The Final Fling

We were being collected at 10.30am from Kep to travel to Can Tho to join our Mekong Tour. At 10.10am I knocked on the window of a reversing Mekong tour minibus, which turned out to be ours and we nearly missed it AND there was only 1 seat available for 3 of us? Rearrange the bags, Lisa and I shared a seat to the border (which apparently you can get a visa there for $20 rather than doing a normal visa for $45 or an expressive for $55 in advance and you need $1 to exit Cambodia). Past the border we change onto another minibus to Chou Doc (where you normally stay a night and start the tour from here), next onto a minibus to the big bus and big bus to Can Tho arriving around 6pm...no one there to collect us...mmm ok. Manage to find someone to help, taxi to the homestay - Hungs homestay - brilliant! really friendly, sociable, nice rooms and they get you to help prep dinner which is true Vietnamese food! Next day a fab tour to the floating markets (not what I expected, more like a wholesale market where you had to buy a minimum quantity of the product they were selling, which was indicated by a stick with the product on the end sticking up out of the quite big boats). It was busy though, starting at 5.30am, we were there for 6am after breaky on the longtail boat, then worked our way through a network of tributaries of the Mekong, stopping off at rice factories, watermelon farms, nurseries along the river and glass noodle factories, all really interesting! makes such a difference having a good guide that you can ask questions to!!

Now from here, we thought we had made our way to the homestay where we joined the tour group...this apparently wasn’t the case! we ended up having to get a taxi to the hotel where our group was for lunch, then had to argue for our included lunch, put on a bus to My Toa where we were supposed to be staying in a homestay, which they finally sorted out, but this ended up us missing that afternoon and mornings activities, being fed breakfast at 10am, and lunch at 11am (clearly we were really hungry!?) then our group arrived at 1pm!...FOR LUNCH! anyway the rest of the arvo was good (apart from the fact we had to lug our backpacks around with us). Went to the coconut candy factory (really tasty warm coconut candy), held a python (as you do!), got serenaded by our tour guide down a small stream in a rowing boat surrounded by water coconut palms (very romantic), before tea to some traditional Vietnamese music and a bus back to Saigon (which we were made to swap buses, causing that bus to be delayed 30mins, and then our bus arrived before us in Ho Chi Ming City - HCMC!?! - FYI don’t book with Mekong Tours - double the price and useless!)

In HCMC, Justin (from Bali & Lombok) happened to be in town and stumbled in on us having dinner! awesome to exchange stories, and he definitely is taking the more relaxed approach to travelling vs. our whistle stop tour haha! Next day we had a stroll around town, visiting the Independence Palace (quite modern), then we went to the Museum and OH MY GOSH! most harrowing museum I’ve ever been too! the list of torture methods, THE PICTURES! no details spared! it was also interesting reading 1st - the way they talk about Americans, and 2nd - the camera men who captured these event! saying "hold it" (snap photo, walk away, bang bang pooowwah) just watching or hearing and seeing all this happen in front of them! I was exhausted coming out of there!

Next day, as if we hadn’t had enough history, we headed to the tunnels ($4 transport and guide, $4 entry). Again not what I expected, thought we would go down into the tunnels more but actually they have no reinforcement, they are tiny, even for Asians to fit in, let along white heffers! So instead we watched a video (made in about the 80's) before walking around the forest, which has now re-grown after the orange agent that was sprayed over the area. Tony (our guide), showed us camouflage entrances, booby traps, methods to avoid being discovered by the Americans, and informed us of a number of facts, e.g. only 20% of the bombs per drop went off, as the force from the 1st 10 would make the bombs land horizontally and wouldn’t detonate, so the Vietnamese would cut the bombs up and make mines against the US. All in all a great day!

Back to town, another stroll around, cocktails in Hotel Rex overlooking the bustling city, and then through the park which was a hive of activity, badminton in the paths (courts even marked out on the paving), hip hop dance routine choreography, this funny kicking disc thing that you rally with and people just hanging out! really nice vibe!! Then...guess what, another night bus! 11.45pm and this time it was actually a sleeper bus, but we were put in the back next to the horn (which they use incessantly), and you are right on top of each other, the other seat are separated by aisle!).

Arrive Dalat, 5am and by George! Its cold!! Now up in the mountains, there is relieve from the stifling heat we have been in for the last month! Find a hotel, sleep a couple of hours then we’re off! We grabbed a taxi and headed to elephant waterfall (500,000 VND return for 3 of us) where we were able to climb down to the waterfall and get some good pics, as well as get a little wet from the spray – woke us up nicely! When we returned I did actually see a cannoning tour, which looked appealing, so would prob try that instead if you’re heading there! We then walk the town. It’s a funny town, its quite built up and everywhere it is like a garden, a bit kitch, but surprisingly well maintained, and there seems to be a pretty massive museum being constructed atm which is all along the bank of the lake on one side!! After we headed to the crazy house – this alone would be a reason to go to Delat! Its this Alice in Wonderland style house, which you can stay the night in. Incredible forms and walkways health and safety standards would not permit access to the public haha! But stunning views out over the mountains!

Next day we bused to Nha Trang, Vietnams biggest beach town. Stunning bus ride, as much as the bus rides are a method of getting from A to B they also give you a great view and insight into the countryside and way of life! There were 200m plus cascades down the mountains rock façade and valleys that wove in and out of the undulating hills! Beautiful! Arrived by lunch time and straight to the beach! It was like the south of france, well maintained parkland strip before a nice wide long beach and cool waters! Next day went for a dive (supposed to be the best in Vietnam), wasn’t the best diving I’ve done, but for $40 you cant complain!! We were back by 1.30pm so we headed to the mud baths. It was 100,000 VND in, but well worth it! We went in this terrace of empty baths which they assign you one and turn a tap on which spills watery mud into the bath until half full. After a 15min soak its up to the bathing area to dry off. Feeling crisp and starting to crack we showered off, soaked in a clean bath, walked through a corridor of sprays blasting water at you, before dunked under a waterfall and finish in a hot swimming pool! Very relaxing! That night we were on a sleeper bus to Hoi An!

Unfortunately we had the very back! you're on top of each other, next to the horn and bumped all over the place! Hoi An is totally different, far more character, and more what I envisaged a Vietnamese town to be like! I’d heard you could get clothes made super cheap here! Well…I was hoping to get a couple of jackets and dresses made. As I was designing them, with help from a number of pictures, it all tended to add up. It is better 1st to have a look around a number of shops for ideas, then go to the market with a picture of exactly what you want to be made. They are better at copying than designing or advising! After an afternoon of picking materials, and discussing designs we sent off our orders! Another stroll around town – great place, got some really good cafes, 3000 VND beers (like 15c) and a really nice vibe with all its old buildings! We ended up doing another cooking class, an evening one which ended up being just the 3 of us! It was great! Another trip to the local market (that’s when we were shown the clothes making area in the market which is a lot cheaper! Doh!), then cycle ride into the countryside – amazing you only have to travel like 10mins before you’re on a dirt track surrounded by rice fields! Arrived at his school and we were shown the government land, which is immaculately hand farmed by the community, and where I was put to shame by a 70 year old lady who was watering the plant and offered me a go! Harder than it looks! There is a bar you rest on your shoulders then you fill up (one by one) watering cans, then rock them, sprinkling water over the rows of crops! Easier said than done! AND she does it 3 times a day every day..they are not light! We got shown how to present our food, making carrot and tomato flowers, slicing spring rolls and making it look pretty. Then we made a banana flower salad (delish!), these pancakes with bamboo shoots and wrapped in rice paper (AMMMMAAAZING!), spring rolls, and a chicken clay pot, all very tasty and was stuffed to the brim by the end of it!

Next morning we were off to My Son, similar to Angkor Wat, but more destroy by the war and not as big, but interesting! It was ridiculously hot that day though! We had lunch and a boat trip to some wood carving places but don’t bother, waste of time! Spend your time around the towns historic buildings! It’s a real walking town!

