Where is Rune?

This was my second long period (more than one year) spent in SE Asia, this time from 5 July 2002 to 20 August 2003.

In this period I stayed most of the time at the familiar Cibubur residence in East Jakarta, but also made some short trips to Batam, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Madiun, Malang, Ubud (Bali), Larantuka, Lamalera, Maumere, Pontianak, Medan, Danau Toba, Bukit Lawang, and Berastagi. I also did some quick visa runs to Singapore, and Kuching in Malaysia.

I had 3 separate visits from Norway during this time: My sister Siri, my mother Ellen, and my colleague Werner.

On 9 July 2002 I ditched my old 1993 film-based camera, and bought a digital camera (Canon PowerShot S40, which was later stolen from my residence in Oslo in 2005).

A selection of pictures in chronological order (click to enlarge):

This trip was dedicated to Indonesia only, and brought me to Jakarta, Solo, Madiun, Batu (near Malang), and Anyer Beach.

I decided to combine this trip with one week in Mumbai, so therefore I bought a ticket with Air India to Jakarta via Mumbai.

14 to 20 October 2001 was spent in Mumbai (India), while 21 October to 18 November was spent in Jakarta (Indonesia), with some day trips out of town.

I had one bad and one good experience during my week in Mumbai: The bad experience happened when I was mugged by two people on my first day (not much, just 100 Rupees or so). This time is the first and only time I have been a victim of violent crime. Well, I calmed down with a beer afterwards, and everything was good again… The good experience happened when I was invited home to an Indian guy I met in a restaurant, and afterwards he took me out on his motorbike to check out Mumbai by night.

But I was glad when I finally left Mumbai and took off for Jakarta. During the first week in Jakarta I stayed at Margot Hotel in Jalan Jaksa, the second week in a house in Kemang, and the third week at the (now) familiar residence in Cibubur.

My 7th trip to SE Asia was the longest one so far: I arrived in Singapore on 16 June 1999 on Kuwait Airlines via Kuwait, and left Singapore on 2 November 2000 on Pakistan Airlines, bound for Oslo, via Karachi and Islamabad (I stayed one night in Karachi, sponsed by the airline).

During my seventh SE Asian trip, I had four visits from Norway: My two parents, “CME”, and “Superman”.

Below is a list of places visited during this trip as far as I can remember (well, the list of countries is at least accurate).

Click on the photos to enlarge.

Indonesia

Batam, Bintan, Pekanbaru, Sibolga, Nias, Medan, Danau Toba, Bukittinggi, Danau Maninjau, Padang, Jambi, Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Cirebon, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Solo, Surabaya, Bromo, Malang, Lawang, Madura (Sumenep), Bali (Kuta and Ubud), Lombok (Mataram and Senggigi), Pontianak, Makassar, Palu, Gorontalo, Manado, Bunaken.

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Tioman, Kuching (in Sarawak).

Myanmar

Yangon, Nyaungshwe (Inle Lake), Taunggyi (day trip only), Kalaw, Mandalay, Bagan, Ngapali Beach. I was in Myanmar from 15 November to 13 December 1999.

Pakistan

Karachi. Only one day in this country, from 3 to 4 November 2000. Sorry, no pictures were taken here.

Philippines

General Santos, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu City, Bacolod, Boracay, Manila, Angeles.

Singapore

New Year’s Eve 1999 was spent at Orchard Road, Singapore. The streets were extremely crowded at midnight, and filled with huge amounts of trash! Probably once in a lifetime when nobody cared about this in the otherwise super clean city.

Thailand

Bangkok, Pattaya. Sorry, no pictures were taken here.

My sixth trip to SE Asia was at the same time my third trip to Indonesia. I had a return ticket with Gulf Air to Jakarta via Abu Dhabi. Trip duration: 28 December 1998 to 18 January 1999.

I didn’t spend any nights in Jakarta though. Instead, I used Bandung as my base (train to/from Jakarta). From Bandung, I went to Yogyakarta by train, together with Anita. Afterwards I took a bus to Bali, while Anita returned to Bandung. Then plane/train back to Bandung (via Jakarta). Minibus back and forth to Pangandaran (without Anita). And finally train back to Jakarta on 18 January. Departure same day.