Thai massages, happy endings and prostitution

Ok, fun story that happened to us during our stay in Singapore. We had been warned, when in Indonesia, to be careful about places giving Thai massages as they sometimes give a little more even though the place seems legit (especially in China).

We went one day in Malaysia with our Singaporean friends and ate in Johor Baru. After the meal, Jason proposes a quick massage, and knows a good place for it where he had already been with his girlfriend. We end up going to the place, and Manny and I take a 1 hour Thai massage. It's a serious place, it is recommended by Jason and a sign is even written in the massage cabin explaining no sex deals are to be proposed. In short: "There's no danger what so ever"!

Now the fun starts when it is actually the masseuse, in the middle of the massage, that offers to "do something" pointing out your sex. Now, our first reaction was to be shocked, as we didn't expect it from a place that pretended to be serious. We both refused (we talked about it later, we weren't in the same "room"), and the masseuse then left us for a good 5 minutes.

We were puzzled by what would have happened if we had accepted, and why they actually left us alone for a while after that. Thanks to beautiful internet, we got our answers.

What they actually propose is a handjob, described by someone on reddit as a "worship to his cock". He gives a sweet and detailed description of what happened to him, but to sum it all up: "super high quality handjob. The work of a professional..."

Now this doesn't answer why they left us after for a few minutes. Internet comes again to the rescue as someone having had the same experience explains that his masseuse came back asking: "are you finished yet"! So yep, you got it, if you don't accept their service, they give you time to do it yourself :'-).

Meet Aizad, the humanist businessman

There are some people whom you meet that give you a slap in the face and a kick in the butt. His humanism is such, this man has grown a hand to give, but forgot to grow the one to receive. Home stay program for the students in Langkawi island, giving out food for the homeless, organizer of an event for the world peace foundation, inviting a total stranger (that he met on the same day) to his flat and making him visit his town, you name it. If it is about helping others, he has done it, and this although he has so little resources. This man is a one out of a million, and it has been an honor to have met him.

Il est des personnes qui vous mettent une claque en pleine face et un coup de pied au cul quand vous les rencontrez. Son humanisme est tel, cet homme passe tellement de temps à donner qu'il en oublie de prendre le temps pour recevoir. Programme de réinsertion pour jeune en école pour délinquant, distribution de nourriture aux SDF, organisateur d'une convention de la World Peace Foundation, inviter un total étranger (rencontré le jour même) à dormir chez lui et lui faire visiter sa ville, et j'en passe. Toujours près à aidée les gens qu'il rencontre, et ceux malgré des ressources limitées. Cet homme est absolument unique, et ce fut un privilège de pouvoir le rencontrer et devenir son ami.

Meet Jason and Rita, the kangaroo wannabes

Jason was living in Australia, but had to go back to Singapore for visa problems. Now, as apparently quite a lot of Singaporeans, he's trying go go back. Rita went to Singapore to work a bit before continuing her studies (hopefully in Australia). Her level of coolness went up 5000 points the day she said: "if I have 4000$, I'd rather spend them on food than in a handbag"! From someone working for a luxury brand, that's what I call epic.

Jason vivait en Australie mais a dû revenir a Singapour pour des problèmes de visa. Maintenant, comme apparemment beaucoup de singapouriens, il essait d'y retourner. Rita est allé à Singapour pour travailler un peu avant de reprendre ses études (de préférence en Australie). Son niveau de coolitude a grimpé de 5000 points le jour où elle a dit : "Si j'ai 4000$, je préfère les dépenser dans la bouffe que dans un sac à main" ! Venant de quelqu'un travaillant pour une marque de luxe, je trouve ça juste fantastique.

Welcome to Singapore

I didn't know really what to expect from Singapore, but I was surprised to see there was more to it than just shopping malls and skyscrapers. The one thing to remember, awesome food.

Je ne savais pas vraiment à quoi m'attendre à Singapour, mais j'étais content de voir que ce n'était pas que des centres commerciaux et des des gratte-ciels. Si je devais retenir une chose, la bonne bouffe.

