We've been in Malaysia 10 days now and it's been a blur of huge shopping malls, high rises, good food, karaoke, christmas parties and perhaps a drink or two.....
Took us a while to get used to being able to cross roads without someone trying to take you out and no one yelling 'hey meeeeesta!!!!' at you every two seconds. Malaysia seems a lot more westernised and less hectic than Indonesia; spending time in the malls with Topshop and M&S etc is quite weird.
So far we've done the typical tourist trail: a few nights in KL (which I have fallen in love with) at a posh hotel far removed from our usual hang outs; up to George Town and Penang where we ate good food and tried to find the culture; across to the Cameron Highlands that I was expecting to be a bit like Dieng in Java, but which was actually more like a giant strawberry theme park...weird; and finally we're in Singapore via a night in Malaka.
All highlights from these past few days, including: being dragged around a tea plantation by a guide whose sole mission was to get me muddy (but it's ok, as he brought us to his local mosque to have a shower); roti canai for breakfast; random giant plastic strawberries; buses that go on time, even when they're not full; breakfast buffets; "cactus valley" (garden centre); office christmas parties; and Andy's flat (amazing views, swimming pool and two jacuzzis anyone?)
We'll be in Singapore for a few days, staying with Andy and celebrating Christmas in style - a champagne brunch at the Ritz! After that, I'm off to face my fears in Borneo...wish me luck.....
Happy Christmas to you all
Thursday, 24 December 2009
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Time Flies....
....a combination of both having the big fun and being slightly off the beaten track these past few weeks means that I have sorely neglected you. Cannot believe it's been so long since we have spoken! I hope that this missive finds you all full of festive cheer, singing along to slade and generally having a grand old time.
The last time I wrote, we had just arrived in Flores having spent three nights on a traditional boat. We checked into a bit of a posh hotel and had a day lazing around the pool and in true Cath and Louise style, we managed to justify the expense in no time and paid in dollars so it wasn't real money anyway....
After that, we headed East, along the Flores Highway - apparently there is 850km of road to travel 350km...lots and lots and lots of twists and turns. We stayed in Ruteng, Bajawa - where we walked around traditional villages and Moni - where we saw Kelimutu and walked the 15km back down to the village (my poor knees!). Kelimutu is a collection of strange volcanic crater lakes that change colour randomly. When we saw them, two were turquoise and one was a dark brown colour. The local belief is that when someone dies, their soul goes to Kelimutu and rests in one of the lakes depending on whether they were a child, a good person or a bad person....
After Moni, where we went to the local catholic mass (Flores is 80% christian, which surprised us), we headed towards Maumere as we had been trying and failing to find out information on the boat service to Sulawesi for a number of days at this stage. No one seemed to know anything other than the fact that there was one boat every two weeks. Our back up plan was to get to Sulawesi via West Timor, which would have added an extra day or so to the trip. In Maumere, we discovered that there was a boat from another port a few hours away in two days so we spent a bit of time chilling in a beach hut and then we were off! The boat took 26 hours and we were the only gringos on a packed boat, so attracted a lot of interest - particularly when Cath got her head torch out! Our bed was a mattress on the deck, just by the bins...nice.
We arrived in Makassar, Sulawesi around lunchtime, slightly groggy and most definitely hungry as we had politely declined to take advantage of the food that was included in our economy ticket. Stories of fish heads for dinner had curbed our appetite somewhat!
We left Makassar and made the 11 hour bus journey North to Tanah Torajah, an area of Sulawesi that is steeped in tradition, particularly as it relates to death and burials. Sulawesi, like Flores, is a mix of protestant, catholic and muslim, with muslim being a minority. What unites the religions is how they bury the dead: the funeral ceremony is the final chance to honour the dead person and families can save for years to have enough money. After someone dies, they are kept in the house until the family can afford to give them a funeral. Until that time, they are not treated as having passed away and the family will offer food to the body and friends will come by to drink tea and smoke with it. Once the money has been amassed, class will decide on the lavishness of the ceremony and where the body is buried. Someone from a higher class will have a funeral lasting many days where many buffalo and pigs are sacrificed - the most we heard of was 100 buffalo. The body is then placed in a cliff cave and statues (tau tau) representing the dead person (in eery detail) are placed outside. We visited a number of burial sites and also attended part of a funeral ceremony - the reception day. It seems strange, but because the funeral is such a part of the custom, it is normal for a thousand people to attend and they welcome anyone and everyone with tea or coffee and something to eat. I had to put away my personal views and try and enter into the spirit of their traditions.
