Exotic Spy

27/06/2023

I already finished my trip to Cambodia and now when I look back at it I still have mixed feelings about it. It was fun? It was sometimes disgusting? I think the right answer is both.

Phnom Penh, the capital, has only a few interesting places and most of them have very high entry fees for what they are offering. I visited a few but when it was about to visit the king's palace I gave up because most of the reviews I've read were saying that even if you are required to pay 10$ most of the palace complex was closed for renovation.
On short, I am very disappointed about how their government choose to disrespect foreign visitors by imposing high entrance fees but very little to see in return!

However, the country is famous for the Angkor Wat temple complex (near Siem Reap). And now after visiting it, I confirm that it is a damn good enough reason to visit Cambodia. I never seen such exquisite and beautiful and extensive rock carvings and when you think those were made purely by hand it leaves you speechless.

I've been also to Battambang to enjoy a ride with the famous Bamboo Train and to visit Sampov Mountain especially to see the Bats Cave - a cave from which millions on bats are flying out at sunset and back before sunrise. Just like regular vampires. 😄

Between the big cities I traveled with buses (of course, not without some stupid experiences worth to remember). Inside and around the cities I walked or rented bicycles. However, the heat is like hell so I promised to myself that next time I will come to Asia I will make sure to have an international driving permit so I can rent a motorcycle and have all the movement freedom I want.

Lastly, I want to highlight another two good reason to visit Cambodia: Apsara Dance Show at Apsara Theater in Phnom Penh and Cambodia Circus Show available in Siem Reap and Battambang.
Both of them make a very positive contrast with all the other not-so-pleasant things you'll find in Cambodia. They are like good quality and mature exotic fruits - so full of original flavours so that they totally worth your time and money.

Just to make Cambodia a more vivid memory, my original flight out of it was cancelled. After we were hosted at the Airport hotel I received new tickets for the next day+ an additional stop over - și that day I flew through Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines and finally arrived to South Korea.

Uh, long day, long trip. But at least South Korea air is nice and cool 😎.

11/06/2023

Looking through the internet filter I thought was the saddest county in the area.
Well that's far from truth.
Sri Lanka is like a beautiful but naive girl who was, again, dumped by her lover. But even if she's suffering she is still smiling a lot, she knows she will love again soon!
Cambodia doesn't smile. She was a tremendous powerful and beautiful empire a thousand years ago but she was deserted by fate and lost its power. From a local ruler it became something like a slave to the French colonialism. Then, when other countries regained their freedom and start recover their beauty and fame, Cambodia under ultra-comunist regime of Khmer Rouge killed a quarter of its own men, women and new-born kids with the cheapest tools they could get: shovels, hammers, wood sticks or smashing heads over the trees ...
This tragedy ended 43 years ago, but Cambodia as a whole is still not smiling. And after visiting some a former Khmer Rouge prison and killing field I perfectly understand why. I also understood why you are not allowed to smile in those places.

Cambodia is a land that since 7-8 centuries ago is continuously loosing. Influence, pride, territory, freedom, lifes of dear ones. I only wonder which of our own nations would handle that better?

Cambodia doesn't smile.
That's why the most beautiful thing I found here up until now is its people smile.
Because it's so rare.

Yup, it's not always fun visiting Cambodia. But it's instructive. It teaches you that life is not only malls and pools with bikini girls. And in order to become a mature man I need to be aware and understand both of these realities.

11/06/2023

So what exactly is this Sabah Harvest Festival?
As with any respectable traditional festival, this one too is rooted in a legend.
Once upon a time a great famine was threatening the area. Seeing the people's cry, god Kinoingan sacrifices his own daughter Huminodun and sawed her spirit and body into the soil to nurture the growth of rice and other plants. It is believed that each grain of rice contains its share of Huminodun spirit and in order to be thankful for that locals are organizing each year the Harvest Festival.
Even if it lasts one month, the most important part of it takes place on 30-31 of May. During these days people from different Ethnic groups gather at the KDCA cultural center in Kota Kinabalu, where each group has built a traditional house. There, on each house, dressed in traditional outfits they try to live for those days just like their ancestors: they dance, sing, cook, make handicrafts etc. Of course, anyone is welcome to visit, watch and talk with them.
In parallel there is another special activity: a beauty contest also aimed to honor the memory of Huminodum. The contest attracts girls representatives not only from Sabah but all over Malaysia. So yeah, it's a really big thing and that explains why the competition audience hall at KDCA is so crowded this time.
As for me, I wasn't paying too much attention to the beauty contest, I preferred to get lost in area where the ethnic groups were doing their stuff.

