We've had a lovely morning (if not a bit scary at times) in the Cameron Highlands. We started off by going to the highest point in the Highlands. It was freezing up there, pretty wet and very misty which unfortunately meant we couldn't see the view of the highlands. We then went for a trek through the jungle, the mist made it all very spooky and we were just waiting for a snake to jump out on us. It was raining too, so it was really muddy and we were so dirty by the end of it! Our guide was really good, he even taught us how to survive if we got lost in the jungle and how to make our own medicine. We're sorted now, we could go and live in the jungle if we wanted to! We survived the jungle with no bites or stings or snake sitings (thank goodness).
After wards, we went to see the tea plantations. There were mountains and mountains of tea plants, it was really pretty. We now know everything there is to know about tea. Give us a tea plant and we will gladly make you a cup of the finest brew this side of Asia!
We also visited the strawberry farm and a butterfly farm. The butterfly farm had lots of weird, scary, ugly looking insects and snakes. Nikki was very brave and even held some of them!!! I stood from a distance and took photos. The guide had scorpions crawling all over him at one point, thank goodness Nikki didn't go that far. Nikki had a lovely time watching the huge butterflies fly about in the butterfly section, whilst i freaked out after 2minutes and went to the pretty flower garden instead.
Well, we've certainly overdosed on tea whilst we've been in the Cameron Highlands. We're off to the Pehentian Islands tomorrow morning to soak up some more sun!
xxx
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Cameron Highlands
We woke up at 3.30 this morning to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur. We were flying with Air Asia a budget airline, so weren't expecting any frills or anything. We were only allowed 15kg baggage allowance which caused a great deal if stress for everyone because they were all over the allowance and the airline were being very strict! This delayed the checking in process by what seemed like three days. Finally, we checked in and made our way to immigration to find that we had to pay $150HK airport tax each. How annoying! Luckily, we had just about enough money left. We got through immigration and tried to find somewhere to buy some sort of fluids but no where in the whole airport was open. Finally, we found a little cafe selling water for five times the usual amount. I know they bump up the prices in the airport, but five times more is a little extreme. So, after paying the airport tax we couldn't afford a drink. Dying of thirst we finally got on the no frills plane, which of course had no food or drink. In fact, it didn't even have a blanket so we spent three hours freezing and to make it worse Laura was sick the whole journey.
We finally made it to Kuala Lumpur and decided that since we've already been there that we would head straight to the Cameron Highlights, four hours north of Kuala Lumpur. Its a small town high up in the mountains. A bit like Asia's version of the Lake District but on the top of a mountain, surrounded by jungle. It has lots of tea plantations and strawberry farms so there are quaint little tea houses everywhere. We spent the afternoon looking around the town and treated ourselves to afternoon tea (mmm, cream scones and a nice cup of tea...very english). We are staying in a lovely hostel, with hot water!!! It's raining here and pretty misty but it all adds to the eiree effect (and makes us really feel like we are back in England).
We have booked ourselves on a tour tomorrow to the tea plantations, strawberry farm, a butterfly farm, a mountain hike to the highest point on the highlands and a jungle trek. We're very worried about the jungle trek as our guide told us that when he was in the jungle today he saw a water snake, a black snake, had leeches sucking his blood and he got stung by a scorpion. Very scary!!!
Wish us luck. Hopefully we'll be able to update you tomorrow if we haven't been eaten or poisoned.
xxx
We finally made it to Kuala Lumpur and decided that since we've already been there that we would head straight to the Cameron Highlights, four hours north of Kuala Lumpur. Its a small town high up in the mountains. A bit like Asia's version of the Lake District but on the top of a mountain, surrounded by jungle. It has lots of tea plantations and strawberry farms so there are quaint little tea houses everywhere. We spent the afternoon looking around the town and treated ourselves to afternoon tea (mmm, cream scones and a nice cup of tea...very english). We are staying in a lovely hostel, with hot water!!! It's raining here and pretty misty but it all adds to the eiree effect (and makes us really feel like we are back in England).
