Poll Results and A Book

spring!

So here's the last poll result, with 14 participants and 45 days. Nine people (64%) are not feeling content with current situation and decided to travel anyway, 4 people (28%) are considering to travel only if they can break their piggy bank later, and only one (7%) who isn't going anywhere.

BTW, a little celebration: Since 2009 started, this blog has been visited more than 1000 times. From 70 different countries, more than quarter came from US, then followed by Indonesia and Singapore. There are many countries that I'm not related to, I guess most of them stumbled here while googling some other things. This may prove that blogging in blogger is better than doing it in other blog providers, dunno.

from flagcounter.com

Now that the spring is here and summer is near: It's vacation season! I hope you'd enjoy your vacation where ever you go! [Tip: Do always to check last minute offers!]

And one more thing. For my Indonesian friends, you'd might want to grab this book written by a friend of mine. It's titled "Panduan Asik Ngobrol dan Jalan-Jalan di Italia". Well.. Last time I checked he had the coolness and desire of a Jamie Oliver for traveling --and foods (perfect combination right?), so I believe his book is a worthy and might be interesting for you to buy if you want to know more about traveling around Italy.

I have an idea that this is somehow supposed to be him

Well I can't write any review since I haven't got the book. All I know now that he dug non-touristy places, blend-with-locals approach, so you'd probably find a lot of quick-Italian courses inside. Available soon in Indonesian bookstores, please visit his site for more details (all in Bahasa Indonesia).

OK I shall go back to my itinerary planning now ;) Happy travel!

sneak peek?

How to Prevent Malaria

In my last post, I did tell you how unfortunate if you got malaria, but nothing can stop us from enjoying the beautiful natures and experiencing cultures of the places with malaria risk. There are many good information relating to this disease, though most of them are really technical (seems written for medical students). Well in this post, I just want to recap and to keep it simple.

not pictured: malaria

Ooppps.. Disclaimer first! The following information I will give you are as I interpreted. I didn't have any medical education whatsoever, please contact your physician, saman, or anyone you can trust for your health. It is important to know that each person body is unique, so this guide --or whatever-- can be misleading because your body is different than mine --or other 99.9% of human being on the planet. So, keep that "visiting a doctor" idea on top of your list before you travel, OK? The bottom line is: You cannot sue me for giving any wrong information; Keep this in mind!

How This Horrible Thing Can Reach Us
Since I was a small kid, I have been always wondering why in the world that God --or evolution, or whatever-- created this tiny super-annoying creature. Now I'm somewhat sure that mosquitoes existed to destroy humans and make our lives miserable.

OK, time to meet our bad guy, Anopheles!

damn, he does look badass! (image)

This anopheles (but no other mosquitoes) is the carrier of the parasite, known as Plasmodium, that causes malaria. Yeah OK it's not entirely its fault when this anopheles is just enjoying its day biting and sucking blood from innocent human beings. The bad thing is if that innocent human is happened to be infected by malaria. The parasites from his/her blood were also taken and stayed on anopheles' saliva for a couple of days. And since it's really unlikely that they fast for couple of days, they will bite another innocent, yet healthy, human being. When it bites, the parasites from its saliva are then transfered to this unfortunate human's blood. And infection begin a couple of days later when the parasites reach liver and begin multiplying.

if you prefer visual (image)

Then The Worst Thing Happened
When the parasites multiply and break out from red blood cells, we got fever. This repeat every 48 to 72 hours. Like I explained on my malaria story, the fever stayed for 3-4 hours and you'd feel that the room was really cold that made your body shiver (eventough you had 39 degree Celcius temperature!). But when the fever is gone, you'd feel normal and healthy until the next cycle of the paracites multiply.

You should be (really) worried if this kind of fever happen, because if you failed to get treated, the risk of death is extremely high. Ask the medical staffs to test your blood when you're having fever and chill for any malaria. If they did otherwise, they cannot detected the malaria, and might misdiagnosed you for dengue fever because of the low thrombocytes level on blood.

