Indonesia is redeemed! Well nearly. Day 44 saw us up at 5am determined that we wouldn't let any ferry that might run that day leave before we could work out which port it would leave from. A rather surreal 20 minute moto ride alongside the black sand beaches of Flores got us to a port with definitely no ferry but a large group of Indonesians apparently as confused as us, yet seemingly perfectly content that at some point a boat would turn up.
And turn up it did! Albeit a rust bucket (see our photos for this leg), rocking in the swell as horses and goats slid off amongst the packet carrying passengers, bracing itself for the military landing craft style rush of the awaiting throng of passengers.
Rather ambivalent to the length of journey given the range of estimates we'd been given, we were happy enough just to be onboard and sailing southeast towards West Timor, and the regional centre of East Nusa Tenggara of Kupang, still just about on time to make our scheduled arrival date in Australia.
The next day was to be one full of surprises - and generally of the good kind. After 19 hours of cramped sleep using some of our trip learnt contortion positions, and hopefully our last pot noodle of the journey, we arrived EARLY in Kupang and 3.30am moto-ed by starlight to one of the least salubrious accommodations we've enjoyed. Waking up next day we found ourselves right on the seafront with views along the beach, and a bustling town most notable for by its country and western / hiphop pumping pimped bemo minibuses.
After the ferry delays in Indonesia, to have had any chance of catching a cargo ship down from Dili to Darwin we needed East Timor to have kept to their word and processed our visa applications in the promised 10 days, however even trawling spam boxes proved fruitless in our search for a reply meaning, in the consensus opinion of Kupang, a three day delay waiting for the letter and stamp that would let us into the world's "newest nation". Sweet talking was required, and dressed as smartly as we would (OK, so not that smart, but at least the flipflops came off) we assaulted the Timor Leste consulate with our full arsenal of pleasantries, smiles, linguistic abilities and subservience and respect for people doing an obviously extremely important job.
It worked, and six hours later (a record we are told) we had the letter, and were headed via a few frames of pool in the sunset where Will made a controversial comeback (a deliberate miss involved) to win the night 7-6 to Kupang's lively, fish packed night market for a juice, a beer at Edwin's L'Avalon bar to thank him for all his help during the day, and bed ready for (another) 4.30am start.
Day 46 was pretty much written off as a bus/border crossing day and we weren't far wrong as the West Timor road suddenly became a dirt track as we passed Atambua, the last West Timor town, and headed for the frontier. Stamped and inspected by a whole host of military, police and immigration authorities along with the standard money changing touts, we passed muster and were allowed into Timor Este, our 19th country of the trip, and miraculously still on schedule to make Australia as planned by 1st July, albeit now with no hope of making it onto the cargo boat that was our only (faint) hope of really making this epic journey without any flying.
As we drove noorth east towards Dili, the landscape became more and more arid, and further and further from the jungle type vegetation and favourable agricultural conditions of Flores and even West Timor, and settlements appeared poorer compared to their western neighbours. Stunning coastlines prevailed as we moved towards the UN compound/town that acts as Timor Leste's capital since their bloody independence from Indonesia and subsequent UN governance over the last two decades.
Smarting from the cost of accommodation, the price of food didn't really help as it became increasingly apparent that the abundance of UN and NGO staff, combined with Timor Leste's need to import almost everything (a pint of milk comes from Australia and is USD $5) makes for a bad budget backpacker location. Still, I didn't mind as the slope of the pool table played to my advantage and the score levelled at 9-9.
Bed was not particularly appealing, but given how much we had paid, we made the most of it, our last real "travelling" night of the trip.
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... IN OZ NOW!
Ende - Kupang: 19 ferry hours / 250 km
Kupang - Dili: 12 bus hours / 250 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 19,015 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,780 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
2 Bridges Photos Day 39 - 43: Gili Trawangan - Ende
At last! A Ferry Schedule! You may laugh, but right now all we want is a ferry! Click on the photo for more (interesting) pictures!
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
Day 39 - 43: Gili Trawangan (Lombok) - Ende (Flores)
Maybe our joint subconscious in demanding a break in Gili knew something we may have suspected, but always hoped, wouldn't be the case: that travelling through the world's largest cul-de-sac of the volcanic Nusa Tenggara islands would be the most frustrating, time consuming and complex part of the journey as we moved well beyond the standard backpacker trail of Bali and western Lombok and onto islands so remote that even Google thinks they are empty (see our Google Map).
Leaving behind the comfortingly almost symbiotic relationship between tourists and locals on the Gili islands full in the knowledge that rapid progress was needed, we sacrificed the amazingly tempting tourist snorkelling boat via Komodo (of dragon fame) for the local alternative: a 16 hour bus through Lombok and Sumbawa islands to meet the 12 hour ferry on to Lubuanbajo at the western extreme of Flores.
The lack of comfort sleeping amongst sacks of rice, heads resting on the subwoofer speaker as water leaked from the onboard toilet past our feet, has become pretty much the norm, but the major problem we were finding ourselves coming up against was the plethora of inaccurate travel information through which we had wade to try and divine what transport might actually happen. To say this disinformation is malicious is certainly true in some cases (our need to save time saw us done out of $10 each on this leg), but in most seems to stem from a refusal by locals to ask anyone who might actually know, relying instead on family and friends' opinions as unquestionable and beyond doubt, certainly by jumped up bule like us.
Mildly soothed by the stunning scenery of Komodo island from our ferry, and then the mountainous story book style tropical landscapes of Flores as we enjoyed the luxury of a hired car, the key question in our minds became how to turn early Lombok assurances that a ferry operates every Tues, Thurs and Sat between Ende in Flores and Kupang in West Timor, into a ticket and a big white boat that would actually take us across to the next island on our journey.