We have booked ourselves on a tour tomorrow to the tea plantations, strawberry farm, a butterfly farm, a mountain hike to the highest point on the highlands and a jungle trek. We're very worried about the jungle trek as our guide told us that when he was in the jungle today he saw a water snake, a black snake, had leeches sucking his blood and he got stung by a scorpion. Very scary!!!
Wish us luck. Hopefully we'll be able to update you tomorrow if we haven't been eaten or poisoned.
xxx
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Just the two of us...
Andy left us yesterday morning to head back to England. We were very sad to see him leave, we had a great time whilst he was here and a fantastic last few days of luxury (Thankyou Andy!) 
We are now back to our old traveler lifestyle of crappy hostels, cold showers and boiled rice for every meal. We are back in the Diana house hostel were we have stayed three times now (they just love us there!) We had a lovely surprise in the shower when we returned from the pool today. A huge cockroach about the size of my hand crawling around. Nikki was very brave and stamped on it then tried to wash it down the plug but because it was so big it wouldnt go down the plug and it would die despite Nikki's efforts to squash it! Oh the fun and joy of travelling!
We only have one more day before we leave for Kuala Lumpur where hopefully we wont have to hear anymore "missy buy this, that and the other", no more arrak attack, the local Indonesian spirit that we have completely overdoesed on, and no more Bob Marley.
Until Malaysia... Goodbye xx
We are now back to our old traveler lifestyle of crappy hostels, cold showers and boiled rice for every meal. We are back in the Diana house hostel were we have stayed three times now (they just love us there!) We had a lovely surprise in the shower when we returned from the pool today. A huge cockroach about the size of my hand crawling around. Nikki was very brave and stamped on it then tried to wash it down the plug but because it was so big it wouldnt go down the plug and it would die despite Nikki's efforts to squash it! Oh the fun and joy of travelling!We only have one more day before we leave for Kuala Lumpur where hopefully we wont have to hear anymore "missy buy this, that and the other", no more arrak attack, the local Indonesian spirit that we have completely overdoesed on, and no more Bob Marley.
Until Malaysia... Goodbye xx
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Magic mushroom island
We've had a busy week travelling about! We left Sanur to go tot the gili islands last Saturday. We miraculously survived the journey via two dodgy minibuses, a 5hour ferry ride on a boat worse than the lamma ferry and a teeny tiny boat ride/raft over huge waves to get to the island of magic mushrooms. When we arrived it was 8pm and surprisingly all the hostels were fully booked. We spent two hours begging them to find us a room and finally we found one that can only be described as a complete and utter shithole! The three of us squashed into the dirty, damp room which they were charging four times the usual amount due to 'high season'. We spent one night there before moving to another expensive hostel that was only slightly better than the other one (except there weren't stains and damp everywhere which was a bonus!) Despite the horrible hostels we still had a great time there. It was pretty lively with lots of tourists and backpackers and a nice chilled out atmosphere. The locals were all crazy due to an overload of magic mushrooms but they kept us entertained. The beach was beautiful with crystal clear sea and there were lots of pool bars that we could chill out in and top up our tan. Lots of the bars had little huts with tv's and dvd players so we could have a break from the sun and educate Nikki with some classic gangsta films! We hired bikes for an afternoon, which was an experience nad a half seeing as we havent ridden a bike for years. We set out to explore Gili Trawagan, only to find there wasnt anything else on the island except for beach huts and bars. Unfortunately due to the ridiculously expensive hostels, we had to cut our time on the Gili islands short and head to the island Lombok after 4days.
We arrived in Senggigi on Wednesday, a small, very quiet town in Lombok. Although it was high season (so everywhere charged ten times the usual amount for everything) there weren't too many tourists there and there wasn't much going on. So, on Thursday we decided to go on a little adventure to find the waterfalls of Lombok. This turned out to be a bigger adventure than we expected! We hired a guide and set off on our jungle trek to the waterfalls. The first waterfall was easy to get to. It was so beautiful and absolutely huge. We found it so hard to stand up under it due to the force, but it was a damn good massage!!!
