Batu, Java, Indonesia

"Saya suka tiket" I said at the booth - the lady gestured me inside the station. At security I said "Di mana tiket" and the guard gestured me though. I couldn't see any other booth, so assumed I could buy a ticket on the train. I got on the 8am train, heading for Malang. At the next few stops the train filled up, and I realised that I needed a ticket - seeing that everyone was waving one about and looking for their seats! I managed to ask the nice family sitting next to me where I should now get a ticket. They laughed then spoke to a train guard, who also laughed. By this time a few people, and more guards were interested in what was happening, and someone speaking a little English came to translate. I needed to get off the train at the next stop, get a ticket then get back on - they will hold the train for me. I got off and a guard came with me to the booth to make sure I got a ticket quickly, I paid the 4000 (from the stop I was at to Malang!) then got back on, in plenty of time. The people here are tremendously nice and very helpful. The internet said not to bother with the hassle of slow, crowded trains - I should get an AC minibus - but this is what I want from travelling, these are the best moments!

Arriving at Malang station I now needed to get to Batu. I first had to get a minivan to the Tlogomas bus terminal for 2500 Rupiah, then another minivan to Batu for 2500 Rupiah. These minivans are the size of a pea but can, remarkably, carry around 15 or 16 people - as I found out on the second journey. My rucksack and camera bag were piled up in my face, and I had a chair and electric oven at my feet, which an old granny was taking somewhere. An old man wanted to get on but no-one moved - he had to almost crawl his way over peoples legs to get to a space. We arrived at Batu terminal and everyone exploded out.

I'd not booked anything, thinking it was a small place and I could just walk about looking for a room. Not the case! Batu's quite big, and is slowly getting engulfed by Malang. I walked about looking for rooms, but all were expensive resorts - one place was 1,000,000 Rupiah per night! After an hour, and with the afternoon rains closing in, I was thinking about going to Malang when three men (one speaking good English) pulled up and asked what I was doing. I said I was looking for "ekonomi hotel". They told me to get in and that they could help. I showed them an area that wikitravel suggested and they took me there, asking people along the way, and even phoning his sister for advice on cheap hotels! I ended up at a place called the Arumdalu hotel - and they had rooms for 70,000 Rupiah (£5). The men and I had a round of photographs, they took my Facebook details and drove off.

Soon after arriving the heavens opened and it rained ALL afternoon and into the evening. I didn't go out exploring, had some dinner in the hotel and read a book called Bangkok eight that I'd picked up in a bookswap. Not the sort of book I'd normally go for but it's quite absorbing. I think I was possibly the only guest in the hotel. The swimming pool was empty and being cleaned - ready for the high-season and the influx of wealthy tourists from Surabaya and Melang.

Determined to see this cute colonial mountain town I was up at 5:30am and out by 6am. Nothing was open, and just a few people were wandering about - all of those people said hello! It was already misty and cool, and felt a little like rain. There's apple orchards here and you can buy apples and apple related products everywhere! There's supposed to be a Hindu temple but I could not find it at all, asking people left me a little more lost - time to learn a little more of the language! I went back for my free breakfast - an enormous buffet, I'm sure for only me! (I had seconds). The town is cute and serves as a great base for hiking - but I had lots of this to come further east - so I packed the bags and headed back to Malang.

Surabaya, Java, Indonesia

My watch had decided to give up, I assume from the humidity. I had the clock on my phone set an hour earlier than it was (time's not so important when travelling!), so randomly glancing at a clock 2 hours before my flight was due to leave was a blessing. I had to fly to KL first. For some reason I used up the last of my Ringgits on 5 milka chocolate bars, which were all eaten in the two following days. On the plane was a strange Englishman - young but weary looking - he told me his life story in under five minutes. Said he had a worm in his arm and wanted to see a doctor in KL. Off the plane and on the taxiway tarmac he sparked a cigarette immediately (the ground crew didn't seem to mind) then dashed off somewhere. I later saw him, still, in KL airport, speaking to an official. At the bag carousel the luggage came - people collected them and left. All bags gone the carousel stopped and I stood alone. At the Air Asia lost property desk I told them what had happened and they produced my bag from behind the counter, saying that it had arrived on an earlier flight! Wtf - I'd only arrived an hour and a half before the flight! I wondered off, bemused. It was now 3am and my connecting flight to Indonesia was at 7am.