Doubts over even what port the ferry would run from, before even worrying about days and times, seemed only to multiply in Lubuanbajo to the extent our agreement with the owner of the car we hired to cross Flores was that we paid him once we were on the Kupang bound gangplank - a very shrewd move as three hours cruising the appropriately named Ende on our arrival culminated with no ferry on the day we'd been promised, and none likely until at least two days after. Not ideal. Will & Rob not happy. Can ANY other place in the world have such poor and apparently randomly generated information with such feeble resemblance to reality?
As I write this we still don't know if they'll ever be a ferry, but at http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifleast the delay here in Ende allowed us to shoot out north to the majestic and breath taking Kelimutu volcanic lakes (towards the end of our photos for this leg). Sitting on the rim blinded by mist there are few words to describe the beauty and almost unworldlike appearance of these crater lakes as the cloud rises slowly revealing their cameleon like colours, changing through blue, green, red and black as their mineral cocktail evolves over time. A further 10 US cents spent saw us enjoying the spa like hot volcanic spring water bubbling up in the middle of the surrounding paddy fields. Did it stop us worrying about the ferry? Well no, but I tell you, for any readers thinking about taking a ferry from Ende, this is the place to come and wait!
Indonesia is certainly proving the most challenging country of the trip so far, its outstanding natural beauty just about making up for the frustrations of travelling here. Let's just hope the ferry does run tomorrow! Come on Indonesia, redeem yourself!
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Mataram - Lubuanbajo: 32 hours & 14 ferry hours / 450 km
Lubuanbajo - Ende: 12 car hours / 400 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 18,515 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,620 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Leaving behind the comfortingly almost symbiotic relationship between tourists and locals on the Gili islands full in the knowledge that rapid progress was needed, we sacrificed the amazingly tempting tourist snorkelling boat via Komodo (of dragon fame) for the local alternative: a 16 hour bus through Lombok and Sumbawa islands to meet the 12 hour ferry on to Lubuanbajo at the western extreme of Flores.
The lack of comfort sleeping amongst sacks of rice, heads resting on the subwoofer speaker as water leaked from the onboard toilet past our feet, has become pretty much the norm, but the major problem we were finding ourselves coming up against was the plethora of inaccurate travel information through which we had wade to try and divine what transport might actually happen. To say this disinformation is malicious is certainly true in some cases (our need to save time saw us done out of $10 each on this leg), but in most seems to stem from a refusal by locals to ask anyone who might actually know, relying instead on family and friends' opinions as unquestionable and beyond doubt, certainly by jumped up bule like us.
Mildly soothed by the stunning scenery of Komodo island from our ferry, and then the mountainous story book style tropical landscapes of Flores as we enjoyed the luxury of a hired car, the key question in our minds became how to turn early Lombok assurances that a ferry operates every Tues, Thurs and Sat between Ende in Flores and Kupang in West Timor, into a ticket and a big white boat that would actually take us across to the next island on our journey.
Doubts over even what port the ferry would run from, before even worrying about days and times, seemed only to multiply in Lubuanbajo to the extent our agreement with the owner of the car we hired to cross Flores was that we paid him once we were on the Kupang bound gangplank - a very shrewd move as three hours cruising the appropriately named Ende on our arrival culminated with no ferry on the day we'd been promised, and none likely until at least two days after. Not ideal. Will & Rob not happy. Can ANY other place in the world have such poor and apparently randomly generated information with such feeble resemblance to reality?
As I write this we still don't know if they'll ever be a ferry, but at http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifleast the delay here in Ende allowed us to shoot out north to the majestic and breath taking Kelimutu volcanic lakes (towards the end of our photos for this leg). Sitting on the rim blinded by mist there are few words to describe the beauty and almost unworldlike appearance of these crater lakes as the cloud rises slowly revealing their cameleon like colours, changing through blue, green, red and black as their mineral cocktail evolves over time. A further 10 US cents spent saw us enjoying the spa like hot volcanic spring water bubbling up in the middle of the surrounding paddy fields. Did it stop us worrying about the ferry? Well no, but I tell you, for any readers thinking about taking a ferry from Ende, this is the place to come and wait!
Indonesia is certainly proving the most challenging country of the trip so far, its outstanding natural beauty just about making up for the frustrations of travelling here. Let's just hope the ferry does run tomorrow! Come on Indonesia, redeem yourself!
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Mataram - Lubuanbajo: 32 hours & 14 ferry hours / 450 km
Lubuanbajo - Ende: 12 car hours / 400 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 18,515 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,620 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
2 Bridges Photos Day 34 - 38: Jakarta - Gili Trawangan
Click on the photo for more pictures!
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
Day 34 - 38: Jakarta - Gili Trawangan (Lombok)
Jakarta, in addition to being one of the hardest to love places I have ever been to (and I say this after much soul searching and five attempts to enjoy the city), is obviously a subscriber to the assertion that best laid plans shouldn't always reap rewards as Day 34 turned into one of the most frustrating of the trip so far.
Lulled into a false sense of security by our decision the night before to have a travel agency arrange our bus tickets (it always seems impossible to me to work out where in Jakarta each company's buses leave from), our semi-bright eyed and bushy tailed moods were in for an early disappointment as the agency's claimed bus departure time slipped from 9am to 11am to 1pm to a definite 3pm. The bad start continued as the agency decided to bajaj (like a prehistoric tuktuk - see photos) us through Jakarta's tangible to the eyes, nose and taste bud pollution to the bus station, the same bus station we had been dumped at the night before.
"Executive" buses from our company Lorena came and went, yet none apparently were ours. As time ticked by, the metal benches became less and less comfortable and our frustration at losing time, a frustration compounded by the fact we were still suffering bus hangovers from the previous leg, grew and was only partially soothed by cold drinks and Ayam Goreng for Will and fresh mangoes for me.
