Noz
Nicholas Edwards Joined: June 25th 2009
Logged in: January 15th 2010
Logged in: January 15th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
In the pool with Alex and Dad
Flying from Darwin to Brisbane my long journey seemed mostly at an end, as I was picked up at the airport by Genevieve, Edward and Alexander - my sister and her two young boys. A few days later my parents joined us on the Gold Coast, and we celebrated an early Christmas together. So no more would I sleep in bed bug ridden beds, clutching my passport to my chest. No more would I wake up trying to remember how to say in the local language “Where am I?” I was now staying with family, in safe, familiar places, speaking English, eating recognizable food, and catching up with familiar friendly people, some of whom I hadn’t seem for years. I still had a few thousand kms to travel before I was back in my home town ... read more
The green park
My flight to Darwin was an unsociable over-nighter, leaving just before midnight and arriving at 3am. I was lucky enough to be the only person in my row, so I stretched out and had a little sleep. Remarkably there was no big fanfare of a welcome home to Australia - did Darwin not realize who I was? After being away from Australia for so long, and travelling such a long a circuitous route to return, I thought I could have expected at least a brass band and a speech from the mayor. The weather did not forget me, however, for there was a tremendous rain storm soon after I arrived; a huge tropical downpour that seemed to come from nowhere, and disappeared just as quickly. The heat too was impressive, as was the all-pervading, comforting smell ... read more
Kuta beach
I hope you didn’t think I perished in Bali, having left the blog hanging there weeks ago! I found a clean place to stay in Kuta, without airconditioning, but with two swimming pools (one was obviously not enough for the ambitious owners). There I caught up with a little sleep and set off to discover Kuta - still a hugely popular destination for Australian beach and party lovers who want to go abroad, but not too far. The weather was perfect, as were the warm sea and long sandy beach. There seemed to be no crowds, and the people were friendly enough. The population in Kuta was probably half Indonesian, half visitors, and most of the visitors were Australian. There were plenty of beach-salesmen - not selling beaches, but aggressively selling everything you could possibly want ... read more
Station sign
The train left exactly on time, and was only about a third full, which made the doubled price even more mysterious and annoying. Nevertheless there was plenty of room to stretch out and try to sleep. Thankfully the film playing on the video screen was inaudible where I was sitting. There were only a handful of stops, and the night passed uneventfully. One of my armed friends occasionally wandered through the carriage, and once stopped to warn me to be careful with my laptop if I fell asleep. I must have got some sleep, for the night seemed to pass fairly quickly. We had a surprise breakfast of rice and chicken, which was handed out from a trolley about an hour before we arrived at Surabaya. Some people declined the meal, and I only found out ... read more
Refugee camp?
According to the official Indonesian ferry service website (PELNI.co.id) there was a ferry leaving from Batam Island, near to Singapore, for Jakarta this afternoon. The ferry went about every four days, so getting the day right was important. And catching a ferry rather than the easier option of flying was important to me too. Ben and I left Little India at 7am and caught the clean and efficient MRT train to the Singapore ferry port, in order to catch a ferry to Batam in time for the 1pm Indonesian ferry. If that is beginning to sound complicated, keep reading and pay attention. The Singapore leg of the morning’s journey was relatively straight forward, including going through customs and immigration - although Ben unexpectedly had to pay a charge for excess weight in his backpack: a little ... read more
Georgetown Hotel
Colonial Georgetown, on Penang Island in Malaysia. I caught the ferry which was very cheap and very busy, a short walk away from Butterworth station. On the other side I headed straight to the bus station, and asked which one of the new and airconditioned buses would take me to Georgetown. I asked several people, and always got a confused look, and at the most the question, “Which part of Georgetown?” I changed tack and caught a bus to a street that apparently had a number of internet cafés. I thought I needed more information about this part of the world before I knew what I wanted to see. I walked through a busy couple of streets, mainly selling t-shirts, and eventually stopped a young couple from the UK to ask if they had seen any ... read more
The god of Bangkok shopping
I returned to Bangkok from the temple in Chiang Mai, in order to make the next part of my journey: a series of trains south through Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore. I travelled in first class on the train from Chiang Mai, craving a little comfort after the ten days of deprivation in the monastery. The seats were quite comfortable, and the airline-style complimentary meals were nice, but I missed the procession of food and drink sellers, and most of my fellow travellers seemed to be foreigners like I. The scenery, apparently the same from whichever class you travelled in, was lush jungles, and flocks of water birds in watery green rice fields. My arrival back in Bangkok was greeted enthusiastically by the tuk tuk and taxi drivers. They were all eager to know where I ... read more
Meditating
Mornings began with a bong - a loud resounding bell from the temple's ornately-housed bell at 4am. My first full day I snoozed for another hour, not quite convinced it was healthy to rise so early, especially as no sleeping was permitted before 10pm - you may rest but not sleep during the day. By the second day I was on my feet in one wakeful movement in automatic response to the first bong. And for a few days I was even up well before 4am to get in some extra meditation before breakfast. Those days I did sneak a tiny nap during daylight, I admit. The bell's ringing was enhanced by the baying simultaneously of the temple's dogs, which seemed perfectly normal to my sleepy head. One morning I was practising my meditation by the ... read more
Tuk tuk
Rain. Pregnant drops crashing to earth to keep Sri Lanka green and buzzing with life. Constant rain for the last 12 hours to make my final tuk tuk ride, this time to the airport, a damp rush through the water-filled potholes and over-gushing gutters. My driver was a quarter of an hour late, and I was five minutes down the road with damp knees before he apologetically found me. I had regretted talking the price down from 100 to 80 rupees the evening before, after all I was relying on him to pick me up at 5am in all that rain. What was an extra $2 to me in that situation? Flight to BKK was only three-and-a-half hours, and took me well into the second half of my trip. The first half (if you haven't been ... read more
Low land view on the way to Kandy
As well as the Temple of the Bhudda's Tooth, which was my planned highlight for the day, I contemplated visiting Sri Lanka's evocatively named Elephant Orphanage. I was very keen to go there - meal times were especially recommended by the American guests I met over breakfast. They ate light, so I assumed they got more pleasure from watching elephants dine. It was not looking easy to get to, however. It would have taken most of the day and involved hiring a taxi for the long journey, so I promised myself another trip one day (hopefully not 19 years later, like my second visit to Sri Lanka took me). Instead I would wander about Kandy and journey again on the mountain-traversing train back to the capital. Entering the Temple of the Sacred Tooth involved being searched ... read more