Air Asia - a fine budget airline

The next flight was tiring. I kept dozing off on the plane, that dozing where you jump, and make loud noises - waking yourself up! Eventually we arrive, and I avoid the airport taxi's and get a city cab from the departure drop-off. The traffic in Surabaya is horrendous - I can really feel Indonesia as the 4th most populous place on the planet. I'd chosen a hostel called "Ikurus to Live". The taxi driver spoke no English but seemed to know the address and we eventually arrive.

It's listed as a homestay but apart from the fact the owners are living somewhere in the building it's more like a posh hostel, or not so posh hotel. It's quite slick, with marble floors, posh paintings and even the water butt has a embroidered cover! The dorm room has three very comfortable beds, right  next to each other. I have the room to myself. The staff (owners?) speak no English - only one girl speaks a small amount. Outside of the hostel is normal for this part of the world :)

English is rarely spoken, other than hello and bye bye, especially out of the cities. Lucky for me Indonesian (Bahasa) is VERY similar to Malay (where I just came from), and is an extremely easy language to learn - there's no tenses, no gender and no conjugation. For plural (or to stress) the same word is said twice. Here's a few basics that you can almost live by (until they come back with a lightning fast sentence, assuming you can speak Bahasa!).

Hallo
Ya - Yes
Tidak - No
Tolong - Please
Terima Khasi - Thank you
Nama saya - My name is...
Berapa - How many / how much?
Apa - What
Di Mana - Where
Kapan - When
Makanan - Food
Minum - Drink
Kopi - Coffee
Teh - Tea
Ayam - Chicken (careful not to order Ayan - epilepsy!)
Bakmi - Noodle
Goreng - Fried
Beras - Rice
1 - Satu
2 - Duo
3 - Tiga

Kota Kinabalu, Borneo

Mostly a hopping off point for the rest of Sabah, but actually quite a pleasant city in itself. Away from the pedestrian-unfriendly highways there's cute, leafy backstreets with little cafe's, and a bright seafront promenade with a giant statue of a swordfish. I had a good nose about in the shops and markets.

The hostel is called Tropicana. It's nice, and clean, and has a restaurant attached. The staff are friendly, but spend all of their time glued to the TV downstairs - you feel like you're interrupting them when you ask for something! I was the only person in my dorm room. The other (female) dorm was occupied by three young, giggly English girls, who had been trekking in the Philippines, and could hardly walk - literally limping around the hostel.

I only have two photos for you at the moment :)

ENORMOUS mosquito

Kudat, Borneo

The flight over Palawan and down into Borneo was stunning - the pilot seemed to be weaving around enormous black anvil-topped thunderclouds - with a golden sunset backdrop and crystal blue waters below nature was really pulling out amazing colour combinations from her palette! I might say that this was the most beautiful flight I've ever been on - my face (then camera) was glued to the window for the whole flight.

I got off the flight and crashed out in a hostel - feeling extremely tired. Next morning I felt a lot better and headed out first thing to find a bus to take me to the northern tip of Borneo. I'm heading to a hostel called Tampat Do Aman. My family are friends with the parents of Howard, who's been out here for seven years, is married to a lovely Borneo lady, and has slowly but steadily been building this business. His aim is to put as much back to the village as he can, so he employs locals for all of the work - and has a few western volunteers on-site as extra hands. Everybody knows and respects him greatly! 

The rickety bus costs 20 Ringgits and takes about five hours. It drops you in Kudat main town, and Howard personally picks everybody up to take them the 30km to the very northern tip of Borneo.