After an interesting time in Tanah Torajah - including a hike through rice paddy fields that was nearly the end of me - we had to come back down to Makassar. We wanted to go North, but there had been a landslide and the road wasn't passable.
Our flight to KL is tomorrow and I cannot believe our time in Indonesia is coming to a close so soon - doesn't seem like two months at all.
Highlight of the past few weeks was seeing Tanah Torajah - such an interesting place and unlike anything I've seen before.
Low point - the Flores Highway. Well, maybe that's a bit harsh...the road itself isn't that bad, it's more the local's ability to stomach the journey that was the issue. I have never seen so many people get sick on buses, nor heard such impressive vocal accompaniment.
The last time I wrote, we had just arrived in Flores having spent three nights on a traditional boat. We checked into a bit of a posh hotel and had a day lazing around the pool and in true Cath and Louise style, we managed to justify the expense in no time and paid in dollars so it wasn't real money anyway....
After that, we headed East, along the Flores Highway - apparently there is 850km of road to travel 350km...lots and lots and lots of twists and turns. We stayed in Ruteng, Bajawa - where we walked around traditional villages and Moni - where we saw Kelimutu and walked the 15km back down to the village (my poor knees!). Kelimutu is a collection of strange volcanic crater lakes that change colour randomly. When we saw them, two were turquoise and one was a dark brown colour. The local belief is that when someone dies, their soul goes to Kelimutu and rests in one of the lakes depending on whether they were a child, a good person or a bad person....
After Moni, where we went to the local catholic mass (Flores is 80% christian, which surprised us), we headed towards Maumere as we had been trying and failing to find out information on the boat service to Sulawesi for a number of days at this stage. No one seemed to know anything other than the fact that there was one boat every two weeks. Our back up plan was to get to Sulawesi via West Timor, which would have added an extra day or so to the trip. In Maumere, we discovered that there was a boat from another port a few hours away in two days so we spent a bit of time chilling in a beach hut and then we were off! The boat took 26 hours and we were the only gringos on a packed boat, so attracted a lot of interest - particularly when Cath got her head torch out! Our bed was a mattress on the deck, just by the bins...nice.
We arrived in Makassar, Sulawesi around lunchtime, slightly groggy and most definitely hungry as we had politely declined to take advantage of the food that was included in our economy ticket. Stories of fish heads for dinner had curbed our appetite somewhat!
We left Makassar and made the 11 hour bus journey North to Tanah Torajah, an area of Sulawesi that is steeped in tradition, particularly as it relates to death and burials. Sulawesi, like Flores, is a mix of protestant, catholic and muslim, with muslim being a minority. What unites the religions is how they bury the dead: the funeral ceremony is the final chance to honour the dead person and families can save for years to have enough money. After someone dies, they are kept in the house until the family can afford to give them a funeral. Until that time, they are not treated as having passed away and the family will offer food to the body and friends will come by to drink tea and smoke with it. Once the money has been amassed, class will decide on the lavishness of the ceremony and where the body is buried. Someone from a higher class will have a funeral lasting many days where many buffalo and pigs are sacrificed - the most we heard of was 100 buffalo. The body is then placed in a cliff cave and statues (tau tau) representing the dead person (in eery detail) are placed outside. We visited a number of burial sites and also attended part of a funeral ceremony - the reception day. It seems strange, but because the funeral is such a part of the custom, it is normal for a thousand people to attend and they welcome anyone and everyone with tea or coffee and something to eat. I had to put away my personal views and try and enter into the spirit of their traditions.
