Blogs from Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia, Asia - page 3

Claire: Yesterday we experienced our first party night. The theme: Hoga togas. Sarongs were used in many interesting ways to appear toga-like. Even palm trees were plaited and used as arm bracelets, belts and hair ties. We had a big feast outside, followed by party games that the locals came up with. The guys had to climb under the table without touching the floor and pull themselves up again, (the tables are quite long and quite wide). There was also a flexibility game with a pole, and finally a best-dressed catwalk. After the feast we all walked the grueling 20m walk to the beach and played tug-of-war and other games on the beach, and ended with a beach bonfire and dancing in our lodge. Today has been very relaxing; I think most people were getting ... read more

Claire: Having promised photos, this website is proving tricky at uploading them, so as I type I'm uploading the first 15 or so to facebook, so parents get someone to show you on facebook! We are 'frantically' revising for our first exam tonight, it's in 2 hours. We have to name all phylum, class and most genera of all invertebrates, and several common species found on Hoga, (I think it's roughly 120 names). Luckily last year we had a course on Inverts so some we can recall, but it is still challenging! I went on a dive this morning and began to spot corals and inverts that I can now name, which is impressive! With 2 dives and 2 lectures a day, the days are pretty busy. No time to sunbathe which is very upsetting!! We ... read more

Elly: We are now set up in our little shack in the middle of the rainforest. The ferries were certainly an adventure, but perhaps not one to be repeated. The second (overnight boat) was wooden, and we slept on plastic mattresses laid out on slats, with layers of people on top of layers of people. There was very little breeze and I don’t think any of us have ever felt so grimy and claustrophobic! One of the tanks in the loo was gushing water into the boat, and it took me and another girl a good while to work out whether this meant we were sinking or not. There was some lovely bioluminescence, thanks to the flying fish jumping around the boat. Claire: To say we slept well on the second boat would definitely be a ... read more

Claire: So we've finally found out the true extent to this epic journey... We will arrive on Friday after lunch, having left Kendari tomorrow by boat to BauBau, then after a 3 hour stop off we will catch a 9pm OVERNIGHT ferry to the main Wakotobi Island, followed by a further boat to Hoga which *should* arrive at midday on Friday. Ellie: eeeeeeeeek! haha Claire: Thanks for that Ellie... Anyway, the last night in Jakarta was eventful with a movie night of Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey followed by horror murder films on HBO. (Why read Austen when the ITV series are so good??) Our masseuses came round at 6 and it was a very oily experience, but definitely worth it! We had a relatively nice and a late meal in the hotel and saw some ... read more

En voila, onze korte trip naar Sulawesi zit er ook al weer op! Sulawesi was echt leuk, een verademing na het drukkere Java. We hebben slechts een heel klein stukje van Sulawesi gedaan, nl. Tana Toraja. Tana Toraja is de naam van een bevolkingsgroep en tegelijkertijd ook van het gebied waar ze wonen. Het gebied ligt in het binnenland van Sulawesi in de bergen en het vroeg een lange busrit van 10 uur over hobbelige wegen om er te geraken. Natuurlijk moest de bus weer een lekke band krijgen, hoe kan het ook anders? Dagelijkse kost in Indonesië. Maar, geen nood we hadden gekozen voor de “super de luxe executive VIP aircon Mercedes bus” (ik verzin niks, zo noemde ze echt:- ): meer beenruimte dan in businessklasse op een vliegtuig, inclusief bijgeleverd dekentje en kussentje, en ... read more