Wildlife encounters without the crowds in Southeast Asia
If you follow my blog, you’ll know that I absolutely love Southeast asia, It’s probably my favourite region on the planet. Not only because of the incredible food and rich cultures, but also because of the stunning nature and wildlife experiences. From lush forests to vibrant coral reefs, Southeast Asia boasts an amazing variety of…
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Flying visit to Komodo National Park
I have a LOT of pins in my Google maps of places I’d like to visit… And I’ve had a pin in Komodo for as long as I can remember. The Komodo dragons are a fascinating species, endemic to the region, these monsters also have venom and harsh bacteria in their saliva which slowly kill…
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Finding Bali Roadtrip
Both Dave and I have been to Bali before. In my first visit I came full of anticipation after hearing tens of positive opinions of Bali, and how beautiful and spiritual it was. However, I left after about 10 days feeling oversold… I found Bali crowded, touristy, commercial and overrated. I left Bali and went…
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Snorkelling in Permuteran
From Probolinggo in East Java, we got another train to the coastal town of Ketapang. I’d been here before a few years ago when I attempted to climb Ijen. But this time, Dave and I were just foot passengers, so it was a lot easier. We bought our ticket from the Alfamart across the road…
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Ancient Temples in Yogyakarta
We flew from Medan to Jakarta for a flying visit, which consisted of basically eating, walking to a park which was closed, then sleeping in a capsule/pod hotel. In hindsight, we should have flown direct to Yogya, but the price of the flight to Jarkarta was about half, so it was definitely worth the savings.…
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Fascinating Lake Toba
From Berastagi, we continued onward towards Lake Toba. 74,000 years ago, the Toba eruption was one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in the history of the planet (well, in the last 25 million years, as Dave tells me). It was a VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index) of 8, which is the highest on the scale -…
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Sunrise Hike to Mount Sibayak
After Bukit Lawang we wanted to travel south towards Lake Toba and a brief stop off at the town of Berastagi. Berastagi is saddled between 2 of Sumatra’s active volcanoes, mount Sinabung (on the FCDO red list because of it’s potential for violent, and often deadly, eruptions) and mount Sibayak, which is fairly stable and…
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Birthday Orangutans in Bukit Lawang
Before we even decided to quit our jobs and go backpacking, we’d both spoken about our desires to visit more of Indonesia. We’ve both been here before and loved it. For me, the lush green jungles are just as amazing as the underwater, with so many endemic species on land, and some of the best…
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Exploring West Bali and Day Trip to Ijen Crater
The next day when we woke at the beautiful Menjangan Dynasty Resort, the clouds had cleared and it was a glorious day. I had Whatsapped a small company called West Bali Explorer to take us on a snorkelling trip to Menjangan island. The trip was about 1/3 of the price as the resort and the…
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One day driving around Ubud
After a great day on Pete’s birthday on Nusa Penida, we decided to actually spend time on Bali today 😂 I have been to Bali before, and although everyone says that Ubud is supposed to be the Balinese capital of culture and beauty, to be honest, I don’t feel this way. Ubud is commercial, busy,…
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Day Trip to Nusa Penida from Bali
Stage 3 of our Big Easter Adventure! It’s Pete’s birthday on 5th May, which was in 2 days, so for his birthday, I suggested upgrading our 9-hour direct flight from Auckland to Bali to business class. We’ve flown business before with Etihad by using their bidding service, we bid £100 each for the upgrade and…
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Bali Road Trip; Amed, Lovina, Munduk, Kuta, Uluwatu.
After some amazing beaches in Lombok, we returned to Bali on the slow boat from Lembar. We headed back to Kuta and checked into Ananta guest house, a lovely little apartment along one of the backstreets. Last time we were in Kuta, when we first arrived in Bali, I lost my purse on a night…
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Beaches in Kuta, Lombok
When we arrived in Kuta on the South coast of Lombok we checked into Yellow Flower Inn initially. It was nice here, but for your money you could get a hell of a lot, so on the second day we changed our accommodation a place we saw just down the road which had a pool…
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Resting in Senggigi
From Rinjani, we really wanted to visit the South of Lombok and the Kuta (yes same name as in Bali) beaches. But it was quite far to travel in one go, so we stopped briefly in Senggigi on the West coast, just North of Mataram, the capital. My knee was still extremely sore, so we…
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Snapping my ACL climbing Mount Rinjani
From Gili T we took a fast boat to Bangsal on Lombok’s main island. We wanted to climb the volcano of Mountain Rinjani as the view from the top is said to be stunning, as well as viewing inside the volcano where there appears to be ‘a volcano in a volcano’ surrounded by a sulphurous…
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Turtles in Gili Trawangan
The fast boat arrived from Padang Bai in to Gili Trawangan (Gili T), one of 3 small flat islands off the coast of Lombok, fairly late in the day. It was funny watching lots of holidaymakers arrive alongside us struggle with their massive suitcases that were not very practical for island living! There was no…
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Learning to Love Bali in Padang Bai
After not really feeling like we saw the ‘real’ Bali so far, we headed out on a bus East to Padang Bai. Here is supposed to be more chilled with lots of Balinese temples in the foothills of Gunung Agung. After a slow, albeit short, journey on the bus, we checked in to a room…
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“Culture” in Ubud
We took a minibus from Kuta to Ubud and arrived quite late. We checked into a place that had been recommended to me by several people, Happy Mango, but we found it to have little of the atmosphere and friendliness that I’d been promised, so the following day we moved across the village to Sania’s…
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Spontaneous Trip to Bali…
After almost a month solo travelling in Malaysia, and this time it was really solo – The whole time travelling up til then I met people who tagged along with me in a little group. We travelled together and hung out. Sometimes only for 1 or 2 days, but still. It means that often, when…
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Ocean to Jungle 