Day 64, Long Ride Home, Melbourne, Australia

Arts student studying the Arts

Left Kuta the night before at 11pm, arrived Melbourne 7am (local time), went to art galleries to escape the cold, ate lunch with bro, back to airport, left Melbourne 5.50pm, arrived Christchurch 11pm (local time).

After a lengthy bit of sitting in airports/planes you would really just like to go home because you feel rather wasted. But I must have looked a bit wasted as I got pulled up by customs and had all my bags emptied and searched, and swabbed and tested for drugs. Gutted for them they couldn't find any, because I'm not stupid and stuffed them up my butt.

Thank You, and see you next travels
Shades of Invisible...

Day 63, Final Beach, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

The last beach of SE Asia I may ever see

Goodbye Kuta
Goodbye beaches
Goodbye sun
Goodbye warm
Goodbye jungle
Goodbye orangutans
Goodbye busy roads
Goodbye over population
Goodbye rubbish
Goodbye monoculture
Goodbye smelly places

Day 62, Snorkelling, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia

Mystical Beach Rocks

There are definitely better places around to snorkel than Bali, but for something to do that will pass away a day then it is not too bad. Lots of interesting looking fish of reasonable sizes. The coral wasn't up to much, which is probably because the ocean is full of rubbish and run off from all the development around.

Also Bali has come to be a rather lonesome place. There aren't really any hostels around, or guesthouses with a communal area to socialise. Seems things are more set up for the couple coming over on their summer break. So it has been rather difficult to meet anyone. This has meant things get rather tame at night but at least I have lots of movies to watch on my laptop. This might also explain all the rather empty looking photos of nothing in particular as of late.

Day 61, My final stop, a quiet beach, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia

Sleepy beach dreams

So this is the end of the road, from here on I'm heading home. A few nights in Padang Bai to go snorkelling and burn in my tan as much as possible. Then it is back to Kuta to fly out to Melbourne to Christchurch. But that is still a few days away and right now sitting on the beach talking to some locals who are practising their english is way more pleasant than thinking about life back in NZ.

Day 60, Police Bribes, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Balinese Traditional Dance

So this is from the Ubud Writers Festival street party. It was pretty small, but lots of fun for a short time. Some dancing and some reggae and some people doing monologues from their books they've written. This was after a photo exhibition in some flash resort, which was pretty impressive, especially one artist who had seemed to be a pretty conservative muslim girl, but had gone into a maternity ward in the Phillippines and photographed women having children. Needless to say the photos were rather dramatic.

But before this, I had rented a motorbike and drove up some volcano to see the volcano within that volcano which also had a lake beside the inner volcano. On the way there I happened to come across a rather informal police stop. After a very thorough check of everything the police could think of we came to the international drivers license. Of course I don't have one, so was informed that I would get a two million rupiah fine. But the friendly police man then says, 'well if you help me, then I help you'. *WINK* *....ie, asking for a bribe....*. Hmm I was really unsure what to do here. Police corruption is a terrible thing and obviously paying a bribe is only supporting this further. But on the flip side this is Indonesia where such cases as the Schappelle Corby drug smuggling case got here a life sentence. So the police man then says, maybe two hundred thousand rupiah should cover it. I'm like 'no..'. He then points out the two millions rupiah fine again, and so I reluctantly, mainly because I couldn't think of an alternative quick enough, said 'one hundred thousand' and flicked him the cash (in the most un-secretive I'm giving a police officer cash for no good reason way).

He was only too friendly on the way back, waving me right through the stop and tipping his hat to me...

Day 59, Book Club, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

A rice paddy field and its water source

In Ubud at the moment is a writers festival, which is a series of events that writers attend to increase their skills, network, and share their writings with others. I'm here while it is on, so attending a few of a free events is a necessity. I went to a pecha kucha night and listened to about ten people share their ideas. A lot of it was bands pushing their terrible music. Then it occured to me, that what South East Asia needs more of is synth. Everyone is jamming out on their guitars and drums producing music that belongs well back in the 90's. My question is, why aren't all the NGO's who are trying to save Bali (while sipping lattes in nice cafes and relaxing on white sand beaches) aren't getting donations from back in the west of synthesisers and bringing those street kids out of the 90's and into the nearly 2010's...

