Good evening !

As you probably already saw, we are traveling in Jordan for the past three days ! Today was our last day here. And because it was our last day, I wanted to give you some tips and tricks about the rituals and habits in Jordan, because these are very important here ! That was also a bit our problem, because we didn’t knew these rituals. After three days, we really realized that western culture is totally different to theirs.

The first problem was the dress code in Jordan. The first day that we arrived in Jordan, it was about 25 °C. Which was very warm for us ! So Anne, Emilie, Laurens and I arrived at the hotel and we decided to refresh us a little bit and wear something else. So an half-hour later, we all were at the reception of the hotel with our shorts and t-shirts. When we wanted to go outside, the receptionist said that it wasn’t such a good idea in the clothes that we were wearing. Because in Jordan, the rituals are that women don’t wear short skirts/shorts and tops/t-shirts. So women usually wear a dress or pants which are not allowed to be shorter than the knee. It is also very important to cover your shoulders. So the best way to have a little refreshment but be correct according to their rituals, is to wear loose clothing like blouses, a tunic,…  

And now for the boys ! The boys have less rules than the girls. People won’t have any problem is they walk around with short pants but they are not allowed to be too short ! But the long pants are still more appreciated by the local people. It is also possible that you are not allowed to go into a mosque because you are wearing a short pants. Some local men also wear a ‘Jalabiyya’, that is a long, eastern dress) and a Keffiyeh, a red or black headscarf.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JF8UtJK3aog/RoxrPsc3K0I/AAAAAAAAENA/jsAXsqGy7s0/s1600/a.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dm2DP_Kyb14/TKyaBSO6qpI/AAAAAAAAAB8/_EA0s8IZ_wA/s1600/EC_Basma1.jpg These are examples of ‘Jalabiyya’’s.

So because we didn’t had those clothes, Anne, Emilie and I went shopping in the little local shops. That was a lot of fun. After being totally dressed out, we went to the village nearby where a gentlemen Mohammed and his family let us in their home. That seems to be a tradition to welcome strangers in their homes. They told us about the rituals in communication with another person.

They use a lot of signs in their language. 
E.g.: They don’t say the word “No” but they wink their eyebrows instead and throw their head a bit backwards.
When they want to say “No, thank you”, they put the palm of their right-hand on their heart. And if you don’t understand something, you have to shake your head. Like saying “No” in our language. Also in Jordan, they drink a lot of tea, but if you had enough tea, you lay your hand on your cup and say “Sjoekran”. That means “Thank you” .  
Very important!  you should always use your right-hand to pick something up,… , because you left one is used for the toilet visit.

So after we drunk our cup of tea, we thanked Mohammed and his family a lot and walked back to the hotel. Now we will never forget these rituals anymore !

Sjoekran !

Miet Cappelle

24-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Miet  

Hello everybody,

After a long day of touristic adventure that Anne told you about, we stayed in our hotel today.
Because it is such a lovely hotel and we were very tired of our trip so far, we decided to not do anything today. While Anne and Laurens were lying on the terrace at the swimming pool of our hotel, Miet and I did a little trip around the huge hotel we are staying. The hotel we stayed is called Mövenpick and we are situated in Aqaba. As you can see on the map it isn’t that far away from the desert in Wadi Rum that we visited yesterday. http://www.wordtravels.com/images/map/Jordan_map.jpg

There was something significant to the hotel that caught my eye. In every big entrance and hall  there are huge pictures of the royal family in Jordan. For example we took a picture of one of them:http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/jordan/img/familypic06.jpg

On the left you can see their only son which is also the crown prince: Hussein (born in 1994).On the right you can see their oldest daughter: princess Iman (born in 1996). The girl that is sitting on the lap of her mother is princess Salma. She is born in 2000. And their youngest daughter is sitting on the lap of her father, she is called princess Hashem and is of the year 2005.

The reigning king of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is called Abdullah II bin al-Hussein and is of the year  1962. He became king on 7 February 1999, upon the death of his father King Hussein. His father, the former king of Jordan, is called Hussein and he reigned the country from 1952 untill 1999. Talal, the grandfather of Abdullah II bin al-Hussein who only reigned from 1951 till 1952. And before Talal, there was Abdullah I, who reigned from 1921 untill 1951. As u can see, King Talal was only in power for almost 13 months, which is a very short period to reign a country. He did introduce a different lifestyle than his father. His father was very parternalistic while he was more openminded towards the western lifestyle. He was removed from power due to mental illness, schizophrenia, a condition known even when he was crown prince.

Friendly greetings,

Emilie Dauwe 

23-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Emilie  

Hello everyone!

