24/7 together in different countries

Photos: Netherlands & England

james-karolien — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:53:00 GMT

Netherlands and UK

james-karolien — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:52:00 GMT

The last big flight together… From Cancun to Brussels..

We had a nice seat and the service was great! Love the little Belgium chocolate they served after dinner.

We tried to catch some sleep, and finally in the morning we arrived in Belgium, one little trip on the train and arrived at a friend of Karolien. We excepted cold Dutch weather, but especially for us a beautiful day. When we arrived we where not the most sociable people, we crashed out big times on the bed. The next day, they lent us a car and we got a change to see some of the South of Holland (although it was a shitty rainy day) After a few days of recovering we took the train up North to meet Karoliens mum. She picked us up from the train station and had a lovely time in the North of Holland. James got to experience a raw fish called ‘haring’ and of course the amazing cheeses. But the biggest surprise was when we drove in the country side and he saw a massive field full of weed.. (they grow hennep in Holland for clothing, but he did not believe me) After a few days we headed to the West and spend some time on a Dutch Island called ‘Texel’ Again we were lucky with the weather and had dinner at a restaurant where they served the best lamb ever.. Yeah even better than the ones in Ozz!

It was an amazing!

Before we headed over to the UK we had to experience Amsterdam. But much further than the red light district we didn’t go lots of women behind the window (incl tax) , coffee shops and bars. Something James never had seen before.

A good way to finish the visit to the Netherlands.

Now just one week left together in the UK. First we visited Uncle Trevor in the South of England and we celebrated James his B-Day (First time in long time James remembered the next day because he wasn’t drunk this time)

It was really nice in the South, but we had to head North to visit Uncle Rodney and Anty Jo. We decided to rent a car and Mrs Tom Tom helped us on our way. It was incredible busy on the road with all the trucks and traffic unreal!

But we arrived safe and sound and had a lovely time in the North as well.

With the family but also we seen the lake district, which is propably one of the best parts of England.

And then the day came to say goodbye to each other.. Unfortunately we don’t know for how long, we have to wait again for the right visa..

But It has been an amazing trip!!!

Photos: Mexico

james-karolien — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:39:00 GMT

Mexico

james-karolien — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:31:00 GMT

Mexico

Back in Central America Mexico-Cancun the country of the hot spices, cheap corona and sombreros.

We got island addicted, and there is just one off Cancun called Isla Mujares. The boat ride was very smooth and on the island we booked in, in a very nice hostel. We caught up on some more sleep and we were ready to get some coronas in us. Fortunately there was a big fishing competition being held, and they caught some biiiiggg fish like Mahi Mahi, tuna, wahoo and marlin. And they hang it up to weigh it. The whole town was out to party and eat fresh fish.

Although the reviews about the island where that it was quite unspoiled, but the tourism hit this hub big times. The beach front was built with big hotels and resorts and you have to pay to access the beach with the nice coral. How ridiculous! Anyway still all very beautiful but the views get a bit spoiled by too many yanks.

After 2 days we seen enough and decided to to Isla Holbox, another tropical but much quieter island. It is a 3,5 hour bus ride away but worth it!

We booked ourselves in a nice hut near the beach and we can cook our own tucker again.

We chilled out en relaxed big times on this island. There are again plenty of activities to do but out of our budget range. We tried to catch some fish and we had a few drinking- sessions with another Ozzie couple good fun!

On Sunday we are going to catch the plane to Brussels, and because transport can be funny sometimes we decided to go to Cancun on Saturday. The Ozzie couple told us about a last-minute website. And we found a great deal for a all inclusive hotel. We decided we can spoil ourselves one more time. And it was great !! food and drinks all day.. yummmm (love the cocktails!!!)

