Country: Indonesia.
City: Jakarta.
Currency: 1Euro = 10,000 Rupiahs
Arrival Date: Saturday April 1st. SUPPOSED TO BE!! heheee

Date: Monday April 3rd.

Well I made it to Indonesia but spent a little longer getting to where I wanted to get to then I had planned!! Or at least was told by the travel agent (if you could call him that!!) So I thought Hop on a boat to Batam (an Island in Indonesia about 45mins from Singapore) But For the first time that night April 1st I just wanted be home with some sort of sanity or even have a chat with some one I knew cos it just got a bit too much for me!! heheee alls well now though and I'm back on track and enjoying Indonesia very much!! Thank God I met a nice guy from Bandung and we hung out for the day sightseeing which was a really great day!!

But it when I was travelling from Singapore to Indonesia that I almost had a nervous breakdown I think!! hehee So here's the story!!

I took a ferry to the Island called Batam (but on the way I read that the only things worth seeing in Sumatra are in the north and I was heading south to end up in Bali!) So I figured I'd go straight to Java instead!! ha easier said then done! I get to Batam only to find out that there's no boat for another two days to Jakarta and that the only way off the island in order to get to Java is to get a boat there that morning and through Sumatra by land ...which seemed ok until I actually started on the trip!! I took a boat to some port on Sumatra (dunno where!!) then got harrassed, shouted at, laughed at, all the usual sh*t from the locals, the taxi men and all sorts until I booked at ticket direct to Jakarta that they "Said" would get there the next day at 2pm!! Luckily I was with another girl that I'd met at the ferry terminal in Batam called Erin who was in the same boat as me!! Or NO boat as the case was!!

Well it was supposed to be a nice bus with reclining seats and a toilet and that direct to Jakarta cos it was a long trip all day and overnight!! HA!!! To cut a very long story (2 days long) short we got a minibus to the supposed bus station in Jambi after having to sit in the office and get stared at and talked about and laughed at etc..etc When we got to Jambi 3 hrs later after the minibus had broken down once on the way!! then we were told that well we werent Really at the bus station and had to get on the back of a motorbike (Pack on my Back and daybag on my front!!) to the ACTUAL bus station!! Now after seeing how these people drive and avoid accidents by a miracle as far as I could see.. I wasn't entirely happy about this but had no choice really!! so I made it to the REAL station in one piece thank god

Then we were supposed to wait for an hour but the bus was late and we ended up waiting for 2 hours! Then a bus finally came along and we were shouted at to run and get on it and this was at 9pm ...but we quickly realise that we're not on the bus we paid for, the seats didnt move anywhere, it had no toilet and when I asked about getting another seat so I could sleep and that wasn't the very front seat beside the bus driver and his mates who were chatting and smoking!! they said all sorts of stuff to each other in Indonesian and then the whole bus laughed!! yeah great!! laugh at the tourists!! So after an hour there was a dinner stop when I was really getting fed up and very p*ssed off and stressed ..etc..etc..I'd just had enough when they then said there was a place to sleep at the back of the bus...and it seemed to work out better in the end (For a while anyway!!)

I was wishing I was at home or with someone I knew to just gimme a hug and say it'll be ok!! dont worry about it!! heheee anyway after travelling overnight at the back of the bus we ended up STILL on the bus until 8pm the night after we started and we were STILL in bloody Sumatra!! we were supposed to be in Jakarta at that stage according to the feckers at the port...so to continue.. we eventually got a ferry to Java at 10pm to find out that the bus we were on didn't actually go to Jakarta City but only to the Region!! Ahh it just gets better eh!! we were put off that bus at the port and left to get another bus to Jakarta at something like 12midnight! And pay again for that bus!! So we got all the usual harrassments and misunderstandings and stuff before we got on the right bus that left at 12.30AM!!

So extremely tired.. we're on the bus and getting the usual stares etc..etc.. no big deal until the guy in front of me types in a text message in his phone "dont praise every man" and shows it to me saying nothing...So I look back at him confused thinking he was some religious nut or something...then he types more and shows me again...it said "just be careful ok!" So then I realised he was saying dont Trust every man!! So I nodded ok and i looked around the bus and noticed a guy kept looking back at us and Erin, who was asleep beside me...Then the phone guy left and said bye..I said bye and thanks!! only then the guy beside Erin got off and the shifty guy moved seats to right beside us!! So after a nervous trip to Jakarta where he kept looking at us both and shifting about constantly we finally arrived at 3am!!!