Anyway if you even got some funny feeling and flu-like fever when you come back home after visiting malaria endemic area, it is really wise to be worried and go to seek medical consultation and tell them about the malaria thing. It might get ugly if you ignore this flu, I tell you. And BTW, please remember that the parasites can stayed months, even years on your body and then struck when you are least expected. The longest record was this 74-year old Greek woman, who got malaria 70 years after exposed. You read it right, 70 fucking years.

So Where Is This Malaria Again?
While Dengue fever is a risk in urban area, malaria is a huge problem in the rural. Anopheles dislike cold weather, so it's most likely endemic in tropical, warm and rainy area. To get a bit more detailed than that, you can check this site. That site is really handy to get to know more about the risk places you'd like to travel to.

not pictured again: malaria

OK Now What?
There are some effective ways to prevent malaria. First is to stop the damned mosquito biting you. One of many ways you can achieve this is by wearing clothes that covers your body, not on a space suit way, but more into long-sleeve tees and long trousers. "It's too hot!" you'd say? Well, think also other small insects that destined to kill you beside Anopheles. These clothes protection are only half effective if you don't also spray insect/mosquito repellants on them or put anti-mosquito lotion on your body. Sleeping on a bed covered with nets are also another great idea to protect you from the bites.

Note: DEET is probably bad for environment and health, but it's really effective ingredient for insect/mosquito repellants, so make sure that yours have it.

your protection (image)

Anti-Malaria Pills
After you got protected from the outside, you should protect yourself from within. Antimalarial preventive tablets are available. It's important to consult with your doctor before you take any. There are several popular types, like Lariam, Malarone, and Chloroquine. Each has different effectiveness on your body, and different side effects.

I did tried to use Lariam on one of my trips, and I kinda regret it. The side effects such as nausea, mild hallucination and nightmare were persisted for the whole trip. This made my trip less enjoyable. But then again, some people who took Lariam claimed that they don't feel any different and these terrible side effects weren't present. On the other side, my girlfriend took Malarone and she was happy as normal. I should have knew and took Malarone too if it wasn't three times the price of Lariam.

So it's actually your call, which suit you the most. These are a perfect comparision from CDC site, the table help you consider or avoid certain type of anti-malaria pills.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Atovaquone/Proguanil (Malarone)
+ Good for last minute travelers because the drug is started 1-2 days before traveling to an area where malaria transmission occurs
+ Some people prefer to take a daily medicine
+ Good choice for shorter trips because you only have to take the medicine for 7 days after traveling rather than 4 weeks.
+ Very well tolerated medicine – side effects uncommon
+ Pediatric tablets are available and may be more convenient

- Cannot be used by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding a child less than 5 kg
- Cannot be taken by people with severe renal impairment
- Tends to be more expensive than some of the other options (especially for trips of long duration)
- Some people (including children) would rather not take a medicine every day

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chloroquine
+ Some people would rather take medicine weekly
+ Good choice for long trips because it is taken only weekly
+ Some people are already taking hydroxychloroquine chronically for rheumatologic conditions. In those instances, they may not have to take an additional medicine.

- Cannot be used in areas with chloroquine or mefloquine resistance
- May exacerbate psoriasis
- Some people would not prefer a weekly medication
- For trips of short duration, some people would rather not take medication for 4 weeks after travel
- Not a good choice for last minute travelers because drug needs to be started 1-2 weeks prior to travel

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doxycycline
+ Some people prefer to take a daily medicine
+ Good for last minute travelers because the drug is started 1-2 days before traveling to an area where malaria transmission occurs
+ Tends to be the least expensive antimalarial
+ Some people are already taking doxycycline chronically for prevention of acne. In those instances, they do not have to take an additional medicine.
+ Doxycycline also can prevent some additional infections (e.g., Rickettsiae and leptospirosis) and so it may be preferred by people planning to do lots of hiking, camping, wading and swimming in fresh water.