Today we have a very exciting day because we will have a lot fun and adventure in Jordan.

Outdoor ‘adventure tourism’ is expanding at a fast rate in Jordan, and promises to remain one of the most dynamic and innovative travel industry sectors for years to come. Several Jordanian companies have started to specialize in eco-tourism and action tourism, providing the combination of safety, adventure, and comfortable facilities that make action tourism such an exciting proposition today.

After a long discussion we decided to do something exciting. We, thrill-seekers, decided to go beyond the ordinary and went into a hot air balloon and rise to mountain-tops in Wadi Rum. The view was amazing!

Here you see the magnificent landscape of Wadi Rum is a must-see for any visitor to Jordan!

After our flight we got the chance to also enjoy a desert experience. To discover the challenges and wild beauty of some of the country’s outstanding natural sites like Wadi Rum, where 4X4 vehicles, camels or Arabian horses are the preferred mode of transportation. We decided to take the Arabian horses and laughed a lot during the trip!

But we didn’t only enjoy the view, we also did a lot of activities. First we went to Aqaba. We went to the Red Sea resort of Aqaba. The sea is always warm, balmy, and enticing for divers and other watersports enthusiasts. Aqaba offers a full range of facilities for sailing, fishing, swimming, water skiing, wind surfing,… We decided to do snorkeling together. Because the experience was so great, Miet bought an underwater camera to take pictures from us. After our snorkeling we went to the numerous shopping centers to buy some clothes and food.

At the end of the day, a local man told us that tourism is one of the most important sectors in Jordan’s economy. In 2009, 3,5 million tourists from various countries visited Jordan!!!

We had a really exciting day and enjoyed a lot the activities we’ve done!

Sunny greets!

Anne Taelman

22-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Anne  

Hi

Today we arrived in Jordan!!

Jordan is a country with a population of 6.4 million people.

The culture of Jordan is based on European elements with a Western influence. The Jordanian Kingdom had always been the intersection of the three continents of the ancient world. That’s why the culture has a lot of influence from all three the continents.

Most of the people in Jordan are Arab (almost 99%).

Jordan is situated in the dessert, but it’s for 79% urban. 5% are nomads and semi nomad.

The most important religion in Jordan is the Muslim. There are 2 groups of Muslims: the Sunni Muslims (they are a majority) and the Shia Muslims (they form a small minority). Christians represent 4 percent of the population. One-third of the Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church.

Jordan flag contains three equal horizontal bands in different colors: black (top, the Abbassid Caliphate of Islam), white (the Ummayyad Caliphate of Islam), and green (the Fatimid Caliphate of Islam) with a red isosceles triangle (representing the Great Arab Revolt of 1916) based on the hoist side bearing a small white seven-pointed star symbolizing the seven verses of the opening Sura (Al-Fatiha) of the Holy Koran; the seven points on the star represent faith in one God, humanity, national spirit, humility, social justice, virtue, and aspirations.
You can find more information about the flag on the link below:

http://www.mapsofworld.com/flags/jordan-flag.html

When you hear the music of Jordan, you don’t hear that much Arabic influence.

The music from Jordan is a hybrid of Arab styles and western styles. They play with traditional instruments, as well as modern (western) instruments. The Bedouin still practice old musical traditions. Belly dancing is part of the tradition.

In Jordan you can find spectacular mosques, ancient ruins and magnificent mosaics.

The Qusayr 'Amra is notable for its frescoes.

More info on the links below:

http://www.mapsofworld.com/country-profile/jordan1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Jordan

Laurens Vermeulen

21-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Laurens  

Hello!

Yesterday evening we arrived in New Delhi which is the capital from India. It was a very exhausting trip, so we went to bed immediately. It is important to rest out because tomorrow it would be another busy day.

Today we learned more about the marketing in India. India marketing scenario is undergoing a phenomenal change over the last few years. This is also positively affecting the economy of the country which in fact has led to high standard of living, high per capita income and other aspects of economic development. 

Currently in India, the national economy and marketplace are undergoing rapid changes and transformation. A large number of reasons could be attributed to these changes. One of the reason in these changes in the Indian Market Scenario is Globalization, and the subsequent and resulting explosive growth of global trade and the international competition.

In the Indian Marketing Scenario, the market success goes to those companies that are best matched to the current environmental imperatives. Those companies that can deliver what the people want and can delight the Indian customers are the market leaders.

Today the companies are operating in such a marketplace where survival of the fittest is the law. In order to win, the companies are coming out with various new and evolving strategies because the Indian market is also changing very fast. It is to capture the Indian market, that the Indian and the Multi National Companies are using all of their resources.

