TravelStream™ news feed for member alexbright on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/alexbright en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:46:57 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1200660000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1200660000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1200660000/tpod.html Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:46:57 -0500 Around the world in 80 toilets ...... and then some.

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Geraldton, Australia

Oz - west coast: GeraldtonRenowned as a bit of a place to stop on the way up the coast, but a pleasant enough town. I was still feeling the affects of being quite ill in Perth. I had consumed some pre-packed meat that was woefully out of date. Bad supermarket! It had left my tummy in a right ol' pickle and i was still feeling feint and had no appetite. Not good, but my spirits were still high. We visited the free museum and learnt all about the wreck of the dutch ship The Batavia which wrecked onto a reef off the coast. We have since learned they are making a film, and it really is an astonishing story of greed, treachery and survival at what were astonishing odds back in the 1629.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1199536800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1199536800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1199536800/tpod.html Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:03:31 -0500 Around the world in 80 toilets ...... and then some.

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Cervantes, Australia

Oz - west coast: CervantesIt would appear we have lost a few photos here and there, so please bear with us until regular service is resumed. Our first night stop was in a free state cared for rest area, and the first Ozzy we met was a local fella who was sitting supping a beer, with his rusty ol' car parked with all the windows and doors open. I asked him if all was ok, and he asked me if we had seen the police. I told him no. He breathed a sigh of relief and explained he was drunk, he had no driving license and the car was un-road worthy and he had waved gleefully at the cops as he had driven past! He was in hiding.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198845540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198845540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198845540/tpod.html Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:44:52 -0500 Around the world in 80 toilets ...... and then some.

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Perth, Australia

Oz - PerthWhat the heck is going on here? Tweeks spent many days trying to get her head around being somewhere else other than Asia. It did feel a little strange.We tracked down family Gunnarson of Batukaras fame, and they very, very kindly put us up while we sorted out a camper van for several days. What a great bunch they are! We toured about Perth and the suburbs. We visited another old friend who i had met in Perth the first time around with Doeboy. It was great to see him and his new wife Lily and newly born baby girl Georgia.On the 5th of January we had picked up our Toyota camper and were set for almost two months of road trip. Since Tweeks was going to be driving the whole lot, i put her in for a service with a Chinese fella who pushed needles and electric current through her sore back and then provided pills. Tweeks was race tuned and ready for touring!Quick, lets go!  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198413480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198413480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198413480/tpod.html Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:36:02 -0500 Around the world in 80 toilets ...... and then some.

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Jakarta, Indonesia

Java - JakartaHappy Christmas!Several months ago, we booked a rather nice hotel in Jakarta, in preparation for our Christmas in the largest Muslim populated country in the world. Needless to say, Muslim folk don't celebrate Christmas, and we both expected the least Christmaseee Christmas we were ever likely to experience in our lives. Happily we were wrong. Shops had father Christmas pics and even Christmas tunes playing while we browsed the supermarket for Christmas fare, in the form of crackers and cheese, fruit, but rather sadly no mince pies. Tweeks had even emailed Marks and Spencers to see if a store in Jakarta would provide them. No.We were enormously excited about our hotel and were like small children opening a very big present prior to arriving and once we had come through the plush front door and atrium. It was most definitely Christmas here! They had done a fab job at getting the atmosphere right for the tourists. Our room was amazing. We had been living very cheaply through the last 7 months, so a carpet and bath were off the scale. I was so excited i was quite literally skipping about our huge room for the first 15 mins with a big dippy grin. It wasnt long before i had the first of 5 baths in 3 days. It was superb!All in all we had a truly wonderful time in Hotel Borobudur and Jakarta. It went past our very measly expectations and provided and very happy Christmas. We even got to see some family by Skype.We found the Javanese to be the most warm hearted and welcoming nation you could possibly hope to visit. We were curious of them and they were equally so of us. As it turned out my nose was quite the topic of debate not that we could often tell, but occassionaly someone would translate. What a shame Java is so very far away from Europe, 'cos it's a wonderful destination with a wonderful population to cap it off.    
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Ujon Kulong, Indonesia