After an interesting time in Tanah Torajah - including a hike through rice paddy fields that was nearly the end of me - we had to come back down to Makassar. We wanted to go North, but there had been a landslide and the road wasn't passable.
Our flight to KL is tomorrow and I cannot believe our time in Indonesia is coming to a close so soon - doesn't seem like two months at all.
Highlight of the past few weeks was seeing Tanah Torajah - such an interesting place and unlike anything I've seen before.
Low point - the Flores Highway. Well, maybe that's a bit harsh...the road itself isn't that bad, it's more the local's ability to stomach the journey that was the issue. I have never seen so many people get sick on buses, nor heard such impressive vocal accompaniment.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Dragons and whales and power cuts - oh my!
ok so Cath and I were in Padang Bai the last time we spoke - a nice little quiet harbour town where we were to spend a nice little quiet night before getting the ferry over to the Gili Islands. You may have already guessed that that plan went somewhat awry due to a lack of dinner and an overbundence of arak cocktails. An enjoyable night was spent in the reggae bar in town, but we paid dearly for it the next morning. Arak is most definitely off the menu for the rest of our trip.
Moving swiftly on, the Gili Islands were lovely. We stayed on Trawangan, which is known as 'party island' although Cath and I did the exact opposite; after our little episode back in padang bai we felt the need to detox. The Gilis are tiny islands off the coast of Lombok where water (if there is a tap and if it is working, it will have seawater coming out of it) and electricity are scarce commodities but their setting makes up for any minor inconvenience. [sidenote: in our detox efforts, we decided to watch films at night instead of hitting the bars. Due to power cuts, we have no idea how the film Vicky, Christina, Barcelona ends so any information much appreciated!]. We went snorkelling (when one is on a Gili island, one must snorkel) and saw big turtles, which were amazing.
After a few nights on Trawangan we found out about a boat trip that would take us to Flores via Komodo, which was where we were planning to head anyway so we decided to tag along. There were supposed to be a minimum of 10 people (max 18) before the trip could go, but some people dropped out at the last minute so there were seven of us (not counting the crew). The boat was described as 'traditional', a word which can be replaced with 'lacking in most basic facilities but you're in Indonesia now, so just deal with it'. The trip took 4 days /3 nights (all of which were spent on the boat). We slept above the engine under a canvas on a "matresses"on a wooden floor (like being in a low tent) and the rest of the time was spent either snorkelling or sitting on the only other deck. We moored the boat overmight for two of the nights but the second night was spent travelling - complete with a storm or three so we were tossed around while the little boat contended with massive waves and whirlpools.
The highlight of the past few days was definitely that boat trip. Despite four days at sea where the only shower was a dip in the sea and the toilet was an interesting rocking squat right by the 'kitchen' it was great fun. We saw a whale one morning and lots of flying fish accompanied us. Apparently there were dolphins but I missed them as I was trying (and failing) to get some sleep... Last but not least we went to Rinca and saw Komodo dragons. Amazing things - walking through the island (closely following our stick bearing guide) and seeing them wandering around was a real Jurassic Park moment!
We are having serious technical difficulties so I can't upload photos just yet....I will as soon as I can though
Moving swiftly on, the Gili Islands were lovely. We stayed on Trawangan, which is known as 'party island' although Cath and I did the exact opposite; after our little episode back in padang bai we felt the need to detox. The Gilis are tiny islands off the coast of Lombok where water (if there is a tap and if it is working, it will have seawater coming out of it) and electricity are scarce commodities but their setting makes up for any minor inconvenience. [sidenote: in our detox efforts, we decided to watch films at night instead of hitting the bars. Due to power cuts, we have no idea how the film Vicky, Christina, Barcelona ends so any information much appreciated!]. We went snorkelling (when one is on a Gili island, one must snorkel) and saw big turtles, which were amazing.
