Climbing to the top level of one of the temples of Angkor to watch the sunset was one of the most amazing things I have done. I only hope I can do it again soon and share it with someone. When I got there there were a few people enjoying a bottle of wine and a picnic (no joke), but the all left before the show got really good, leaving me to enjoy in all by myself. Next time though I want to do it from one of the temples that has a view of another. From this this one all I could see was the flat Cambodian geography covered in jungle, which is still pretty impressive.

Prambanan Temple, Java, Indonesia

Prambanan is a very interesting temple, unfortunately because of past earthquakes you can’t really get close to them for safety reasons. In fact earthquakes have gradually destroyed most of the temples within the grounds, if I remember correctly only 6-7 of the original 200+ Shrines remain, fortunately those that do are the largest and most spectacular.

Well it’s been a while, I’ve mostly put this off because internet access in Indonesia was bleedingly slow. So right now I’ve forked out 80 Ringit in the LCCT terminal in Kuala Lumpur to get into the premium lounge for food a comfortable couch and fast internet. I have decided to sleep at the airport tonight so I will see exactly nothing of KL from the ground as I fly to Phuket tomorrow. Maybe I will spend some time in Malaysia on the way back.

Bali was quite overwhelming at first but I pretty quickly got the hang of it, mostly it was handling the touts and figuring out how much I should pay for things, I did learn the hard way on more than one occasion. To be honest I did no think that much of Bali but I did only see the Kuta and Legian areas, if I had gone to Ubud and other areas I may have formed a different opinion but I was only there for 3-4 days, I can’t even remember already.

I was very impressed with Yogyakarta but I don’t know why, as for the city itself, it was not at all impressing. Borobudur, Prambanan, Merapi and more were though. In most places the streets were rather dirty and there is a lot of pollution. I got around almost exclusively by motorbike and almost always the same driver too, it payed off, on my third days he took me to his village and explained how his house had collapased in the 2006 Earthquake and showed his scars to prove it, his replacement house was a hut made of many different materials with a dirt floor, no electricity, etc. I was a little taken aback by the poverty and one particular begger at Borobudur who had all of his limbs aputated. I followed the lead of the locals and generally gave 1000 Rupiah to beggers, about 11c AU. For my driver though after my last tour with him I gave him 500,000 Rupiah a little over $55AU which should mean he can make a few upgradees to his home.

I bought lots of souvenirs in Indonesia, Batik, Paintings, Puppets, Silver, Books, Keris (Maybe regretfully) and more. I posted it back to my mother today as my back is already full and just barely make it under the baggage allowance today by 500g. I will have to offload some clothes somewhere. I also lost my bankcard the other day, I think I left it in and ATM machine, so I will have to use cash advances on my credit card until I get it replaced.

So far my favourite things I’ve done have been riding through the villages on the way to my drivers house and the beach and Merapi. After he showed me his house and the beach he took me to a place to try Cobra blood and meat. The owner brought out a King Cobra from a room full with bags of snakes and proceeded to make it very angry on the floor in front of me, I was pretty surprised actually that with the greif he was giving it it didn’t try harder to bite him. Eventually he took it to the chopping block broke it’s neck and severed it’s head pouring the blood into a cup. The blood is usually mixed with beer, water or it seems in the case of tourists and mine, Red Bull. After gutting the snake and adding a few inards of I don’t Know What to the mixture of blood and Red Bull it was handed over to me to drink. After a bit of hesitation and a countdown from my driver I downed it in one go, hardly tasting it. The mild blood flavour was mostly overpowered by the Red Bull. I talked with my driver, the snake man and his sons for a while while the meat was cooked and was given a small non venemous snake to hold, actually they were giving it to me to take home with me but of course I had to leave it behind. The snake meat eventally came out and looked fairly appetising, when I was told it is like chicken I took it with a grain of salt thinking they always say that. It does taste somewhat like chicken and similar texture, actually it was one of the best local meals I have had so far. Unfortuneately I didn’t have my camera with me so no photos, I have no photos from the last 2 days in Yogya as the battery went flat and I have had no way to recharge it, I am hoping I will be able to find an adapter or charger in Phuket tomorrow. I will upload photos ASAP once it is recharged.

More later from Thailand.

Thanks to all who have been waiting patiently for my first update, I am in Sydney but tomorrow I am leaving for Airlie beach which I am really looking forward to as it has been raining here for the last 3 days. I have met a few people at the hostel but it is hard for me, I don’t think it’s so much being around others that makes me anxious as not knowing what to do or say, but I hope to change that on this trip, it will take time though. Sydney has been ok, but to be honest I prefer Melbourne.

I was supposed to be going to the Gold Coast with a my ex but she pulled out a couple of days before so I ended up cancelling that giving myself a few extra days in Sydney and some extra time in Airlie as well, then off to Bali! In Airlie I will be doing a sail charter, I hope I will be able to get the one I want.