The Indian market is no longer a sellers market. The winner is the one who provides value for money. A large number of companies have huge idle capacities, as they have wrongly calculated the market size and installed huge capacities. This has further contributed to converting the Indian market into a buyers market.

It was really interesting to learn about the marketing in an other company. We learned a lot for our future marketing experiences… !

Greets from India!

Anne Taelman

19-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Anne  

Selamat siang ! (This is ‘Hello’ in Indian.)

After some interesting information of Laurens about the economy of India, I will tell you something about the tourism here. We are still in the city with the most population of India, Bombay ! (Or Mumbai in Indian.) It has a population of 12,5 million people !

After our breakfast, we first walked a bit in the big city of Mumbai. It was impressive to see that the architecture was very different of each building or monument. Sometimes you saw Gothic Revival or some Art Deco,…. There are also some European influences such as Romance arches,…

After a little walk, we decided to take the typical way of transportation in India, a Rickshaw ! This is a motor vehicle on three wheels ! It was very fun and rather cheap to take this kind of transportation. The driver drove us to the ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus’. Because we saw in our book that it was a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The building is a historic railway station and it is the headquarters of the Central Railways. That’s why it is also one of the busiest railway stations of India. The architecture of the building was so impressive to see. It was designed in Victorian Gothic with a mix of traditional Indian architecture. After visiting the station, we went to a little park nearby to have a little ‘pick nick’ !

http://www.traveldestinationsofindia.com/india-travel-guide/gifs/mumbai-tourism4.jpg
The amazing ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus’.

After our little bite in the park, we took a Rickshaw for the second time and went to ‘Girgaum Chowpatty’. On our way to this very known beach, our driver of the Rickshaw took a few shorter roads and we could see a little bit of the suburb of the big city. It was rather sad to see that some people had to live in such bad circumstances. It was a horrible smell, very small and filthy slums,…. Our driver told us that Mumbai suffers a lot of some urbanization problems such as poverty and unemployment.

http://www.indiamike.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/14169
This was our Rickshaw with one of our drivers !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dharavi_Slum_in_Mumbai.jpg
This was a slum that we saw in Mumbai.

Eventually we arrived at ‘Girgaum Chowpatty’. This is one of the famous beaches of Mumbai. It is especially known for ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’. This is the Hindu festival of Ganesh. This is a big religious person for the Hindus. It is the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. After our walk on the beach, we saw a few young people having a little party. We started talking with them and eventually we had dinner with them. It was a lot of fun and they said we definitely have to come back to celebrate the festival with them ! After our cozy beach party, we went back to the city with the bus.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_LMNOTJEs4Hs/Sdvhf2WryUI/AAAAAAAAAMA/O9BibSuUmE8/s400/Chowpati.jpg
‘Girgaum Chowpatty’.

http://stockmarkettoday.in/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ganpati.jpg
The religious god: Ganesh

The Mumbai’s culture also has traditional festivals and theatres. You also have the ‘Mumbai International Film Festival’ and the award ceremony of the ‘Filmfare Awards’. These are the oldest film awards given for Hindi films. This al happens in Mumbai because it is the birthplace of Indian cinema. Because Mumbai has such a big titles about their films and theatre, we had to go and see one ! So after our beach dinner and when the evening was falling, we went to a theatre and saw a beautiful film about an Indian girl who fell in love with a prince. Anne, Emilie and I loved the movie but Laurens already fell asleep after only 15 minutes…

This was our day in the big city of Bombay ! I hope you enjoy reading our stories..
Tomorrow we are travelling the whole day to get in New Delhi !

Talk to you soon !

Miet Cappelle

17-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Miet  

Hello everybody,

Last evening we went dining in the Pateela restaurant in Mumbai. This is a typical Indian restaurant that serves different types of the Indian cuisine such as Indian, Mughlai and Punjabi.
We asked the restaurant chef for some extra information about the different types of cuisine they serve.

Moghlai Cuisine originates from the kitchens of the Mogul Empire. This type of cuisine is influenced by the Middle-Eastern cuisine and is found in Nothern-India. I chose to eat something spicy of the Mughlai cuisine just to try out  something typical.

Because Anne is a vegetarian, the chef suggested she ordered something from the Punjabi cuisine. Because Punjabi cuisine has a diverse range of dishes for vegetarians but also for non-vegetarians. Typical about the Punjabi cuisine is that it’s prepared with large amounts of clarified butter, which is called ghee. Also the use of whole wheat, rice and other ingredients flavoured with masalas (a sort of spices) is typical for the Punjabi cuisine. An example of the preparation of rice is Roh Di Kheer. Roh Di Kheer is rice that is cooked for a long time in sugar cane juice.