Our frustration and persistence eventually paid dividends as Lorena got fed up with us and shunted us onto another operator's service with us finally wheels rolling at 6pm. A very frustrating and sweaty day, which has done little to improve Jakarta's standings in our league table of places we'd like to come back to.
Rant over. Shell shocked by the day so far and with our bodies seemingly numbed from the discomfort of the bus journey from Jambi, we settled in for the reported 18 hour ride through to Denpasar, the capital of tourist central Bali. We must be becoming used to these journeys as the hours passed reasonably rapidly, the (surprisingly good in my book) food stops came regularly, the scenery was at times pleasant (note to go back to the central Java volcanoes sometime) and even the traffic jams seemed to be limited to only the main cities, and some place near Surabaya where an over zealous gas exploration company hit a mud volcano.
Our popularity with young school girls on trucks and buses as our coach slalomed the 500km or so through East Java seemed to extend to the first of the two ferries on the journey, the hop from Java to Bali where an entire school trip including the teacher got their cameras out. That apart the ferry journey to Bali was uneventful other than finalising our pay off to the bus drivers to let us stay on all the way through to Mataram in Lombok. An agreement that seemed to make us new friends for life.
More bus, and a five hour ferry across the Lombok and Jakarta + 41 hours we arrived in Mataram fully ready for, and only one step away from, our mini break in the Gili islands. Taxi (yes we were getting pretty tired of buses) to the beach and a quick boat hop saw us leaping with joy onto to pristine sand of Gili Trawangan, a true gem of the tropical island world and a sign of where the real beauty of Indonesia lies.
2 days off. Just what the Doctor ordered.
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Jakarta - Mataram: 41 bus hours including 2 ferries / 1,200 km
Mataram - Gili Trawangan: 1 taxi hour & 30 launch minutes / 35 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 17,665 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,570 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Lulled into a false sense of security by our decision the night before to have a travel agency arrange our bus tickets (it always seems impossible to me to work out where in Jakarta each company's buses leave from), our semi-bright eyed and bushy tailed moods were in for an early disappointment as the agency's claimed bus departure time slipped from 9am to 11am to 1pm to a definite 3pm. The bad start continued as the agency decided to bajaj (like a prehistoric tuktuk - see photos) us through Jakarta's tangible to the eyes, nose and taste bud pollution to the bus station, the same bus station we had been dumped at the night before.
"Executive" buses from our company Lorena came and went, yet none apparently were ours. As time ticked by, the metal benches became less and less comfortable and our frustration at losing time, a frustration compounded by the fact we were still suffering bus hangovers from the previous leg, grew and was only partially soothed by cold drinks and Ayam Goreng for Will and fresh mangoes for me.
Our frustration and persistence eventually paid dividends as Lorena got fed up with us and shunted us onto another operator's service with us finally wheels rolling at 6pm. A very frustrating and sweaty day, which has done little to improve Jakarta's standings in our league table of places we'd like to come back to.
Rant over. Shell shocked by the day so far and with our bodies seemingly numbed from the discomfort of the bus journey from Jambi, we settled in for the reported 18 hour ride through to Denpasar, the capital of tourist central Bali. We must be becoming used to these journeys as the hours passed reasonably rapidly, the (surprisingly good in my book) food stops came regularly, the scenery was at times pleasant (note to go back to the central Java volcanoes sometime) and even the traffic jams seemed to be limited to only the main cities, and some place near Surabaya where an over zealous gas exploration company hit a mud volcano.
Our popularity with young school girls on trucks and buses as our coach slalomed the 500km or so through East Java seemed to extend to the first of the two ferries on the journey, the hop from Java to Bali where an entire school trip including the teacher got their cameras out. That apart the ferry journey to Bali was uneventful other than finalising our pay off to the bus drivers to let us stay on all the way through to Mataram in Lombok. An agreement that seemed to make us new friends for life.
More bus, and a five hour ferry across the Lombok and Jakarta + 41 hours we arrived in Mataram fully ready for, and only one step away from, our mini break in the Gili islands. Taxi (yes we were getting pretty tired of buses) to the beach and a quick boat hop saw us leaping with joy onto to pristine sand of Gili Trawangan, a true gem of the tropical island world and a sign of where the real beauty of Indonesia lies.
2 days off. Just what the Doctor ordered.
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Jakarta - Mataram: 41 bus hours including 2 ferries / 1,200 km
Mataram - Gili Trawangan: 1 taxi hour & 30 launch minutes / 35 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 17,665 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,570 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Friday, June 17, 2011
2 Bridges Photos Day 30 - 33: Singapore - Sumatra - Jakarta
Click on the photo for more pictures!
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
Day 30 - 33: Singapore - Sumatra - Jakarta
With complete expectation that the real travelling part of the trip was just about to get started, we made the most of our day of Singaporean comfort, AC and excellent food before enjoying Marina Bay's light show in the relative cool of the evening in this Asian haven of organisation.
Our expectation was not far wrong as Day 31 saw us gradually moving down in the travel hierarchy from Singapore's commuter shuttle hydrofoil to Batam, to a nine hour Indonesian boat across the millpond like sea to the Sumatran mainland (many thanks to our new friend Aris who turfed some locals out to get us the best seats), negotiating a whole town who wants to get involved search of our baggage - well done Will for such imagination in bringing them onside - and finishing with a three hour cramped minibus ride in the dark along one of the worst roads we've travelled so far this trip, punctuated by the obligatory meal stop in one of the less impressive restaurants and toilets we've had the pleasure of visiting.
The accompanying change through the day from Singapore's skyscrapers, pristine MRT, non-negotiated taxis and shopping malls, to the island houses built on stilts within sight of the Singapore coastline, to the rural, mountainous paddy field landscapes of southern Sumatra told its own story, as we found ourselves ending the day firmly in real world Indonesia, cruising Jambi at 11pm in the almost hopeless quest to find a spare hotel room in this regional at best city - nice to know so much is going on here but really, could it not have been another night?!?