Kuching, the capital of the Sarawak, the other Malaysian Borneo state also has a very similar Harvest Festival. I've been there also but even if I arrived on the right day, my information about the festival place we're wrong.

Anyway, I noticed that whatever you can experience at the Harvest festivals at the end of May you can experience, on a smaller scale, through the year at any of the Cultural Villages in Sabah or Sarawak.

However, aside from the festival, I was mesmerized by how nature looks and feels in Borneo. It's so green, quiet and colorful (and sometimes sweaty and full of mosquitoes too 😅). And again, I am impressed about how few tourists go there. But no matter what, I left with a list of jaw dropping places I want to visit when I'll return there. Yes, even if it's 10000km away from home, it's so good I want to return!

And, sadly, with this very short overview, my trip to unexpectedly interesting Malaysia ended.
I am already in Cambodia on my quest to touch the famous .

29/05/2023

My flight had a delay and so I landed in Kota Kinabalu so late in the night that there was no taxi anymore on the streets. The bad part is that I needed to walk about 4km, but the good part was that the hotel reception was still open at 12:30 AM 🥳
On the second day I rented a scooter (twice because the first one suddenly got stuck in the third gear) and I just roam around to get a feeling of the suroundings (and restaurants).
Since most looks like a normal-concrete-with-no-personality city I was tempted to focus more on trekking - hoping to discover that exotic feeling for which Borneo is so famous. But all changed when I visited the cultural villages of Mari Mari and Monsopiad. These places are in fact open air museums that show tribal houses, daily life tools and clothing and of course tribal dances.
I feel overwhelmed by how many exotic things only now I realize I can do in Sabah. Things like climbing 4000m of Kinabalu mountain, driving 350km to Sepilok Orangutan reservation, or just simply camping in the jungle close to some tall waterfalls. But I will need to leave them for another trip.
The main reason I came here is starting tomorrow: the peak days of Sabah Harvest Festival. I finally manage to get a copy of the activities program...too bad is in Malay language.
I'll go work in descipphering it with Google Translate and meanwhile I leave you with some images I took here in Kota Kinabalu.

25/05/2023

I started the ASIAN expedition hoping that I will have more time for the things I mostly ignored due to lack of time. Things like the Exotic Spy website and personal development stuff.
Now after 6 months of full-time traveling I realize that being an enthusiastic man, the lack of time to-do-everything-I-want will always be a problem for me. This is the reason for which there's practically no visible progress with this so-dear-to-me project called Exotic Spy Travel.
And now I decided to make peace with that. With the fact that I will never find time for everything I want to do.
Instead, I will invest daily focus on finishing building the website. Meanwhile, I will use this page as a public travel journal.
It's less than I hoped to offer you, but I think this is the fastest way up to the point I will be able to offer more.

So, how's my first journal entry looks like?
I am in Malaysia on the bus from Melaka to Kuala Lumpur. I'm going to leave my big backpack to a friend because tonight I will fly to Borneo (Kalimantan) - an island called "the Lost Paradise" due to it's very rich ecosystem. But the main reason I am going there is to experience the tribal celebrations during their Harvest festivals - firstly in Kota Kinabalu (Sabah state) and secondly in Kuching (Sarawak state).
I admit, the fact that in Kuching there is a cat museum greatly influenced my decision to go there. 😃

Until then, I leave you with some images from Melaka I found on my phone (more and better ones are waiting on my camera to be published on the website).
Melaka is an old port city that once was the gate of the commercial sealane between China and the Western World. If you check the map you'll see that sailing through Malaca Strait (where Melaka is built) offers the shortest way between China and the West. Cargo ships all over the world were coming here to trade all kind of goods. And since on those times the only way of returning home was to wait a few months until the wind direction changed in the desired direction, the ships and their crew were spending a lot of time in this city increasing it's cultural diversity.
Of course, Malaka was also an arena where colonial powers of Portuguese, Dutch, British and Japanese fought each other aiming to control the worldwide flow of riches.
All these are probably the reason for which the Malaysia in general and Melaka in special are unexpectedly warm and welcoming towards foreigners.
They are a good example of the principle "no matter how worse were some things in the past, one always can learn from those experiences and create a better future for all".