Then we got harrassed by a really rude taxi man who was shouting and trying to grab my bag to put it in his taxi..Then he stood in my way so we couldnt put our bags in another taxis boot!! I "stated firmly" (not wanting to make him extremely angry) to move and we just shoved our bags in the other taxi in the end..then we got to the area to get a place to stay only to find the hostals were closed or had no rooms!!! F**k!!! I thought... then some weird guys were trying to talk to us and one started saying that he'd call another place for us but said that was "Full" too...then asked us where we were from and then started talking about the war and americans!! The streets were smelly with rats and cats and insects so we eventually found refuge in the IBIS hotel lobby for 3 hours before we decided to just leave the city and not hang around there at all!!

I got the train to Bandung after two days on the move and I found a nice place and met some nice locals after bumping into a guy in an internet cafe!! So that was probably one of my most tiring and nerve racking and emotioanlly tough trips so far!! But things have been a lot better since I left there and went to Bandung and Yogyakarta! will talk about that later, I'm tired and going to bed now!!

Date: Saturday April 12th.

Well lets go back to April third when I finally got to Bandung and managed to find myself a nice place to stay after walking about for a while in blistering heat!! Bloody hell it's so hot an sweaty here! So I finally settled into my room for 55,000rps, which was a bit over what I wanted to pay originally but I just wanted to get to a room somewhere and have a sleep a shower and finally relax!! I had a nice double bed, nothing too fancy in the room itself but i had my own bathroom and cold water shower and that so I didn't really care!

After a wash and a sleep and settling in I went to a few shops to get some bits and pieces that I needed before checking some mail in the internet cafe. While I was there I was asked a question by a guy there called Ibeng ..also on the internet ...he needed to know the english word for 'stomach' ...so I told him and after that we started chatting and he was asking about where I was going and what I was doing etc..etc...so then he told me that he could help me get a ticket for Yogyokarta where I wanted to go in the next day or two. Anyway he waited for me to finish and then he said he'd show me the office where he worked and where I could get the ticket sorted.

So I walked with him down these dark backstreets which seemed a bit funny at first but we chatted and walked until we got to the office beside a hostel that I was originally going to stay at but couldn't find and couldn't be bothered looking for it as I was so tired!! So I sat down and chatted to a few of his friends and we played guitar and sang a few songs before Ibeng and his friend kindly walked me back to my hotel. Ibeng said that he could organise a tour for me on Friday as he organised tours also. But instead of me paying for a tour I could just pay for him on the buses and that and he could take me myself. So that was fine with me and he said he'd call over to meet up with me the next morning to see the volcano, the rainforest, the tea plantations and the hot springs!! Sounded good to me!!

April 4th, Friday morning after breakfast Ibeng called over and we got a few different buses out to the volcano. We walked through the park and after about an hour walking or something we made it to the stinky volcano. Again I got harrassed by all the people trying to sell me things but after avoiding them we walked down to the base off the far side of the volcano to see the boiling water bubbling up fropm the ground and smell the very strong sulphur or rotten egg smell up close!! hehehee that was fun!! We continued on and walked through the rainforest for a while before emerging at the tea plantations. So we walked through there all the time Ibeng was explaining to me about the volcano, rainforest, the country, the people, the culture and how they pick the Tea...etc..etc..So he was a very good tour guide!

The best was yet to come though, we walked down the road a fair bit and finally made it to the Hot springs! Yeay!! it was a different resort to where all the tourists normally go to and Ibeng thought that it'd be nicer as there would be less people there!! So we had some food first and then I got changed and hopped into the Hot pools!! WOW hehehe it was fantastic after a day walking and sightseeing to just relax in the hot water and even better there was not another sould there!! I had the entire place to myself!! So I cant remember just how long I spent relaxing, swimming and chatting with Ibeng who sat at the side of the pools before I was so wrinkley I looked like a prune so I had to get out!! hehehee We then walked back up to the main road and caught a bus back to Bandung where he brought me to one of the most popular local places to eat and I had a yummy chicken satay thingy with rice and no knives, forks or spoons!! so I ate with my fingers!! the way you're supposed to do here!! hehehe what a great day!

