The luggage of a flashpacker

I still have the adventurous spirit of a backpacker but I loathe sleeping on floors at a couchsurfing host's place or sharing a dorm room with potential thieves or strangers in a hostel. There are three things in my traveling life that are of utmost importance to me and these are: Freedom, independence and comfort. A hotel is very likely to suit my needs and I often use Couchsurfing, virtualtourist or Meetups.com for social interaction and a kind of local touch in a culture that is not my own. I have not used AirBnB yet, especially not in South East Asia where I can get clean, decent and convenient enough hotels or family-owned guest houses for as much as maximum EUR 10,-

Some airlines charge extra money for checked-in luggage, so this is already a reason to not carry too much checked luggage. Apart from everything, it can be downright inconvenient to wait and be pushed by people at the conveyor belt until you can collect your luggage. After some experience I have decided to travel light and only carry a cabin case, laptop bag in form of a smaller cabin case that transforms into a backpack and a big handbag. We need to aware that we are only allowed to carry liquids of maximum 10 x 100 ml in a zipper bag. So any contact lenses, medicines, make-up, toileteries or other liquids need to be stored as mentioned above.ou can organise your things. You can find and organize them very quickly.
I have just bought small organizer bags with tags which can help you to find your things easily


In my small cabin suitcase I have packed:

1. Many T-shirts and figure-hugging tops, 2 bikinis
2. A pair of jeans for cold days, maybe a thinner pair of long batik pants
3. I like skirts, so I bring two, alternatively a pair of pants and an office skirt or suit will do
4. socks and stockings for cold weather or air-conditioned rooms
5. A jacket and jumper
6. flip flops
7. shoes, a pair of pumps if you combine it with business events, maybe trekking/running shoes
8. 2 dresses to go out or if you combine it with a business trip some conservative business clothing. At least one of them should be a simple black dress. The right accesories will transform it to a party dress, business attire, reception etc. My favourites are a loose batik dress for hot weather and a black dress/business suit. The business attire becomes unnecessary if you don't have business appointments
9. 1 or 2 fast-drying travel towels
10. Transparent toileteiries kit with 100 ml bottles of toileteries, make-up, tooth brush, contact lenses, comb/hairbrush etc
11. Small umbrella
12. Cutlery, formalin-free melamin  plastik plate and glass, coffee cup, washrope, pegs 
13. Smartphone and tablet with keyboard
I can also store thinner clothing such as tops, T-shirts and thin dresses in my laptop bag (see photo below) or a mid-size backpack. The laptop bag in the picture can easily transform into a medium-size backpack. Thin shirts, T-shirts and tops with jeans or skirts can be combined in such a way that you have a wider variety with relatively few items. My choice is a mixture of smart casual and leisure....

All the items mentioned above will fit very well in a 7 kg cabin case plus medium size backpack or laptop case.  It is still considered ultra-light packing. You may have to divide your things in both the cabin trolley case and backpack. Please check with your airlines about luggage allowance. Low-cost airlines are less compliant with baggage allowance than full-service airlines. Lufthansa has low compliance with everything, Air Asia is quite generous with cabin luggage but quite incompliant with checked baggage.I hope you will enjoy travelling this way, no need to drag your whole household with you.

Please remember that my list is most suitable to travel in sub- and tropical countries, for Europe we need at least one thicker pair of jeans, more socks, stockings, a thick wind- and waterproof jacket, a jumper and an umbrella. The weight and packing is still ultra-light although for colder climate you may have to reduce the amount of things to bring. Leave warm clothes and formal dresses at home when you definitely plan to travel leisurely in (sub)tropical climate

Figure-hugging tops and T-shirts can also serve as a protection to your body against wind and cold. In this case you can use them both as underwear and summer clothes. It is very important to dress in layers, as you can take off or put on more clothes as the temperature changes. Multiple layers of clothes store body heat inbetween the layers and are much more effective than one thick jumper without anything underneath.

