Arriving in Labuhanbajo was a surprise. Tourism was the market here, not fish. There were swish hotels, foreigner-friendly restaurants and plenty of other bule around. The boat arrived late (of course) and I checked into a cheap hostel just in time to catch the last of the sunset across the harbour. I’d crossed Sumbawa in … More Indonesia Part 6: Mister = Money (Flores Island 09/09/16-21/09/16)
Wherever I went in Indonesia people would always ask me ‘go to Bali?’. It was as if they thought I’d taken the wrong bus by accident and ended up in their village when I was supposed to be in Bali. Most of the foreign tourists coming here end up on Bali & Gili and they … More Indonesia Part 5: Attack of the Monkeys (Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa Islands 30/08/16-09/09/16)
After a day off in Yogyakarta I could leave with something resembling a plan. I would head north to the other side of Java and follow the coastal road east towards Bali. As the road headed north I could see Merapi looming to my left. My last visit to Yogykarta was in 2011, just a year … More Indonesia Part 4: Climbing Volcanoes in East Java (Yogyakarta to Banywuangi 24/08/16-30/08/16)
One of the things I dislike the most about South East Asia is not being able to wild camp anywhere. There’s either too much jungle to squeeze a tent in, or people have cleared the land to farm or build a house. I miss stealth camping a lot, so when I saw a track leading … More Indonesia Part 3: Mountaintop Traffic Jams (Merak to Yogyakarta 15/08/16-23/08/16)
The landscape was changing again. The fields of rice disappeared and the hills began to undulate once again but now they were only occasionally covered in palm or rubber trees. Small cassava trees (a root vegetable) were growing across the hills and farmers were drying crops in the sun. It suddenly occurred to me that it … More Indonesia Part 2: Falling Victim to Sumatra’s Deadly Roads (South Sumatra 08/08//16-14/08/16)
It was time for the last push to Australia. Leaving the glossy world of Singapore behind me I caught the boat for Pulau Batam – my first stop in Indonesia. On my last trip to South East Asia I made the same trip across the water, so I was prepared for the culture shock of … More Indonesia Part 1: Sailing into the Southern Hemisphere (Pulau Batam & South Sumatra 30/07/15-08/08/15)
Singapore. Another huge personal milestone. The end of the land mass that began for me over a year and a half ago when I arrived in France. From here I can go no further without taking a boat. I had goosebumps arriving into the centre of town. Singapore is one of those few places in … More Singapore: A City Boy Back in his Element (27/08/16-30/08/16)
Skipping Kuala Lumpur I headed south from Klang. It was the same old west coast Malaysian cycling – busy roads and uninspiring scenery. A few dragon fruit farms spiced up the roadside activity but as quickly as they’d appeared they faded back into endless palm oil plantations. I remember being excited when I saw my … More Malaysia Part 2: It’s a Small World when you’re on Two Wheels (Klang to Singapore 20/07/16-26/07/16)
I’ll be honest. The only reason I took the boat over to Langkawi from Thailand was because I’d heard that the island was duty free. I’d also heard that booze was expensive in the rest of the country. That didn’t surprise me – Muslim countries have a habit of sticking a mean tax rate on … More Malaysia Part 1: 25,000km and Still Going Strong (Thailand to Klang 07/07/16-19/07/16)
Still on my mini-holiday with mum, we headed over from Railay to Phi Phi island. My parents had visited Phi Phi when they back-packed South East Asia in the 80s. We were both curious to visit the place: my mum wanted to see how the new ‘poster child’ for Thai island tourism had changed and I … More Thailand Part 4: Eid al-Fitr in the Deep South (Krabi to Malaysia 26/06/16-07/07/16)
JKB's Bike Ride 