- Cannot be used by pregnant women and children <8 years old
- Some people would rather not take a medicine every day
- For trips of short duration, some people would rather not take medication for 4 weeks after travel
- Women prone to getting vaginal yeast infections when taking antibiotics may prefer taking a different medicine
- Persons planning on considerable sun exposure may want to avoid the increased risk of sun sensitivity
- Some people are concerned about the potential of getting an upset stomach from doxycycline

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mefloquine (Lariam)
+ Some people would rather take medicine weekly
+ Good choice for long trips because it is taken only weekly

- Cannot be used in areas with mefloquine resistance
- Cannot be used in patients with certain psychiatric conditions
- Cannot be used in patients with a seizure disorder
- Not recommended for persons with cardiac conduction abnormalities
- Not a good choice for last minute travelers because drug needs to be started at least 2 weeks prior to travel
- Some people would not prefer a weekly medication
- For trips of short duration, some people would rather not take medication for 4 weeks after travel

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Primaquine
+ It is the most effective medicine for preventing P. vivax and so it is a good choice for travel to places with > 90% P. vivax
+ Good choice for shorter trips because you only have to take the medicine for 7 days after traveling rather than 4 weeks.
+ Good for last minute travelers because the drug is started 1-2 days before traveling to an area where malaria transmission occurs
+ Some people prefer to take a daily medicine

- Cannot be used in patients with glucose-6-phosphatase dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficience
- Cannot be used in patients who have not been tested for G6PD deficiency
- There are costs and delays associated with getting a G6PD test done, however it only has to be done once. Once a normal G6PD level is verified and documented, the test does not have to be repeated the next time primaquine is considered.
- Cannot be used by pregnant women
- Cannot be used by women who are breastfeeding unless the infant has also been tested for G6PD deficiency
- Some people (including children) would rather not take a medicine every day
- Some people are concerned about the potential of getting an upset stomach from primaquine

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Malaria Issue

Beside accidents and missing your flight, nothing is probably worse than ruining your vacation with a droping health.

pictured: your vacation bed

Common cold is enough bad and would forced you do nothing else than laying a couple of days helplessly on bed, not on the beach sands like you supposed to. Many unfortunate travelers could come up with diarrhea and more fatal diseases like malaria.

Like I did 3 years ago. I was naively thought that the malaria was no longer exist around the area where I and girlfriend visited. It was a small plantation island out shore of Southern Sumatra, called Pulau Sebesi. From there, we can enjoy a scenery toward world-famous Krakatao volcanic island. We did enjoyed a short stay on this non-touristic island; camping on its beaches, meeting with the friendly inhabitants and snorkeling around its coral farms. Not until 2 weeks later, when we were coming back to Bali from Lombok and we started feeling sick. Yes, both of us at the same time.

We unsuspiciously thought that it was an exhaustion from hiking toward Mount Rinjani crater rim. So we took a rest and consumed amoxillin, because our temperature hit 39 degree Celcius. It seemed worked because the next day we felt 90% fit! That day, we hung around and enjoyed what Kuta have to offer to its tourists. On the evening our temperature came back. We couldn't hardly got up from bed. I also got chills eventough the room temperature was warm and humid.


Started to realized that this meant serious, we managed to go to doctor the next morning. I had a blood test. In the afternoon, the doctor worried about how low my trombocyte level was. She cannot be sure if we got dengue fever or something, but we likely would be dead pretty soon if we were not be taken care of. She demanded that I go straight to hospital. After much considerations -- like taking blood test in that Bali clinic was 10 times more fucking expensive than in a common hospital and the fact that we have a flight home the next evening, we decided to gamble our lives and wait another day.

Desperately hoping to get an earlier flight, we were already in Bali Ngurah Rai Airport since morning. We were pretty much like zombies. Of course we had no luck because it was a long-weekend Sunday and half of Jakarta went to Bali for holiday. After hours waiting and began to believe that being half-dead meant no privillege whatsoever, Air Asia staffs suprisingly allowed us to board the plane first. The flight arrived earlier than schedule too! Yes, it was those times when Air Asia seldom late.

We arrived in Jakarta after midnight. My family was already waiting and drove us directly to the hospital. We checked-in at 2 am and stayed 10 nights in RS Melia Cibubur. The doctors first suspected dengue fever, but 2 days later when we later told them that I got occasional chills during my fever, they ran a malaria test and it was positive. The test required that they take my blood when I got the high fever and shivering, it wasn't easy and comfortable at all.