Take 1-2 showers per day and change clothes daily, especially in tropical countries:
If you stay in people's houses, nothing is more disturbing than a penetrating smell. Clothes need to be washed regularly and dirty clothes in a separate bag which needs to get into the laundry ASAP or washed by hand.

Food on Batam Island

As I visited Dr. Frans Setiawan whom I got in contact with through Couchsurfing, I got to know a little bit of the life on Batam Island. They lived in a beautiful housing compound named Bukit Sukajadi which has hills and forested parts in the background. In the morning I got to enjoy some jogging and tai chi training. Although Batam doesn't have surf beaches and outstanding tourist sites, spending some time there especially when you can join a local event would be worth the effort. It is easy to get to Singapore by ferry. Holders of Indonesian passports can get a good deal of about § 15,-. Buying ferry tickets at the terminal is usually more expensive. Cheaper tickets needed to be bought at travel agencies in a shopping mall

On days that both of my hosts needed to work the whole day and didn't have time for me, I have been dropped at Nagoya Hill shopping mall. After shopping around and trying different kinds of food, I started to make contact with some property business representatives. They drove me around the island to show their properties in areas I wanted to spend time in. This was my first impression of what was going on on Batam Island. I saw some coastal and forrested areas, among others the Panbil village and the nearby Kepri mall.

Frans drove us a bit through Batam, the food there was cheap, very tasty with excellent service. He introduced me to his friends Uwan and Sabrina. We had breakfast in Batu Aji, the more lower middle class part of Batam. After this we drove past a couple of villages onto Barelang.

There we had a beautiful seafood late lunch while I was exploring the houses on stilts in the water. It was similar to the clan jetties in Penang, the houses and stilts were a bit less sturdy and the environment more genuine rural. I was very impressed by the friendliness of the people because they didn't hesitate to invite me into their homes

The food was relatively expensive for such an area, possibly because many Singaporeans come to visit Batam for food and spa

Hiking: Sports, nature and tourism

If you hike a beautiful area with a lot of historic cultural sites along with beautiful outlooks on nature, it is hard to maintain the athletic aspects only. Sports physicians define hiking as walking through nature with different type of tracks and at a minimum speed of 5-6 km. It can range from an easy paved road to paved forest trails, rougher track area, different types of soil up to slippery extremely steep serpentines.In most cases the distance ranges between 10 and 30 km per day.

However, there will always be the touristic side of the hike. This means that we need to count sightseeing  ancient castles and other historic cultural sites, different photo stops which shouldn't be missed or just enjoying the scenery. These non-sports activities add  some extra time to the planned hike. We always have to go for compromises because if we want to enjoy nature and culture to the fullest,  the minimum cardiovascular workout cannot be maintained throughout the whole hike. A stretch of app 20 km can easily take around 6-7 hours including all breaks.

This is another part of the Rheinsteig between Braubach and Filsen, alongside the Rhine including steep ascends and descends, partly slippery, partly in forested areas and the other stretch in the hot sunny part along the Rhine

Wispertal: A piece of heaven at the doorstep

The car ride between Mainz and Lorch, where the hike starts, is already a trip on its own. It goes through winding roads along the Rhine and through beauitful hills and architecture

I have been to Wispertal a few times to buy fresh rainbow trouts. This time it was the first time that I explored the place by hiking. If you consider hiking as a good sport to boost your  cardiovascular system, you have to keep a certain pace from beginning to end. I had difficulties to make the right decision: either I had to stop and take some time to zoom the right focus and take the picture from the right angle, or I had to keep my pace from beginning till end

The trail started at the beautiful UNESCO heritage site Lorch with its beautiful buildings, churches and scenery. The hike goes through the forest, many slate trees and shrubs, the remaining wild berries and several outlooks far beyond the Rhine to the other side, the Hunsrück mountain range.

The trail was broad enough for the relatively large group and we also had the opportunities for fruitful conversations with some very interesting people. We have also been very lucky that it hadn't rained for some time and had no problems with a slippery ground. Most of the trail was soft soil and hardly any rocks on a well-formed track.

