User:(WT-en) Tryptamine dreamer

Born: 1980, Moscow, Russia Occupation: Java programmer Mostly live in: Jakarta, Indonesia and Moscow, Russia (1-2 visits for a few months every year) Formerly lived in (and still would like to): Chiang Mai, Thailand Top 5 countries: Thailand, India, Indonesia (all three are very close in my "rating", however); Laos, Philippines

Season #4: Time To Get Serious (2011-12):

26 September 2011: Beijing, China! Hopefully can make visa so no need for transit in <24 hours 28 September 2011: changed my return flight to Hong Kong. Would like to visit China, but it's National day just a few days after... I worry it'll be very problematic to travel cheap on those days 29 30 September 2011: Turbojet ferry to Macau (typhoon Nesat caused storm warning No.8 on 29 Sep, so all ferry services were shut down) 1 October 2011: Tiger Airways (SEAir marketed by Tiger) now flies very cheap ( and not too late it was 2,5 hours late, but still earlier than other low-cost options from HK/Macau) to Angeles City, Philippines 3 October 2011: Manila 5 October 2011: promo $32 ticket to Boracay (directly to Caticlan airport!) island 10 October 2011: Kalibo 11 October 2011: Manila 12 October 2011: Kuala Lumpur 13 October 2011: Penang, but finally didn't continue further north to Hat Yai, as was planning before 17 October 2011: Kuala Lumpur, tried the last opportunity to apply for Indonesian visa, sat 2 hours and still had 25 people in front of me when the visa application counter closed :( 19 October 2011: LionAir's flight to Jakarta, Indonesia 17 December 2011: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and usual overnight stay in LCCT 18 December 2011: morning flight to Chennai, and this time Mochi also goes to India! 18 December 2011: same-afternoon flight to Madurai, booked as an award using my JetPrivilege miles :) 21 December 2011: train to Trivandrum (this time to "splurge" on First Class (FC) - despite the name, the price is between 2AC and 3AC class, because it's a classic non a/c version, a bit dusty but still private, and ~$17 for both!), then a day trip from there to Kanyakumari. Finally ended up staying in Kovalam when got back 23 December 2011: again Kochi (but this time with Mochi :D ) 27 December 2011: train (here and after SL class, unless otherwise stated) to Goa, either via Mangalore, or directly if as waitlisted tickets would be were confirmed. Stayed with friends (on the rooftop of the house they rent) near Morjim (surprised, but this year it is not as "Russian" as I was scared before, well, especially if far from the beach) ... New Year on the rooftop with friends, a couple of parties visited, plus motorbike and/or local bus trips around northern half of Goa 13 January 2012: Belgaum (by train) - Hubli (by bus), then after a hour or two to: 14 January 2012: Hospet - Hampi 17 January 2012: Hospet - Hyderabad (with an odd 5 hours stop in Guntakal) 20 January 2012: Bhubaneswar (19 hours and over 1100 km, the longest overland segment of our trip) 22 January 2012: Puri (crazy, but not so bad) plus a short bus trip to Konark (much nicer and quieter) 24 January 2012: train to Kolkata (in the 3AC class, but looks it may be new 3AC Economy mew AC Sleeper class, because the price is exactly in the middle between SL and normal 3-tier AC) 26 January 2012: flight to Bangkok (it was cheaper to go to Jakarta this way, including all trains, than via Bangalore/Chennai and KL... and if cheaper and can visit Thailand - why not?) 30 January 2012: Chiang Mai, after more than a YEAR of absence 7 January 2012: Bangkok - Pattaya 11 January 2012: Bangkok to catch a train to 12 February 2012: Hat Yai, just for a day instead of planned 3 day, with a day trip to Songkhla 13 February 2012: Penang, Malaysia 15 February 2012: Mochi flies to Jakarta 17 February 2012: I go by train to Kuala Lumpur 18 February 2012: and then fly to Jakarta as well 21 May 2012: Legian, Bali (cheapest room on Bali - Rp 23,800 (<$3) for this night in TuneHotel Legian!) 22 May 2012: Ubud 27 May 2012: Kintamani (Awaredance 4) 28 May 2012: Ubud plus return motorbike trip to the airport to pick up Mochi 29 May 2012: Kintamani and back to Ubud after the party is over 30 May 2012: Kuta to meet friends - back to Ubud 1 June 2012: around Ubud plus Pantai Ketewel (just down from Sukawati) 2 June 2012: Goa Lawah plus several less-known beaches between Padang Bai and Sanur - Gianyar 3 June 2012: Tanah Lot - Jimbaran - Ubud 4 June 2012: Sanur - Denpasar - Sanur - Ubud 5 June 2012: Legian, again TuneHotel 6 June 2012: Jakarta - Phuket Town, Thailand 7 June 2012: return trip to the flooded Patong beach 9 June 2012: Bangkok - Pattaya 10 June 2012: Bangkok 17 June 2012: Pattaya 19 June 2012: Bangkok 22 June 2012: Moscow, Russia (Thai Airways - redeeming the miles collected on Thai/Swiss/Egyptair during previous 3 years)

... also I seriously think of:

- continuing to live mostly in my favorite 3 countries (now with accent to Indonesia, coz finally have found a PERFECT gf there :-) but wish if she can find a job in Thailand, ideally in the best city I've been so far - Chiang Mai!)