Day 58, The Cultural Side Of Bali, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

A man counts his earnings for the day

Not being near a beach in Bali sounds rather like a contradiction, but it is possible. The town of Ubud is at least an hours drive (if the traffic is good) to the nearest bit of ocean. So instead of purely relying on the waves to boost tourism they've put their money into producing a cultural experience. The streets are full of Balinese art galleries, chic cafes and book shops, which is pretty good after some stressful days surfing back in Kuta. The icing on the cake is that it is coincidently the Ubud writers festival at the moment, so I should be able to catch a reading or something while here.

Day 57, Water and Fire, Ulu Watu, Bali, Indonesia

When elements combine

Ripping along the Bali roads weaving in and out of traffic on a hired motorcycle was totally awesome. I rode out to Ulu Watu, approximately an hour south of Kuta Beach to check out the local sites, being huge waves and a Kecak dance. Surviving the roads got the blood pumping, but seeing huge ten foot waves pushed it a little further. I was well impressed by the surfers who manage to ride these beasts of waves, considering I struggle on the mellow stuff back in Kuta.

Then once the sun began to set I went up to the local temple which looks out from over a cliff edge to the sun setting over the Indian Ocean. Here I watched the local dance called Kecak, which is basically a lot of guys chanting this trance inducing 'cak, cak, cak...'. Then around them performers dress up in ridiculous costumes tell the story of some lovers and a white monkey or something. This ends in a big fire demonstration which seemed rather dangerous, especially when they started kicking the fire towards the crowd, but there were no injuries. This can all be seen on the film 'Baraka' which I saw a few years ago and have since wanted to see this live, and now I have...

Day 56, A Familiar Face, Bali, Indonesia

People strolling along the beach watching the sun set

Struggling to move for most of the day after getting worked by the surf from the day before, it was not really until sun set that I actually did something semi-pro-active. Walking to the beach to go photograph the sunset I walked into an old school mate. It is funny how you can randomly find people you've known for years in random parts of the world. After the sun set we enjoyed a nice dinner then planned to meet up later for some fun at some bars later on. I was at the meeting spot on time, but unfortunately failed to meet her again. I quickly averted the gazz of drunken Australians and beelined back to the safety of my nice hotel room.

Day 55, Surfing in Bali, Bali, Indonesia

Slightly uncrowded Kuta Beach

So when in Rome, try some surfing... Well I thought it was appropriate to go surfing seeing I'm in Bali. Turns out I'm pretty useless at surfing but I don't care, I can't be awesome at everything. But a little bit more practice (not just surfing the internet) and I should be the next Kelly Slater.

Day 51, 52, 53, 54, Bit of a Catch UP, Bukit Lawang, Sumatra, Indonesia

Orangutan Reaches Out For Your Help

Mother and Child Orangutan, Child Glows With Pride

Result of Delayed Plane: Bedbugs

Consolation for Delay, A Few Pieces of Rice and Some Deep Fried Crap

So the last few days have been a bit of an adventure into the jungles of Sumatra in the search of Orangutans.

Things started off in KL on the 2nd of Oct, getting up at 4.30am to catch the stupid 1.15 hour long bus to the airport and then of course find out my flight is cancelled, and the next one doesn't leave till midday. So a fun few hours surfing the net in the airport....

Arriving into Medan was very interesting, after being ripped off purchasing a flight to Bali, I caught a ride on the back of a motorbike through the busy city, across the pot holed roads, and around the head-on approaching trucks to the bus station. Bus up to Bukit Lawang which takes 4 hours along a poorly paved road again full of pot holes. (pretty epic day of travel #1.)