After a few nights on Trawangan we found out about a boat trip that would take us to Flores via Komodo, which was where we were planning to head anyway so we decided to tag along. There were supposed to be a minimum of 10 people (max 18) before the trip could go, but some people dropped out at the last minute so there were seven of us (not counting the crew). The boat was described as 'traditional', a word which can be replaced with 'lacking in most basic facilities but you're in Indonesia now, so just deal with it'. The trip took 4 days /3 nights (all of which were spent on the boat). We slept above the engine under a canvas on a "matresses"on a wooden floor (like being in a low tent) and the rest of the time was spent either snorkelling or sitting on the only other deck. We moored the boat overmight for two of the nights but the second night was spent travelling - complete with a storm or three so we were tossed around while the little boat contended with massive waves and whirlpools.
The highlight of the past few days was definitely that boat trip. Despite four days at sea where the only shower was a dip in the sea and the toilet was an interesting rocking squat right by the 'kitchen' it was great fun. We saw a whale one morning and lots of flying fish accompanied us. Apparently there were dolphins but I missed them as I was trying (and failing) to get some sleep... Last but not least we went to Rinca and saw Komodo dragons. Amazing things - walking through the island (closely following our stick bearing guide) and seeing them wandering around was a real Jurassic Park moment!
We are having serious technical difficulties so I can't upload photos just yet....I will as soon as I can though
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATHY!!!
If you're anywhere near South East Asia, you may hear the distant cry: "It's my birthday!!!!!!". Yes, Cathy is officially as old as me today so she can't give me any more grief about being younger than me!
We're stopping over night in Padang Bai before heading to the Gilis for some white sandy beaches and snorkelling. Since we last spoke, I have been mostly recuperating and snorkelling and travelling in buses and generally enjoying myself.
Oh - and, we did see dolphins - lots of them. Yay!
ps: Andrew Duffy - I am impresssed. Cat has a big goofy grin on her face. Boy done good x
We're stopping over night in Padang Bai before heading to the Gilis for some white sandy beaches and snorkelling. Since we last spoke, I have been mostly recuperating and snorkelling and travelling in buses and generally enjoying myself.
Oh - and, we did see dolphins - lots of them. Yay!
ps: Andrew Duffy - I am impresssed. Cat has a big goofy grin on her face. Boy done good x
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Birthday #2
Attempt #2 at having a birthday day to remember involved Cath and I heading to the local waterpark in Kuta. Cheesy, but it had to be done and an excellent day was had by us both. We managed to go down every slide despite feeling rather nervous while waiting for a couple of them...I feel a new addiction coming on. Nice to feel like a kid again!
Currently in Lovina on the North Coast of Bali - we left Kuta a few days ago and spent three nights in Ubud, where contrary to all the pamphlets scattered around the town, we did not find spiritual enlightenment. Cath tried to kill me by dragging me on a 6 hour walk in the midday sun but that was my favourite Ubud experience as we were out of the town and in the country. I went on a cookery course so can now make nasi goreng, satay and the lovely peanut sauce we've been eating over here. Since we were in the mood for courses, we decided to do a Balinese dance course. The dance teacher was elegance personified....Cath and I were like the 'before' in an anti-perspirant ad. Nice. Very complicated dancing though, in our defence - everything from toes to eyeballs has to move in the right way.
Right I'm off for a little lie down now....we managed to have our second big night out in Indonesia last night on our first day in Lovina - swimming in the pool at 3.30am. Classy....
Off to find some dolphins tomorrow, I'll let you know how we get on.
ps: mum don't worry, I managed to pick up a decent-ish pair of boots in Kuta, which I'll try and hold on to this time....
Currently in Lovina on the North Coast of Bali - we left Kuta a few days ago and spent three nights in Ubud, where contrary to all the pamphlets scattered around the town, we did not find spiritual enlightenment. Cath tried to kill me by dragging me on a 6 hour walk in the midday sun but that was my favourite Ubud experience as we were out of the town and in the country. I went on a cookery course so can now make nasi goreng, satay and the lovely peanut sauce we've been eating over here. Since we were in the mood for courses, we decided to do a Balinese dance course. The dance teacher was elegance personified....Cath and I were like the 'before' in an anti-perspirant ad. Nice. Very complicated dancing though, in our defence - everything from toes to eyeballs has to move in the right way.