Photos: Nicaragua

james-karolien — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:13:00 GMT

Nicaragua

james-karolien — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:11:00 GMT

Nicaragua

We got dropped off in Rivas, now we just had to grab a taxi to San Juan, where we going to stay for the night. We were on our way to the twin volcano island 'Ometepe' but after a day travel we were due for a beer a feed and a sleep. Arriving in San Juan it all looked a bit seedy, every single person was hammered.. what the f.. is going on? We sat down at a beach shed and had a few beers and a great Spanish conversation.. Still don't know what it all was about. Is this a typical Saturday night or what.. it turned out it was a yearly festival. Every town in Nicaragua has this party but all at different dates.

Anyway it was a good laugh to watch drunken locals. We headed back to hotel for a night sleep in the hottest room we ever had..

The next morning we took the first ferry over to the island. When we arrived we needed a good brekkie.. And we got one at an American place. How good is bacon and eggs after a long time without.. Again it makes us appreciate what we've got at home!

We hired a motorbike in town, tied our big backpacks to the back of it and holding another one, and off we go.. It was great to have our own transport for once and don't have to rely on overcharging taxi drivers or chicken buses. We found a really nice quiet spot right on the beach/lake. “El Pirato” just what we needed chilling out. We explored the island by bike and it was lovely. Sometimes James had to dodge chooks,pigs and wandering cows, but everything went smooth.. Although, at some stage we parked the bike, came back and it didn't want to start..f*ck lucky a 'mechanic' came straight away.. yeah right! First brake it and then want to fix it. ah no.. after a good look we found the choke lever all the way open. So problem was fixed.

On the road again.. we ended up at a really nice swimming hole for a swim, some beers and a great lunch.

After two days it was time to head back to the main town to drop off the bike. We stayed one more night with a really characteristic pot smoker. And for tea we had the best burger and potato salad ever.

Back on the boat and the bus to head North to Granada. According to the travel bible this sounded like a really nice place... when we finally found the hostel it was really nice, finally a swimming pool woo hoo! We met some nice people and went to the Irish pub for the pub quiz (and a horrible feed) And then we discovered how ugly Granada was. About 20 beggars came along and harassed us...argghhh So we booked straight away flights to the Corn Islands in the Caribbean. One night at big Corn and now on little Corn where is no traffic, beautiful beaches, and great snorkelling and fishing. So we booked straight up 5 nights a private cabin on the beach, just $20,- a night. Life is Great!!

Seafood every day! And cheap, where else in the world can you eat a lobster for $10,-....

5 days of chilling out, we did a little bit of exercise, we rented a kayak for the day and explored the bay paddling and snorkelling around. And of course just this day a tropical storm came so we waited for a bit on a excluded beach sucking on mangos (they are everywhere here) when the storm passed we paddled back. On another day James went out fishing with a local and Karolien went for a scuba dive. One time we went out for lunch to try the typical local dish 'Ron Don' which we had to order a few hours in advance. It was an amazing seafood stew. After 5 days of relaxing we could not get enough of it.. we counted our money and we were able to stay another 3 days, (there is no atm on the island) if we eat 'street food', banana bread and some mixed rice,corn and chicken wrapped in banana leafs out of a bucket. we are just loving it. And then we had to leave on a Saturday..but still not ready so we squeezed our money. Caught our own lunch 'fish' and cooked it on a fire on the beach and shared our dinner so we could stay another night. We used our last coins to join happy hour, 2 rum cocktails for 3 bucks.

Sunday came along and it was time to do our favourite hobby...pack our shit (again and again) To take the boat to Big Corn Island. We changed our plans in the mean time. We are over-bussed and decided to fly to Cancun. For some reason flying in Central America is pricey so its cheaper to fly to Miami and then back to Cancun. (Mexico)

We stayed two nights on Big Corn and explored this island. We thought it wouldn't be as nice and beautiful as Little Corn, but the beaches and the Coral was an amazing. We walked around half the island and enjoyed for the last time a nice grilled fish for a while. We flew from Big Corn to Managua in the morning and had to find a way to entertain

ourselves the day, (we fly at midnight) we so did not want to go into Managua (because we heard it is a horrible city included kidnapping ect)

Lucky across the road was a Best West Hotel where we could use the facilities and a pool for the day. This was a good way to spend a day. We finally could hop on the plane at 1am and arrived in Fort Lauderdale (Miami) early in the morning totally buggered. We had a quick brekkie and rolled into bed for a few hours sleep.

