Laur4

2007 Summed up... After 26 flights, 2 broken down boats, 1 boat that nearly sunk, a near broken shoulder, dozens of horrific bus journeys, 8 months on a scooter without falling off, 6 countries, I dread to think how much alcohol, 1 mean weed pizza, not enough mushrooms shakes, so many sunsets, a few less sunrises, a zillion new friends, shorter hair, at least 15 pairs of flip flops, learning to dive, discovering plenty more drinking games, playing chess on the beach, wearing a toilet seat home, having a house with a pool, nearly drowning in the sea, teaching English, getting pickpocketed, being a mahout, learning new languages, living out of a backpack, 49 weeks and working only 6 of them I'm finally home. Hope you have all enjoyed my blog as much as I have ... read more

Back in the UK.... I flew into Heathrow this morning, what a shock to the system...don't think I have been in temperatures of below 30 degrees in 1 year! My last few days in Indonesia were spent in Seminyak, Bali. I partied some more with Ash and his friend Kerri who also joined us in Gilly Trawagan. I was going to stay in Gilly Trawangan until my flight on 20th December but I had some money stolen from me by a local who I befriended. So I left ASAP as the Gilly's are not a place where you want to cause trouble. Bali was good, I've been twice before though, the novelty has kind of worn off. Especially with Kuta. We met a crazy French couple who we went out with nearly every night. In factm ... read more

Full Moon Mushrooms... The Full Moon Party was brilliant! Had a couple of mushroom shakes before we went out, felt like I was getting motion sickness as we got the horse and carriage down to the party. Well maybe it was more like a donkey and cart...the only way to travel bar push bike in Gilly T as there are no cars and motorbikes. The mushroom shakes here are nowhere near as yummy as in Laos. They mix it with coke and it kind of curdles and tastes fowl! Holod your nose and down the hatch! We met up with this Italian guy called Itscio, 54 yrs, married 15 days who danced ALL night until the sun came up over Mount Rinjini in Lombok. His wife wasn't in the Gilly's with him, she was meeting him ... read more

The long journey ahead.... I'm 2 hours into this 30 hour journey to Mataram. I took the local ferry as I had missed the other boats as they only leave once a week. The ferry stinks, I'm sat on a rickety old plastic chair and I don't even want to find out about the toilets, I wonder if I can hold it for the next 6 hours?? I can see a 'first class'area aka a room with sofer seats - I might try and sneak in. 6 hours later we have docked in Sumbawa. I have successfully not gone to the toilet...much to my dismay there is no toilet at the ferry dock...so another few hours to wait.. Bima is over-run by goats, they are everywhere, running around eating everything. Its a very strict Muslim island, ... read more

Magnificent Manta!! The amazing day continued with 2 perfect out of this world dives! The first dive we went to The Coral Gardens....a long long stretch of reef full of the most colourful coral. Made diving in Thailand look drab! Saw some Reef Sharks, Turtles and dozens of fish! no octopus yet though! The second dive we went to a dive site called "The Airstrip". Its a long flat stretch of seabed about 9 metres down, and its frequented by Manta Ray. The area used to be home to around 300 Manta Ray but at last count there was just 25, they have been driven away by people chasing them, some people have even been known to throw themselves on them and ride them?!?!?!?! Both dive instructors were real nervous as we might not see any, ... read more

Labaunbajo! Slept for 12 hours last night, felt great this morning! Turns out Labuanbajo is little more than a street. I thought it was going to be a lot bigger and more commercial considering it is one of the 2 gateways to The Komodo National Park - the only place on earth you can find the Komodo Dragons. Its nice that its stayed this way, not a Burger King or a Starbuks in sight. I'm off diving today, my first dive since I passed my PADI course in Thailand. I'm diving with Reefseekers, diving company owned by this Scottish guy called Ernest, who sounds just like Lilly Savage!. So I did 2 dives today, was amazing! The Komodo National Park is apparently the third best dive site in the world! There is a few of us ... read more