Is it possible to get tired of travelling?

After very intense travelling in September and October I needed a break. A break from keep on changing the places. This kind of a break when you don’t need to plan every single day and to think about where are you heading to next. I came to the point where I wasn’t so excited to see another temple, rain forest or beach. My face didn’t have this excitement as before. I guess I am not the first person who felt like that. It was just very new to me as I never felt this way before. Well, I also never travelled for so long before.

I chose Malaysia for my 2-week base. More precisely Georgetown on an island called Penang. It is a very laid back town with an Indian, Chinese and Malay mixed culture. Consequently there are many religions (Hindu, Muslim, Christian, traditional Chinese religions) intertwining with each other. The locals here are also used to white people so fortunately they don’t stare at you like you would be an alien. I need to admit this was something that really made me feel uncomfortable in Java. Another big plus is food. You can easily find a good portion of Asian cuisine for one euro and my list of trying all the traditional dishes is keep on growing. Discovering the old city center gets even more exciting in the evenings when the street food vendors come out to serve all kinds of Asian dishes.

I also want to dedicate this blog post to Java and Borneo. They both deserve at least a short summary of what I’ve experienced there.

For your information, Java is the world’s most populous island with its main religion being Islam. Unlike Bali, people in Java are not used to mass tourism. Of course there are points of interest where you will only see tourists but when you’re walking around the streets in the cities you barely see another touristy face. As I already mentioned, I sometimes felt uncomfortable when walking around as people were staring at me or keep on asking why am I alone or where is my husband. But I also need to say I never felt unsafe. I realized people there don’t perceive starring as something impolite.

My main reason to visit Java were two volcanos, Ijen and Bromo. Ijen is an active volcano known by the largest acidic lake in the world and its blue flame which appears from the combustion of sulphuric gases. The flames can reach up to 5 meter in height. The workers carry up to 50 kg of sulphur from the crater and are paid 1,8 € for 2-3 hour return trip. Crazy! The hike starts at 2 am and it takes around 2 hours to reach the crater. I was lucky and saw the blue flame but couldn’t stand the smell of sulphur so I stepped back and observed the crater from a save distance. After hiking back up I experienced one of the most beautiful sunsets until now. The fact that I was standing right next to an active volcano probably made it so spectacular.

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The next stop was Mt Bromo. Its last eruption happened in 2016. At the time I was there, there was a big bush fire in the area from where I wanted to see the sunrise. In the end, I was still able to find a good spot to enjoy the view over Bromo when the sun slowly rose. After the sunrise I headed to the crater. Once I walked up the last part of narrow and steep stairs I was suddenly faced with a huge, loud hole making voices I’ve never heard before. I was speechless and blown away by its majestic power. That was by far the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in the mother nature.

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After hiking the volcanos it was time for jungle and orang-utans in Borneo. I did 2D1N trip to Bako National Park where I saw the most funny monkeys - proboscis monkeys. Picture says it all… Besides hiking during the day I also did guided night walking tour where I saw scorpions, frogs, tarantula, wild cat, green viper (one of the most poisons snakes), giant ants and flying lemur. There were also plenty of macaque monkeys who were waiting for the opportunity to steal food and drinks from people.

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The highlight of my Borneo trip were of course orang-utans which can only be found in rainforests of Sumatra (Indonesia) and Borneo. I visited a sanctuary where you have the chance to see them in wild when they come to eat some bananas and coconuts. There were seven of them swinging around and enjoying their lunch. The orang-utans are critically endangered and unfortunately not many left because of the human interference in the nature.

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After 2-week break I am ready for new adventures. There is one big one coming very soon. :)