Matt & Debs RTW 2007

Westport:

2007-09-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

Breaking our journey up as we headed up the west coast, we made a stop in Punakaiki to hopefully watch the blowhole and have a look at the Pancake Rocks. As we made the journey to Punakaiki rather quicker than we had planned, we were too early to see the blowhole in action as it was still low tide. Instead of waiting for hours for high tide we had a walk along the cliff edge to get a better look at the Pancake Rocks. The rocks themselves are a collection of sea stacks and parts of the cliff face that appear to be made up of multiple thin layers. The thin layers are created by a process called stylobedding, whereby the pressure of overlying sediment creates alternating durable and weaker bands. The processes of weathering and uplifting have accentuated this effect creating the wonderfully layered rocks. Whatever the process they certainly look very impressive!
From the rocks we continued down the road a short way and stopped for a walk along the beach, before continuing on to Cape Foulwind (named by Captain Cook in 1770) just south of Westport. Our main reason for stopping at Cape Foulwind, apart to have a laugh at the name was to visit the Tauranga Bay Seal Colony. It was really good to see the seal pups at play on the rocks and to see once again more of New Zealand’s dramatic coastline.
After finding a camper park for the night we headed into what the Rough Guide describes as New Zealand’s most dispiriting town. Westport describes itself as ‘New Zealand the way it was’. Either way it certainly couldn’t be described as New Zealand’s most exciting town! We should mention however that the people we met were all really friendly and later that evening we witnessed probably the best sunset we have yet seen on our travels.
Our trip up the west coast was over and it was time to head across country to Kaikoura.

Greymouth:

2007-09-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

The area towards the north western part of the South Island is famous for its Greenstone (Jade), so after a stop at Lake Mahinapua to look at yet another beautiful reflection we made a brief stop in Hokitika. Hokitika is a big centre for Greenstone carving, although as we found out Sunday is not the best time to visit. Giving up on the greenstone shops we had the somewhat surreal experience of having a look around the National Kiwi Centre and wool shop! The title ‘National’ implies a professional setup, but what you get is a rather charming if somewhat homemade looking attraction that includes tropical fish tanks, an enormous eel tank, a very tatty pond area and eventually the Kiwi enclosures. It was the first Kiwi I had seen and nothing can prepare you for just how peculiar looking they are. The way they move is unlike any other bird I have ever encountered.
Back on the road we continued our journey to Greymouth which turned out to be, apart from Jade Country Greenstone, just as closed as Hokitika! After having a look round the quite interesting Jade Country exhibition we went to book a black water rafting and caving trip. Unfortunately the Dragon Cave Rafting office was closed but we managed to get hold of them on the phone and booked on for the next day.
Dragon Cave Rafting advertises the trip as the best black water rafting experience you will ever have. Not having done any black water rafting before, that would be hard for me to judge, but the whole thing didn’t start terribly well when we found out we were the only ones on the tour. This would have been fine but the guy on the phone had made a big thing about whether he could fit us in! After getting kitted out in lots of layers of thermals and wetsuits we set off for the cave, with two guides who had clearly modelled themselves on Cannon & Ball (replace this with any bad comedy double act you can think of). It was just as well we were wearing lots of thick layers or our sides would have surely split at their collective jokes! Personally I quite enjoyed the whole trip, but Debs is really not keen on dark caves, bats and not being able to see through misted glasses. When the main guide stopped trying to be funny, he was quite informative and came across as a nice guy; it was just a shame that he felt the need to be such an idiot (actual choice of word changed for any youngsters reading). When we made it back out of the cave, I had a go on a natural rock waterslide and we then headed back to the base for a cold beer and warming spa. I couldn’t say that I would recommend Dragons Cave Rafting to anyone after our experience, but if it sounds like your kind of thing and you find yourself in Greymouth then it may be worth a look.
Having had a look around the town centre that morning, we didn’t think that Greymouth was likely to have a terribly happening nightlife, so we opted instead for a quiet night in. Tomorrow morning we leave for Westport.

Fox Glacier:

2007-09-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Leaving Queenstown we took the high pass across to Wanaka, where we hoped to have a good view of the beautiful lake. Unfortunately due to the cloud cover, the lake was rather obscured, so we continued instead to Puzzling World. Situated close to the town of Wanaka, Puzzling World is an attraction loaded with optical illusion rooms, holograms and a gigantic two level outdoor maze. The illusions are amazing and the maze is very challenging, so much so that I am afraid to say that we gave up halfway! With our brains and legs having been given a good workout, we got back into the trusty camper and continued our journey.
Once again the beauty of New Zealand delayed our progress as the weather had cleared and we were treated to a fantastic view of firstly Lake Hawea and then lake Wanaka. Eventually tearing ourselves away from the view, we managed to get the rest of the way to Fox in time to book a Heli hike for the next day.
Rather surprisingly, the temperature during the night was warmer than we had been used to, so we woke up early feeling fresh for our trip up the glacier. At about 9am a bus took us to the heliport where we got kitted out in thick socks and boots and awaited our turn for the short helicopter ride up the glacier. The flight although quite short was stunning, as the pilot took us high up the glacier to where the ice is moving at a rate of 30m per day (you did read correctly 30m!). Eventually we landed on a safer spot and were quickly kitted out in crampons ready to trek across the ice. During the next 2 hours we climbed through ice caves and tunnels, stared into deep crevasses and in my case had a trouser crampon incident. We had a really good guide during the trek; although his judgement as to whether someone could fit through a gap in the ice seemed a little off, when one of the guys from our group got stuck! In fairness after his rescue the guy was still adamant that he would have fitted if he hadn’t got his crampon stuck, we were all just pleased to see him back! In what seemed like no time, our time on the ice was over and we headed back to meet the helicopter for the return trip to base. The experience of walking on such a vast glacier was amazing, but it was very good to get the freezing boots off our feet!
As it is almost impossible to go anywhere in New Zealand, without seeing a postcard showing Mt Cook and Mt Tasman reflected in the crystal clear waters of Lake Matheson, we thought we had better go and have a look. After a snack and coffee at the nearby café we set off around the lake, stopping frequently to marvel at the beautiful reflections. Unfortunately due to a fair amount of cloud cover we were unable to get the full pristine view, but the scenery was still stunning. After what seemed like quite an energetic day we headed back to the camper for a rest and to get packed up for the journey to Greymouth the next day.

Queenstown:

2007-09-02T14:51:00.001-07:00

With thirty continual days of activities available to you in Queenstown, you could never describe the town as being dull! When you throw the beautiful Lake Wakatipu with its crystal clear and 90% pure waters and the stunning surrounding Remarkables mountain range in to the mix, it is easy to see why people flock here. With a planned couple of days we had a look through the countless leaflets advertising everything from bungee jumps, canyon swings and sky diving, to jet boat rides and crazy golf! After remembering watching a program where Jeremy Clarkson had a go on the ‘Fly by Wire’ (see photos) I was keen to have a go, so we booked on for later that afternoon. With the morning free we headed into town to have a look at the lake, which is where I saw the 700bhp Kawarau Jet boats. As previous boat trips have left Debs feeling sea sick, she decided to give the hour long trip where the boat spins and rushes down rapids at 50mph a miss. After getting togged up in a poncho and life jacket I got into the boat and we set off. Due to the still waters of the lake the journey was remarkably calm and apart from when we went into a spin or rushed towards an oncoming tree or bridge, it was very difficult to judge the speed. The highlight of the trip was when we rushed down the tributaries of the Shotover River, some of them less than 10cm deep. More than once we could hear the bottom of the boat, make contact with the river bed as we twisted and turned through the narrow streams. One hour and 43kms later, it was all over as arrived back in Queenstown and I went to meet Debs. The shame was that the whole journey had been so smooth that Debs would have probably been alright; oh well maybe next time!
With the morning seemingly having rushed past it was time to go and meet our ride to the ‘Fly by Wire’ site. During the short journey we were given a brief introduction to what we were going to be doing and before we knew it, the moment of truth had arrived. Basically you are strapped into a small fan powered plane/rocket that is attached to a steel cable, winched 200ft up a mountain side and then by means of a throttle and handle bars, you swoop up and down through the valley. If you get the whole thing right, you can reach speeds of 171kph and stay weightless for 3.17seconds at each turn. After 5 minutes you are out of fuel and you slowly swing around the valley until you are lowered on to the platform. It has to be said it was definitely more my type of thing than Debs, she gave it a good go but she didn’t really manage to get to grips with what she was supposed to be doing. Part of the problem is that you are in a laying position and to turn the handlebars at the top of the arc requires quite a lot of strength, which I don’t think the staff really explained to her. Nevertheless with the adrenaline still coursing and our wallets considerably lighter it had been a good day.
Settling for a slower pace the next day we headed straight for the ‘Caddy Shack’ crazy golf course, where we had a hilarious time playing through the 18 holes of beautifully designed obstacles; somewhat unusually for crazy golf I won! After the golf it was straight on to the cable car that would take us to the top of Bob’s peak and the start of the Luge track. Unlike the sledges you see on TV, these are purpose built Go karts that you steer down your choice of scenic or advanced concrete tracks. The luge track has to be some of the best fun you can have, for surprisingly little money. After racing down the tracks several times our turn was over so we contented ourselves with the beautiful views of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables mountain range.
It would be very easy to spend ages in Queenstown, but it would also be very easy to spend a huge amount of money. The problem with all of the adrenaline pumping attractions available is that while you are enjoying the high it is very easy to say “just one more go”. With our wallets still intact, it was time to move on, a Heli hike on Fox Glacier beckons.

Dunedin to Milford:

2007-09-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

As we set off in the morning our original intention was to spend the night in Te Anau, and then drive the short distance to Milford Sound the next day. Making good time along the snow free roads, we passed through the town of Gore. Gore is the self proclaimed ‘Brown Trout’ capital of the world, as well as the ‘Country and Western’ capital of New Zealand! Much more importantly, the baker sells quite nice sausage rolls! Fighting against the overwhelming urge to spend longer in Gore, we continued our journey towards Te Anau. As we had made really good time we arrived in Te Anau at about 2pm and after a quick phone call to Milford lodge regarding the road conditions and whether they had a campervan site, we decided to continue on. The drive to Milford is extremely scenic, with a brief stop at the beautiful Mirror Lakes being a particular highlight. Trying to resist the urge to keep stopping for photos we eventually made it to Milford Lodge at about 4:30pm, just before it started to get really cold. The lodge was quite nice but the campervan site was to say the least haphazard. We did however have our first close encounter with a Kea (Alpine Parrot), which we fed some bread before we had read the sign telling us not to, oops!
For the first time since we left Christchurch the campervan didn’t actually seem like a good idea as we spent the coldest night we had yet encountered. The freezing temperatures weren’t helped by the fact that all of the electricity at the lodge was via a generator, which was turned off between 11pm and 7am, so our heater didn’t work! After a somewhat fitful night’s sleep we set off to the wharf for a boat trip on Milford Sound. Milford Sound is actually a fjord and not a sound, as it was formed by a glacier and not a river, which was originally thought at the time of naming. Speaking from a purely personal point, I have to say that I think Milford Sound is one of the most overrated tourist attractions in New Zealand. In a country with so much beautiful scenery the sound was rather lost on me, plus it is in the middle of nowhere, with only one road leading in and out. I am sure that many would disagree with me, Debs included, but rather than wasting a day getting there and back, you could spend more time enjoying the easily accessible and just as beautiful mountains and lakes that cover the south island.
With the boat trip over we set off once again bound for Queenstown (New Zealand’s adventure capital). Aside from a slight incident when I may have underestimated how much diesel we had left (we did actually make it to the garage, but it was touch and go!) we arrived safely and checked into yet another Top Ten holiday park.

Oamaru to Dunedin:

2007-09-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

After checking with the holiday park office, we were pleased to find out that the road south had been reopened so our road trip was back in business. On the way to Dunedin we stopped at the Moeraki boulders, a collection of almost perfectly spherical rocks. Some of the boulders are huge and we had a good time clambering on, and in one case in, these strange rocks. Seeing even more of the boulders sticking out from the cliff face ready to fall, just adds to the spectacle.
Heading back to our trusty campervan we continued our journey to Dunedin. Making good time, we safely negotiated the city’s one way system and arrived at yet another top ten holiday park. With plenty of supplies on board we made ourselves comfortable and settled in for the night.
Dunedin is New Zealand’s so called ‘Scottish city’. The city has been modelled on Edinburgh, complete with a statue of Robert Burns. The city seems quite nice, but we wouldn’t recommend visiting on a Sunday unless you like the look of closed shops. One of the more notable buildings in the city centre, aside from the towering cathedral, is the beautiful train station. Looking not unlike a Lego castle from the outside, inside you are greeted by beautiful tiled floors and walls, complete with old lanterns and stained glass windows.
Leaving the city behind we headed out to the nearby Otago Peninsula, following the wonderfully scenic road that leads eventually to Taiaroa Head, home of the world’s only mainland albatross colony. We had a brief look around the visitors centre, but decided that the rather steep entrance fee to see nesting albatross was too much for us. After the disappointment of not seeing any penguins in Oamaru, we decided to visit the nearby Yellow Eyed penguin colony. A local farmer, realising that he had a penguin colony on his land, has built a huge labyrinth of hides and has set about protecting their habitat in the hope that their numbers will increase. The entrance fee is once again quite steep, but there is nowhere else in the world where you will get to see these extremely rare penguins close up. We were delighted to see 15 penguins coming in from the sea to rest after days at sea fishing. With the light fading we set off back to Dunedin and our campsite. It had been a thoroughly enjoyable day, but it was time to get some sleep before we left the next morning bound for Milford.

Akaroa to Oamaru:

2007-09-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

Leaving the campsite at 10am we headed down along highway one towards Oamaru, where we planned to stop for the night. Passing through the town of Timaru we stopped to have a look around Aigantighe (pronounced egg and tie) art gallery. The gallery is housed within a large Edwardian house, built in 1908 as a retirement home for Scottish born Alexander and Helen Grant. The gallery is well worth a visit, if only to have a look around the house and the interesting sculpture garden. The garden displays works by New Zealand, Zimbabwean and Japanese sculptors, with the Zimbabwean work being our favourite.
On arrival in Oamaru we booked into the very central Top Ten holiday park and then headed into town to get some shopping. Oamaru is a very attractive town with wide streets and a large amount of Victorian era buildings. Our first stop was at the visitor centre, to collect some information about things to do in the surrounding area. Unfortunately while we were in the centre we saw a traffic notice saying that the road heading south to Dunedin (our next destination) was closed due to snow and ice. Enquiring further about the road conditions we were dismayed to learn that many of the southern roads had been closed, our south island tour may have hit a stumbling block! Knowing that there was nothing we could do about the weather we decided on a few things to do while we were in town.
One of the main things we wanted to do was visit the Blue penguin (the smallest breed of penguin) and Yellow Eyed penguin colonies. As according to the visitor centre there had been no sightings of the blue penguins and to see them required us to pay a rather hefty entrance fee, we headed instead to the yellow eyed colony. After waiting in the rain and wind for a while, it became apparent that we were going to be unlucky with the yellow eyes as well. For me at least, the day ended on a high note when we visited ‘The Barrel House’ a whisky maturation store. New Zealand’s whisky is not bad, as I found out during the tour and whisky tasting.
Oamaru is a nice town to spend a few days in, if only to look at the beautiful buildings and have a browse around the very different harbour front shops. Of the shops, ‘Slightly Foxed’ (a second hand bookshop), the wonderfully strange ‘Grainstore Art Gallery’ and the stone masons are well worth a look.

Christchurch to Akaroa:

2007-09-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

As New Zealand is one of the best places in the world to swim with dolphins and as Debs had already swam with Dusky dolphins in Kaikoura, the chance to swim with one of the world’s rarest ‘Hector’s dolphins’ sounded too good a chance to miss. Picking up the campervan at just after 10am we quickly set off on the 1 1/2 hr drive to Akaroa, as we were booked on the 12pm trip. With minutes to spare we arrived at the wharf, found the office and went to check in. Within 20 minutes we were all clad in 5mm thick wetsuits and on board the boat that would hopefully take us to find some dolphins. The Hector’s dolphin is the smallest of the dolphins, measuring only about 1.4m in length and weighing only 105lbs. As they number only around 6500 and tend to stick in small groups of only 2-8 dolphins, finding them can be tricky. Fortunately for us the crew managed to spot some and we were quickly told to get ready to enter the water. Nothing can quite prepare you for getting into the sea with a water temperature of only 9 degrees centigrade, especially when it gets down the neck of your wetsuit! Buoyed on by the experience of being in the water with the dolphins, the cold didn’t seem to matter too much, as we floated towards them hoping to have a closer encounter. All we can say is that they are very fast and very clever, the amount of times we would be looking for them only for there to have been one behind us all the time is quite astounding. Debs managed to get a couple of them to circle round her, but generally we had to be content to be amongst them. After 45 minutes we had to leave the water, as the time is quite strictly managed so as to not have too much impact on these wild creatures. As to whether you could describe the experience as actually swimming with dolphins is up for debate, the water visibility is very poor and so you can only really see them on the surface. However it was still an amazing experience to be in the water with such a rare animal. The acrobatic display by them as we were leaving was just an added bonus, especially as they are not known for there jumping ability.
Returning to the town we had a well deserved hot shower and then set off to find a campsite for the night. Our campervan tour of the south island had got off to a great start!

New Zealand: Christchurch

2007-09-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

On arrival in New Zealand we had, for the first time in four months, the novel experience of feeling cold! Quickly retrieving what few warm clothes we had from our bags, we got on the airport shuttle bus bound for the city centre. Christchurch is the south island’s largest city (large town) with a population of just over 300,000 people. Bearing in mind that the south island’s population is only one million, that is quite large!
On reaching the city centre it is easy to think you have arrived in an English town; the name Christchurch comes from an Oxford college and the river Avon runs through the centre. The fact that everyone speaks English only helps to add to the illusion. Having been prepared for higher accommodation costs by our stay in Singapore, room prices at the New Excelsior hostel didn’t come as too much of a shock. The cost of eating out certainly is a shock though; the days of a meal and a beer for less than a pound are clearly behind us!
Dumping our gear in the room we went to try and find a cheapish warm coat for Debs (for some reason she sent hers home) and to have a look at the city. The city is centred round its cathedral, which would be very attractive, if it wasn’t for the scaffolding (aaaaarrrrgghh!). Giving up with the cathedral we stopped and watched an entertaining street performer in the main square and then continued our stroll. The city is really pleasant but it couldn’t be described as vibrant. Deciding that it was too cold and that we were too tired to carry on looking round, we found Debs a coat and then headed back to the hostel for a sleep.
Having priced up various backpacker bus companies, we decide that the best way to see the island was to hire a campervan. Thinking that there would be no problem in getting one as it is the middle of winter, we asked at reception only to be told that as it is the school holidays we may have trouble. Fortunately there turned out to be no problem and we quickly booked a two berth camper for the next 18 days.