From Hoi An we’d decided to Easy Riders to Hue. It was only about 100km, but you are taken by locals on motorbikes, 1st to Marble Mountain – we went at the crack of dawn so got free entry and the place to ourselves and its an amazing place with huge caves and great viewpoints! 2nd stop was a mountain pass, meandering up and over the mountain, before a beach stop in Lang Co, before onto Elephant Waters (think it is called that), but basically a stunning series of pools in a mountain river which refreshing and crystal clear waters! Beautiful!! For lunch we were offered a chicken, which they showed us alive and were about to kill when we changed our order to the fish that was already being grilled on a charcoal BBQ. Best fish we’ve had!! Sore bottomed we arrived in Hue around 3pm. Great way to travel, and amazing the crazy scooter driving that goes on! Ridiculous number of scooters on the road!! And when you cross the road you just walk out when there is a bit of a gap and they will go around you! Funny also how quickly you get used to it too! Ha!

Hue, we timed perfectly! It was the penultimate night of the Hue festival, which occurs every other year. We had a walk around the city, found some live music, then headed into the Citadel for lots of music, dances, performances all in the ancient royal buildings! We were looking to stay for the closing ceremony but decided not to due to time restraints. Instead the next day we did another motorbike tour around the Royal tombs, pagodas, tiger and elephant fighting arenas, lunch from some lady monks, sat on a bridge where the locals hang out (as it provides natural AC to cool off), and a great viewpoint. We walked around the Citadel again (55,000 entry) before catching our night bus (this time requested not to be at the back and it was the best night bus we’ve had! Actually slept ha!) to Hanoi!

Hanoi is how I envisaged a Vietnamese city! Crazy busy, quite dirty/ disorganized but weirdly organized – with different areas selling different things – food, clothes, scooter parts, household products, electricals, etc.. Stayed in the old quarter, had a wonder around, as we arrived on Monday when all museums are shut. We sorted our visas for china, cheaper to do it here ($54 for UK, $148 for US!!), which took 5 days so we booked onto a halong bay 3 day 2 night tour. We cruised through the limestone karsts and the foggy mystical air to a couple of pretty impressive caves, one which had quite a colourful array of lights in the cave. Next it was onward to kayak around a couple of lagoons. It was surprisingly quiet, having left the port with a thousand other boats we were now on our own and had both lagoons to ourselves allowing Lisa to “sing” to me , vocals back by echoes ;-) we also past some HUGE beige torso sized jelly fish with 2m long tentacles!! Apparently the blue and green ones are lethal but the cream ones are fine! Night on the boat, then over to Cat Ba Island the next morning for a hike to the top of a hill, quite the hike for tourist in flip flops, recommend shoes, especially if it has been wet! We missed the shortcut (which, from what I heard is pretty intense but means you miss the slow going fat tourists, and can do a circular route, rather than a return!) but up at the top you get some great views, although there’s not a hell of a lot of room up there!

Back to Hanoi (long journey) then a night out around “beer corner” – great BBQ’s around there and lots of promo drinks. Next day city tour day! Over to the Hilton Prison (ok, nothing compared to the other museums we’ve been to harrowing wise, and actually the American pilots imprisoned hear are shown to have had a pretty decent time - playing badminton, football, getting haircuts from officers.. John McCain was imprisoned here for a bit! Walked the city going to the Ho Chi Ming morsaleum – which had more security than the current presidential palace (pretty) by the look of it. Botanical gardens pretty average and have to pay (2000 – 15p ha!) but ive never had to pay for a botanical garden (I don’t think?) Walk past a number of other city features before collecting our passport and hopping on the sleeper bus to sapa for our next tour ($45). The sleeper bus I was stuck next to a smell Russian and there were sooooooo many stops! Pretty slow going!

Arrive sapa, taken to Summit Hotel for shower (needed!) and buffet breakfast – result! Started our tour, which was supposed to be a 12km walk to a village to stay the night at a homestay then return to sapa the next day via villages and waterfalls…the walk started from sapa town and an army of very small traditionally dressed girls and women (it was a game guessing which was old and which was young – literally everyone was the same height and it was until they turned around that you realized old or young ha!) The bevy of ladies escorted us along our very pretty walk through the terraced slopes of sapa. There was a lovely breeze, the sun was shinning, the terraces were amazing and it was a downhill stroll to a village for lunch. Had about 2hr lunch, with the ladies trying to sell all there handcrafted goods (real guilt trip stuff, especially if you have accepted their plants that they have picked and folded into horses and hearts haha! – it’s a tough call, you try to accept to be grateful, but then you awkwardly have to carry this thing for the rest of the trip, then they guilt trip you to buy things, OR you say “no no it ok,” and they guilt trip you for not taking it, “your friend took it, I make for you, no money, gift.” Anyway, homestay was nice, and next to the river so we had a dip before some garlic and salt chips (yes you wouldn’t have thought very traditional but apparently so?), then a huge dinner cooked over a wooden fire, followed by some rice wine (not the biggest fan). Slept under mossi nets in a bit room on a hard mattress on the floor, to wake to pancake breakfast and a steeper more undulating walk through some more terraces with the buffalo cooling themselves in the terraces with water, towards a waterfall. More like a rock face with a stream flowing down it, but a nice walk. Lunch then back to sapa for a shower, a walk around Sapa – nice town, not much to see, great place for knock off outdoor clothing! Before a minibus to the Chinese border and onto our next Country!!

Vietnam has been great and it is definitely more developed than a lot of the other south east asian countries! My memories of Vietnam are the harrowing history, the crazy scooters dominating the countries roads, amazing spring rolls (fresh and fried), Bai Mein rolls, Mango, street eating – eggs with fetus’ in them, girls in silk tops that have a slit from the waist down over silk trousers, “singing”, clearing the throat pre spitting, the immaculately community farmed land, the laughing Buddha – def gunna get me one of these, big one at the bottom of my stairs, so that every day I walk down and it makes me laugh, great start to the day :-D

Another long bus ride to Phnom Penh from Bangkok. Booked our killing fields tour and prison at our hostel (Sunday - nice hostel, but location would have been better nearer the water, bit busier). So 9am and we were off to the infamous killing fields. The roads are still crazy with scooters, tuk tuks, lorries, cars all driving in whatever direction they please, amazing how placid everyone is, no road rage, although bus journeys have a continual beeping going and rather erratic driving, best just to close your eyes and put the ipod on :-)

The killing fields were really well done. You get a set of headphones in english with the history, stories and music that really gives you an insight to what occurred on this site! You walk around these mass graves where up to 450 people were killed, and a tree that next to a mass grave full of just babies and women, where the tree was found with bits of brain and blood on where the soldiers smashed them against the tree to kill them. There are bones and clothes appearing on the surface, as the ground is weathered and there was a mass grave of headless bodies. This visit was then followed by a visit to the prison, S21, where a school was converted into a prison and a place of torture! Here there was still evidence of blood splattered on the ceiling, torture methods were described and pictures of all the prisoners were displayed in the rooms. Overall it was a pretty harrowing day, and rather puts your issues into perspective, as does the book "first they killed my father." A visit to the palace was aimed to lighten the day. The palace was beautiful, but the gardens, which take up a large area of the palace, were shut leaving not a lot more to see for an expensive (by Cambodian standards) $6.50. In the eve there are a number of charity restaurants, so we visited r.... for a starter (very nicely done, reasonably priced and great atmosphere) and Friends for our main (brighter, cheerier, but prob would have stayed at the first place retrospectively).

Next more off to Sihnoukville, on the south coast of Cambodia. Stayed at New Sea View Villa which was perfect location, cheap and nice room! The beach is nice, water is cool and all along the water front are cafes and bars. Having found a spot to lie down on the beach we had sooo many kids come up to us, trying to sell bracelets, begging and collecting plastic, quite sad really. They also had ladies coming around with lobster, this is a must! we got 10 lobsters for $4 plus 3 free extra the first day and 20 for $6 the next haha, and they are scrummy!! Covered in kampot black pepper and drizzles with lime they are divine! Sihnoukville is a lively town at night, with fire shows and cheap drink offers.