The highest point in Singapore / Point culminant de Singapour

The lights for Chinese new year was still up / les lumières pour le nouvel an chinois étaient toujours en place

Welcome to Java, and goodbye Jakarta

Our trip in Indonesia ended with Java. Here are a few photos. No photos of Jakarta because the city hardly deserves it. I however recommend people to go there to experience the incredible contrast of this city.

Notre voyage en Indonésie c'est terminé avec Java. Voici quelques photos. Aucune photos de Jakarta parce que la ville ne le méritait pas vraiment (et que je n'avais pas mon appareil photo). Je recommande tout de même d'aller voir la ville pour une journée pour se rendre compte a quel point cette ville est pleine de contraste.

Other friends from Probolingo who made us the honor of welcoming is to the rehearsal of their traditional dancing / D'autre amis de Probolingo, qui nous ont fait l'honneur de nous accueillir pour une de leur répétition de dance traditionnel

And they dressed us up local (even offered it to us in the end) / Ils nous ont habillé local traditionnel (et nous l'on même offert à la fin)

Learning how to do a batik / Court de réalisation de batik

Work all done by hand, here adding the background color / Travail fait main, ici en train de mettre la couleur pour l'arrière plan

Mount Bromo / Mont Bromo

Blue flames coming from the sulfure mines / Les flammes bleu des mines de souffre

Miner carrying up some sulfure (around 50kg) / Mineur remontant du souffre (environ 50kg)

Meet Leily, the travel dreamer

We met Leily when visiting the senior highschool. She is a librarian there (that also helps out in English when there is need). She made us visit the school and then actually came with us to visit the rest of the town for the rest of the day and the next. Lovely, kind and enthusiast, she dreams of being able to travel and maybe have the opportunity to continue her studies in Australia. I wish her the very best and pray she will not lose hope.

Dear reader, if before rushing to your other activities, you could leave a kind message for her in the comments, it would be greatly appreciated.

Super power: Learned English by playing Final Fantasy 7

On a rencontré Leily lors de la visite du lycée où elle est bibliothécaire et prof d'anglais remplaçante. Elle nous a fait visiter l'école puis est venu avec nous pour le reste de notre visite de la ville dans les 2 jours qui ont suivis. Charmante, sympathique et enthousiaste, elle rêve de pouvoir un jour voyager et peut être même continuer ses études en Australie.

Amis lecteurs, si avant de foncer faire autre chose, tu pouvais laisser un petit message à son attention en commentaire (même en français si tu ne peux pas en anglais), ce serait grandement apprécié.

Super pouvoir : A appris l'anglais en jouant à Final Fantasy 7

Welcome back to school

Thanks to Kholid, we were able to visit two schools in Probolingo. It was lovely sharing a little time with the students and try and understand what their life is like compared to ours. Most of the students (and some teachers actually) were very excited to meet foreigners, which made it a very interesting visit with lots of funny questions.

Special thanks to Mi Muhammadiyah elementary school for their welcome, and good luck to their students.

Grâce à Kholid, il nous a été possible de visiter deux écoles à Probolingo. Un moment génial de partage avec les élèves (et professeurs) locaux. La plupart étaient surexcité de rencontrer des étrangers ce qui a donner un échange intéressant et des questions parfois très drôles.

On remercie tout particulièrement l'école primaire de Mi Muhammadiyah pour leur accueil. Bon courage à leur élèves et professeurs.

Our first visit was a Muslim elementary school / Notre première visite fut une école primaire musulmane

We had a time talking the students, them asking about our country and us about theirs / On a pu discuter avec les élèves, leur demandant des informations sur leurs vie et eux sur la notre

Next was a catholic senior highschool / On est ensuite allé voir un lycée catholique

Students were shy at first, but then came the photos / les élèves étaient timides... Jusqu'au moment des photos

In the evening, we went to visit a place for people to get extra English lessons / Dans la soirée, visite d'un établissement privé pour l'apprentissage de l'anglais