Next: The south island by campervan

Singapore

2007-07-22T01:16:00.000-07:00

Having spent nearly five months in Asia, Singapore was to be our last destination before heading to the more western countries of New Zealand and eventually America. After the more haphazard public transport system of Indonesia, it was great to get on the MRT (Singapore’s underground) straight from the airport and arrive quickly in the city.
First impressions of Singapore is that it is a spotlessly clean city, where people wait for the lights before crossing the road and car drivers actually stop at zebra crossings (a novelty for Asia). It is also considerably more expensive, hostel rooms are western prices, even in hawker centres food isn’t cheap and despite what we had heard, shopping is no cheaper than back home. As Raffles was a bit out of our price range for accommodation, we chose the next best thing, a private room in a hostel in the Malay village’s red light district!

With five days in Singapore before moving on, we headed first to the famous Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. Singapore Zoo is an ‘open zoo’ that uses moats and small walls to keep the animals in, rather than cages. The setup makes for a much more pleasant experience as your view is rarely obstructed and the animals all appear to have plenty of space. Timing our walk round to coincide with the feeding times, we saw, amongst other animals, gibbons, lions, rhinos (including a very sweet baby), otters and finally the very beautiful white tigers. Watching the huge white tigers swim and splash in the water while they jostled to be fed was an amazing sight and a definite highlight.
As the zoo closes for the day, the Night Safari opens to give you the chance, either via walking or using the tram, to see the nocturnal animals. Walking through the fruit bat enclosure was hilarious and seeing a flying squirrel was great. The whole park is beautifully setup; with easy to follow trails and informative signs. Two parts of the park can only be seen from the tram, but to be honest you can see just about everything by walking, plus you have the added bonus of moving at your own pace.

Having had a thoroughly enjoyable but tiring day at the zoo we decided that we would have a bit of quieter day looking around the shops. Heading for Orchard road (Singapore’s Oxford Street) and knowing that the ‘Singapore Sale’ was on, we arrived with the intention of getting some serious retail therapy. It all turned out to be bit of a let down, we quickly realised that there wasn’t much we actually wanted and what was there wasn’t particularly cheap! When you have been used to dirt cheap designer rip offs in places like Thailand, 30% off the real thing doesn’t seem that good a deal.

Giving up on the shopping, we spent the rest of our stay doing some sightseeing. We had an enjoyable time at the bird park; seeing Debs getting mobbed by Lories when she went to feed them was hilarious and the huge aviaries are very impressive (one even holds the world’s highest man made waterfall). Continuing the sightseeing we went to see the famous Merlion (the symbol of Singapore, half mermaid half lion), the old central district and of course Raffles. Raffles is very grand looking and its courtyard shop and restaurant area is beautiful, but rather wonderfully it has the shoddiest gift shop we have yet encountered on our travels.
Deciding that we couldn’t leave without having a night time trip on the river to see the city lights, we headed to Clarke quay. As they were practising for the national day celebrations, part of the river was closed, so we couldn’t go round to see the Merlion from the front. Nevertheless the short ride was very pleasant, but it is not the most illuminated city we have encountered.
All in all Singapore is very nice, but to be perfectly honest Kuala Lumpur is less sanitised, has great shopping, cheaper food, better accommodation for less money and just about everything Singapore has to offer except the zoo. The zoo is nearly enough to make us prefer Singapore though, but not quite!

Next: Christchurch New Zealand

Jogja to Jakarta

2007-07-22T01:13:00.000-07:00

Getting onboard what turned out to be a very comfortable train to Jakarta, we settled down to what was supposed to be an 8 hour journey. Ten hours later, when we were thoroughly bored, we eventually arrived. There had been no announcement of any delay and none of our fellow passengers seemed unduly surprised, so we can only assume it was meant to take that long. With a place to stay already in mind we set off around the national monument knowing it wasn’t far. Stopping to ask for directions from a policeman, we were told that it was further than we thought and we would be better off taking a taxi. Hailing a taxi and being assured he knew where he was going we set off. 9km later for a journey that we thought to be about 1km, it became apparent that he had no idea where he was going! With the meter still ticking away we directed the driver back to roughly the right direction, paid some of the fare and abandoned him. Back at square one, we started walking to the hotel, rather ironically what we had intended to do in the first place. After a long train journey and the stifling heat of the city, we were looking forward to getting to the hotel. When the hotel turned out to have closed down we were not amused and were left with little choice but to go on a hunt for another one. Eventually finding the backpacker area, we found a reasonable hotel, booked a taxi for the morning and collapsed into bed. The whole journey had taken over 13 hours, with hindsight flying looked like a much better option!

Next: Singapore

Yogyakarta

2007-07-22T01:12:00.000-07:00

Yogyakarta (known as Jogja) is Java’s most visited city. As well as being of great cultural interest, it is situated within easy access of two of the islands most famous sites, Borobudur (the world’s largest Buddhist stupa) and Prambanan (the largest Hindu temple complex in Java). Deciding to avoid the noisier, modern end of the city we chose to stay in the quieter southern end, along Prawirotaman Road. Our hotel ‘Duta Guesthouse’ turned out to be a lovely, traditionally furnished hotel with a nice pool to relax by, when we got tired of sightseeing.

With five days in the city before we had to leave for Singapore, we first took a Becak (cycle rickshaw) to the Kraton to see the Palace. Having a completely incomprehensible guide certainly didn’t enhance the experience, but we doubt it made much difference. The palace is unfortunately just not that exciting. Having taken a shorter time looking around than we expected, we continued our tour of the rest of the old city. On the way to the bird market, we stopped to see some puppets being made and then had a look around a Batik gallery (I am pleased to say that we made a purchase in each). As well as birds, mainly pigeons (mahpati in Indonesian) the bird market sells all manner of creatures, including fruit bats, lizards and hamsters. After a brief look around we were taken on a tour of the Tamansari (water palace) by a local guide. When filled with water the palace must have been quite a sight. It was good to be shown around some bits that we wouldn’t have found by ourselves. Unfortunately the main palace has been rebuilt in a rather over restored way, so is something of a disappointment. Deciding that it was too hot to do much more, we made a brief stop at a local market and then returned to the hotel.

The next morning we got up at 4:20am to wait for the bus that would take us to Borobodur for sunrise. As it turned out we didn’t actually get to Borobodur at sunrise and on further reading of the advert it didn’t actually mention that we would. Having to be content with seeing the sunrise from the comfort of a minibus, we eventually arrived at Borobodur to be greeted by an $11 entrance fee. This went some way to explain why the tour was so cheap! Begrudgingly paying the entrance fee and noticing that the Indonesians didn’t seem to be paying at all (it is always nice to know that we are preserving other countries heritages for them!) we went in. The stupa is of quite breathtaking scale and the early morning mist gave it a beautifully silhouetted look. Photo opportunities were a little limited however, due to a film crew and all their gear obscuring the top. To top it all, it appeared to be the filming of a soap opera not a documentary (I bet they didn’t pay either!). Walking around the various levels admiring the many and varied carvings we encountered several headless Buddha statues. The opportunity proved too good to miss, so we had a bit of fun pretending to be Buddha and ordering the film crew from our stupa. Having had a good look around we headed down the steps towards the exit, only to get interviewed by some children on an English language course. We were happy to stop and chat with them, but having to write our details in all of their notebooks became a little tiring. After the interview was over we had to have our photos taken with them. Rather embarrassingly the second group photo was taken into the sun, so putting my sunglasses on, rather strangely I still found myself squinting. It wasn’t until we were halfway to the exit that Debs noticed that one of the lenses from my glasses was missing; heaven knows what kind of plum I am going to look on that photo!
The second half of our tour was to Prambanan temple. On the way we made a brief stop at Mendut temple, which instead of going into, we had a pleasant stroll around the garden of a nearby Buddhist monastery. Having been forewarned of the high entrance fees by our visit to Borobodur, the $10 entrance fee for Prambanan came as no surprise. What was a surprise was that you can’t actually get very close to the temples. Due to an earthquake in May 2006, the main Shiva temple has been deemed unsafe and the only view you can have is from behind a fence. There are further temples in the complex, but transport to these wasn’t included in our tour and several of them are too far away to walk. Prambanan, due to the fencing, is probably not worth the entrance fee, especially as they don’t tell you it is closed until you have paid your ten dollars. However the tour was definitely worthwhile if only for the visit to Borobodur.
On the way back from the tour we got dropped off at the train station so that we could book tickets for our journey to Jakarta. Having read the Rough Guides’ description of Jakarta, we had no real desire to stay there. The plan was to arrive by train in the evening, spend one night and then head to the airport early in the morning to catch our flight to Singapore. When we eventually found the ticket office, booking the tickets was very straightforward and we were soon in a taxi back to the hotel.
Looking for a bit of culture, we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening at the Ramayana Ballet. The ballet was performed in an open air theatre in the Prambanan temple grounds, with the Shiva temple in all its illuminated glory, as a backdrop. The Ramayana ballet tells the story of Rama and the kidnapping of his wife Sinta. We saw the condensed 2 hour tourist friendly version, complete with a hilarious English story board. The full version is performed over four consecutive nights of over 2 hours each and is probably a bit too involved.

Booked through the excellent ‘Via Via’ café, we spent our last day doing a Batik course at Kelik Batik gallery and school. Firstly we chose a design (I chose a gecko and Debs chose an elephant) from a selection of pictures and then using a pencil we had to trace the design onto a piece of white cotton. The next stage, after some practice, was to cover the lines in hot wax using a ‘chanting’; a kind of pen with a reservoir that you fill with hot wax. After the lines were covered, we coloured the different areas by painting them with dye, which was then fixed with acid. Rather laboriously the whole area that we didn’t want re-coloured then had to be covered with paraffin wax. The whole picture was then died black, rinsed and then boiled in water to remove the wax. Our pictures turned out really well and it certainly made us appreciate how much work goes into the amazingly intricate designs available in the gallery. Naturally we couldn’t leave without purchasing a couple of pictures.
With just the evening left we went to Sonobud museum, where they run a nightly puppet show of the Ramayana story. The museum is supposed to be the best place to see this traditional story telling method. All we can say is that it was one of the most incomprehensibly dull things we have ever seen. The puppets barely move, everything is in Indonesian and the synopsis given to us doesn’t seem to tally up with what you are watching. After about an hour we gave it up as a bad job and headed to a restaurant for some dinner. As it was the last night and Jogja is supposedly famous for it, I couldn’t leave without eating King cobra! I had my cobra curried and it was good, but whether I would rush to have it again I am not sure.
We had a really good time in Jogja, with more time maybe we will be back to have a look at the rest of the Island.

Next: Jogja to Jakarta

Back to Senggigi then onward to Yogyakarta

2007-07-22T01:10:00.000-07:00

After the rocking motion and engine noise of the boat, it was really good to have a quiet night in a proper bed. Even the call to prayer didn’t wake us! After breakfast we headed to the Peramatour office to have our flight reservations for the next day confirmed. After several phone calls, where it started to look doubtful, we were confirmed on the flight for the following morning.
Deciding that it would be a good idea to book some accommodation in Yogyakarta, Java before we arrived, we set out to find an internet café. The café that we did eventually find advertised the fastest internet in Lombok. All we can say is that the rest must be truly terrible. With a good deal of patience we eventually managed to book a nice sounding hotel in the Prawirotaman Road (the nice part) area of the city. With the hotel booked and the flights confirmed, we spent the rest of the day having massages (Debs that is), resting and repacking our bags ready for the morning.
Having been told that it would take about 30 minutes to the airport, we arranged a taxi for 6:30am, giving us plenty of time before our flight. In typical fashion the journey only took about 15 minutes, so we ended up with even more time to kill at the tiny Mataram airport. When our friends Brian & Pat had flown from West Timor, they had told us how they had been made to sit on the scales and be weighed before boarding the plane. When the same thing happened to us, it wasn’t quite the shock it might have been, but it was still very strange. Watching Debs slide about on the rollers on the scales was hilarious. How they got an accurate reading is beyond me! Safely weighed and informed that we were 4.5kg over (4.5kg over what?), the check-in staff let us go through. This weighing procedure wasn’t repeated on the other flights we took, so perhaps it is only on the short propeller powered flights.
Flying on a Fokker F50 was quite exciting as we hadn’t been on one before. Our flight carrier ‘Indonesian Air Transport’ didn’t sound too special, but the plane seemed to be brand new and the flight duration of only about 15 minutes didn’t give us a lot of time to be worried. Arriving on time at Denpasar airport, Bali we went to check our bags in for the onward flight to Yogyakarta. As we had arrived at 9:30am, we knew we had a reasonable wait until our flight left at 1pm. We weren’t quite prepared for being told that the flight had been delayed by 3 hours! To be fair to Garuda Air, we were all given a meal voucher for the restaurant, which is more than a lot of airlines would have done. In the end the time went fairly quickly, although we were going slightly stir crazy by the time we came to board. With no further delays we arrived in Yogyakarta airport after about an hour, retrieved our bags and went to meet our lift to the hotel.

Next: Yogyakarta

Peramatour: Flores to Lombok

2007-07-22T01:07:00.000-07:00

Day 4:
Breakfast is served as we approach Rinca Island. The seas between the islands have been considerably calmer than the previous few days, so we arrive at the island at 8:30am. It is nice to see that Rinca Island has a jetty so we don’t have to use the dinghy to get to the island. After the relative disappointment of Komodo Island, we are not sure what to expect from Rinca. We go to meet some rangers who will take us on a walk through the park, although this time their English is better. Starting at the main camp we once again come face to face with several resident Komodos, although this time there is a lot more of them and they appear to be more active. The setting of the camp is also much nicer; in fact from the start, the whole island seems a lot more attractive than Komodo. Following the trail from the camp we are lucky enough to see several dragons on and around the path. The trail takes us through jungle and up into more open savannah like scenery. The vegetation and scenery are stunning as we climb up a hill to get a beautiful view of the island and its surrounding seas. Back at the camp we get to see some smaller dragons and as we head back to the boat we encounter one more sitting on the rocks near the jetty. Although it means longer on the boat, we are already glad that we decided to do the return journey. Rinca has been a definite highlight; apart from the name it is a surprise that Komodo remains the more famous island.
From Rinca Island we sailed to Gili Laba to do some more snorkelling. This time the dinghy wasn’t used as we could jump straight from the boat and swim to the nearby reef. We were told that there was the possibility of seeing stingrays in this area but we weren’t lucky enough to see any. Nevertheless the snorkelling was again excellent, with crystal clear waters and beautiful coral.
The rest of the day was spent sailing towards Moyo Island where we would visit a village and waterfall the next day. The only thing that marred what had been a good day was when a cockroach fell from underneath my bunk and landed on my chest while I was reading my book. A quick inspection later and more were discovered, so evacuating the room while the crew sprayed we eventually ended up with a roach free room. We did hear more complaints of cockroaches elsewhere after the spraying, so they clearly just moved on!

Day 5:
As the weather had been bad during the night, we arrived on Moyo Island a little behind schedule. After breakfast we climbed into the dinghy, this time bound for Labuan Haji village on Moyo Island. As so far we had encountered very few locals, it was really nice to see children playing on the beach and a gathering of the villagers waiting to greet us. Once we were all safely on the island we followed a local guide to a nearby waterfall and swimming area. The waterfall was equipped with a rope swing into the pool below. After a demonstration by Effendi, we are pleased to say that we were the first ones to have a go. The water was refreshingly cool and the rope swing was great fun. Once again, the return trip had started out much better than the outward one.
Returning to the village we waved goodbye to the villagers and got back on the boat heading for Keramat Island. This was to be our final stop before we reached Lombok, so we spent the next hour snorkelling around the tiny island. One of the more curious things we encountered during our snorkelling was a tiny fish that seemed quite happy to sit in our hands and hover directly in front of our masks. Tired from swimming around, we climbed back aboard the boat for the final leg of the tour. Perhaps it was because we knew that we were nearly back, but the last bit seemed to take ages. By the time we had docked, said goodbye to the crew, got our gear loaded on the bus and set off, it was already 9pm and we still had a 2 hour drive to Senggigi. It was with some relief when we finally made it back to Rajah’s Bungalows and collapsed into bed.

We must mention that the Perama boat crew were all great; they tried there best to make sure we were ok at all times. Most of what happened on the outward journey can only really be blamed on the weather. The return journey was for us much better than the outward one and if we were doing it again, we would probably fly to Flores and then take the boat back. The main problem with the trip is that the distance is too far, the boat is probably not big enough and there is no built in allowance for bad weather. One of our fellow passengers wrote a letter of complaint, and received a reply from Mr Perama himself, who rather strangely denied everything and blamed global warming! Quite how global warming overloads a dinghy, hides the life jackets and capsizes a boat, will clearly remain a mystery.
If you see this Dennis, send me a copy of the email and I will publish it.

Next: Back to Senggigi, the onwards to Yogyakarta

Peramatour: Lombok to Flores

2007-06-30T22:45:00.000-07:00

Day 1:
As Rajah’s Bungalows turned out to be quite close to a mosque, there was no chance of oversleeping as we were woken up by the call to prayer. A refreshingly cold wake up shower later and we set off for the Perama office to join the tour. We loaded our gear on the bus and climbed on board for the short trip to Mataram (Lombok’s capital city), where we would pick up some more people and rather confusingly collect what sounded like ‘a nice dessert!’ The nice dessert turned out to be a nice T-shirt, which on seeing, we would rather it had been a nice desert! After about 30 minutes of hanging around the Mataram office we set off again, this time to visit a shopping mall. The purpose of visiting the shopping mall remained a mystery to us all, although I did manage to get an Indonesian sim card for my phone. Our first proper stop was to Masbagik pottery village, where were treated to a demonstration of traditional pottery by one of the local ladies. Apparently barring two men, all of the potters are women and while not from the village, our guide Effendi’s attempt at pottery gave a good demonstration of why this is true.
From the pottery village we made a brief stop to get some Bantal cakes (pillow cakes); a local snack made of rice and banana wrapped in a vine leaf. It is always good to try new things, but we can’t say that we would rush to have Bantal cakes again; it is not that they are horrid, just bland! Our next stop was at Perama docking, to see where the boats were built and to get a better idea of the route we would be taking. From the docking it was a short trip to Labuan Lombok harbour, where we got on board our boat.
Once everyone was on board we were taken to what turned out to be the world’s smallest cabin. We are so glad we had left our big bags behind; anyone claustrophobic would be better off sleeping on deck, or at the very least avoiding the very tight bottom bunk. With everyone’s gear stowed away we were served a cold buffet lunch and set sail for Perama Island (anyone noticing a pattern here?). Perama Island is tiny; you can walk around the outside in about 15 minutes. It is not actually owned by the Perama Company, but they have maintained it and have introduced a coral replanting program, so have been given care of it by the Indonesian government. Unfortunately when we arrived the currents surrounding the island were very strong, so we were only able to do a little snorkelling; nevertheless what we could see was stunning.
Later that evening we enjoyed a BBQ on the beach and we were then treated to a not always tuneful sing-along, led by the crew. It was when they played the company song that things started to take a turn for the strange. The song lyrics, conjured up images of Mr Perama as either a genius bond villain living in an island retreat or as some kind of evangelical figure. The company dance that followed, complete with a carefully choreographed dance routine just added to the strangeness. After a short demonstration, we were all invited to join in the dance, with hilarious results. In the end, the evening was great fun, but it would be better if the dance only lasted for a few verses instead of the overlong ten. Very few of us were still dancing by the end and even some of the crew had dropped out.
At about 9pm the dinghy carried us back to the boat and we all settled in for the night as the boat set sail for Satonda Island.