After 3 nights in Fort Lauderdale we where happy to leave the noisy hostel. And fly to Mexico...

Photos: Cartagena-Panama-Costa Rica

james-karolien — Thu, 5 May 2011 09:05:00 GMT

Cartagena-Panama-Costa Rica

james-karolien — Thu, 5 May 2011 09:02:00 GMT

Cartagena,

A big city again, we booked into the hostel and went for dinner. We heard about a hostel whom could organise sailing trips from Cartagena to Panama through the San Blas Islands. (two days open sea and three days on the islands) They have a database of trusty captains. In two days a boat would leave, so we arranged a meeting but it didn’t feel right. The next boat would leave in a weeks time. This seemed much better, so we had to kill some time.

We decided to go to Taganga, a little coastal town with a good atmosphere. We spent a day on the beach and a day fishing with a boat. This was good fun! But due to overfishing (and taking to small fish) we did not catch much. Lucky the captain caught a nice big tuna for lunch.

We pretty much chilled out for a few days and it was time to go back to the city. We found a great Australian restaurant, where we treated ourselves to a lamb-curry..it was one of the best meals in South America yummm. We had a yarn with the ozzie cook and he was happy to make (special for us) lamb loin-chops the next day. This was even better! It was a real treat!!

In the morning we got to met the captain and the other tourists..two other Dutch couples and the rest of the guest didn’t show up for the meeting.. We would leave the next day at 4pm, so we had all day to wonder around in the old town of Cartagena.

The next day we all arrived at the harbour and we got to meet the rest of the crew. One American and three Norwegian guys. A good bunch of people!

It took a while before the immigration decided to give us our stamps. And finally at 8pm we head off. Cartagena has one of the largest and most beautiful bays/harbours and it took about an hour before we sailed into the open sea. It was amazing scenery, but before it started to get rough we got in our cabin to (try) to catch some sleep. The sea was quite rough and we rocked all over the place, so not much sleep that night. In the morning the sea was still quite rough..which meant that Karolien got to experience proper seasickness...She spend pretty much all day in bed.. Finally the next day early in the morning we arrived in the waters of the San Blas Islands. It was so beautiful! White beaches, palm trees, the water so clear. We snorkelled for a while and the colours of the fish where amazing. Also the crayfish looked great. Unfortunately it was breeding season so we were not allowed to get some for dinner. In the evening we had dinner at the beach with a real camp-fire and rum and beer. It was a good night and finally the crew got to know each other a bit. In the morning we cruised to another island, again as beautiful! Really nice and relaxing on the islands. 'more rum...'

The last day we visited a community on one of the islands. The moment came that we had to leave the sail boat, but it all went a bit late because the stamp man of the immigration was on another island..finally we could go to the mainland and catch transport to Panama city. We were a bit scared to go into the city again. But we had a great 'finishing tour-meal' altogether in a Argentina steakhouse yummm. We stayed a few days in Panama city to do the to do things. And we hopped on a bus for a 7hr bus ride to David about an hour before the Costa Rica border. In David we stayed in 'The purple house' and really everything was purple..not sure if I still like that colour...

Costa del lot;

We really wanted to skip Costa Rica but because we are bus-sing through the countries we were forced to stay one night. The next morning as early as possible we hopped on the bus to cross the border into Nicaragua. We were happy to leave Costa del lot behind us (with $150,- lighter.. Ouch!) The border crossing by bus can be smooth, but this time we had to wait a long time.. but all good, finally in Nicuragua.

