7monthsandnoplan

Hello from Sanur, in Bali. A resort town full of middle aged couples and expensive hotels – I’m blending in perfectly! But I am here to sit on the beach today and that is all before I bid goodbye to the sun for a while and get on a plane! I just cannot believe it is 8 months since I was last in England and in 2 days I will be back! Anyway I have spent the last month exploring the 2 islands to the east of Lombok (which is to the east of Bali for all those non geography buffs). I crossed Sumbawa over 3 days and can honestly say I did not see another tourist for the whole time I was there. This is generally because there isn’t really that much to do there. ... read more

Hello from Kuching. The city of the cat (Kuching means cat in Malaysia) and don’t they like to milk it (no pun intended) there are cat statues and cat souvenirs everywhere! It pretty much feels like home now as we have been here nearly 2 weeks pottering around, seeing the sites and waiting for a flight to Kula Lumpar after we jumped on a lovely 24 hour bus journey to get here from Brunei. The Sultans birthday was good although sadly he was apparently too busy to blow out all the candles on his many cakes and we did not receive any handouts of gold . He started the celebrations with a 8am parade and taking of the salute of all the troops (apparently if you are a sultan there is no such thing as a ... read more

So hello from very near Brunei! This will be the 3rd country I visit in 3 weeks! So be warned this blog is likely to be a very long one! I spent a little bit longer in Kota Kinabalu than planned purely because Luke (who has flown out to join me) spent his first night of travelling wandering aimlessly rather jetlagged around Kula Lumpar alone because he missed his connecting flight whilst I sat alone in the very nice hotel i’d booked us into. It wasn’t really the reunion we had planned but 36 hours later than expected he finally showed up. Once he got over the jet lag we headed off exploring some nearby islands before continuing north to tackle Mount Kinabalu. This is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and Papua New Guinea, its ... read more

So I’ve made it to Nepal! Its lovely being in a different country for a change, although getting here was even more of a mission. It took me 5 hours and one jeep, a bus, a cycle rickshaw and my own 2 legs to get me into Nepal and as it was a 17 hour bus journey to Kathmandu I unwisely decided to stay at the border. Lets face it, border towns are never nice. This one excelled at being especially interesting though. Dusty, dingy and boiling (its on the plains) I decided there was nothing better to do than check myself into the recommended hotel and sleep (well this was the idea!) I checked in and was just about to have a shower when i heard a noise coming from the bed. Unusual even for ... read more

Hello! It seems to have been a little while but I seem to have been doing a lot of moving over the last few weeks and am getting quite used to curry for 3 meals a day. I did eventually manage to make myself leave the plentiful supply of cornflakes that was Varkala and in a bizarre twist of circumstances checked myself into the local Cult. Yes, that is right i said Cult. Don’t worry 2 months in India has not turned me into a complete Spiritual hippy but having met a lot of people that had been I decided to pay it a visit. Its an interesting place, designed a bit like a 24 floor posh council estate it has shops, juice bars, a swimming pool (full dress only allowed), a charity shop and a ... read more