Sathorn Unique "Bangkok Ghost Tower"

Bangkok has many spectacular attractions, however I arrived looking for something a little different, something that offered a little more excitement than the endless temples that occupy the city. I did a little research and discovered the “ghost tower”, its actual name is the Sathorn Unique and it’s a 43 storey, unfinished and abandoned building. The Sathorn Unique was originally intended to be a luxury residential building but the Asian financial crisis in 1997 left no money for its completion. The more I read the more intrigued I was, stories of the building being haunted, suicides taking place, having to bribe mafia, pieces of the building collapsing as risk seeking travellers climbed the deserted structure left me desperately wanting to experience the Ghost Tower for myself. After all I had read I was a little concerned about visiting the tower alone so I convinced 2 fellow travelling adventure seekers to join me. We grabbed a water taxi and made our way to the Sathorn Unique, all three of us bringing along notions of having to scale walls to enter the building and climbing 43 floors to arrive at a deserted rooftop. Reality soon slapped us in the face…. As we exited the water taxi we soon realised that we were being joined by 15 other tourists with the same idea, our dreams of a stealth commando mission to the top of the tower evaporated.

When we arrived at the base of the building we were greeted by the “mafia” that many people had mentioned, it was actually just two middle aged guys who I assume were the care takers, the fee was 500 baht to enter and they weren’t very willing to negotiate.  I was quite impressed to see a desk in front of the stairs, apparently there was quite a booming tourist trade charging people to enter and these guys had set up a make shift office. It seemed, as often is the case, that many of the dangers that belonged to the Ghost Tower were slightly (at times greatly) exaggerated by those that had previously visited the building, this was an exciting day out but other than getting too close to the edge I didn’t feel as though I was taking a great risk by paying this place a visit. We paid our money and began the climb, we pretty much had the whole building to ourselves and exploring the abandoned building felt like a real adventure. The higher we went the larger the rooms were and you could by their sheer size that the penthouse apartments were designed for the very wealthy. Every room had a balcony and as we ascended the view just got better and better until we walked out onto the rooftop which truly was breathtaking. There was about 20 other people on the rooftop and I was pleasantly surprised to see so few, it wasn’t the huge crowd I feared would be up here and we were all here with the same spirit of adventure.

The roof of the Sathorn Unique was like nothing I have ever experienced, I had seen photos of people standing precariously close to the edge but really had no idea of the sheer drop that was behind them. Something like this would be impossible in most countries, I can honestly say that looking down from a ledge 43 floors up with no rail and no safety gear is a really mind blowing experience. We were lucky to arrive in the afternoon so we were treated to a spectacular sunset over the Bangkok skyline, the Sathorn Unique “Ghost Tower” was not just one of the highlights of my visit to Bangkok but a highlight of my trip so far.

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Kuala Lumpur

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur ahead of my bike and decided to start exploring the city so when the bike arrived I would be ready to take off into the countryside. I must admit I am not the biggest fan of spending too much time visiting cities, although most capitals have there own style and tourist attractions, it seems one metropolis tends to blend into another in  a haze of crowded people, concrete, shopping malls, traffic and pollution. I based myself in Bukit Bitang (translated to Star Hill), this colourful area is the hub for tourists and backpackers looking for cheap accommodation, it boasts a mix of street food, western style restaurants/pubs/clubs, ladies offering dubious massages at reasonable prices and a string of colourful and at times nefarious looking characters. It was only a short walk from my modest hotel to jalan Alor, the street dedicated to local food and I found myself dining on the delicious but afforadable cuisine there most nights after a long day of sightseeing.
Between the train system, monorail and a little good old fashioned walking, Kuala Lumpur was an easy place to get around, I had soon visited China town, little India, central market, the botanical gardens and a number of temples that are spread throughout the city. Petronas Towers was one sight I had to see, the iconic building is probably KL's best known attraction and a visit to the 170m high sky bridge that linked the two towers was quite impressive. The observation deck on the 86th floor also didn't disappoint, the views over the city were amazing even if  I was feeling a little giddy from the height. KL birdpark was another attraction I wanted to tick off my list, as the worlds largest walk in free flight aviary the variety of birds was phenomenal, I spent a relaxing half  day strolling along the walking paths in absolute wonder at some of the amazing and beautiful birds on display.
I managed a visit to the famous Batu caves, with  its series of caves, many of which house temples, statues and shrines, Batu caves was another must see for my visit to KL. A 42m golden statue of the Hindu deity Murugan stands imposingly in front of the 272 steps that lead to the main temple of Murugan. As you ascend the steps you are soon greeted by curious monkeys that are more than happy to steal any food that is not well packed away. It was quite funny watching a tourist chasing a monkey to get back an orange that had been stolen only to have the monkey turn around and chase the tourist when it was sick of the game. Batu caves were impressive  and I enjoy visiting temples but it just seems as though there was a little too much neon in this place, which for me took away some of the magic that it offered.
My friend Ellyne advised me that I should pay a visit to the Islamic arts museum of Malaysia, I was in the mood to soak up a little culture so I decided to go along for a visit. The artifacts housed in the museum were amazing, bejeweled weapons with intricate designs that dated back hundreds of years, beautiful century old clothing  and examples of calligraphy that are as much a masterpiece as any painting hanging in a gallery. Spending half a day learning about such a vast history was a great way to spend the day, the museum was well worth the visit and was much better than my other option which was spending a few hours  watching a movie at the cinema.
I had enjoyed exploring KL but when the opportunity arose to head out of town to do some white water rafting I jumped at the chance. 2 of us jumped on the train to Kuala Kubu Bharu to join up with our rafting company and a group of locals. I have yet to have a bad rafting experience, everyone was in great spirits and we shared plenty of laughs as we made our way down the river. The river was barely a grade 3 at best so it wasn't a thrill packed, white knuckle ride all the way down but there were some decent rapids and drops, plus the company on the boat made it a great way to spend the day. When the rapids ended we jumped out of the raft and spent the last hour floating on our backs peacefully along the river, marveling at the jungle that surrounded us.
I had spent almost a week in KL and seen most of the tourist attraction, I was keen to do some travelling to quench my thirst for adventure and what better way than a week in Borneo... I booked my tickets and headed to the jungle