The resort itself is sustainable, with compost toilets, all made from local wood and put together in a traditional way. There's bungalows, just big enough for a double bed, and a traditional Rungus longhouse with ten (I think) rooms, some with double and some with bunk beds. There's a communal area and they've just finished a fantastic little museum, full of interesting artefacts from the surrounding areas. For breakfast there's a shuttle (mostly Howard) that takes you down to the beach, where his restaurant is. There's surfboards, snorkels, kayaks and mountain bikes here. He also has some motorbikes and a battered (characterful) Proton to rent if you so wish.

You can do as much or as little as you want here. I did a jungle walk with Freddie, a German volunteer, and I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. I also spent some time on the surfboards. One evening I was failing to surf when the distant sky turned jet black and it started raining - it had a dramatic effect on the sea, smoothing and taming it with each droplet, only letting the waves roll in. I stopped surfing and sat on the board, soaking up the serene atmosphere with my lower half in the hot sea and my upper half in the cool rain!

There were two mom cats (with no names) in the lodge. One had three kittens (days old) and the other had two (weeks old). The days old mom decided she wanted a week old kitten to feed also and stole one of the others - though days old mom didn't seem too bothered having only one to look after. She took a shine to my bed and I regularly came back to find the kitten in my bed, or hanging precariously on the mosquito net on the outside! In the end I put a box in my room for them to sleep in, the mom seemed happy with this and would happily meow her way into my mosquito net for some attention in the middle of the night.

In my diary of Melaka and Penang in West Malaysia I raved about the food - and I'm so glad to be back here, I missed it so much. The Malay, Chinese and Indian influences excite me greatly - it truly must be some of the tastiest food in the world!

 

 

Traditional Rungus dish - cold fish cooked in lime acid juice, with chilli

There was a village wedding happening on the beach, and they invited us to join them at every opportunity. This corner of Borneo is actually Christian - there was pork, and a lot of beer and locally brewed rice wine. We were fed so much food - they kept putting fresh trays, loaded with tasty things, in front of us. When our drinks were gone (and even before) they were topped up, or we were forced to drink shots of rice wine. Everyone was ridiculously friendly, I think I spoke and danced with most people. There was a party guy, who kept coming around with cans of beer and a bottle of brandy - mixing them together in a glass and getting us to do shots. Me, the three volunteers, an Australian girl and a Canadian couple got exceedingly drunk - I think the Canadian man threw up. We learned how to dance like a bird and me and Freddie impressed the locals with a karaoke rendition of Let it be. I rolled into bed and passed out to the pleasant sound of  millions of jungle critters.

End of the night rabble!

I was rudely awoken from my hangover sleep by a sharp pain in my right elbow. Having no idea what was happening I fumbled for my torch - finding blood dripping down my arm, but nothing in sight - and this was inside my mosquito net. I jumped out of bed and looked around the bed but still found nothing. I went to the communal area and examined the bite more - there was a definite hole, and my elbow was starting to swell up, and become flushed, like a poison was irritating the skin. I didn't want to get back into bed after this, so stayed up. A few hours later Howard came and had a look, as he's an expert in jungle stuff. He said it looked like a centipede bite, of which some contain poison, although not lethal to humans - that would explain the swelling and painful aching elbow! He ripped a plant from the ground and squeezed a white, sticky liquid from it and onto the bite - he said it's a natural painkiller, but I forget the name of the plant :(

Nature's in control here. From the billions of bugs to the insane greenery, everywhere, climbing everything. Giant leaves the locals use as umbrellas when it rains! Howard said that clearing the lodge area is a constant battle - leave it for one day and nature takes over again. 