Day 2:
The plan was to visit a salt water lake on Satonda Island and then get back on the boat for breakfast before heading off to a small village for a visit. The sea had been quite rough during the night and the waves were still quite large as the small dinghy carried us six at a time to the island. Safely on the island we had a short walk to the salt lake and enjoyed a morning swim. It was on the return journey that things started to go wrong. Debs and I were on the first dinghy trip back to the boat and although we got very wet, we made it safely back to the boat and settled down to breakfast. Unfortunately the next group of people had to swim for the boat when the clearly overloaded dinghy started to sink in the rough water. Obviously not expecting the boat to capsize and not wanting to leave their gear unattended on the boat this ended up in a few destroyed cameras, mp3 players, phones etc. The dinghy was recovered, but the engine would not restart, leaving the rest of the passengers stranded on the beach. Using our dry bags, two of the people who made it to the boat on the first trip, swam back with some breakfast for the starving people on the beach. After a lengthy delay the engine finally started and everyone was slowly delivered back to the boat, so we could finally get underway. The sad thing is that the whole thing could have been avoided if they didn’t insist on overloading the boat; life jackets would be nice as well. The worst thing about the incident was that the crew really didn’t seem to have any idea what to do. It was the passengers who got food to the others and in one instance dived in to assist a struggling crew member.
The delay ended any further stops for the day, so the rest of the time was spent travelling towards Komodo in quite rough seas. Good job we had books with us!

Day 3:
Breakfast first today! Today was to be one of the highlights of the trip as we would hopefully get to see Komodo dragons in the wild. Getting to the island involved getting in the dinghy again, but mysteriously this time they only took four people at a time! The dinghy was then joined by a larger boat so we were all safely on the island in double quick time. Having been warned by our guides that we may not see any Komodo dragons, we kept our fingers crossed and went to meet the rangers who would do their best to find some for us. Starting in the main camp area, amazingly, we came face to face with two fully grown Komodo Dragons! Why park rangers feel the need to pretend that you may not see anything, when they know that there will always be at least two near the camp hoping to be fed, is completely beyond us. It doesn’t build up suspense; it just makes you feel cheated. Having seen the dragons asleep in the camp we hoped to see some more on the 5 km walk through the island. The trek set off at a breakneck pace with information given to the closest people only, by an incomprehensible guide. On route we came across some deer and wild boar but as yet no Komodo dragons. The trail eventually led us to a dried up river bed where Komodo Dragons used to be fed for the tourists. We were then informed that they don’t come here anymore, so the reason for going there escapes me, unless you want to read the sign telling you about what you aren’t going to see!
Back at the camp we were lucky enough to see a juvenile dragon running through the trees (while they are young, they resemble the smaller monitor lizards). After a few more photos of the sleeping dragons we got back on the boat headed for Red beach.
Red beach lived up to its name and was indeed red, and the waters surrounding it had some beautiful coral and fish. We spent an hour resting and snorkelling, glad to be off the boat after the epic journey yesterday.
The rough seas had delayed our journey by several hours, so instead of arriving in Flores at around 3:30pm we actually got there at about 7pm. It was time to say goodbye to the people leaving the trip and for those doing the return leg, we were told that we should be back on board by 7:30pm for dinner! With a bit of persuasion the crew agreed to pick us up at 9:00pm and a group of us got in the dinghy to be taken to Labuan Bajo. While we understand that the Perama Company has no permanent mooring in Flores, there has to be somewhere better to drop off their passengers than at the slippery rocked, poorly lit, garbage and cockroach infested bit of land that they use. Feeling completely like smugglers, we set off to find a restaurant in what is clearly not a particularly bustling town. Whether it was just the fact that the food was hot, or that the drinks were cold, the restaurant that we found, produced one of the nicest meals we have had for a while. Feeling better, we met the dinghy and got back on the boat to meet the new passengers who would join us on the return leg. Fortunately we were just in time to see the company dance again!
With no sailing tonight we settled in for the quietest night on the boat yet. Tomorrow was to be our second chance to see Komodo dragons; this time on Rinca Island.

Next: Peramatour, Flores to Lombok

Senggigi, Lombok

2007-06-30T22:43:00.000-07:00

Our journey to Lombok began at 5:30am when we were picked up by the Peramatour bus, bound for the harbour. On arrival at the ferry port, our bags were taken by two people who we presumed to be Peramatour staff, but unfortunately turned out to be opportunistic porters. Debs managed to catch up with her porter and wrestle back her bag back, but mine was too fast. There then followed an altercation near the steps of the ferry, where I refused to pay the ridiculous price that the porters wanted, for a service we didn’t ask for! Following threats, shoving and the eventual acceptance of a small amount of rupiah, we were allowed to board. So far, the ferry was turning out to be a wonderful choice of transport! Four hours of loud, distorted, Indonesian karaoke music later and we arrived in Lombok, or at least we would have if the ferry didn’t have to wait for another hour to dock. By the time we eventually arrived in Senggigi, it was about 4pm and the hunt for somewhere to stay began. We eventually found the very nice Rajah’s Bungalows and checked into a lovely hut with attached outdoor bathroom. As we were off on a five day tour starting the next day, we packed smaller bags and arranged to leave our other luggage with the guesthouse for our return.
From what we saw of Senggigi on our one evening there, it seemed like a very nice little coastal resort. There are plenty of bars and restaurants and more than a few trinket salesmen; again the lack of tourists doesn’t help. We did buy a few cheap necklaces, which unfortunately had the effect of announcing our presence as people with money. A bit of a scramble ensued, but it was quite good-natured and the lads were quite happy to just have a chat. They even managed to get the hint that they should leave when we were trying to eat our dinner!

Next: Peramatour, Lombok to Flores

Bali

2007-06-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Arriving at Bali airport during the early evening, we joined the queues of people at immigration. As is often the case, we managed to join the slowest moving one and after watching Debs breeze through I was quite surprised to have the immigration official beckon me over and ask for money. To tell the truth, he then smiled and laughed afterwards, but in a country that carries the death penalty for drug smuggling, I failed to see the joke. Slightly annoyed and already thinking ‘welcome to Indonesia’, the rest of the security checks went without a hitch.
We had already arranged an airport pickup with the hotel, so the short journey to Kuta beach was pain free, right up to the moment when we were dropped at the wrong hotel! As it turned out, there was a problem with the room at the ‘Green Garden Hotel’, so they had upgraded us free of charge to one of there partner hotels. The ‘Febris’ hotel turned out to be beautiful, with one of the nicest rooms we have stayed in, a very nice pool, spa and massage facilities for Debs and a good restaurant.
After a very comfortable nights sleep, we headed out to have a look at the town and to find the Peramatour office so that we could pay for our Indonesian island tour. After the quiet of Malaysia the amount of touts and stall holders, trying to part us from our cash came as a bit of a shock. The situation certainly wasn’t helped by the lack of tourists staying on the island. From what we heard during our stay, the situation has barely improved since the Bali bombings and the locals feel largely abandoned by the Australian people. Finding the Peramatour office, we paid for our trip and booked the ferry that would take us to Lombok. With the next part of the journey sorted, we stopped for a look around the very modern ‘Discovery Mall’, bought some more very cheap copy DVDs and then went back to the hotel to relax.

During the remainder of our stay in Bali we booked on a one day island tour that took us first to a very entertaining Barong dance show. The show was performed in a beautiful open air theatre, with a small temple as its back drop. From the dance we visited a batik workshop (where we didn’t buy anything), an art gallery (where we did buy something), a silver workshop (yet another purchase) and a wood carving place (where, at the quoted prices we laughed, shook our heads sadly and walked out, pursued by the salesman). The next part of the tour involved a visit to a not very impressive waterfall, an interesting stop at Goa Gajah (elephant cave temple) and then to a Sribatu, a garden where we sampled some very nice tea, coffee and hot chocolate.
After an early start, we were both ready for lunch and it couldn’t have been served in a more pleasant location, overlooking the active volcano Mount Batur. From here we stopped at Sebatu (the spring water temple), before heading to GWK (the home of Bali’s highest statue). GWK (sorry, no idea what it stands for) is a tale of promising more than you can deliver. The original plan was to build an enormous statue, but unfortunately they ran out of money, so it was never finished. Nevertheless, what they did complete gives some idea of the truly staggering scale of the proposed statue.
With the light fading we rushed to Uluwatu, a temple perched high on a cliff top (with more than its fair share of thieving macaques) to watch the sunset on what had been an enjoyable but tiring day.
Apart from relaxing around the pool, we did a bit more shopping and spent a fun afternoon at the entertaining but expensive ‘WaterBom Park’. Before we knew it the week had passed and it was time to say goodbye to Bali and the Febris hotel. Bearing in mind that neither of us had previously shown any interest in coming to Bali, writing it off as the Ibiza of SE Asia, we have had a very nice time. Aside from the touts, who aren’t really worse than at any other holiday resort, the people are really friendly and the island is both interesting and beautiful. We hope that the tourist trade starts to pick up and that there are no further incidents like the ones of 2002, as that truly could spell ‘the end’ for Bali.

Next Senggigi, Lombok

A return to KL

2007-06-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

Arriving back in KL we checked back in to the Haven Guesthouse. Our plan was to stay for another day while Debs got her foot checked out at the hospital and then head to Indonesia. The best laid plans unfortunately always seem to go wrong! Debs foot had swollen quite badly while we had been away, so the doctor decided to try and drain some fluid and then pump the wound full of alcohol to stop any infection. This was agony and she could barely walk afterwards! Naughty Dr. Nandy!! Her foot had not healed as he would have liked, so we were asked to come back the next day.
Unfortunately on our return the next day and with Debs still in pain, we were asked to come back after the weekend, which as it was a public holiday in Malaysia meant Tuesday. Our one day back in KL quickly turned into six days, so we had to try and find things to keep us occupied.
With no real plan for our time in Indonesia, our extended stay became the ideal opportunity to plan the next leg. With slightly less time than we had planned, we decided to miss out Sumatra and head straight for Bali. Over the internet we booked our flights and a nice hotel in Kuta beach. From Bali we would travel to Lombok on the ferry and then take the Peramatour boat to Flores. As our time was limited we decided it would be best to book the return journey on the boat and so in total we would spend five days touring the islands. From Lombok we hope to get to Java and then eventually fly to Singapore on around the 26/06, giving us 4 days before we left for New Zealand.
With the next leg planned we spent the rest of the time going to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3, shopping (again), sending parcels home and viewing the city from the KL tower (the fourth tallest in the world). We would have liked to go to the Petrosains museum, but due to the start of the Malaysian school holidays it was booked solid, so maybe next time. Our opinion of KL hasn’t changed; it is still a really nice city and ‘the Haven’ is still a great guesthouse. Maybe next time we will see it under different circumstances!

Next: We finally make it to Indonesia

Bako national park

2007-06-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

Taking a bus and then a boat from Kuching we arrived at Bako, Sarawak’s oldest national park. The national park has been in existence since 1957 and occupies an area of only 27sq km. Due to its comparatively small size it is probably the best place to see wildlife in Sarawak.
After registering at the park’s main office, we checked into what turned out to be a very large bungalow carefully avoiding any incidents with the resident macaques. The macaques hang around the camp looking for food or anyone stupid enough to leave a door or window open. The park rangers seem to look upon them as a tourist attraction and enormous pain at the same time. As we arrived in good time, and having read that the early evening is a good time to see proboscis monkeys, we set off on a short trek to try and spot some wildlife. The trail that we initially followed rather came to an end as it disappeared into the mangrove forest, so turning around we headed back towards the camp, encountering a beautiful Rofous Backed Kingfisher on the way. It was on our return that we had our first encounter with the proboscis monkeys. Standing as quietly as possible on hearing the crash of vegetation, we caught the odd glimpse and heard the strange honking sound of male proboscis monkeys. After standing and watching for a while it became apparent that we weren’t going to get a better view, so happy with our brief encounter we returned to camp.
While walking on the beach to watch the sunset we bumped into a couple from the longhouse trip who were also staying in the park. Later that evening we joined them for dinner and then organised to go on a short night safari. The night safari started early for Debs when she came face to face with a Bornean bearded pig (Bako’s largest mammal) on the way to our room to get ready! During the safari our guide did his best to point things out, but the animals weren’t really playing along. We did see a large stick insect, several spiders and a rather frightening looking centipede hunting a gecko, but the nocturnal mammals remained elusive. As we headed back to the camp the guide took us to see the fireflies near the harbour and what appears to be the camp’s resident snake, a Wagler’s pit viper. I say ‘resident’, because in the next few days it was always to be found sitting on the same branch, in the same tree near the camp.

The next day we decided that we would attempt the ‘Big Loop’, a circuit made by linking many of the shorter trails. The loop was supposed to take about 7 hours, but we had been informed by several people that they had done it in 5-6 hours, without rushing. Loaded up with as much water as we could carry and some snacks for the journey we set off, our first destination being Tajor waterfall some 3km from the camp. The waterfall is not overly impressive but there is a nice, although somewhat murky, swimming area. However, the large amounts of pitcher plants hanging from the trees on either side of the main trail were far more impressive. Along the course of the trail we saw three different kinds of pitcher plant; Nepenthes Rafflesiana, Nepenthes Gracilis and Nepenthes Ampullaria.
It was from the waterfall that the walk became less fun. The trail started to climb steeply and the temperature and humidity rose dramatically. We would like to say that we enjoyed the remainder of the trail, but partly due to Debs’ foot not being fully recovered and an eventual lack of water, we would be lying. In all honesty there is nothing along the big loop that you can’t see on the other shorter trails (apart from one type of pitcher plant) and unless you are feeling particularly masochistic there is no real point. Incidentally it took us all of the 7 hours to complete with very few stops, so we can only assume that the people we spoke to either ran all the way or missed some off! When we eventually made it back we were too tired and hot to do anything else, so we had an early evening meal and a very early night.

Our third day at Bako was spent at a much more leisurely pace. I had a short trek up to a nearby viewpoint encountering a few, very well camouflaged, lizards along the trail. Debs meanwhile spent most of the day recovering from the excesses of the day before. Later that afternoon we walked to the mangrove forest to try and see some proboscis monkeys. Staying as quiet as possible (something that Asians don’t seem to understand) we were fortunate enough to see several as they came out of the jungle to feed. The monkeys remain very wary of humans and at the slightest noise will disappear. For the main part they stayed just out of camera range and it was more by luck, that we got any pictures at all. It was a great experience seeing these rare creatures in the wild and one that we will never forget.

True to his word, our boatman remembered to pick us up on the last day and ferried us back to the mainland. Our stay at Bako was great; the trails are well marked, the rain forest is beautiful and you have a very real chance of seeing animals. The only slight downers on the experience are that the restaurant while not expensive is terrible; they cook once a day and then expect it to stay hot for the remainder of the time and water is stupidly expensive.
The minibus took us back to Kuching where we got on another bus bound for the airport. Our time in Borneo had come to an end and it was time to return to Kuala Lumpur, before heading onwards to Indonesia.

Next: A return to KL

A return to kuching

2007-06-30T22:35:00.000-07:00

Arriving back in Kuching and checking into Carpenters GH again, it was nice to have a hot shower, a comfy air conditioned room with proper beds and absolutely no cockerels! Following a quick meal in the nearby Chinese restaurant, it was time to return to the guesthouse to try and catch up on some sleep.
Through the guesthouse we had booked on ‘Bumbu’ cookery course for the next day. So after a lazy morning we met up with our instructors and set off for the local market to get supplies for the meal. It is always nice to do a market tour with people who know what everything is; our knowledge is certainly increasing, but we still encounter the odd thing that we are not sure of. With our baskets loaded with supplies we headed to the kitchen to begin our lesson. The meal cooked in the class changes everyday; we would be cooking chicken and potato curry Malaysian style and fern cooked with chilli and shrimp paste (Debs not being a fish lover gave the shrimp paste a miss). For dessert we were having fresh pineapple and a coconut jelly desert that tasted very similar to Blancmange. The class was very entertaining, especially as it took place within a traditional family home. Debs, who is not known for her cooking confidence, got well stuck in, with only one slight moment of panic during the frying stages and the meal we produced was really good. After countless hotels and restaurants it was really nice to be eating a meal that we had prepared ourselves, albeit under the watchful eye of our instructors. Feeling slightly over full, we said goodbye to our hosts and returned to the guesthouse.
Our last full day in Kuching was spent booking accommodation at Bako National Park, return flights to mainland Malaysia and visiting the large Sunday market (for some reason the Sunday market starts on Saturday). We have had a really good time in Kuching, but the promise of rainforest, pitcher plants and rare proboscis monkeys beckons, so our next stop is Bako National Park.

Next: Bako NP

Lalang Longhouse

2007-06-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

Day 1

After an early breakfast we got picked up by our guide and met the rest of our companions on the trip. The first stop of the day was Semenggoh Nature Reserve to hopefully see some orang-utans. The reserve has been rehabilitating orphan orang-utans for the last 20 years and returning them to the wild, so the surrounding jungle now holds a thriving orang-utan population. On the day that we visited we were lucky enough to see a big male swing in from the jungle looking for a free lunch.
After visiting the nature reserve, we made a brief stop in the town of Serian to have a look around the local market and to sample some of the local foods. The meat satay with peanut sauce and rice, topped off with battered bananas was excellent and set us up nicely for the shopping trip to buy food and gifts for our Iban hosts. The gifts consisted of biscuits, hot chocolate mix and crisps that could be shared out amongst the inhabitants of the longhouse. With the shopping safely loaded in our now slightly squashed car, we continued on our way to the Skrang River to meet our Iban guide and transfer to a boat that would takes us to the longhouse. Despite being told repeatedly by our guide that we were now in the dry season and that we would be very unlucky to encounter rain, the heavens opened and the last part of our road journey was through heavy rain.
Arriving at the river we were introduced to Entalai, our host and interpreter for the next 3 days, unloaded the car and waited to get on board the very narrow and unstable looking boat. Mercifully the rain had stopped, but to say that we got slightly wet during the boat journey would be something of an understatement. Due to the lack of rain (it really is the dry season!) the river was very low, so we had to race towards area of shallow water at full speed and then the crew either paddled madly to get us over or had to get out and push. Nevertheless the boat was controlled with amazing skill by the boatmen and we arrived safely but damp at Lalang longhouse.

