My next stop was Indonesia, a country constantly ravaged by natural disasters; Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, typhoons and tsunamis. Having experienced an earthquake first-hand in Peru last August, I was keen to avoid nature's other bad boys. As it turned out, it was only volcanic eruptions that I had to deal with, but that's a story for a later blog entry. I landed in Jakarta and went through the usual baggage collection chore. Bag after bag went past, but my rucksack (in glorious and unmissable purple) was nowhere to be seen. The baggage started to thin out, and then a sign [View Full Entry]

---

---

Australia. Home to many of the world's most dangerous creatures. Stonefish. Box jellyfish. Redback spiders. Blue-ringed octopus. Brown snakes. Funnelweb spiders. Great White Sharks. Saltwater crocodiles. And my personal favourite, the dropbear. A dropbear is similar to a koala, but much, much larger. They live in the branches of trees and drop down on unsuspecting targets. If the initial fall of this 60kg creature does not break your back or neck, then it will proceed to rip you to pieces with it's razor sharp claws. Usually dropbears attack smaller prey such as kangaroos and cattle, but they will not hesitate to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Fiji - quite possibly the friendliest and most welcoming country in the world? I got off the plane to find three gentlemen with flowery shirts and afros, singing and playing guitar. Welcome to Fiji. Sadly, I ran into a little trouble shortly after that... On the flight from New Zealand, I was talking to an Indian gentlman for most of the way. As the plane touched down, he asked me if I was buying any duty-free. I replied in the negative, and he asked if he could use my share. Why not, I thought. He bought an extra few bottles and [View Full Entry]

---

---

On the way to Asia, I thought I'd stop off in Auckland for a cup of tea and to catch up with some old friends. The flight from Chile was twelve hours, but curiously I left on Wednesday and arrived on Friday! I had crossed the most unusual time zone in the world and had completely lost Thursday in the process. If someone were to ask me "what were you doing on Thursday 27th September", I would have to reply that technically I did not exist on that day. If you fly in the opposite direction, from New Zealand to Chile, [View Full Entry]

---

---

A few observations and facts on Chile.... 1. There is a Chilean food called Calzones Rotos, which means "Ripped Panties". It's actually a sweet, doughy dessert. 2. Chile is an active earthquake and volcano region. The coastal regions of North Chile in have tsunami awareness programs, and towns have signs on every street corner showing tsunami evacuation routes. One valuable piece of advice in the tsunami information leaflets is "do not go towards the water to watch a tsunami" AS IF! There was a major tsunami in 1960 which reached a height of 11 metres. No way would I have been [View Full Entry]

---

---

I apologise in advance for this entry, as it might get a bit technical shortly. If you have no interest in astronomy, globular clusters, radio telescopes, or theories of extraterrestrial life, then skip to the next chapter. However, if you are a budding astronomy geek like myself (recently converted!), then please read on. Our next stop was Chile, and as we crossed the border our shoes had to be disinfected, to prevent bringing certain pests into the country. You see, part of Chile's prolific success with wines is that it's the only country in the world to be free of the [View Full Entry]

---

---

One of the highlights of Bolivia is the immense Salt Flats, aka the "Salar De Uyuni". Covering an area of over 10,000 square kilometres, it is essentially an enormous desert made of salt. Proper salt too, none of this low-sodium "lo-salt" rubbish that you see in the shops nowadays. I licked the ground just to make sure. The gateway to the Salt Flats is the town of Uyuni, which can be described in various words beginning with D: drab, dreary, dusty and depressing. It's only redeeming feature was a legendary pizzeria called "Minuteman". Rumours on the backpacker circuit said that this [View Full Entry]

---

---

A few facts and observations on Boliva... 1. Beware of asking any Bolivian local for directions. They are so eager to appear helpful that if they don't know the way, they will simply make up directions 2. Bolivia is the world's biggest exporter of Brazil nuts (more than Brazil, which it shares a border with) 3. The most common petty crime in La Paz is the theft of bowler hats, usually off the the persons head. All women in La Paz wear these bowler hats. 4. As with Peru, there are different styles of hats worn in different areas. In total [View Full Entry]

---

---

Near Potosi in Boliva, there is a unique festival involving excessive drinking, ritual combat and extreme violence. Participants drink until paralytic, and then fight until blood runs on the streets. It is called "Tinku" and is a centuries old festivity which takes place once per year. I didn´t experience this firsthand, because it is not recommended for Gringos to visit towns when the Tinku is occuring. Read on and you will discover why! But I have heard a lot about it, and thought I should share it with you. It occurs over several days, and is a means of releasing tension, [View Full Entry]

---

---

The newly formed travelling team of myself, Theresa and Steve headed to Potosi next, to visit a working silver mine, and experience the inhuman conditions that these miners are reputed to work under. We were also going to blow things up with dynamite. Potosi is the highest city in the world at a height of roughly 4,000m. For a while it was also the richest city in the world. The invading Spanish found vast quantities of silver in the earth near Potosi, and were well chuffed. Apparently the Spanish Government found enough silver to have built a transatlantic road of silver [View Full Entry]

---

---