 

Orangutans and Elephants

Sumatra is known for being an island that is ideal for adventure riding and finding adventure in general, potholed roads wind there way through thick jungle covered mountains and past mirror surfaced lakes and active volcanoes. It is also known for being home to some of the worlds most endangered species of animals, the Sumatran Rhino, Tiger, Orangutan and Elephant are the big four animals that people hope to see during a visit here. The Orangutan and Elephant are the most accessible, thanks to sanctuaries that protect against deforestation and there was no way I was going to visit this island without visiting these amazing animals.
The Orangutan sanctuary was located in the mountain village of Bukit Lawang, it was like a jungle paradise, with guesthouses lining a fast flowing river and jungle on either side. I would have really liked to spend an extended amount of time trekking the jungle to see genuinely wild animals but time wasn't on my side so a day trip was my best option. The Orangutans were a mixture of "semi wild" ( ones that had been released into the sanctuary) and "wild" ( usually the babies of the
semi wild orangutans). I was pleasantly surprised that even though there were a large amount of tourists the guides kept a safe distance and even though these Orangutans  were used to people it felt as though you were visiting them in  their own environment and on their terms. Seeing the mothers and their babies in their small family groups was amazing, and looking into the sad eyes of these beautiful animals made the trip worthwhile. As my guide and I headed down the mountain to the river I got a reminder that these weren't domestic animals, we had been told there was an orangutan ahead of us which the guide was keen to see but he explained we had to be careful because these particular one was aggressive and had bitten many guides and recently even broken ones leg. We couldn't see her as we made our way down the steep track and all of a sudden we heard screaming and shouting from the group 100m behind us, my guide shouted at me to get down the track quickly and the look in his eyes told me he wasn't joking. We got to the river and as we waited at a beach to river tube back to the village we were eventually joined by the group behind us, apparently the female Orangutan had snuck up to the group and tried to attack them, one guide came away a little bruised but luckily there were no serious injuries. We river tubed some small rapids back to the village which was also great fun, I was even surprised to see western girls in bikinis along the river, a pretty rare sight outside of Bali, especially in Sumatra, which can be very conservative but the guide told me no one had an issue here because of the large amount of western tourists that came through the park. This was definitely a highlight of my trip (the Orangutans not the girls in bikinis), hopefully the conservation efforts continue to be a success.
Just outside of Lampung is the Way Kambas national park and Elephant sanctuary, another opportunity to see some amazing local wildlife. Once again I would have loved to see genuinely wild Elephants while doing a multiday trek but I was happy to take what I could get. I was in 2 minds about visiting Way Kambas, I have read plenty of articles about Elephants being ill treated in tourist parks but I thought it best to judge for myself. It was interesting to find out that there were still quite a few wild elephants in the surrounding area as well as the ones in the sanctuary and some of the elephant handlers told us to be very careful when we rode back to Lampung in the late afternoon. The Elephants were amazing, Sumatran Elephants are a smaller  type of Elephant but the adults were still huge and looked so powerful. One thing about Indonesia is that they let you get up and close to animals so it was pretty amazing when the curious babies came over to check us out, even these little guys were very strong and had to be treated with a great deal of respect. It would be wonderful to see these majestic animals roaming around freely in the wild so it was sad to see some of the adults with chains on, sure its easy judge but unfortunately these parks are necessary to preserve these animals. The absolute highlight was taking the bike onto a dirt road to do a little sightseeing, we stumbled across a family of elephants and the babies ran over to check us out, amazing!!! we didn't stay for long though because we didn't want to piss off the parents and I was a little worried that these little guys might get a little to interested in the bike and do some damage. This was another great experience, both the Elephants and Orangutans were a reminder to get off the bike and check out the scenery, there is so much to doing a motorbike trip than just riding.