The next day was what it was all for though, the day was spent criss-crossing dense jungle, bush wacking our way through primary rainforest in search of the rare Orangutan. It took nearly the whole day for our small team of three to find any, just before we were about to give up Firman, our guide, got word from his jungle buddy that some have just been spotted. We ran through some untracked jungle to find six orangutans, three mothers and their babies. A very rare accurance seeing they are solitary animals. For the next hour we watch in awe as the majestic creatures slowly make there was along the tree tops in search for fruit, seemingly oblivious of us below. It was one of those moments that make travelling miles on end worth it.

Numerous other sightings of gabons and various jungle insects were also made before heading back to the village for a well deserved rest.

The following day I was rushed out of Sumatra, maybe it was too soon, there is alot more to do here, but unfortunately time is of the essence, and Bali must be reached. So a long day of buses and flights was undertaken again. As is the way with all my flights, things were delayed for hours on end, and I arrived in Bali a nice and early 10pm after leaving Bukit Lawang at 7.30am (pretty epic day of travel #2.). This resulted in of course not being able to find a room in Kuta as everything in the decent budget range had been filled up. So it was either an expensive night in a flash hotel or going to a dive of a place. I took the dive, and a dive it was, the night was spent waking up from tingling sensations. The morning showed the results of bed bugs with my arms and back covered in rash like bites....

Day 50, Jamming In KL For The Forth Time, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

These are my feet

In KL once again, which is really annoying because KL doesn't have that much to offer except maybe some good eats. So it is a good time to catch up on some movies and go for pointless walks around town. Bringing me to the point of the above photo. My jandles, or flip flops as everyone else in the world calls them, are pretty good until it starts to rain. Then they became a death trap, after wearing them everyday they have worn nice and perfectly slick on the soles so that it becomes very slippery whenever stepping on a smooth surface, to which most of KL is covered in. Many a time have I slipped and either landed on my butt or pulled an amazing recovery act and remained standing. Yet I continue to wear them.

Day 49, Dirty Ol' Perv, Singapore

I took this off my laptop webcam....

Ok so the picture above is not meant to be of my naked shoulder, but of the dude behind who is getting dressed of all things... This guy was that stereotypical old dude who is in a youth hostel when he clearly does not belong there. And of course he was sleeping in the bunk above me.

So this dude every morning for the four nights I stayed here would get up earlier than anyone else in the room and start to unpack and then repack his four huge bags he had with him. Everything was contained in plastic bags, so there would be a good hour or two of russeling about to ensure everyone was up and about nice and early.

But the worst thing was this morning when everyone was having their delightful free breakfast, this dude was sitting on the public computers looking at some dirty website to do with young girls offering various services. *Spits on the ground* another reason to love South East Asia....

Day 48, Botanical Serenity, Singapore

Sundial Points to 4pm

It was nice to find a peaceful spot in the big city of Singapore. The botanical gardens were the perfect pit stop after a hectic weekend with the formula 1. I'd definitely recommend them, mainly as they are free so well worth every penny.

Day 47, Hamilton Wins, Singapore

Polarising Filter Test Shot

The Formula 1 result was as I had predicted. I didn't go to the actual race as I'm not that pumped about spending hundreds on watching cars zoom past me. But instead went to an expensive micro brewery to watch it, which actually served up a good brew. Other fun activities of the day included buying a new polarising filter for my camera, and a book from borders which by the way does not have popular penguins in Singapore.

Day 46, A Day At The Track, Singapore

VVRRRRRRMMMMMMM

Formula 1 is a lot more classy than your typical petrol head event. It was like being at the horse races for a day, but with really really loud horses. Also on offer was The Back Street Boys, but unfortunately I wasn't in the right zone so couldn't see them, but just as good was Travis, Scottish pop rock band that could melt any ones heart. Hamilton took out qualifying and didn't really seem to have any trouble doing so, he is my bet on tomorrow's race.
More results here.

Day 45, Getting Ready For F1, Singapore

As much glory as Ferrari will get this weekend

Singapore is pretty alive right now, the streets are full of people walking around with their F1 passes around there necks and a smile on their faces. I went and picked up my ticket which was rather exciting. On the way back to the hostel I stopped in through Little India which was also rather exciting, especially the random Hindu temple complete with two little kids singing some never ending, highly annoying, Hindi song.