Miet and Laurens ordered a dish with Tandoori chicken. Tandoori chicken is a popular Indian dish consisting of roasted chicken, yoghurt and spices. The chef warned her that it is a very spicy dish and that in most Western nations they are prepared with less spices. So when we eat Tandoori chicken in our country it isn’t that spicy as in India itself. The spices that Tandoori chicken usually contains are cayenne pepper, red chilli powder or kashmiri red chilli powder.

Here you can see a picture of the Tandoori chicken that Miet and Laurens ordered:

 http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/attachments/tandoori-chicken1.jpg-37762d1256351619

I've also tasted it but in my opinion it is a little too spicy.

Beside our individual dish we also ordered some Indian bread. Bread in India is eaten more in the northern regions of the country because of its dry climate. We could chose between a variety of breads on the menu: roti, naan and paratha. We didn’t knew what to chose so we asked the chef again for some advice. He told us that roti is thin and made of whole wheat, naan is soft and fluffy and is made from plain flour with a little bit of yeast. Parathas are layered breads made of wheat flour but fried in a bit of oil. We ordered roti.

After the very spicy dinner we gave the chef a big tip for his advice and explanations.
Then we went back to our hotel Fariyas. Because we were so thirsty we went to the bar that is linked to our hotel to quench our thirst with a fresh beer. It was a lovely evening but we were so tired that we  already went to bed at 11P.M.

Spicy greetings,
Emilie Dauwe 

16-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Emilie  

 Hi there! we just arrived in India!

In India, over 1.1 billion people live (and it’s growing every year with 1.5%)

India has the world’s 12^th largest economy, and the 3^rd largest economy of Asia (after China and Japan).

There are three important sectors in India: the service sector (54%), the industry (29%) and the agriculture (18%)

I also looked up some numbers and other important info for my loyal readers about the economy of india:

-          The GDP of India was 1.21 trillion USD. That’s 1.210 billion USD.

-          The real growth of India in 2008 was 6.6%.

-          The GDP per capita (PPP) of india in 2088 was 2.900 USD.

-          The natural resources of India are coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, chromite, thorium, limestone, barite, titanium ore, diamonds and crude oil.

-          The agriculture in India (18% of the total GDP) produces wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, jute and tea.

-          The industry in India (29% of GDP) produces textiles, jute, processed food, steel, machinery, transport equipment, cement, aluminum, fertilizers, mining, petroleum, chemicals and computer software.

-          The market share of services and transportation is 54% of the GDP of India

-          India exported for 176.4 billion USD in 2008. The most important export products are engineering goods, petroleum products, precious stones, cotton apparel and fabrics, gems and jewelry, handicrafts and tea. The software exports in 2008 was 22 billion USD.

-          India imported for 303 billion USD in 2008. The most important import products are petroleum, machinery and transport equipment, electronic goods, edible oils, fertilizers, chemicals, gold, textiles, iron and steel

-          The major trade partners of India are the United States, China, The United Arabian Emirates, the European Union, Russia and Japan.

This are great numbers, but 700 million Indian people live with less than 2 dollars a day.

The middle class in India (50 million people) is earning money very fast. They get up to 1.000.000 rupees per year (21.000 USD).

You can find the rates of the rupee on this link:

http://www.x-rates.com/d/INR/table.html

More info about the economy of India:

http://www.traveldocs.com/in/economy.htm

http://www.economywatch.com/indianeconomy/

15-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Laurens  

Hello everybody !

Because of the accident we had a few days ago, we didn’t feel so safe to walk alone in the big city of Bangkok. So we asked the guide of two days ago, if he wanted to lead us around the city for one more time. Today we learned a lot of the politics in Thailand. The country is a kingdom and a constitutional monarchy with the current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The history all began in 1782, when the general Chakri became the first king of the Chakri-dynasty. He called hisself ‘King Rama 1’. This dynasty still rules. Because the current king is king Bhumibol Adulyadej. He is the ninth king of the Chakri-origin, so you can also call him Rama 9. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the person who is the longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch  in Thai history.

http://www.newsofap.com/uploaded_files/news_img/newsofap.com4bd5b308efbd6r215958_839932.jpg
This is king Bhumibol Adulyadej

The guide also told us that there has been some political reforms in Thailand a long time ago. In 1932, they changed the absolute monarchy into a constitutional one. Because of this change, they have built a big art deco-monument, “The Democracy Monument”.

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p497167-Bangkok-Democracy_Monument.jpg
‘The Democracy Monument’

The monument is settled in the middle of the centre of Bangkok. It was a beautiful and extraordinarily thing to see. It exists of 4 wings of angels, of 24 meters high, in a circle. The wings were so high, because they represent the date of the revolution, namely the 24^th of June. The wings signify the freedom and rights of the people because of the change. One of the designers was the Italian Corrado Ferroci, he also made some monuments for the dictator Mussolini.

