Arabian Mornings I paid a brief visit to the Arabian quarter with its magnificent mosque, but I did not linger in this area due to the Monsoonuous* rainfall that was attempting to turn me into something with the appearance of a drowned rat. * Is this even a word? Literary Trails Having got an email from my future employers with a reading list I thought it would be wise to at least get the one book which was compulsory. Since I have only 3 weeks in the UK before I start work and am unlike to find time then to read [View Full Entry]

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Shop 'til you drop Along with eating shopping is apparantly Singapores national pastime, and todays experiences seem to back that up! Bugis Street Bugis street is a covered arcade which in the old days was a street synomymous with the seedier side of Singapore life. Now it sells tons of designer clothing and jewellry ripoffs as well as a lot of food stalls selling everthing from pancakes to stinky Durian juice. Just as a side issue Durians smell so bad that they are actually banned from the MRT and busses in Singapore. Sim Lim Square Next stop was world famous S [View Full Entry]

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Does chewing gum earn the death sentence? It's said that in Singapore you don't live in fear of crime, but live in fear of committing a crime and this reverberated through my mind as I came in through customs and immigration. Would I be executed for the one stick of gum buried deep in my bag? Perhaps the small amount of soil on my shoes would land me a hefty fine and jail sentence? Would I be deported before I even arrived? Actually Singapore airport was clean and efficient, and it was a breeze to get from there to the city [View Full Entry]

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To whom it may concern, mainly Nige and Shawna: I am sorry about the appaling spelling, punctuation and grammar in all of my blogs. I can write in 'correct' english when I want to. However while away travelling I have to balance the tasks of keeping a blog, and actually doing the things I write about. This means I rarely if ever proof read, or even think about what I write. So shove your grammar up your nostrils (or something slightly ruder...). So to my final full day in Bali. After breakfast Suni took me to see his friend Alit Satria [View Full Entry]

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I got up for breakfast about 8, and was presented with the greatest breakfast table views I have ever had! The only better breakfast view I can think of came last summer in the alps, a piece of fruit cake scoffed down with Dan at the summit of Mont Blanc Du Tacil, but the fear of death and shivering probably made it slight less idyllic. I went back to bed hoping to sleep up ready for the nights climb, but with no luck. For lunch I went to the buffet at the hotel. Stocked up with carbs, I sat down to [View Full Entry]

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At 5:30 I heard a frantic ringing of a bell which I assumed must have meant breakfast, so I awoke and sat keenly waiting. Breakfast didn't appear until 7 so I felt pretty stupid all told! Both dives of the day were on the Liberty, a boat sitting just of the Tulamben beach and laying on her side in between 5 and 30 metres of water. Its a large and imposing bulk to dive around, and despite its heavy coral coating it is still possible to see what is what. I was buddied up with Yoshi, a Japanese diving instructor working [View Full Entry]

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"You wanna banan' pancake" asked the owner of the homestay, reminding me of the start of 'The Beach'. By morning the place was no less grotty than the night before, infact it seemed the darkness had hidden a multitude of sins. While I waited for my Banan' pancakes to arrive I got chatting to the guy in the room next door, a harbour master on a rotation away from a Jakarta office job. Once I'd had the pancakes washed down with some Bali coffee (just grounds and water in a cup, but very nice) I wandered up and out of the [View Full Entry]

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Today was a day for celebration. The festivities were already in full swing when I came down for Breakfast. The entire family was dressed in their best and were busy praying and organising offerings - and generally having fun. A feast had been prepared, and as honoured guest (by virtue of being the only guest staying...) I was invited to try it all. It was a nice 'n spicy affair - lots of meaty curries. What was a bit different though was a coconut and palm sugar cone, and rice cakes topped with a sour fermented rice. Walking around the streets [View Full Entry]

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Rp35,000 seemed a good price to pay for a motorbike to save 3 bemo changes and several hours of journeying, so this was the method of transport that I used to get from Denpasar to Ubud. I think sometimes the driver forgot how big I am, and I was convinced that at somepoint I was going to lost one of both kneecaps. I finally realised how the horn is used in balinese driving. It is not the responsibility of the person pulling out to look, rather it is the responsibility of the oncoming traffic to inform that driver of their presence [View Full Entry]

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The sound of motorbikes never really stops in Depasar, but it does calm down. However I was woken at around 6 a.m. as the morning madness resumed. I went downstairs and ordered Nasi Goreng (fried rice), fruit and Balinese coffee which was a different, but fantastic way to start the day. I walked down the the 3 storey Pasar Badung market. The ground floor was all meat, fish, fruit and veg and not a place for the squeamish. The first floor was all herbs and spices, and the top floor was mainly clothing and homewares. I was accosted by a self [View Full Entry]

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