Please exile me to the most beautiful time

Chapter 6 Southeast Asia: Love, Hate, and Vigorous (1)
Thousand Islands Indonesia

Southeast Asia is recognized as a paradise for backpackers all over the world, and it is also the starting point for most Chinese backpackers to travel abroad.I accidentally sang a different tune. From China to South Asia, from West Asia to North Africa, and then from the Sahara to the southern tip of Africa, I drew a long arc on the world map, but I never set foot in Southeast Asia.It is the place of enlightenment for countless Chinese backpackers' expeditions, but it is the last stop before I return to China.

Why not go from South Africa to South America, but turn around and go to Southeast Asia?This is the family love plot of most Chinese people. They go too far and always want to return to the starting point.This is like overseas Chinese who are more patriotic than native Chinese. They always feel that the motherland is the most powerful root.

Africa is not an easy place to travel.Walking in Africa for half a year has consumed a lot of my energy as a traveler. I want to be lazy, so I want to go to a comfortable place to "rejuvenate" for a while, and then return to China on the way, so Southeast Asia has become my first choice.There are many reasons for choosing Indonesia as the first stop in Southeast Asia, such as the affordable air tickets of Qatar Airways, the unique geographical location-almost the farthest from China among Southeast Asian countries, and the long-term strangeness and curiosity.And the most important reason is both true and helpless: because you can sign on arrival here.

Thailand and Cambodia can also get visas on arrival, but these two countries are located in the center of Southeast Asia and are very close to China. How interesting is it to pass from the periphery to the core step by step!In my mind, I sketched out a blueprint for gradually wandering from the outside to the inside in Southeast Asia, and my heart was pounding with excitement.That's her, Indonesia!
After a short stay in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and eating four or five meals on the plane upside down day and night, I arrived in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia on the island of Java.Indonesia is a country of thousands of islands. The whole country is composed of more than 17000 islands, large and small islands are scattered in the ocean. The name of Indonesia comes from the Latin word "India" and the Greek word "island". In other words, there is no archipelagic country larger than Indonesia in the world.Not only are there many islands, but there are more than 100 active volcanoes here. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see volcanic eruptions here, as frequent as earthquake alarms on Japanese TV.

As the largest and richest island in Indonesia, Java Island is located in the center of the territory and has more than half of Indonesia's population.When I got off the plane, there was a long-lost, stuffy tank-like low pressure that was exactly the same as Nanjing summer. After a while, sweat came out from the surface of the skin without a sound, and the clothes were stuck to the body.This wet and sticky feeling is a bit disgusting, and suddenly I miss the dry heat in Africa.Although, it was only one day apart.

There's a lot going on in Java

One day is enough to change many things.

I let go of the habits I developed in Africa, adjusted to the new jet lag, and began to integrate into life on the island of Java.In the early hours of the morning, I successfully found a food stall (southerners miss food stalls no matter where they go), found a seat cross-legged, ordered a plate of grilled fish and a plate of fried oysters, served with rice noodles, and a bottle of Indonesian flavor Ice soda, the store also brought a bowl of water with small slices of lemon floating in it for washing hands, so that you will not leave seafood smell after the meal.

This long-awaited relaxing enjoyment gave me great comfort.

However, on the side of the road where I was eating, the dense crowd of pedestrians and vehicles suddenly made people feel restless again.As soon as I saw such a crowd of people and a narrow space, I thought of the scene of squeezing the subway in Beijing. The invisible sense of impact is simply tormenting for people who naturally have no desire for competition.I think, it may be about to spread this matter soon.Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, after China, India and the United States, and Java, where I live, is the most densely populated island on earth.

Half of Indonesia's population lives on this island.A mighty motorbike brigade roared past the street.Motorcycles are the most mainstream means of transportation here, and everyone has one.What's more interesting is a human-powered tricycle with the passenger in front and the driver behind. Its unique shape looks like the shovel head of an excavator.According to this logic, tricycles of different types should be called "the driver dies first".

Jakarta, which is wrapped in reinforced concrete, is far less popular than the ancient city of Yogyakarta.The well-known Buddhist monument Borobudur looks much more exquisite than the photos on postcards. The mottled ancient city alleys and old-style old houses make people feel calm.The exquisite carvings and free wall graffiti on the streets, the assortment of ethnic costumes and batik textiles, finally have some color.