The fever always came in cycle. When the fever comes, my head felt like it would exploded at any time. So painful, that sometime I felt that my soul flew out from my poor body. And if it just wasn't enough, the drug Chloroquine --that I needed to take daily, made me want to vomit every 10 minutes. Believe me, it wasn't a beautiful feeling.

Anyway, the other half time I spent on hospital when I didn't have fever, it was just me laying pale, bored, flicking throughout the tv and strugling against hospital food. This might disappointed people who come to visit and expecting I was still looked like a living zombie.

sorry to disappointed you

After 10 nights, we were allowed to go home. My girlfriend went back to Slovenia and we came back to our peaceful long-distance relationship. Oh wait, did I tell you that she had malaria again one year later?

The fact are that malaria doesn't exist in western and central Europe and she didn't travel anywhere near malaria endemic area that year. Yes, it was the very malaria she got when she was in Indonesia one year earlier. Do you know that the malaria paracites can live stealhly in your body that long and stike when you are the least supiscious. Fortunately, She managed to get through.

Another story involved her and family looking for Primaquine to some European countries, only to find out that they don't have the drug no more. She found it 10,000 km away in Singapore when she traveled there and the pills cost quite fortune.

So that's our story. Do you still think that malaria is not that bad? Yes, there are way to avoid this horrible disease. On my next post I will discuss about antimalarial preventive drugs.


Flying while you have malaria? Been there done that! Believe me, you don't want to try..


UPDATE: the post following this story is ready to read, titled "How to prevent malaria"

Traveling Dilemma Continues

Look like there's no good news in world economy. Stocks, currencies and investments continue to plummet and unemployment rose to record level. There are a lot of reasons to be worried, even enough to make people paranoid. Major cuttings on all expenses are futile, especially for those things we can live without, like entertainments, toys, fancy things, eating outs and travels.

BUT HELL WITH IT! There is more bargains now then ever! In case you haven't notice that tourism industry is more than eager to keep you traveling, they also suffering from the economy slowdown. You can read my previous post about it.

So what do you think? Are you traveling this year? Please vote for my poll on above column.

Where to go? This might help. It's an interactive New York Times compilation of 44 places to go in 2009. And then there's another one from Times Online magazine.

Anyway, isn't traveling meant to escape from all worrying life problems?

Slovenia: Soča Valley

Soča Valley is a region on western Slovenia, where river Soča is flowing. It stretches from Triglav National Park until Nova Gorica on the South. The beautiful landscape is a 96km-long valley squeezed between rolling hills and surrounded by mountainous Julian Alps. It's a popular place for adventure tourism and for people who desire nature. Many battles between Italian and German/Astro-Hungarian occurred there during the First World War, thus many monuments were built on the region to remember the battles and soldiers that died fighting them.


View Larger Map

Soča What?
The river is pronounced socha (like in Chuck Norris) in Slovene and recognized as Isonzo in Italy, where it ends and meets the sea. The total awesomeness of the river is the color, which is turquoise. Yes, it can be seemed unreal and radioactive-like for the first time, but one soon be amazed and attracted by its allure. The Slovenians have always glorified it with poems as the river is their national pride.

"emerald beauty" they say

map of Soča on Wikipedia

How to Get There
From West (Northern Italy), one can drive toward Gorizia (Italy) then crossed the border on the city Nova Gorica (Slovenia), where river Soča is also crossing the Italian-Slovenian border. This way, it would take 3.5 hours from Milan or about 2 hours from Venice. And driving North from Nova Gorica along the river Soča, you'll soon be greeted with the charming Solkan bridge, the longest stone arch train bridge in the world.