Right I'm off for a little lie down now....we managed to have our second big night out in Indonesia last night on our first day in Lovina - swimming in the pool at 3.30am. Classy....
Off to find some dolphins tomorrow, I'll let you know how we get on.
ps: mum don't worry, I managed to pick up a decent-ish pair of boots in Kuta, which I'll try and hold on to this time....
Sunday, 8 November 2009
It's my birthday!!
Felt quite unwell this morning and not just because of the descent into old age.... We're staying in Kuta in Bali (like Benidorm for the Aussies) and decided to embrace the cheesy club for my last night as a relative youngster. Started off quite decently with a nice meal in a swankier than we've been used to restaurant but quickly descended into mayhem. We ended up at a club called Bounty (huge place complete with its own pretend pirate boat) and amused ourselves until 4am discovating the night away and listening to some quite terrible karaoke. This morning was a bit (lot) painful, but a few hours in a spa (massages, body scrubs and flower petal bath) and a bit of pizza and I'm right as rain.
Thanks to you all for your birthday wishes - wish you were all here!!!
xxxx
Thanks to you all for your birthday wishes - wish you were all here!!!
xxxx
Saturday, 7 November 2009
I can't keep count of weeks any more
I'm getting too old for all this week counting shenanigans, so you'll just have to work with me here...
I left you in Yogya, where Cath and I enjoyed a nice few days playing at arts and crafts. From Yogya, we moved on to Mount Bromo and Ijen Crater, which involved a 12 hour bus journey that I wasn't looking forward to but it wasn't actually that bad in the end. Mount Bromo is amazing - it's a (relatively) new crater that has grown in the crater of a huge volcano that erupted many moons ago. It's quite other-wordly and lunar. After a sunrise from a viewpoint higher than Bromo, we were dropped at the base of the volcano itself and left to make our way up. After a tiring wander up through the sand, we were faced with 400 steps, which was knackering to just look at! Made it up though and back down again all before 9am! We went back to our hotel for breakfast, which turned out to be boiled egg and jam sandwiches (mmmm).
After Bromo, it was another 5 - 6 hours to get to Ijen Crater. The last couple of hours were on pretty bad roads - at one point Cath and I had to jump out and find rocks to put behind the wheels of the jeep to stop it slipping back down the track.... We did eventually make it safe and sound to our home for the night, where the dinner options were "noodles or noodles soup". I was feeling less adventurous so went for the noodles....
We had a slightly later start for Ijen - breakfast at 4.30am this morning....then it was off to walk 3km up the mountain. I say 'up' but I'm not sure that quite describes exactly how steep it was! I left Cath the mountain goat to run up there and took it slow and steady. Amazingly, the local guys make that trip twice a day every day to collect sulphur from the volcanic lake at the top and come down with baskets over their shoulders sometimes carrying 70 or 80 kilos in weight. Incredible!
From Ijen, it was a short trip to the ferry to....BALI!! (Cath and I very excited). Our first attempts to find accommodation here were met with "NO ROOM" signs, but we managed to get ourselves a lovely room in a hotel with a swim up bar all for about a tenner a night between us....not bad. We've decided Bali is a well deserved spot of R&R and we're taking full advantage! Next few days will hopefully involve a bit of discovating, some beachside temple sunsets, more shopping and possibly a waterpark.
Highlight of the past few days was a personal challenge one of actually making it up to the top of Ijen..although realising I then had to make it back down the slippery slope very nearly took the shine off this achievement!
Challenge has been me being a muppet and leaving my good boots on a bemo (local bus) here in Bali. Need to get some replacements so that I can go on more early morning treks and climbs (Hang on.....there's a whisper of a plan whirling round my brain here.....)
I left you in Yogya, where Cath and I enjoyed a nice few days playing at arts and crafts. From Yogya, we moved on to Mount Bromo and Ijen Crater, which involved a 12 hour bus journey that I wasn't looking forward to but it wasn't actually that bad in the end. Mount Bromo is amazing - it's a (relatively) new crater that has grown in the crater of a huge volcano that erupted many moons ago. It's quite other-wordly and lunar. After a sunrise from a viewpoint higher than Bromo, we were dropped at the base of the volcano itself and left to make our way up. After a tiring wander up through the sand, we were faced with 400 steps, which was knackering to just look at! Made it up though and back down again all before 9am! We went back to our hotel for breakfast, which turned out to be boiled egg and jam sandwiches (mmmm).
