Day 115 - Yogyakarta, Java.

It's hard to believe that we've been in Indonesia for a week already. Following Kuta and Ubud in Bali, we're now in Yogyakarta on Java and before you ask, yes, I've had some Java coffee...

We hadn't booked the flight as advice from previous travellers suggested it was best just to turn up and book a flight at the airport so as to avoid the commission of the travel agencies in the towns. This advice proved disastrous because we ended up paying through the nose for our flights here as Garuda were the only airline travelling on Sunday and their flights were full. We had to wait in the airport for over 9 hours for the next available seats. Hhhmmmph!

We got here last night, in the dark, with no accommodation booked and no rooms at the first two hotels we tried. After wandering the streets for a short while and dodging the rats down the alley ways (I swear one was the size of a cat!), we finally checked into Peti Mas; a small hotel in the heart of the city. It sounded so cosmopolitan and with dogged determination we negotiated 20% off the room price fairly easily. In fact rather too easily. We were then lead past the lovely looking outside breakfast area, alongside the invitingly fresh swimming pool, up the stairs to the first floor balconies with pool view and eventually to our room. The promise of a warm shower and an air-conditioned rest seemed so inviting.

Rich went off to check out some day trip options while I layed on my bed trying to cool down emotionally and bodily. It was then I heard it. I thought I was imagining things at first but it got louder and louder. There were rats in the ceiling! I'm guessing they were Dutch rats given the fact that they were obviously wearing heavy-duty clogs. I sat up with a start and followed the sound of the footsteps with my eyes out on stalks as it moved from one side of the room to the other and down the wall. Then it stopped. I sat down again wondering whether the whole city was infested after seeing that huge one in the alley earlier then switched on the telly to drown out any more noises. I started getting engrossed in 101 Dalmatians when Rich returned. I
explained the noise to him and suggested that we ask for a ground floor room instead at which point the shuffling fired up again. His expression was "Bloody hell!" at which point we hot-footed it to reception. The woman behind the counter didn't seem the least bit surprised when we asked for a quieter room without en-suite vermin and she took us round the back via the Japanese style garden to a very tranquil and rodent-free room.

Much better...

Or so we thought until 4am the next morning when two joyful Muslims started their prayers seemingly in the rooms either side of us. I rolled my eyeballs in the resigned style of Ena Sharples and stuck my head under the pillow to try and drown out the noise. No sooner had I done that than I was woken again by a cacophony of tropical birds 'treating' me to a dawn chorus. It turns out that the pretty Japanese garden outside the room is also home to a collection of large caged feathered friends that like nothing better than to announce their awakening to the whole of Yogyakarta! I've given up on the idea of having a peaceful night's sleep for the next few nights until we get to Pangandaran. Apparently, nobody goes there anymore since the last tsunami and the bombings of 2006 scared off the punters. It should be blissfully quiet.

We'll see.

Before I forget, and for the benefit of my mate Jack, I'm going to include the average price of beer that we've been paying in the local dives. The price is per litre and gives a good indication of the general cost of living. Well, for some it does! (Just halve it to get the approximate pint equivalent OK Jack?)

I shall call this the beer index...

Yogyakarta: £1.80 per Litre (Avg.)

Day 109 - Kuta, Bali

The journey over here seemed to go on for ever. It was only the three curries that I had on the plane and the comedy flight attendants with so much makeup on that their eye shadow reached their hairline that made the 17 hour journey seem bearable. Breakfast on the plane was a real treat - chicken curry with rice, a small pot of dried squid with peanuts and a dairylea triangle with a cracker. Oh... and an orange juice so I got at least one of my five a day.

Arriving in Bali and getting to the Suji Bungalows was a bit of a culture shock. The weather was a sweltering 32 degrees but the humidity was almost unbearable. I breathed a big sigh of relief when I caught sight of the pool! It was a different story when I got in because it was like jumping into a luke warm bath. A cold shower afterwards was just the ticket.