The second waterfall was a bit trickier to get to. We had to trek through the jungle, climb over rocks, over high, dodgy bridges and wade through fast flowing rivers and rapids!(which is were I lost my shoe!) Finally we made it to the waterfall which was amazing. There was a natuaral pool under it that was deep enough to swim in although pretty difficult as the waterfall was so forceful that it created a strong current in the pool making it pretty hard to swim. We had lots of fun playing about in the water attempting to get under the waterfall. The guide took us around the back of the waterfall under a cave, it was so noisy and because of the spray from the waterfall we couldnt even open our eyes. We had a fantastic time there, a little piece of paradise! After lots of playing about in the water Nikki decided to get out of the pool. Andy and I were just about to have a romantic moment under the waterfall when a great big metre long snake jumped on my back (and I am not exaggerating when I say great big metre long!) Andy tried his best to play the part of Steve Irwin but actually just looked at me in disbelief whilst i screamed and swam away whilst trying to beat the snake off my shoulder! We swam to the side of the pool in olympic record time then watched the snake climb up the rocks, and it was huge!!!! Luckily I escaped with no bites but almost peed my pants! Scary stuff! On the way back the guide decided to take us another adventure through 'the tunnels'. Teeny tiny, pitch black tunnels filled with water (imagine the Vietnam tunnels ontop of a fast flowing river) Andy was loving the little adventure whilst Nikki and I held on to each other for dear life, screaming everytime we felt something touch us in case it was a snake or a deadly spider! Despite the snake incident and being scared to death in 'the tunnels', it was an amazing day and I would recommend anyone going to Lombok to go for the day.
We left Lombok yesterday and returned to Kuta. As much as Nikki and I disliked it first time round, it is so much cheaper for everything and we thought Andy deserved to see a bit of Bali nightlife (magaluff style). As it's Andy's last two nights he has treated the three of us to a very nice hotel. Nikki and I were very excited about the hot shower, towels, bed sheets and tv, a little bit of luxury for us!! We are spending the next couple of days chilling by our OWN pool. Thats right, we dont have to lie and pretend we are staying in some fancy hotel to use other peoples pools, we have our own now.
We fly to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, so will update you then.
xxxx
We arrived in Senggigi on Wednesday, a small, very quiet town in Lombok. Although it was high season (so everywhere charged ten times the usual amount for everything) there weren't too many tourists there and there wasn't much going on. So, on Thursday we decided to go on a little adventure to find the waterfalls of Lombok. This turned out to be a bigger adventure than we expected! We hired a guide and set off on our jungle trek to the waterfalls. The first waterfall was easy to get to. It was so beautiful and absolutely huge. We found it so hard to stand up under it due to the force, but it was a damn good massage!!!
The second waterfall was a bit trickier to get to. We had to trek through the jungle, climb over rocks, over high, dodgy bridges and wade through fast flowing rivers and rapids!(which is were I lost my shoe!) Finally we made it to the waterfall which was amazing. There was a natuaral pool under it that was deep enough to swim in although pretty difficult as the waterfall was so forceful that it created a strong current in the pool making it pretty hard to swim. We had lots of fun playing about in the water attempting to get under the waterfall. The guide took us around the back of the waterfall under a cave, it was so noisy and because of the spray from the waterfall we couldnt even open our eyes. We had a fantastic time there, a little piece of paradise! After lots of playing about in the water Nikki decided to get out of the pool. Andy and I were just about to have a romantic moment under the waterfall when a great big metre long snake jumped on my back (and I am not exaggerating when I say great big metre long!) Andy tried his best to play the part of Steve Irwin but actually just looked at me in disbelief whilst i screamed and swam away whilst trying to beat the snake off my shoulder! We swam to the side of the pool in olympic record time then watched the snake climb up the rocks, and it was huge!!!! Luckily I escaped with no bites but almost peed my pants! Scary stuff! On the way back the guide decided to take us another adventure through 'the tunnels'. Teeny tiny, pitch black tunnels filled with water (imagine the Vietnam tunnels ontop of a fast flowing river) Andy was loving the little adventure whilst Nikki and I held on to each other for dear life, screaming everytime we felt something touch us in case it was a snake or a deadly spider! Despite the snake incident and being scared to death in 'the tunnels', it was an amazing day and I would recommend anyone going to Lombok to go for the day.