Saturday morning I got up and again Ibeng called over to help me buy a ticket for the train to Yogya as he said he wanted to make sure I got a seat and was sorted and that! how nice! So he walked ahead to the station and bought my ticket for me so I was all set when I walked down to the station. He even chatted to the people sitting behind me and asked them to look after my stuff if I needed to go to the bathroom and to make sure I got off at the right stop in Yogya!! hehehee So it was a pleasant 8hr train journey and I got off at the right stop and found a cheap place to stay at about 2.50Euro a night again with my own room, double bed, own bathroom. I had a bit of a walk about and got roped into buying a batik painting that is original though and I really liked it so I wasn't too bothered. I also decided that I needed a bit of relaxation for my brain and agreed to go on the tours that the guy at the hostel told me about. After all I did go there to see the temples and the volcano and this is exactly what he was offering me!! so I figured why not!

Sunday 6th, I had to get up at 5am on Sunday in order to go on the tour to the Temples that I had organised the night before. So firstly I was in a bus with a few other people and that was kinda nice to have other tourists there with me for a change after the daunting trip through Sumatra. Also I didn't have to worry about getting on any other buses or people ripping me off cos i had already paid for the tour and that was sorted! Anyway we got to Borobudur at about 6am for sunrise and walked about the Temple and the grounds which was really nice and very impressive only for all the locals!!! They have this thing where they all want to ask you for your picture with them!! then they ask you for your address for their school project or somehting!! anyway the first few times it was kinda funny and that.. but afterwards it just got annoying and I just wanted to get outta there! They even started just taking pictures of me as I was walking or sitting about in the grounds!! Weird!!

I finally had enough and it was time to head back for breakfast, which was a bit disappointing to be honest and where we also got hounded by people trying to sell us more necklaces, hats, T-shirts etc..etc.. It gets very tedious here after a few days of people trying to get you to buy stuff from them everywhere you go!! Anyway we headed to the Mendut Temple for a quick stop and then headed on to the Silver Industry where we got a little tour of the shop and how they make all the stuff and in the end I decided to buy a nice little pair of silver earings for about 3 Euro!! We left there and drove back the hour and a bit to the last of the temples at Prambanan. The temple and the surroundings were amazing but the people there were just unbelieveable!! so many people trying to take your picture, sell you stuff, get your address etc..etc,..it just got too much in the end and I was glad to get back on the bus and head home

I got back at about 2pm in the afternoon and headed off along the main shopping street to the water castle and the bird market which was pretty much like the markets in Hong Kong and Japan with all kinds of animals kept in really bad conditions!! It's not nice to see but I guess that's the culture here and I'm not going to be able to change that no matter what I do or think as it's been like that for years here!! Afterwards I bought one or two things in the market as I had lost my cap in Sumatra so I bought another one before getting dinner and then heading to bed and having a nice relaxing sleep all night until I took the tour to the Bromo Volcano and then on to Bali after. Great!! no more thinking or organising for another two days!! I can just sit back and let someone else bring me around and organise where I go and what I do!! yeay!!! hehehee

So Monday the 7th I left at 9am with a few other tourists and headed in the mini bus to Bromo so that we could stay overnight and get us to the rim of the volcano for sunrise the next morning!! That day was pretty uneventful just sitting in the bus for the entire day except for the fun at lunch when the bus had a problem with the brakes so we were delayed while the driver hitched up the van and got underneath it and took the thing apart and put it back together again before we could get going again. As a quick test he stepped on the accelerator speeding towards the road before jamming on the brakes to stop before ploughing into the oncoming traffic!! Thankfully they worked and we were all set to get going again! We drove for a good few hours before the engine then packed it in and died after a few loud bangs!! We got out again on the side of the road in the pitch black and waited while they fixed it up again and eventually got it started!!

