New Chapter..New Blog

WookyTravels.com

So the new Blog is up and running but sadly lacking in content as at September 2015.  In particular it is lacking any reports from exotic destinations but we are hoping that will soon change.

Any ideas, criticisms (constructive please), comments in general, please let us know.

Click here for the new Blog.

Be kind!

Final Stop Melbourne

A Melbourne tram

We have travelled from London to Melbourne by train, bus, motorcycle, boat taxi, tuk tuk and (reluctantly) plane.  We have also ridden camels and elephants and swam in seas and oceans with thousands of fish.

On the way here we passed through Germany, Poland and Lithuania, we travelled almost the length of Russia, on through Mongolia, spent 3 months in China, 2 months in Vietnam, 7 weeks in Cambodia and 7 weeks in Indonesia (a visa stop in Bangkok doesn’t count as part of the “travelling” but I suppose it's fair to say we passed through Thailand).

Road Trip - The Amazing Great Ocean Road

Skippy

We gratefully took possession of Paul’s Dad’s car (thank you Henry) and were finally independently mobile.  We had enjoyed our time in Adelaide; I finally met my in-laws and Paul was surprised at how much the city had changed since he was last there almost 20 years ago.

Australia - First Stop Adelaide

The infamous magpie-larks

So, we are finally in Australia.  But first a little about our journey here from Indonesia.

We were both dreading the flight, each for different reasons.  Paul was returning after an absence of nearly 20 years, and he had seen little of his family during that time (apart from his mother who came over to England 10 years ago and his brother who visited in 2007).  He hadn’t seen his father or his sister since he left the last time in 1994.

Bali (2) - A Reunion and Farewell to Asia

The Wooky in a dress

So while Paul was diving the waters around Tulamben having close encounters with sharks and the cast of Finding Nemo I was fretting about whether my Australian visa was still valid.  But I had less time and inclination to conjure up disastrous scenarios once Boris and Léa arrived with her sisters for a couple of days.

Léa and Boris arrived late at night on our second day and I was in for a shock the next morning when I was out on our little veranda having a cigarette at 6.30am when the door of the bungalow opposite creaked open and a tired looking Léa poked her little head out.  She had never been an early riser when we were on Derawan, something I often envied as I wasn’t able to sleep beyond about 7am.  However, Léa told me that ever since Derawan, when we would wake them up early to watch the sunrise, they had gotten into the habit of waking up early but she assured me they welcomed this change in their routine.  

Bali (1) - Last Stop Tulamben in the Shadow of a Sleeping Volcano

A view of the sleeping volcano from the upstairs bar

I haven’t waxed lyrical about Indonesia’s history because as it is such a large and scattered country with long history including a period of Dutch colonial rule, and religious beliefs vary across the spectrum contributing hugely to the distinctly different regions of which we have only visited three in 7 weeks so we have only scratched the surface.

Reminders of the colonial era remain throughout Indonesia.  The Japanese occupied much of Indonesia during World War II and the Dutch tried to regain control when the war was over but were finally forced to grant Indonesia independence in 1949.  There have been many period of conflict throughout this vast and diverse country, too numerous to mention here, but nowadays it remains fairly stable. 

Sulawesi (2) - Donggala and Diving with Germans

Sunset reflected on the clouds

After another gruelling 2 day journey involving local boat from Kadidiri to Wakai followed by a 5 hour ferry trip to Ampana, ojek (motorbike) ride to hotel where we overnighted before heading off the public minibus to Palu the next morning and finally an hour’s taxi ride to Donggala.  We were more than relieved to reach the Prince John Dive Resort situated in Tanjung Karang on mainland Sulawesi.

In Dutch colonial times, Donggala was the major port in this part of Sulawesi before the harbour silted up and they started to use the harbour at Palu instead.  Nowadays Donggala is a sleepy little town with lots of old traditional houses which we saw as we passed through on the taxi ride to the resort.  It is a town of little colourful houses and a small streets and it is hard to reconcile it with its important role in days gone by.

Togean Islands (2) - Kadidiri and Volcanic Diving and Snorkelling

Paul captured this amazing shot

Although tiny, Kadidiri was much busier and social than Island Retreat.  We opted to stay at Black Marlin Dive Resort and we are glad we did although either of the other two options would have been good too.

Black Marlin is managed by an English guy whose management skills leave a lot to be desired.  The dive masters, Nick and Zina, are fantastic, as are the Indonesian staff but if the place was reliant upon Crispin’s customer service skills I suspect the place would barely survive. 

Food was included in the room rate and we had heard the food was awful at all the resorts here but we actually found it OK by Indonesian standards.  Yes, there was a lot of rice and fish, but it was all very nice (and I can be fussy).