We left Lombok yesterday and returned to Kuta. As much as Nikki and I disliked it first time round, it is so much cheaper for everything and we thought Andy deserved to see a bit of Bali nightlife (magaluff style). As it's Andy's last two nights he has treated the three of us to a very nice hotel. Nikki and I were very excited about the hot shower, towels, bed sheets and tv, a little bit of luxury for us!! We are spending the next couple of days chilling by our OWN pool. Thats right, we dont have to lie and pretend we are staying in some fancy hotel to use other peoples pools, we have our own now.
We fly to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, so will update you then.
xxxx
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Sanur
We left the peaceful world of Ubud on Tuesday to go back to the beach in Sanur. It turns out that Ubud wasn't that peaceful during the night. If it wasn't dogs yapping, the roasters were having a competition to make the loudest noise and the gecko in the bathroom was the noisiest of them all!!! Between that and the random monkeys that were wondering the street, we felt like we were in a wild life park!
So, we are back on the beach and in the world of "Missy, Missy, you need manicure, pedicure, massage, sarong, I plait your hair..?" Not quite as peaceful! But, we've been soaking up the sun and continued to take advantage of the fancy hotels' facilities (whilst we sleep in crappy hostels). It's pretty quiet here at night, with the only form of nightlife being the local reggae band, we are so getting into Bob Marley now!!
It's a bit more expensive here so, Nikki and I can only afford to eat at Circle K (Asia's version of Spar), but we're enjoying the picnics on the beach!Except instead of the crappy curried fish ball section that they have in Hong Kong Circle K, they have a hamburger and hot dog section in the Circle K's over here! (much better!)
Andy arrives in Bali tomorrow and then we are off to the Gili islands early on Saturday morning. They don't have good internet access there. In fact, they don't even have the police, transport and thank god, no dogs!!
Speak to you all soon xxx
So, we are back on the beach and in the world of "Missy, Missy, you need manicure, pedicure, massage, sarong, I plait your hair..?" Not quite as peaceful! But, we've been soaking up the sun and continued to take advantage of the fancy hotels' facilities (whilst we sleep in crappy hostels). It's pretty quiet here at night, with the only form of nightlife being the local reggae band, we are so getting into Bob Marley now!!
It's a bit more expensive here so, Nikki and I can only afford to eat at Circle K (Asia's version of Spar), but we're enjoying the picnics on the beach!Except instead of the crappy curried fish ball section that they have in Hong Kong Circle K, they have a hamburger and hot dog section in the Circle K's over here! (much better!)
Andy arrives in Bali tomorrow and then we are off to the Gili islands early on Saturday morning. They don't have good internet access there. In fact, they don't even have the police, transport and thank god, no dogs!!
Speak to you all soon xxx
Monday, August 11, 2008
From Kuta to Ubud
As you could tell, Nikki and I weren't big fans of Kuta, we hadn't had much luck there. Although it was fun sunbathing by other people's fancy pools we came to the conclusion that Kuta is like Magaluff but boring. It's geared towards everyone having a wild holiday but the atmosphere is flat, there isn't much going on and everyone keeps to their own group and basically doesnt want to speak to anyone else (I think its the lack of British people as it seemed like we were the only English people in the whole place). So Adam and Miranda convinced us to pack our bags and move to Ubud, a little town in central Bali.
When we arrived in Ubud it was raining and we couldn't find a hostel, so we weren't in the best of moods! But, after a wonder around we realised that we really like it here. It's a quiet, hippy town packed full of shops selling handmade jewelry, old books and musical instruments (I had to stop Nikki from buying a digereedoo!) there's a million and one art galleries, health spas and cafes. All the buildings are very beautiful. The hostels look like temples from the outside and have very pretty gardens and swimming pools. It's a great place to chill, read a book, write our postcards and detox a bit before all the partying starts. Nikki isn't really loving all the spiritual healing centres but I'm really getting into it...I'll be a full blown hippy before you know it!