We drove to the main office in Probolinggo before changing buses and getting into one that didn't breakdown before heading up the mountain for another hours drive to the hotel that they had organised for us. We got there at about 10pm just before the last place for something to eat closed, so we managed to get dinner and then head to bed!! It was a very nice place I have to admit and I had a nice sleep for a few hours in the comfy bed before getting up at a very early 3.40am so that we could make the hour trek to the volcano for sunrise as 5am. It was a spectacular sight in all fairness and worth the effort!! We had a nice stroll back to the hotel for breakfast after which we had to get back in the minibus to Probolinggo again where we transferred to a larger coach for the trip on to Bali!!

Again it was a pretty boring day, we sat on the bus, had lunch, got back on the bus, got on the ferry to Bali, got back on the bus and drove all the way to the Denpasar region where we were left at the Ugung Station. I was originally planning to head to Denpasar city and stay there for a night or so before heading out to Lombok but after being harrassed and shouted at and had tons of men trying to rip me off in taxis on buses etc I gave in and took a minibus with a few other tourists to Kuta ( a pretty touristy place!!) . We bargained for about 20mins before eventually getting a kinda good price for us all. After walking for a bit myself and two of the girls from the bus found a cheap place to stay overnight although it was all the way down a dark smelly alley way so I decided to leave there for somewher eelse the next day!! I had a shower and then met up with the girls again before we headed out for something to eat! HA easier said then done!!

I thought this place would be rocking all night but it was actually pretty quiet and all the places were closed so in the end we just went to the supermarket and got a pot noodle and some breadrolls before heading back to bed!! ehehhee Onlt two days later did I realise that I was in the wrong time zone and hadn't realised that I was an hour out!! But I hadn't need to know the time so it didn't matter until I arranged to meet someone and turned up an hour late!! oops! hehee Well I got up Wednesday morning the 9th and organised myself in a new place to stay! I was going to enjoy myself here for a few days before heading to one of the Islands called Lombok for a relaxing time on a nice beach somewhere quiet for a few days!!

So I stayed in a cheap hostel for 30,000rps (about 3 Euro!!) last night I moved to a beautiful hotel with pool and sunbathing area, breakfast included, hot water, nice quiet room for 85,000 (about 8 Euro) thinking they'll store my bag for free for the week I spend in Lombok instead of paying the 150,000Rps the storage place is asking for and the 30,000 tonight for the cheap room I was in!!! saving of 100,000rps!! how clever am I!!! hehehe But then I had a stroll by the beach and it wasn't that bad really so I decided to stay here after figuring out that I will pay just as much to stay here in cnice hotel then I will to make my way out to Lombok and back and stay in an OK place there!! Plus I lose two days travelling just to get out there!! So i just thought I couldn't be bothered doing any more travelling, sightseeing or anything!! I'm just gonna stay here in Kuta which is really close to the airport actually and just sunbathe, eat and sleep before having to go to Melbourne and find a job!!! Now!! I'm sorted all that i wanted then after a nice dinner was a choclate fudge sundae from McD's so I strolled down the street and got one!! On the way I met a guy called Kamald just sitting at the side of the street (thats what they all do here!!) I've never seen so many people in an entire country that just sit about at the side of the street all day! You wonder if they do anything somethimes!!! hehehe

Anyway we had a chat and he asked me if I could come by the next day for a chat and I said that I might as he seemed like a nice enough guy. I headed off back to my nice hotel and went to bed!! yeay!!! I HAVE HOT WATER AGAIN!! hehehehee woo hooo!! Thursday the 10th I got up and had a nice breakfast before heading down to the beach. Again getting hassled to buy stuff, have a massage, get your hair braided etc..etc..so I walked further down the beach to a place where I was completely alone!! yeay!! I had a nice swim and that before heading back to check my mail and finally got some pics updated on the site from DC!! I found a place that had a photo editor that I could use! Then I dropped by to have a quick chat with Kamald when he asked me to cmoe by later after work to hang out with him and his mates. So I agreed and went off to have dinner and a shower and sort myself out before dropping by to meet the guys.

