I'm about to adventure on an epic trip around Asia. Starting in India, we plan on visiting Nepal, Tibet, China, Malaysia and Thailand. When I'm not travelling for fun, I'm travelling for work as a Software Consultant.
We spent the first two nights in Tugu hotel north of the island. Very nice, antique laden hotel with incredible food. After day two I was a little bored, it's off the beaten track and you don't get a feel of the island staying here. However, the food was to die for - thank you London foodie for the recommendation and thanks Kate for sending on the article. When we left the hotel the staff (who were the nicest people on the planet) saw us off in style. We were given a lovely terracotta ash-tray and when we turned around to wave goodbye from the taxi, we found them standing in the driveway, waving little British flags at us! Suddenly felt like how the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge must feel when they campaign around the ... read more
Tip: Do - go snorkelling Don't - attempt to find a place to swim. A wasted effort as the island is surrounded by coral! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When we got off the speed boat onto Gilli T we thought... yes - no cars or mopeds! The best way to travel is on foot or in our case, we hired bicycles. Again, we booked our accommodation on the last night in Uluwatu using booking.com - we spent the first two nights on the party side of the island (east) in a homestay. We scoped the island out and decided to try staying the last two nights on the quiet side (west - aka sunset beach). We went for dinner in Samba on our first evening, they did a lovely Indonesian noodle soup - Sean had chicken satay and nasi ... read more
Tip: - we paid a guy to drive us to Uluwatu which cost us about £20 - according to the locals in Semenyak there are no public buses that go down to the area since there isn't much demand for local people to travel there. We booked a nice, basic room at a house-stay using booking.com - it cost peanuts and there were tonnes of places to chose from - most of them hire mopeds and this is best way to get around Uluwatu - the roads are quiet so makes for a easy moped experience. We took the moped up to Pura lahur temple - there are excellent views of the ocean and lots of cheeky little monkeys to laugh at. It's a bit of a tourist trap but it's worth seeing. Head to Uluwatu ... read more
Quick tips: If you're tired of drinking Bintang, try the following: - Two Islands wine - 2012 - Ultimino's Cabernet Merlot - Tequila but you have to try it with an orange slice covered in cinnamon instead of lemon & salt as recommended by the locals Semenyak Uber cool - on the first night we ate at Ultimato - a trendy Italian restaurant complete with live opera (bit odd) but the ambience was great in this place. A slightly older crowd making us feel quite at home. We waited for a table at the back, in the garden but if you have an option get a street table - there was a longer wait for this and man mountain was too hungry to wait!! Food - 7/10 Wine - 6/10 Ambience - 8/10 We were heading ... read more
Hello friends and family, I'm writing this to apologise for the lack of updates on my blog. I think I have updates to make from Chirstmas onwards. That's a lot, but it serves me right for not being more frequent in updating them. I have everything written down in my pad and all the photos - all that remains is finding the time to make the postings. I will try to get some in soon, although I am now in Malaysia and soon to be in some remote islands off the North East coast so the chances of finding Internet access could be slim. Hey, I'm having fun so that's the main thing. Thanks! Bye for now! P.S. I'm having a blast! ... read more
We arrived in Allepey a day before we were due to meet the boys, Nick and Chirstian. We spent the evening drinking beer in the guesthouse and the next morning we watched the owners feed their pet eagle. Yeah, we thought it was a bit odd as well. As it turns out, the eagle fell from a coconut tree and broke it's wing. The poor thing. It was only a chick. It's been there for three months, still too weak to fly away but getting stronger each day. We watch them feed it fish and omelette. Mmm, yummy! After breakfast we ventured out in Alleypey. We had already pre-booked a houseboat with a chap called Roy George. Still unsure if that's his real name. After calling him we found that Roy had given his boat to ... read more
Varkala - The Arrival There's something really special about waking up on a train in a different location. We fell asleep in the state of Tamil Nadu and woke up in Kerela, quoted as God's own land. I can see why. From the moment I woke up, which was roughly around sunrise, I had my gaze out the window. The countryside was superb. I figured I would never see it again so I might as well absorb as much of it as possible. We got off the train and went straight to the cliff. This is where most tourists stay. It's a long strip, along which you'll find allt he hotels, resorts and restaurants you'll need. Right below you'll find the best beach I've seen since I've been in India. The water is the perfect temperature. ... read more
Day 12/13 - Chennai to Vakala Our train wasn't due to leave until 20:00 so we had another day in Chennai. We decided not to go to far since Kate was feeling under the weather. She's much better now! :) We visited the St. Thomas cathedral and once again we were accosted by serveral Indian families. There were children receiving their Holy Communals with their whole extended families present to film the event. We were also filmed, and as always vigorously questioned by each member of the family. They were very sweet. As we walked around the museum behind the church, we met a lovely Indian woman who tried her best to covert us to the catholic faith. She simply asked us what faith we followed and which God we believed in and when we said ... read more
South Chennai - Prabu's home I met Prabu in Angola whilst I out for work and he was working at the same bank. We had the great pleasure of meeting Prabu and his lovely family last week when we arrived in Chennai and last night Kate and I were invited to his 7 year old son's birthday celebration at his home. It was very nice to see how much fun the children were having, with complete automony they were like durcell bunnies, nothing would stop from their play! I've never seen more energetic kids in my life! After our meal and cake we were treated to hand henna. Please see pictures for more.. Wed.... read more
Chennai Cricket Stadium - Englan V India - Day 3 - Test match OK, I must stress that I really don't know much about cricket but we had a little help from a colleague. People from work will recognise him and might even be surprise to see him in these photos. :) He was good enough to explain the rules, and there were many! The day started off with India batting and within 10 minutes of arriving we saw the mighty Flintoff take two wickets! Get in! Happy days. England were up next to bat. And so the day proceeded with England leading by about 230 runs by the time we left and only 3 wickets down. Not bad. As I said earlier, I'm not very clued up on cricket but it's hard not to enjoy ... read more