TomAnja

So, for the final installment of our Indonesian blogs the theme is dragons. Komodo Dragons to be precise, a prehistoric throwback that bears a passing resemblance to a crocodile on a bad hair day, at least until they move that is, when the Naomi Campbell hips come into play. They are one of the deadliest predators known to man, dominant in their natural habitat to such an extent that animals (food) are bred in the national park to provide enough sustinance. In a single sitting a fully grown adult dragon can eat up to 80% of its bodyweight, around 50kg. Thankfully, I am a shade under 80kg myself and as a result off the menu, but that didn't stop me keeping my distance when we encountered them in the wild. The dragons are spread over a ... read more

What we have been up to recently…..Part 1 Apologies for the relatively long delay since the last blog, there are no real excuses to be honest other than that we have been quite busy! Last time we posted anything we were about to leave Thailand for the second time, and enter Malaysia also for the second time. As I write today on December 13th we are back in Indonesia (again for the second time) and planning to leave again in 4 days time. As you can gather, there is a fair bit of stuff that falls in the “time in between” category. In fact, there is probably too much for one blog so consider this your first instalment of the update. Today’s topic ladies and gents (pens at the ready) in Malaysia. After a relaxing couple ... read more

This is the most recent update of our progress so far........ read more

Ok, so Tom has delegated blog duties to me this week as he's busy trying to perfect the lobster look so please excuse the lack of wit, long words and history. ; ) We had decided to take the slow train to Kalaw, famed for the beautiful landscape surrounding it. Trains in Myanmar are not like normal trains – for one, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of schedule. We were told to head to the train station round 8am, the train would arrive sometime between 9am and 3pm. Maybe. In the end we only had to wait about four hours and spent the time people-watching – Myanmar really is one of the best countries for that. At some point a herd of cattle wandered calmly through the station – not something you could imagine ... read more

When Rudyard Kipling wrote of his time spent in Burma, he neglected to mention that the aforementioned road to the former capital city is akin to driving over a cattle grid with every 5th bar missing. For over an hour after leaving Bagan we rumbled through arid countryside, the bus shaking more than Elvis in his pomp. Bagan lies a mere 90 miles southwest of Mandalay, but the journey took us 6 hours, which gives you some indication of the infrastructure problems that blight the country. When we weren’t testing the welding of the bus on the dirt roads we were fording 4ft deep streams of water that criss-crossed our path for much of the journey. The wet season runs from June to October usually, but the area around Bagan and Mandalay is not usually badly ... read more

Yangon Part Two Ethically the question of whether to visit Myanmar is not an easy one to answer. The country is run by a military junta*, who, in true military junta fashion, live like kings, hoard all the wealth in the country, allow their people to starve and live in unbelievable poverty, supress human rights, impose travel restrictions on locals and foreigners alike and generally treat everybody with contempt, disrespect and cruelty. On the other hand are the people, the long suffering yet ever smiling people of Myanmar, keen to talk about anything and everything in order to have a semblance of contact with life beyond the borders of their homeland. Indeed, allow them to start talking and their loquacious nature takes over. It is best to grab a small plastic chair, a cup of strong, ... read more