It only costs a few dollars to change into a special Indonesian gown or long skirt, and I also spent a lot of money to dress myself like an Indonesian girl from head to toe.Music is the soul of this nation, and crisp xylophone sounds can be heard in any corner of the city.There are also those singers who play guitars. They either play a song while waiting for the bus to start, or play a tune during the meal.They do not take the initiative to ask for money from the audience, but politely keep their distance. If someone offers money, they will gladly accept it, and if not, they will leave quietly.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, red lanterns are hung on the streets of downtown, and the Roman pinyin of "Gong Xi Fa Cai" is written on the festive banners.Popular old songs from Hong Kong and Taiwan come from the shopping malls, and Chinese-language movies occupy a large proportion of the roadside disc stalls. From "Human Meat Roasted Pork Buns" to "The Grandmaster", these friendly elements will always give people a feeling. Illusion, there should be many people who understand Chinese, right?In fact, the vast majority of Indonesians do not understand Chinese, and Chinese only belongs to a very small proportion of Chinese.Therefore, only English can be spoken, and in fact, the English penetration rate here is extremely low, and body language is often used to communicate.

February is the hottest season in Java.As long as you leave the air-conditioned room for 2 minutes, your whole body will be soaked in sweat, as if you just crawled out of the water.I wiped the sweat from my forehead, and I couldn't wait to go to the beach in Bali to enjoy the sea breeze and sweep away the suffocating low pressure.An email from a college roommate who is on her annual vacation in Bali has me wanting to spread my wings and fly to a sunny beach.After spending more than 15 hours in a daze on the long-distance bus, the bright sun shone on my face through the window, I almost jumped out of the seat, and jumped out of the bus, He took a deep breath and stretched his waist.The wind blows through the lush trees and blows my bangs, mixed with a faint fishy smell, oh, this is the smell of the sea.

Bali is a pure nude
Bali, a holiday resort located at 8 degrees south latitude, may be the most famous place in Indonesia, and the distance from the capital Jakarta is roughly equivalent to the distance from Beijing to Shanghai.Just like the difference between the north and the south of China, Bali and Java are not like children born to the same mother. There are huge differences in their customs, customs, and even their religious beliefs.

Balinese believe in Hinduism.The familiar-looking Hindu gods on the island were dressed in clothes, hats, scarves and robes by the residents, and the gods looked naive after being carefully dressed.Among the Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity I have experienced, Hinduism is the most amazing religion, and any Hindu story can make people slap their thighs.

Interesting is the four-faced god Brahma.Why does Brahma have four faces?Legend has it that Brahma fell in love with the beautiful goddess he created and gazed at it every day.The goddess felt that something was wrong, so she hid on the side or top of Brahma to avoid Brahma's fiery gaze. For the convenience of peeping at the goddess, the great god Brahma simply grew five faces, east, west, north, south, and top.Later, during the dispute with Shiva, Brahma was burned off the upward-looking face by the flame shot from Shiva's third eye, leaving only four faces, which became the four-faced god that people often see today.

There is an interesting allusion behind every gesture of the Hindu god statue, which cannot be finished even after one thousand and one nights.

People in Denpasar, the capital of Bali, have been dealing with foreign tourists for a long time, so that even the uncle who drives the taxi can speak fluent English, "You know, yesterday I drove an Australian buddy who was about my age, and he came on vacation. , live in our big five star hotel here. I asked him, hey man, what do you do in Australia. Guess what he said, he said, man, I drive a taxi just like you Hahaha!" Bali is very close to Australia, cheap air tickets from Australia's Darwin and Perth to Bali are often as low as 100 US dollars, coupled with the low prices in Indonesia, the cost of eating and drinking in Bali is far lower for the cost of a holiday to South East Australia.Even ordinary citizens in Australia can live in grand hotels when they come to Indonesia. Therefore, Bali has become the first choice for Australians to spend their holidays.

The best thing about Bali is the amazingly cost-effective accommodation conditions. A bed in a multi-room backpacker hotel only costs three or four dollars. If you are willing to spend $20, you can live in a quiet and elegant garden-style guest room, which is even more unbelievable. Most of the homestays have beautiful swimming pools.If two people travel together, one person can live in a garden B&B with a swimming pool for only 10 dollars. This crazy price once made me think I was dreaming.I imitated the appearance of the rich man in the movie, put on sunglasses and a swimsuit, pretended to be sitting by the pool and drank an iced drink, and poured it into a glass intentionally, added two ice cubes and a slice of lemon, and then inserted Put on a straw, even though a can of Coke is only $0.5.

If possible, I hope this attitude of the rich can last for 1000 years, and it would be even better if it can last for 1 years.

Being tall, I finally counterattacked once!
plans don't change fast

Good days come and go quickly.

A few days later, I packed my bags, hugged and bid farewell to my college classmates, and headed for the airport with a bit of heroism and sentimentality.The long queue in front of the check-in counter moved forward at an extremely slow speed, as if it was never my turn in this life.After looking around and changing dozens of standing positions, thank God, it was finally my turn.