The next day we had booked a 3 island tour..our particular tour was terrible haha, our guide got off after about 10mins saying he'd forgotten his phone and would meet us there...never did, then we went snorkeling, which would imply swimming around with a mask and SNORKEL, but no the masks were so old and scratch that when you go under you see nothing then get them flooded with water, then there was no snorkel so you had to be good at holding your breath. There was no promised jungle walk, but the area is pretty nice so we were quite content actually just floating around in the water, chilling on the island and splashing in the clear waters. That eve i spend 2hrs!! Trying to sort our Mekong tour and a tour to Bokor National Park in Kampot.

DO NOT under any circumstance do the Bokor NP tour, this is no NP! its a development site in primary rainforest, where they have build a wooping casino on the top of this mountain, and are building a luxury town with golf courses! Its disgusting and i don’t even understand why a tour goes here, other than you try and advertise and sell property to tourist!?! Our guide was very informative about the history of Cambodia but the sights on this tour were dumb! At least the day finished with a sunset cruise, passing local country Cambodian life, lined with water coconuts, and enjoying a backdrop of rice paddy field, palm trees, mountains and a reddening sun. Need to research more the Bokor NP development, cant understand how this kind of development is allowed!?!

Kampot actually looked quite a nice town, would stay a night on the water if we had more time, but instead it was a tuktuk to Kep, a very small coastal town, but famous for its crab, which we tried and loved - get the peppered crab, make it a big or medium one too, easier to get the meat out. Its a $4 return tuk tuk from kep.

Next Country Vietnam..

Railay Beach, Krabi, South Thailand! what can i say! STUNNING! arrive with our Brazilian friends to these gorgeous white sandy beach with rocks soring 100m into the sky, undercut by the water making them appear to hover above the crystal clear waters surface! Sunsets are stunning, cheaper accommodation is on Railay East (the opp side you arrive from, if your coming from other islands) and there are some pretty epic fire shows including hurling these balls of fire across the audience to each other! It is renowned for it rock climbing, so to make the most of the water and the rock faces we decide to do cliff jumping...in hind sight i think rock climbing would have been better as for cliff jumping you have to be a pretty confident climber and it can be pretty daunting! anywhoooo cliff jumping it was and funnily enough we were on a boat full of a climbing group on tour...basically a boat of spidermen and women!! Cruise over by long boat to our destination and ascend a rope ladder..which is an achievement to ascend in itself..before climbing the past vertical rock face which is pretty slippy coz you have just come out of the water and the chalk that ppl use for grip when wet is almost impossible to get a good hold. With the water looming below you it is a nerve racking experience and any slip or miss of a handhold leads to you plummeting into the water...as well as looking rather pathetic to the spiderpeople!! Once you make it to the "platform" (a 20cm ledge) this is where you leap into the water from a mere 10m!! 10m may not sound much but trust me...its pretty bloody high! Having triumphed up the rock face the only way down is to jump...no backing out! If i didnt think this was hard and high enough the next spot was harder and higher and a smaller area to jump, as more rocks were around you. This time the rope ladder was about 3.5m high with a challenging functioning of the rope ladder to rock, and a jump of about 13m! Exhilarating to say the least!

Next day and before we set off i did a morning kayak (lovely, only need an hour – 200Baht) and final bit of exploring making my way towards Phangan Beach. On the way i see a sign to a viewpoint...oooo goodie! I look to where the sign is pointing and there is a rope and a muddy near vertical root covered mountain facade, i look again at the sign and then at the proposed route...as we are leaving i have left my luggage at the pick up place, but my rucksack i had with me. Note this rucksack has my paperwork, passport, laptop, books to read, ipod, headphones, phone, toiletries, glasses, purse, camera, yardayardayarrr, basically my worldly possessions weighing around 10kg! It was 9am and i wasn’t leaving until 1.30pm...what the hell, why not! So rope in hand, clinging flip flops i start the ascent! It was good thigh and tricep burner, but as it was still early there was no one about so could have some fun. Made it to the top and to the left is the viewpoint and to the right is a lagoon, ooo exciting! Viewpoint first. Dripping with sweat but feeling good for the workout, im standing overlooking east and west Railay, another cracking view. Back to the junction and off to hunt down the lagoon. Only 20m later im at the top of a slippery slope down, again with 2 ropes this time. I turn around grabbing the two ropes leaning back i kinda abseil down this slope, great fun! Im at a plateau in the journey to the lagoon with imposing jungle and jungle sounds all around me. I slip and slide my way to the next descent, this time no one is around and this is vertical climbing now, stepping down to the lagoon. My rational and irrational minds are battling it out..Laura, there is no one about, its slippery, you have your heavy rucksack and little climbing experience, what if you fall...ohhhh stop worrying, just leave your rucksack, no ones around, take your PPP (purse, passport and phone), if anything goes wrong you can just call for help, and its a tourist attraction, im sure ppl are still sleeping there will be people coming this way later! No dramas, get on with it!...ok, you’re right, great lets do it, Indian jones eat your heart out! So i abandon the rucksack and get a climb on! Its awwwweeesome! I feel like a tomb raider in action, what am i gunna discover! Lowering my body weight, again abseiling down these 5m high steps to the lagoon. I made it! The lagoon wasn’t actually that stunning, bit murky, and muddy around the edges but the rocks soared above and it was a real sense of achievement! Right now, about getting back up?

As you’ve gathered, i managed to climb back up, amazingly my flip flops survived, but i was red faced, sweaty as and caked head to toe in orange mud! I land on the path, with fresh clean people on their way to the beach looking at me a bit weirdly, understandable. I made my way to yet another stunning beach, passed a temple of penis’s (its a sign of power in Thailand) and walk straight into the water fully clothed! There were rocks and caves to explore on this beach too, just stunning the combo of rocks, sand and turquoise waters! Then it was onto Koh Phanang.

We wanted to go to Koh toa, but unfortunately, not knowing about the accommodation situation for the full moon party (as you have to book min 5 nights) we didn’t have time. The night boat we had booked actually got cancelled, so had to get the fast ferry the next day. Taxi to Power Beach Hotel (100 Baht), then motorbike (140 Baht) around to get a feel for the place. The full moon beach was awesome and we found some cheap accommodation you could not reserve and stay for however many nights you want AND it was right next to the famous Coral Bungalows with their pool party AND it was 10min walk from the beach, so Rainbow Bungalows is the place to stay FYI! I ended up booking my open water scuba dive course as i had 3 days before the Sydney crew arrived for the full moon party and our luxury hols. The padi course was easy, and the dive was cool at sail rock, visibility was a bit poor but the actual site and number of fish was amazing!

We went to the pool party...like no other haha, and then the crew arrived (odi, nez and lisa). That night we explored the full moon party beach which was actually surprisingly cheap for food and drink! The atmosphere was insane! I did fire skipping rope, musical chairs, arm wrestle, basically playing games all night, purrrfec! This was just the warm up to the full moon. Next day we went to the beach, actually a stunning beach, then took a longtail boat to Eden Bar a couple of beaches up for a chilled afternoon and a UV painting session, where i covered head to toe in hot pink UV paint, all very exciting. Back to base, change, and head to the party! It was like the night before but like, 5 times the number of people. It wasn’t overcrowded though, and this time there was a water slide too haha! We didn’t actually have accomodatino for this night as we were catching teh 7am ferry to koh samui as our luxury resort was actually booked for the night of the full moon, the 8th as the full moon was changed from the 7th due to a buddist holiday. Only disappointing part of the night was the lack of black light, my UV paint wasn’t visible for most the night...and turned out to be a NIGHTMARE to get off, don’t bother, or at least not head to toe, especially when going to a nice place the following morning!

Rock up to Beach Republic looking pretty mangy to say the least, but still giggerling and very excited for our ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET BREAKFAST! HA! Quick shower and change in our king size double bed, kitchen, western bathroom, balconied apartment to head down, looking semi normal to breakfast, WoW!! Thank you, oh thank you cudo (the co. I booked the deal through)...started with cereal, oh how i miss cereal, then onto fruit salad with muesli, yogurt and sultanas, then full English breakfast, with an omelette on the side, then croissants, pain au chocolat and muffins, then Mongolian noodles, and finished with a slice of toast with MARMITE! Couldn’t breathe, but most satisfied! This meal was repeated for the next 4 days, no need for lunch  We enjoyed cafe del mar style live music and bongo players, cocktails, went to Waterfall 2 with elephants and good walks to the top for swimming, nights out, and a day trip to angthong National Park. It was so nice having the girls around and enjoying the luxury after slumming it for so long!