After Bromo, it was another 5 - 6 hours to get to Ijen Crater. The last couple of hours were on pretty bad roads - at one point Cath and I had to jump out and find rocks to put behind the wheels of the jeep to stop it slipping back down the track.... We did eventually make it safe and sound to our home for the night, where the dinner options were "noodles or noodles soup". I was feeling less adventurous so went for the noodles....
We had a slightly later start for Ijen - breakfast at 4.30am this morning....then it was off to walk 3km up the mountain. I say 'up' but I'm not sure that quite describes exactly how steep it was! I left Cath the mountain goat to run up there and took it slow and steady. Amazingly, the local guys make that trip twice a day every day to collect sulphur from the volcanic lake at the top and come down with baskets over their shoulders sometimes carrying 70 or 80 kilos in weight. Incredible!
From Ijen, it was a short trip to the ferry to....BALI!! (Cath and I very excited). Our first attempts to find accommodation here were met with "NO ROOM" signs, but we managed to get ourselves a lovely room in a hotel with a swim up bar all for about a tenner a night between us....not bad. We've decided Bali is a well deserved spot of R&R and we're taking full advantage! Next few days will hopefully involve a bit of discovating, some beachside temple sunsets, more shopping and possibly a waterpark.
Highlight of the past few days was a personal challenge one of actually making it up to the top of Ijen..although realising I then had to make it back down the slippery slope very nearly took the shine off this achievement!
Challenge has been me being a muppet and leaving my good boots on a bemo (local bus) here in Bali. Need to get some replacements so that I can go on more early morning treks and climbs (Hang on.....there's a whisper of a plan whirling round my brain here.....)
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Week Two (and a bit)
Yes I know, I've been a bit rubbish at this whole updating the blog thing..must try harder. So...when I left you, I was in an internet cafe in Pangandaran, which was a lovely little chilled out town. After there, we got the train to Yogyakarta in central Java - a lot more hectic than we'd been used to. Got ourselves a bit lost on the way to the place we'd decided to stay so I had lots more practice of bag carrying in killer heat. We stayed a couple of nights there, visited Prambanan and saw a Ramayana Ballet by night in the grounds, which was great if somewhat confusing - lots of subplots after a couple of Bintangs means a lot of concentration...
We left Yogya and headed towards Borobodur for some more temple action. Stayed in a hotel in the grounds (killed that week's budget) and had another sunrise at the top of the temple, which was lovely. After that it was on to Dieng Plateau, which involved 4 public buses and 5 hours - tiring, but remarkably easy to negotiate. Made some friends on the way, even ran into a woman who took it upon herself to tell Cath to cover up by poking her boobs (it was cold...ahem)! International sign language turned into international grope language there for a while.... Dieng was lovely - the room was not quite the palatial surrounds of the previous evening, but it worked although we had a rude awakening at 4am from the mosque on our doorstep. Dieng is much cooler than the rest of Indonesia and apparently rains a lot, but we seemed to be lucky with the weather as I've added to my collection of random pink areas. Lots of potatoes and cabbage, just like dear old Ireland so I felt well at home.
We're now back in Yogya as it seems to be the travel hub for getting to East Java and then to Bali. We're relaxing for the next few days - the plan is to head to Mount Bromo for another exhausting volcano climb (after an 11 hour bus journey that I'm really looking forward to) but it's best to visit tourist attractions during the week as the whole of Indonesia seems to hit these places en masse at the weekend. We're staying in a different part of town and having a different experience to the first time. Today we made rings (soldering irons and etching tools and all sorts), tomorrow we're learning about herbs and medicine, making face packs and having a traditional massage and the day after we're learning how to make batik...bit of an arts and crafts episode.
Highlight of the week was the Ramayana Ballet in the grounds of Prambanan - really nice setting and interesting to see.
