience to bump into a place that sells Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world. Normally I drink coffee with milk and sugar, but I have to admit, this coffee was really nice without milk and sugar, and to cuddle at the same time a luwak, that looks like a weasel or maybe an enormous oversized ferret. To think that this animal eats berries, poops them out and they make the coffee of this beans after of course cleaning them, is just weird but at the same time something you should try just once in your life ;-)
After Bali we continued to the Gili islands. We stayed in Gili Air, a cute little island with beaches, eating fish in cute restaurants on the

shore and the highlight "snorkeling with turtles" My g'd, so special! If you have the chance, try to go snorkeling with turtles just once in your life! Definitely, an unforgettable experience :-D
From the Gili islands we decided on a 1 day trip to the island Lombok. Normally we rent a motorbike and travel around ourselves, but because we only had a few hours and the distances were far we took a driver that drives you around for 1 day. What a mistake. The waterfalls were really beautiful and impressive, but the company the driver works for made promises where we would visit that they didn't keep, he drove ridiculously dangerous and on the way back with the boat to the island they played with us big time and when you think the next person is helping you, you find out later that he just tries to screw you over even more and if that is not enough, the third person that you think, OK how bad can it get, well, he screws you even more. Let's say, we were happy to leave the islands after that, to fly to Jakarta (after having another few unpleasant encounters on the way

to airport :-( )
In Jakarta we visited as good tourists ;-) all the important places like the Jakarta Cathedral, the National Museum and the Istiqlal Mosque, where you have on the picture probably the only chance ever to see Yohan in a dress ;-D
But after bumping with the motorbike into a police officer that said we drove 10 meters where it isn't allowed for motorbikes, and that only a sign written in Indonesian was no excuses of not knowing, he wasn't letting us go till we paid a very high fine, without filling in the paperwork and just putting the money in his pockets. That was it. We traveled all over the world, also in really poor countries, but never been treated so much like golden ATM machines, without any shame and so much corruption on a daily basis. And the sad part is that we met a lot of people with the same stories about Indonesia. Such a shame that such a beautiful country is so unfriendly to tourists. Well,

to not end the blog with only bad stories ;-) Jakarta definitely has the coolest cinema ever, every couple has its own bed with pillows and blankets to comfortably see the movie. How cool is that?!!

Japan here we come!!