We arrived into Bangkok in the early afternoon, thankful for a flyover-style freeway that took us directly into the centre of town bypassing all the traffic. We had lodgings in a small (but not that quiet!) alley just off the…
Boats, Bridges, and Bastards
The following day, before leaving Phetchaburi, we looked around the summer palace of one of the previous kings, as with most Thai sights situated on top of a hill. This time though we took the easy option, riding up the…
The Andaman and Southern Gulf Coasts
From the Cameron Highlands we made a run to the Thai border, spending the night just short in a small town. The next morning we hit the road early, and made it through the border crossing without any hassles…
Hills and Highlands
The next morning, with our departure from Georgetown and Penang imminent, we decided to do one last sightseeing stop, being Penang Hill. Now, there are two ways to the peak, some 850m tall – the easy way, by a funicular…
Exploring Urban Malaysia
After bidding bon voyage to my bike, I took a quick flight across the Malacca Strait to Kuala Lumpur, and met up with my girlfriend Ghighi, who is joining me from this point on and had shipped her bike directly…
Orangutans and Onion Boats
With so many early starts in the last few weeks, my body clock has adapted and I awoke at dawn, looking out the window onto Lake Toba, only 5 metres away. I grabbed the camera for a few quick snaps…
Sumatra
I had crossed to Sumatra just in time – my frustration with the traffic and general pushiness of people on Java had reached a critical point; I needed to go somewhere quieter, more laid back. After resting for…
Temples and Traffic
Yogyakarta (pronounce the Y’s as J’s) is a small city by Indonesian standards, but is home to two World Heritage sites – Prambanan, an ancient Hindu temple, and Borobudur, a contemporaneous Buddhist temple. I spent a day at each, exploring…
Fire and Brimstone
As I alluded to in the last post, I awoke at 1:30 AM, freezing cold and 1800m up. The reason for such discomfort was to try and see the legendary ‘blue fire’ of Ijen crater. One of Indonesia’s many active…
Lombok and Bali, in a hurry
I had decided to cross this part of Indonesia (specifically Lombok and Bali) as quickly as possible, as it will be quite easy to come back and explore in more detail later, with daily cheap flights to Denpasar from Australia.…