World Traveler

 

There really isn’t much call for surfing in London, none at all actually and that’s where I am from so I have never tried it. I don’t do sport in general (unless its dancing or shopping, that’s as sporty as I get!) Surfing is one of those sports that I just thought it looks easy and that I would naturally be an expert (I can hear those of you that surf laughing right now!) Anyway, I arrived in Bali, where everyone is surf crazy, and with the size of the waves plus the hot weather I see why.

There are loads of people on the beach offering surf lessons and board hire so I put myself down for an hour and a half lesson. First we practiced a little on the beach, that wore be out straight away and immediately I felt like I needed a cigarette break but I continued anyway.

I always joked that I would probably end up knocking myself out with my board and as soon as I got into the water I managed to hit myself on the head with it, luckily I didn’t do it so hard that I lost consciousness, it just hurt a lot! The water was filthy so I kept getting plastic bags and other rubbish attached to me, and the waves were huge so IU was half drowning at the same time. It wasn’t quite like I had imagined. Even laying on the board was hard to balance. I never got to stand but I was quite impressed with myself when I knee surfed.
After an hour and a half I was aching all over and had cuts on my feet and knees, I swallowed about a gallon of water and I was now dying for a cigarette! Very hard work. Al the muscles in my body ached for the next five days, talk about exercise! It was fun, but very very hard work!

Read more about Indonesia……

 

From all the hype I hear about Bali and how beautiful it is and how everyone wants to go there, I was actually really disappointed and quite surprised when I arrived. The Island itself is pretty big and if you don’t drive it can be hard to get around, especially if you want to check out the more remote places. I spent two weeks there, half living in luxury with a maid and a driver and half as a backpacker so I got see a variety of places.

The beaches that I saw were filthy and resembled a rubbish dump rather than place of paradise and every time I went in the water I was attacked by plastic bags and other litter, it was really disguising. There is no chance that you can relax on the beach as there are so many hawkers that really do leave you alone, offering massages, fruit, drinks, seafood, braids -you name it. So even if you have earphones in or are reading a book your arm is tugged on average every 30 seconds by someone new who doesn’t take “Noâ€? for an answer.

There are so amazing restaurants and galleries, Ubud is a nice town but very small, there are plenty of monkeys there too that hang around outside Monkey Forest. While I had a driver we went to see temples, rice paddies and volcanoes which was pretty good and a much nicer side of Bali but a lot of the places that I wanted to go were hard to get to so I had to miss out. All in all I still have no idea what all the fuss is about Bali, there are so many places that I would rather be!

Read more about Indonesia…..

 

I was in the middle of a two year travelling spert and had been thinking about getting another tattoo for ages but hadn’t thought of the exact design I wanted but knew what type of thing I wanted. Anyway, I was in Bukkitinggi which is a small Indonesian town in Sumatra and we came across a tattooist. He is the only person in the town to have tattoo’s as the town considers tattoo’s to be for criminals, therefore he only gets to tattoo tourists.
 
I went in to have a look at his art work and flicked through some of the magazines and happen to have an idea of exactly what I wanted and decided to get it (its a star as big as the palm of a hand with a space scene inside, and an alien – in case you were wondering!)
 
I had a chat with the tattooist and he said he could do it the following day so I went back to get it done and forgot how annoying tattoo pain was! Plus it was on my spine so I had involuntary twitches and was convinced that I was going to go into spasm resulting in loads of squiggly lines instead of straight ones, but it came out good, luckily!
 
The tattooist told me stories about other people he had tattooed, he remembered one girl in particular as she wanted a stickman pushing a lawnmower where the top of her down-there-hair started. The tattooist was so nervous as Indonesian women, especially in Bukketinggi really aren’t like that!

Read more about Indonesia……

Volcanoes have always been something that have been of great interest to me, I have no idea why but I am just fascinated by them. So when I was in Bukittinggi I finally got the chance to climb one. I am not at all a healthy or fit person and can barely breathe after running for a bus, so I obviously have no idea what I was in for. The climb to the summit (2000m) was about 4 hours, depending on fitness and apparently it wasn’t too hard. We left at 11pm so we would be at the top for sunrise. At first the climb wasn’t too bad but as we went higher up the volcano it got steeper and steeper and it was so dark I could hardly see and my head torch really wasn’t doing the job! It got so steep that in the end I was just grabbing whatever tree or bush or root that was in front of me to stop me falling! I had to stop every 60 seconds for a break as I was so out of breath.