Iban longhouses were traditionally made of wood, but due to the shortage through commercial logging, many have been rebuilt using concrete. Fortunately (for us at least) Lalang still remains entirely made of wood. The longhouse itself is separated into about twenty apartments (approx 100 people live in Lalang) with the chief and his closest family living in the centre. All of the rooms then lead on to a communal area where people socialise and work. People who stay on the longhouse for longer than a few days are invited to stay in their host’s apartment, but as there were six of us our home was in the communal area (mattresses and mosquito nets provided). One of the surprises that we encountered on entering the house was that there were no children staying, apparently all of them were away at school; the 1-2hr boat journey being too far for them to travel every day.
As the Iban people were the original headhunting tribe of Borneo, it was interesting to see three human skulls hanging outside the chief’s apartment. Entalai informed us that although the chief wouldn’t say whether he had actually taken part in any headhunting himself, the skulls on display were from a much earlier time. The Malaysian government’s line is that headhunting ended many years ago, but Entalai informed us that it only really ended in about the mid 60s with the last of the Asian wars.

Our first meal on the longhouse was eaten in Entalai’s apartment and was accompanied by a tasting session of rice wines. Having already been warned about drinking too much rice wine by our guide we all took it relatively easy, knowing that we had an early morning jungle trek the next day. Finishing dinner and returning to the communal area, we were treated to a traditional dance performed by the residents. The two male dancers seemed relatively keen, but the two women looked like they would rather be anywhere than dancing in front of us! We were then invited to join in the dance. While my whoops and jumps got a smile out of my Iban dance instructor, we couldn’t help but think that the whole thing was put on because they believed that that was what we wanted to see. A brief display of local crafts followed the dancing where I bought a small blowpipe and we both bought some rattan mats. So far the legendary friendliness and hospitality was, other than Entalai, in short supply.
Oh well, early start tomorrow so time for bed!

Day 2
We quickly found out that sleeping late in a Longhouse is impossible. The many cockerels signalled morning at a ridiculous hour and the working day starts soon after. After a breakfast of banana pancakes and fruit we got ready for our jungle trek. First we were shown the pepper plantations (Sarawak is one of the world’s largest pepper exporters) and then, as we climbed higher up the surrounding hills, we passed many rubber trees and wild pineapple plants. As it was a very warm day and the climb was quite steep, it was with some relief when we headed down towards the river.
Following the river for a short distance we arrived at a swimming area, which was also to be our stop for lunch. Entalai and two others quickly had a fire going and set about wrapping fish, chicken, rice and edible ferns in palm leaves and then placing them in bamboo tubes that would be cooked on the fire. I had a go at folding the packets of rice, but it has to be noted that when I handed it to Entalai, he unfolded it and did it again. So far my chances of being welcomed into the tribe look slim! After failing at the rice folding I was given the task of filling all of the stuffed bamboo tubes with water and then handing them to the cook; this I did with great success!
Before too long we were dining on an extremely tasty meal cooked entirely in bamboo, with our plates made of folded leaves and our cutlery and cups from bamboo. They had even brewed tea and coffee in the tubes. The meal was one of the best experiences we have had, and our longhouse trip was definitely looking up! With no dishes to wash, we packed up quickly and followed the river back to the longhouse. The onset of rain put a slight damper on the journey, but by the time we arrived back it had dried up and blue skies were again visible.
The rest of the day was spent swimming in the river eating another very nice meal with Entalai and consuming quite a large amount of rice wine. The inhabitants of the longhouse did appear to be getting more used to our presence and we were able to watch pepper being sorted and dried, rattan mats being weaved and fishing nets being repaired. Obviously a lack of English makes communication difficult, but from the previous nights craft sale we had encountered more than a few people who did speak English reasonably well. Unfortunately those people never seemed to be around when you wanted them or interested in talking, and so many of the inhabitants remained either shy or disinterested in our being there. Perhaps it was too much to expect to be welcomed with open arms. It could be said that if the roles were reversed and six strangers turned up in most western homes they sadly might be sure of a lesser welcome. It is worth saying; however that Lalang longhouse and Entalai have been having visitors stay for over 10 years, so our being there could hardly be described as a shock. Perhaps six people is too many? People have been known to stay for a lot longer, in which case they would stay in the apartments and help the Iban work, therefore integrating more with the people.

Day 3
Another early start and our final day in the longhouse. We certainly will not be missing the cockerels! After breakfast we went another short jungle trek to have a better look at rubber being collected. Debs foot was still sore from our last hospital visit, so decided that she would give the trek a miss. The trek took us through the rubber plantations and up until we reached a viewpoint over the rolling hills of the Sarawak countryside. The climb served a double purpose, as Entalai had come up here to try and get reception on his mobile phone! Having to walk for an hour to be able to make a phone call, recalled the memories of my first mobile phone back home!
Returning to the longhouse we had some fun shooting my mini blowpipe and then having a go with Entalai’s real one. After a final swim in the river it was time to pack our gear, wave goodbye to our hosts and with a certain amount of trepidation get back in the boat for the journey down river. The boat was again piloted with consummate skill and the journey turned out to be something of an anticlimax. It would appear that travelling down river when the water is low is considerably easier than the other way round. Safely back on dry land we waved goodbye to Entalai, got back in the car and set off on the long return journey to Kuching.

We were really glad we stayed on a longhouse and overall the experience has been a good one, which we will always remember. Whether or not the stay should be longer would really be up to the individual; for us it was long enough and while we have no major travel plans, we do have at least some time constraints. What we can definitely say is that we got to stay on a real, living, breathing, working longhouse, which was after all our original hope.

Next: Back to Kuching

Kuching, Sarawak. Borneo

2007-06-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

The second part of our travels around Borneo began in Sarawak (the largest Malaysian state) and its capital city Kuching (Cat in Malay). From first impressions Kuching is much older and more untouched than Sabah’s capital Kota Kinabalu.
From a recommendation from the guys at ‘The Haven’, we booked into a very nice guesthouse on Carpenter Street (the heart of the city’s Chinatown district) called ‘Carpenter Guesthouse’. The guesthouse has a really nice family feel to it and the owners Joseph and Paula were never short of any advice or information.
As we arrived on a Sunday afternoon we weren’t treated to the full city experience, as many of the shops were closed or closing. It must be said that Kuching couldn’t be described as the most vibrant of cities; instead it maintains a friendlier village like atmosphere, somewhat akin to Chiang Mai in Thailand. The old city is centred round the Sarawak River and most of its sights are within easy walking distance of Main Bazaar (the oldest street in the city). The existence of present day Sarawak and indeed Kuching is largely down to the influence of the Brooke family. James Brooke, a young wealthy Englishman, arrived in Sarawak in 1839 and immediately, at the request of the Sultan of Brunei’s uncle, assisted in the putting down of a violent rebellion with the help of his well armed Yacht ‘The Royalist’. As a reward for his service the Sultan made Brooke the Rajah of Sarawak in 1841. His successor and nephew Charles Brooke, while not the adventurer that his uncle was, proved to be an excellent politician and administrator who established a proper system of government and then set about extending his area of control, until it formed the Sarawak of today. On Charles Brooke’s death in 1917, control was handed to his son, Charles Vyner Brooke; he expanded on his father’s good work and in 1941 established a State Council to oversee the passing of new laws, thus bringing the first taste of democracy to Sarawak.

One of our main aims while in Sarawak was to stay in an Iban Longhouse; the Iban people are the original head hunter tribe of Borneo, who are renowned for their warmth and hospitality. Completely by chance, the opportunity arose as we headed down to breakfast on our first morning. We were lucky enough to bump into a guide who was organising the trip for one of our fellow hotel guests. On learning that it would be a small group (6 people) and that we would be going to a proper longhouse (not one set up for tourists), we quickly signed up for a 3 day trip starting the next day.
With the longhouse trip booked we headed out to have a look around the city, starting with the Sarawak museum. The museum was described by the ‘Rough Guide’ as being one of the finest in SE Asia, so we were expecting big things. After chuckling our way round the moth eaten collection of stuffed animals on the first floor it has to be said that it wasn’t looking good! However, the ethnology collection on the first floor more than made up for the shaky start. We found the museum to be both charming and interesting and would recommend a visit to anyone staying in the city; the fact that it is free only helps its appeal. From the museum we visited the aquarium which again had free entry, but did rather come across as a restaurant’s holding tank instead of an actual aquarium. You could practically see people smacking there lips with anticipation as they looked at the fish! From the aquarium we had a brief look at the national monument and then headed toward one of the main shopping streets for some lunch.
Truth be told, the hot weather rather ended our Kuching tour there, as we elected to spend the rest of the day back at the guesthouse sorting our bags and getting ready for our trip to the longhouse.

Next Lalang Longhouse

A return to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

2007-05-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

Arriving back at the guesthouse it was really good to see Debs. While I had been climbing the mountain she had been having a restful time. I managed to drag myself upright long enough to go out for some food, but by about 9pm I was fast asleep.
Waking up early the next morning, feeling refreshed in mind but not in leg, we boarded the minibus bound for Kinabalu Park and Poring Hot springs. After dropping some other people from the minibus off at the start of the climb (it was a nice feeling knowing I didn’t have to climb again) we returned to the park HQ to begin a short nature walk. We paid to have a guide and were pleased that we did as he pointed out many things that we would have missed on our own. During the brief walk we saw the world’s tallest moss, the world’s smallest orchid (Pinhead Orchid), several squirrels and lots of trees that are still to be identified. From the trail we then visited the botanical garden, where we met another guide who showed us several more varieties of orchid and some very small pitcher plants. Unfortunately heavy rain started to fall bringing the tour to an end, so we headed back to the minibus ready to go and get some lunch.
After lunch we got back on the minibus for the 40 minute drive to Poring Hot springs and a jungle canopy walk. By now my legs were aching badly and Debs had been feeling slightly ill all day, so it was with some relief when we finally arrived at the hot springs. The hot springs were established by the Japanese during their occupation and are basically a collection of small thermally heated pools (ideal for weary legs). We spent a very relaxing, if somewhat hot, hour or so soaking in the pool watching the rain fall around us. Unfortunately our intended canopy walk was rather stopped by the heavy rain, so pink skinned and wrinkly toed we once again boarded the minibus for the return journey to Kota Kinabalu and our guesthouse.
As it was the FA cup final we thought it would be good to go to the Stadium sports bar, have a few beers and watch the game. The ‘Stadium’ is owned by the same people who own the guesthouse, so the shuttle bus runs to the door. When we discovered that the match wasn’t on until 10pm and that we were the bars only customers, we decided instead to head back to the hostel. I did see some of the match, but I have to confess to going to bed half way through (I did see the result on the internet the next morning). Debs had already taken the smarter option of missing it altogether, choosing to pack before we left for Sarawak the next morning.

Next Kuching, Sarawak

Climbing Mt Kinabalu, Sabah

2007-05-31T00:26:00.000-07:00

Woke up at about 6:45am, checked I had everything, said morning and then goodbye to a very sleepy Debs and then went through to the lounge to wait for the 7:30am minibus.
Find out I am the only climber as the other people I am sharing the minibus with are going to visit a hot spring. Settle down for a pleasant 2 hour journey to the national park.
Arrive at Kinabalu National Park at around 10:00am via a small market town, where I got my first good view of the mountain (looks very high!).
Meet my guide Wilter and get given my climbing pass. I could have sworn my guide said his name was Walter, so that’s what I called him for the next two days. He, much to my annoyance and prompting, refused to call me anything but Sir!
10:30am get dropped off at the Timpohon gate (1866.4m) to begin the climb. Discover the first 70m is downhill, so we are off to a good start.
Some idiot decided it was a good idea to cut steps into the trail; honestly some of them are nearly 2ft high. 1km in and my thigh muscles are already burning, my guide being a friendly soul has disappeared somewhere to have a chat! I continue unguided.
3.5km (2634m) decided that exercising my legs by walking to the restaurant/bar and my arms by lifting a fork/beer has not been great preparation for mountain climbing! My legs are protesting and I still have 2.5km and about 600m in altitude to gain until I get to the lodge.
About 4.5km in and we make a brief excursion from the main trail to look at some Pitcher plants (very strange looking things). Somewhat strangely my legs have started to feel better, no sign of any altitude problems yet.
The next 1.5km passes without too much incident, but the trail definitely gets rockier and steeper.
After about 4 1/2 hours of hard slog, I arrive at Laban Rata Lodge (3272.2m); my home for the evening. Check into my room (sharing with 3 world champion sleepers from Japan) and have a very welcome shower.
3:30pm fall asleep in the restaurant with all the other climbers while waiting for the evening meal to be served at 5:00pm
5:00pm have a really good although very expensive evening meal (can’t really complain as my stay is all inclusive) and then watch a beautiful sunset from the balcony.
7:00pm say goodnight and head up to my room with the intention of sleeping as we have to be up at 2:30am to begin the summit climb.
9:00pm the heating cuts in and is set to roast! At one point the headboard on my bed is too hot to touch. Wide awake and sweating, I leave the room to cool down in the hall.
Suffering from heat stroke brought on insomnia, I finally switch off the heater (ignoring the sign telling me not to!), on the off chance that I get 1 hours sleep as it is now 1:00am.
1:30am the noise of people getting up ends any chance of sleep, so I get dressed and join them. Am pleased to note that my Japanese room mates have slept like babies, oblivious to my plight.
2:15am a cheerful Wilter arrives to guide me to the summit. Incidentally, he has slept very well!
2:30am stuck in a very slow procession of climbers, as we negotiate the narrow steps on the first part of the climb. I eventually get past with a sudden burst of speed and start to make better progress.
As we get onto the main part of the mountain we have to follow guide ropes and the path opens up and becomes wider. Really starting to suffer from lack of sleep and fitness!
Still no headache from the altitude, but start to feel a bit nauseous as we pass the 7.5km mark (3668m). My progress has started to become very slow, beginning to wonder if I will reach the summit by 5:45am (sunrise).
Through willpower more than strength, I reach the 8.5km point at about 5:00am only to be greeted by a steep climb to the summit of Low’s Peak.
Decide that I can watch the sunrise from here. No reason to exert myself by heading up the last little bit!
Decide that I have to climb that last little bit!
5:20am Arrive at the top of Low’s Peak and jostle for position with everyone else at the very small summit.
True to my guide’s word, the sun does rise at about 5:45am and we are all treated to a truly amazing experience as the whole of Sabah lies before us.
Have a photo session with Wilter, who miraculously appeared beside me. I hadn’t seen him at all for the last hour. We take in the view for a bit longer and then head down.
The descent is more painful than the ascent, but we make good time and arrive back at the lodge for breakfast at 7:30am. Wilter suggests we leave the lodge in 1hr but I persuade him there is no rush and 2 1/2 hrs will be fine.
9:30am feeling better for the rest and food, I gather my belongings, check out of the room and begin my return journey to the Timpohon gate.
I have the company of a very nice Australian couple on the way down so the journey goes relatively quickly. We make a brief stop to see some more Pitcher plants and then continue on our way.
The steps have really started to hurt, with no strength left in my legs every one of them is jarring. I find myself wondering if getting down to the bottom might be a bit of a problem!
I finally pass the 1km mark at 12:40pm and gain a little strength in knowing that I am nearly down.
1:10pm remember I said the first 70m were downhill? Well now it’s bloody uphill!
1:15pm slightly late for my lift back and thoroughly exhausted I find my minibus, which is parked as far away as possible and go to the park office to get my certificate.
Certificate in hand, I say goodbye to Wilter, climb back in the minibus and doze through most of the journey back to the guesthouse.
The climb had been an amazing experience and tougher than I could ever have imagined, but definitely worth it.
The world record for climbing and then descending is 2hrs 36minutes and 59seconds set by Marco de Gasperi during the 2003 Mt Kinabalu Climbathon. If you take longer than 4 1/2 hrs you are automatically disqualified, so that rather leaves me out!

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Borneo

2007-05-31T00:20:00.000-07:00

Deciding to start our trip to Borneo in Sabah, we boarded an Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur bound for Kota Kinabalu (the state capital). The intention was to spend a few days in Sabah while I climbed Mt Kinabalu (at 4095.2m the highest mountain in SE Asia), have a brief look around and then head to the larger state of Sarawak. Having already booked some accommodation, we were met at the airport by our guesthouse staff and taken to ‘Borneo Global Backpackers’ in Kota Kinabalu.
As time was limited and having already heard that booking accommodation for the mountain climb could be a bit hit and miss, I decided to try and book a package climb. While more expensive than doing it myself, it offered me the best chance of being able to climb. As luck would have it, the staff from the guesthouse discovered there had been a cancellation and that I would be able to climb on the 17th May, only 2 days away. With the trip booked we decided to walk into the city centre for a look around and to find something to eat. From first impressions there isn’t very much to Kota Kinabalu, its sights are quite limited and coming from KL the shops are certainly not on the same scale. We did stumble upon a chiropractor who was able to realign Debs’ back and enjoyed a very good meal and cultural show at Sedco Square evening food hall. I can’t personally say I am much of a fan of cultural shows; they all seem a little fake. This one however was quite entertaining and the finale involving one of the dancers jumping between rapidly moving bamboo poles whilst blindfolded was extremely impressive.
The next day we headed into town to have a look around the traditional craft market. Like craft markets everywhere this one was a bit like passing a continuous conveyor belt, where every five stalls the goods repeat themselves. Not finding anything that we wanted to buy, we crossed the road to a nearby shopping mall just in time to miss the onset of torrential rain. Deciding that the change of weather was a good cue to get something to eat, we had a nice lunch in a pleasant coffee shop and then hailed a taxi for the return to the guesthouse. In typical fashion the rain eased just as we got back!
Later that evening we took the guesthouse shuttle bus into town, decided to have dinner in Pizza Hut (seemed like a safe option with my climb starting tomorrow), stocked up on energy giving food and then caught the shuttle bus back for an early night.

Kuala Lumpur

2007-05-24T02:26:00.000-07:00

After a relatively short four hour journey through some beautiful scenery, we arrived in Malaysia’s capital city Kuala Lumpur (affectionately known as KL by the locals). Thanks to the recommendation of a couple from the Cameron Highlands, we checked into the ‘Haven Guesthouse’ on Bukit Bintang (as it turned out, the main shopping street in the city). The guesthouse has not been open long and has been designed in the style of a longhouse (tribal home famous in Sarawak, Borneo) with timber partitioned rooms. Once we had got ourselves comfortable and with the aid of Evan from the guesthouse, we located the nearest hospital and headed out to get Debs foot looked at. The Tung Shin hospital was only about 500m from the guesthouse and so couldn’t have been more convenient. Unfortunately, as it was Saturday the surgeons were all on half day and wouldn’t return until Monday morning, so we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the nearby area. Later that evening we had a look around a couple of the nearby shopping malls, found a restaurant for dinner and then went back to the guesthouse for the night.

