Kuala Lumpur (Pav.)

Zdravim,
tak nejak se o tenhle blog delime s Markem, ono je to i prihodne nazvane cestovani casem a prostorem, tedy alespon pro toho kdo to cte, jestli vubec nekdo krom nas dvou :D ... nevadi, i tak me to bavi sem tam neco nasmolit, tedy do toho ... (tem s lepsi cestinou nez je ta moje se predem omlouvam)

Tak nejak jsem na sobe letos z jara zacal pocitovat abstinencni priznaky po cestovani , osobni rovinu tu rozvinout nehodlam, co se prace tyka(KISS) keep it simply stupid, uz me to proste sralo, a nemel jsem pocit zlepseni v mne prijemnem casovem horizontu, tedy jednoduche reseni, I QUIT ! Super to by jsme meli ale co ted, mno rikam si sam sobe, na jizni ameriku neumis spanelsky, casu dost, zkusenosti mas lehce z asie, videl jsi jen zlomek tak to dotahnem a naucime se u toho neco noveho ...


Alef, jeden muj znamy se dopustil podobneho cinu, zlomil tu hul pravidelnosti a znameho komfortu a odesel jak "hloupy Honza" do sveta za poznanim a dobrodruzstvim. Musim priznat, ze mne trochu inspiroval, kdo vi, mozna jsem jen v sobe hromadil odvahu se rozhoupat a proste uzral cas. Tim se dostavam k meritu myslenky, tento clovicek aktualne provozuje ***** PADI center v Thajsku, sest let zpatky to byl nouma co odesel z korporatu jako ja, mno potapeni je super, do ted je moje setkani s karetou obrovskou v indickem oceanu jeden z nejsilnejsich zazitku co mam a tak si rikam skocime do toho po hlave a vylezeme jako divemaster, mno uvidime ... zatim je to plan. 

Kuala Lumpur ... tak, malinko jsem nastinil co se tak seslo ze jsem zrovna tady, KL je z pohledu evropana proste krizovatka asi jako Singapore, tam uz jsem ale byl a tak padla volba na KL, musim rict ze rozdil neni tak markantni jak jsem cekal, je to ale o dost spinavejsi nez SGP, denne vidim zeny bezdomovce spat na dlazbe pred obchodem na ulici i s detma, pro evropana nic moc na traveni ale drzim se drzim a penize z ruky nedam, koupil jsem mistnim detem bonbony jak jsme si zvykli s Markem v Indonesii protoze penize by utratil jejich rodic za alkohol.

Co mne bavi je ten kontrast krestan vs. muslim viditelnej temer na kazdem rohu, i kdyz tady je muslimske vyznani v tezke dominanci v kazde restauraci je menu vyrazne oznacene podle toho z ceho je jidlo pripraveno, western cusine, muslim etc. ... alkohol je tu extremne draha sranda, ja pinda z cech nejsem zvyklej platit za pivo 250,- ... jeste ze pivo nepiju ale rum je stejne drahej a to uz me sere :D ... no nic, neprijel jsem sem chlastat ale potapet se, zatim se na to nedostalo, vse ma svuj cas ... tak se tak valim treti/druhej den v KL, zeru co se mi libi, nasledne to plivu ven pac to chutna o 180 jinak nez to vypada ale je to sranda ... koupil sem neco co vypadalo jako susenej ananas ale bylo to palivejsi nez co jsem doted zkusil, jeste ze se tu daj koupit rambutany na kazdym rohu.

Ubytoval jsem s Reggae Mansion, musim rict ze jsem podle nazvu cekal malinko neco jineho ale jsem maximalne spokojenej, pokoje tu jsou bud single, double nebo pro 16 a 24 lidi, na jednu stranu to vypada masove ale v momente co to clovek vidi mu dojde jak dumyslne je to udelano a pokud nejste nejaka fiflena tak to date, resp ... uvedomite si ze jste na cestach na pul roku, musite setrit kde to jde a nocleh je asi nejsnadnejsi, nebot ve finale chcete jen suchou teplou postel kde budete spat, srat na to ze neni zlatej lustr, zarovka udela stejnou sluzbu.