We're planning on staying here for another couple of nights then heading to Sanur, another beachy place 30minutes away.
We're going to work on finding inner peace now...
When we arrived in Ubud it was raining and we couldn't find a hostel, so we weren't in the best of moods! But, after a wonder around we realised that we really like it here. It's a quiet, hippy town packed full of shops selling handmade jewelry, old books and musical instruments (I had to stop Nikki from buying a digereedoo!) there's a million and one art galleries, health spas and cafes. All the buildings are very beautiful. The hostels look like temples from the outside and have very pretty gardens and swimming pools. It's a great place to chill, read a book, write our postcards and detox a bit before all the partying starts. Nikki isn't really loving all the spiritual healing centres but I'm really getting into it...I'll be a full blown hippy before you know it!
We're planning on staying here for another couple of nights then heading to Sanur, another beachy place 30minutes away.
We're going to work on finding inner peace now...
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Meeting Adam and Miranda
We had a lovely day yesterday when we met up with Adam and Marinda. We went over to their beautiful resort where we drank cocktails in the pool and chilled on their beautiful beach. They let us completely take over their bedroom using their hot shower, hairdryer (I felt like I hadn't seenone of those in months!), watched their TV and read all Mirandas magazines on their balcony. They took us out for a nice western dinner (no rice or noodles in sight!) and drinks by the beach. It was so great to have a day of luxury, thank you both very much!!!
We know we cant afford nice hotels with nice pools and nice bars so we've decided to just sneak into the nice hotels and use their nice pools and nice bars for free! And thats exactly what we did today!
Tonight we are meeting Adam and Miranda's friends who are staying at a fancy private villa on one of the beaches, it looks gorgeous. We are going round their for drinks first before the six of us head out a big night in Kuta.
xx
Oh, and there was an earthquake on Thursday morning in Sumatra which is what Nikki and I felt when the room was shaking and the electricity went off.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Bromo, busride and Bali!
So after another bus ride, we arrived in a small village near Mt Bromo and managed to nick someone else's room! We only paid for an economy room with a shared bathroom but instead we got put in a very posh room with its own bathroom (which was a novelty for us). We could hear some pure bugger complaining that they had to stay in our shit room whilst paying more money! Get in!
We had to wake up at 3.30 to start climbing Volcano Bromo at 4am! We again didn't get much sleep because it was bloody freezing (we had to sleep in our leggings and everything. The bus took us so far then we had to walk 4km and 353 steps to the top just in time to see the sunrise. It was cold, dark (we were not clever enough to take a tourch!) and in the middle of a desert. We were knackered but it was cool. We didn't have the bus on the way back to had to walk the whole 7k back to the hotel. We are still aching now!
After some free breakfast we had another 8hr bus ride to Bali. We were on a massive coach that was so full people had to sit on stools in the isle (luckily we got a proper seat) not nice. We arrived in Denapsar where we shared a taxi to the middle of town. The place where the other girls were staying wad to expensive for us so we decided to walk to the cheaper places. What a mistake! It was a bloody long walk with our 16kg backpacks and it seemed like we were not getting anywhere. We finally got to a smaller place with some cheap hostels. All the hostels in Indonesia seem to be down small dark alleyways which are not fun at 11pm. We were unlucky with all the places down the alley we chose so we were walking back up it, only to be chased by three scary looking dogs. They had us up against the wall whilst we pissed our pants! I remembered (from my other bad dog experience in Thailand with JT) if you bark back at them they get scared(that boy has some useful knowledge sometimes). This worked only for us to be confronted by two more even scarier looking dogs at the other end of the ally. At this point our pants were almost wet so we did the one thing you really shouldn't do and RAN as fast as we could and jumped into a taxi. The taxi took us to Kuta which is full of backpackers (even if it is a little like Blackpool with more sun!) Karma came back at us for stealing the nice room in Bromo and we could not find anywhere to stay and the people would not let is stay in their lobby for the night like the friendly people in Thailand did. By this time is was midnight and we were severly pissed off so we had no choice but to pay for an overpriced fancy arse hotel.