Day 32 was to prove even more of a travel test as again our preferred option to Jakarta was fully booked, leaving us on a second rate luxury bus for the supposed 22 hour ride down through Sumatra, over the short ferry crossing to Java ($1 saw a well deserved upgrade to "executive class", and Rob take an unassailable 1-0 lead in our best of 1 chess match - Will blames the deafening cover band), and into Jakarta. 30 hours, at least 5 meal stops, one fairly major pit stop (involving hammers, wrenches, and removal of part of the bus engine) and little sleep later we finally crawled into east Jakarta, for an ojek (the motorbike ride of your life through Jakarta's reknowned clouds of pollution and traffic jams) and busway ride into town to find our trains to Bali fully booked, a disappointment only softened by the excitment of the "18" hour bus alternative, a meal of Padang and a mini night time excursion of Jakarta's Thursday nightlife...
More next time, off for the next leg through to Denpasar, Bali - wish us luck!
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Singapore - Batam: 1 boat hour / 20 km
Batam - Sumatra Coast: 9 boat hours / 200 km
Sumatra Coast - Jambi: 3 bus hours / 130 km
Jambi - Jakarta: 30 bus hours / 1,050 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 16,430 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,420 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Our expectation was not far wrong as Day 31 saw us gradually moving down in the travel hierarchy from Singapore's commuter shuttle hydrofoil to Batam, to a nine hour Indonesian boat across the millpond like sea to the Sumatran mainland (many thanks to our new friend Aris who turfed some locals out to get us the best seats), negotiating a whole town who wants to get involved search of our baggage - well done Will for such imagination in bringing them onside - and finishing with a three hour cramped minibus ride in the dark along one of the worst roads we've travelled so far this trip, punctuated by the obligatory meal stop in one of the less impressive restaurants and toilets we've had the pleasure of visiting.
The accompanying change through the day from Singapore's skyscrapers, pristine MRT, non-negotiated taxis and shopping malls, to the island houses built on stilts within sight of the Singapore coastline, to the rural, mountainous paddy field landscapes of southern Sumatra told its own story, as we found ourselves ending the day firmly in real world Indonesia, cruising Jambi at 11pm in the almost hopeless quest to find a spare hotel room in this regional at best city - nice to know so much is going on here but really, could it not have been another night?!?
Day 32 was to prove even more of a travel test as again our preferred option to Jakarta was fully booked, leaving us on a second rate luxury bus for the supposed 22 hour ride down through Sumatra, over the short ferry crossing to Java ($1 saw a well deserved upgrade to "executive class", and Rob take an unassailable 1-0 lead in our best of 1 chess match - Will blames the deafening cover band), and into Jakarta. 30 hours, at least 5 meal stops, one fairly major pit stop (involving hammers, wrenches, and removal of part of the bus engine) and little sleep later we finally crawled into east Jakarta, for an ojek (the motorbike ride of your life through Jakarta's reknowned clouds of pollution and traffic jams) and busway ride into town to find our trains to Bali fully booked, a disappointment only softened by the excitment of the "18" hour bus alternative, a meal of Padang and a mini night time excursion of Jakarta's Thursday nightlife...
More next time, off for the next leg through to Denpasar, Bali - wish us luck!
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Singapore - Batam: 1 boat hour / 20 km
Batam - Sumatra Coast: 9 boat hours / 200 km
Sumatra Coast - Jambi: 3 bus hours / 130 km
Jambi - Jakarta: 30 bus hours / 1,050 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 16,430 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,420 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Monday, June 13, 2011
2 Bridges Photos Day 26 - 30: Bangkok - Cameron Highlands - KL - Singapore
Click on the photo for more pictures!
Day 26 - 30: Bangkok - Cameron Highlands - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore
The gods were not looking favourably on us, probably for having dropped to such a serious geo-political commentary in our last few entries, and our ride to Bangkok proved the opposite journey to that two travellers in dire need of sleep were hoping for. With stops every hour or so for a whole host of reasons and non-reasons, and a walk through border crossing in 35 degree heat, we arrived in a fairly bedraggled state to Bangkok in the early evening of Day 26, to be confronted by what must be East Asia's most bustling and tourist driven cities, and according to Will, very different from when he was young.
A quick night tour ended with street food for me (Will was still going strong from his Burger King earlier in the evening), and both passing out in our overpriced windowless room, but for us any bed that isn't moving and doesn't have a 5am alarm set next to it seems like paradise. Day 27 saw us tuk-tuking around Bangkok's centre in our new form of lazy tourism, and a few temple pictures later sat on our next train; a comfy sleeper south to Malaysia.
With AC conspiring with a lack of sleep to leave me with a cold, and both pretty tired, this train journey provided some much needed rest as we sailed past some very picturesque Thai countryside worthy of a real trip at some point in the future. Fed and rested we looked respectable enough to pass the Thai Hippy regulations at the border, and mustered the mental energy to find a bus from the alarmingly English sounding Butterworth up to the Cameron Highlands for a day of temperate strawberry growing climate, mock Tudor architecture, scones and tea.
Over-complacency after 28 days of problem free stomachs was brought to an abrupt end by a combination of Thai shakes and Malay street food, however undeterred Day 29 saw us on a luxury (a real luxury one this time) bus down the worst road for sufferers of travel sickness down to Kuala Lumpur. Slightly disorientated by the comfort we didn't sleep much, but did decide I should stop trying to buy dried and preserved fruit after my Butterworth effort also proved a categorical failure.