As we got out of the jungle part of the climb we reached the rocky part and the rocks slipped under my feet as I climbed and there was nothing to hold on to so I was on all fours trying not to freak out (I’m scared of heights), everyone else was apparently not finding it as challenging as I was….except my sister, who was just as bad as I was. It stared to get lighter as the sun started to rise and I realised how high up we were which made it all the more scary. Finally we reached the top and it was freezing! There were huge craters and black smoke bellowing out. The view above the clouds was brilliant and the towns below looked so far away. I thought there would be more at the top but apart from a few rocks, a couple of craters and some smoke, there wasn’t much else!

It look me 6 hours to get up and even longer to get down as I have old knee injuries on both knees that were aggravated by the rocky terrain on the way down! It was an experience, but I don’t think I that ever felt so much pain for so long in my life and it took my knees months to heal but I am glad I did it - I will be more prepared next time and definitely think about it in more detail before I make any rash decisions!

Read about adventures….

I was in Indonesia in Sumatra’s Bukittinggi with my sister and we heard that there was a gorge so we decided to head off on foot with our Lonely Planet guide and find it. Although we had a map, there seemed to be no turning off for the gorge so we ended walking up and down the same road a few times. Soon a local man came to our aid and lead us to where the gorge was. We walked through the jungle for ages and he lead us over bamboo bridges where my foot was wider than the bridge and there was no railing to hold on to! I’m scared of heights at the best of times!

Eventually , when we had no idea where we were, he turned to us and said “if you want me to show you the rest of the way you have to pay me” at this point we realised he took us on a wild goose chase into the middle of the jungle! I shouted at him and told him to leave (pretty silly now I think about it as no one knew where we were!) We carried on walking through the dense jungle and eventually ended up at an Indiana Jones style bride which went right over the gorge. There was nothing to hold on to and half the planks of the foot bridge were missing or cracked. We screamed as we clutched on to each other as we crossed the bridge and I was convinced we were going to die, with bits of wood cracking and breaking under our feet.

We made it to the other side but by this time we were dying of thirst as we didn’t have water with us. We made it out of the jungle and into a field where the grass was almost as tall as me. We walked for a while and then suddenly the grass stopped and there was no more floor, nothing but a huge drop - I am so glad I was paying attention to where I was going! So we had to turn back and after hours more of walking we eventually found a town, got a drink and managed to get a bus, 2 hours back to where we were staying!

Read about more shenanigans….

I found out about Air Asia when I was travelling around South East Asia and although I was on the smallest budget ever imaginable its a very economical way of getting about. Air Asia is one of the few budget airlines operating in Asia and is a great way to travel around Asia cheaply.

With flights between Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore it connects you with ease to the whole of South East Asia. Flights are as cheap as chips, literally, with many flights as low as $10 USD including taxes! When I was travelling Asia I often found it was actually cheaper to fly than to get a long distance bus or train - that makes a change and its certainly an easier way of getting around, rather than on a bus with random children and chickens on your lap!

Air Asia has now introduced a new route that links Australia’s Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur, hopefully there are more routes to come connecting Asia to other parts of the world at very low prices. Flights are quick and easy to book with either online or telephone booking facilities. Some travel agents also book Air Asia flights but at a slightly increased cost. The website is really user friendly and its also available in a few different languages and has currency converters etc. There are usually special deals on flights and regular sales for even bigger bargains. The website is www.airasia.com

I have flown with Air Asia plenty of times and generally flights leave and arrive when they should do and the staff are generally very helpful and friendly. I would highly recommend them, although I haven’t yet flown with them long haul.

More travel deals….

Getting a bus in Indonesia requires quite a lot of patience, as do most things in Indonesia, mainly due to the vast quantity of hawkers selling a random selection of goods. On buses its actually so ridiculous its funny. You board the bus and sit down and hawker number one gets on, places a pack on peanuts on each person on the bus, then hawker number two gets on and places a child’s toy on your lap. Next comes along hawker number three and places a travel pillow on your lap, by this time you have a good selection of random items, but that’s not all… hawker number four places a sunhat on your lap, this process continues until your almost swimming in enough stuff to open a shop. Then hawker number one collects his goods unless you want to buy it, as does the rest of the hawkers.

You would think that this process is now done with, but then another batch of hawkers get on the bus, this time with some “guitarists”, when I say “guitarist” I mean someone that owns a guitar, not some one who can play one. Guitarist number one clangs away at the two strings on his decrepit guitar while some other person attempts singing, unfortunately failing miserably making the babies on the bus that are screaming actually sound therapeutic in comparison, they then come around to collect money (apparently its mandatory!) Just as with the hawkers, the “guitarists” line up and take it in turns to annoy you until eventually the bus leaves! Finally you think you are safe but then you realise that when the bus stops at any set of traffic lights you get another “guitarist” and a couple of hawkers! One thing is for sure, if you want a moment of peace in Indonesia, you wont get one!

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