Odi left us, back to Darwin (wah), and the rest of us continued to Siem Reap. Lisa and Nez did the sensible thing of coughing up the money and buying a flight so they could see Angkor Wat, amy and i (having already done Angkor Wat) endured an extremely long journey leaving koh samui on the 13th via 11.30am minibus to a boat to the mainland, bus to a bus, bus to Bangkok, taxi to bus, minibus to the boarder of Cambodia Thailand, walk over boarder, free transfer bus to a bus to siem reap arriving 7pm 14th to go for dinner then get up at 5am for a hot air balloon to view Angkor Wat (which is a balloon attached to a basket in a rope thing, basically just goes up and down and you can see Angkor Wat). It was good to see the sunrise and it was quite cool and only $15, so would recommend it! Then it was bus to Kompang Chum – a small town heading towards the loas camboida boarder so we could get to 4 thousand islands the next day. Not a bad place, on the Mekong, and had a good little restaurant which trains orphans to work there. Its a very local place and great to see Cambodian life in full swing, doing mass dance exercise classes on the pavement, street food, motorbikes criss crossing, markets, volley ball, etc..good insight. We struck gold with our tuk tuk driver who spoke exceptional English (coz no one else could!!) and he helped book our tickets to 4 thousand island in Loas.

8am and he picks us up, i pick up a local sim card for just encase situation, and we get shuffled onto a bus to Stung Treng at 9am. Arrive at 3pm, quickly put on a mini bus to the border, get kicked out and told to walk towards the border...in no mans land, between Cambodia an d loas having just paid $2 to leave Cambodia we are apprehensively wondering if we are gunna make it. There is no one else around, the border consists of a wooden hut for the camodian side, a stretch of unsealed road past a boom gate to another boom gate and another wooden hut for the loas visa (on arrival, one photo and $35 then $2 to arrive) and then a construction to site for the more impressive looking border gate, currently under construction, and a stretch of vacant unsealed road. We pass through and see no one....ring the agent and he says wait a minute i get someone there for you, ok...out of no where this taxi arrives as if by magic, wow, we might actually make it ha! The pressure of organising a trip for people is weighing on my shoulders, with nez being a working professional with limited holiday and wanting to make the most of her stay, any hiccups and i was jeopardising her hols. But it worked! Phew, one down many to go ha! Taxi to a boat, we actually bought our bus ticket to our next destination before boarding a long tail boat watching the sun go down over the Mekong to 4 thousand islands! Up some rickety stairs and we made it woop woop!

Next day we enjoy a full on day of kayaking...highly entertaining watching lisa and nez struggerling with their inflatable raft like canoe zig zagging across the Mekong ha! Did some rapids, went to a “small” waterfall – pretty big, then saw some dolphins, before lunch and the big waterfall – pretty impressive. Great day and good way to see the area, oh and there are no ATMs on the island so they even advertise as a site on the trip, trip to the ATM woooooo! Quite funny.

The tickets that we bought for our next trip actually became redundant as we organised a private trip from the islands to champasak for Wat Pu (a smaller more ruined loas version of Angkor wat) which was nice, then onto pasak for a night bus to Tha Khiet to go to the Kong Lo Caves. The Wat was nice actually and a lot of ppl cycle to it, but its a long, hot and unsealed route, so minivan is def better! The bus was a sleeper bus and very exciting we had the whole of the back of the bus, so 4 off us in this big bed bouncing around in the back, cool little den! 2am and we got off at the bus stop and as the bus to the caves was a 5.30am we decided to camp it out. The 5.30am bus decided not to come so 7am it was, and we didn’t actually know where it was going, the seats were tiny, so couldn’t sit in the chair straight and they put people in the middle of the aisle on plastic stools to fill the bus to MAXIMUM capacity. We got kicked off in a town unbeknown to us and searched around for some help. Loas is a bit basic like that. Your going to a tourist destination, yet no one, no one, understands or has heard of the caves?!? Ok so we decide to get this big tuk tuk thing. We thought we’d agreed a price and we were going straight to the caves..no. We drove up and down for about another 45 mins picking up more and more ppl until there were, and im not exaggerating we counted, and this is basically in a Ute, pick up truck thing with stools and a roof...30ppl and all there shopping, baggage, babies etc! PLUS they have a horrible habit of coughing up their insides and spitting it over your shoulder onto the ground outside the truck, eeeewwwa! Its a sound i’ll never get used to yet it is the morning chorus in the hostel showers and streets! Anyway, we make it to a town 2hrs later and we are still not there! Shifted onto another tuk tuk thing with another 30ppl and their worldly belongings and we make it to the caves at 2pm – worst journey to date. I had scheduled that we could do a day trip to the caves and catch a bus to vietenne, however by the time we made it there was a 4pm bus going, but it takes 3hrs to see the caves. The journey was a nightmare, and we were all tired but the caves were awesome! 105,000 kip each for a boat through 7.5km of tunnels whizzing through the dark to the other side, stopping off for a walk around the caves which are nicely lit and great formations, for a beer loas before returning. It was stunning and quite exhilarating, 2 to a boat you have to get out every now and then as the water is pretty shallow. Stayed the night at the booking office officers guesthouse, had a superb meal, watched a beautiful sunset over the surrounding mountains and farmed fields before a well earned bed and a 7am bus to vietenne.

No time for vientenne, but looked a cool city, instead minibus over a horrific bumpy, sealed and unsealed road to Vang Vieng, home of the famous tubing! We started the next morning with a trip to the caves and lagoon – awesome! Caves are vast and unguided so take a torch and you can go anywhere, and the lagoon, more like a stream has a tree with rope swing and ladders to climb up the tree to jump off it, from about 6m, again exhilarating stuff! We collected our tubes, got tuk tuked over to the starting point and was welcomed by a wave of booming music, a bridge over the river and bar no. 1. You get a shot and a bracelets and then buy a bucket to start your day. Tube in hand jump into the water and float downstream, lovely way to travel! Before being thrown a rope and pulled into bar 2 for volley ball, and a bit of competition...doing a worm (worming your body along the floor on your stomach)....for a free bag of popcorn. With the sound of competition, i was shoved may i add, towards the competition arena, to slip and land so loudly the music almost stopped and everyone pointed and laughed..but that wasn’t going to stop me, forward i go to perform a worm and, i think more out of sympathy, presented with a bag of popcorn...the things i do for a bit of competition?

Continuing on, this basically was my paradise, there was pumping tunes, lots of people, tubes down the river, swings, trapeze bars, zipplines....yes, i may have completed 3.5 rotations coming off the zipline about as gracefully as a seal moves on land, and the slide – a 20m long, 20m high slide that launches you into the river...just too much fun! We returned our tubes late, which is a 20,000 late fee (about $3) but well worth it! Sooo much fun, everything it was hyped up to be...then guess what, it was onto a bus ha! 9pm onto the bus bound for Luang Prabang.

Timed our arrival perfectly for the 6am buddist alms, where you give the monks food offerings – the people are supposed to support the monks physically and the monks support then spiritually. Find our hostel, then off we go for a city walk. Lovely city, interesting morning markets, lots of Wat’s (temples) and then cheap loas massages – 1hr $4. In the evening the main street gets closed off and filled with the market, off which is a awesome food market for dinner, have the whole fish and the pork kebab with the fill your plate for a dollar buffet! We were due to get a bus the next morning but it was full so we got to go the waterfall, which is very pretty and has a bear sanctuary which is interesting, before a 6.30pm night but to houxsai, arriving 7am for an 8am Gibbon Experience – the highlight and final activity for Nez’s trip!