Challenge of the week was dealing with my spider phobia whilst in a cave in a national park/ jungle in Pangandaran. Note to self: caves and head torches and big (ish) spiders are not a good mix. Roll on Borneo.....
We left Yogya and headed towards Borobodur for some more temple action. Stayed in a hotel in the grounds (killed that week's budget) and had another sunrise at the top of the temple, which was lovely. After that it was on to Dieng Plateau, which involved 4 public buses and 5 hours - tiring, but remarkably easy to negotiate. Made some friends on the way, even ran into a woman who took it upon herself to tell Cath to cover up by poking her boobs (it was cold...ahem)! International sign language turned into international grope language there for a while.... Dieng was lovely - the room was not quite the palatial surrounds of the previous evening, but it worked although we had a rude awakening at 4am from the mosque on our doorstep. Dieng is much cooler than the rest of Indonesia and apparently rains a lot, but we seemed to be lucky with the weather as I've added to my collection of random pink areas. Lots of potatoes and cabbage, just like dear old Ireland so I felt well at home.
We're now back in Yogya as it seems to be the travel hub for getting to East Java and then to Bali. We're relaxing for the next few days - the plan is to head to Mount Bromo for another exhausting volcano climb (after an 11 hour bus journey that I'm really looking forward to) but it's best to visit tourist attractions during the week as the whole of Indonesia seems to hit these places en masse at the weekend. We're staying in a different part of town and having a different experience to the first time. Today we made rings (soldering irons and etching tools and all sorts), tomorrow we're learning about herbs and medicine, making face packs and having a traditional massage and the day after we're learning how to make batik...bit of an arts and crafts episode.
Highlight of the week was the Ramayana Ballet in the grounds of Prambanan - really nice setting and interesting to see.
Challenge of the week was dealing with my spider phobia whilst in a cave in a national park/ jungle in Pangandaran. Note to self: caves and head torches and big (ish) spiders are not a good mix. Roll on Borneo.....
Thursday, 22 October 2009
One week in!
Can't believe it's only been a week since we landed in Jakarta - definitely feels like a lot longer! This is the first time that we've managed to drag ourselves to an internet cafe, we've been keeping ourselves busy...this whole travelling thing is harder work than you'd think!! No - really....oh, ok then - it's all quite fun actually.
I'm currently in a little beach town on the South Coast of central Java where we'll be for a few more days...although we had big plans for today, we were so excited to have a pool that we lazed around it for the whole day so we're spending an extra day here to visit the places we had planned to see today...tough life! If it helps, I did manage to get rather pink today and my back is paying for my laziness. The plan is to make our way to Bali in easy stages so we'll probably be there this time next week depending on progess.
Highlight of the week was climbing a volcano yesterday - got up at 3am and saw sunrise after a rather taxing climb! We spent about 3 hours walking around the crater looking at boiling lava up close and personal. Cath and I decided to take advantage of any spa opportunity so covered ourselves in mud and had a bit of a steam.
Hardest moment was actually having to wear my giant backpack for the first time, walk to the train station in a very humid 31C and negotiate a local train from Jakarta to Bogor....I have been leaving clothes behind me wherever I stay ever since!
I'm currently in a little beach town on the South Coast of central Java where we'll be for a few more days...although we had big plans for today, we were so excited to have a pool that we lazed around it for the whole day so we're spending an extra day here to visit the places we had planned to see today...tough life! If it helps, I did manage to get rather pink today and my back is paying for my laziness. The plan is to make our way to Bali in easy stages so we'll probably be there this time next week depending on progess.
Highlight of the week was climbing a volcano yesterday - got up at 3am and saw sunrise after a rather taxing climb! We spent about 3 hours walking around the crater looking at boiling lava up close and personal. Cath and I decided to take advantage of any spa opportunity so covered ourselves in mud and had a bit of a steam.
Hardest moment was actually having to wear my giant backpack for the first time, walk to the train station in a very humid 31C and negotiate a local train from Jakarta to Bogor....I have been leaving clothes behind me wherever I stay ever since!
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