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Blogs from Java, Indonesia, Asia
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May 19th 2013
I’d been back in bonnie Scotland for a little over three months. I spent the first couple of weeks catching up with friends, family and the like, as well as enjoying some home comfort food that I hadn’t had for over a year. Kebab, haggis, chippie in particular! Then I decided to take this whole teaching thing a little more seriously, so I spent the next month of being home in Edinburgh completing the CELTA course. After the first couple of days, I could see why CELTA is far and away the market leader in the EFL world. I learnt more on that course, in terms of how to effectively give a lesson, than I did in a whole year in China. The course cost a total of a grand, but it really was money well ... read more
May 9th 2013
We have been on the road over 7 months now and we are tired. Not tired of travelling, as we love it, but always trying to do things independently, or the cheapest way, or the local way, whilst rewarding, gets tiring sometimes. With less than a month to go until we go home we didn’t have the energy (or the time really) to do this next part of our trip on our own, so we opted for the dreaded traveller sin – a tour. In saying that, this ‘tour’ actually worked out almost the same price as if we had done it ourselves, but without any hassle and it all went to plan, if not better. It was actually a highlight of our whole trip so far… Since before we left home when we were researching ... read more
Reverse culture shock: Its real and God help you!
Published: May 8th 2013Asia » Indonesia » Java » Jakarta » Cengkareng
May 8th 2013
So I've just finished reading two pretty incredible articles on a subject which is quite close to my heart. Reverse culture shock. I've been around and been to some pretty incredible places, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, Zambia and Kenya. That's just to name the real exotic ones and the ones which are probably closest to my heart. Coming back from these truly amazing experiences changed me and every time people around me would remark on it. Africa taught me to be more respectful of what I had, Brazil gave me a more heightened awareness of things around me (I still religious check my shoes before I put them on - dam spiders) and my current trip to Asia is teaching me new things all the time, which i won't truly appreciate until I leave. However, the biggest ... read more
A surprisingly good start to our last country
Published: May 16th 2013Asia » Indonesia » Java » Yogyakarta
May 7th 2013
Having decided on the country where we would spend the last remaining weeks of our trip, we were excited to get there but also apprehensive. Would it live up to our expectations and be the perfect ending that we were looking for? Or would we be disappointed? Well if the start of our time in Indonesia is anything to go by, we will end up wishing we had longer here... We rarely do things the easy way. Instead of booking a direct flight from Singapore to Yogyakarta, we tried to save a bit of money and booked an early flight which would connect in Jakarta with dubious airline, Lion Air. Leaving our hostel at 6.30am having had just a few hours sleep after a big night out was lovely as you can imagine, as was standing ... read more
Farewells, injuries and surprises.
Published: April 15th 2013Asia » Indonesia » Java » Jakarta » Cengkareng
April 15th 2013
Travel is an unusual business. Its full of mystery, happiness and most painfully, farewells. If there is a bad part to travel, it is that there are farewells far too often. Between my last blog and now, we said goodbye to a teacher who had cut her contract short to return home to her family. It was a sadder farewell than I can remember in my travelling days, because I had grown to depend on her, like the others in our little teacher family more than most other travelers I've come across. As one of the others put it, we depend on each other out here. We get along or we fall, we need each other to survive, to help us through the hard times and really get through. So to see her leave, left an ... read more
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March 20th 2013
This was a real adventure… and quite dangerous one. We set out from Pemuteran early in the morning: half an hour drive to the ferry, an hour by ferry to Java and then 1,5 hour jeep drive to the crater. The ferry trip took a bit of courage. It was full of locals and almost all of them were smoking. The only place with fresh air was the upper deck. The ferry itself was going by some strange route. It would actually take about 15 minutes to get from Bali to Java if go straight. But this was not the case. The ferry was drawing zigzag and circle patterns on water, sometimes turning back to Bali. We thought the ferry captain was drunk. But our driver explained that the ferry was just waiting for a free ... read more
March 19th 2013
Early Monday morning, we boarded our flight from Denpasar to Central Java on Lion Air. Finally. The Borobudur. I could almost touch it. Our flight was fairly short and as we landed in Jogja and stepped into another world again. Java is another world so it seemed to me. With Mount Merapi hovering in the distance, the beautiful Call to Prayer sounding off in the background....Bali seemed so "far away" when we landed in Yogyakarta. The humidity was extremely high (as usual) so we decided to check into to our hotel and relax the remainder of the afternoon. We stayed at a decent hotel near the Sultan's Palace. The accommodations were good for the price and the staff were extremely friendly. Apparently, there are lots of students in this city and it's apparent with all the ... read more
March 10th 2013
High to low. Thats the only way I can describe the last 24 hours. It's been a real rollercoaster and something of a real first for me. So let me explain, the high: well the 9th of March was quite possibly one of the most amazing days of my travelling career, currently in Jakarta, myself and my two new housemates, Viv and Angelica decided to go down the train tracks, a short ankot from where we live. The train tracks are basically the slums of Jakarta, but they are a beautiful place and I really loved my day here. The kids followed us and we took photos and even played some badminton. It really was a perfect day and for me, I got to see the Jakarta that I wanted to see. This was all followed ... read more
March 7th 2013
Well it's been a long time since I last posted anything on this website and for good reasons. It's been a long since odd months since I last left the UK and during this time I've undergone a couple of massive changes. Firstly, I am no longer doing an MSc in Evolutionary Biology and I am now an English Teacher in Jakarta Indonesia. Pretty drastic huh? Jakarta has been described to me as a city which is difficult to love and I can totally see why. It's a massive contridiction in terms of Muslim values and Western institutions, it just doesn't make sense. Yet despite the smog, high buildings, poverty and unpredictable weather, it is a place I can feel myself falling in love with. The tree which grow almost everywhere help you forget that you're ... read more
Sunrise and Climbing (Volcanic) Mount Bromo
Published: February 24th 2013Asia » Indonesia » Java » Mount Bromo
January 15th 2013
Yesterday I took a van ride for 14 hours from Yogyakarta to the foot of Mount Bromo, an active volcano in eastern Java. It's 2,329 metres tall, so not the tallest, but certainly one of the most visited. I made friends with a Dutchman along the way and we chatted for much of the ride. We arrived at our hotel around 9pm. Somehow we (having booked the same place) were at one hotel and everyone else was further up the mountain. We paid more. We found out later that our hotel was far better, being clean, and having luxuries like hot water, warm blankets, onsight restaurant, and locatable staff. We were up at 3:30am for our 3:40 pick-up time. One person in our group was late or overslept, but our jeep driver refused to leave him ... read more