The gibbon experience is expensive, but it is an ecologically successful project of ziplines through the jungle, sleeping in treehouses being woken to the sound of rare gibbon monkey’s. The ziplines were between 150m to 450m whizzing across valleys over primary jungle. You get fed a lot! No complaints here ;-) and we had a great crew in house number 7 which you sleep on mattresses under mosquito nets overlooking the jungle, showering below the main deck, in a completely open shower both below you and all in front of you..was quite conscious of onlookers at first, but quite a liberating experience! It was a sic 3 days 2 nights and well worth the money!

Next stop, chaing mai, Thailand, where nez flew back home via Bangkok and then there was three! Amy, lisa and I. We took a cooking class – awesome! Start in the market checking out all the exotic fruit and veg and different varieties of rice (who knew white rice could have so many differences!). Then it was a train ride to the countryside, bicycle along a stream, through the farmed fields to our cooking school. Our teacher made it, Benny, she was this 26 year old thai who basically made everything into a sexual innuendo and had the funniest deepest, loudest laugh ever! Plus, she laughed at all her jokes and you could help but laugh, highly entertaining! We whipped up a feast, each of us choosing different meals so we could sample a bit of everything! 3 types of soup, spring rolls, papaya salad, pad thai (obviously!), cashew chicken, holy basil chicken, 3 types of curry and then 3 desserts! So as you can imagine we were pretty full by the end of the day! Back into town and onto a night bus (400Baht – half the price of the sleeper train) to Bangkok. Bangkok i realised i left my prescriptive glasses on the bus, and amazingly got them back in the evening! Result!! We did a tour around town on the tuk tuks via a number of clothes, jewellery etc factories and after our penultimate stop the driver realised we weren’t buying anything and left us haha! So we made our own way back, had a shop around koh san road – where they have everything! Bit of a night out then a 7.30am minibus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia!!...

12th Feb and i touch down in Singapore in the wee hours of the morning. We’d used our bible (aka the lonely planet) to book a nights accommodation at the Prince of Wales Hostel. Initial we tried to book the one in Little India, which sounded a pretty fun and vibrant area to be based, however it was full...this worked out splendidly!! They suggested their other hostel in Boat Quay. It was ideal!! Perfectly located, right on the river in the heart of the city with a view of what i call the flying boat!! Its this ridiculous monstrosity, a boat on top of three rectangular towers! (bit like the Sydney opera house, i seemed to have accumulated rather a large number of photos in different lights, diff angles, a diff times of the day, yardayardayarrr...anyhowwww had arranged to meet Nina, a friend from Sydney who’d just moved out to Singapore! So awesome meeting people in these random locations around the world, so nice to catch up and see what they’re up to! We had lunch then drinks, thennnnn a rather beveraged Hils (hockey friend from uni, who’d also recently moved out to Singapore) arrived on the scene. She’d been to the famous Singapore “brunch” (an all inclusive affair). Had a entertaining catch up (lots of high pitched screaming and questions haha), before heading to china town for some scrummy cheap food!

Next day Amy and I walked the streets of Singapore, along the river to Robertson Quay, up to Orchard Road (shopping central!! To cross the road you have to cross the labyrinth of the underground malls, and inevitably get lost before finally surfacing!) Then up to Little India, good for cheap food and Arab Street and Habi Street are cool. This is where we saw the Prince of Wales hostel we originally tried to book and thought, Result!! Next it was back towards Marina Bay Sands via Raffles and a few parks, very nice walking route, to meet a slightly hanging Hils to discuss the possibility of her joining us on our next leg of travels!!! She’d recently got a job, an apartment and was due to move in and start around the 1st of March so had a week and a half at her disposal!! The plans were discussed and she was to join us in Kuala Lumpur (KL)!! Love it how things work out! Spontaneous rendezvous!! We left Hils to go meet Raspal (another Sydney friend, who’s from Singapore, hence knows all the good places to go!) for dinner! Nina also joined us and we had an awesome meal over in Dempsy at Samy’s Curry (which you eat food off banana leaves).

14th Feb...Valentine’s day...a romantic stroll through the botanical gardens, a western lunch (quite the luxury after a month of mie gorang (fried noodles)) and then a bus ride, which we only just made due to rush hour, lack of free taxi’s (apparently you have to call taxi’s in order to get one, not so easy to hail one on a Friday arvo of valentine’s day!). Missed the first bus, ran across to another company, they would only accept cash and as we were leaving the country and had been used to using our cards in Singapore (the only place on our travels so far it has been so easy to use!!) so a mad dash to the atm, we were able to make the bus! As Sods law would have it, my bank card (which had been swallow and block in indo and which mother dearest had very kindly sent out to Raspals place) had just arrived at Raspals...the day after i see her and when im about to board the bus, with no credit and no way of contacting her i had to wait and luckily with Hils joining us later, Raspal (legend!) and Marc (Hils very kind and lovely boyfriend) were able to meet up and arrange the delivery of my bank card!...the dramas and stresses of travelling, never as plain sailing as you think, well certainly in my case!

Arrive Malacca around midnight, taxi to Chinatown to stay in a historic building (Eastern Heritage). We only intended to stay in Malacca for that day and leave in the eve for KL, but having walked around and been told the food in Malacca was good so we decided to take the morning bus. It was Amy’s birthday the following day, so we went for drinks along the river, very nice, then went searching for the night markets. Massive fail, ended up eating this broth that you cook a plate of seafood in...noooo idea what i was eating?!

KL was cool! Hil’s flew in and joined the crew for some shopping and a few birthday bevies. Stayed in china town, which has an awesome market with knock off EVERYTHING! Bags, electrical, clothes, Absolute vodka which was more like rum! Had a walk around town, through Bintang area and past the Petronas Twin Towers, awesome! At the back of Petronas is a pond which has a water display, and when the lights come on, its a pretty impressive building! Didn’t get to go up, as you have to queue really early in the morning or book a min. 2 days in advance, so went up the KL Tower, which was good too! A guided walk around the jungle below was included in the ticket...dont bother, just do it yourself, got stuck with this crazy tour guide.

Up early for our Taman Negara tour...bus to a jetty, boat 3hrs to Taman Negara (the jungle). So nice cruising along the river, only about a foot above the waters surface. Arrive at this little floating village in time for dinner and a night safari. Hil’s who’s not done much travelling was definitely thrown in at the deep end. In the dark, walking around looking at Tapier’s, Scorpios, spiders, frogs, deers and the potential to see a tiger. No tigers and actually not as much wildlife as i thought, but still quite interesting walking around in the dark in the jungle. Just after we crossed the bridge she nearly flashed us all trying to get a moth off her, however by the end of the tour she was buzzing!

Next day we did a canopy tree top walk, 40m above the rainforest floor. Pretty wobberly, but awesome to be walking up in the canopy. Unfortunately there were so many people that all the wildlife in the area would have avoided this area at all costs ha! After a nice walk up to a view point, and a village tour with a lesson on how to light fire (would have been useful for “30 days has November”) and shoot using this blowing poison arrow thing, quite good fun. Next on the agenda was “River shooting” – the worst but funniest “rafting” experience i’ve ever been on...over little “rapids”, they spray you using an ore to fire water at you, and rock the boat from side to side (sit 3 rows from the front for ultimate soaking)! After dinner there was an abundance of cicads flying around, making a huge noise flying into the fans waking them towards us, making us eat bowed over our plates. After a slap round the face by one and one land landing on my back, which the guy behind was shining a torch on it, to which Hil’s was somehow already on the other side of the restaurant shouting, “Stay calm” to which her and I panicked..having decided to evacutate the restaurant we tried to go to the room. It was a bit like the movie “Entrapment” having to get through the lazers, where the lazers were replaced with cicads! But with a dive shriek and slam of the door, followed by a number of cicads hitting the wall (like daggers thrown in an Indian jones or james bond movie!) we made it to safety! All in all, it was an entertaining tour, but really a bit touristy and didn’t really see much wildlife.