Java - Ujon Kulong National Park: south west tip of JavaWe left Anuk Krakatau and headed off towards a large national park, which Krakatau was kind of responsible for. It help depopulate the area and is now thick with jungle and wild animals. Most notably and elusively is the Javanese rhino. Teetering on extinction, the island was once heavy populated but numbers have declined to almost nothing. We spent our first night perched on a island no bigger than a football pitch, covered in broken coral. That night our tent pretty much blew down and the rain dripped in while i was suffering a pretty tasty migraine. Tweeks sat up for hours holding the tent upright while i practised the foetal position. That morning we were very pleased to see the sun rise and our boat appear. We spent the follwing night on a larger island buried in the jungle. Monkeys, deer and pigs kept us company. All very nice too. Rain put a quick end to our attempt to spot a wild rhino or two, but after the night we had spent, we though we'd rather not spend another 4 hours in a hollowed out tree paddling down very small tributaries while the vessel filled with water. Next day we took the big boat, back to Java. We picked up a stranded fishing boat that had been huddled to the coast for two days, and were full steam ahead, straight into very low visibility rain and darkening skies. The sea even began to chop up more tellingly than was comfortable. We were lost! Quite a worrying feeling with the conditions deteriorating. And the boat was not anything to place your faith in. It looked very old. How we lost sight of the coast is up the debate, but lost it we did. To top off the problem, we had no compass or radio of course. This is Java. Luckily for us the fishing boat we were towing, had steadily more and more irate looking fisherman appear on deck. Waving and shouting this way and that. Our captain was happy to ignore their wind deafened calls, and plough on in the hope of getting lucky. To end the story quickly, a fisherman could not stand by and watch any longer, he hauled himself through the sea by the tow rope and boarded us. Within the hour we could see coast and me and Tweeks breathed a big sigh of relief. It was another adventure but an exceedingly scary one. We have since paid for our own compass!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198240380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198240380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198240380/tpod.html Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:56:47 -0500 Around the world in 80 toilets ...... and then some.

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Anak Krakatau, Indonesia

Sumatra - Anuk KrakatauThe small boat armed with two large outboard motors was lurching about as we tried to board from the beach. Myself and Tweeks were almost immediately soaked to the skin as a wave overpowered the prow and sprayed us good and proper. The crew of two helpers, one captain and our guide soon had her ready for take off, and an hour and a half later, we were at our destination. We made camp on the very small and uninhabited remains of Krakatua. Now named Rakata after the volcanic peak it had been, it is now well and truly separated by maybe 2kms of salty sea water from its original big buddy. Here is a brief history:"The 1883 eruption ejected more than 25 cubic kilometres of rock, ash, and pumice, and generated the loudest sound historically reported: the cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Australia approx. 1,930 miles (3,110 km), and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius approx. 3,000 miles (5,000 km). Near Krakatoa, according to official records, 165 villages and towns were destroyed and 132 seriously damaged, at least 36,417 (official toll) people died, and many thousands were injured by the eruption, mostly from the tsunamis which followed the explosion.The eruption destroyed two thirds of the island of Krakatoa. Eruptions at the volcano since 1927 have built a new island in the same location, called Anak Krakatau (child of Krakatoa)" Rakarta is essentially a grandstand seat for the newly emerged Anuk Krakatau - Anuk translates as child - and truly mind blowingly beautiful in it's own right. Baring in mind we have been spoilt rotten for beaches over the past months, we can be rather blasé about stretches of sand with sea access.... but Rakata was perfect. I was looking forward to the volcano so much, i had given no thought to our camp island for the night. We had discovered my favourite island ever. The camera sure got a good work out. Ooooooh, before i forget my favourite Krakatau statistic was the 46 metre tall wave which took it's toll on nearby coasts! Imagine how tall that is! Anyhow, before you move on with boredom, it was about the best 24hrs i have spent anywhere. As well as the main event in the form of rumbling explosions, that lit up with great affect at night, we were awoken in the night by a giant turtle who was laying her brood next to our tent. We feel asleep and unfortunately missed her journey back to the warm inky black sea.  After breakfast we ventured to within 400 metres of Anuk, and pretty much stared wide eyed as she let rip with an awe inspiring ejection which simply left me gaping and slightly taken aback. This was close enough.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198153860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198153860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1198153860/tpod.html Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:46:02 -0500 Around the world in 80 toilets ...... and then some.