- visiting Yunnan province, China some time... and China itself too (already planned this autumn, but... next time)

- (some time) going from Thailand to Moscow or vice versa by land (yes, being Russian, I've never been in Siberia!! Even though finally flown over it in June 2011 on HK-Moscow flight) :-D ). And yes, I want to make a BUDGET trip of that - so, looks like I'll use domestic Russian trains till Mongolian border, then local trains in China as well, rather than "western-tourist priced" direct Moscow-Beijing and Beijing-Hanoi trains. Frankly, being native Russian, I'm still more concerned about the Russian part of the trip.

- visiting more (and, if I can stay longer without Internet for work, more remote) places of Indonesia!

- when I have both time and money (problem is now I never have both same time :-D ) - using my Aeroflot bonus miles for some normally expensive flight to the part of the world completely unusual but still interesting for me. Such as to Jamaica or (not so expensive from Moscow, but I want to visit this country anyway) Cuba; some other Latin American countries, or, even, for flying from Asia to islands of Oceania)

- as South/SE Asian countries are mostly (and often not once) visited, I am looking to Australia and New Zealand, not so far from here. The problems are: 1) making visa there while in SE Asia; 2) significantly higher prices than in Asia

2010-2011 season (24.10.2010 - 28.06.2011)

24 October 2010: Cairo, Egypt 25 October 2010: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 27 October 2010: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (Mochi & Dina come there from Jakarta just 1 hour later) 30 October 2010: Phnom Penh, Cambodia 1 November 2010: Siem Reap 5 November 2010: Aranyaprathet, Thailand - Bangkok 8 November 2010: Krabi - Ao Nang, but it was not lucky visit 11 November 2010: Patong (Phuket), very rainy and sad :( 17 November 2010: Bangkok and work; party is over a week ago 22 November: Pattaya, as many friends are there now 26 November: Bangkok 28 November: Chiang Mai 3 December: Nakhon Sawan - Khon Kaen - Vientiane, Laos (last bus to Udon Thani was canceled, plus this was the last of 30 days I was permitted to stay in Thailand, so had to take that long way) 4 December 2010: Vang Vieng *SMOKE* :-D 6 December 2010: Vientiane 7 December 2010: flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 9 December 2010: Jakarta, Indonesia, ya! :-) 31 December 2010; Rangkasbitung - Malingping, Banten province (due to the minibus breakdown me & Mochi had to celebrate New Year in this small unknown town on the far west of Java... but this is an adventure, certainly!) 1 January 2011: Bayah - Sawarna beach (quite nice and not touristic at all) 2 January 2011 (evening): Ciawi (near Sawarna beach) - Pelabuhan Ratu - Cibadak - Jakarta, all in 7 hours 6 January 2011: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 7 January 2011: Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), India 11 January 2011: Hospet - Hampi (Karnataka) 14 January 2011: Querim (Goa) 31 January 2011: Cochin (Kerala) 4 February 2011; Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu) 5 February 2011: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 8 February 2011 (morning): Jakarta, Indonesia, meet Mochi once more :-) 8 February 2011 (evening): Kuta (Bali), thanks again to AirAsia for tickets cheap even for Indonesia (Rp.223rb/person net = ~$25, plus baggage) 10 February 2011: it's my BIRTHDAY!!! :-D 11 February 2011: Ubud 13 February 2011: Kintamani - Lake Batur - Gianyar - Ubud 14 February 2011: Tampaksiring - Sukawati - Denpasar - Ubud 15 February 2011: Padang Bai - Lembar (Lombok) - Senggigi 16 February 2011: Kuta (Lombok) - Mataram - Senggigi 17 February 2011: Gili Air 21 February 2011: Gili Meno 24 February 2011: Mataram - cheap ($31 each) LionAir flight to Surabaya (East Java) - Malang 26 February 2011: Probolinggo - Cemoro Lawang on erupting Mount Bromo 27 February 2011: Probolinggo - Surabaya 28 February 2011: arrived to Jakarta (bus from Surabaya went 800 km for 19 hours.. gilaaaa) 26 March 2011: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 29 March 2011: Hat Yai, Thailand (never been before, and AirAsia ticket just RM34 = $10) 1 April 2011: Songkhla, certainly it rains TOO much again on the South 2 April 2011: Khanom (Nakhon Si Thammarat province). Nice and quiet beach! 5 April 2011: Surat Thani 6 April 2011: Bangkok 9 April 2011: Pattaya, to meet friends as well as to celebrate Songkran 16 April 2011: Penang, Malaysia 18 April 2011: Jakarta, Indonesia, exactly on Mochi's BIRTHDAY 19 May 2011: Sukabumi, went to trip with Mochi after 1 month (due to room rent considerations) in Jakarta 20 May 2011: continued to Ujung Genteng on the southern coast of West Java 23 May 2011: back to Jakarta 30 May 2011: rather unplanned (I got bored of Jakarta, Mochi decided to try to find a job on Bali) trip of both of us to Bali has started from the bisnis (2nd class, non a/c) train to Semarang 31 May 2011: continued on to Surabaya 2 June 2011: another Denpasar (Bali) + 2 bemos to Ubud 3 June 2011: Awaredance 3 psy trance party inside of Mt.Batur caldera, near Kintamani 6 June 2011: back to Ubud 9 June 2011: Denpasar - Jimbaran - Uluwatu - Sukawati - Ubud 10 June 2011: Denpasar - Sanur - Ubud 11 June 2011: moved to Padang Bai 12 June 2011: continued to Amed 14 June 2011: back from Amed, tried to stop at Candidasa but found only one place for less than Rp.100,000/night and in terrible condition, so went a bit further back to Padang Bai 15 June 2011: Jimbaran - Nusa Dua - Kuta - Padang Bai 16 June 2011: Ngurah Rai airport - Dreamland beach @ Bukit peninsula - Jimbaran - Padang Bai 17 June 2011: Denpasar (immigration & Carrefour) - Padang Bai 18 June 2011: Pantai Putih - Candidasa - Padang Bai 19 June 2011: Ubud 20 June 2011: Jimbaran - GWK monument at Bukit peninsula - Jimbaran - Ubud 21 June 2011: Kuta, for easy connection to the airport 22 June 2011: Mochi flies to Jakarta, I stay in Kuta 23 June 2011: at 9.30pm I depart to Kuala Lumpur 24 June 2011: after spending a night in KL LCCT, I took a bus to Penang 25 June 2011: flight to Hong Kong 28 June 2011: back to Moscow, Russia, directly (and surprisingly cheap) by Aeroflot. But, same as last year, this is just a first leg of RETURN ticket! :-P