We bypassed Cameron Highlands, travelling past the strawberry and tea plantations, stopping for tea and scones, dellish!! It was pouring there though, and actually we saw the next day there had been the worst floods this year, so good decision! Instead we arrived in Georgetown, Penang. It was a stunning drive through the mountains, long, but made it! Stayed at Banana Hostel and the next day, it was laundry (6RM), book boat tickets, sort out a 60 day Thai visa (140 RM which we only needed 20days, but as we were entering overland you only get 15days and it cost 1700 Baht to extend an extra 7 days), then did a pretty comprehensive tour of the historic town, really interesting! Walked for the whole day, going to temples, the largest mosque, the state museum...finishing with a batik (design, draw wax on material then paint) lesson! Soooooooo relaxing & only 35RM.

Fast boat to Langkawi (island off Malaysia), which we were icy cold in, but captivated by a robot film (yes i know??) called Real Steel ha! Arrived from Jungle, historic town to tropical paridise! Taxi to Geko (a cool looking place but expensive and full) so walked nearer to the beach and found Chaneng Guest Hosue which was right next to the beach and a cool regae bar called Babylon. Straight to the beach, so appreciated after so long since we’d seen beach (i know tough life, but really it was since Bali!!). Had a relaxed couple of days just enjoying the beach, books and a island tour. The island tour was great value (25RM) to whiz around on a longtail boat to a lagoon via some super aggressive monkey’s that we had to fight off a screaming French girls rucksack...Amy and I were at the forefront trying to rescue the bag which the monkeys were opening and taking everything out of (including purse and passport), whilst hils was having a blast as chief photographer...we all had a good old giggle after, but be warned, monkey’s in tourist spots are dangerous!! Onto some eagle feeding, then a beach for a swim and snorkel, lovely day out, and back in time for our usual spot on the beach for a beer and a sunset, all in a days work!

After Langkawi (Malaysia) we intended to island hop our way to Krabi (Thailand), however travelling between the islands worked out pretty pricey..so instead we went back to the mainland via Satun to cross the boarder, bus to Krabi then as it was a Friday we managed a quick sprint to the later ferry at 4.30pm to Koh Phi Phi! What a result!! Arrived Koh Phi Phi after a stunning afternoon cruise to arrive at crystal clear waters, pumping music, lively atmosphere and huge rocks protruding out of the waters. Found a couple of Brazilian guys, a Canadian girl and found some accommodation at Flower Bungalows. Great location and cheap for a nice little bungalow. Hils was horrified at first, but once in bed she woke to say she had the best night sleep! Even woke up waving her hands saying hello...hello! and giving me the thumbs up, before going back to sleep haha! Phi Phi is stunning by day, amazing coloured waters and really stunning beaches! The water is a bit gross actually coz it is a mudflat or something and there are bits of mud floating in the water at high tide, but the tide goes out really far at night time and early morning. Long beach is a good 15min walk, but well worth it and there are sharks up the north end where the rocks are (black tip) which i discovered whilst snorkelling alone one arvo :-s There’s also a view point, well worth climbing the mountain of steps and pay 20 Baht to what the sun go down over the tombolo! And we did a day trip (250 Baht) going around the islands, doing some snorkelling, seeing Maya Bay where the Beach was filmed, then back to watch the sunrise. By night it is a party island, with unreal fire shows (main beach is better), tourist kick boxing (highly entertaining, tourist fight tourist for a free bucket, very scrappy), neon paint, reggae bar (which included a didderly didderly player...as in an Irish violinist in the reggae, positively unique and really worked rather well!). Really liked Phi Phi for its mix of serenity and craziness, but sadly we had to say goodbye to Hils, who’d been a great asset to the team for comical quality and great chat and a fantastic first time traveller! A natural!! Next stop Railay (near Krabi, Thailand)...

Goodness me!! One month/ 30 days/ 4 weeks/ 730hrs of indo madness! I guess semi-irresponsibly I arrived in the heat of Bali (from Sydney) after a delayed flight at 10.30pm, not having booked any accommodation, or having an address of a hostel, just a name I figured I could give to a taxi driver, or be offered an option on arrival... Once you land you pay a $25, and then once out of the airport there is a taxi rank which pretty much charges 95K rupiah ($9.5AUD/7 quid)...I would however recommend walking straight out the terminal to the taxi's outside the airport for a metered taxi and it'll be about half the cost! I didn’t, I went straight to the rank, had an old man come and ask me about accommodation in kuta (bali's clubbing capital) to which I replied I had no idea as I was staying in Sanur (on the east coast) in a hostel called Big Pineapple (the only thing I knew about bali at this point!). Anyway the old man past and I turned around to a 7ft Russian who said, "Big Pineapple?...you come with us?" He and an American chick were catching a cab to the Big Pineapple and she had maps, directions, address etc...Love it how things work out sometimes :-) So Anton (the Russian) and Cara (USA) and I rocked up at the Big Pineapple at 11.30pm ish, no one was there to take a booking, so we just found ourselves some beds..sooo good to be in a bed!

Next morning I had every intention of getting myself organised and on top of life (I know, so much to do when unemployed ha! but really, blog, diary, postcards, planning what’s next, photo uploads, time consuming stuff!) I went downstairs, got my lappy t out, all my notes, papers etc, then an American chap walked past and introduced himself and asked if I fancied a wonder...um yeah sure!...(I massively suffer from FOMO...Fear of missing out!) So Mick (another dutchy, get everywhere!), Justin (the yank) and I headed to the beach and for a little exploration. The beach was nice, but not what I imagined tbh. Was expecting white sands, tropical looking beach. Bit scruffy. There are luxury resorts all along the top of the beach (which if you are white you can just walk in a pretend you’re staying there and enjoy a day in a pool, no questions asked ha!), then these boats which are like wooden boats with stabilisers, then a grainy yellow sand beach, and merkyish water...awesome volcano's though in the backdrop! Perhaps it because it’s the wet season? Anyway, walked back via the streets, uneven hole ridden narrow pavements, with wafts’ of amazing bbq and spiced smells and decaying trash and offerings (which the women put everywhere, these little palm baskets with flowers and other bits and bobs). They also have these travelling cabinets with shelves of vodka bottles...at first I thought they looked like home brew vodka coz it’s a yellowy colour, then when we asked, that’s a litre of petrol for Rp 5K for the scooters to fill up! and they are everywhere!! next was lunch, a mie gorang (fried noodles, veg & egg), which turns out nasi (rice) and mie (noodles) became our staple diet! Back to the hostel for a dip in the pool, bit of mingling and next thing I know, having vowed not to be going out on the town for a while after the boozy Sydney month, I was in a leather seated SUV with 5 others to Kuta!! We met an Indonesian, Harry, who was hanging out with a girl (Lucia) at the hostel and invited Ria (English chick), Justin, Anton, and I to join them. So off to a local haunt for dinner then onto the madness of Kuta. Kinda like any strip on the Greek islands, rows of bars, flashing lights, loud music, crazy traffic and drunken ppl. It was good fun for what it was, but once was enough haha!

Next day, Harry invited us to join him to go see his boss's house (where he is a chef) and then he'd give us a little tour...back into the SUV and off to Tananuh Lot where Harry works in this ridiculous house accessed for them by helicopter, with their own area of sea?! and accessed by us via a single lane unsealed, rocky track surrounded by paddy fields. I'd originally planned on just hiring a car in bali to get around as its only a small island and it had been so easy cruising around oz & petrol was super cheap....but one trip with harry at the wheel and it is mmmmmmeeeeennnntal!! no way you're getting me on those roads! scooters whizzing in and out everywhere, no rules, but seems to work for them!?! Anyway on our way back Harry let Justin drive...1st time on the left hand side of the road, 1st time driving abroad...1km up the track whilst maneuvering past another vehicle we slide off the road to the point where the whole of the underside of the carriage was resting on the edge of the road and the wheels weren’t touching the ground down the gully that channels the water around the fields. We then spent the next 2hrs working together with the rice paddy field workers (harry as our translator) to get the car out! It was an awesome team building sesh! Be a good thing for businesses to do to build team building skills..right guys, go get that out! ;-) anyway, up to my thighs in mud, with no shoes in waters known for water snakes pushing and pulling, we finally made it out....200m up the road it happened again ha! this time we nailed the technique and were out in a matter of minutes! All the kerfuffle meant we missed out on the Uluwatu temple in the cliff (supposed to be spectacular) and arrived in dark at Blue Point up in Pecatu, which is a surfer spot with great views over the cliff... Successful day ha, but actually good bonding day :-) We'd heard blue point had live music on Sunday’s so the next day we got a crew of 10 from the hostel to head back that way and spent the day at this place...stunning! whole load of cafes and surfer spots at this cliff, then live music till the wee hours of the morning! We did a little walk (20mins) down to Padang beach too, bit dirty but saw some monkeys!