Togean Islands (1) - Bomba - Seclusion and Isolation

Our hut

From the moment we arrived on the beach at Island Retreat we started to relax after our long three day journey from Pulau Derawan.  It was going to be lovely to be able to stay in one place for a week.

We were shown to our bungalow with a large veranda which had a huge hammock, strong enough to hold Paul so he claimed it as his own, a small table and a bench with cushions.   We were served a little lunch in the restaurant and proceeded to spend the rest of the day doing what we planned to do a lot of.  Absolutely nothing was on the agenda except to stare out to sea blankly and maybe wander down the pier to watch the sunset.

Paul would think about booking some dives the following day but first we needed to recover from our 3 day trip.

Sulawesi (1) - The Long Trek to the Togean Islands via Ampana

The noisy mosque in Berau

We braced ourselves for the gruelling 3 day journey from Pulau Derawan to our first destination in the Togean Islands.  Needless to say we weren’t looking forward to it.  We travelled as far as Balikpapan with Boris and Léa who were heading to Flores from there.

First we left Pulau Derawan by speedboat, a 30 minute journey followed by 3 hours in a kijang to Berau which seemed to pass painfully slowly. 

Once we arrived in Berau we all checked into the same hotel.  Paul and I opted for the deluxe room but all this meant was that we had a window which wouldn’t shut.  Unfortunately this also meant that we heard the call to prayer loud and clear from the mosque about 50 metres down the road which on occasion had to compete with some kind of Indonesian rave music played by the people next door.

Borneo (6) - Pulau Derawan - Turtles and Clownfish Galore

Our pier

It had stopped raining by the time we arrived on the island at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon and the weather was clearing up nicely.  We started to investigate our new surroundings and wandered up and down the pier gazing into the sea searching for sea life, in particularly the famous turtles.  The first thing we saw was a huge puffer fish just by the pier, lionfish  and soon we were spotting turtles left, right and centre.  Pulau Derawan certainly delivered on the turtle front.

That afternoon, Paul and Boris went for a snorkel off the pier where we were staying.  Léa and I chose to relax on the veranda.  The boys returned with tales of coral, fish and masses of turtles.

Borneo (5) - Berau and the Journey to Pulau Derawan

Paul in First Class luxury

Our next destination was Pulau Derawan, a small island off the east coast of Kalimantan which involved flying from Pangkalan Bun to Berau with a 4 hour stopover at Balikpapan.  As we would be arriving quite late at Berau we would need to stay overnight before travelling by kijang (basically, a 4WD car) Tanjung Putin and then speedboat to Pulau Derawan.

Everything went smoothly at Banjamarsin Airport and in fact we were given seats in first class (again, it was noted that Paul is quite long) which meant that we had more room travelling than we had had since we travelled by sleeper train.  If only this happened on long flights!  However, this flight was only 40 minutes which was a shame really because it was so much more comfortable that flying by our usual cattle class.

On the flight across the south east of Kalimantan it became clear just how much of the land is used for palm oil and why it is such a threat to the indigenous wildlife.  For a large part of the trip we could see nothing out of the window except a patchwork of palm oil fields stretching as far as they eye could see.  It is alarming just how much of this beautiful island has been stripped to grow this crop which saps the land and leaves it worthless after just a few years.  The palm oil producers continued to inch their way even into protected areas (money talks in Indonesia) and threatening, most famously, the orangutans and many other creatures.  You can only hope there are enough people like our guide Jenie who realise what is at stake.

Borneo (4) - Two Sides of Banjamarsin

One of the many mosques on the riverside

We flew from Pangkalan Bun to Banjamarsin direct.  We were given seats by the emergency exit because the flight crew noted that Paul was "very long" so it was a very comfortable flight.

We arrived at the Hotel Regenerasi, the hotel we had booked online via Booking.com, and it was at this point that I started to dislike the place intensely.  The manager spoke quite good English, having been educated at Leeds University and we suspect he came from Java.  It is a common cause for resentment among the local people on Kalimantan that people from Java, who tend to be better educated and have more money to begin with, come over and take all the good jobs in tourism.  It seems the Javanese are not well liked throughout the rest of Indonesia.

Borneo (3) - Just Passing Through Pangkalan Bun

One of the many mosques
along the riverside

We only planned to spend a night Pangkalan Bun as it would be easier to get to the nearby airport where we were catching our next flight to Banjamarsin.  Jenie insisted on paying for the taxi as part of the service he provided when we arranged the Tanjung Putin trip with him.

It was Jenie who wanted us to visit his sister's school (but he applied no pressure) and he was also keen to take us on a short tour around the river in Pangkalan Bun because he said he wanted us to make the most of our stay in his local area and see as much as we could in the short space of time we were there but he wanted no extra payment.  We really could not have asked for a better guide.