Day 44, Sorting Things Out, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Just another restaurant in KL

Nothing really to report here. Spent the day doing nothing, just recharging the old batteries, sorting out a few things out like a flight home, so you have about another 20 days of this gold!

Day 43, Escaping Leeches, Taman Negara, Malaysia

Giant Rainforest Creature

To be honest, I didn't really like Taman Negara too much. It is the oldest rainforest in the world, but thats about all it has going for it. The problem is that it is such a tourist trap now, so you barely even feel like you are in the jungle. Well not entirely true, it gets pretty intense once you walk off the main trail. I got which was pretty awesome, managed to flick them all off before blood was drawn though. Then it is so humid in the forest that you sweat like crazy which makes things really uncomfortable, seeing they've sold the place out they should take it one step further and install fans on all the trees.

But otherwise the fact remains that as soon as you have crossed the river out of the official park it is obvious that any jungle that was around here has long been destroyed and replaced with rubber or palm plantations. This is pretty sad as the park is reasonably small and considering how much area has been given over to plantations just really signifies how awesome the actual old jungle would have been.

Day 42, Walking Above The Jungle, Taman Negara, Malaysia

Ten Meters Up On The Canopy Walk

Jamming in the oldest rainforest in the world, at 130 million years old, was pretty scary if anything. Firstly the entire place is moving, crawling, buzzing and squealing, then there is a canopy walkway which seems like it could fall apart at any time... I'm pretty sure it is all in my mind though.

Day 41, Jungle Train, Jerantut, Malaysia

The Train Arrives

I couldn't get out of Kota Bharu fast enough. And so took the 6.30am train out of town. It was a lovely train that goes through some nice jungle down to near Taman Negara, the oldest rainforest in the world, and my next destination.

Day 40, Dead Town, Kota Bharu, Malaysia

The Lonesome Rider

So it is like Eid or something to do with the end of Ramadan. Which means that Malaysia is the most boring place in the world. The city of Kota Bharu was completely shut. Like the only thing open was the 7/11. It was a good day to sit around under the fan in my room.

Day 39, Back To Malaysia Truly Asia, Kota Bharu, Malaysia

Broken Bus Window

I looked out a bus window all day, this was probably the most interesting actual window. A smashed one with a piece of tape over it. Lots of black and white shots lately, probably because my camera is set on it...

The day was so boring, got up at 6.30am arrived in Kota Bharu at 9pm (minus one hour time difference). Had to wait at the border for like 2 hours for a bus to Kota Bharu, and when I got into town was super confused about where I was and took ages to find a place to sleep. The train out of here leaves at 4.3am so have to stay two nights, but at least it's some kind of holiday here so everyone is letting off fireworks.

Day 38, Stuck in Krabi, Krabi, Thailand

Road to Ao Nang

I had to spend an extra day in Krabi because the bus to Malaysia was full or something stupid. Shouldn't have watched Pulp Fiction the night before when I was meant to be booking the bus ticket. And to continue the failing, couldn't get to Raileh beach, which is meant to be really nice, but instead went to Ao Nang which was ok, but probably not as good...

Day 37, The Creatures of Krabi, Krabi, Thailand

Weird Bird Creature

There are all these weird animal statues throughout Krabi, above we have the bird. There is also a random ape/human creature that is sitting on top of some traffic lights, golden lions around buildings, and more ape/humans around assorted places.

Day 34, 35, 36, Around and About, Andaman Coast, Thailand

Party Time on Ko Phi Phi

Attacked By A Giant Lizard Thing

Getting the F out of Phuket

So the last few days have been a bit of a weird adventure. Forming a crew out of the remaining guests at The Rock hostel in Ko Phi Phi, we left and went on a search for some surf in Phuket. Upon arriving at Kata Beach we realised that although there is surf, to which we dominated, the rest of the place is everything Thailand is infamously known for. So after seeing way too many old men with young Thai ladies we decided to split and go our separate ways to our next destinations. So back to Krabi for me, and hopefully find something to stop the gravy train from running...