Je 4:18 rano mistniho casu, jet lag dela svoje a zatim spim uprosted dne a ted ne a ne zabrat, davam tomu chvilku a srovna se to ... do te doby se mejte uzasne a budte happy!

Pav.

Traveling alone

I prepared this special post as this is the first time I'm traveling alone. It was unplanned as my mate got sick before the flight. I was very scared originally to go to developing country, do crazy stuff without knowing more than couple of Spanish words. But I decided to go as most of the travelers I met so far and were travelling on their own were recommending it. And after two weeks experience I can say I love it. I never felt so much flexibility. I never was kind of forced to meet new people. I'm basically boss of my time. If I want to stay alone I can. If I want to meet new people I can. And its much easier to meet other travelers on the road with similar goals than meeting new people in the bar. There are only few things making it difficult. Sharing some small expenses like taxi's and having to organize everything myself. But I found the second point actually benefit and first point I don't care. Because I don't have trouble to spent money here and there if necessary and I always choose the best option for me. Sometimes I fly, sometimes I stay, sometimes I move fast. Sounds little bit selfish, but that's how I prefer it here where I move every second day or so. So far I met those people which were very graceful to me and I spent with them more than one moment. First I met Yayushka on the plane from Lima to Cuzco. Originally from New York, living in Mexico with Russian name. We had a short talk as he sat next to me. Surprisingly we met two days later on the Machu Picchu gate so we spent a day together. And furthermore what the chances are, we got the seats next to each other on the train back to Cuzco from Machu Picchu. Yayushka went back home to Mexico.

Then I met Slovak girl Jana who is travelling around South America for 13 months already. I met her on Antimani island where she was host in some other family. And also Leila, Argentinean girl, we danced together where possible :-) We further moved to La Paz together with Jana and spent another day before our ways separated.

Then I met Francisca, Chilean crazy girl on a bar in La Paz. I met her once again when I came back from Uyuni and when I got sick and she was nicely taking care of me. Lovely girl.

I also met Sandra from Mexico on a 3-day Bolivian trip. She was travelling on her own so we paired to help each other with photos and stuff.

On the lonely times you could enjoy Wi-Fi spots at every place to keep in contact with people and manage stuff little upfront. Even some buses had the Wi-Fi onboard. Last but definitely least were the little flies especially aggressive around Machu Picchu. You don't feel them biting you. But give it a day or two and they will show their power with incredible itching. My leg even grown from so many bites. Not really friendly mates :-)

One more surprising thing about people here is that in a two weeks, I didn't saw any single local person smoking. I saw a couple of tourist though. I will keep watching but something is different here :-)

Huacachina and Paracas

My Sunday arrival to Ica was easy. I met Ivo on Plaza de Armas, we had a short term plan already, so we moved to nice oasis Huacachina in dunes. Plan was clear - relax during the day by the pool and go late afternoon for some fun on the dunes. We went on fancy buggy with 10 people altogether. The driver did some crazy shit on the dunes and I felt like on roller coaster. He did some fast curves and drops. I felt I've a smile on my face again like a small child. All the coldness was gone. We got some boards and it was time for sand boarding. I didn't got any bindings so I went the first ride face down laying on my board. I ended up down the dune full face of sand, but I made it. I tried couple more and then couple more in stand position. But the stand position wasn't easy to handle without bindings just bare foot. It was fine as long as the speed wasn't too fast. But you can't really turn thus brake and at some point you just fall. And the dunes were higher and higher. At some point I was left at the top without anybody to hand down my camera. So I surfed down, terribly falled and too much sand got into camera. I was fighting for hour or two with different technics to get the sand out and succeeded in the end. We did some more fun on the buggies and finished by sunset. It was perfect day for me as I was able to relax to let out some more coldness and also finally some activity and actually great fun.
 

On monday we moved to Pisco and Paracas national park for birds watching. We rented bikes and went on 30 km ride around the dunes and sea. We could barely see anything. It took more time than expected and we came back during the sunset with a company of annoying dogs. But it was quite active day in the end. We moved to Lima afterwards. Stayed overnight and next day early morning flew to Iquitos in the jungle called biggest city in the world not accessible by road.