Having realised how tight our time is to reach Sydney by Friday 8th July, KL suffered a similar fate as many of our stop off points so far with our whistle-stop tourism giving us four hours to scoot up the tallest tower in the city, then head to China Town for more market food and a sleeper to Singapore to gain us one valuable day for our Indonesia leg of the trip; time to prepare for potentially the lengthiest and most difficult section of the whole challenge.
Bangkok - Cameron Highlands: 22 train + 4 bus hours / 1,350 km
Cameron Highlands - Kuala Lumpur: 4 bus hours / 220 km
Kuala Lumpur - Singapore: 10 train hours / 325 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 15,300 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,250 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming!
A quick night tour ended with street food for me (Will was still going strong from his Burger King earlier in the evening), and both passing out in our overpriced windowless room, but for us any bed that isn't moving and doesn't have a 5am alarm set next to it seems like paradise. Day 27 saw us tuk-tuking around Bangkok's centre in our new form of lazy tourism, and a few temple pictures later sat on our next train; a comfy sleeper south to Malaysia.
With AC conspiring with a lack of sleep to leave me with a cold, and both pretty tired, this train journey provided some much needed rest as we sailed past some very picturesque Thai countryside worthy of a real trip at some point in the future. Fed and rested we looked respectable enough to pass the Thai Hippy regulations at the border, and mustered the mental energy to find a bus from the alarmingly English sounding Butterworth up to the Cameron Highlands for a day of temperate strawberry growing climate, mock Tudor architecture, scones and tea.
Over-complacency after 28 days of problem free stomachs was brought to an abrupt end by a combination of Thai shakes and Malay street food, however undeterred Day 29 saw us on a luxury (a real luxury one this time) bus down the worst road for sufferers of travel sickness down to Kuala Lumpur. Slightly disorientated by the comfort we didn't sleep much, but did decide I should stop trying to buy dried and preserved fruit after my Butterworth effort also proved a categorical failure.
Having realised how tight our time is to reach Sydney by Friday 8th July, KL suffered a similar fate as many of our stop off points so far with our whistle-stop tourism giving us four hours to scoot up the tallest tower in the city, then head to China Town for more market food and a sleeper to Singapore to gain us one valuable day for our Indonesia leg of the trip; time to prepare for potentially the lengthiest and most difficult section of the whole challenge.
Bangkok - Cameron Highlands: 22 train + 4 bus hours / 1,350 km
Cameron Highlands - Kuala Lumpur: 4 bus hours / 220 km
Kuala Lumpur - Singapore: 10 train hours / 325 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 15,300 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,250 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
2 Bridges Photos Day 23 - 26: Saigon - Phnom Penh - Siem Reap
Click on the photo for more pictures - Choeung Ek photos are in a seperate entry lower down the page.
Day 23 - 26: Saigon - Phnom Penh - Siem Reap - Bangkok
Welcome to Cambodia, a land of real surprises for both of us, from the simple border crossing where only $1 was needed to oil the wheels to the colonial/riverfront architecture and boulevards of Phnom Penh.
Slightly relieved to swap the touts of Vietnam for the easier to deal with meeters and greeters its western neighbour, the relaxed and friendly atmosphere made a pleasant change from the constant negotiations of the past four days. With less tourists than Vietnam, and an obvious hangover from its violent past still affecting international perception, the majority Khmer people seem out to impress the virtues of their country looking firmly (from the impression we got) towards the future and away from the horrific 1975 - 1979 Khmer Rouge period where up to 4 million people were brutally murdered by the Pol Pot regime, and many live on today scarred and maimed by the on going toll taken by the period's landmines.
It is sad that Phnom Penh's major attraction is a trip to the "Killing Fields" of Choeung Ek only 15 km from the city centre where nearly 9,000 bodies have been recoved and many thousands are still left buried in mass graves. There is no easy way to explain the feeling of entering this seemingly peaceful and, from the surroundings, idillic tree lined two hectares of land in the middle of paddy field, in the ghostly and haunting knowledge of what went on, with human bones still rising up through the mud of the paths we walked along and a pagoda filled with 5,000 human skulls. However horrific this story is to tell, it's something I don't think can be ignored - the photos below give a much fuller sense of the site for those of you with the stomach to have a look.
Leaving this great but scarred (as is the whole country) city behind, and with it the opportunity for Will to spend his birthday firing bazooka's at buffalo or trying out AK47s on watermelons, we headed for one of the highlights of the trip, the temples at Angkor Wot near Siem Reap in western Cambodia.
Day 25 saw us, with the help of our tuc tuc, soaking up the beauty and solemn grandeur of the stone temples built by Cambodian kings between 1,100 and 1,500 A.D. in honour of first Hindu then Buddhist gods and figures of worship. Despite the beating sun and the return of Chinese style tourist groups, the complexes of temples provide hours of exploration, from the tourist filled and largely restored Angkor Wot main temple to others almost lost to the jungle. Largely unscathed by Pol Pot (apart from the beheading of most of the buddha statues) the temples are a true wonder and a place to return - just next time with an umbrella!
Fuelled up by another night of good Khmer cuisine, and our first "two nights in the same place of the trip so far, we caught our next bus to Bangkok.
Saigon - Phnom Penh: 6 bus hours / 237 km
Phnom Penh - Siem Reap: 6 bus hours / 315 km
Siem Reap - Bangkok: 10 bus hours / 535 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 13,400 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,200 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming!
Slightly relieved to swap the touts of Vietnam for the easier to deal with meeters and greeters its western neighbour, the relaxed and friendly atmosphere made a pleasant change from the constant negotiations of the past four days. With less tourists than Vietnam, and an obvious hangover from its violent past still affecting international perception, the majority Khmer people seem out to impress the virtues of their country looking firmly (from the impression we got) towards the future and away from the horrific 1975 - 1979 Khmer Rouge period where up to 4 million people were brutally murdered by the Pol Pot regime, and many live on today scarred and maimed by the on going toll taken by the period's landmines.