Met up and stay for a couple of nights with Tim Caston (friend from Uni) who's now living in a sweet place in seminyak (above Kuta on the south west coast) and working as an architect! His housemate Derek very kindly took me around town, did a bit of surfing (still useless!) and got my vaccinations (again, was lacking on the organisation front doh!) 18th arrived and Amy landed in Bali. Amy (a friend from Sydney, who I met 3 yrs ago) and I will be travelling until china (May 16th). So weird seeing someone after so long and then it just being like normal haha!! I didn’t really give her much time in Bali before we were off to the Gili's (islands off the north west of Lombok, an island east of Bali) with Tim (a new Aussie recruit), Justin, and Teemu (Finnish guy). Ride up to Padang Bai to catch the Eka Jaya fast ferry at 8.30am (Rp450K return) Gili Trawangan bound! This was more what I imagined...an hour and a bit boat ride and there was turquoise waters, white sand, palm trees, no cars just horse and cart and bicycles...so much less hectic! They say you plan to stay for a couple of nights and next thing you know it’s a couple of weeks! I can see how it happens and 3 nights later we nearly got lured into the same trap! There's good snorkeling north east of the island, saw a turtle! then did a cycle around the island (bit tricky in the sandy spots), pit stopping for a dip and then for a Bintang and to watch a spectacular sunset, before cycling back in the dark (luckily Justin and I had head torches otherwise it would have been pitch black, although we did mix it up and do strobe cycling, quite entertaining!) again stopping at a few watering holes before heading to the market for some cheap food and what can only be described as God's gift to the universe...Terang Bulan....hear me out...kinda pancake with a crumpet texture and thickness which is doused in chocolate sprinkles, indo milk (condense milk), peanuts and ....cheese! it gets folded over and melts into this gooey goodness!!! perhaps avoid it if you don’t want to be thinking about it 247, and if you suffer from high cholesterol tee hee! yummmmmm! It was then onwards to the Irish pub (the least Irish pub I’ve ever come across but nice) and got introduced to these shots...a sachet of this energy power (nothing illegal I promise, like red bull in powder form) which you empty into your mouth, wait for it to bubble, put the vodka shot in your mouth, swill, wait for it to explode then swallow! highly entertaining! Luckily the next day was a rainy day, so only had to concentrate on cards and updating diary and talking rubbish :-)

Over to Gili Air (via the shuttle bus, a boat for Rp 26K, think there is a public boat for cheaper Rp 8K) which is a lot quieter. Stayed in these little bungalows on the beach, went for an awesome Mahi mahi bbq kebab dinner at Zippies (Rp 45K) before watching distance lightening storm on the beach. Ran around the island, smaller than Gili T, then great snorkeling north of the wharf and a cafe with free inflatable’s haha! Couple of relaxing nights here then over to Lombok to go climb Mt Rinjani (Rp 450K for transport to Sanura (2hrs), trek and camping and transport to Senggigi (2.5hrs) after, pretty good value!) 3.30am breakfast (the standard banana pancake and tea or coffee...I will like bananas by the end of southeast Asia!) 4am leave, 5am start hike in pouring rain!! arrive drowned at 10am!! Turns out it’s closed during wet season and so we have to get up early to sneak in to the National Park ha! so 6 of us spent the next 11 HOURS in a SMALL 2 man tent whilst there was a howling gale and rain and no views outside...some cool monkeys, looked like they had a French moustache! actually good fun...apart from the fact the wild dogs outside ATE MY HAVIANAS!! that was the 4th pair in a month grrrr! little terrors! ha! stuck with some blokey indo flip flops now ha! Next morning we were supposed to be up at 5am to walk up for sunrise but still pissing down, so kindly they waited till 7.30am then we trekked up, gets pretty chilly and windy up the top! again, no view! I suspect in dry season it is stunning, views out to the gili's, over the crater, lake and whole island, but we could barely see 5m in front of us! Oh well, good to get some exercise. We ran down, just for fun, and paid for it the next 3 days!! Senggigi was great. We were supposed to be there for just a night, but due to big swell the boats were cancelled for the next 4 days, so we hired some scooters to go see 3 waterfalls at gondwana. 1st time riding a scooter and it was funnnnn! so much less crowded and beautiful coast line! the waterfalls were awesome, 1st not that impressive, 2nd you can jump off the rocks and third (turn left at the bottom of the concrete steps, down the side of teh paddy fields to the river and walk back along the river towards teh waterfall to a bamboo ladder into a waterfall cave! awesome!!). Then it was back cruising along the coast to stop at a point (where again, a lot of monkeys resided) and watched the sun go down, gorge! Lombok reminds me of tracy island (you know, the one you made after watching blue peter, out of thunderbirds), so many palm trees and hugely undulating topography! The next day we spent enjoying free watermelon and pineapple sticks at the Sheraton (getting a taxi to drop us off there and strolling in, shhhh), pure bliss! We did another scooter trip, not so successful! Going south this time, way more hectic, not really clear how to get south, went to go to the south western tip, however should have gone to Kuta (Lombok kuta) a surfer town. Instead we had a day of scootering with little rewards and then in the final leg, whilst trying to pass over a busy junction I took a tumble and scrapped the right side of my body :-p wasn’t going very fast luckily, no broken bones and survived to tell the story and got back on the scooter, so all good! After a 3 day and then a 2hr wait for a 10.30am fast ferry back to Bali to explore!

First stop Ubud (Rp 50K minibus)…not what I expected but I like! Lots of tourists, tours, markets and touristy shows but it was interesting after the quiet relaxing island of Lombok. Stayed just off Monkey Forest Road (100K for 2, the main street, leading to Monkey forest funnily enough) and went to Legong dance at the Ubud Palace the first eve, nice to see something cultural (80K). Next day a stroll around the market (pretty good, practice your bartering skills and take my advice, don’t buy anything heavy – cost a small fortune to send home!!). Next Monkey forest (careful of sunnies, water bottles, basically anything grabable). Its an awesome forest with temples in it, feels like something out of the Jungle Book entering the Monkey kingdom, buy some bananas and be ready to run at any time, even when you think you’re getting along swimmingly! We organized a day of temples (which we happened to time perfectly for Barong Ceremony which is every 6 months and everyone gets dressed up, plays music, the men make these Penyours – a male offering, and the temples are really beautifully decorated!) Went to Goa Gajah (elephant cave – ok, cool garden!), Gunung Kawi (really cool, lot of steps down to this temple with two cliff facades chiseled out and rushing river through the middle), Tirta Empul (a big temple, with the most ceremony activity, heaving, got this geothermal looking water area too, bubbling away!), quick stop at a coffee plantation to see the Luwak Coffee (the most expensive coffee in the worlds as the beans are eaten by this cat that only eats the best coffee, they collect the poo, clean the beans then roast then, 400K a small bag!! Taste ok, but im no coffee expert!) and try a whole range of teas and coffee. then Kintamani (for a view, but don’t bother if it is rainy, you wont see a thing!) and finally Besakih (the largest temple in bali, also very cool and good views to the sea). Next morning, climbed Mt Batur (another volcano, leaving at 1.30am from Ubud up to Kintimani for another banana pancake and tea before walking up for sunrise). Unfortunately another disappointing sunrise. Pretty easy walk in comparison to Rinjani, and more views as well, could see the crater, lake, one volcano and a bit of colour in the clouds. Back down and onto Lovina! Lovina had recently been hit by a mini tsunami so a tad scruffy and the volcanic sand (black) didn’t enhance the views, however one eve there, finished with a terang bulan at the market on the main street (10K) was perfect! Next morning we woke for a 6am dolphin ride (60K, in a boat with the stabilizers, got a tad wet!). It was funny actually, there were so many boats, and it was like everyone cruising along at a normal speed, then someone saw a dolphin and every boat in the area raced towards it! If you have time I’d recommend someone who’ll take you out at like 8am. We carried onto Menjanga island in the north west corner of Bali for my first introductory scuba dive!!! I was a little apprehensive about my scooter injuries going into salt water, but excited to be trying diving! Paid 950K for 2 dives, we went straight into the sea & practiced for about 5/10mins cleaning my mask and taking your respirator in and out then we were off ha! It WAS AMMMMMMAAAZZZZING! Went down to 15m for 54mins the first dive, saw heaps of small colourful fish and stunnnning coral!! Then lunch and the 2nd dive, down to 18m along this 54m high wall of coral, saw 3 little sharks under a rock! Was just incredible! Knackered we caught a local bus to Gilimanuk where we stayed (for an extra 50K) in an aircon, white sheets, western flushing toilet, TV room, before catching the ferry across to java and a 7hr train to Probolingo. At Probolingo we had to ride a bicycle rickshaw to a travel agent who put us in a minibus up to Bromo for a 3.30am wake up to climb Mt Bromo (yep, another volcano!). When going up this windy hill, in the rain and cold wind (amazing how the temp fluxuates with height, go from hot humid lower land to cold, windy hill tops!), think Amy was thinking, not again! Mad mackie’s dragging me up another volcano for another disappointing sunrise…..however! our luck changed! We stayed in a pretty basic homestay (cheap), then got in a jeep and taken up to Mt Penonjakan, where you climb a hill and some steps to a lookout point, watching the sun rise over Bromo and the other volcanoes, beautiful!! And you can get tea and snacks up the top! Next we drove across the sand flats to the base of some steps to the rim of Bromo. About a 20min walk, and 200 steps later you are looking straight into Bromo volcano (a big muddy puddle at the bottom) and have 360 degree views around you! Stunning! Back to Probolingo after some breakfast (no pancake this time, mie gorang!), then a 7hr mini bus to Yogyakarta, which was in fact 12hrs!!