On the road - La Paz / Arequipa

I planned to move to Arequipa on Thursday already. But decided to stay in La Paz one extra night in brewery hostel again to recover from serious flu (almost dying :-)) and just take easy day. I met Francisca again for couple of beers so we had nice evening again which in the end didn't helped me to recover :-)

So I moved on Friday and it took me whole day. I bought some respiration pills, extra strong as usual in development countries, which is good if you want to recover fast but it's not good for your body in long term. But that wasn't the only trouble. If things go wrong then they go wrong. Stupid agency had put me on a local bus for second half of a ride and the bus took 3 hours more. I arrived to Arequipa before midnight. And you don't like that feeling being on local bus with local people, coming to a city you never visited. Without any booked hotel and reading guide book about false taxis. Even now second day, I remember every face and emotions in the bus in a preparation of what can go wrong. But as I'm writing this you probably got the point that everything went ok. I took taxi to main square (Plaza de Armas as usual) and jumped to the first hotel I saw. It was called Arequipa suites Plaza. Price of 80 sol (25 usd, 600 czk) was okaish as I just wanted to relax and properly recover. I should spot in advance that there is a work on a square in front of hotel which doesn't stop even during the night. Czech government should learn from that at least on highway constructions ;-) Earplugs saved me from pneumatic drill and I finally slept properly.

It was clear that I couldn't see the Colca canyon (2nd deepest after Grand canyon).I took an easy start of a day along the perfect breakfast with view over Plaza de Armas from hotel restaurant. Then I was siting on the internet and just laying in a bed still feeling cold. I went for a lunch at china place in the afternoon. I don't remember having better Chinese food. 15 sol (4,5usd, 110 czk) and in general I was buttering up my sick day. Later I went to Santa Catalina Monastery not just to eat and sleep. I'm not big fan of indoor expositions, but everybody was recommending this one. It's huge monastery from 16th century. Colorful, preserved place. It had some atmosphere, but nothing special to me. Finished day with a cake and now on a night bus to Ica to finally meet Ivos.

I was very careful with bus decision this time. I took premium cama (160 degree position) on wide leather seats - 3 in a row. It was direct bus to Lima, but I got exception to stop in Ica as long as I pay full price. Company was called Julsa and price was 100 sol (30 usd, 750 czk). Bus was very fast and came actually much earlier to my destination than expected. Funny fact that every bus here has speedometer display in passenger area and display very often shown exceeded speed limit (90 km/h). Bus didn't even stopped somewhere as lunch and breakfast was served. Unfortunatelly there was no Wi-Fi this time as on other buses. I actually found out that many people were waiting for a bus without a ticket. And if there were free places they would go in. Something like last minute for free places and I understood people paid half. And there were actually many people traveling like this.

Bolivian antiplano

On Monday I went out of hotel turned right and first lady convinced me to check her tours. Everything looked good and I asked her to let me check the reviews on trip advisor. Those looked good. I asked for a discount, got some and in the end paid 720 bol (105 usd, 2500 czk) for 3 days trip. Company was called Hodaka. The tour started just in 3 hours. We jumped into Land Cruiser in 6 people plus driver who was our guide and was taking care of us altogether. I paired with Sandra from Mexico as she was also traveling on her own. One couple was vegetarian so more meat for us :-) First we went to train cemetery. Quite fancy place reminding me Mad Max. Then we went to see salt mine which wasn't more than couple of guys with shovel taking the salt from the "lake" and filling truck. We did some funny photos on salt lake and went for great lunch afterwards. Couple more funny photos and we moved to Isla de Pescado. Incredible island in the middle of the salt lake. Later we got a great dinner again and relatively good accommodation for what you can get in middle of nowhere. It was actually meant to be salt hotel with salt all over the floor with basic seating from stones.

Next day we went to couple of more sightseeing spots. We saw death village, couple of lagoons with flamingos, some volcanos and volcano stone formations. In general the nature was very beautiful and untouched. But you could still see some people walking across the desert. Our driver was one of the fastest, reminding me Dakar rally ;-) Unsurprisingly we had a small issue with a car, but fixed fast. After all that we arrived to our very basic accommodation. Snowflakes started to fall, we waited for dinner inside and went sleep quite soon to prepare for early morning next day. Temperatures were under zero.

