UncleTravellingRick

It's sunday night and there's a certain something in the air here that I can't quite put my finger on. I'd been warned last time I was here that sunday nights in Little India can be quite mad, though I can't rememeber why exactly. Looking down from the safety of my dorm window Indian men are starting to crown the streets. sitting on curbs and talking in loud excitable voices. They walk arm in arm or hand in hand down the narrow roads making the whole affair look not dissimilar to gay pride, but no, I jest, gay pride is much more fashionable...thinking about it, Indian men could be the most unfashionable demographic on the planet, but I digress... I've just checked with the waiter, after munching down a delish Byriani, and he's said that Monday ... read more

Well, I made it to Malaysia, not that it's difficult to jump on a 30p public bus from Singapore! Caught a coach 2hours north up to Malaka, a little stop-over to break up the journey to Kuala Lumpur (KL to its friends). Malaka is quite a lively little place, full of Singaporean, Chinese and Indian tourists taking the heat off us travellers, (yes, I do view myself as a cut above the 'standard' tourist), however saying that, you don't get half as much hassle here as in Indo - thankfully! It's been hard to enjoy the lively Sat night street markets, line dancing (!) and kareokee because my ear is still killing me and I'm necking paracetamol like they're Smints, but at least I can get my teeth to meet meaning I can chew now so ... read more

Haven't felt well for days. Back in Kuta I'd woke up exhausted, head-achey and freezing one morning, had to put all my layers on and sit under the thin blanket before breaking into sweats less than an hour later. I hadn't even drank that much the previous night but the weird thing was that my lymph nodes were really swollen and sore but I guessed maybe it was really pulled muscles from my vain pre-clubbing push-ups last night. Flu symptons set in quickly and faded just as fast but then when I got to Singapore I developed earache, the pain from which kept me awake for days continuously and gave me weird blood-shot eyes and that histamine-overproduction feeling that hayfever sufferers learn to know. Something wasn't quite right... I was supposed to get the bus north ... read more

Ahh, civilisation. I seem to have gone from one extreme to another as I sit back and sup my Singapore Sling in the time-warped colonial settings of The Long Bar in Raffles; the origin of Singapore's most famous cocktail. If only I'd packed my white suit and matching hat, Mr DelMonte style.... Amazingly I exited Bali with almost no problems regarding my status as ilegal immigrant although I did get directed to Immigration 20 mins outside of the airport where I had to wait for 40mins, (the counter staff were at lunch...honestly this place has gone to pot since we left), before being told that I could buy a visa extension in the airport. What did I expect, I should have learnt the lesson of miss-information by now. The previous night the lads and I had ... read more

Thirty Six aching hours of boats, ferries, tat-sellers, taxis, Bemos and a 'coach-full' fob-off in Bima by an angry ex-millitary man now in charge of a bus company that fired up our Italian's rage so much that the situation required poilce intervention. Still, we made it back to Kuta; town of cheap beer, good food, dance clubs, beautiful bodies and ... Australians. Tomorrow my tourist visa expires ... 3 days before I'm due to depart. Technically I'll become an illegal immigrant or something like that. I must ring the British Consulate - it's on my ToDo list but life and motivation here are wonderously slow. Mañana. ... 25th July Spent 2hours in the local hospital's A&E department after Nic managed to bite through his bottom lip whilst diving onto Mikey in the shallow end of our ... read more

Wong again Everywhere we turn, everyone we ask gives us conflicting information. On purpose? Flores has no Dragons. Spirits were low. Lambanbajo, a one-road dump of a village, whose only beach we renamed Syringe Beach, was dragging us down. Jack had been served a rotten tenderloin steak and although he'd noticed and stopped eating half-way through was caught by a 24hour, gut-wrenching case of food poisoning, meaning he spent most of the night pebble-dashing the porcelain squat toilet. We shared a twin room. The toilet door didn't close never mind lock. I was woken constantly by his groans and the stench burning in my nostrils; an imaginary green fog enveloping the dim room. It wasn't pleasant. Doctor down. ..... The next day, after much bargining with Indo-Jack, our hotel worker-cum-travel-agent, we managed to get a pretty ... read more

Slowly being lulled into sleep by the rhythmic chugging of the ferry's engines. I'm 3 hours into my 10hour journey to Gilli Trawangan, (I'd decided to take the slow option to save some rupiah), one of three little islands off the North East coast of neighbouring Lombok. Feeling a bit daft because I'd already decided a week ago to spend my time in the Gillis at the end of my trip, rather than in the middle so that I can relax and know exactly how much time I have. Never mind, I suppose everything happens for a reason, perhaps now I'll definately get to Komodo and skip Yogjakata on Java? Who knows, but thinking about it, I only have 20 days left! Jeez, it's racing by! I should fill you in on the last few days ... read more