After seeing this amazing piece of art, we took a lot at the ‘Grand Palace’ and ‘Wat Phrae Kaeo’. It is the official palace and temple complex of the king Bhumibol and queen Sirikit. This building was built in 1782 for the foundation of Bangkok. There were beautiful gardens and a lot of impressive buildings. We could really see that Thailand is very much into their religion, Buddhism. During our visit at the palace and temple, we had to cover ourselves in respect for the population and their religion.

http://thailandmusings.thaivisa.com/images/Grand%20Palace.JPG
‘The Grand Palace’

After the interesting day, we went back to the hotel to get as much sleep as possible. Because tomorrow early in the morning, we are taking a plane from Bangkok to Bombay with the airline Bangkok Airways. (In India, they say Mumbai instead of Bombay.)
(http://www.bangkokair.com/en/index.php)

See you in India !

Miet Cappelle

13-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Miet  

Hey everyone!

We arrived in Thailand. It looks a very nice country.

2 days ago, we arrived during the night. Today, we went out for a walk in the city of Bangkok, near the Victory Monument around noon.

Everything was nice. A lot of authentic places and nice shops, but then we saw an amazing accident.

We were walking in Bangkok, and suddenly, 300 meters in front of us, we heard gunfire.

A lot of people freaked out and everyone was running away. It was so scary!!

We heard some sirens, and they kept shooting. It was only like for one minute, and then it was silent.

Everyone was so scared. After it became silent (silent on that moment is only sirens, but no gunshots!!), we went out for a look, but the police didn’t want us to come close to the place.

We saw 3 bodies. We didn’t see it well because there was panic everywhere.

Now, where back in our hotel. I just checked the internet, and I looked up what happened.

It looks like a 37 year old man, Thada Inthamas, was under influence of drugs, and totally freaked out!

He started shooting on the police, commandeered two cars, and he took a hostage.

Then, after killing a taxi driver and an policeman, the police shot him down. It looks like he didn’t survived it.

He also shot the hostage (a doctor). She’s not doing well. She’s in a critical condition in the hospital. I hope she gets better soon.

The internet also says that the police was looking for him since 10.30 AM. At that time, he threatened a police officer with a knife. The shooting incident happened around noon, so it took one and a half hour to arrest him.

We are all shocked. I hope the doctor gets better soon.

You can find more info on this news link:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crimes/232004/city-rampage

10-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Laurens  

Hello everyone,

It’s late in the evening, but we finally arrived in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. We are really tired and decide to go to bed early. Tomorrow will be a new day with new experience…

Good morning! Today is the day we will visit Bangkok and learn more about the economy of Thailand.  Bangkok is the economic center of Thailand, dominating the country’s economy and dwarfing any other urban centers. Bangkok is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or  Krung Thep, meaning “city of angels” for short, it was originally a small trading post on the west bank of the lower Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom.

Development continues to pour in to Bangkok mostly neglecting the rest of the nation. It is ranked as the 54the richest urban agglomeration, slightly behind Singapore and Metro Manila.

There is a picture enclosed (annex). On the picture you see the Stock Exchange of Thailand, or the SET is located on Ratchadaphisek Road in inner-Bangkok with over 523 listed companies and combined market capitalization of about THB 6 trillion (USD 197 billion) as of 31 January 2007. Due to the large amount of foreign representation, Thailand has for several years been a mainstay of the Southeast Asian economy and a key center in Asian business.

The baht (code: THB) is the currency of Thailand.

Bangkok is also home to the headquarters of all the Thailand’s major commercial banks and financial institutions; 27 financial institutions and a number of international banks located n Bangkok.

Tourism is a significant contributor to Thailand’s economy, providing about 5 percent of GDP. Bangkok is Thailand’s principal international gateway and a destination in its own right. This giant market has made Bangkok a prime location for hotel operations as well as the launching pad for small and medium accommodation enterprises.

Bangkok and its environs are the most prosperous part of Thailand, and the seasonally barren northeast is the poorest. An overriding concern of successive Thai governments has been to reduce these regional income differentials, which have been exacerbated by rapid economic growth in and around Bangkok. The government has tried to stimulate provincial economic growth with programs such as the Eastern Seaboard project and various populist and crop price support policies.

We enjoyed a lot the beautiful city Bangkok. We decided to stay as long as we can to enjoy more of Bangkok.

Kind regards,

Anne Taelman

Bijlagen:
220px-Thai_stock_exchange.JPG (16.1 KB)   

Good morning everyone !