Day 33, Reenactment of The Beach, Ko Phi Phi, Thaiand

Our own community on The Beach beach

There is an island in Thailand that no one knows about, where a small community of travellers have set up a commune in their secret paradise. Well actually there isn't, but there was a movie about this that was shot in Ko Phi Phi on a nearby not so secret island. The hostel I am at got a group together and we rented a long boat and re-created our own The Beach experience. Including jumping off cliffs, finding hidden beaches and swimming with sharks (well snorkelling at a place called shark point, but no actual sharks). In the list of top ten days, this will be number one at the moment.

Day 32, The Beginning Of Beach Overdose, Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

Another Stunning Beach Shot

To be honest, the beach can not be escaped. Being on a small island surrounded by a large ocean means that everything revolves around the beach somehow. The day is spent lying and swimming at the beach, and night is spent partying at a beach bar. Maybe I should take my camera out at night, but it gets pretty crazy with all the fire and lights and free shots and superb dancing.

Day 31, I Need To Pee Pee, Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

Lookout over Ko Phi Phi (click to view larger image)

Arriving on Ko Phi Phi was pretty exciting, a roof top ferry ride escorted loads of tourists over from mainland Thailand on to the classic destination, made popular by the movie The Beach. The island is like your typical party/beach/sun-tanning location, which seems great but isn't that relaxing apart from in the bookshop.

Although I didn't go partying last night, most other people in the hostel did. This resulted in one guy falling asleep pretty solidly and the rest of everyone getting all their sunscreen, toothpaste, body paint, random pieces of furniture and placing it all over him. He's from Zimbabwe so that makes it alright supposedly....

Day 30, A Month In Thai, South West Coast, Thailand

Don't really want to go to either of these places...

Travel rule to always abide to: Never catch a bus somewhere when the arrival time is going to be something silly like midnight.

Explanation: Ramadan means that there is only two ferries departing Langkawi each day, one at 9am and the other at 4pm. There is no way I'm up before 9am, so 4pm will have to suffice. Arrive in Thailand at 4pm as well as there is an hour time difference. Go find a bus to Krabi, find out the next one is at 8pm, but for some reason don't think about waiting till tomorrow and instead going for it knowing it doesn't arrive in Krabi for four hours. Get to Krabi and look around the bus stop, everything is closed. Fortuna spins her wheel though and a man on a motorbike stops and asks me if I need a ride, he takes me for a pretty fun ride to a guesthouse (was his mums of course!). Finally get to sleep in a nice semi expensive room.

Day 29, Back into the real world of the internet, Langkawi, Malaysia

Another Perfect Beach Setting

So the internet has been out the last few days, hence why days 26-28 doesn't exist. But rest assured the above image pretty much describes all those days. Just lying around on the beach getting sunburnt and partying by night (even though there is no partying in the above image). The typical south east asia deal. I don't know whether to leave here or not today....

Day 25, A Nice Beach, Langkawi, Malaysia

Pantai Cenang Beach

Cheap booze, the sun, the beach. Langkawi is a pretty sweet place. It was worth the expensive taxi ride which cost the same as catching two ferries and two long bus rides totalling five hours of travel to get to the guesthouse I'm staying at.

Day 24, Rubbish Beaches, Georgetown, Malaysia

Some Colourful Naan Bread Sauce

The overdeveloped beaches on the island of Penang are pretty depressing. You'd think that with a boost of tourism they'd have employed people to pick up the rubbish, but unfortunately the problem seems to be overwhelming. Oh well, at least you can get a really good curry there.

Day 23, Georgie Boy, Georgetown, Malaysia

Nice Colonial Architecture

I really wish I'd made plans a few days out before coming to Georgetown. I'd have booked a nice hostel and be enjoying the endless good places to eat around town. But instead I'm stuck in a dingy room waiting for an acceptable hour to check out of here and find another place for tonight. Makes me really dislike Georgetown for having one really good hostel and a lot of really terrible dives.

