Amazing memory of 8 months honeymoon in 1988

Between January and September 1988 my husband and I decided to take 8 months break to travel around India and part of South East Asia. We got married on 3^rd week of January 1988, followed by a fabulous 10 day skiing honeymoon in Andorra La Vela.  Then, early February 1988 we headed to the Far East, starting from Indonesia.  First, we met up with my family in Jakarta, the city I grew to hate from the day I landed there from North Sumatra (my home town) in 1977. Sadly all my immediate Indonesian family live there, so we couldn’t avoid it and still can’t avoid it today.

Indonesia:  Indonesia is a very large country, so we decided to revisit Bali and Sulawesi (Toraja) on that occasion, places we have visited many times before. Bali was still green and natural then. Ubud’s landscape was predominantly paddy field with only a few hotels and restaurants scattered around the village. Now, Bali is like a giant superstore with art/craft and furniture shops stretching from places to places. Today around Kuta and Seminyak area, you can see that restaurants and hotels have mushroomed uncontrollably in the past 25 years, leaving no empty spaces for gardens and vegetations for wildlife, not even for animal farms such cows or chickens. We haven’t revisit Toraja since our last visit in 1988, I have a feeling that it is still undeveloped and untouched by crazy developments.  (You can find more stories and images of our trip in Indonesia shortly)

Traditional Lumbung Padi (Rice Barn)  in Toraja. This picture taken near Rantepao, the capital of Toraja.  

Singapore: From Indonesia, we headed up to Singapore, a city which only great in small doses.  I recently re-visited Singapore in February 2011 after many visits since 1988 and to be very honest, I won’t really go back there in a hurry. I am not really a great lover of city holidays, mainly because I spent most of my daily life in central London, fighting for space even just to get lunch. (You can find more stories and images of our trip in Singapore shortly)

Malaysia: From Singapore, we headed down to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), a less hyperactive city and I really loved it. We stayed for a few days there, mainly visiting tourist attractions in the city center. Seeing the PETRONAS Twin Tower of Kuala Lumpur for the first time was truly amazing. It was newly built at the time and was rated as the tallest building in the world, surpassing the American twin tower in NY (when there were still standing).  Although is no longer the tallest building in the world now, but remains the tallest twin tower in the world today.  Visiting Kuala Lumpur was an amazing travel experience, and I am planning  to revisit the place in March this year (2012).  (You can find more stories and images of our trip in Kuala Lumpur shortly)

 Thailand: Thailand was a beautiful country and I am sure it still is. However, part of my visit to Thailand was a real battle and frustration, as I discovered then that a woman who looks Thai and travelling with a white man, was not acceptable to communicate in English, I hope that has changed today.  It was a constant frustration in many situations particularly when we were in restaurants ordering foods, or in public places.  I did try to learn a few words in Thai from a little book we purchased in Bangkok, but to no avail, as Thai language uses many different intonations for certain words to create different meanings.  Despite a few miserable experiences, Thailand has given me some amazing travel experience, from organised trips in Bangkok to jungle treks in Chiang Mai.  (You can find more stories and images of our trip in Thailand shortly)

Burma:  If you were in Burma in the early 1988, you probably have the same amazing travel experience as me.  We entered Burma in June 1988, just 2 months before the biggest national democratic upraising in the country on 08 August 1988 (08.08.88). Burma was a truly beautiful country, amazingly friendly people and most of whom could understand simple English.  It is still vivid in my mind, the day we arrived at the airport and discovered things were so basic and backwards. Although Indonesia was fairly underdeveloped in 1988, but it felt like I was from a developed country when seeing things in Burma on that visit. The land looked very rich and green, full of potentials, but the people were very poor.  We entered Burma on a 7 day fixed tourist visa, but was lucky to stay for 10, as the train we boarded from Mandalay to Yangon (Rangoon) was broken down, hence we missed our flight to Bangladesh. (You can find more stories of our trip in Burma soon)  

A reclining Budha near Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangoon.  

India:  For me, the most accurate word to summarise India is “Amazing”.  India is the most amazing place on earth. I can’t really describe it accurately. Here you can find the most colourful and diverse cultures, religions, arts, wealth, poverty, food and other things…..you name it, India has it.  We started the journey from Calcutta, then Puri, Varanasi, Agra, Kajuraho, New Delhi, Rajasthan (Jaipur, Jodpur and Jaisalmer), Kashmir and Ladakh. Our visit to Kashmir was also very historical and very lucky, because soon after we left, more fighting broke out in the region and Kashmir was closed for tourists for a while.  We had amazing memories of the place, particularly around Dal Lake in Srinagar, where we were based. One day, we are out canoeing; we suddenly heard some shooting in a distance. We saw some people running around in a panic, than we rushed back ashore and headed back to the houseboat where we stayed.
(You can find more stories of our trip in India soon)  A florist on his canoe, Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir, India.