With the hospital put on hold until Monday, we got a taxi to take us to the National Monument and Asean Sculpture Park, both of which were pleasant but not worth too much time. Debs did however display a fine command of gymnastic skill, when she commando rolled down the steps to the park, coming to rest some 20ft away from where I last saw her! Slightly more carefully, we walked through the park to the KL Butterfly Park which houses more than 6000 butterflies consisting of 120 different species. The most spectacular of all, was the huge Raja Brooke butterfly (the national butterfly of Malaysia).
From the butterfly park we went to the Orchid and Hibiscus garden (the hibiscus is known locally as Bunga Raya and is the national flower) and then took a taxi to Pasar Seni (central market), passing the huge state mosque along the way. Pasar Seni used to be the city’s wet market and now holds a collection of overpriced tourist craft shops in what is admittedly a very nice 1930’s Art Deco style building. In its defence, we did find some very nice Batik pictures and some equally interesting abstract elephant prints (no prizes for guessing who bought them); it also contains a very good food hall.
With our stomachs full of chicken teppanyaki and our wallets somewhat less full, we continued our tour of the city by visiting the Masjid Jamek (the city’s oldest surviving mosque). The mosque looks very nice from the outside, but when compared to the staggering scale and beauty of the ones we have seen throughout Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, it falls rather short. Debs did get the joy of having to don a shapeless robe again, when we ventured inside for a closer look. Starting to get quite tired, we made a brief journey to Merdeka square, passing a strange pitcher plant fountain on the way. Merdeka square is where the Union Jack was lowered on 31st August 1957 marking Malaysia’s independence and now holds, what is, at 100m high, reputedly the world’s tallest flagpole. It is also where we hailed a taxi and headed back to the relative cool of the Haven Guesthouse.

With the weekend over, it was time to go back to the hospital and get Debs’ foot looked at by a surgeon. The rest of the day went past in a bit of a blur; the surgeon said it was a cyst on the tendon that he would prefer to remove and that he could do it that day! So having seen the surgeon at 10:30am, she was admitted at 1:00pm, operated on at 2:00pm, recuperating by 3:00pm and discharged at 5:30pm minus a lump (she has still got it in a jar though!). Still a bit groggy but able to walk, we headed back to the guesthouse with the instruction to take it easy and return in one week.
We had planned on staying in KL for only a few days and then going to Borneo, but Debs had to take priority so we extended our stay in the city, not that it was any particular hardship. Eugene and Evan from the Haven are great and the guesthouse has a huge selection of DVDs to watch. With so many big shopping malls and good food courts nearby, there was no real difficulty in finding something to keep us, or more correctly me occupied! During the next week we treated ourselves to new bags (Debs’ fourth bag, my second), had a look at the Petronas Towers (both at night and during the day), and visited Petaling Street (a tourist market in Chinatown full of cheap tat and knock off goods).
On my birthday we made a somewhat ill advised trip to the Batu Caves. Debs was not really ready to climb 272 steps, even if there was the promise of monkeys and a Hindu shrine! To be perfectly honest I wouldn’t recommend the trip to anyone, there isn’t much to hold your attention and we got ripped off by a taxi driver on the way back (this time he put the meter on and then proceeded to take the most circuitous route back known to man). Fortunately we made up for it with a really nice meal at the Outback Steakhouse (not very Malaysian, but you have to have steak on your birthday!).
Before we knew it, a week had passed and it was time to go back to the hospital and have Debs foot checked over. The stitches were removed and she had to have it aspirated, but everything else appeared to be ok so there was nothing stopping us from moving on. Heading back to the hostel we sorted out our bags with the intention of leaving the big ones in KL until we returned from Borneo (Air Asia’s 15kg baggage limit is a real pain!). We then went to the nearby Berjaya Times Square Mall to watch Spiderman 3 at the IMAX theatre. Berjaya Times Square is quite a place, as not only does it contain lots of shops and two cinemas, it also has a theme park (Cosmo’s world) within its walls, complete with a looping rollercoaster!

With our time in KL over, it was time to say goodbye to everyone at the Haven and head to the airport bound for Sabah in Borneo, where I hoped to climb Mt Kinabalu (at 4095.2m the highest peak in SE Asia). Kuala Lumpur is a great city and our stay was made even better by Eugene and Evan at the Haven Guesthouse. We can’t recommend the place enough, going so far as to say it is one of the nicest places we have ever stayed.

Next entry: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

A brief return to the Cameron Highlands

2007-05-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

After a long journey from the Perhentian islands, we finally arrived back in Tanah Rata and checked back into our old room at Daniel’s lodge. It was really good to be back; we can’t understate enough how nice it is to find somewhere you feel completely at home when you have been travelling around so much. Dropping our stuff off in the room we headed out to get some food, as it had been a very long time since we had last eaten. Suitably full from a nice meal, we returned to the guesthouse for a few beers and then some much needed sleep.
Aside from the transport links to KL, the main reason for coming back to the Highlands was to take Debs to the hospital. She had spotted a small lump on her foot while in Japan and over the coming weeks it had increased in size, so we thought it best to get it checked out. The hospital turned out to be really nice and Debs quickly got to see a doctor who sent her upstairs for an X-ray. The X-ray department was a bit of an experience as the staff were watching a kind of Malaysian equivalent of Pop Idol and cracking jokes. Debs got her X-ray done in double quick time and it was then duly inspected by everyone on duty. Not sure this was actually hospital policy, perhaps they hadn’t seen an X-ray of a western foot before!
Returning downstairs X-ray in hand, she was once again seen by the doctor who informed her that he believed it was a soft tissue growth. Debs was told that it wasn’t anything to be too concerned about, but that it might get bigger and therefore advised that it be removed. Unfortunately they were unable to do it there, but he wrote Debs a note to give to a doctor in Kuala Lumpur explaining his diagnosis.
Feeling somewhat better about the situation, we headed into town for a late lunch, booked our bus ticket to KL in the morning and then went back to our room for a rest. The rest of the day was spent just hanging out with the other people at the guesthouse, eating an unbelievably spicy Tandoori meal, drinking a few more beers than intended and eventually getting to bed somewhat later than planned (the latter was me only, Debs was sensibly in bed!).
It had been good to see everyone again but Kuala Lumpur beckoned, so slightly hung-over (again, only me!) we boarded the bus and waved goodbye to the Cameron Highlands for the last time?

Next: Kuala Lumpur

The Perhentian Islands

2007-05-20T04:39:00.000-07:00

Moving on from the Cameron highlands, we headed by minibus to the small town of Kuala Besut, on the NE coast of peninsula Malaysia. From there we boarded a boat bound for Perhentian Kecil, the smaller of the two Perhentian Islands. When we booked our tickets to the islands, the advert had said by minibus and fast boat; what they didn’t say was just how fast (the sight of two 200bhp engines was probably a bit of a giveaway). Anyone with a weak stomach would be better off taking the slower option, or at the very least hoping the sea was a little calmer than it was for us. Debs spent most of the journey hanging on like a limpet and trying not to be sick; for my part I quite enjoyed the ride. After about 45 minutes we arrived at D’Lagoon cove, where we had to transfer to a small dinghy as the water was too shallow for the larger boat. Transferring ourselves and our luggage proved to be no mean feat, as the sea was quite rough and we received no real help from either captain!
Arriving safely on the beach we headed up to D’Lagoon resort to check in. We had arranged our accommodation through Gil in the Cameron Highlands and it had come highly recommended as being the best place to snorkel from on the island. Unfortunately we were not greeted with the welcome that we have come to expect from the Malaysian people; to be honest it all seemed like too much trouble. Putting it down to just a bad day, we headed to our beach hut, quickly got changed into our swimming gear and set off to explore the reef. Our introduction to the island may have started badly, but the reef was truly beautiful with a huge variety of fish and coral.
Our first evening on the island started well, when a huge 2 meter long monitor lizard turned up outside the restaurant causing lots of excitement. Nobody was terribly keen to get too close and for the lizard’s part it didn’t seem remotely wary of us. After a photo session we returned to the restaurant to wait for our evening meal, and that’s where we sat for the next two hours foodless. The food did eventually arrive but it wasn’t anything to write home about; the tropical storm that accompanied the food was certainly very dramatic though.

Waking early in the morning on our first full day, we hired some flippers and a life jacket for Debs and headed through a small stretch of jungle to Turtle beach. A notice on the restaurant wall had advertised ‘swim with friendly sharks 7:30am to 9:30am at Turtle Beach’. As we approached the beach we were really surprised to see several baby black tip reef sharks swimming right close to the shore. Quickly putting on our masks, snorkels and flippers we set out to try and get a fish eye view of them. We did get to see lots of fish and I caught the odd glimpse of the sharks as they shot past, but the previous night’s tropical storm had stirred up the water making visibility poor. Nevertheless, we left the beach happy with the intention of returning again tomorrow.
With the sea still quite rough, we did a little bit more snorkelling in D’Lagoon cove spending the rest of the day reading and catching up on journals etc. We returned to Turtle beach later in the evening to watch the sunset and spent a pleasant hour gathering interesting shells and coral. The sunset wasn’t particularly spectacular, but it was very nice to spend some time together on a completely deserted beach.

Setting off even earlier this time, we once again returned to Turtle Beach with the hope of swimming with some sharks. Knowing that previously we had seen most of the sharks near the shore we decided to stay as near to the beach as possible. While floating near some rocks I spotted a small ray swim off into the distance and while attempting to follow it came across about 5 small reef sharks. Quickly calling Debs over, we allowed ourselves to drift over the rocks and were amazed to see at least 20 sharks swimming in a group. We stayed back for a while so as to not frighten them away, but it soon became apparent that they weren’t overly concerned by our presence. Very shortly we were drifting amongst them while they circled us and came right up close to our masks. The whole experience was totally amazing and we both felt really privileged to have been amongst such graceful creatures. We are not overly convinced that we want the same experience with the 2m long fully grown adults though!
With the poor weather still hitting the east coast of the island, we decided that it was time to leave and head back to the mainland. The D’Lagoon staff again outdid themselves, with absolutely no help on how to move on from the island, instead telling us “you have a phone, just ring a travel agent!” After an extended telephone call, handled magnificently by Debs to a non English speaking travel agent, we arranged our escape from the island. The original plan had been to head straight for Kuala Lumpur, but that involved an overnight bus journey that would get us to KL at about 5am which we didn’t want to do. Knowing that transport to Kuala Lumpur was really easy from the Cameron Highlands, and being quite happy to return there, we decided instead to head back to Tanah Rata and Daniel’s Lodge.

By the time it came to get on the fast boat bound for the mainland, the weather had improved so the return journey was not as eventful as the first. We left the Perhentian Islands with mixed feelings; the staff at D’Lagoon were too unfriendly and unhelpful for us to recommend it as anywhere to stay. However, the snorkelling is undoubtedly excellent and if your idea of paradise is a basic beach hut on a very quiet island then it could be exactly what you are looking for.

Next: a brief return to the Cameron Highlands

Cameron Highlands

2007-05-13T02:56:00.000-07:00

After an extremely scenic bus journey from Penang, we arrived at our destination of Tanah Rata; a small town around which nearly all of the trekking routes and tourist attractions are situated in the Cameron highlands. The Cameron highlands were named after William Cameron, a British surveyor employed by the government on a mapping expedition in 1885, who discovered them.
Having already booked some accommodation, we checked into Kang Travellers Lodge (Daniel’s Lodge), unpacked and set off to explore the town. Tanah Rata is really more village than town, with one main street full of restaurants, supermarkets and souvenir shops. So there is absolutely no chance of starving or leaving without, at the very least, a postcard! Most of the buildings and hotels around the area appear to have gone for a kind of ‘Mock Tudor’ look, complete with wooden beams added with no regard to whether they go or not. The look, along with the cooler temperatures (10-25 degrees C) gives the area a slightly British feel.
After a good meal which included scones with strawberries and cream, we returned to the hostel to have a look around. We found Daniel’s to be one of the friendliest places we have ever stayed; our fellow guests were genuinely friendly and all the staff very helpful and knowledgeable. With the promise of a warming camp fire (it is quite amazing how cold it gets at night) we headed up to the ‘Jungle Bar’ for a drink. After the more impersonal hotel based accommodation of Thailand, it was really good to sit around with some fellow travellers and chat about our various experiences. A few beers down the line and it was time for some sleep.
On our previous travels, we have found a few places where we have felt completely comfortable and at home. Nepal/Kathmandu was one of those places and we would definitely add the Cameron Highlands/Tanah Rata to the list. Rarely have we stayed somewhere that actively encourages you to do so little; we used our time to catch up on journals, blogs, reading and sleep.

Deciding that we really ought to do something with our time, we booked on a half day tour to go and see the Rafflesia (world’s biggest flower). The tour started with a trip to an Aborigine village where we had a blowpipe demonstration from the diminutive chief and then all got to have a go. I am pleased to report that both Debs and I were naturals; provided our intended meal was no more than 10m away and quite large we would be welcome on any hunting party! The tour continued with us being fashioned walking sticks from bamboo (these proved to be surprisingly useful on the slippery sections of the trek), leaf hats (these proved to be no use at all) and rattan bracelets (Asian guides seem to be obsessed with making them for us). After about 1 1/2 hours of surprisingly tough walking with some very slippery inclines we arrived at our destination. From the information we received from our guide, we were told that the Rafflesias don’t bloom fully until they are at least a year old and then only for about 5-7 days depending on the weather. Apparently the reported rotting flesh smell as they decay has more to do with animals excreting on them and the chemicals then mixing, than the flowers themselves. I won’t go into too much description of the actual flowers as you can see the photos; suffice to say that it was very big, surprisingly robust and certainly different looking. Following a brief stop to take photos, we followed the trail back to the minibus and set off for Tanah Rata, stopping at Brinchang on the way to visit the excellent night market. The market is on every Friday and Saturday evening and is a great place to stock up on strawberries, fresh fruit and vegetables. It also has great food stalls where you can try any manner of local foods, as well as the western favourites of pizza, burgers & hotdogs for all those not so adventurous!

Our last few days were spent very much the same way as the rest of our time in the Cameron Highlands, doing very little! We were fortunate enough to witness the night blooming of what our guesthouse owner called ‘Lucky Flower’ (real name Night-blooming Cereus). He told us that he had only seen a few bloom in the last two years; the flower blooms once a year at night and then only for about 3 hrs. Aside from that, We did have one more visit to the market in Brinchang and then had to walk the 5km back to Tanah Rata as there were no buses. Fortunately we had the company of Emma, Katherine and Eva (hi girls, hope the travelling is going well), so the walk went quite quickly.
All in all, our time in the Cameron highlands has been great and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend ‘Daniels Lodge’ as a good base. A final special mention has to go to Gil, who made me a great hat, has the sweetest son Mario and has the best tour information in town. Check out his booth in the entrance of Kang’s Restaurant.

Next stop the Perhentian islands.

Penang, Malaysia

2007-05-10T04:05:00.000-07:00

Crossing the border into Malaysia with the minimum of fuss, we continued our journey to the island of Penang. We chose Penang and its’ capital George Town as a good introduction to Malaysia, mainly because of its proximity to Thailand.
Arriving at about 6pm in the Lebuh Chulia (China town) area of George Town, we set about finding some accommodation for the next few days. Our first impression of Malaysian hotels/guesthouses is that they may be reasonably priced, but you certainly don't get the same standard of accommodation as you do in Thailand.
Lebuh Chulia road is wonderfully seedy with dilapidated buildings and prostitutes working many of the hotels (which may explain why some of them are so dreadful). We eventually stumbled upon a new hostel in Love lane (I will leave you to guess why it was given that particular name!) called SD and checked into an air-con room (Malaysia is bloody hot) with shared bathroom for 35RM/night (about £5). SD may not have the character of some of the hotels in the area, but at least it was clean (which is more than can be said for many of the others).

Unaware that Malaysia is one hour ahead of Thailand, we got up not quite as early as planned (!) and set off for a look around the city. We first stopped at the harbour to see the Clan Piers (a collection of houses on stilts housing about 2000 boatmen & fishing families). Then we wandered along the coast to have a brief look at Fort Cornwallis; built on the site where Captain Francis Light first landed and took possession of the island for the East India Company in 1786. On the day we visited, the fort was being used as a venue for a family fun day, which we stopped to look at for a while. The event was being largely compeered in English, which was somewhat unexpected.
Leaving the fort behind we strolled down Beach Street (the main banking area) which holds a large amount of grand old colonial buildings. Rather sadly the old spectre of scaffolding reared its ugly head, completely covering the one building we actually wanted to see! Slightly disappointed we continued our tour down to Armenia Street, where we had a very nice lunch at the Edelweiss Café (a beautifully preserved 19th century shop house with an antique laden interior). As we were starting to get temple withdrawal, we stopped to have a look at the Cheah Kongsi and Khoo Khongsi; the latter reportedly being one of the best examples of Chinese architecture in Southeast Asia. They were both very pleasant, but the feeling of ‘been there done that’ is definitely starting to creep in to our travels.

On another day, we followed the highly recommended ‘Traditional Trades and Food Trail’ getting an insight into the variety of trades brought to the island from other parts of Asia. The tradesmen in general were very friendly, especially the Joss Stick maker, ‘Songkok’ maker (Muslim headgear worn for religious and ceremonial purposes) and Rattan weaver. Special mention along the food trail has to go to the ‘Ais Tingkap’ (window sherbet). The sherbet is a drink that originated in Sri Lanka; it is flavoured with rose essence, fresh coconut and various seeds and herbs which give it the consistency of frogspawn! It is advertised as the being one of the most refreshing drinks ever. While undoubtedly being refreshing, getting past the texture is a little tricky, the taste itself is quite pleasant and the snacks that I ate with it were really good (not to mention cheap).

Moving away from the centre of George Town, we visited Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram (a Thai style temple housing a 33m long gold plated Buddha in the Disney style!), Dharmikarama Burmese temple (if anything even more Disney, complete with colourful statues and a motorised wishing pool!), Penang hill (the islands highest point at 830m above sea level), and lastly reportedly the world’s largest toy museum (more a collection of action figures than lots of toys; interesting for me though, Debs is maybe a bit young!)

In total, we spent four full days in George Town and found it to be a fascinating city with an eclectic mixture of ethnic influences. The whole city is a combination of the old and new, with old crafts still being practised alongside modern industry and huge shopping malls. All of this goes on in a city with a slightly edgy undercurrent that stops you from ever feeling completely comfortable (especially in the dilapidated china town areas). Whether this amounts to a good indication of what to expect in the rest of Malaysia remains to be seen.

