http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Sabah-Thorny-Stick/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Sabah Thorny Stick en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:39:56 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:39:56 +0000 I unfurled my sleeping bag got in positioned my backpack to act as a pillow and settled down for the night on the hard concrete floor. I just hoped there wouldnrsquot be any rats.Sleeping rough was something Irsquod strangely wanted to try for a long time. Just to see what itrsquos like. For an experience. Itrsquos hard to explain to people why yoursquod want to do something that homel http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Inner-Carniola/Postojna/blog-320905.html But why don't you want your passport stamped It was something I couldn't think of a decent lie to argue my way out of. So I just told the truth. I might want to go some countries that don't like Israel. An English man who had just run the Israeli desert told me it was in the high forties today maybe 48 degrees. Why would his judgement be wrong It was certainly hotter than Irsquod ever exp http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Eilat/blog-322500.html From the suburbs of Dakar My room is between the toilet if you can call it that it's a hole in the ground and a small area where goats are kept. The noise from the goats coupled with the incessantly busy courtyard area of the compound ensures that a good night's sleep is never achievable. Still I'd rather do it this way than be a regular tourist paying a small fortune to stay in one of the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Senegal/Cape-Verde-Peninsula/Dakar/blog-320234.html I got talking to one of my room mates in the hostel a Mr Vladimir Jon Cubrt a halfCzech halfCanadian guy. This was the first hostel I had stayed in with any distinct signs of life and I wasnrsquot going to pass such an opportunity We ate breakfast at a nearby takeaway place before getting a tram to Urakami Nagasakirsquos ground zero.Coming to Nagasaki wasnrsquot part of my original p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Nagasaki/Nagasaki/blog-278438.html It was a short train journey from the Polish border to Brest and the train was crammed with lots of bulky women but possibly more packed with their even bulkier bags. It seems this border is a major smuggling and trade route with goods unobtainable in Belarus being bought in Poland then sold on. However this is soon set to stop with Poland entering the Schengen area making the visa process f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belarus/Minsk-Voblast/Minsk/blog-320233.html Cairo. After six weeks of traveling from London through Europe and the Middle East I'm in the most chaotic noisy busy dirty and somewhat charismatic city I can imagine and have ever been in. Population estimates range from 15 million to 25 million with inabitants crammed in under the shadow of the Pyramids along the river banks and on top of each other into the sprawl of the suburban slums http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-320230.html Aha it's open I had finally found it. I walked in the thick smell of stew filling the air. The restaurant was empty except for two customers and about five staff members all of whom looked inquisitively at this strange foreigner who had just entered. I took off my shoes as is customary and was guided to one of the floor cushions that flanked the long wooden table. I cleared my throat smiled http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-278470.html He's dropped us off on a slipway in a sea of motorways. We're on the outskirts of Seville Spain and the sun had gone down a long time ago. Suddenly hitchhiking from Wales to Morocco doesn't seem so rosy. I am with John a friend from Swansea University and we're just two of the idiots who signed up to this adventure in the name of charity. We start walking just a walk to take us away from this http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-320231.html Walking along the riverside in Hamah Syria. It's a humid night full of noise. Nearby the crickets and cicadas are buzzing loudly in the reeds and in the distance the slow persistent creaking of water wheels is keeping a steady beat. These wheels locally known as norias up to 20 metres in diameter are centuries old endlessly scooping the water from the Orontes River and tipping it into mini http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/West/Hama/blog-320229.html I ignored the alarm at seven and almost the one at eight until I realised that the sights of Miyajima island awaited me. I packed the semidried clothes that I had washed in the hostel sink checked out of the hostel and put my bag in the train station locker. I was already sweaty and the day was only just heating up. It was going to be a scorcher.The ferry to Miyajima island was short and chea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Yamaguchi/blog-256399.html With a mother and young son on the seats opposite me I desperately tried to get comfortable enough to close my eyes and doze off. Just as I was about to fall asleep sprawled across two seats a man tapped my knee and claimed I was laying in his seat. Now with nowhere to sprawl forced to sit upright and sunburn ravaging my body I was so uncomfortable. The train journey was hour after hour of not http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/blog-254038.html I took more and more everdeeper breaths the higher we climbed. The route was now becoming harder the gradients steeper. On one long stretch we were walking on rubble with a waistheight stone wall running alongside. Every step forward wersquod slide half a step back. In another part there were rocks that we had to scramble up. Finding somewhere to hold on to and hoist yourself up with was ha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-248694.html I woke up in a sweat at nine in the morning on some bedding on the lounge floor. I felt so clammy nasty and thirsty but couldnrsquot be bothered to do anything about it yet so I just continued sleeping until two in the afternoon David having long gone to work. I just donrsquot know how he does it. It had been a crazy night my brother and I had now been joined by two cousins.They like m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-245685.html I felt I was now getting to know the real Japan. I may have found it in the multistorey pachinko buildings where the escalators only go up and the noise is deafening. Pachinko a form of pinball is an addictive craze that has swept Japan like a virus. Hour after hour literal buckets of yen are spent sitting at a machine dropping small silver balls into it in the vague hope of winning big.The http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-243625.html After having planned to be awake at nine I actually got up around half eleven. I said my goodbyes to Yazan my Syrian Couchsurfing host and descended the stairs of his tower block. Irsquod only been in Nagoya for one night but I liked it a lot. It seemed very international and lively with plenty of things going on. Sure there were the temples castles parks and nightlife like any other Japa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-240706.html Amidst a huge coughing fit I said goodbye to my host Jon in the backstreets of suburban Himeji early in the morning. Jon was a short man of Hong Kong descent but with a thick American accent having done some studies over there. He was pretty well stacked and had many piercings which slightly unsettled me particularly the one through his nose bridge. I was already exhausted by the time I fou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Osaka/Osaka/blog-198637.html As the afternoon began to slide away into the evening time seemed to stop and my senses grew heightened. Sounds filled the air the sounds of giant birds every one of them calling to another and every one of them with wings seemingly ragged torn and damaged. Silhouetted against the darkening grey skyline and crooked withered trees these giant black crows looked almost terrifying. It is an ima http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hiroshima/Hiroshima/blog-193441.html Day 6 Bag unpacking repacking and sorting every day is becoming a real hassle. As is the onceaday antimalaria pilltaking. I have to chew the little bastard as I can't ever swallow pills whole. It tastes of ...not nice. Midmorning we left Planet Kinabalu hostel Kota Kinabalu and took a minibus to the nearby Crocker Range to start the first of the trekking. Out of the vehicle we plastered http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Crocker-Range/blog-43126.html Day 2 Waking up in the old disused pub we had another day of teambuilding exercises ahead of us.Trying to put up the hammocks in the Hounslow woodland didn't go too well. We were going to have to sleep in these large sheets of fabric so had to learn how to put them up And quickly.Back inside the barracks and after some greasy army food we sat on the grass planes to and from Heathrow flying http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Richmond/blog-43113.html Day 15 Goodbye Sabah Hello Sarawak We took a short flight on a hilariously named Fokker plane from Kota Kinabalu Sabah to Miri Sarawak to explore new parts of Borneo Fresh in Miri airport we swooped upon the iceream stand and feasted upon the odd flavours available. Yam sweetcorn and some name that sounded like mackerel. I chose the yam and sweetcorn flavours. We even took great advant http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/Miri/blog-43150.html