"Ma'am, you can't board the plane now." The staff returned my e-ticket. "What are you kidding, I'm flying to Singapore today, and the hotel is already booked." "It's next month...I mean your air ticket." "How is this possible? There must be a mistake!" I opened innocently. His mouth was pursed, his eyes stared like chicken blood.The clerk motioned me out of the queue, then pulled me aside and poked my finger at the flight time on the ticket.I checked the date carefully again with bloody eyesight, and I almost fainted—it was clearly written on the paper that today will be a month later, but I accidentally set the wrong date!tragedy!
Big oolong, what should I do?The flight cost that day was too high, and I didn’t want to wait a month in Bali, so I had to make up the difference and change the ticket to a few days later.When I returned to the B&B in desperation, the college girl opened the door sleepily and jumped up in fright. The person who had said goodbye to me two hours ago appeared in front of me again in a blink of an eye. I thought it was sleepwalking.If it were someone else, there would definitely be such a big movement.

"God must wish us to stay together for a few more days before we leave Indonesia together," I said.Perhaps, Bali thinks so too.

Bad things always come one after another.The booked hotel in Singapore could not be canceled and the accommodation fee was wasted. Then, I accidentally broke the mobile phone that has been with me for more than 4 years. After wandering around to Malaysia, I fell ill and lay in bed for a few days with a hot forehead. , and finally, when I ran to the airport for Cambodia, I almost missed the plane because I didn't have an outbound ticket.God, what the hell am I cursed with?
Departure ticket is a common confusion among travelers. Do you need to show your departure ticket when entering a country?In theory, anyone who travels to any country should prepare a departure ticket, indicating that he is only here for a short-term trip, and he will naturally leave when it expires.This is not a policy to make things difficult for Chinese people, and it treats tourists from other countries equally.But in reality, the border inspections of various countries often do not check the departure tickets, which leads to many ambiguous things.Sometimes the country stipulates that the departure ticket must be shown when entering the country, but in fact it is often not checked, and the occasional surprise check makes many people complain; or it is not mentioned in the regulations, but it is required to show it when entering the country.In addition to the border checkpoint, there is also the gate of the airline ground handling.

The situation of the ground staff is more complicated. They often implement a set of clearance standards that are not exactly the same as those of the border inspection.For example, the destination country does not require departure tickets, but the ground staff of the flight to that country requires passengers to show their departure tickets before they are allowed to board the plane.Sometimes it is due to the lack of familiarity with the ground handling business, and sometimes it is due to the fear that passengers will not be able to enter the country and will be repatriated, which will increase the cost of the airline, especially when going to a country that is visa-free or visa-on-arrival.In the face of all this, the safest way is to always prepare the departure ticket of the destination country, and check it at any time when entering or leaving the country.

Dizzy with fever, I failed to take care of these preparations. I moved out the information on the IATA official website (International Air Transport Association) on the spot, persuaded the ground staff, and got on the plane to Cambodia.At this point in the story, I thought the bad luck was over and I could breathe a sigh of relief.Unexpectedly, worse things were still waiting for me ahead.

Cambodia takes a breath
In the center of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, the wide road is crowded with motorcycles coming and going, which is a scene of a busy traffic.I was sitting in the electric tricycle, taking advantage of the time when the red light was on, I took out my mobile phone to check the map.Suddenly, the mobile phone was grabbed by a strange hand from outside the car!

This is... robbery!Dazed for a second, I looked up and looked in the direction where the phone was taken away. The robbery man on the motorcycle had already accelerated and rushed a long way—the timing of the crime was so perfect that the green light just turned on. Soon after, the looters rushed out of the crowd waiting for the red light on their motorcycles and drove towards the far end of the road.

OMG, this is a new expensive phone that I bought after thinking about it 10 days ago!I'm even expecting it to last three or four years like my smashed Nokia phone.But it has only been in my hands for 10 days. It is so brand new that the film has not been torn off, and the fuselage has not been warmed up. It was forcibly snatched from my hand under my nose. .

A few seconds later, the people on motorcycles seemed to sense something was wrong, realizing that it was a robbery, and looked at me one after another with curiosity, surprise and sympathy.I jumped off the tricycle and chased after it, trying to recover my new mobile phone.At this moment, a young man riding a motorcycle in front of me patted his back seat: Come up, I will take you to chase him!

I didn't know this Cambodian guy, but at that moment, my sixth sense told me that he was a warm-hearted and nice guy.I really don't know where the courage came from, I just felt a rush of blood rushing up in my body, and without a word, I jumped on the back seat of the motorcycle and chased after him!
(End of this chapter)