There were some ascends and descends, the one up to the ancient castle ruine Sauerburg was one of them. From the description the trail was around 18,5 km with some fairly rough stretches and a difference in altitude of about 700 m. The last stretch was along the famous Rheinsteig trail back to Lorch, a gradually descending track. The view on the Rhine, its castles, mountain range and wineries on the other side was divine, which more than often distracts a good hiker from his purpose.

Rhineside hiking tracks are sunnier and warmer for most of the time, making the stamina a lot lesser after a good hike in forested areas. Even the road was a lot smoother and slowly descending, it was the hardest part because of the heat. From a lookout point near Kaub, we could see the small castle Pfalzgrafenstein built on the island Reichenau in the middle of the Rhine. This was formerly a venue built for custom purposes and nowadays open as a museum

Going on such a hike is challenging enough for your stamina and we can all combine it with beautiful scenery, ancient castles and churches along with great social interaction. Absolutely recommendable for visitors to Germany too!

Touring the vineyards in a tractor-pulled trailer with free-flowing wine

My Australian friend Monica has organised a typical drinking tour to the Dörrschuck winery in Lörzweiler near Bingen. It has a beautiful location at the mouth of the Rhine Gorge. For EUR 15,- it gets you a beautiful tour, four types of free-flowing wines, non-alcoholic beverages and snacks.

It is not the type of wine tasting where you can taste many different types of wine before buying them.  Although Andreas Dörrschuck had excellent expertise, he didn't present much about wine-manufacturing unless you ask him explicit questions. Rather is it a mixture between a drinking orgy, a fun event with friends, family or colleagues and a tour through a beautiful vineyards with breathtaking views of the Rhine,

Andreas Dörrschuck, the owner of the winery, drove the tractor pulling a 14 seater trailer. The trailor was covered with a canvas roof in case of rain and too much sun. It was raining on that day, first it was covered but later Andreas opened it to allow us a better view.

As soon as we arrived, Andreas introduced some beautiful wines for us to taste. Then we embarked on the trailer. It was arranged in a way only a meticulous German business can do. In the middle of the trailer, there was a long plank with holes to put in the glasses and bottles. It also served as a table where you could put your plate with food. The wines and food was kept cold in a cooler box.

Food such as pretzels and homemade Spundekäs, a typical Mainz wine companion snack made of  cream cheese, chopped onions and paprika powder, was available in abundance. The main idea was to help ourselves to all the good food and fine. Water and grape juice was also provided but the majority of people preferred the wine

It was a great group with some great conversations and jokes. A good diversity of nationalities only added spice to the event. Two visitors came directly from Australia. After the tour, Andreas still had a little surprise for us. A lovely semi-dry red wine was waiting for us to be tasted. Andreas' expertise of winegrowing also made the tour unforgettable

Such a tour easily tempts you to drink excessively due to the self-service and the happy atmosphere. One of our friends, an experienced drinker and avid traveller collapsed all of a sudden. Thank God a few of our friends brought him home by bus and taxi, so nobody needed to worry about people not getting home

Panti Werdha Kristen Hana, horror story about an Indonesian retirement home

The Panti Werdha Kristen Hana in Pamulang, Tanggerang Selatan(south Tangerang), a retirement home under the G.K.I(Christian Association of Indonesia) turned out to be a nightmare experience. My first impression of the home was a very good one, nice staff, residents, room and a residential feel. The home will not be that bad without a doctor who had no clue about ethics and a spineless manager.

My mother had a  eye condition called AMD(Age/related Macular Disease) on her retina. She developed bleeding, a secondary glaucoma and blinded. The doctor misdiagnosed and referred her to one of the specialist she knew for of course a skyrocketing fee. Their qualification was not so clear because my mother's condition was complicated and needed careful attention to her medical history.