Sumatra, Jogja to Aceh

Sumatra is an island that is synonymous with adventure, old stories of explorers heading into the dark Sumatran jungle on a journey of discovery were running through my head as I crossed from Java on ferry. I was looking forward to this ride immensely, Sumatra is home to some of the worlds most endangered animals, spectacular scenery, active volcanoes, thick jungle and winding roads that sweep their way through it all. The island still also carries with it a reputation of being at times a dangerous place to travel, even the locals that I was riding with refused to travel on certain sections of highway late at night for fear of gangs of sword wielding bandits. I was doing the round trip from Jogjakarta and back with some Indonesian friends, which meant that my style of travelling also had to change a little, most noticeably I traded my usual homestay accommodation for classy hotels, a change I could easily deal with for the next 3 weeks.

 We got off the ferry and headed for lampung, home to the Way Kambas elephant sancuary, which was an amazing place to visit, and also a memorial to the Krakatoa volcanic eruption and ensuing tidal wave that left over 36,000 people dead in 1883. We stayed in town long enough to do some sightseeing but were soon on the road again, we still had a long way to go to reach our destination, the island of Sabang in Aceh which was the zero kilometre point of Indonesia and big feather in the cap for any Indonesian motorcyclist. As we headed further toward the center of the island the flat, straight, potholed highway turned into winding and undulating roads (still full of potholes) that led us through jungle covered mountains, this was the riding I was hoping for. Every island in Indonesia has its own unique culture but nowhere else had I seen such distinct changes throughout a single Island as I did in Sumatra, building styles, religion and local customs and attitudes would totally change as you crossed from one part of the island to the next

I was enjoying the ride but soon  noticed some oil leaking out of the final drive on my real wheel, I kept a close eye on it but it soon got noticeably worse, with oil leaking all over my rear wheel the riding became much more dangerous. Obviously I had done a seal on the final drive but there wasn’t much I could do about it, the closest BMW service centre was in Medan, a few thousand km away. We made a few calls to get some advice and in the end it was a matter of topping up the rear drive with transmission fluid daily and riding conservatively until we reached Medan. I was quite concerned to say the least, especially when during an oil top up we noticed metal pieces which meant I had also done a wheel bearing, just great!!! Somehow we managed to make it all the way to Medan and within 2 days the bike was fixed and ready to take me to Aceh, many thanks to the guys at BMW Medan for getting me on the road again.

We reached lake Toba and earned ourselves a welcome rest, we had been riding long days on rough roads and what better place to recover than on the shores of this picture perfect lake. Feeling in good spirits after spending a few days in our lakeside hotel and exploring the area we were ready to make our push to Sabang. The roads to Aceh were some of the best in Sumatra, having been rebuilt by international aid after the 2004 tsunami. As we arrived we were greeted by a handful of GS riders and escorted to a local café, the Aceh GS club had come out to welcome us and we spent the evening talking about bikes, travel and watching the moto GP race that was being shown at the café, which was a popular riders hangout.  It was a sobering experience seeing some of the monuments to the destruction caused by the natural disaster, most noticabley a large ship that had ended up in a residential area Kilometres inland from the harbour and now sits as a chilling reminder amongst some of the houses that were destroyed at the same time. We met 3 other riders from Java and they joined us on the ferry to Sabang, which is a beautiful jungle covered island, we visited the 0 kilometer point, of course taking many photos while we were there. Before we left Aceh one of my riding companions wanted to visit a friend of his who was in the army and posted here, it turned out that his friend was a 2 star general and in charge of the army in Aceh, it seemed bazaar having tea and cake with a 2 star general in Indonesia, he was a great guy though, especially when he found out I had served in the army in Australia.

We were soon back in Medan and this time I wanted to head into the jungle to see some orang-utans, a must see in Sumatra. My friends weren’t as keen as me so I was so as they headed south I headed to the mountain village of Bukit Lawang. I wasn’t disappointed, I got to trek through the jungle and get up close to these amazing animals. They seemed so peaceful and gentle as they hung out in their small family groups but we got a reminder that they were wild animals when, as we were heading down the hill to the river a female who was known for being aggressive and who had bitten quite a few guides surprised us and chased us down the hill, luckily she turned her attention to a group uphill from us and with my guiding shouting to hurry up and my heart pounding me made our get away. The way out of the jungle was via river tubing, floating along the rapids in our tube was a great way to end a fantastic experience.

I had some km to make up to catch my friends and found myself riding on the busy Sumatran roads at night, an experience I would gladly never do again, even at 10pm the road was full of trucks and busses, all diving like maniacs, I made it safely but had a few very close calls. They way back to Java took us through some beautiful towns and some amazing roads, most memorable was Kelok44, just out of Padang, which was a steep road with 44 sharp, switch back corners overlooking glassy maninjau lake. We had been on the road for 24 days and covered approximately 7000 km when we returned to Java, we were almost home but we had one last obstacle to conquer, possibly the hardest yet….. riding through Jakarta in the middle of the day. Jakarta is one of the worlds most populated and most traffic congested cities, the experience was a nightmare, especially on an air cooled Beemer that was hating the traffic even more than me, I had to stop regularly to let the bike cool down. We made it through and I chalked it up to another experience, glad I had done it but also happy not to have to do it again.

What an experience, Sumatra had lived up to its reputation, this was real adventure riding and I enjoyed every km