If you're not coming via Gorizia, another way is driving through a small country road connecting Udine (Italy) and Kobarid (Slovenia), approximately take 1 hour.

click to open an enlarged map
(map from Google Earth)

However, Soča Valley is not easily accessible from the North (Austria, Southern Germany, etc.). From Villach (Austria), one must go through Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) and then proceed toward Vršič, the highest mountain pass in Slovenia (1611 m). The scenery is spectacular and the road is winding. Descending down from Vršič, you will enter Soča Valley region, toward nearby town of Trenta. But due to heavy snow, the pass is usually closed during winter.

near Trenta, where Soča is only a few meters wide

If you happen to come from Ljubljana, you need to drive South West toward town of Idrija, then take a long and winding road along river Idrica until you reach Most na Soči. This can take more than 1.5 hours of driving.

Fortunately, there's a much more fun way if you're coming from North East (Bled, Jesenice, etc.); you can take the train! The train is old, infrequent and somewhat slow, but the scenery is awesome. And what's better, you can hitch your car into the train, then enjoy a different and beautiful perspective. Going through tunnels and enjoying scenery of the valley where river Bača flows while relaxing behind your dashboard and listening to the music, makes this way a really recommended one! The train starts on Jesenice and ends on Nova Gorica, but the auto trains (where you can put your car) only runs between Bohinska Bitrica to Most na Soči. Visit their official site to check the schedule.

click to open an enlarged map
(map from Google Map)

[please come again later for some pictures of the train ride]

There's also bus from Nova Gorica and Ljubljana servicing the area, but they're not that frequent. Another way is to hitchhike, which was a common thing Slovenian youth do in the past time. Some are still doing it today as it's relatively safe and easy.

The Towns
Along the river, charming small towns are scattered with green hills and snow-caped mountains backdrop. Bovec is the main tourist center, where wide range of tourist facilities are available.

Bovec, Kobarid, Tolmin and Kanal: Four main towns along Soča Valley
(map from Google Maps)

Bovec and Kanin
Bovec is a small town but flourished with tourism. There are some hotels and many inns, guesthouses and camping area in the town and the surrounding. It is much easier to station yourself here than other towns if you're planning to stay and explore Soča Valley. Visit their website for maps and more information.

town of Bovec with Kanin ski slopes above it, the yellow line is border to Italy and furthermore Austria
(view from Google Earth)

Bovec is the gateway to Kanin, the highest ski slopes in Slovenia. It is one of few slopes in the world that located higher than 2000 meters from sea, thus providing perfect snow to ski up to May every year. There's a long and comfortable gondola ride starting from Bovec to Kanin. And the view from the top is staggering, one can see Alpine mountain range on every side and Adriatic Sea on a distance! Yes.. Totally awesome! Visit their website for more information.

looking down to Bovec from Kanin (2245 m)

up up and away toward Kanin

For those who like to maintain their adrenaline level high, rafting is really popular sport in Soča. And beside this Bovec's world-class adventure sport, hiking is also widely popular. There are numerous trails around Soča, ranging from easy-walk-on-the-park to mountain climbing. These trails around Trenta is one example.

Fishing is another fantastic thing you can do along river Soča.

Kobarid and Tolmin
Kobarid and Tolmin are two towns you can reach less than an hour driving South from Bovec. They are about 20 minutes away from each other.


Tolmin is the administrative capital of the area. The town itself is somewhat appealing, but the surrounding nature is something to die for. Tolminka Gorge is only 2 km away, it's an entrance to Triglav National Park. The trails on the area are around Tolminka river, a small river flowing through Tolmin that has the same character of Soča. With its picturesque shallow chute and brilliant color, the river is simply wonderful. Don't forget to cross the Devil's bridge and check the hot spring! Visit this site for more information about attractions around Tolmin.

Hotel Krn, the only hotel in town of Tolmin

a small bridge crossing Tolminka river

Almost every time when the weather is mild, people come from far places to enjoy paragliding above Tolmin. Visit their website for more information.