Yogyakarta was great! It was good to be in a city with modern shops, malls and (very exciting to Amy) Dunking Donuts  We stayed at lotus Losmen (we even had a sink, which seems to be a rarity here, bathrooms are just like wet rooms) on gang II, off Sosrowijayan (where all the backpacker places seem to be) just off the main street Malioboro, Went to the markets for food, celebrated Chinese new year and my 100th day of travel since the beginning of Oz! saw the water castle, sultans palace (one of the sultans had 11 wives and 75 children!!), some student batik market (don’t get suckered into the Batik Exhibition like I did – was informative, but a rip off), beringharjo market, ha and went to the Sono Budoyo museum in the eve after a 4am start again for a day trip to Borobudur and Prambanan (awesome temples! Get a guide, makes it so much more interesting!!) to see the puppet show. Its cool to just pop in and see how they are made out of buffalo skin, and its only 20K, but its for 2hrs and put it this way, we left after 1hr and that was just out of politeness! There is another volcano that is good to do (Mt Merapi) but by this point we were a bit volcanoe’d out ha! So hoped in a night train to Jakarta…

HA!! Night train, business class (which basically means with fans – but the fan didn’t actually hit us, but you can only get business class in the city, economy is 3km out or something), leaving at 6.30pm (go the day before or 1.5hrs in advance to get your ticket as there is a order form system), arriving 3.45am – really bloody convenient! Anyway, got in and you have quite a lot of leg room, but it was pretty warm and the seats are plastic (so you stick to them, lovely!) and they are upright (making it difficult to sleep). I’d recommend a blow up airplane pillow (my best purchase actually!). But after several hours of trying to sleep and being hot and uncomfortable, I take a look around to see how everyone else is managing and I see feet! People are sleeping on the floor! I think about it, it’s pretty dirty floor, ppl come in every stop selling food, calling in these monotone voices what they are selling (including OWLS!! Like something out of harry potter!?! Didn’t ask what they did with them :-p) and there was food and bottles rolling around, but after much contemplation, I was like, just do it! So, being slightly larger than the average indo who easily slides between the chairs, I lay the sarong down on the floor, and with the grace of an elephant crawl onto the floor, awkwardly slighting my gangly legs under the seat and maneuvering around bags and the debris, with our indo neighbour and amy in fits of giggles…well im glad someone was getting some entertainment out of the ordeal! Sore hipped, grubby and not much more successful on the sleep front we arrive in Jakarta to sleep in the station until a semi sociable hour to get a motorized tuk tuk thingy to the Jaksa area to stay at Hotel Tator (don’t be fooled by the name, but actually good location and def liveable, again a sink! Love it! Cant describe how weird it is brushing your teeth and spitting onto the floor!) Next day we get on the Transjakarta bus (3.5K, a great new system) down to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah which is a park of Indonesia, with all the island and their culture. They also have a waterpark, which looked highly appealing in the dirty smelly Jakarta heat, however for the girl that always wears a bikini for the just in case scenario, I was bikini less! It was interesting park, but nothing special. Back to the centre for some aircon and coffees with a free donut at J.Co (starbuck equivalent – though they have 24hr starbucks here too! And loads of massive malls!) Dinner was on Wahid Hasyium for the street food followed by a bintang on Jaksa street. Next morning over to Kota (the old town) and Sunda Kelapa (the port)…firstly ended up in China town (hectic, but you could get anything I think that you wanted), the heat is a real energy sapper, drains you! Managed (actually using my camera which extraordinarily has GPS, and yes… a new camera, 3rd “Tough” one, and I believe camera no. 10) to head north, walking besides the old canal system…woah! The stench! I had to just breath through my mouth to stop the smell and me retching! Up to the port (pelabuhan sunda kelapa), and the boats were cool, massive bows, kinda pirate looking, but not a lot else. Next tried to find the fish market (Pasar Ikan), which we either failed to find or it was not worth a trip. Drained and dirty we jumped in a tuk tuk to Taman Fatahillan (a museum – one of 6, that’s about all kota is good for, though we didn’t go in, so can’t comment on quality). After several hours of walking around with little reward we decide to head back, shower and change and give the infamous, nonstop nightlife a crack! Showered changed, a bintang at Melley’s then a couple on jaksa road, before catching the transjakarta bus to M…something (a couple of stops before Glodok – where china town was) and cross the road to head into Stadium – a club which apparently opens on Thursday and doesn’t close till Monday! We headed in and up to the 4th floor, the discotheque! 50K in (which we managed to avoid), and 187K for a pitch of beer – that is astronomical! Being a muslim country alcohol is expensive comparatively to everything else! Tbh, Jakarta wasn’t our fav place, and I think I locals knowledge would be good to find out where its all going on, it’s a massive place and I think one for a one or two night business trip and a company card!

All in all though, Indo is a great place and the start of our “banana pancake trail” as we recently discovered it is called (bit like the gringo trail for those who’ve travelled south America). There’s lots to see and do, and a great start to Amy and I’s tour to China! Just on the flight to Singapore to meet Hils (friend from home), Raspal and Nina (friends from Sydney)…oh and airport wise, it cost 140K for a ride to the airport (we opted for the metre taxi 127K with a 7K and 5K toll it came to about the same), then 150K for tax, and of course, my third flight, third trip to an airport and third issue…this time, I cruise up to the security desk thing and the guys talking to me, then he goes “Yes!” (as in, score, awesome), so I’m thinking ooo goodie, have I won something, 100th lucky customer? Free flight back to indo? Course not, “Yes!...you have to pay a fine!” oh hoorah!! …having had to get jetstar customer service to book my flight out of bali from Sydney airport to allow me to go to bali in the first place, they booked it on the 31st day that I’d been in Indonesia, hence had to pay a fine of 200K for staying longer than my 30 day visa…im avoiding flying from now on, 3/3 track record for Unsmooth travel! I guess I’ve still managed to get to my intended destination though…perhaps I shouldn’t count my chickens, currently at 20,000ft flying across open waters….touch wood! Gunna feel weird to step outside Singapore Airport, having spend soooo long in transit from SA to Perth!