It is sad that Phnom Penh's major attraction is a trip to the "Killing Fields" of Choeung Ek only 15 km from the city centre where nearly 9,000 bodies have been recoved and many thousands are still left buried in mass graves. There is no easy way to explain the feeling of entering this seemingly peaceful and, from the surroundings, idillic tree lined two hectares of land in the middle of paddy field, in the ghostly and haunting knowledge of what went on, with human bones still rising up through the mud of the paths we walked along and a pagoda filled with 5,000 human skulls. However horrific this story is to tell, it's something I don't think can be ignored - the photos below give a much fuller sense of the site for those of you with the stomach to have a look.
Leaving this great but scarred (as is the whole country) city behind, and with it the opportunity for Will to spend his birthday firing bazooka's at buffalo or trying out AK47s on watermelons, we headed for one of the highlights of the trip, the temples at Angkor Wot near Siem Reap in western Cambodia.
Day 25 saw us, with the help of our tuc tuc, soaking up the beauty and solemn grandeur of the stone temples built by Cambodian kings between 1,100 and 1,500 A.D. in honour of first Hindu then Buddhist gods and figures of worship. Despite the beating sun and the return of Chinese style tourist groups, the complexes of temples provide hours of exploration, from the tourist filled and largely restored Angkor Wot main temple to others almost lost to the jungle. Largely unscathed by Pol Pot (apart from the beheading of most of the buddha statues) the temples are a true wonder and a place to return - just next time with an umbrella!
Fuelled up by another night of good Khmer cuisine, and our first "two nights in the same place of the trip so far, we caught our next bus to Bangkok.
Saigon - Phnom Penh: 6 bus hours / 237 km
Phnom Penh - Siem Reap: 6 bus hours / 315 km
Siem Reap - Bangkok: 10 bus hours / 535 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 13,400 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,200 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming!
2 Bridges Photos Day 24: Choeung Ek (disturbing images)
Click on the photo for more pictures - please be aware these photos are alarming and shocking but pictures of a world event my mind thinks we should all be aware of, and understand just how horrific this short 4 year period of Cambodia's history was.
Halfway Blog Update
With over half the 25,000+ km under our belts, only 9 nights spent in a not moving bed, and our halftime day fast approaching I thought I'd leave a quick post to make sure you're all getting as much of interest you can from our blog.
Posting every 3 - 7 days, each entry is split into two with a short monologue from me summing up hopefully a balance of boring reports of our progress mixed with notes on our experiences, sights we've seen and people we've met, and then a photo entry which, when you click on it, takes you to the full album of photos - generally 50 or so per posting, captioned as fully as we're able to with the limited internet time we have.
We update the map of our route on the 2 Bridges tab of this site as often as we can showing our route, stopping points we've reached in red and those still awaiting us in blue.
Fund-raising is going along well and we've raised over 3,000 pounds including Gift Aid so far and hope to raise another good amount by the time we reach Sydney. Thanks to all of those of you who have contributed to Doctors of the World, and for those of you who haven't but are enjoying following our progress any donation however large or small would be very much appreciated.
Doctors of the World provides emergency medical disaster relief around the world as well as running ongoing public health projects in both the UK and developing countries. Just 8 pounds funds a malarial treatment. A small sum to potentially save a life. More details on Doctors of the World is on their website:
www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/
Donating only takes a minute clicking on the "Donate" link on the right hand side of this page or here. Every penny donated goes straight to the charity.
Lastly, thanks so much to all of you for following us. It means a lot to have your support through this often tiring yet incredible trip, so please keep with us on our second half of the journey south to Sydney.
Rob & Will
Posting every 3 - 7 days, each entry is split into two with a short monologue from me summing up hopefully a balance of boring reports of our progress mixed with notes on our experiences, sights we've seen and people we've met, and then a photo entry which, when you click on it, takes you to the full album of photos - generally 50 or so per posting, captioned as fully as we're able to with the limited internet time we have.
We update the map of our route on the 2 Bridges tab of this site as often as we can showing our route, stopping points we've reached in red and those still awaiting us in blue.
Fund-raising is going along well and we've raised over 3,000 pounds including Gift Aid so far and hope to raise another good amount by the time we reach Sydney. Thanks to all of those of you who have contributed to Doctors of the World, and for those of you who haven't but are enjoying following our progress any donation however large or small would be very much appreciated.
Doctors of the World provides emergency medical disaster relief around the world as well as running ongoing public health projects in both the UK and developing countries. Just 8 pounds funds a malarial treatment. A small sum to potentially save a life. More details on Doctors of the World is on their website:
www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/
Donating only takes a minute clicking on the "Donate" link on the right hand side of this page or here. Every penny donated goes straight to the charity.
Lastly, thanks so much to all of you for following us. It means a lot to have your support through this often tiring yet incredible trip, so please keep with us on our second half of the journey south to Sydney.
Rob & Will
Day 19 - 23: Nanning - Hanoi - Hue - Saigon
Leaving China's nation of building sites behind, and with an uneventful border crossing, Day 20 saw us making an early morning arrival into Vietnam's capital, Hanoi and onto the sweaty, tout filled western backpackers east Asia trail.
We decided to play the touts at their own game and Vietnam saw us making the most of free internet, cheap motorbikes and food, knowing that sooner or later we'd get ripped off and karma would fall back into balance.
Hanoi is a bustling, busy city with action packed streets full of shops, markets and restaurants and overrun by scooters like no other city I have ever visted. Will's previous experience made him tour guide and in our 12 daylight hours we paid the obligatory visit to Ho Chi Min's mausoleum (although heat dictated that shorts/no entry won over trousers and getting to see Vietnam's much celebrated winner of independence), Lake Hoam Kiem's Jade Mountain Temple and lunch which we hope wasn't dog.