Next entry: The Cameron highlands

Ao Nang, Koh Mook and Trang

2007-05-04T01:20:00.000-07:00

With our time coming to an end in Thailand, we travelled to Ao Nang and arrived in the middle of the ‘world’s biggest water fight’ called Songkran (Thai New Year). Songkran is a water and flour festival where the Thai people kit themselves out with water pistols, barrels of water and bags of flour/talcum powder and then set about getting everyone as wet and floury as possible.
Trying to avoid getting our bags too wet, we quickly checked into a nice guesthouse, got changed and set off to join in the watery fun. The purchase of two water pistols later and we were all set for the action. The atmosphere in the town was fantastic; the streets were filled with pick-up trucks laden with people and there were smiley faces everywhere. The whole day was really great fun and we couldn’t have been more wet and floury if we had tried.
On our second day in Ao Nang, we visited nearby Railay beach where a speed climbing competition was being held. The competition turned out to be a bit more low-key than we had expected, but it was still amazing to see just how fast some of the top competitors scaled the cliffs. After watching the climbing for a while, we had a quick swim in the sea and then headed back to Ao Nang.
One of our main reasons for coming to Ao Nang was to go kayaking. We spent the morning paddling through the mangrove forests around Ao Thalene, stopping in a sheltered cove to feed the monkeys and then visiting crocodile cave; which had no crocodile. The whereabouts of the crocodile remained a mystery due to the poor English of our guide; it turned out that he seemed to know every English word except ‘why’. After a long tiring paddle against the current, we arrived back at the jetty for what turned out to be a pretty average lunch. After lunch, we were driven to Emerald pool for a swim and then headed back to Ao Nang. We had a good day, which was made even better by meeting some very nice people; especially two Kiwis, Debi and her son Sam (hope you had a good trip, hopefully see you in New Zealand).

From Ao Nang we had a bit of an epic journey to Koh Mook; it involved standing up in a bus for 2 hrs because it was full (this is what happens when you don’t book ahead). We then failed to find the travel agents we were looking for in Trang, so ended up making our own way to the island; first by ‘tuk tuk’, then a local minibus and finally by boat. It was with some relief when we finally arrived at the island; it was just a shame that I fell over in the sea while leaving the boat, soaking my ipod & wallet (everything still works, fortunately!).
Meeting up with Sarah, we checked into a very basic beach hut and had a quick tour of our part of the island; basically a few small resorts a shop and a couple of restaurants. Tired from the travelling and suffering from a full blown head cold, I settled in for an early night. Meanwhile, Sarah and Debs spent the evening catching up.

The next morning we had planned to visit nearby Morakot (emerald) cave that you can only reach by swimming at low tide. Still feeling dreadful, I gave it a miss and tried to catch up on some sleep. From Debs’ description, the cave visit sounded like it was good fun. They had to swim 80 meters through a pitch black tunnel encountering a sea snake on the way and finally arrived at a beautiful bit of beach. I spent the remainder of the day resting while the girls sunbathed and swam. Later that evening we went to ‘Mookies’, a bar and camp ground ran by an extremely friendly Aussie called Brian. We had a good meal of Pork chop and mashed potatoes (before anyone says that’s not very adventurous, we were getting sick of rice & noodles) and a few cold beers.
It turned out that Brian owned a yacht and he was quite happy to take people out for a small fee, so the next day, with my cold easing slightly, we boarded Brian’s yacht and headed to the nearby island of Ko Kradan. On arrival at the island Brian pointed out a good snorkelling beach and armed with bananas for the fish we set off to see what we could see. The fish feeding was hilarious, within a short amount of time we were absolutely mobbed by hungry fish. At one point I turned around to see if Debs was ok, only to turn back and find a large fish was attempting to make off with the whole banana. Having had a thoroughly entertaining time, we set off to the bar to meet Brian and the others, had a bit of lunch and then boarded the yacht for the journey back to Koh Mook.
As it was Sarah’s final night in Thailand we had a nice meal, more than a few beers and played several silly games with the guys from Mookies. With our time on the island over, it was time to board the boat back to the mainland and then catch the minibus back to Trang. Sarah booked her transport to the airport and we arranged our journey to Malaysia in the morning. After a meal and a quick look around the shops, we said our goodbyes to Sarah and went back to our hotel to settle in for the night.

We have had a really good time in Thailand and feel that this time we have at least done it some justice and have some fantastic memories to take away with us. Next stop Malaysia.

Next blog Georgetown, Penang

Khao Sok National Park

2007-04-28T23:23:00.000-07:00

Leaving Phuket by bus, we arrived in Khao Sok and checked into a nice tree house / stilted hut at Nung house. Looking through the tour brochures over lunch, we decided to book on a 2 day tour of Cheow Lan Lake including a nights stay in a bamboo raft house.
Setting off at 9am the next morning, we met our tour companions Caroline and her two sons Lee & Reece (hi to you all) and a Finnish girl (sorry forgotten your name). After an hours drive we arrived at Cheow Lan Lake ready to board a longtail boat that took us to the raft houses. Cheow Lan Lake was created when the Rajjaphapa dam was built in 1982 and covers an area of 165 sq. km. Due to the mainly limestone Karst topography of the area, the lake and surrounding area resemble Halong bay in Vietnam. Boarding the longtail boat, we sped off across the lake taking in the beautiful landscape where semi submerged trees rise out of the still waters and dense jungle covers every rocky outcrop.
After about an hour we arrived at the raft houses and went to investigate our homes for the next two days. The huts were, to say the least, basic and ours had definite lean (it didn’t appear to be sinking though!). The inside consisted of a mattress, some bedding and a mosquito net (while we understand that a net is supposed to be a series of holes, ours appeared to be more hole than net!). After dropping our stuff off, we quickly changed into our swimming gear and leapt off the hut’s balcony into the lake to cool down. Following a nice swim we had a very good lunch and were told that we would be heading off on a short jungle trek (the duration seemed to range from 1hr to 3hrs, possibly a translation problem). Caroline decided to forgo the trek, choosing instead to relax by the lake, so the rest of us boarded the boat for a short ride and headed into the jungle. The trek was most notable for the ridiculous leaf hats that were made for Lee and Reece by Pom, our guide. Somehow I managed to avoid this, perhaps because I was already wearing a hat, Debs however was fashioned a very nice vine tiara. By the end of the trek we were weighed down with hats, tiaras, a rattan ring, bamboo flute and a leech!
Trek completed we returned to the raft houses where we removed the aforementioned leech from Debs’ foot and then borrowed a canoe to explore the lake. It was really nice to take in the scenery at a more leisurely pace without the noise of an engine. Heading slowly back to the raft houses, we encountered Lee and Reece, who have to be the two worst paddlers we have ever encountered (being towed back to the raft house doesn’t count as getting there first lads!). Arriving back safely we just had time for a short swim before boarding the longtail boat to go wildlife spotting. We were fortunate enough to see an eagle at rest on a tree branch but all the other animals were clearly shy; the landscape reflected in the calm waters gave us some spectacular views though.
By the time we returned to the rafts it was time for dinner, which again turned out to be excellent with some very tasty fresh fish. After dinner we set off on the lake again for a night safari, where we saw a Slow Loris (a small nocturnal marsupial) and several Giant Hornbills sleeping in the trees. With the first day over, we headed off to our hut for the night thoroughly exhausted knowing that we had to be up at 6:30am for a morning safari. Deciding the mosquito net was a waste of time, we covered ourselves in insect repellent and tried to sleep in the sweltering heat (more than once it crossed my mind to run and jump in the lake).

One of the highlights of the trip had to be the ability to wake at 6am, step out of the hut and into the lake for a morning swim as the mist rolled over the surrounding hills. The morning safari gave us the opportunity to see lots of Macaques as they came down to the waters edge and lots of birds, including a beautiful Kingfisher, several eagles and some hornbills in flight. While we realise that to see animals in the wild requires a lot of time and patience, it is always nice to come away from a national park having seen a few. The main event for the day was a trek through the jungle to visit Namtaloo cave. From reading the tour brochure we knew that the cave would take one hour to travel through, including several sections where we would have to swim or wade through an underground river. Anyone with claustrophobia, a fear of bats, insects, spiders and the complete absence of light need not apply. After some initial uncertainty (especially from Debs) we really enjoyed the trip. The cave had some amazing stalactites/stalagmites, lots of freshwater crabs, large spiders and narrow river wading sections (some over 6ft deep where had to hold on to a rope). It was very nice to see daylight at the other end though. As we returned through the jungle, we encountered a lizard, lots of butterflies by the waters edge and Debs was made a rattan bracelet to go with her rattan ring.
When we arrived back it was time for lunch, a quick swim and then back on the boat for the return journey to our guesthouse. Somehow I managed to injure my foot while in the boat, which proved a bit of a problem when trying to get out the other end. I am still not really sure what I have done, but it seems to be getting better. On arrival back at Nung house we waved goodbye to the others and went to check back into our room only to find out it had been invaded by ants. One room change later we headed to the restaurant for some food; that is where we stayed as the heavens opened and we encountered the heaviest rain we have seen so far on the trip. Finally braving the downpour as it eased, we headed back to our room for the night.

The following day we decided to go and have a look at one of the many waterfalls that are housed within the national park. We had a really good trek of a few km, where we saw lots of different lizards and birds. Unfortunately the waterfall was not really more than a trickle and due to the large numbers of leeches in the area we weren’t too keen to swim. Having had a good walk but starting to suffer from the heat we headed back to the guesthouse. The rest of our time in Khao Sok was spent resting, visiting a nearby river where monkeys gather in large numbers on the bank and packing for our journey to Ao Nang in the morning. We had a really good time in Khao Sok and we would recommend it to anyone who is in Thailand, if only for the stunning scenery. The only unfortunate thing about our time there was that we missed the blooming of the Rafflesia (the world’s largest flower) by a day, so we will have to try and see it later in our travels.

Next Ao Nang, Ko Mook and leaving for Malaysia

Back to Bangkok, a visa-run to Cambodia and finally a week in Phuket.

2007-04-26T03:20:00.000-07:00

Arriving back in Bangkok this time by minibus, we checked into the D&D Inn, took our big bags out of storage and sorted some stuff out to post home. The room in the D&D wasn’t quite as we expected as it had no window and an ant problem. Due to us being on a visa run the next day we were unable to change rooms for two days, so had to rather grin and bear it (they did at least get rid of the ants).
Setting off at 8am the next morning, we boarded the bus bound for the Cambodian border and then preceded to spend the next hour driving around Bangkok. Five hours later we finally arrived at the border (via the bus company’s own restaurant) and queued up to leave the country. Thirty minutes later we queued up to re-enter the country (if the Thai govt would just give you a decent extension it would save so much hassle). Five hours later we were back in Bangkok with a brand new 30 day visa. Thoroughly exhausted, we grabbed some food and had an early night.

As Sarah was due to arrive today we got up fairly early, changed rooms (this time we had a window) and headed to Wat Arun (temple of the dawn). The temple is fairly impressive but is definitely better seen from across the river. The guide book implies that you can climb up to a higher level, but that appears to have changed as metal gates bar your progress. Having had a look around we caught the ferry back to Khaosan road and set off to the post office to send a parcel home.
After a busy morning, Debs went to meet Sarah at the airport, while I went for a haircut and generally just hung around. After a few hours Debs arrived back at the hotel with Sarah; we quickly got her checked in and headed up to the roof to have a cooling swim in the pool. After travelling for so long just the two of us, it was quite strange having someone else with us.
With one day left in Bangkok before going to Phuket, the girls had a good time shopping, having facials, massages, etc. Later that afternoon we wandered down to Wat Po (home of a huge reclining Buddha), watching some Thai boxing and kite flying in the park en route. We then had dinner in a small local restaurant and watched the sun set on Wat Arun before catching the ferry back to Khaosan road.

Checking out in good time and with no rush to catch our flight, we had a last look around and headed off to the airport. The problems of flying budget airline ‘Air Asia’ then revealed themselves when we found out we only had a 15kg baggage allowance. What had started out as a cheap flight got slightly more expensive when we had to pay 22kg excess baggage! The rest of the journey went without hitch and we arrived in Phuket relatively unflustered. We had already booked a taxi to take us to the resort and looked forward to getting settled in. The hotel suite was not quite as grand as we had been lead to believe, but it did have a great view and a very nice Jacuzzi on the balcony. We enjoyed a nice meal on the beach that evening and had a few drinks at the very friendly Niki’s Handlebars (a Harley Davidson shop, tattoo studio and bar),

Aside from sunbathing, eating and drinking, we went snorkelling on a dive boat with ‘West Coast Divers’ (Hi Eric). This was really fun as we got to feed the fish bananas (how a fish discovers it likes bananas is surely one of life’s mysteries). The whole day was really good apart from the abundance of jellyfish at the first dive site, which ended up with Debs frightened and Sarah and I stung (they had vinegar on board so no one had to wee on us before you ask!).
The beachside became a glitzy paradise for one evening when the annual Phuket gay pride came to Patong beach. The night was alive with tiny shorts, angel wings, tiaras and kitsch dance music not to mention very cheap buckets of whisky, coke and redbull. When the beachside party ended, the girls carried on with the revellers to a nearby nightclub, where an apparently hilarious cabaret took place.
On another day we hired a jeep and explored a bit of the island. The girls fed an elephant at Bang Pae national park and we visited the Gibbon rehabilitation centre. We then stopped briefly at Wat Phra Thong where the head and shoulders of a half buried gold Buddha reside (supposedly bad luck will befall the people if it is ever dug up). Heading back out towards the coast we stopped at the very nice Nai Thon beach, where we swam and then had a pleasant lunch. Leaving Nai Thon beach behind, we stopped at Kamala beach as the sun was setting before heading back to Patong beach and our hotel.
That evening the girls went for a massage and I got involved in a farewell party for one of the ‘West Coast Divers’ crew. A very drunk Eric offered me an extremely strong whisky and soda with the instructions that all the alcohol had to be finished before we left. By the time the girls found me I was already very drunk. If only I had followed Scott’s (it was good to meet you mate, take care) lead and moved on to beer, I wouldn’t have spent most of the next day feeling like I was dying.
The week went really quickly and it was soon time to leave. Sarah decided to head down the coast rather than follow us to Khao Sok national park, so we arranged to meet up later on. Deciding that we could stand another few days in Phuket we booked into a nearby hotel and spent the time shopping, sending yet another parcel home and booking our bus to Khao Sok.

Next Khao Sok national park

Kanchanaburi

2007-04-26T03:18:00.000-07:00

As we arrived back in Bangkok early in the morning from Chiang Mai, we decided to head off immediately to Kanchanaburi (home of the bridge over the river Kwai). This involved a trip on a local train which we just managed to catch, no thanks to a hopeless taxi driver (if you don’t even know where the train station is you might as well call it a day!). After the air conditioning and sleeper carriage of the previous train, the local ones wooden bench seats and open windows were a bit of a come down, but more fun!
Two very numb bums later, we arrived in Kanchanaburi and set off for ‘Sam’s house’ guesthouse; a nice collection of wooden huts on stilts surrounded by water and lotuses. After catching up on some sleep we headed to KTC travel and restaurant to get some food and book on a tour to the Tiger Temple. As is often the case when you plan an early night, it all goes wrong. Debs sensibly headed back to the guesthouse at a reasonable time, whereas I managed, thanks to the meeting of two Aussies Talbot & Emma, to have a bit of a late one. The evening became a search for an elusive bar that had promised free ‘Ping Pong’. As we started to doubt that Talbot had actually seen the sign, we stumbled across it but found the bar to be closed. Fortunately the very nice bar owner, a Frenchman called Jacque opened up especially for us, averting the disaster of a ping pong free evening. The night rather descended from there, until we were politely asked to leave by Jacque. Talbot then managed to get himself trapped under a concrete table and the rest of the night disappeared into a haze!

After a lazy morning it was time to go to the Tiger temple. From the name of the place we imagined that it would be a temple where monks live surrounded by tame-ish tigers. Tourists can then go and see the tigers and have their photos taken with them. The reality is unfortunately somewhat different. On arrival you are greeted by one monk, no temple and several sleepy/drugged tigers. You are then lead around by a helper who positions you near the tiger while another helper takes photos. After everyone has had their photos taken, the tigers are lead back to their cages for the night. Everyone gets the chance if they want, to take it in turns to lead the last tiger back while more photos are taken (this was made more entertaining by the male tiger spraying while walking along and hitting an Australian girl in the mouth!). The whole thing left us feeling rather cold; the sentiment behind the temple is admirable (all of the tigers have been rescued by the monks) but it just doesn’t really come across while you are there. The situation is likely to change later this year when a new tiger island is due for completion. From the plans it looks like the circus aspect will be thankfully lost.

Our second day in Kanchanaburi was spent on a full day tour. In the morning we headed to Erawan waterfall (a 7-tiered waterfall with numerous swimming areas) and spent a few hours swimming in the pools (if it wasn’t for the numerous fish and insects all trying to take a bite out of us, it would have been even more pleasant). We then headed to a Karen village (one of Thailand’s many tribal people) for an ‘elephant trek’. Having been on an elephant before we don’t really think that a short trip round the village really counts as a trek! We did ride the elephant through the river and Debs got to feed it some bananas, so it wasn’t a total wash out. From the elephant camp we headed out to the river for a short trip on a bamboo raft. This would have been ok if the captain of our raft hadn’t crashed it into another one causing us to nearly sink. Luckily we survived the trip intact and we arrived safely, although somewhat wetter, on the bank. The final part of the tour consisted of a trip along the death railway and a brief stop to see the famous/infamous bridge. The train journey was a pleasant end to the day, but the view of the railway from outside the train is definitely more impressive. The bridge is to be perfectly honest, just a bridge, but the setting and its history make it somewhat more impressive. After taking a few photos and walking across the bridge it was time for the tour to end and us to head back to our guesthouse.

Finding the tours to be not to our liking, we decided to forgo any more and instead just have a look around the area ourselves. We hired two pushbikes and cycled down to the JEATH war museum (an acronym of every countries name that was involved in the building of the railway: Japan, England, Australia, Thailand and Holland). The JEATH is an open air museum set up to recreate a realistic prisoner of war hut. Inside the hut are displayed many photos, POW testimonies (including newspaper cuttings from around the world), and some paintings and drawings done by inmates. The whole museum gives an interesting although somewhat unconventional account of the events that occurred during 1942-1943. Next door to the JEATH, we had a short look around Wat Chaichumphon Chanasongkhram and then headed back on our bikes to the ‘Thailand-Burma Railway Centre’. The railway centre is a very professional and interesting museum that gives an excellent portrayal of the hardships and horrors faced by the POW’s while building the Thailand-Burma railway. Leaving the museum we made a short stop at Donrak war cemetery and then headed back up towards the ‘Kwai Bridge’ for a final look around.
Kanchanaburi had been a pleasant enough place to stay, but it was time to head back to Bangkok, as we had a Visa run to Cambodia planned and Debs’ friend Sarah was due to arrive within the next few days.

Next Bangkok, Cambodia and Phuket.

Life as a mahout by Debs

2007-04-24T05:44:00.000-07:00

Friday 16th – Sunday 18th March 2007

When I saw the three day mahout (elephant trainer) course advertised at Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, I just knew that I would love it and booked myself on the course. I was so excited that I barely slept the night before! Finally the big day had arrived and I was on my way to the conservation centre  I met Kat from Australia, a fellow mahout as we arrived at the centre; it turned out that we were sharing a room which was good. Also on our course were Marly and Chantal from Holland, as well as a Japanese family. We all put on our ‘mahout suits’ and headed to the showground to meet our elephants!