We took full advantage of the air con, hot shower, free shampoo, soap and toilet roll! We were having a lovely nights sleep which was ruined by a huge bang closely followed by the entire room shaking and a loss of electricity!
Anyway, after our dramatic night we spent the day chilling at the hotel pool (we were taking full advantage of everything at this place!!) and went to the beach, which is not unlike the beach at Magaluff!And we found a cheaper hostel which is very nice...if you dont mind a cockroach or two.
Whilst on our way home we from the beach we stopped at circle K to get a drink and a packet of crisps, only to find that a packet of Doritos cost $150HK!!! That cant be right, we thought, so we went to the exchange place to check the rate, to find that we had in fact spent the past week accidently multiplying everything by 3. So when we thought that we had spent $50HK on a plate of boiled rice, turns out it was only $15HK. So we can now afford to eat more that one bowl of rice a day, what a bonus!!!
Now that we've worked out that everything is actually cheap, we are going to make the most of the cheap beers...
xxx Sorry for the lack of photos, the internet is crap here! xx
We had to wake up at 3.30 to start climbing Volcano Bromo at 4am! We again didn't get much sleep because it was bloody freezing (we had to sleep in our leggings and everything. The bus took us so far then we had to walk 4km and 353 steps to the top just in time to see the sunrise. It was cold, dark (we were not clever enough to take a tourch!) and in the middle of a desert. We were knackered but it was cool. We didn't have the bus on the way back to had to walk the whole 7k back to the hotel. We are still aching now!
After some free breakfast we had another 8hr bus ride to Bali. We were on a massive coach that was so full people had to sit on stools in the isle (luckily we got a proper seat) not nice. We arrived in Denapsar where we shared a taxi to the middle of town. The place where the other girls were staying wad to expensive for us so we decided to walk to the cheaper places. What a mistake! It was a bloody long walk with our 16kg backpacks and it seemed like we were not getting anywhere. We finally got to a smaller place with some cheap hostels. All the hostels in Indonesia seem to be down small dark alleyways which are not fun at 11pm. We were unlucky with all the places down the alley we chose so we were walking back up it, only to be chased by three scary looking dogs. They had us up against the wall whilst we pissed our pants! I remembered (from my other bad dog experience in Thailand with JT) if you bark back at them they get scared(that boy has some useful knowledge sometimes). This worked only for us to be confronted by two more even scarier looking dogs at the other end of the ally. At this point our pants were almost wet so we did the one thing you really shouldn't do and RAN as fast as we could and jumped into a taxi. The taxi took us to Kuta which is full of backpackers (even if it is a little like Blackpool with more sun!) Karma came back at us for stealing the nice room in Bromo and we could not find anywhere to stay and the people would not let is stay in their lobby for the night like the friendly people in Thailand did. By this time is was midnight and we were severly pissed off so we had no choice but to pay for an overpriced fancy arse hotel.
We took full advantage of the air con, hot shower, free shampoo, soap and toilet roll! We were having a lovely nights sleep which was ruined by a huge bang closely followed by the entire room shaking and a loss of electricity!
Anyway, after our dramatic night we spent the day chilling at the hotel pool (we were taking full advantage of everything at this place!!) and went to the beach, which is not unlike the beach at Magaluff!And we found a cheaper hostel which is very nice...if you dont mind a cockroach or two.
Whilst on our way home we from the beach we stopped at circle K to get a drink and a packet of crisps, only to find that a packet of Doritos cost $150HK!!! That cant be right, we thought, so we went to the exchange place to check the rate, to find that we had in fact spent the past week accidently multiplying everything by 3. So when we thought that we had spent $50HK on a plate of boiled rice, turns out it was only $15HK. So we can now afford to eat more that one bowl of rice a day, what a bonus!!!
Now that we've worked out that everything is actually cheap, we are going to make the most of the cheap beers...
xxx Sorry for the lack of photos, the internet is crap here! xx
Monday, August 4, 2008
Hippy ville
We survived the 12 hour minibus journey, which is a minor miracle as the bus driver was insane! But thanks to our fabulous new ipods (thanks Ben) we survived the journey, nothing like a bit of 'mmm bop' to get the party started on a 12hour bus ride.