17/01/2023

It's been already two months since we came to and that's enough time to get over the initial tourist excitement. Now I think I can be reasonably objective in giving you:
- highlights about my recent and future itinerary;
- practical info about how is to be here.

Let's start with the recent itinerary.
I chose to start this long trip with because due to their ongoing economic crisis it is the cheapest South-East Asia country. And for a wannabe explorer like me that's comfortable :).
My start was easy, with about 40 days on the South-Coast. We've been one week in , one week in , the whole December in , and a few days in and in .
After so much rest, we headed north to see the ancient monument from and for about one week. Then we visited during their Pongal and Jaffna Kite festivals. Now we are in to chill before heading to and for enjoying waterfalls and trails for about two weeks.
We'll finish our Sri Lanka expedition in mid-February when we'll be back in Unawatuna to attend a wedding (with some traditional elements I hope).
From 16th of February we will be in Thailand.

Now let's get back to Sri Lanka and talk about how is to be here as a tourist.

SAFETY in
In short, YES we always feel safe here. In fact, sometimes we feel spoiled by the locals. For example, on a few occasions we were offered empty seats in a crowded bus, we got help from police to pass through crowded gatherings, or even had police stopping a bus just to help us to pass on the other side of the road.
I had night walks in the suburbs of many cities in the country and I felt no threats.
On the medical side, I can say we got some experience with their medical system. My girlfriend had an ugly feet allergy to some insect bites and went to a hospital in . As for me, I lost an old tooth filling and I went to put it back in a clinic in . Our conclusion? Everything was as professional as you would expect in Europe (only cheaper).
So regarding safety, from my point of view, there's nothing to worry about.

That's all for today.
Next time we'll talk about dealing with transportation and accommodation.

20/11/2022

Today I got to visit a local friend I met during my last trip in .
We end up to a pool where I met a cat named . Soon after I found that Arrack is also the name of SriLankan whiskey, so I drank it (the Arrack whiskey, not the Arrack cat 😸).
Meanwhile I noticed that the Arrack cat looked like a lion, and curiously that was the name of the beers we had before (and after) meeting the Arrack cat and drinking the Arrack whiskey.
So the looks like a , only a bit stronger 😅

18/11/2022

18/11/2022

So finally I started it: the full-time exploration of the world. For 1 year or who knows, maybe for more. And finally, I will have more time to invest in Exotic Spy project.

But first of all, I must say that, besides all its problems and shortcomings, I am very grateful that I was born in this era. That's because today, practically anyone can touch a dream that in the past was reserved only for kings or very rich people: the dream of discovering the world on my own!

I also must say that I am not a successful blogger, a skilled journalist, or anything that qualifies me as someone worthy of your attention. I am just a curious man excited by his many ideas about world exploration. A man who doesn't really know how to start to do it properly but, f**k it, he hopes to learn it on the way.
So if you like what I (will) do, feel free to follow me and tell me what you think in the comments.

However, there is one thing I am and I promise I will always be: honest.
I will try to show the world as I will see it: beautiful and dirty, both polite and fake, either warm or ugly. I will be honest because this is the very reason I started to travel abroad: to discover the world as it is, unbiased by the mass media interests.

The first stop in this journey is : a tear-drop-shaped tropical country island located just south of India.
The reasons I plan to be here for at least two months? Beautiful and diverse nature, long and diverse history that left a ton of beautiful traces, funny and warm-hearted people, and damn good food.

06/11/2022

India?
Pakistan maybe?
Ummm ... Afghanistan?
Wait! Let me guess! Iran?