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Jakarta, Indonesia

Java - west coast: CaritaAs we made the last few miles by scooter taxi to Carita, the coast line followed us to our destination. Out across the sea, a small island peak could be seen spouting smoke high into the air. "Anuk Krakatau" shouted my driver over his shoulder as he pointed out to sea. I was very excited. Very. We found a room for the night and made a few enquiries into reaching the volcano for a visit. With the deal done we settle down on the beach with a drinking coconut each, and watched a killer sunset across a very tropical beach. We are very lucky people.
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Jakarta, Indonesia

Java - JakartaA bit of a cock-up on the travel front left us stranded in the county's capital. It was a good opportunity to do some reconnaissance for our stay here at Christmas, which we did with much satisfaction and left feeling quite reassured - without seeing our exciting hotel - Jakarta would more than satisfy our Christmas needs away from friends and family. We'll be back here soon!     
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Bandung, Indonesia

Java - Bandung  We took train to Bandung and the first guy we spoke to on the station new a local guy we had been friendly with in Batukaras. He walked us to a nearby hotel that was perfect for our needs. However, i have a tendency to become extremely tetchy when i am lugging my backpack and day pack over anything further than about 200 metres. This walk was not much more than a say 800 metres, but coming up to the half way mark i was about ready to shoot a kitten in the face. I was angrier than usual and having trouble controlling my boiling mood. Picking your way among the streets of south east Asia is usually not the easiest proposition, but encumbered with two heavy backpacks that insulate your heat in an already very uncomfortable climate - sweaty, sticky, sweaty, and sweaty - can get right up my nose. Just as well Tweeks was playing it cool and we negotiated the streets without committing any gun crime. Good job too really. Bandung has the reputation as a cool clothes design and media centre of Java. We didn't stumble across this, but did find a shopping plaza with cheap PSP downloads - W00T11! - a skating rink, and shops to keep us stupefied until evening.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1197548760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1197548760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexbright/worldtour2007-8/1197548760/tpod.html Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:31:12 -0500 Around the world in 80 toilets ...... and then some.

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Batu Keras, Indonesia

Java - Batu KerasWe spent several days here enjoying the waves rolling along the point. What a place to surf for us novices. I spent over five hours in a single day enjoying the waves. The more experienced locals and a few white skins were just as content with the waves provided. What a location, and if only we could say thanks to the Australian for advising we come here all those months ago now. A Canadian fellow who was half Japanese - which was quite a good look with the ladies - provided me with spur of the moment surf insight which helped out dramatically. His girlfriend was watching form the shore since she had taken chunks out of her legs, while surfing above reef in Bali the week before. She was not a happy lady since the conditions here begged for action.During our spell at the Java Coast Hotel that faced onto the surf, we met a family: Alan, Maria, Olly and Noah. We spent time in the waves, on the beach, eating in the restaurants and at the bar with them all. A lovely family of humans, who live in Perth when not enjoying a Christmas holiday in Indonesia. They suggested we should give them a call when we arrive in Perth after the new year and go and see 'em. You bet we will! Come to Batukaras - as the locals spell it - whatever you do, just get there. The locals are excellent, the food is too, and you'll feel a million miles away from your regular life. Quiet, small, and very local, if you like your holiday away from the normal, make your way here as soon as possible.  10/10 
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