Lulled into a false sense of comfort by the backpacker environment we opted for the "luxury" overnight sleeper bus to Hue, probably the worst bus journey of the trip so far as we hit the roof or metal head rail every time our driver rode a speed bump or pothole. On the diary side, we did pass the supposed Demilitarised Zone, but about as noticeable as it was successful 55 years ago.
Day 21 from the outset showed us Vietnam's calmer side with us adopting local transport and moto-ing around Hue and its surroundings, visiting the city's impressive yet sadly, war damaged, citadel, passing the picture postcard paddy fields with their still predominantly manual agriculture, and finally the beach for a full hour of rip-off tempered relaxation by the South China Sea.
Our slight over confidence following the success of our logistics so far bit us for Day 22, with only hard seats available for the 22 hour train to Saigon (OK, now it's officially Ho Chi Min City, but I'm going to stick with Saigon). Hard it turns out means wooden (see photos to see just how uncomfortable..), and even only 3 hours sleep the night before didn't help us find a comfortable sleeping position, with Will ending up adopting the local position of lying on the train floor under the seats, and me draped over the mini-tables.
Luckily the train ride is probably one of the most beautiful I've ever taken, along the unspoilt, pristine Vietnamese coast before cutting through the paddy field and up to Saigon - just about sane, and kind of still able to walk, Day 23 had us walking into Saigon in a rather more peaceful way than the arrival of North Vietnamese forces just over 36 years ago.
Despite the beauty of Vietnam 2011, the delicious food and generally friendly people, it is impossible to visit this country and not be shocked by the impact and history of the various 20th century wars, in particular of course the French then US led western actions through the 50's, 60's and 70's. It's hard to remain objective and neutral when actually faced by photographs, stories and evidence of the evil's of war in a time where it is difficult to understand the geo-political realities and rights and wrongs from before either of us were born, but visiting places such as Saigon's War Museum really hit me with a hammer as to the disastrous long term consequences of separation and tactics including Agent Orange, chemical defoliation and torture.
Pushing that weight off our shoulders long enough to buy bus tickets, Day 23 lunchtime saw us on board a bus headed west for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Nanning - Hanoi: 12 train hours / 396 km
Hanoi - Hue: 15 bus hours / 700 km
Hue - Saigon: 22 HARD seat train hours / 1,038 km
TOTAL TO DATE:12,300 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,200 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming!
We decided to play the touts at their own game and Vietnam saw us making the most of free internet, cheap motorbikes and food, knowing that sooner or later we'd get ripped off and karma would fall back into balance.
Hanoi is a bustling, busy city with action packed streets full of shops, markets and restaurants and overrun by scooters like no other city I have ever visted. Will's previous experience made him tour guide and in our 12 daylight hours we paid the obligatory visit to Ho Chi Min's mausoleum (although heat dictated that shorts/no entry won over trousers and getting to see Vietnam's much celebrated winner of independence), Lake Hoam Kiem's Jade Mountain Temple and lunch which we hope wasn't dog.
Lulled into a false sense of comfort by the backpacker environment we opted for the "luxury" overnight sleeper bus to Hue, probably the worst bus journey of the trip so far as we hit the roof or metal head rail every time our driver rode a speed bump or pothole. On the diary side, we did pass the supposed Demilitarised Zone, but about as noticeable as it was successful 55 years ago.
Day 21 from the outset showed us Vietnam's calmer side with us adopting local transport and moto-ing around Hue and its surroundings, visiting the city's impressive yet sadly, war damaged, citadel, passing the picture postcard paddy fields with their still predominantly manual agriculture, and finally the beach for a full hour of rip-off tempered relaxation by the South China Sea.
Our slight over confidence following the success of our logistics so far bit us for Day 22, with only hard seats available for the 22 hour train to Saigon (OK, now it's officially Ho Chi Min City, but I'm going to stick with Saigon). Hard it turns out means wooden (see photos to see just how uncomfortable..), and even only 3 hours sleep the night before didn't help us find a comfortable sleeping position, with Will ending up adopting the local position of lying on the train floor under the seats, and me draped over the mini-tables.
Luckily the train ride is probably one of the most beautiful I've ever taken, along the unspoilt, pristine Vietnamese coast before cutting through the paddy field and up to Saigon - just about sane, and kind of still able to walk, Day 23 had us walking into Saigon in a rather more peaceful way than the arrival of North Vietnamese forces just over 36 years ago.
Despite the beauty of Vietnam 2011, the delicious food and generally friendly people, it is impossible to visit this country and not be shocked by the impact and history of the various 20th century wars, in particular of course the French then US led western actions through the 50's, 60's and 70's. It's hard to remain objective and neutral when actually faced by photographs, stories and evidence of the evil's of war in a time where it is difficult to understand the geo-political realities and rights and wrongs from before either of us were born, but visiting places such as Saigon's War Museum really hit me with a hammer as to the disastrous long term consequences of separation and tactics including Agent Orange, chemical defoliation and torture.
Pushing that weight off our shoulders long enough to buy bus tickets, Day 23 lunchtime saw us on board a bus headed west for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Nanning - Hanoi: 12 train hours / 396 km
Hanoi - Hue: 15 bus hours / 700 km
Hue - Saigon: 22 HARD seat train hours / 1,038 km
TOTAL TO DATE:12,300 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,200 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Day 15 - 19: Ulan Bataar - Beijing - Nanning
So the Gobi desert is barren. Day 15 saw us travel south from Ulan Bataar through this dusty, flat expanse of arid southern Mongolia passing only the occasional nomadic settlement. Dusty and with our desert quota fully satisfied, we crossed into China, a regular 6 hour overnight border stop made more interesting than normal by the changing of the entire train's wheels - a process requiring all 20 or so carriages to be craned into the air with us on board, and wheel sets removed and replaced. Kind of like a Transmongolian style F1 pitstop!