Today we are leaving Malaysia and keep continuing our journey until we arrive in Saudi - Arabia. Our next stop will be in Thailand but first of all, I will tell you something about our last day in Malaysia !

We woke up early in the morning, made our bags and took a breakfast on the go. Because we still wanted to see as much as possible of the beautiful Malaysia. We took a bus from the capital city, Kuala Lumpur that drove us 200 km further to Ipoh, the capital of Perak. Perak is the name of a region in Malaysia, just like Pahang, Kelantan, Sarawak,… You can see a map that Emilie posted a few days ago. It took us about three hours to arrive in Ipoh.

Ipoh is the third biggest city of Malaysia. The city is also called “the city of millionaires” because it is a rather rich city. The biggest part of the population has Chinese origin. This was also visible to see in our hotel where we stayed for one night. It was like we arrived in China !

The receptionist told us that we definitely should visit the Chinese cave temples outside the city and Kellie’s Castle. And after visiting those two places, we could go to the “Birch Memoral Toren” because it is a very known toren of Ipoh and there were a lot of very good restaurants.

When we arrived there, we saw a lot of children play on the playground nearby. We sat on a little terrace and looked at the children. We couldn’t understand much of the menu, but we knew that Ipoh was known for its cuisine. You could eat “Sar Hor Fun” (white rice noodle served in soup with chicken and prawns), “Hor Hee” (white rice noodles served with fish cakes and/or fish balls), “Nga Choi Kai” (chicken fillet with soy sauce and beansprouts with pepper spread on top), “Hakka Mee” (yellow rice noodles with pork and a type of biscuit), and lots of other special dishes ! It was delicious !

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Ipoh_Curry_Mee.jpg
A type of Ipoh curry noodles

At the end, the boss of the little restaurant bought us a ‘Ipoh white coffee’ with a ‘Fragrant biscuit’ because it was also something you had to taste when you visit Malaysia. The coffee was made by beans that were roasted with palm-oil margarine and was served with condensed milk. The biscuit was filled with a sweet filling. Anne loved these biscuits and bought a bag of them to eat as a little snack for the day after !

http://www.jayceooi.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/hot_ipoh_white_coffee.JPG
The 'Ipoh white coffeeé

So, this was our last day in Malaysia !
We will see you in Thailand !

Salam !

Miet Cappelle

06-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Miet  

Good evening everyone,

Today is the big day! Miet,Laurens,Emilie and I got out of bed very early and went to the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. We made this trip to learn more about the politics of Malaysia. A guide gave us a tour and some interesting information, which we will try to reconstruct.

Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy with the Supreme Head of State of Malaysia, His Majesty, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. As the constitutional monarch, he holds office for five years after his election by the conference of rulers. He has advisers, like the Prime minister, who exercises the executive power, and the Cabinet. The executive power is exercised by the federal government and the 13 state governments. The system of the government is based on the Westminster system.
The Federal legislative power is vested in the federal parliament and the 13 state assemblies. The Constitution of Malaysia is codified.

Malaysia is a federation of 13 states and 3 federal territories. The system of government in Malaysia is closely modeled on that of Westminster parliamentary system, a legacy of British colonial rule. In practice however, more power is vested in the executive branch of government than in the legislative, and the judiciary has been weakened by sustained attack by the government during the Mahathir era.

The National Front, is the main political party in Malaysia. It is multiracial and consists of 14 parties, with the largest being the United Malays National Organization. The House of representatives counts 192 members and is the legislative authority of Malaysia. The guide told us that for example the representatives are elected by popular vote for a term of five years. The highest court in Malaysia is the Federal Court, with two High Courts directly underneath. One High Court serves East Malaysia while the other serves West Malaysia.

It was a exhausting but informative day. We also enjoyed the good weather. We went back to our hotel with the satisfaction of our day. 

Sunning greets!

Anne Taelman

04-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Anne  

Hello!

It’s me again, Laurens. We’re in Malaysia for the moment, and I’ll write a few things about touristic things we’ve saw during our trip to Pahang.

We stopped at a few touristic places to visit some things. I think it’s important to visit a few things in a country you don’t know, so you can really understand the country and the history.

Before we came to Malaysia, I looked up some commercials. I know that Malaysia made a commercial for the tourism last year, so I checked it hoping to see a glimp of the beauty of this country. If you click on the link below, you will see the commercial spot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKIwILvyYE4

So, why should you visit Malaysia? I’ll give some reasons below:

-          The highest mountains in South-East Asia

-          World Class Dive sites with visibility up to 40 metres

-          130 million year-old rain forest

-          Beautiful white beaches and a lot of sailing events

-          The largest limestone caves in the world

-          286 endangered species of animals, all protected (tigers, etc.)