We're in Yogyakarta at the moment living it up with the hippys. Our hostel is much nicer here, no cockroaches in sight, although sleeping ontop of the airport and a railway station is not ideal. Along with all the prayer by megaphone, we're not getting too much sleep. Today, we were good tourist and went to Borabudur, (apparently the most important temple in Indonesia...very pretty). Nikki and i are thinking of getting into buddism now. We also learnt that the public transport here is crap, to put it nicely. The bus drivers dont actually know where they are going, you ask them if they are going somewhere, they say 'yes' then drive around in circles for hours in the complete opposite direction whilst charging you a fortune! Lucky that Nikki and I had spent all our time in Jakarta improving our map reading skills so we were able to jump off the bus (in the middle of nowhere) and find our way back to hippyville.
After that experience we needed a big beer so spent the afternoon drinking Bintang and playing with our fabulous new cards from Rosie and Ben (playing cards with pictures of Ben, Rich, Rosie and George...just incase we forgot what they look like). We've been getting into the local food! Ben you must be proud of me! For $10HK, I guess you cant really complain about rice and leaves...mmmm yummy!
Tomorrow we have another delightful 11hour minibus ride down to Bromo where nikki and I will attempt to hike up a volcano at 4am...wish us luck!!!
Peace out man from all us hippys in Yogyakarta xx
We're in Yogyakarta at the moment living it up with the hippys. Our hostel is much nicer here, no cockroaches in sight, although sleeping ontop of the airport and a railway station is not ideal. Along with all the prayer by megaphone, we're not getting too much sleep. Today, we were good tourist and went to Borabudur, (apparently the most important temple in Indonesia...very pretty). Nikki and i are thinking of getting into buddism now. We also learnt that the public transport here is crap, to put it nicely. The bus drivers dont actually know where they are going, you ask them if they are going somewhere, they say 'yes' then drive around in circles for hours in the complete opposite direction whilst charging you a fortune! Lucky that Nikki and I had spent all our time in Jakarta improving our map reading skills so we were able to jump off the bus (in the middle of nowhere) and find our way back to hippyville.
After that experience we needed a big beer so spent the afternoon drinking Bintang and playing with our fabulous new cards from Rosie and Ben (playing cards with pictures of Ben, Rich, Rosie and George...just incase we forgot what they look like). We've been getting into the local food! Ben you must be proud of me! For $10HK, I guess you cant really complain about rice and leaves...mmmm yummy!
Tomorrow we have another delightful 11hour minibus ride down to Bromo where nikki and I will attempt to hike up a volcano at 4am...wish us luck!!!
Peace out man from all us hippys in Yogyakarta xx
Saturday, August 2, 2008
We made it...just about
Well, after a couple of hiccups with immigration regrading Nikki's Hong Kong visa, we finally made it onto the plane and got to Jakarta safe and sound. We stayed in a beautiful cockroach infested prison cell, 32 degrees with a fan that didnt work. (Rich you would have been so proud of us).
Nikki using the wonderful bathroom facilities in hostel del crapo. Note the steps to the beautiful rooftop terrace!
After dumping our stuff in our lovely hostel we decided to check out the local nightlife. The best we could find can only be described as a well lit Fenwicks. Indonesian prostitutes, old fat men and a crapy band...Nikki and I felt right at home.
After taking a sleeping pill (thank you so much Rosie Jones!) we managed to get to sleep only to be woken up at 5am by the fucking muslim call to prayer, which lasted a good 20minutes! Then again at 7.30am. I swear there was a bloody megaphone was in our prison cell.
Today we decided to wonder around the city, obviously we got lost and walked around in a big circle for an hour, only to find out the street we were looking for was the street we had originally been standing on...we like to think of it as improving our map reading skills rather than getting lost.
We're now off to Yoyakarta on a 12 hour minibus (thailand all over again, oh, the fun). I'm going to stock up on bananas now so i dont have to eat any mingy tom yun gun at those crapy sheds they call service stations.
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