Not (yet). It's just an exquisite Sikh temple just in Bedford, England.

08/07/2022

Turkey Expedition Days 13-14: Finike - Fethiye.

The heat and our built-up fatigue asked for a second laissez-fairre day, here in Fethyie.

We started our relaxation time before Fethyie, in the clear and calm waters at the foot of the castle. The place is a small gulf filled with small island that float in a water so shallow that you can walk between many of them. The mountain holding Simena castle is filled with green vegetation on which countless colorful shops are hidden in there shade. It's like you have a gigantic Christmas tree rooted from the sea. 😀

After we got our share of skin burn, we've been to , which it could be impressive only if it would be your first time you visit the remains of an ancient city. There ruins are not very well preserved and are scattered on a wide area. So at least compared with the other ancient places, we were not impressed.

After we got to Fethyie, we visited the Rock Tombs, which are rock sculptures on a mountain facing the city. We've already seen this kind of rock sculptures at (Man on Rock), but those were on a much smaller scale.

We come to the South-West Turkey expecting to be impressed but the destinations we had in our place. However, even if we were impressed by most of them, we got even more excited by the street indicators pointing to other interesting spots, expecially cannions, path trails and beaches. And after checking their pictures on the Google the conclusion is: yes this area deserves another visit.

That's all for today,
See you in

06/07/2022

Turkey Expedition Day 12: Side - Finike

I've tried to visit the Ancient City of during CoVid pandemic but the site was closed. I could only get a few glimpse of it from the nearby hills.
It looked big, but only today when I visited it I could see how huge it really is and how magnificent must have been in the past.
I don't believe in aliens involvement in creating those huge and exquisite rock architecture, but after seeing Perge I am not so sure anymore.

Our next stop was Waterfall. We were a bit disappointed by it but I think that's because we're are far from the rainy season.

In order to wash the Kurșunlu disappointment we choose something a bit hard core: a visit to Ancient City.
What's so interesting about it? Well, is an usual Greek State City built in an unusual place: on a very rough mountain top at about 1000m above sea level. It was so difficult to get there that not even the Alexander the Great could conquer it.
However, even if it was unconquerable by people it was turned into rubble by earthquakes.
The place is not escavated or renewed in any way. So if you feel trying something in Indiana Jones style, come to Termessos. There are many still closed tombs, who knows what treasures or curses you might find! 😀

That's all for today
See you in

05/07/2022

Turkey Expedition Day 11: Anamur - Side.

This day was bright and colorfull.
The first stop was on the mount on which the Castle is built. The Castle by itself is not something remarkable (maybe because most of the info displayed are only in Turkish). However, the view you have once you are up there are breathtaking, and that's really pay off for the effort of going there.

After we got soaked in our own sweat, we left for where first we had a well deserved swim in the sea. I also performed my personal rejuvenation ritual of taking a nap buried in the sand. 🥳
Just before the sunset we headed for Side Old Town. I have been two years ago in Side and then it looked like a ghost town because of the pandemic. But today is as full of life, lights and people as probably it was almost 2000 years ago.
Side is one of the ancient cities whose excavation is far from finished. And that's a good reason to return to it in the future to better see and feel it's past.

That's all for today,
See you in

04/07/2022

Turkey Expedition Day 10: Iskenderun - Anamur

Our most important destination today, Gilidire Cave, was closed. But that doesn't mean we had a boring day.

We headed first to or Girl's Castle, which is a fortress built on an small island 500 meters away from the shore. A legend says that once upon a time there was a king who was warned by an oracle that his daughter will die by a snake byte. To avoid her destiny, the king built the fortress of this island and send her there. However, one day, hidden in a basket filled with grapes, a miscivious snake reach to the girl and fulfilled the oracle premonition. And so this island got the name "Girl's Castle"

Next we climbed down on a dried river canion to see the or Men of Rock. After 15 minutes of climbing on hot stone steps we found a few sculptures carved in a vertical stone wall. There no clear prove about who did them, but the clues indicate that they were funerary monuments built by some wealthy roman families.
Regardless of who or why did them, finding such exquisite piece of art in such a difficult accesible place is simply astonishing.