We all sat around and i met all the guys, had some of the local drink 'Arak' and played guitar and sang and chatted with them for a while. I was a lot of fun and they were nice guys to hang out with. They said that there was another Irish girl and two guys staying just around the corner!! So later I met Kirsten and we all headed to a bar type disco place called Bounty just down the road. It was a fun place and we danced and had a drink before I bumped into two guys that I knew from seperate countries that had themselves met up and were having a drink together!! hehehe One guy called Freddy that I had met five months previously in Santiago in Chile was sittign having a drink with Max, the guy i had met in Singapore!! How bizarre!! So I hung out with them for a while and the local guys before heading to bed at some time like 4 or 5am!! What a fun night!!

Friday, yesterday I got up just in time for breakfast and basically bummed about for the day, I checked mail, updated the site, organised some more of my pics, had lunch, walked about the shops, had dinner and then dropped over to Kirsten's place to meet them for a few drinks as it was their last night here before heading to Oz! I'll no doubt see them again!! hehehee So I sat and chatted and sang a few songs with the local guys again for an hour or two before heading to Kirstens place and meeting Neal and Martin, also from Dublin!! We just hung out there for the night and listened to music and chatted before I made it home to bed at some early hour in the morning again!! That Arak is good stuff!! hehehee

So I got up late this morning and had missed breakfast so just had lunch before fixing up some of my pictures for the afternoon on the website. It's not too expensive here so I can finally get the whole thing sorted and be done with it over the next few days which is great! I'm running out of money now though and just changed the last of the dollars that I had with me so hopefully I can sort myself out for the next few days and just eat and sleep and relax before heading to Oz!! I kinda felt a bit sad actually today cos i just thought 'oh my god i have to stop travelling now!!' and it was really weird!! Cos I felt kinda like I did when was leaving Ireland...sad that I'll be missing friends and family and that only different cos I don't have any family with me!! Very weird feeling!! Like I'm leaving something behind now!! But I'm really looking forward to seeing my friends in Oz again!! hehehee

well I'm off to get dinner and a good nights sleep for a change!! no Arak tonight!! maybe tomorrow though!! hehehe

Date: Thursday May 1st.

No I'm not still in Bali...I left almost two weeks ago now but haven't been able to update the site until now. So as I never took note of what I was doing and when for the last few days in Bali I'll just have to give a quick summary of my last few days there.

Get up whenever I woke up, have breakfast by the pool in the sun. Go and check my mail and update my CV as I was startign to look for a job at that stage...kinda...Then have some lunch somewhere...then sunbathe for a while either on the beach or by the pool with the German guys. Have dinner later and then head out for drinks...either go meet the locals and play guitar, sing and some Arak or go to the local disco and dance!!

Oh over the last two days there i did make friends with a guy who rented surfboards on the beach called Edi!! Now he was a great guy! At the end of the day he'd lend me a board for nothing and let me surf til it was dark! Then he'd even make me eat some local food with him for a snack after surfing! I dunno what half of the stuff that i ate was but it was definitely hot and spicey!! I ate it anyway even though it did almost burn my mouth off!! Well they wouldn't take no for an answer!! heheee on my last day there I just relaxed by the pool, sunbathed and then went to the beach where Edi let me surf again and until 6.30pm when I had to leave for the airport almost. But not without eating dinner with him first!! Jeeze they're unbelievable!! hehehee So i hoped in a taxi and headed to the airport.

I was pretty early cos of the war and SARS and the extra security in Bali so I had time to find a nice place to sit and eat dinner! I went to a Japanese restaurant and sat down for one of the most delicious meals and comfortable surroundings I'd been in in a long time! It was really really nice and the waiter was even nicer! we had a long chat and he was such a nice guy, very intelligent and worldly even though he had never been out of Indonesia! I was impressed! He spoke three different languages and he used to work in the club that was bombed in Bali over a year ago but now worked in this Japanese restaurant. He told me how lucky he felt that he worked there now and was almost given a second chance as he surely would have been injured if not killed had he still been working there! What an amazing guy!

So that's it for the travels for now! I'll miss Indonesia even with all the ups and downs and offers of massage, braid your hair, silver rings, sarongs, t-shirts, shorts, watches, hats etc etc...I could go on and on! It was definitely an experience I won't forget!! So now i just need to find a job in Melbourne and I'll be sorted for the next part of my trip!!! hehehe wish me luck!


Here will be the photos!!

(Back to my Itinerary.)