This doctor forced her to see her specialist and also forced her nurse on her. The patient's right to choose their own doctor and nurse was totally violated at. Apart from everything, this nurse had bad manners, did not pay attention to the secrecy of the medical and paramedical profession. She screamed loudly in a public place about my mother's medical condition. Her presence at the doctor's office would have seriously disturbed my mother's communication with the doctor.

As my mother refused to accept their conditions, especially since this was not outlined in the home's terms and conditions, the manager and doctor started to make up stories. Among others my mother was denied a conversation with the board of directors, she was accused of being unable to socialise with the other residents and the workers. There were many doctors and residents who could witness that my mother could fit in well into the life of the retirement home

But the worst thing was that the manager did only notify me by email one week after the letter of dismissal was written. And my mother herself was NOT told anything and was severely shocked as I told her on the phone that she had been dismissed from the home behind her back. On the last day they forced her to sign a document which said that she was obliged to let one of their nurses accompany her to the doctor. I have reported this doctor to the ethics commission of the Indonesian Doctor's Association. She had practiced severe misconduct

Getting a deeper insight into Indonesian culture

Traditional Benteng Chinese wedding in the village

Modern Chinese New Year celebration

I was  not born and raised in Indonesia but my Indonesian genes are visible. My language skills are quite good because I had many Indonesian contacts in other countries. Reading books and virtual social networks has helped me a lot to get around the country with adequate language and behaviour.

This year  my mother has been struck by a sudden illness. I needed to take over all her business and social duties without much preparation. As a seasoned traveller in business and leisure, I am aware of cultural differences. But there is a huge difference between knowing and actually living a culture. I was forced to plunge and blend in into the society because I was my mother's only relative. Couchsurfing turned out to be extremely helpful because I met my CS friends Diana and Magdalena. They guided me to cope with cultural differences and Diana even helped me to find a retirement residence for my mother. I do have Indonesian friends that are not on CS too. Lovely people, wealthy, highly educated and well-traveled but unlike me, they haven't had a globalised parental education from their first baby crawl. So, sometimes it has been a challenging act to bridge the differences in perception. Here are a few cultural differences which highly differ from mine:


 

These friendly Muslim nurses are against over-structured society, hypocrisy and adult authority

Unwritten social rules
At least outwardly, ethnicity differences seem to be a big no-no in European or Australian societies. In Indonesia it is different. Mentioning ethnicity differences and even a certain degree of racism is socially acceptable. People address the elderly, the Chinese, the Christian indigenous and the Muslims differently with different names. For instance if they assume that somebody is Chinese they will automatically call them Ci(older sister in Chinese) or tante(auntie).  The problem with this kind of social etiquette is: Somebody will automatically be placed in a box or given a place in society just based on their looks. Some Chinese look like indigenous Indonesians and many indigenous Indonesians look like Chinese, some older people look younger, some younger people look older.

The best solution would be to find a common term to address the people and nobody will be distinguished by their age or ethnicity. Former President Sukarno suggested that everybody should be called bapak(Mr) or ibu(Mrs, Ms) which can be directed at any person regardless of age and ethnicity. I quite appreciate the Muslim indigenous Indonesian who call everybody mbak, ibu or bapak regardless whether they are Chinese or indigenous.

Respect the elderly or adult authority?
Respecting the elderly seems to be the cornerstone of the  Asian culture. But what people in certain circles consider respect is in fact adult authority in the most narrow pyramid form. Mario Teguh, well-known Indonesian TV talkshow master repeatedly discussed the topic "respect" in all its forms. One of the topics that received special attention was: Respect needed to be earned and not demanded. This means that younger people and children do deserve respect especially when they have outstanding achievements. A lot of younger and older people in this country seem to evolve and start to think outside the usual box. A very good development!

A different approach towards raising children
Non-Western parents also tend to be overbearing and overprotective to their children. A great deal of Western parents do not prohibit their kids to climb a tree because they should learn the hard way. Only after they experience that falling off a tree can be excruciatingly painful, they will realise that they need to be more careful in such endeavors.  Indonesian parents have the habit to protect children from getting hurt by just preventing them from climbing a tree or riding a motor bike.