It wasn’t until a few days in that I started to feel the excitement I guess I should have been feeling before I left, a few people commented that I didn’t seem excited, I guess it was just what went on the couple of weeks before personally.

I’m not sure what I will do tomorrow, it’s going to rain again, checkout is 10am and my flight doesn’t leave until just after 5pm. Hopefully when I get to Airlie I will have access to a computer where I can upload some photos. I bought a new camera before I left, it’s waterproof to 3m so hopefully it will give me a few good photos when I get to do some snorkeling.

See you in the Whitsundays

Surprisingly there hasn’t been that much to update lately. I have decided not to take my Nikon D50 DSLR as it is too big and bulky and just creates a worry for me, I’ll buy a new Point and Shoot in the next week. Yesterday I picked up a 120Gb USB hard drive to store my photos on and so that I can run my customised Firefox from it as well as being able to keep some other useful things. I have had two interviews for my job in the last week, I’m sure now that I won’t actually find out if I will have a job to come back to until I have left. Hopefully I will get my job and be approved for the LWOP.

This weekend I will by flying to Melbourne with my Cricket team, I’m hoping to have a good time there without spending too much money. I’m already pretty sure my budget for Australia is going to blow out. So I’ll update on my weekend in Melbourne and as I get closer to leaving next week.

Well lets start with the good news first, I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago now and I have Social Anxiety and some Depression. I’m quiet but everyone always said I would grow out of it and I always believed it until now. In fact this trip was largely planned to help me grow out of it, hopefully it will still put me on the right path. If anything it is going to make this a real challenge for me. I have been put on medication only because I will be travelling, combined with a slight dose of food poisoning when I started it the first week made me feel pretty crap but now I seem to be getting back to normal and it only gives me the odd day of weird feelings.

I still don’t have anywhere for my dog while I am gone, it’s really stressing me out now to the point where I can’t even bring myself to try. I can’t give him away though.

I had almost forgotten about Visas until the other day and I looked for the Chinese visa application and found that back in April the requirements were strictly tightened for the Olympics, return travel and every night of accommodation must be booked and provided when applying. This really isn’t the way I want to travel in China so I have decided to delay China until after the Olympics when visas are back to normal and re-evaluate then. So instead of doing a sort of anti-clockwise loop through SEA, China, Nepal and India I’m thinking I’ll do India and Nepal before entering China. We’ll see how things go. I’m sending my stuff of for a Thai Visa today and an India one will probably be next.

I had a couple I know come around to check out the unit one the weekend and it looks like they will be moving in after I leave. They may even take my dog which would be good so he wouldn’t have to go anywhere new, I think there are better chances with other people though. The couple moving in are also willing to take the washing machine and refrigerator off may hands, all I have to do is decide if I want them to and if so for how much. The fridge was about $900 new and the washing machine about $550, I’m thinking $400-500 would be fair if I decide to sell it.

I’ve made a couple of further small changes to the site again. I’ve added a map which I’ll hopefully keep updated as I get around and there is a link to my Travel Plan that actually, truly, really does work this time. Both are accessed through the top navigation bar.

The other week I booked the last of my pre-booked flights, they were Yogyakarta to Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur to Phuket. I was lucky to check the Air Asia site a day before the sale they had going finished, so I think I saved $20-40 on each flight. Thailand is Visa free for Australians for 30 days but a return\onward ticket is required, I believe if I organise a Visa before entering the “out” ticket is not required. I’m planning on doing this so I don’t have to pre-book anything else and can just go when I please within the Visa limit.

So with 38 days to go I’m still feeling pretty relaxed although I can’t wait for work to finish. I’m getting excited and a little bit scared, I think I’m organised but how would I know so I’m working on a packing list so that I can do a dry run to see just how much I will be taking so I can then work on keeping weight and space down. Since the the last 99 Days to go post they days have gone by pretty fast, this year has been really. It seems like it was only a couple of weeks ago Jodie broke up with me. I am worried that this trip is not worth it, I still love her, but I don’t think I’ve been told the whole story.

Vaccinations - 2nd round complete, I finished the first 2 Hep A\B ones, I’ll be away when the 6 month one is due. Because I have no idea if I finished the childhood Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccine, I started that. So I have one visit left where I think all I have to get is the second MMR.

Backpack - I bought a travel pack and maybe I am having regrets. It’s the same size as my hiking one, 75L. I was hoping to get something smaller but pretty much everything on offer was at least 70L. The other thing with it is that it zips from the bottom which might be annoying, I could get a second lock and zip it from the side, it might be an improvement. It does have all the other features I wanted though.

Bali Ticket - I Finally booked the flight, I just happened to check the Jetstar site and it had been dropped by almost $100, I figured that would be the best between now and departure so I booked it. Unless there is a sale I don’t think I could have gotten it any cheaper but it would have been risky hoping for a sale in the next few weeks. I checked the flight again after I booked it and it had gone up $10.