Day 22, Getting more Jungle Juice, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Lizard that luckily moved before my foot was planted on it

In the jungle I'm torn in two. One part of me loves the whole nature thing, with the possibility of seeing some amazing wildlife or a spectacular waterfall scene or something. But the other half is terrified, in the back of my head I can not stop thinking about snakes, leeches and who knows what attacking me when I least expect it. This almost came true, except it was the above lizard which was pretty harmless. I've just got to remember that most creatures are a lot more scared of me then I am of them....

Day 21, Jungle Tea, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Distances were totally wrong

Cameron Highlands is probably the nicest place in the world. Jungle treks, tea plantations, English styled afternoon teas. It was what colonialism was all about.

Day 20, Bus on Fire, Between KL and Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Burning, Burning, Burning!

Don't go on Express Kurnia Bistari bus company. There is another bus company that goes from KL to Cameron Highlands, is slightly more expensive, but on the other the buses don't catch on fire. You then won't be stranded in the middle of nowhere and won't have to wait two hours in the burning (literary sun-burning) sun for another replacement bus.

Day 18 & 19, More Fun Back in KL, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

My temp local. Good cheap chinese eats.

Hooray for Malay, Identical looking males line the streets of KL for National Day Parade.

I hate media hype, especially over swine flu. Because of it the fireworks and parade celebrating National Day were all but cancelled. Just a small parade was all that remained.

On another note, 17 deaths caused by Swine Flu have now occurred in New Zealand...

Day 17, Finally made some friends, Melaka, Malaysia

An old building in Melaka...

The above picture has little to do with making friends, apart from that it is in the same town as where this glorious event happened. So after anti-social Kuala Lumpur it seemed I was doomed to a non eventful night life every day of my travels. But this all changed in Melaka.

I've discovered that Ringo's Foyer Guesthouse has the friendliest operator in the world. He happily took a few lonesome guests, who probably didn't even realise there were other people staying here, out for a night on the town. The highlight being taken to a gay bar for the reason of it having the friendliest staff in Melaka. This was probably a fair assumption, as the effeminate staff where very interested in us...

Day 16, I got lost/I watched lots of crazy people sing, Melaka, Malaysia

A few brews to help enjoy the karaoke more

If you ever go to Melaka and stay at Ringo's Foyer Guesthouse, please note that it is not where google maps says it is. It is along the road a bit. Google maps points to a demolished building. Also note that when you take the bus to Ocean Mall, and see it, you should get off, and not continue riding for some unknown reason....

Ps. In Melaka, at the China Town night market, they have some awesome karaoke....

Day 15, First Monkey Siteing, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Peek-a-boo Monkey

The Batu Caves are actually really cool, they'd be better if they weren't like covered in crazy shrines and just left as nature made them. But still, in NZ there aren't monkeys hanging around outside the caves.

Day 14, Hot Hot HOT, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

View up the EVIL Petronas Towers

First impressions of Malaysia:
Hot, like a relentless burden outside.
Wet, when it rains it pours.
Climate Changing, wiping out the rainforests for palm oil plantations, and the Petronas Towers are owned by a oil corporation which is trying to expand throughout the world selling its petrol, f***ers...
Yum, food, ah great times.

Day 13, Melbourne Storm, Melbourne, Australia

Windy Pier at St Kildas

There was a very wild storm in Melbourne today. The forecast was for lightning and lots of rain, but it was mostly wind and a short one hour blast of rain. I tried to walk down the above pier and nearly got blown off. Luckily nothing went wrong with my flight out to KL.

Day 12, Riding the Free Trams, Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne Tram Interior Example

When it rains in Melbourne, cause sometimes it ain't blisteringly hot, a fine and dandy activity is to take the free tram around town. A pleasant city loop gives you a quick overview of the CBD with a bit of commentary thrown in for an informative ride.