Kalianda

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We left Bukkittinggi early morning on a bus down to Bandarlampung, which we was expecting to take 24 hours. The first few hours went relatively quickly, but as the day went on the journey started to drag. We was the only two white people on the bus which was overcrowded with locals sitting on plastic crates along the middle aisle of the bus. The illegal logging was evident along the whole journey and it made the landscape look really barren at times. Slept quite well during the night travel but woke up at around 5am to find that we'd broken down at a garage, as one of the wheel bearings had gone. After 3 hours waiting for a new bearing to be delivered we eventually got back on the road. We were quite optimistic that we only had few hours left to travel but we were wrong it took a total of 36 hours to get to our final destination which turned out to be Kalianda (a small port town) rather than Bandarlampung because they drove straight past our stop. The worst thing about the journey was the 2 ladies in front of us who were being sick repeatedly.

So after the bus journey from hell we was looking for some comfort, a clean room, maybe even a hot shower? Not too much to ask for... but we end up in one of the smallest, smelliest rooms we'd stayed in, with no shower just a trof of cold water to wash in and a squatting smelling toilet. The fan in the room would not look out of place in the 50's. This was hard core travelling.....

We didn't do much the next day apart from use the internet, eat and sleep but we did manage to book our trip to the Volcano Krakatau. The next day we set out on a 1 engined fishing boat with our 2 guides and 2 locals sailing the boat, with 2 lifejackets which we'd demanded before agreeing to take the trip. The 4 hour journey to the volcano was tedious, noisy and uncomfortable, but it did it liven up in the last twenty minutes when we caught sight of Krakatau and we watched in amazement as it let off an eruption as we approached that sent clouds of grey smoke into the sky. 20 minutes later and we were walking up it. As we got to the highest point possible to climb to, I did question our sanity. We were standing on an active volcano that erupted 20 mins prior!!! Crazy kids!!!. But we survived and what an experience it was.

The journey back was less painful knowing what we'd just seen and done, but the stop off at an small island was a welcome break. We were able to have a swim around and eat a fresh fish cooked over a fire by our guides. It was just before getting back on the boat that the drama began. Neal and I were having our last splash around in Asian waters, when I put my foot straight down and onto an angry sea urchin sitting on the sea bed. A number of screams and expletives followed and a look from Neal as if to say 'what have you done now??!!', but when he saw the 35 spines of the urchin embedded in my foot his words were ' You've done it good and proper there son'... cheers for the sympathy Neal.

The locals were unfazed but were eager to get me back so I could soak it in some 'Zucker' which would apparently draw the spines out. As we set on our way back the sea suddenly turned, with the waves crashing over the top of the boat. The genuine fear that we could end up in the water at least took my mind off the pain in my foot. The pain had eased by the time we got back but they were now well and truly embedded and I couldn't see any liquid getting these buggers out. I gave the guides my trust in their knowledge and soaked my foot for 2 hours in this Zucker that smelt like white spirit. No signs of them coming out and by morning it was time for a hospital job. I took myself to hospital on the back of some locals motorbike at 6 in the morning, the hospital was locked up but the security guard alerted the staff that I needed some help. The hospital was very basic and only catered for A&E patients but they took great care of me. Only one could speak english so the converstaion was very amusing and confusing at times. They decided that to ease the pain they would give me 3 injections into my foot including one in my big toe. Pure agony!!!! They then proceeded to remove the 35 spines with various tools, the numbing injections didn't seem to have any effect. So it was 45 mins of excruciating pain before they were all out!!!! I was swearing throughout and all they kept on saying was 'sorry Mr Nick', bless them. I was the first foreign patient since 1990, so I was a bit of a rarerity, and I'd lost count of the number of locals who came in off the street to have a look and a laugh!!!! A tetanus jab finished the whole episode off after even more hassle trying to get cash out to pay for my treatment. Lesson learnt though don't tread on sea urchins because it f*@king hurts!!!!!

That afternoon we headed to Jakarta for a 1 night stop over before getting a flight to our last stop in South East Asia, Singapore.........................

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