-          30 ethnic tribes (they arrived 25.000 years ago in Malaysia)

-          101 authentic local flavours in special dinners

I found this information in another touristic commercial spot. You can also find the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzKCU7_ujzM&feature=related

First, we passed East-Malaysia. You can describe this part of Malaysia as “paradise”.

The beaches are white, the climate is perfect (no rain, hot temperatures, a lot of sun), and the nature is beautiful. The tropical islands you can see everywhere are the most beautiful I ever saw in my life.

We took the boat for a day and visited some of the islands. It was so nice to be all alone on such a beautiful island. You can find them everywhere in East-Malaysia.

As we moved on, the next day we stopped at Pulau Langkawi, with its sparkling white beaches and clear waters (perfect for snorkeling). A few miles further, you can find the diver’s paradise Pulau Sipadan and Pulau Tiga. We dived an hour (a must do and really cheap) and we were amazed by the underwater-world.

After the diving, we escaped the coastline and travelled true the jungle. We visited Taman Negara and Endau Rompin national parks in Malaysia and Bako, Similajau and Gunung Mulu national park in Borneo. We saw a few wild life animals and some rare flowers. We ended our day with a visit of a tea plantation.

More tips and things to do can be found on the link below:

http://www.malaysiaonline.com.au/travel-tips-malaysia.htm

Today, we visited Kuala Lumpur with the amazing Petronas Twin Towers, a must see. I was so fascinated by this amazing peace of architecture.

More information about the towers and Kuala Lumpur can be found on the links below:

http://www.petronastwintowers.com.

http://www.kuala-lumpur.ws/

We’ll stay in touch with you for the rest of our trip, and I hope this information is usefull!

Greets from Paradise!!!

Laurens

01-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Laurens  

Hello!

Yesterday we arrived in Pahang which is situated in Malaysia. You can see on the map where we are situated. We were so tired of the traveling from Bali to Pahang that we didn’t do anything that day.

30-03-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Emilie  

Hello !

My name is Miet and I am also an companion of Laurens, Anne and Emilie.

In this blog, I will write something about the economy of Indonesia. I thought that it was rather different and impressive to see because Indonesia has the largest economy in Southeast Asia. The country especially lives of the industry sector but is followed by the services and agriculture sectors.

But when we drove on some roads outside the city, we could really see that agriculture remains employing more people than any other sector. That is something we all really have noticed when we were travelling in Indonesia. The people in Indonesia still do manual labor, so they aren’t that digitalized as we are. We have also seen people work on lands and used their animals (e.g. buffalo’s, cows or horses) to plough their fields.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KerbauJawa.jpg    

The guide that helped us with our tour in Indonesia told us that the country also has a lot of natural resources, like crude oil, tin, copper, gold,… They export these products and imports machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels,…

When we were walking in Negara, a little village near Bali, we saw a few people begging for money. It was rather sad to see that we were travelling in such a poor country. A little bit further, we found a little girl who opened a little shop with her sisters. You could buy necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, .. They were handmade and really beautiful. The three girls (Anne, Emilie and I) each bought some jewellery and Laurens put a henna-tattoo on his back.

http://www.asiantradeexpo.org/aite10/country/india/india_henna-girls.jpg 
This is a picture of a few girls who live in Negara and had a lot of Henna-tattoos.

Then, the girls of the little shop showed us their house and village. So we got a little private tour by local people. They also leaded us to their favorite place. That was a little open spot near a river, it was absolutely amazing to see. Because the sun was coming down and it was very peaceful and quiet.

In the distance, we could also see the Bali Barat National Park. The main aim of this park is to protect the Bali Starling and the animals. The total area is 19,000 ha which consists of a monsoon forest, mangrove forest, lowland rain forest, savanna,…

http://twotourism.com/west-bali-national-park-the-nature-tourism-place/west-bali-national-park-nature-tourist-place-beautiful-tourism-place
This is a picture we looked up in our guide book.

Now we are going to leave Indonesia and going to continue our trip !
Our next stop is going to be Malaysia, we can’t wait to be there !

Sunny greets to our family and friends !

Miet Cappelle

28-03-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Emilie  

Hello, I'll describe our next beautiful day in Indonesia. We were very excited for today because we went to see a mosque.

We noticed very fast that the culture of Indonesia isn’t easy to define. There are a lot of different believes, uses and habits. For tourists it is very important to adjust and show respect.