Rolling through northern China the difference was immediately apparent with denser, modern industrial and residential development as the land grew greener. Our first view of the Great Wall as we raced through the sandy landscape northwest of Beijing saw most of the "foreigners" carriage leaning out of the windows - even at a distance this incredible wonder is a sight to behold.
As soon as you step out of Beijing's main station, the impressiveness, partial modernity and scale of China's capital becomes apparent. Street cafes mix with street sellers, motorbikes mix with modern buses and luxury cars as glistening tower blocks rapidly take the place of low rise development. Whatever geo-political view you may have, the development of Beijing is a sight to behold, and for those with money and life to take full advantage of.
Day 17 saw Ally (who kindly put us up for the night, took us to see a pretty incredible acrobatic show and fed us pekin duck) acting as tour guide - all you need is a microphone and a flag mate and you'd be cut out for it we think - taking us on an express trip to the Mutianyu stretch of the Great Wall of China, just 70 km north of Beijing. With the weather clear (apparently a rare event) even the towers of the city could be seen on the horizon as we hiked 6 km or so along one of the true wonders of the world, wondering how on earth the 6,000 km structure could ever have been built now, let alone over 2,000 years ago.
Sweating now as our southerly path sees the temperatures rise, a rapid walk through of Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City led us to Beijing's West Station. After climbing over several people, many bags and turfing two locals out from our seats (the sleeper beds were all sold out and the train was PACKED such is the demand for travel in China) we made ourselves as comfy as possible for the 29 hour ride south west over the lowlands of China to Nanning, the closest major city and gateway to China's friend/enemy, Vietnam.
29 hours is a long time, but true to our limited time in China in this trip, the train was kept clean, and people were friendly even with our almost non-existent Chinese. We resisted the 10 minute sales cycle by the train crew, but could easily have given in and ended up with towels, combs, pens, fruit, noodles, beer and a whole host of other apparently world beating products. And after all 29 hours seated beats the 10 hours some of the passengers spent standing...
Late night arrival in Nanning (a pretty sizeable city at over 1 million people, worthy of more than the inset style map in our 2004 Lonely Planet) saw a rapid negotiation for a room in the Railway Hotel, then dinner at a night food stand ready for another early start the next day.
Train tickets negotiated and purchased, we made a quick 50 km trip out to Yangmei to see a little of China's countryside. The drive felt like an excursion around a building site, with roads and railways being built on both sides, juxtaposed by the paddy field workers continuing to toil with their ox drawn ploughs around the concrete bridges and earthworks. After another delicious meal, we were back in the train station ready to head south west, to Vietnam.
Ulan Bataar - Beijing: 31 train hours / ~ km
Beijing - Nanning: 29 train hours / ~2,000 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 2,800 including Gift Aid - please keep these donations to Doctors of the World coming in!
Rolling through northern China the difference was immediately apparent with denser, modern industrial and residential development as the land grew greener. Our first view of the Great Wall as we raced through the sandy landscape northwest of Beijing saw most of the "foreigners" carriage leaning out of the windows - even at a distance this incredible wonder is a sight to behold.
As soon as you step out of Beijing's main station, the impressiveness, partial modernity and scale of China's capital becomes apparent. Street cafes mix with street sellers, motorbikes mix with modern buses and luxury cars as glistening tower blocks rapidly take the place of low rise development. Whatever geo-political view you may have, the development of Beijing is a sight to behold, and for those with money and life to take full advantage of.
Day 17 saw Ally (who kindly put us up for the night, took us to see a pretty incredible acrobatic show and fed us pekin duck) acting as tour guide - all you need is a microphone and a flag mate and you'd be cut out for it we think - taking us on an express trip to the Mutianyu stretch of the Great Wall of China, just 70 km north of Beijing. With the weather clear (apparently a rare event) even the towers of the city could be seen on the horizon as we hiked 6 km or so along one of the true wonders of the world, wondering how on earth the 6,000 km structure could ever have been built now, let alone over 2,000 years ago.
Sweating now as our southerly path sees the temperatures rise, a rapid walk through of Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City led us to Beijing's West Station. After climbing over several people, many bags and turfing two locals out from our seats (the sleeper beds were all sold out and the train was PACKED such is the demand for travel in China) we made ourselves as comfy as possible for the 29 hour ride south west over the lowlands of China to Nanning, the closest major city and gateway to China's friend/enemy, Vietnam.
29 hours is a long time, but true to our limited time in China in this trip, the train was kept clean, and people were friendly even with our almost non-existent Chinese. We resisted the 10 minute sales cycle by the train crew, but could easily have given in and ended up with towels, combs, pens, fruit, noodles, beer and a whole host of other apparently world beating products. And after all 29 hours seated beats the 10 hours some of the passengers spent standing...
Late night arrival in Nanning (a pretty sizeable city at over 1 million people, worthy of more than the inset style map in our 2004 Lonely Planet) saw a rapid negotiation for a room in the Railway Hotel, then dinner at a night food stand ready for another early start the next day.
Train tickets negotiated and purchased, we made a quick 50 km trip out to Yangmei to see a little of China's countryside. The drive felt like an excursion around a building site, with roads and railways being built on both sides, juxtaposed by the paddy field workers continuing to toil with their ox drawn ploughs around the concrete bridges and earthworks. After another delicious meal, we were back in the train station ready to head south west, to Vietnam.
Ulan Bataar - Beijing: 31 train hours / ~ km
Beijing - Nanning: 29 train hours / ~2,000 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 2,800 including Gift Aid - please keep these donations to Doctors of the World coming in!
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