On Wednesday we woke up at 4 to catch geysers for sunrise. We further passed hot springs. But nobody from out group was willing to enter. I got cold overnight and the springs were only 30C and it was still early morning. We saw beautiful free and white lagoons and finally reached Chilean border. Few from our group left us and we turned back to Uyuni. The highest point I noted close to the geysers was 4940m and it was still flat around.

Now I'm taking flight back to La Paz to stay over night and next day move to Arequipa.

Marek

La Paz and around

On Friday I moved to La Paz with short stopover in Copacabana for lunch. The ride was fast on Peruvian side, but incredible dusty roads from time to time on main connection between the countries and ferry was quite savage too. Buses going on a ferry over the wooden lodges. It looked like from one of the Top Gear series. Most of the people left the bus to go by small boat. I somehow wanted to experience this and stayed with bus driver on a ferry :-) The Bolivian side looks really more poorer. As I was approaching La Paz I started to see more villages and suburb of La Paz. The blocks looked like ranches from western. Very enclosed with brick walls. You could distinguish them only by colorful entry gate.

I met Jana on bus Terminal again as she went by other bus. The good one was sold out and I went by some local one. I bet it was very old one, really smoky and VW would be superstar here. :-) We took the hostel close to terminal which was actually very good micro brewery with very good kitchen and friendly staff. Parties were organized every night with some free drinks. The first night was Mexican theme and chicks there had very nice moves, but I escaped as I was tired from previous party in Puno already.

Next day we went for biking tour on a famous Bolivian Death Road which is 60km downhill with descent of 3400m. I got a fancy downhill bike and overall with a lot of armor. And I know why. The cliffs were huge. But I'm not certain if the armor would save me there. Few cyclists fall here every year. We found quite a good party on the trip. But unfortunatelly most of the people were tourists, not a bikers. First 15km or so were on the road with a start in 4600m and that was quite nice warm up to get familiar with the bike. It was fucking cold anyway. But then the fun began. Unfortunatelly from biker point of view it was hard to find a limit on the road. The road was very stony and the bike was very easy to skid in the corners even with 2.5 wide tyre. But there were some nice bumpy technical parts or passages like going under small waterfall. And especially the views were amazing. There were few guys I joined for faster rides and we waited like every 20mins or so for others. I let the service team exchange my rear brake in the middle as it got worn out very fast. I nearly felt twice and once I was lucky to handle that close to the cliff. Two other guys felt and one of them got to the hospital with broken nose and finger and based on last information I got he will have to go for operation in Germany immediately. One other guy from different group fell even more terribly and broke his leg. I would assume they didn't knew how to fell or had very bad luck. There were more felts without injuries though. We finished by the hotel for excellent lunch and pool with the beers. It was well organized at the price of 90 usd (2100 czk) including 15 usd (400 czk) extra for better bike (160 suspension and better components).

There was a karaoke party in the evening. I went just for couple of beers as I was tired from drinking during the day. But ended up with Chilean girl Francisca till the morning with couple more beers and caipirinhas. Beers in general are not cheap at 20 bol (3 usd, 70 czk) per pint but caipirinhas were cheap at 30 bol (4 usd, 100 czk) for two drinks.

On Sunday after recovering I did a small trip to Valle de la Luna on the edge of city where are nice views over erosion reduced clays. Later I took one of the cable cars to go to the top of the city. Those cable cars actually function as public transportation for 3 bol (0.5 usd, 10 czk) a ride. There are 3 lines and more are under construction. There was nice view over the huge city positioned in the huge hole. There was also carnival in the city for our luck and the costumes were just perfect.

I the evening I took 40 min flight to Uyuni (160 usd, 3800 czk one way) to skip the night 11 hours bus ride on bumpy Bolivian roads. There won't be much seen anyway during the night. I will do 3 days tour around famous Bolivia salt lakes in Uyuni.

See you