After the wedding it was a very lazy, relaxing day, just a bit of snorkelling, eating, learning some Indonesian and reading. Although after been dropped at a near by beach to do some snorkelling i did swim back to the lodge and that counts as exercise! I also walked to the hostel next door and booked some diving. And attempted to do some washing but there wasn't enough clean water so I had to give that one a miss for now at least. For my third day in the islands I booked to do two dives one at Kota reef and one at new reef. New reef was by far the better of the two sights but it was good diving and it surprised me how much I actually remembered from the course. Then it ... read more

Boarding the boat in Ampana was of cause made extra interesting by the locals taking extra supplies to Wakai for the sunday market tomorrow including four scooters conveniently placed next to us. I don't think there are any real limit in the amount of people you can have on the boat so it turned out to be rather over crowded but it was 5 or so easy hours to Wakai and I managed to find a seat in the shade and relaxed. Once we arrived in Wakai we were met by a small wooden long boat to take us to the lodge on Kadidiri, one of the islands where there are three lodges. This part of the trip took around an hour and we arrived around four ish. After booking my accommodation with Anton in ... read more

After leaving Tentena at eleven its was a very windy road to Poso. We stayed in Hotel Kartika a very nice hotel in a not very interesting town. So Lara and myself tried to venture out to the town but got that much hassle it didn't last long. We had to wait for the boys to come back from Lindu NP so we would be spending two nights here. Thank God for the nice hotel! With very poor internet access the day generally involved reading and looking over plans and not much else. The hotel put a buffet on for just us for breakfast and dinner which was so nice of them as we really didn't want to go out! But we did manage to book the minibus to Ampana for 9am ish and accommodation, ... read more

After arranging for the bus to collect us from the hostel sometime between eight and nine, waking up at 7:55 wasn't the best start. But I managed to have time to get ready and have my last breakfast at Wisma Maria - homemade bread with homemade jam and smoothie - so good. The bus finally arrived to pick Hylke, Joszi and myself up just after nine and it looked alot more comfortable than the one we arrived on! Joszi forgot her mp3 player so after telling the driver she had left her passport he returned to the hostel. The bus gradually filled up with men, rice, rice and more men and after we asked them not to smoke it was a not very eventful 13hr trip to Tentena. The roads are in such a bad condition ... read more

This morning we slept through the 7am alarm waking up at 8am after a night of heavy rain. The plan was to take a scooter again to the village of Pallawa for the funeral ceremony but due to the rain and subsequent wet roads Meana wasn't confident driving so after breakfast we went in hunt of a bemo. In the end we took a bemo half way and then a jeep to the village. The jeep left when full and we were the first in so we had to wait about half an hour. They crammed as many people in as possible, two people in the one front seat so it made for an uncomfortable trip. It dropped so off just a short walk from the village and even though we were told to be there ... read more

Wow Indonesian people are so friendly! The first two days in Rantepao Meena and myself hired a scooter and set out to explore the outskirts of Rantepao. Firstly we headed south and visited Ke'te Kesu, a small village of traditional style houses, hanging graves, cave graves, rice paddies, collections of bones in open coffins with skulls placed to watch to goings and comings. It is a great example of how the Torajan people treat the dead like the living and shows their traditions have been the same for thousands of year. We then followed the road back towards Rantepao through rice paddies and amazing scenery to Karassik. Karassik is another town that has traditional houses and a great view over Rantepao. For lunch it was Mee Goreng, amazing. After trying to find out some information about ... read more

It was time to finally leave Malaysia after two month to discover Indonesia! So exciting, but i had a lot of traveling to do to get to my first destination Rantepao in Tana Toraja. Aiming for the 930am bus from Semporna i was told this bus no-longer left even though it was advertised, good start! But after asking around a bit more i found out there were mini buses that left when full so i headed for them and after waiting half an hour it was full enough to depart to my first stop Tawau. The two hour bus journey was bumpy, hot and uncomfortable, we got stopped my the police and the driver got a ticket and then one of the passengers wanted dropping off inside an army base so we got stopped by the ... read more

Leaving Uncle Tans i took the bus to Lahan Datu and onto Semporna, first impressions - o my GOD - this place is much worse than everyone said, its a complete and utter dump! But when you get into the main street where the dive shops are and hostels its just a dump and not as bad. Checking in to Scuba Junkie backpackers they had lost my booking but by the time i headed over to fill out the paperwork for my dive it was all organised i and checked into my room. There are loads of local cheap cafe's and a very good western cafe attached to the hostel, for the first night i headed to the cheap cafes. And after been at Uncle Tans for three days where there are no showers had an ... read more

Arriving at Uncle Tans ops base i was plesently surprised by how nice it was. Great food, free internet, nice comfy rooms and the staff were great! There isnt anything to do there so after catching up on the internet and eating it left plenty of time to read before i caught the bus and boat to Uncle Tans in the Kinabatangan Park at 2.30 the next day. Taking the bus we arrived in a small village where we had to walk down a steep mud slope to the long boat for out 45min trip down the river. During the 3d 2n trip we did a night safari by boat, a morning safari by boat, a trek into the forest to learn about the plants, trees and insects, an afternoon boat safari and an evening ... read more

Catching the minibus to Kinabablu NP was surprisingly easy, i made the bus full so there was no hanging around and we headed straight off to the National Park. Having told the driver where i wanted dropping off i thought it would be simple, but i forgot i'm in Borneo and nothing to do with public transport is ever simple! The driver missed the drop off point for Kinabalu Mountain Lodge and arrived at the park where he thought i would happily walk the 1km back to where he should have dropped me off then the 1km up the drive way to the lodge. He turned around and took me back. Kinabalu Mountain lodge is in a perfect setting, views over the mountains and into the valley below, vegie garden and its much cooler than the ... read more