2009-2010 trip (27.09.2009 - 01.09.2010) 27 September 2009: Moscow, Russia - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, transit point by Etihad 28 September 2009: Delhi, India 1 October 2009: 27 hours by train to Margao, and then Agonda (Goa) 17 October 2009: bus trip to Gokarna (Karnataka) 19 October 2009: Sadolxem (Canacona, Goa), and live with friends there 10 November 2009: Margao, then train to Bangalore (Karnataka) 12 November 2009: Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), by plane, as my ticket was paid for me anyway 13 November 2009: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Moscow, Russia (going back just to work hard for 3 weeks... well at least got some money after, and the tickets to/from Moscow were also paid) 4 December 2009: another Etihad flight to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 5 December 2009: and then Bangkok, Thailand 10 December 2009: Pattaya 27 December 2009: Ko Samui 1 January 2010: HAPPY NEW YEAR! %) 2 January 2010: came by train to Bangkok (had to depart from Samui on 1 January afternoon) 3 January 2010: Nong Khai - Vientiane, Laos (because 30-day stamp expires on 3) 7 January 2010: Vang Vieng, and something "happy and funny for you" is sold there, as always :-D 10 January 2010: back to Vientiane 14 January 2010: Udon Thani, Thailand, with a 2-months Thai visa for 0 baht 18 January 2010: Bangkok by train to meet friends there 22 January 2010: back to Udon Thani 26 January 2010: another 12-hour long bus trip to Chiang Mai 10 February 2010: 30th BIRTHDAY @ CM 11 February 2010: Bangkok (and the party continues there :-D ) 14 February 2010; back to Chiang Mai 3 March 2010: Pai 5 March 2010: Chiang Mai 6 March 2010: arrive by train to Bangkok, then fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 10 March 2010: Penang, the cheapest flight I ever flown (RM13 ticket + RM20 baggage) 17 March 2010: bus to Kuala Lumpur (can't buy cheap direct flight from Penang to Jkt :- 18 March 2010: Jakarta, Indonesia by KLM, as had to save my Aeroflot bonus (Skyteam) miles from expiration in 2011. And some Heineken just from Amsterdam onboard, yes. :-D 29 March 2010: Bogor - Jakarta 4 April 2010: Depok - Jakarta 20 April 2010: Depok - Jakarta 22 April 2010: Malang (East Java), finally left Jakarta, but just for 16 days 24 April 2010: Mount Bromo - Malang, on motorbikes 25 April 2010: Surabaya 26 April 2010: flight to Mataram (Lombok) - taxi to Senggigi 27 April 2010: bemo + public boat to Gili Air island 4 May 2010: Gili Meno (even better than Air, but yes quiet) 5 May 2010: Gili Trawangan (just a day trip to the ATM, maybe next one won't be soon, tourist place!) - Gili Meno 7 May 2010: Bangsal (Lombok) - Lembar - Padang Bai (Bali) - Ubud 8 May 2010: Batavia's flight to Jakarta 10 May 2010: Patong, Phuket, Thailand (AirAsia, for around 30$) 15 May 2010: Udon Thani (AirAsia, similar price, comparable to 2 nights in the bus via Bkk) 21 May 2010: Vientiane, Laos (for Thai 2 mth visa, as it's free again) 26 May 2010: Udon Thani, Thailand, as delayed for 2 days in Vientiane 27 May 2010: and then arrive next morning to Pattaya 1 June 2010: Lonely beach at Ko Chang (again delayed for 2 days, but finally visited Ko Lan!! after 15 or so visits to Pattaya in last 3+ years :-D ) 3 June 2010: Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport, then another 699 baht AirAsia ticket to Chiang Mai 20 July 2010: Phuket (plane from Chiang Mai arrives 00:30, then, after a night in the airport, on 8.05 flight to) - Jakarta, Indonesia!!! yess :-D 19 August 2010: Bangkok, Thailand (was late on 18 aug, so had to change ticket) 22 August 2010: Pattaya 27 August 2010: Bangkok 28 August 2010: Chiang Mai 31 August 2010: Bangkok 1 September 2010: Cairo, Egypt - Moscow, Russia