Centipede attack

Puerto Princessa, Philippines

Palawan is a big island but only has two main roads; one going north and one going south - I like this simplicity! The capital, Puerto, is in the middle and is a fairly big city, but nothing on the scale of Manila. I stayed in a place called the Badjao Inn - recommended on wikitravel. There were, however, no other western tourists here - as soon as they land in Palawan they're whisked off in minivans to the beaches. I'd decided to spend a few days here - how bad can it be? Any westerner here seems to have a young Filippino girl on his arm - I looked particularly out of place not having one. I went to a busy restaurant hoping to meet some people. It was an odd place, staffed by hundreds of people with a projection TV showing the comedy show "Just for laughs" - everybody was staring at it while eating. They had a DJ supplying the (very loud) sounds. While eating my pork adobo my ears were treated to the song that goes "my neck, my back, lick my pu... and my cr..." - no-one in the restaurant batted an eyelid. At 8pm a band came on containing 3 Filippino dudes and their instruments and 4 Filippino girls dressed in pretty much nothing. They were bad, and I left as soon as they'd finished the first song!

I wanted to go to Sabang, and the UNESCO underground river. If you don't do it in a tour you have to go to the office in Puerto and get a permit. Then I hired a motorbike for the fantastic 70km trip. The roads are winding up, down, in and out of hills, through smiling villages and along mangrove beaches - truly beautiful - I have about 10 minutes of great video! Once there you're assigned a slot (they limit visitor numbers) - mine was 9:30am the next morning. I found a cheap beach hut and threw my bag in, then the rains came - HEAVY! There's nothing to do when it's raining in Sabang (there's not much to do when it's not raining!), so I read, and played sudoku. Eventually they stopped and I had another lonely dinner on the seafront - most people just come here for the day in groups, then go back to Puerto.

I was woken at 1am by a cockroach walking on my face! Oddly this is the first time this has ever happened to me, in all of my travels - or at least the first time I've woken up. I'm not sure how it got in, as I was under a mosquito net! I brushed it off and away - I actually don't mind cockroaches, anything that doesn't bite me is fine by me. I killed two mosquitoes who were also inside the net (wtf) and went back to sleep.

Next morning I went to the registration place and showed my permit. I paid the 400 Pesos fee and the 40 Pesos tax - then had to pay 200 Pesos as I wasn't in a group - they then bolted me onto a group of Filipinos. Getting on the first boat is crazy! Imagine 20 boats, all with outriggers, trying to get to one little badly made concrete dock, while rough sea waves are battering the dock! Tip: wear flip-flops - you get very wet just trying to get in the boat. I was wearing my walking boots as I was on the motorbike and they were socked through in seconds (they're still wet now). One on the boat it's a rough ride around the coast to a secluded beach, when you walk a little through the jungle, then get on another boat (more feet wetting) that takes you into the cave.

The cave is a monster - you can go 1.8km on the boat (it goes 8km in total). I sat at the front so had to hold the torch with the camp Filippino man shouting where to point it, in not-very-understandable English. Thankfully the Filippino girl behind me could see I was struggling to hear and translated. I wanted to point the torch at what I wanted to look at (cute hanging bats mostly) - but was told to move it, and point it a the rock that looks like "Sharon Stone" or the one that looks like "Jesus" or the one that looks like "Mary" or "the last supper" - seriously - can we have some useful information? Does anyone care that that rock looks like a carrot?? Tour over, my feet got a little wetter and I got on the bike and made the lovely rolling journey back to Puerto.

On my last day in Puerto I still didn't meet anyone. Traditional Filippino food is ok but just essentially just seafood or meat, in a sauce with rice. Vegetarians would have a nightmare - on one menu, under the "vegetables" section there was "vegetables with pork". Unfortunately American style diners selling burgers, fried chicken, hot-dogs, shakes, pizza and all that jazz are taking over, and it's not even good junk. I ordered some fried chicken and chip from a major Filippino chain, and got a tiny piece of dry chicken with five (count 'em!) undercooked chips!

I'm going to sound like a moaning tourist git now (and I probably am, especially as I'm a little travel weary at the moment). The people are friendly, the diving and snorkelling is world-class and the beaches are amazing - but I just don't get a spark from this country like I have with others, something's missing for me - that cultural high that gets inside you and makes you feel fuzzy and excited about a place - it's just not there for me - however there are another 6998 islands to explore :)

I'm now in the airport, drinking an Americano from "Seattle's finest", while the latest news and basketball from the US is on the TV. I await my plane to Borneo.