sunrise2 shanghai

In 7 hours I walked, took a cab, walked some more, caught a motorbike, walked again, got picked up a motor bike, caught a small bus, then a large bus and another 4hours later was back on another motorbike. Why? let me explain.. Arriving back in Vietnam seemed surprisingly comfortable. I had to shed my Terima kasi (Indonesian thankyou) for Gamon (Vietnamese Thank you) and relearn the value of the Dong all over again. A quick stop over in Saigon before embarking on a bus journey deep into the Mekong Delta to visit my friend My Huong and her family in which I would be staying for a few days. But first I had to get there and after I asked around at a few travel agencies how much the tickets were to Cantho I was ... read more

As you travel from Tentena to Rentapao you will notice a shift from Muslim to Christianity with some villages displaying a large Crucifix in their front yard as well as the symbolic Crucifix lining the streets. I wondered as I was sitting in the bus watching the crosses fly past one after another like a flicker in a film, how & why is religion so intoxicating & consuming to some? Why does religion have to mean fanaticism & absolutism? In 2005 there was unrest in Palu, Poso, Tentena and surrounding districts between the Muslims & Christians which, resulted in a hideous bomb attack in Palu on Christmas day killing 8 people coupled with a bomb attack in Tentena killing 22 people. Such occurrences attract negative press within our western media leaving us, westerners little understanding of ... read more

Travelling to the Togian Islands is no easy feat, getting there involves at least three days travel depending on your departure point. The Togian Islands had been one of my primary reasons for visiting Sulawesi in Indonesia coupled with the Australian rite of passage, "The trip to Bali" On Palau Kadidiri Island there are three resorts all sharing the same slice of pristine beach! In no particular order there is, Paradise Resort, Black Marlin Cottages & Pondok Lestari. Two of the resorts, Black Marlin & Paradise are similarly priced resulting in a competitiveness that has been noted over the years in the Lonely Planet Guides as a "No love lost affair". This struck me as quite odd and perhaps a little sad that a small stretch of sand on an Island could have any animosity dwelling ... read more

Everything that happened to me described in this particular blog was my own silly fault! I would like to say that after almost four months of travelling that I have become a little more travel wise, which I have, but every now and then I make a silly mistake that puts me right back in the beginners class of travellers. This all started in Gorantalo when I wanted to withdraw a few million Rupiahs for my journey through the Togeans. The ATM would only dispense me 1.25million and for some unknown reason I thought that was my limit for the day. I would later learn that I could have reinserted my card and done that same transaction several times. The next day I completed the same transaction and by my calculations, I would have enough ... read more

From the first time I read about the Bajo people, "Sea Gypsies", I was intrigued about their existence in modern day life. The concept of people living in stilt houses that are built over the sea congers images the movie "Water World" which starred Kevin Costner. On my last days in the Togean Island I decided that making the journey across the sea to the Bajo Village was now or never. I hired a young local fisherman to get me there & the two of set out to the Gypsy Village in a traditional outrigger style boat. The timber boat had an old sack for a shade blind, A large rock for an anchor and palm leaves stitched together for a roof. Two outboard motors saw us cross the sea and to our destination in under ... read more

I said goodbye to Bali & to my new friends, Yasier & Laura & headed off to Sulawesi. I decided to fly from Denpasar, Bali to Gorantalo, Sulawesi. There was a brief stop in Makassar where I changed planes prior to heading to Gorantalo. When I boarded the plane, I noted immediately that I was the only westerner on board. Obviously, a sure sign that I was leaving behind the mass of tourists and travelling to parts of Indonesia where the road is less traveled. .There was a lot of cloud about and rain which made it virtually impossible to see anything out of the aircraft window and it wasn't long after takeoff when the turbulence began and the flight become a white knuckle experience. At one stage, the plane hit a pocket and dropped just ... read more