Dustyflipflop

Following a four hour bone shaking journey from Bukit Lawang I arrived in Berastagi, a pretty miserable town in northern Sumatra nestled between two large active volcanoes. I was on a tight time scale as I needed to meet a mate in Jakarta a few days later and so without much planning I set off, taking a public bus to the bottom of the volcano Gunung Sibayak. The buses in Sumatra are impressive, often nothing more than a knackered old minivan, they’re custom painted in psychedelic patterns and have musical horns which are constantly blaring. When the two facing benches inside get filled passengers will jump on the roof, holding on for dear life. My plan was foiled pretty quickly. I had intended on paying the volcano entry fee and grabbing a map showing the paths. ... read more

I arrived in KL with three Swedish friends in pouring rain, tramping through China Town looking for cheap accommodation, flip flops slipping and disappearing into the milky city water. Grabbing the first accommodation available we soon discovered that although ideally located above a popular Reggae Bart, it was also home to both a Malaysian nut job who would lope down the corridors whistling and banging on the walls and three hookers who were forever applying make up in the communal toilet. Aside from the disastrous choice of accommodation we had an awesome time, traipsing through the city, heading to the Petronas Towers at night and haggling for bargain fakes in China Town Market. We spent a day in the Batu Caves just outside of the city. A massive limestone edifice used as a Hindu Temple and ... read more

Buses in Malaysia usually operate frequently between the tourist hubs, however since the east coast was in the midst of the annual monsoon it proved tricky to get from the Cameron Highlands. Having left Tanah Rata at 9am I arrived in Cherating at 11pm that night following two bus journeys and a taxi ride. The tiny village of Cherating is about 45 minutes north of the city of Kuantan and only became popular with surfers ten years ago when an Aussy discovered the mechanical 5ft, 500 metre wave. Now all the young locals are out surfing and national competitions are frequent during the surf season brought on by the October to January monsoon. I had imagined the monsoon to be a constant belting rain but during the week I stayed it rained only three times, always ... read more

Having met several people in the bar of Reggae Penang heading to Langkawi I decided to check it out. After all what more could you want from an island during west coast dry season than paradise beaches, giant waterfalls AND a duty free status? The island didn’t fail to deliver on the high praise everybody I had met had given it. Days were spent zipping along quiet roads on mopeds and the evenings filled with incredible Malay Indian food, duty free beer and games of pool on a table so ragged no excuse of poor play put down to beer was required. The island was big enough to keep us all entertained for the 6 days spent there. We had expected a journey to a waterfall to take 20 minutes, however with our poor map reading ... read more

It's been a while since I last posted. I resisted the temptation to stay in Ko Pagnan and headed to Krabi in the south west, where I met a load of fun people travelling the same Thailand route as me. Since my last post I've travelled through south west Thailand, headed back to Pagnan for the Full Moon Party and now I write whilst sat in a hostel garden in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. When I first arrived in Thailand I was struck by the ease of travelling and after a month in the country it still amazes me. I walked into a travel agent in Thongsala, Pagnan and without the use of a computer or telephone the agent presented me with a receipt for the 500 baht (£10) I had spent to get a ferry off ... read more