Our next stop was Heaven and Hell, which is a place that contains two huge sinkholes. It's difficult to feel their hugeness from the photos so it might help if I mention that the biggest one has a depth of 120m.
The other sinkhole is in fact a big corridor that ends on a cave. At the cave mouth there are the remains of a Christian Church or Monastery that interestingly merge with the huge and rough background.

The last destination was sinkhole. It's a nature wonder so huge that can be truly appreciated only from above. We did not had a drone with us so we tried to feel its size by screaming and listen to the echo. And damn, it's really huge! 😅

That's all for today,
See you in

03/07/2022

Turkey Expedition Day 9: Gaziantep - Iskenderun

Today we enjoyed the some of most exquisite gifts the ancient world left us: ancient pieces of art.

First we visited Mozaic Museum from Gaziantep, which as the name suggest, it focuses only on mozaics (mostly from the Roman period).And it does that unexpectedly well, because it's huge and contains very well preserved specimens.
Personally I am not an fanatic art but this museum shows you beauties that you can't see everyday. So instead of an expected 30 minutes visit we spent there three times more time.

Secondly, we visited the Archeology Museum from Antakya (the former Antioch). For me this was even better that the previous because I was able to see rock sculptures left from the beginning of the written history (e.g. the 3300 years old statue of the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I).
I chose to come to Antakya only because of its significance it had for the early Christians.
Now I found that the Christian episode was just a short act from the huge and impressing history of the area.

I didn't want to leave Antakya without checking something with Christian significance so we chose to see the St. Peter cave church, said to be building the the Crusaders around 1100.
We were not very impressed because besides its beautiful facade there's nothing more to see. Or it is but is not currently open to the public.

That's all for today,
See you in

02/07/2022

Turkey Expedition Day 8: Mardin - Gaziantep

It was a day filled with some of the most important destination from our plan. And we we're not disappointed about out expectations.

First we visited neolithic settlement - the oldest human settlement ever found with and age estimated to 12 thousands years. The place is not impresive by how it looks but thought what it is: a humankind childhood memory.

Next stop was in , a ancient pool with cristal waters and countless carp fish. Being surrounded by vivid vegetation and islamic-style buildings, this place truly looks like a scene from Scheherazade stories.
Balikligöl is not only beautiful. It is also a place of myth. For example one Islamic story tells that here Abraham prophet was thrown into a massive fire for challenging his father idolatry. However, God save him by transforming the flames into water and the wooden logs into carps.

Important to mention is that we found Șanliurfa a town that has a ton of interesting places for which it definitely worth to return and explore I'm detail.

Our last visited place and the greatest surprise was ruins. Even if I mentioned "ruins" here you can see more than that: traditional housed shaped like little domes and made by rocks glued with clay.
Some of those houses are now turned into museums by their owners. And, as our guide told us, soon some of those houses with be available to host tourist.
Tip: in order to spoil the pleasure of seeing such a beautiful and unique place keep in mind that locals don't have a fixed price for visiting their houses. So before accepting their services you better insist asking their prices.

Oh, if I want to return to Șanliurfa I also want Gaziantep too. There are too many unexpected things to see in these cities. And food to taste 🤤

That's all for today,
See you in .

01/07/2022

Turkey Expedition Day 7: Mardin

It was our laissez-faire day, reserved to explore the narrow streets of Old Town at whatever pace we felt like.

We started by climbing to the Mardin castle area. We could not get inside because now it is used as a military facility but the view you get from there is worth the climbing effort.

Then we headed to Medresesi a medieval architectural complex very good looking. It's position and high-above view over the Mesopotamian plain makes you feel, for a few minutes, that you own the whole world.

But the sun quickly reminded us that we're only regular beings who need to shelter from its heat, so we left for Mardin Museum of Ethnography and Archeology. It isn't a big museum but the Mardin area has a long history so there's much to see.

In the afternoon, we challenged the sun and drove to see the famous Ancient Fortress of .
If you keep in mind that it was created in ancient times, the site size is really mind-blowing. And together with the huge underground cisterns, Dara is a place that honorably speaks about how capable
the ancient people were.

That was all for today,
See you in !