We've actually done very little since being here other than sitting by the pool, walking on the over-crowded beach, walking round the town and eating. Breakfast in the hotel yesterday was a little embarrasing; after finishing my fresh lemon drink I told the waitress how much I
had enjoyed it. She looked delighted and being quite a friendly young lady she asked me "You like shower?". I thought I'd misheard her so I asked her what she meant and she replied with the same question. I declined politely and said that I'd showered before breakfast and
thanked her for her kind offer. She then gave me a look that said "You jerk" and replied "No sir, you like the lemon juice SOUR!". I thanked her for the toast and left, hoping she wouldn't be there the next day. I think I had pool water in my ears. Or something.

Walking round town can be a chore as every 30 seconds you're asked if you want to buy something. As soon as they see your sunglasses, they ask you if "you wan buy sunglass". The same when they look at your watch - "you wan buy watch?". More disturbing are the numerous young girls asking "Scuse me mate, you want massage?". That fake cockney accent is just scary!

Last night before dinner we went for a couple of drinks in some of the bars around town. The first one, called Havana, was a little expensive so we just ordered a beer each and a couple of tapas dishes to keep us going until dinner. After we'd paid we sat there finishing our beers
off when one of the waitresses sidled up to Richard and said "What, no tip for me then?". He looked at me in stunned disbelief and we legged it down the road to the next bar. Honestly, the cheek of some people.

In the next bar we were enjoying another deliciously cold beverage when this Aussie bloke started talking to us (don't they always?). It turned out he is a travel writer called Brian something or other and has written quite a few books including "Planes, Trains and
Elephants", "I'm Not Eating Any Of That Foreign Muck" and "Rule #5, No Sex On The Bus". I'll be ordering at least one of those on my return so I can see if he's any good.

After he left, we decided to treat ourselves to a good meal in one of the nicer restaurants in town. We sat there, ordered our food and were having a nice time when I suddenly realised Germaine Greer was sitting at the next table along with four other raucus antipodeans. They'd
obviously been working their way through the cocktail list. I was then shocked to see Germaine tweak a sensitive part of her dining partner's upper body and I thought "Oh hello, I know their sort". After getting a closer look at the group I realised it wasn't Ms. Greer at all, just a very
loud, outspoken Aussie who'd tipped too many daiquiris down her neck.

Just as our meal arrived and the waiters were making room for it (it was big), who should arrive and ask to join us but our new Australian writer friend. What timing. He looked at our food and said "Oh what a shame I didn't come earler, I could have joined you with that". I was
thinking "Yeah, shame for you mate" but of course didn't say it. Rich was thinking the same, I'm sure. Brian ended up ordering "the special" which didn't look very special at all. In fact, four burnt prawns on a sharp stick with a bit of rice looked pretty un-special.

Today has been a really lazy day as well. Apart from typing this and booking our bus to Ubud for tomorrow we're just going to swim in the pool, watch the sunset and eat.

Again.

Bliss...

Day 105 - Orpington, UK

Hello again, it seems ages since I've written anything here and there's a good reason for that. After arriving in Sydney three weeks ago we spent a good couple of days doing all the things that we'd planned to do there and were preparing to leave for Cairns on Tuesday. However, just as we were getting ready to spend a day at the beach on Monday (29th September) I received a call from Jane, my sister letting me know that my Dad had passed away the day before. Of course, it was a total shock and I felt like the world had collapsed around me. I couldn't take it in. What made it worse was that I could hardly have been any further from my family if I'd tried and all I wanted to do at that point was to get home. Rich was brilliant and organised our flight home while I was sitting on the edge of my hotel bed, totally wrecked and trying to make sense of it all. We were home by Tuesday morning (UK time) and feeling totally shattered, I was with my family before midday and it was great to be home.

Well, that was three weeks ago and we're all slowly coming to terms with it and trying to put our lives back together. Rather than cancelling the trip and trying to find work in these financially demanding times, we've booked our flights to carry on with the travelling and we're heading off to Bali tomorrow. We should be there by Monday afternoon in time for Rich to spend his birthday on the beach.

Thanks to everyone for their support and kind words over the last few weeks, please keep in touch (danny@dannyhyett.co.uk) as even just a quick hello makes me feel less far away.

Bali here we come...