2008-09 season trip (08.11.2008 - 20.07.2009):

8 Nov 2008: Moscow - Geneva, Switzerland - Zurich 9 Nov 2008: Pattaya, Thailand 15 Nov 2008: Chiang Mai 9 Dec 2008: Udon Thani - Vientiane, Laos 12 Dec 2008: Vang Vieng 15 Dec 2008: Vientiane 20 Dec 2008: Nong Khai, Thailand 21 Dec 2008: Bangkok - Pattaya 27 Dec 2008: Bangkok 28 Dec 2008: Mumbai, India 29 Dec 2008: Chapora (Goa) 1 Jan 2009: NEW 2009 YEAR at Curlies, Anjuna (Goa) 5 Jan 2009: Gokarna (Karnataka) 12 Jan 2009: Mangalore (Karnataka) 13 Jan 2009: Calicut (Kerala) 14 Jan 2009: Trivandrum (Kerala) 16 Jan 2009: Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu) - Trivandrum 17 Jan 2009: Negombo, Sri Lanka 18 Jan 2009: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Singapore 20 Jan 2009: Angeles City, Philippines 25 Jan 2009: Cebu 1 Feb 2009: Angeles City 3 Feb 2009: Bangkok, Thailand 9 Feb 2009: Udon Thani - Vientiane, Laos 10 Feb 2009: BIRTHDAY in Vientiane and it's suburbs 13 Feb 2009: Udon Thani, Thailand 14 Feb 2009: Chiang Mai 27 Feb 2009: Bangkok 4 Mar 2009: Pattaya 7 Mar 2009: Bangkok 11 Mar 2009: Trat 12 Mar 2009: Ko Chang - Trat 13 Mar 2009: Koh Kong, Cambodia - Sihanoukville 21 Mar 2009: Koh Kong 22 Mar 2009: Trat, Thailand - Bangkok 04 Apr 2009: Chumphon - Ko Tao - Ko Phangan 06 Apr 2009: Ko Samui 10 Apr 2009: Surat Thani 11 Apr 2009: Bangkok - Chiang Mai 20 Apr 2009: Golden Triangle - Mae Sai - Tachilek, Myanmar - Mae Sai, Thailand - Chiang Mai 23 Apr 2009: Bangkok - Jakarta, Indonesia 3 May 2009: Yogyakarta 7 May 2009: Mount Bromo (East Java) 8 May 2009: Kuta (Bali) 11 May 2009: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 12 May 2009: Chiang Mai, Thailand 29 May 2009: Bangkok 3 June 2009: Surat Thani - Ko Samui 6 June 2009: Surat Thani - Bangkok 10 June 2009: Chiang Khong - Huay Xai, Laos - Chiang Khong, Thailand - Chiang Mai 12 June 2009: Golden Triangle - Mae Sai - Chiang Mai 7 July 2009: Mae Sai - Tachilek, Myanmar - Mae Sai, Thailand - Chiang Rai 8 July 2009: Chiang Mai 20 July 2009: Bangkok 21 July 2009: Zurich, Switzerland - Moscow, Russia

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-- tryptamine dreamer