Ebay - I bought something else so I figured I had better sell of some stuff to make up for it. Thats it! No more Ebay purchases. I also put my bike up for give away on Freecycle.

I let my landlord know that I will be vacating and have sorted out when the last rent it due. Hopefully I can find someone to move in after me for them, we had a very good deal with them compared to what else is on offer around here. I’m hoping in the last fortnight I’ll save some extra money with hopefully no bills to pay, plus I’ll have an annual leave payout and eventually a tax return in July. My biggest concern now is my dog, I’ve been contacting a few people to sort him out. Last resort is that I have to fly him to a friend interstate. So that is the latest update anyway. Almost at the halfway point from the 99 Days to go post, it has been going by pretty fast, I’m sick of waiting, I wish I was leaving tomorrow.

Today the count is 75 days to go. I have changed my plans slightly. Instead of going from the Whitsundays to Cairns and flying onto Bali from there I will return to Sydney for a day and then fly on to Bali, this will shorten my Australian leg by a few days saving me some money plus the airfare cost will be over $100 cheaper. Most of Australia will be pre-booked and I’ve just emailed a sailing outfit in Airlie Beach to help me find which sailing charter will fit in best with my stay there. When I reach Bali though apart from having to organise an onward ticket I’ll leave things open from there. I haven’t actually booked any International flights yet, I guess I will do Bali this week and I will also have to start looking at Visas.

This weekend I will heading up to my parents for Easter, with Easter has come the Easter sales at the outdoor and travel stores. I’m trying to avoid them because I know I can get things much cheaper when I start my trip but one thing I think I will have to get is a new backpack, the one I currently have is a 70L hiking backpack, it is a bit bigger than I would like to take with me and not as practical as a travel backpack. Something that zips open, is lockable and has a daypack and possibly zip away shoulder straps would be good and now while they are up to 60% off is the best time to get one.

Also in the news has been the developments in Tibet, Dave has had to at least put off his plans to travel there and it has the potential to effect my plans too. Until someone has the balls to stand up to China I don’t think anything will change but if this continues it will definitely be a black cloud over the Beijing Olympics. Hopefully I’ll still be able to visit Tibet by the time I get there.

So I went in for my initial consulate today. Starts with the usual form filling, it’s fun to put in more counties than the form allows. I was expecting and hoping to actually start some of the ones that would require courses and maybe some that were single jabs too.

The doc had a quick look at my form making sure I was healthy enough and then started going through what I knew would be a pretty long list, and after all the scribble as we went though each one that might apply to me it looked like it would be easier to just rob a pharmacy.

There ended up being 6-7 I need to worry about. I had a Tetnus shot about 10 years ago so I am due again now. Hepatitis A and B are for sure. Typhoid will be on the list. Rabies and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) I have to consider and I also need to find out if I’m immunised for Measles, Mumps and Rubella(MMR), I have a feeling I may be missing the Measles part so that will more than likely be added.

So I did start them today. I had a Tetnus shot that also combined Diptheria and Polio. A combined Hep A & B and I have the Typhoid tablets to take over the next 7 days. That burned a bit of a hole in the pocket.

• Tetnus - $70
• Hep A & B - $65
• Typhoid - $50

• Consultation fee - $90
• Immunisation service fee - $10.85

So that all came to $285.85 Australian. They estimated I would get around $70 of that back through Medicare. and fortunately I won’t have to pay the Consultation fee again.

So that will be Tetnus and Typhoid crossed off anyway. The Hepatitis shot requires two more, one in one month and another in 6, which I won’t be around for. I can get that when I get back or even while I’m away if I’m inclined. I don’t feel that I will need JE. Rabies is worth considering but it is expensive and fairly unlikely that I would get it, but it will kill if not treated very quickly.

Of course the other thing we talked about was Malaria, other than Hep A and Travellers’ Diarrhoea it is the most likely thing to pick up. I was given pretty much three options, Doxycycline (Daily), Larium (Weekly) or fever medication (which amounts to nothing). I’m not sure how I would go taking a tablet daily, it wouldn’t faze me I’m just not sure if I would remember it, I struggle to remember to take my vitamins daily. Maybe I would be better knowing what it prevents though. I have heard about Larium and it’s side effects which it sort of scary but then all Malaria medications have side effects, the doctors exact words were “about 1 in 10 people have the bad side effects on Larium, it is a good medication you shouldn’t be scared of it”. It might be worth testing it but I’m not sure that I would be any better remembering a weekly tablet over a daily one. I’d probably be worse. Anyway they gave me a book that has lots of info on travel health I’ll have a good read through that and decide.

My first Couchsurfer Chin also arrived today so I’ll be showing him around over the long weekend.