Borneo (2) - Meeting the Schoolkids and a Boat Trip in Pangkalan Bun

Our colourful hotel in Kumai
on a hot morning

After three days living on a boat on a river in the jungle watching the wildlife up close, Jenie arranged for us to stay one night at an hotel in his village where we would be able to freshen up a little (facilities were limited on the boat and after three days trekking through the jungle we needed a bit of a scrub).  The following day we would visit his sister’s school in Kumai before heading to Pangkalan Bun.

Jenie’s sister, Raya, teaches at a local elementary school while at the same time continuing her studies at university before becoming fully qualified.  It soon became clear once we met Raya and watched her in action at the school with the children that she had a passion for her job and her young students.

Kumai village is quite small, the people on the street very friendly and we enjoyed long hot showers and a good night’s sleep before getting up to meet Jenie and his sister at 8.00am when they would take us to the school on their motorbikes.  Unfortunately, we used my mobile phone as an alarm clock which for some reason known only to my phone had decided to turn back its clock one hour so we were actually waiting outside the hotel at 7.00am instead.  By the time we thought it was 8.30am we were getting a bit worried when Jenie turned up on his scooter.  When we eventually established that he was actually half an hour early and not half an hour late there was much hilarity at my expense. 

Borneo (1) - Tanjung Putin National Park and Orangutans

Settled at the table

We were visiting Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, less infrastructure than Malaysian Borneo (Sarawak) but fewer tourists.

We wanted to take a trip around Tanjung Putin National Park on a klotok, a type of traditional boat, but it is quite expensive and there so many tourist companies and individual guides to choose from we were spoilt for choice (read: confused as hell).  Luckily, however, we had met an Australian couple very briefly at a hotel in Saigon and they had just returned from Borneo and taken a klotok trip with a local guide called Jenie Subaru.   They absolutely raved about him and could not recommend him highly enough so about a week before we wanted to take a trip we contacted him by email, agreed a price (cheaper than the Australian couple had told us) and it was all arranged for him to meet us at the airport and take us straight to the boat for our trip in the Tanjung Putin National Park, primarily to see the orang-utans.

Indonesia - Jakarta and a Fellow Traveller's Nightmare

A pretty bird in Jakarta airport

Our flight to Jakarta was cramped but uneventful.  We landed at the new Terminal 3 and it was really very busy.  As we had visas already firmly placed in our passports we did not need to queue up at the “Visa on Arrival” counter before heading through passport control.  We joined the massive queue and waited patiently with the throng of people who had all arrived at the same time.

I was summoned up to one of the 6 passport check desks before Paul and it did strike me at the time that the clerk was taking rather a long time to satisfy himself that everything was in order.  Paul was called up and had gone through before I was processed.  My clerk (who was a particularly officious looking middle aged man) kept glancing over in Paul’s direction.  After a good 3 minutes or so I was handed my passport back and allowed through.  Paul, and indeed everyone else who passed through before me, had gone through in less than a minute.

Bangkok - Flights and Visas

A random statue in a restaurant

We had booked a sleeper bus from Sihanoukville to Bangkok.  What we had actually booked was a nightmare from hell but that was not to become immediately apparent.

In fact, the beginning of the trip was very promising.  We had never travelled by sleeper bus before but, as Cambodian buses (or buses in general) were, in our opinion, one of the most uncomfortable modes of transport for Paul in particular because of his size, we figured that a sleeper bus couldn’t be any worse.  At least, if he couldn’t stretch out fully (which we knew was unlikely, he would at least have more leg room than you get on an average bus.

Koh Rong - Liveaboards and Diving

Our home for 4 nights altogether

It was with some regret that we left the peaceful seclusion of Koh Rong Samloen and Robinson Bungalows but we were looking forward with excitement to our Liveaboard trip arranged through The Dive Shop.  Paul was also going to do his PADI Advanced Open Water course during the trip and I was assured there would be plenty to occupy and entertain me as a snorkeller.

For anyone who doesn’t know, and forgive me for stating the obvious, but a Liveaboard diving trip where you live on board a boat for 2 days stopping off along the way at various sites.  The main incentive for shelling out for one of these trips is that you are able reach dive sites and coral reef that you wouldn't be able to on a single day.  You spend a lot of time cruising from one area to another but you get to visit some rarely visited and spectacular spots and when we went we saw no-else but the fish. 

Koh Rong Samloem - The Scopion Incident and Paradise

Sunset Beach

I shall begin with the scorpion incident.

We were packing up to leave Koh Rong to head out to the smaller island of Koh Rong Samloem, where we were booked in for 6 nights in yet another beach hut on the almost deserted Sunset Beach. Although Koh Rong wasn’t anywhere near as busy as Sihanoukville, the peace and solitude promised at Koh Rong Samloem was, for us, alluring and we were looking forward to a bit of isolation.

It was during our packing up at Koh Rong and before we headed to Koh Rong Samloem that we had said scorpion incident.