For example, when Laurens wanted to say hello to a Indonesian girl with a handshake or kiss, the girl was confused because apparently things like that aren’t a habit. It was a bit funny because Laurens thought that the girl didn’t like him. But I came clear to us that in Indonesia it isn’t usual to show warm heartedness in public.

The first thing our travel guides told us was that Indonesians are a friendly people. And it is true. Despite their severe economic and political problems, Indonesians have remained open and friendly. They laugh a lot and they smile a lot. Also to apologize or when they feel embarrassed. That’s something we really like about Indonesia.

Today we visited sanctuaries and mosques. In sanctuaries and mosques our shoulders and legs have to be always covered up. Lucky we prepared us very well and we knew that shirts without sleeves and short skirts weren’t appropriate. 

We took a lot of pictures because the mosque was a beautiful building. We went to the Taubah Mosque in Jakarta.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8KArqg2MoEo/StN4GQoZbMI/AAAAAAAACAA/KyRinN4pfD8/s1600-h/At+Taubah+Mosque+in+Jakarta+-+Indonesia.jpg

We learned that Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. Approximately 80 percent of all Indonesians are devout Muslims. In general, Indonesia is a deeply religious nation and that also applies to the minorities of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

Interacting with Indonesians is very easy. We have discovered soon that most Indonesians, irrespective of age, class or education are interested in getting to know foreign visitors. Indonesians like to ask many questions. Some of those may sound intrusive, but then again, to Indonesians those are only the regular ones. For example, when we were shopping the people asked us many questions, examples of such questions are where we come from, if we are married (and if not, why not), how many children we have and what our religion is.

While our visiting to Indonesia there was a Bali Arts Festival. The Bali Arts Festival is a full month of daily performances, handicraft exhibitions and other related cultural and commercial activities during which literally the whole of Bali comes to the city to present its offerings of dance, music and beauty. It was a very impressive spectacle for us. During the show Emilie made a video that we put on the internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orUftdTlDow

Kind regards,

Anne Taelman

Bijlagen:
indonesie.jpg (211.5 KB)   

Hello everybody!

I’m Laurens! I’m one of the Belgian friends Emilie spoke about. Like Emilie already said, we are on a trip from East-Timor to Saudi-Arabia, and during this trip we will be posting articles on our blog.

This week, we’re in Indonesia.

Today I wrote an article for this blog about politics in Indonesia.

First, I’m going to tell some history about the politics.

When I was going for a walk with Anne, I spoke with a local woman. I asked her about the history of Indonesia, specially about politics. She said general Soeharto ruled the country for 32 years. He was a hard man and he did everything to keep the power in his country. He allowed 3 other politic parties (“Golongan Karya”, “Partai Persatuan Pembangunan” and “Partai Demokrat Indonesia”), but he gave a lot of nice positions and jobs to people with a lot of influence, so they make propaganda for his “Golkar partai”.

General Soeharto started ruling the country from 1967 until 1998.
You can find a lot more information about him on this link:
http://www.answers.com/topic/suharto

Now:

The last election  was Wednesday the 8^th of July, 2009. 171 million Indonesian people voted for a new president.
The party who won the elections promised economic growth, a better welfare, better worker wages and a better energy. The woman said that you can see a lot of that now.
Later, when Anne and me continued our walk, we asked a local farmer about these promises, and he said that the government really tries to make her promises come true.

You can find a lot more information on the promises from the government on  this link:
http://www.apcoworldwide.net/content/pdfs/Indonesia_Presidential_Election_Results2009.pdf
On this link, you can find the results of the elections:
http://www.medanku.com/presidential-election-results/

The Indonesian republic is a state of union. That means that all the decisions are made on national level. The provinces can’t make their own decisions.

Now, president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono rules the nation. He is the 6^th president of Indonesia. In Indonesia, the president can choose its own government. That means that he is very powerful. The party of  president/general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the PD (Partai Demokrat).

During our trip, we saw a lot of propaganda for the president and his party. Miet thought that elections would be made soon, but they were a year ago. The local farmer said that it’s normal that the ruling party keep making propaganda.

You can find a lot of information about the politics on this link:
http://countrystudies.us/indonesia/81.htm

The Indonesian parliament had 678 seats, and 2 rooms. The first room has 128 seats and the second room has 550 seats.

This is about all that the people here wanted to tell us.

My opinion: I think there's nothing wrong with the politic system they have now. Everything seems to work well, so I think there's no reason to change. A lot of people are scared about the politcal history of Indonesia. that's a pitty!

I hope you find it interesting!

Stay tuned on this blog for the posts about other countries we’re going to visit

Next week we’ll visit Malaysia!

Sunny greets!

Laurens!

24-03-2011 om 19:59 geschreven door Laurens  

20-03-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Emilie