9.00am - My elephant was called Look-Khang; a 15 year old female Asian elephant. She was so beautiful and huge!! I was awe struck by her and couldn’t wait to start our training together. Soon enough, we were completely thrown in at the deep end! Having only just been given the elephant command words list, I hadn’t quite mastered them (!) so I didn’t really follow what my mahout, Kit was saying. Ho hum. Lots of getting on and off via Look-Khang’s right leg = a very long way up and down! We also practised sliding off the front of her head and jumping back on - I made the jump most times! It felt amazing to be a mahout; sitting behind her huge head  I was having an absolute blast!

9.45am - Next, we all plodded down to the river for elephant bathing. Had a hilarious time splashing about and spraying the others using Look-Khang’s trunk!!  It was a bit scary when she put her head right under and I nearly slipped off – my mahout saved me though.

10.00am - After bathing our elephants, we moved to the showground in a long line with the elephants holding the tail of the one in front – cute! We paraded into the showground and the Look-Khang stopped 2nd from the right – she did all this all by herself = a well trained elephant! In turn, the elephants bowed (!) when their name was introduced. Then, we had to show the crowd what we had learnt on our mahout course! Hang on a minute; we only got on our elephants for the first time an hour ago! We had to do various movements including: get off and on from the side; get off from the front; jump on again from the front; instruct our elephants to pick the training stick up, to sit down, to sit on belly and finally to lie down. We did all this with no problems and the crowd seemed impressed  With our part in the show over, we sat back and watched the elephants do their thing with their mahouts. They are amazingly agile animals considering how huge they are, as well as being immensely strong and intelligent. The show demonstrated these skills in various ways including: ‘tightrope’ walking on a narrow log; turning a tap on and off; painting (Look-Khang did an abstract painting!); and pulling large logs then pilling them up using their trunks. All very impressive stuff.

11.00am - We visited a teeny (100kg!) elephant bay that was only 9 days old!! It was very cute. Its mother had tried to attack it at birth so the centre separated them. It is now being nursed by a step mum elephant, as she still had milk. Also, because the King of Thailand is 80 years old this year, he will name the baby elephant! Next we went to the elephant hospital where lots of injured and sick elephants were being cared for. It was interesting to see, though what kind of life to they have? Very difficult to say.

12.00pm - Lunchtime! Great food. Getting on really well with the 3 girls –we make a good team  I am very glad to share this amazing experience with them; the mahout course that is, not lunch!

1.15pm - Back to the bathing area for more fun and frolics in the water. We learnt how to instruct our elephants to suck up water in their trunks and to then allow us to point their trunks wherever we wanted – such a good time and was totally soaked!

1.30pm - Showtime again. Identical to the first show, but as it was extremely hot and I was very tired, it was more difficult to jump on Look-Khang’s head – my mahout had to give me a push!

2.30pm - Time to take our elephants to the jungle for the night. It wasn’t very far to Look-Khang’s place, so she was soon munching on the sugarcane I had carried for her. Night night Look-Khang!

3pm – Checked into our home-stay accommodation – basic but clean. Had a much needed shower and then slept.

7pm – Dinner time; so hungry after an exhausting, but thoroughly enjoyable first day.

8pm – When I saw ‘8pm sleeping time’ on our course schedule, I thought it was ridiculously early. However, I was more tired than I have ever been and was asleep as my head hit the pillow at 8pm!!

Day 2:
6am!! Up and dressed in our mahout suits ready for the day. We went to the jungle to collect our elephants. Morning Look-Khang! She seemed pleased to see me or maybe that was because I had food? I would like to believe the former!! I got on by her right leg and we set off for the stables. I was a bit uncomfortable because all my muscles were screaming in protest! We ambled back to the camp, stopping at various succulent sugarcanes – yum!

7am – We gave Look-Khang a quick hose down; she loved it. She then held the hose in her mouth and drank thirstily – very cute  While this was happening, I was being interviewed for Poland Playboy – I kid you not!

7.30am – Breakfast. We then had free time until our training session.
The schedule on day 2 was the same as on day 1. However, our training sessions and shows were much more productive today, as I had memorised the ‘elephant command’ words, so I was much more involved. I loved it! Elephant bathing remained my favourite activity – got completely soaked but I didn’t care!

Day 3:
6am – Up and dressed ready for the day ahead, but OUCH do I ache?!!

6.30am – Sawadee ka Look-Khang! I gave her the sugarcane I had carried to the jungle – munch munch. I got up onto her neck, while she was eating her breakfast. All this time, a Korean TV crew were filming us! Then, they interviewed me whilst I was sitting up on Look-Khang! May I introduce ‘Debs the mahout’ and her elephant Look-Khang! ;) It is a shame that I will never see the documentary.
8.30am – Matt arrived at the elephant centre!

9am – My last training session and it went really well  Matt seemed impressed by what I was doing. I remembered and used all of the elephant command words!!

9.45am – Down to the bathing pool for the last time – had a blast 

10am – Our last show and we all did our best and really it showed how much we had progressed since day 1. I have definitely improved in confidence and ability since I joined the course.

10.45am – My mahout presented me with my course completion certificate and a tiny elephant controlling stick. I gave Look-Khang lots of hugs on her trunk. It was a very emotional goodbye.

WOW! What an amazing course and seriously one of the best experiences of my life! I felt totally alive and happy  I love elephants and this has only strengthened that love further. The course was wonderful; a life changing experience which I will never forget.
I would recommend the course to anyone – go for it; you will love it!!
Information on Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre at http://www.changthai.com/

Sawadee ka from Thailand!

2007-04-23T03:52:00.000-07:00

After a somewhat long journey from Japan, we finally arrived in Bangkok (via Singapore: don’t ask, flight routing baffles me) and set off from the airport to the ‘New Siam 2’ guesthouse. Fortunately the expressway from the new airport to the city centre is now finished, which certainly makes the journey quicker, not to mention cheaper! If the taxi driver had actually known where our hotel was, it would have been even better. Oh well, welcome back to Bangkok!
Still suffering from the excesses of Japan, we decided to use our time in Bangkok to organise where we were going next and to rest up (possibly the only time you will here someone say, they went to Bangkok for a rest!); not to mention acclimatise (we arrived in Thailand with the temperatures hitting the 40 degree mark). So aside from some shopping (I managed to buy the camera lens that I was after in Japan), some eating and a very little drinking, there isn’t much to tell. Ooops! Nearly forgot, we had new tattoos done (Stuart has won the hawk eye award, as he has already managed to spot mine in the photos).

Fully rested and recuperated, we headed to Khao Yai national park, 120kms east of Bangkok. Staying at the ‘Khao Yai Garden Lodge’ we booked on a one and a half day tour of the park, which included a 3 hour trek through the jungle (fortunately it is a bit cooler here). The tour turned out to be excellent; we had a brilliant guide by the name of Mister ‘A’ who proved to be an amazing wildlife spotter. How he managed to see some of the animals is quite beyond me, with the aid of his spotting scope we were all able to get a close up view of the wildlife (with a compact digital camera you can take a picture through the scope, which has given Debs some photos that she never would have been able to take). During the course of our first day we saw: White Handed Gibbons, several Great Hornbills (including one in flight), a monitor lizard, 15 wild elephants (apparently we were very lucky to see this many together), emerald doves, lots of macaques, a giant squirrel, a snake (can’t remember what kind) and the waterfall where ‘Sprout faced boy’ jumped off in the film ‘The Beach’.
On the second day, we visited a large cave full of wrinkle-lipped bats and then had the amazing experience of watching them all take to the skies in big swarms, while eagles circled overhead waiting to pick any stragglers off. Our guide estimated that at least a million of them leave the cave every evening in search of food and return by morning.

Having had a great time at the national park, we headed back to Bangkok for one day (this time to the old favourite D&D Inn), before leaving the next day by overnight train to Chiang Mai. From Chiang Mai, Debs was heading to Lampang and the ‘Thai Elephant Conservation Centre’ for three days to do her Mahout (elephant handler) course (more about this later in Debs’ life as a mahout blog), while I did the sightseeing bit around the city.
Chiang Mai, for Thailand’s second biggest city remains very laid back and village like. I had an enjoyable few days just wandering around the old city looking at wats (temples), museums and markets; while trying to avoid the many ‘tuk tuk’ drivers who were keen to take me on a sightseeing/shopping trip.

The three days went very quickly and it was soon time to go to the elephant centre, to watch Debs and her elephant take part in a show. On arrival at the camp, Debs was already waiting for me dressed in her mahout suit ready for the mornings’ elephant training. She seemed to have had a really good bunch of people on the course with her and had obviously had an amazing time (the huge grin that she was permanently wearing was a bit of a give away!). It was really good to watch her and the others putting their elephants through their paces, and the elephant bath that followed training was done to the accompaniment of much laughter as they set about getting each other as wet as possible. The show itself was very good and demonstrated the enormous strength, balance and agility of these huge animals (the elephants that is; not the mahouts, they were all tiny!). Debs and her elephant ‘Look-Khang’ even had a star part in the show, when Look-Khang carried and placed a hat on her head! After the show it was time to have a final look around the camp, say goodbye to the elephants and mahouts, buy a picture painted by Debs’ elephant and then board the bus heading back to Chiang Mai.
Later that evening we met Kat (one of Debs’ fellow mahout trainees) for a few beers and had a brief look round a nice outdoor craft market. Due to the trains being full, our planned stay in Chiang Mai, of another two days, got cut short. With only one day left, we used it to have a final look round the town and visit the excellent night market (an absolute must if you find yourself in Chiang Mai, if only for the food hall where we had the best and cheapest meal we have had in Thailand). After a lazy morning trying not to overheat, we boarded the sleeper train back to Bangkok and settled in for the journey. I would love to say that it was a restful journey, but the train was really noisy, slow and swayed a lot, (not helped by being in a carriage full of a loud French tour party, who all seemed to think that a ‘no smoking’ sign didn’t apply to them!) I arrived in Bangkok somewhat bleary eyed! Debs on the other hand, had taken a sleeping pill and had slept comparatively well.

Next: Debs’ life as a mahout blog

A final thanks and farewell

2007-04-08T00:41:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to all those who have made our time in Japan so memorable:

Pippa: thanks for putting us up and showing us around, you are a star! Good luck with the Masters, we will definately be seeing you back in the UK.
Amika: It was great to meet you. We will see you again sometime. Maybe in the UK?
Miwa & Gaku: It was good to see you again, stay in touch. Until next time take care.
Emma & Tomo: You made our trip to Hiroshima a lot of fun. Take care and see you again!
Asami: Thanks for all the organising and making our stay in Kokura memorable. Hopefully we will see you in America later this year.
Abi: Nice to meet you and good luck in Tokyo!
Neil: Shame we didnt get to see more of you. You are a top bloke! Hope the move back to the UK is not too painful!
Koji & Staff at OCM: Top sandwiches!
Noriko & Mother: Hopefully you get your dream to play at the winter olympics. Thanks for a lovely lunch and memorable day!
Rie, Keiko, Nao, Mayumi, Mie, Ryuichi (Oisan), Yuki and Hisako:You all made us feel very welcome, we will definately see you all again. Take care and stay in touch.

Until next time, to you all

Domo arigato gozaimasu!

Kokura, Beppu & back to Kokura.

2007-04-08T00:37:00.000-07:00

After 26 very enjoyable days in Japan, we finally arrived back in Debs’ old home of Kokura at 11:30am. We were met at the train station by Debs’ friend Asami and immediately set off to drop our luggage at the ‘Toyoko Inn’ hotel. Unfortunately we encountered the slight hitch that we couldn’t check in until 4pm! Leaving our luggage at reception, we headed off for some lunch at Debs’ favourite food place OCM ‘Sandwich Factory’ (she frequented the place so much they gave her a T-shirt when she left Japan! Oops apparently it was 2 T-shirts). The staff were all very surprised to see her again, even remembering her old order! After some very nice sandwiches & salad and a brief chat with Koji (OCM’S owner), we continued our tour of Kokura. Sadly, the city’s main landmark Kokura castle was covered in scaffolding (what is it with us and scaffolding? Everywhere we go seems to be covered in the stuff! I had already renamed Beijing’s Forbidden City the ‘Scaffolding; sadly not forbidden, city’!)

From first impressions Kokura seems a very pleasant city with nice shops, (I got to see quite a lot of these bag shopping with Debs & Asami), pleasant parks and some interesting looking modern buildings. It also has an excellent book shop ‘Quest books’ that carries a number of western titles. Happily stocked up in books and bags, we headed back to the hotel to finally check in and rest up until the evening.
Asami had managed to get hold of a lot of Debs’ old friends and arrange a welcome back meal at the Maroon bar. We were joined by Asami, Keiko, Nao, Rie, Abi & Hiro; it was good to finally meet some of the people who I had heard about from Debs. After a pleasant meal Asami, Rie, Nao, Debs and I headed off to Print Club & Karaoke, the others having to go because of work the next day. Having decided that Print Club is really a girl’s thing, I left them to it and had a look around the arcade instead. I tried my hand at an arcade brain training game that looked simple enough; however it turned out that some form of Japanese language ability would be required to navigate the menu system, so I failed miserably. Perhaps that was all part of the brain training!
Rejoining the girls, who had finished doctoring their photos, we headed upstairs to the Karaoke rooms. Karaoke in Japan is a little different from the ‘guy set up in the corner of the pub’ back home. Basically you can hire a private room for a period of time at a fixed price. You can then drink as much as you like during that time. After 2 hours of singing our hearts out and getting steadily more drunk, we called it a night at 2am. Saying goodbye to the others, we headed back to our hotel for some much needed sleep.

Trying to get the most out of our trusty rail passes before they expired, we headed to Fukuoka ‘Hard Rock Café’ with Asami so Debs could have a Veggie burger! The trip was made more memorable by the fact that I spotted an entire car park full of yellow cars (email me & I will explain!). After a nice meal, Debs & Asami showed their talents for playing the drums (Debs claims that Asami practises!) at the nearby Game Centre (arcade), before we headed back to Kokura.

Leaving Kokura behind for a few days we headed to Beppu, where we had booked to stay at a lovely Ryokan (traditional guesthouse). Beppu is famous for its many Onsens (Japanese hot springs) and sand baths. I have to confess to not being certain about being buried in hot sand. The sign on the wall said that we would be filled with energy, ready to face the day ahead. Instead, after being buried, showering and relaxing in the Onsen we both just wanted to go to sleep! Heading back to the Ryokan, Debs arranged to try on a traditional wedding outfit and we booked to use the guesthouses Onsen privately. All in all we had a very relaxing time.

Arriving back in Kokura all rested, we checked back into the Toyoko Inn (this time we didn’t have to wait until 4pm) for the final leg of our stay. Later that evening we met Abi & Neil for drinks at the ‘Beer station’ followed by food at the ‘Baseball Yakatori’.

The next day we were invited to Noriko’s house, where her Mother prepared a lovely meal for us and the members of her Ikebana class (Japanese flower arranging). Noriko is a music teacher and very talented hand bells and piano player. We had a very entertaining afternoon meeting her 2 year old child prodigy student Maria, getting dressed up in Yukatas (summer Kimonos) by her mother for Hina-matsuri (Japanese doll festival or Girls’ day), seeing no flower arranging by her class but hearing a lot of chatter and finally watching a very impressive hand bells demonstration by Noriko.
Later that evening we met Asami & Mayumi for more drinks & food at the ‘Beer Station’ and then finally headed back to the hotel shattered.

With only 2 days left in Japan, we arranged to meet Rie for lunch on Saturday at OCM and Mie, Ryuichi (Oisan), Yuki, Hisako & Noriko for drinks and food at ‘Xelhas’. We had a great evening and again it was good to meet some more of Debs’ students and friends. Our whole time in Kokura has been great but also very tiring. Trying to arrange times to meet everyone and then realising that there is always someone who you manage to miss has given us mixed emotions about leaving. All in all though, it has been an amazing experience and we will definitely be returning.

Until next time from Japan “Ja ne” (See you!)

Hiroshima

2007-03-29T00:57:00.000-07:00

Hi all

After a great time in Kyoto, we made the short trip to Hiroshima by train. On arrival we took the excellent tram service to J-Hoppers Hostel, where we had booked a very nice Japanese room complete with tatami mats and futons.
Still suffering from too many nights out, we gave the sightseeing a miss for the rest of the day, preferring to start fresh tomorrow. J-Hoppers was not up to the standard of K’s House in Kyoto, but was still very pleasant and the people running it seemed very helpful. Plus we could cook again, which makes a change from eating out every night!

Setting out reasonably early the next day (obviously not too early, we didn’t want to tax ourselves!), we headed to the ‘Peace Memorial Park’ following the ‘Promenade of Peace’. Our first stop was the now called ‘A-bomb Dome’, the former old Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. This building was effectively ground zero when the bomb exploded 600m above at 8:15am on 6th August 1945 and has been preserved as a monument to that event. The crumbling remains and still visible steel dome are a strangely beautiful testimony to one of history’s more terrible moments.
From here, we walked through the Peace Park to the ‘Children’s Peace Monument’ where hundreds of thousands of paper cranes are on display. The ‘Paper Cranes’ created by children throughout Japan and the rest of the world, continue a tradition started by Sasaki Sadako. Upon falling ill with leukaemia in 1955 when she was only 12 years old, she started folding them believing that if she reached 1000 she would be cured. She died shortly before reaching her total and as a mark of respect, her classmates completed the task. Since then, paper cranes have been donated continuously and a monument to her was erected.
Following on from here, we passed the ‘Memorial Cenotaph’ which holds a stone coffin bearing the names of all those direct and indirect victims of the A-bomb blast (140,000 and still rising). It is from here that 100s of white doves are released every year on 6th August. Beside the monument sits the ‘Flame of Peace’ that will burn continually until the last nuclear weapon on earth is destroyed. The ‘Peace Memorial Museum’ itself, is an extremely moving and unbiased account of what actually took place and where the world stands when it comes to Nuclear disarmament (Sadly not much further along than it was after the war, just with more powerful weapons). Some of the many interesting objects housed in the museum are, a wristwatch permanently frozen at 8:15am, a clock that shows the number of days since the first dropping of the A-bomb and the days since the last atomic test (currently standing at 22841 and 137 days respectively) and copies of countless telegrams that are written by the Hiroshima government to the offending country every time a nuclear test is carried out.
It would be easy to think that all of the sites add up to a very depressing experience. Whilst they are extremely sobering, there is no attempt to apportion blame; instead Hiroshima stands as a truly beautiful city that has come largely to terms with the events of 1945 and now stands as a testament to the strength of human beings to triumph over adversity.
After a final look around the peace park we headed off on foot towards the ‘Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art’. Where there is as it turns out, a not particularly interesting outdoor sculpture park and a very nice Manga library (if you read Japanese!).
Feeling slightly under whelmed we headed back towards the city centre, stopping to look at the ‘Memorial Cathedral’ on the way to ‘Hiroshima Prefectural Art museum’ and its attached Shukkeien garden (very pleasant and peaceful). The gallery itself while not very big contains Salvador Dali’s ‘Dreams of Venus’ and works by Hirayama Ikuo, although sadly not his ‘Holocaust at Hiroshima’. Unfortunately for us the painting is on 3 month rotation and will be shown later in the year to coincide with the anniversary of the A-bomb drop. The museum brought our sightseeing nicely to a close for the day, so boarding a tram we headed back to the Hostel.
We had arranged to meet Debbie’s old work colleague Emma, later that evening at the ‘The Shack’ (a westerner favourite bar & grill) to catch up and get some food. Deciding that ‘the Shack’ was too busy, having seemingly been taken over by loads of western children we headed off to have Okonomiyaki (a kind of Japanese savoury pancake cooked on a hot plate in front of you. It can then either be eaten straight off the hot plate or served on a plate). The food was very tasty (served Hiroshima style with noodles) and extremely filling, although the addition of fish flakes at an unknown stage in the cooking process did give it a slightly strange tang! Emma, like all of Debs’ friends that we have met in Japan, is lovely and we had a good evening chatting and catching up. We finished up at Kembys, a restaurant and bar managed by Tomo (Emma’s husband) for a few more drinks before arranging to meet again tomorrow.