Tolmin and surrounding: viewed from Kobala, a favorite spot to start paragliding

paragliding above Soča Valley

where Tolminka river ends and meets Soča

village of Volce by river Soča

Kobarid is a smaller town and has road connection to the West (Udine, Italy). And personally, I think this is where the river Soča at its best shape. Suplemented with some cultural sites and natural feature like Kozjak waterfall, Kobarid does has a lot to offer. Some monuments and even a remain of what once a bridge, which was used by Napoleon to crossed his troops. Visit this site for more information about attractions around Kobarid.

small yet charming town of Kobarid

waterfall at Kozjak, near Kobarid

a small stream near Kozjak

Napoleon bridge near Kobarid

The Walk of Peace
Did I mentioned that this region was once belong of Venitian Empire, then Habsburg, then Italian, then Astro-Hungarian Empire, then German Third Reich, then Yugoslavia and finally liberated as part of independent Slovenia? Yes, you bet there was a lot of blood spilled. The last one was when Italian battled against Astro-Hungarian and German on First World War (the twelve battles on Isonzo front). Now people don't want it to happen again (nevermind World War II) and they promote peace on the region by building monuments, museums and made a program called The Walks of Peace.

imagine a line to the other hill: it is now official border between Italy (left) and Slovenia (right). Since implementation of Schengen treary, nothing separates them now, but on old days people died trying to cross this border.

an Italian monument above Kobarid, with spectacular view

one from many German cemeteries and monuments in the area

For further reading, visit a blog dedicated about Soča Valley that has compiled the stories and pictures about the topic.


That's about it. It's been so long since I want to post about Soča Valley, finally I can manage to make it. Needed a lot of preparations for the map illustrations, I hope they're clear enough.

[Please leave a comment if I mistakenly wrote some facts above, thank you]

Soča is worthy to be always have a place in my heart

Free Goodies

Pardon me cause it's been a while since my last post. Lately I've been very busy with work, some paperwork and personal stuff..

The weather is terrible, if it's not raining all day, it chills to the bone. Some violent storm are reported in France and Spain, and avalanche that killed people in Scotland and Turkey have been buzzing on TV. Please stay safe and do whatever precaution to avoid any accidents and disasters.

For all those who choose and enjoy their time home like me, if you're feeling lucky and maybe a bit creative, there are some give-away out there to take.

Travelchannel is giving away tickets and stays in Stockholm, all you need is fill up the form here. They also giving away travel insurance for family here.

Lonelyplanet compass program also giving away 5 copies of the new book Best in Travel 2009, all you need is to mail the answers. Go to this page for more information.


Do you like to give review of those eating places around your area or those which you visited during your travel? Do you also like free goodies such as Canon Ixus, Travel books or iPod Touch? Go to this lonelyplanet page, and voila! Let your creativity win you something!


Happy travel and good luck!

bird with adriatic sunset

UPDATE: I forgot to put this up too.. Anyway if you have a funny or weird travel-related photo, you might want to send them to this contest. Quick! It ends 31 January

Road Trip Made Easy

With all modern comfort of using GPS navigation gadgets, knowing the way to go while driving your car can be fun and getting lost can be avoided. But making a road trip is not always about driving the car to your destination. People wants to have the most of their trip by enjoying the scenery, stopping at their interest spots, and even making a big detour to explore the regions.

Sure, those Tomtom or Garmin are very handy on-road, but good trips usually involved good planning, especially when you want to be on a safe budget as well as safe driving. Google Map is definetely one of the best and free solution for planning the way. Just google the locations, and that's about it. The best thing is that it would give a street view, when it's available. With it, you can roughly know how do those important intersections look like and figured that you should turn right before it's too late!

google if you want to go to Barcelona for example

street view on Google map

Google Map is great, but my favorite is Via Michellin, because it shows you the rough cost of your trip. With it, you can know how much petrol you would spend, how much toll and road tax you need to pay. And the most favorable feature is its 'scenic roads' map. How nice that you know you're gonna see scenery 98 km long along your trip for example. The ability to choose between "Recommended, Quickest, Shortest, Sightseeing, and Economical" makes it my absolute winner!

Via Michellin with options "Recommended, Quickest, Shortest, Sightseeing, and Economical"

Now your route is printed, the fuel tank is full, the picnic box is prepared, you are ready to go! But do check the weather and the local road information updates, especially on winter if you want to go through mountain pass, because probably the road is closed and you'd need to take a detour.

Happy road tripping! Drive safe and make your plan flexible! Cause sometime it's still good to get lost and find unexpected gems out of nowhere!