Due to this kind of upbringing we often see that young Indonesians have less self-confidence than their Western counterparts. While Western youngsters leave their parent's home to live on their own at the age of 18, Indonesian people often live with their parents until the age of 30. On the other hand, it is quite encouraging to see a lot of changes made to Indonesian society rules and younger people have often become more assertive.  A lot of parents start to question the old methods and start to raise their children to be more independent.

Hypocrisy towards the elderly
One Asian girl told me that "the elderly help us when we need financial help, therefore we do what they tell us". Well, in my opinion this is not respect but a form of extreme top down authority. It is difficult to understand for my social upbringing. On the other hand, older people are not taken seriously in business and day-to-day affairs.

My mother's birthday international brunch at Four season's Hotel Kuningan

My mother is a very independent lady and as she wanted to clarify issues with technical problems in her house, the government worker shouted at her very disrespectfully "Your child should take care of it!!!" And people sometimes do not realise that some elderly have no relatives anymore. When an elderly person does not behave according to acceptable norms, this attitude is automatically judged as signs of getting older. This is extremely hypocritical considering that the elderly should deserve respect.

People over 70 are considered  helpless and childish in Indonesia while in the western world they still run marathons. As my mother has been operated, I was quite astonished that it was me who had to sign the consent form. I told the people that I considered it a blatant insult to the address of the senior-aged people. Relatives can also sue doctors if anything goes wrong. However,a  few exceptions in Indonesia still have outstanding performance at the age of nearly 100!  

Lack of appreciation towards somebody else's time If you have an appointment in Jakarta,  it is nearly impossible to be on time due to traffic jams. But people seem to set their own time schedule and just make up not overly intelligent lies. They would cancel on you half an hour before the appointment saying that they have a meeting. Of course I don'T believe them.. As far as I am informed, even in Indonesia business meetings are scheduled and I have a business meeting with them too. "Can I come tomorrow because I have a meeting today?" they ask. . I told them that they had wasted my time today and going to ruin my  next day.  

The word privacy does not exist because it is not there
The word privacy in Indonesia does not exist because you simply cannot have it. What does the word privacy actually mean? One of the many meanings is the right to do whatever you think is right for you. For instance if a person has piercings and weird clothes, people  in the Western world may not like it but they respect their privacy or right to do whatever they see fit. In Indonesia, people on the street will probably follow and ridicule them. I was not allowed to wear shorts in a Tai Chi group training session because all the others had long pants on.  Of course I can understand that they have to wear uniformed clothes in a performance.

I told them that in a training session people could simply wear whatever they wish. Their response reflected more the attitude of kindergarten toddlers. Gossiping while throwing indiscrete looks and finally making fun of me. People easily ask your age and salary, while very insensitive to the other person's reluctance to answer. Even my closer friends don't show much understanding that I don't appreciate them coming to my house just as they please.......It is very clear that the Asian culture is more based on collective values while the Western culture has evolved towards individualism.

The mainstream traveller This is the worst because this group strongly defines themselves through wealth. Tour guides already know that Indonesian travel groups are more interested in shopping than people, culture and scenery. Neighbours and friends seem to nearly demand presents, the so-called oleh oleh from overseas. Travellers are therefore pretty much under pressure of which present they have to buy for which neighbour. They are even prepared to pay excess weight just to accommodate the pressure of their social environment.

golden wedding anniversary with red wine

It is very fortunate that some enterprising Indonesian people are much into backpacking and adventure; they are often members of Couchsurfing or Indonesian Backpacker Communities. Indonesian Couchsurfers and probably all flash- and backpackers all over the world speak many foreign languages, have a rather globalised view on life and their attitude is mostly untypical for their culture.


Summary
If you travel to any country for just a short time, you will not be really exposed to the real culture. In order to taste the real culture with all the pros and cons, one needs to either work or study in a country for some time. I start to realise this after I came to Indonesia for prolonged periods and had to fulfill certain tasks.