Not as early as we planned and slightly hung over, we headed out to catch a train and ferry to Miyajima (an island near Hiroshima famous for inventing the rice scoop: indeed it has the world’s largest one!). The main attraction of Miyajima (if you are not a rice scoop fan. Let’s be honest who isn’t?) is its 16m high Tori gate built in 1865 that sits, depending on the tide, either in or out of the water (we had decided to go when it was in the water). Having had a good view of the Tori gate from the ferry we arrived at the dock and headed towards the main temple ‘Itsukushima-jinja’. Ten minutes of hilarity then followed, when Debs decided to feed the islands resident Deer population. Purchasing the appropriate feed from a vendor, she was immediately mobbed by deer all eager to get a tasty treat. I would have helped but I was too busy taking pictures (and laughing!). Fortunately when the food ran out so did the deer as they set off looking for someone else silly enough to feed them (this time a Japanese family and frightened child). The whole thing was like one of those dreadful (yet compelling) Satellite TV programmes called ‘When good animals go bad!’ Leaving the deer behind, we spent a pleasant few hours looking around the main shrine and town. After stopping to gaze in awe at the enormous rice scoop and watching Debs in her element when she found a ‘Hello Kitty’ shop we headed back to Hiroshima.
After a short rest we set out to meet Emma, Paddy and Dan for a curry at the local Indian (not bad! Japanese Indian restaurants aren’t quite up to the standard of British ones but they are certainly a step up from the ones in India!). An interesting point of note in Japan is, that you choose the spiciness of your Indian meal from a scale of 1-50 (quite how 22 differs from 23 I have no idea! Mild, medium, hot, very hot seems much easier!) Well fed from the Valentine’s Day special meal, we headed off to ‘Sumatra Tiger’ where Liam’s (a friend of Emma’s) band was playing. No offence to Liam, but personally I preferred the very impressive Japanese instrumental band (a bit like the Deftones or God Machine minus a singer) who were on before them. Certain members of his band looked like they would rather be elsewhere. Anyway, everyone had a good evening drinking and dancing to the bands and DJ, but when the bar ran out of beer it seemed to be a good time to move on. We finished the night off in an unknown bar, said our farewells to Emma and headed back to the hostel.

Next final entry in Japan: Kokura (Debs’ old home)

Kyoto

2007-03-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

Following a relatively short trip on the Shinkansen, we arrived in Kyoto and checked into K's house hostel. This was to be our home for the next 5 nights and our first dorm room. The hostel turned out to be great, very modern and comfortable. Tired from moving around, we headed out to a convenience store for some food and Debs settled in for an early night. I had planned an early one myself, but thanks to Paul from Norwich (what are the chances?), Hinson (Dave), an Irish Bar and a well found 200yen bar (a 'Good work fella' goes to Paul) those plans were well and truly scuppered!

Anyway enough said about that. On our first full day in Kyoto we headed to the train station to catch a bus to the 'Golden Pavilion' Kinkakuji Temple (very beautiful, real gold coated building) and then headed across the city to the 'Silver Pavilion' Ginkakuji Temple (home of Debs' favourite Zen garden).

As the bus had taken ages we headed back to the hostel for a rest. Then followed another epic night out in a British pub (playing darts and eating Fish & Chips!). This time with Debs, Paul & Dave. Sorry to the people we were sharing a dorm with, but I don't think we made too much noise (apart from Ozzie at the end, they were all pretty miserable anyway!)

Attempting to make an earlier start, we headed to the train station to catch a train to Uji (home of Byodoin Temple, as featured on the back of a 10 yen coin). The temple was stunning with a very good accompanying museum. Having had a good look around, we stopped at a nearby shop so that I could try a 'green tea ice cream'. All I can say is, that it was certainly very green and that given time it would possibly grow on you, but I can't see a big market in the UK.

From here, we took the train to Fushimi Inari shrine (a quite remarkable place, where people have erected 1000's of Tori gates to make tunnels, that weave and climb up a hill). This was certainly one of the more different places we have visited on our travels and we had a good afternoon climbing up the hill between the gates.

That evening, we had arranged to meet Amika (Debs former English student from Oxford) and Miwa (Japanese girl we met travelling in Vietnam last year), who was accompanied by her boyfriend Gaku. We had a great evening catching up with them all and hope to see them again someday.

The next day we headed to Kiyomizu-dera temple and got our first look at some Geishas. The Kimonos that they were wearing were really quite beautiful, although the shoes look somewhat treacherous especially when encountering steps (see the photos). The people of Kyoto are trying to get Kiyomizu-dera temple voted for as one of the 'new wonders of the world'. It is certainly very impressive, but it may well fall a little short of that particular title! Having drank from the holy waters, we headed off to Kenninji temple to hopefully see more Geishas. There were no Geishas, but we did get to see what turned out to be one of my favourite temples. A peaceful collection of buildings, Zen gardens and a fantastic Dragon painted ceiling (picture of a dragon, not painted by a dragon!). Suffering at the hands of Kyoto's lack of a subway that actually goes anywhere and the traffic affecting the bus, we failed to get anywhere else. Instead we went to the supermarket for supplies and headed back to the hostel to cook tea and have a restful evening (this time it actually happened!).

Our final day was spent going to Ryoan-ji. This houses Japan's most famous Zen garden, consisting of 15 rocks of varying sizes set in 5 groups in such a way, that wherever you stand one rock is always concealed. Very mysterious. People come from all over to try and make sense of its meaning. Leaving here none the wiser, but quite relaxed we headed to To-ji (Japan's tallest Pagoda) to have a look at the monthly flea market. Here you can buy anything from cherry blossom trees, cheap chinese tat, religious objects, antique Kimonos and beautiful paintings. It was certainly all quite a mix, I even ended up buying some Japanese chopping knives off a very persuasive stall holder.

Escaping the crowds we boarded a bus to Gion (Kyoto's entertainment district, traditionally associated with tea houses and Geisha), where we had a brief look around Yasaka-jinja shrine, a quick coffee in Starbucks and then went to Hanamikoji-dori to try and spot some more Geisha. Hanamikoji-dori is supposedly the best place to see Geisha as they head to their appointments in the nearby tea houses. We were lucky enough to see 2, which is apparently pretty good nowadays.

Having arranged to meet Amika again, we headed back to the train station leaving the Geishas to their business. We had another very pleasant evening in a nearby Izakaya, before heading back to our hostel for our last night in Kyoto. Maybe we will see you again in England next time Amika?

Just a quick afterthought as I haven't mentioned Kyoto train station. It is a very peculiar somewhat controversial structure, full of walkways and strange angled walls. Standing on an escalator watching dozens more ascending towards the roof ahead of you, is a very strange experience. I absolutely loved it, but it may not be to everyones taste. Either way, it is certainly a talking point.

Next Hiroshima & Kokura

Sapporo Snow Festival & back to Tokyo

2007-02-13T03:45:00.000-08:00

Would you believe it, you wait for ages for an updated Blog & then 2 come along in quick succession!

Having waved goodbye to Pippa, we headed to the train station to catch the Shinkansen to Sapporo. Timing our train departure so that we encountered the Tokyo rush hour laden down with big bags, was certainly not our finest piece of planning. It was however an experience we won't forget in a hurry. Fortunately when we got to the Shinkansen section of Tokyo station things calmed down a little! This was my first experience of a truly fast and efficient train service. The countryside rockets by and the trains leave and arrive at the times they are supposed to. They are also extremely clean and the seats rotate so you just turn them around when the train heads in the opposite direction!

10 hours and 3 trains later, we arrived at our destination and headed for our hotel. Having read that there had been concern about the lack of snow this year, it was quite amazing to see more snow than we had in our lives. England would have totally ground to a halt!

After a pleasant sleep in a nice hotel room, with free wireless Internet (This has certainly helped with the update of the Blog) we headed out to see the sculptures. I will not go into too much description here, as there really are too many to describe. To say that some of them were quite staggering in scale, is something of an understatement. The sculpture called 'The Antarctic' took 3000 people, 1 month to create! Fortunately we have managed to get some photos up so give them a look.

The snow festival attracts people from all over the world, so you would think that they would produce at least one programme in English. Alas though, this is Japan and they seem to work a little differently. Trying to find out what was happening and where, was a little hit and miss to say the least. We did manage to catch the qualifying for the freestyle Snow boarding (really quite dull) and several bizarre Song & Dance numbers.

As we had planned to be at the festival for the closing ceremony, I would like to tell you that it was amazing, but if it actually happened, we didn't see it! Most people seemed to just pack up and go home. In their defence though, it was the coldest day and it had been snowing hard all day.

Away from the Festival, we found Sapporo to be a very pleasant city. Unlike many other Japanese cities, navigation is simple! The whole place is built on a grid network and everything was within walking distance of our hotel. We had a good time looking around the super heated Shopping Malls, stocking up on the latest J-POP and marvelling at the sheer amount of Anime(comic books) available.

If we got tired of the shopping, or cold from the snow there was always a nice warm Bar/Izakaya available to have a rest in. The meal we had at the Sapporo Bier Garten deserves special mention. You basically order a plate of meat & vegetables and then cook it on a kind of griddle that is mounted in the table. You then wash this down with plenty of big beers!

For anyone wondering what happens to the sculptures after the snow festival ends, they had already moved diggers & excavators in to dismantle them by the morning. Clearly they don't want them hanging around for ages making the place look untidy!

We had originally planned to go to Dewansan-zen to climb a volcano. However, we had a change of heart and instead returned to Tokyo to spend a few more days looking around. Using a hostel in Asakusa as our base, we headed back to Akihabara so I could have a longer look at all the gadgets. This ended up with Debs buying herself a Nintendo DS lite (So much fun that 1 day later I bought one as well, and have been losing against her at Mario minigames ever since: she is frighteningly good!). Being as it was Valentine's day we had a meal at a nearby Izakaya and rather a lot of beers.

The next day we headed back to Harajuku to have another look around Takeshita street. As it was a weekday, the shops were generally quieter than on our last visit, so we were able to have a better look around. Debs bought herself a new bag and I managed to find some 'Nightmare before Christmas' Chopsticks! The whole Jack Skellington thing has become a bit of an obsession with me, since I have been in Japan. I am also quite keen on Doraemon (a blue robot cat) key fob & phone charm characters. They have different ones relating to where you are in Japan. Debs on the other hand has gone the Hello Kitty route (We even managed to find one of Hello Kitty wearing the 'Harajuku girls' Gothic clothing).

From Harajuku, we headed back to Shibuya for another quick look around before heading back to the hostel for a rest. As we were back in Tokyo again, it would have been rude not to get in touch with Pippa. So we arranged to meet her for food & drinks. It was just a shame she was still hungover from the night before! Still, we had a good evening dining in an Italian restaurant and having a few drinks in a Sumo Bar. Tired from work and lack of sleep, Pippa headed home and we went on to the hostel's bar for a night cap or two. This was probably not the best idea that we have ever had, as we had planned to go to Hakone early the next day to try and see Mt Fuji. We did still go, just not quite as early as we had planned.

Hakone is a really pleasant area of national parkland about 90km from Tokyo and one of the best places to see Mt Fuji. On the day we chose to visit, we were fortunate enough to have a really good view of the 'Shy mountain'.

Starting from Odawara we took the train to Gora, where we got on the Sounzan cable car (really a funicular railway) to Sounzan. From here we transferred to the Hakone ropeway (really a cable car). Unfortunately we couldn't travel all the way along the cable car due to maintenance work. We did however get a great view of Mt Fuji, although a slightly smelly one as we passed over a sulphur mine. Still suffering from the beer the night before, I declined the offer to eat an egg cooked in sulphur! Arriving in Owakudani we took the shuttle bus to Togendai. Here we boarded a sightseeing boat for the 20min cruise through Lake Ashi to Hakonemachi. We then had a pleasant stroll through a several hundred year old, Cedar tree lined walkway. These trees were planted along the old Tokaido street as protection against the elements during the start of the Edo period (1618).

With the light starting to fade, we stopped for a last look at Mt Fuji across Lake Ashi and then caught the bus back to Hakone Yumoto station. A short train ride back to Odawara and the Shinkansen was waiting to whisk us back to Tokyo. Never having been much of a train spotter, I have to say that the speed of the trains through the stations is quite staggering, especially as you get no warning of one approaching. Arriving back in Tokyo, it was time to pack ready for the journey to Kyoto in the morning.

Next blog Kyoto and beyond

Tokyo & Beyond

2007-02-09T22:52:00.000-08:00

Hi all

We made it to Japan OK, with no delays & managed to negotiate our way to Pippa's place in Minawi Kashiwa (Chiba prefecture, just outside Tokyo) . We then had a relatively quiet day sleeping, until Pippa got home at about 8:30pm. Possibly a bit Jet lagged! In fact the only real thing of note was that i had an automated toilet door incident, when i couldn't actually get the door closed and the light on at the same time.

Much to Pippa's amusement, we set about going to Shinjuku on our first day. Have to confess, i had not done much research, beyond knowing that it was a good place to buy a camera lens (On this i failed miserably). Shinjuku Train station is the Worlds Busiest & has 60 exits! The fact that we managed to come out of the right one was somewhat miraculous. Having failed on the Camera lens, we headed to the Metropolitan Govt building, for a panoramic view of the city from the 45Th floor observation deck. Having never really been to anywhere truly high rise, this was quite exciting for me (sad???). Unfortunately due to smog and cloud we weren't blessed with a view of Mt Fuji. From here we visited Kumanu Shrine, for a little bit of peace in the city.

Back at the station we struggled to find street level, paying several visits to a bus stop with no exit, then again miraculously finding the right train line! (see above 'WORLDS BUSIEST STATION!!!!').

Still suffering from the time difference (A plus point of overlanding, you don't notice the time difference!) we headed back to Pippa's for a sleep until 8pm, when we had arranged to meet her for a drink at the Hub bar in Kashiwa. From here we went to an Izakaya restaurant (Sort of Japanese Tapas), until 1am when we caught the last train back to Minawi Kashiwa.

Friday was spent going to 'Disney Sea' resort ( a water and world themed Disneyland). We had lot of laughs, but the park was very much aimed at a younger audience. The funniest thing about going to Disney in Japan however, is just how obsessed with it they are. It was a rare sight to spot anyone Japanese not wearing a stupid Disney themed hat or mouse ears. They continued this practice away from the park as well!!

Pippa managed to wangle some time off work, so we spent the rest of our time in Tokyo with our own tour guide. This is especially handy when you are trying to negotiate the Tokyo subway system.

Starting in Ueno we visited the market in Ameyoko plaza, then headed for Asakusa and the Sensoji temple (the largest in Tokyo). Where i received a very good fortune! Pippa's meanwhile was dreadful and Debs just didn't like hers. So they both tied them to the nearest shrine to banish the bad luck. Next we went to Akihabara 'Electric City'. If you cant get an electrical item or gadget here you cant get it anywhere ( except you cant because the shops all appear to be sold out!). The shops in this part of the city obviously know their target audience to be mainly young men, as you are bombarded by gadgets, Anime & porn!!!

Planning a long night of Karaoke & Beer we headed back for a rest. The Karaoke didn't happen this time, but i did get to see England return to winning ways and beat Scotland convincingly in the Rugby.

Being as it was Sunday, there is only one thing to do in Tokyo and that is to go to Harajuku and see the Gothic 'Harajuku girls' and watch the bands play around Yoyogi park. This is something that i have wanted to see for ages & it certainly lived up to my expectations. The girls outfits are out of this world, Meiji Jingu temple is a beautiful bit of peace in a busy city & the performers in and around the park are amazing. Plus points have to be the dancing Rock 'n' rollers, drummers in the park, a crazy dancing artist and Gabez (a group of Samurai dancers). Will get some photos up so you can have some idea. We finished off a great day by going to Shibuya, home of the worlds busiest pedestrian crossing (heaven knows how it works, but it does!) and enormous video screens playing j-pop videos.

Seeking a somewhat quieter day, we travelled to Nikko 128km north of Tokyo, to visit the Tosho-gu shrine complex (Home of the original "hear no evil, See no evil, speak no evil" monkey carving). The shrine itself is a stunningly elaborate building, covered in carvings, with heavy use of colour. This is unique in Japan as temples & shrines are generally very restrained affairs . Quite tired from walking around the site we had an excellent meal in Hippari Dako (Many thanks, to our friendly host. Anyone visiting can spot our trip card stuck to the ceiling), before heading back to Tokyo.

If you read this Pippa, do you know how many yellow cars there are in Sapporo? We are covered in bruises!

Many thanks for letting us stay Pippa! We had a great time. Hope we didn't put you out too much. Will see you in England soon?

Next entry 'Sapporo snow festival'

Plans for the next trip

2007-01-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

Hi all

Well it's not long until we set off on the next leg of our trip. Our round the world tickets have been booked and Debs has been busy planning. For my part I have been doing very little, adopting the more laid back and vague approach to travelling. All of this has been much to Debs annoyance!
Anyway the plan so far, is as follows. We leave for Japan on the 30th January, spending about a week in Tokyo. Taking up Debs friend Pippa's kind offer of somewhere to stay. We then head to Sapporo, just in time to visit the worlds largest 'Snow Festival'. From here we head to Dewa-sanzan Volcano (which we hope to climb) and then Mt Fuji (which we wont be climbing!). Next is Kyoto for a few days, including a trip to Nara. Then we head to Hiroshima and finally Kokura to see Debs friends and old work colleagues.
From Japan we then fly to Bangkok via Singapore (don't ask!) and then spend the next 4 months travelling back to Singapore. No real plans here, but hope to get to Brunei, maybe Myanmar and several of the Indonesian islands.
We leave Singapore on the 1st of July, heading for New Zealand where we will spend the next month travelling from Christchurch to Auckand.
From New Zealand we go to Tonga for a week and then Samoa for 2 weeks, possibly taking in Fiji while we are there.
Finally we land in Los Angeles for the last leg of our trip. We plan to take in some of the west coast, before heading to the East coast and hopefully visiting some of Debs relatives. If all goes well, we will be in Hawaii for Debs 30th Birthday before flying home from Orlando on 10th October.