Photos: Ecuador

james-karolien — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 01:19:00 GMT

Ecuador

james-karolien — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 01:17:00 GMT

Hop hop on the bus again. We were planning to go to Machala a place just a 4 hours bus ride. The border crossing went smooth and convenient. And another stamp in our passports. I was looking out the window and checked the road signs how far it was, all of a sudden I didn't see the sign of Machala. In my best Spanish I asked the ticket man if we were almost there. Lucky there were some other tourists who could translate his answer. It turned out we missed the intersection to change to another bus (which we didn’t know) and now we were on our way to Guayaquil, The most horrible city we have ever seen, but it was already late so we had to stay the night. We found a place near the bus station (which was huge and felt more like an airport.) Early up to head back to the bus station, to make a new plan and grab a bus up North. We ended up in Riobamba, a lovely little town which had a great bakery with yumm truffles.. The next day it was poring rain and I heard good things about Banos. So back to the bus station to go to Banos. Behind the bus station there was the most interested market we have ever seen. First we bumped in to a guy with a few big milking goats, and you could get a fresh warm goat milk straight from the tit.

And a bit further the locals were selling all their fruit and veggies, but also heaps of animals (a life) from ducks to chooks, cats and dogs, Guinea pigs and heaps more. It was amazing! On top of our bus, boxes of chooks got dragged on to it, to make the trip to Banos as well.

Only a 2hour ride and we arrived in Banos. This was the first time we experienced that the bus was in time. From other travellers we heard about a nice hostel with a kitchen! So we could cook our own meal...especially James was craving for mash potatoes and cabbage with meatballs. We headed to the market to buy fresh veggies and again it was amazingly cheap. A meal cost about 3-4 dollars pp but cook your own even less.

The people in Ecuador are really friendly and a lot original dressed. Banos is a lovely small town which has heaps to offer in activities way. We decided to rent some mountain bikes and rode through the hills for about 20 km. Beautiful scenery on the way, and again you could do adrenaline activities like jumping of a bridge..mm a bit to scary for us. At almost the end of the route we found a trout farm, were you could catch your own fish and they cook it for you. This was heaps of fun, we let them cook one fish for lunch and we took 2 back to the hostel to make our own dinner. Very tasty fresh fish and for the 3 fish we paid only 8 dollars.

The next day we booked bus tickets to go further up North to a place with the name Otavalo and a again the bus was in time at destination.

We booked in in a hostel with a fireplace..really nice at night! The next day was the big market day, people from all over the area comes to town to sell their animals ans handy crafts..really dangerous for a women with money in her pocket...(I spend way 2 much ;-) ) But good fun, we also visited a 'El Condor' a place where they saved wild birds of prayer included two massive condors. Very impressive and they also had a interesting fly show with a few big birds.

We ended up in the north of Ecuador to cross the border into Colombia, where we are going to catch a flight up North to Cartagena.

The border crossing was very informal and we had to cross a bridge (walking) to be in another country. New money again and of course we got ripped of big times...

We enjoyed Ecuador a lot, the country is so much smaller then Peru, so we didn’t spend much time here but it was great!!

Photos: Peru-From Lima 2 Mancora

james-karolien — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:39:00 GMT

Peru-Lima,Barranca,Andes,Trijilo,Huanchaco,Mancora

james-karolien — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:34:00 GMT

With Peruvian Airlines we arrived in about 1,5 hour in Lima... as we taxi along the runway I looked out the window of the plane and I thought I was hallucinating, there was the coolest plane I have ever seen, it was the iron maidens plane, with all monsters and graffiti all over it, apparently they were playing in Lima tonight! We inquired about tickets but all sold out, bugger.

We decided to flip a coin where to go North or south as we didn't have any plans or didn't know were we wanted to go, we didn't know shit really!! heads north, tails south, heads it was so north on the bus we went, with chooks and goats and rodents destined for the kitchen, rat and Guinea pigs are a delicacy here.

We headed to a place on the coast called Barranca,its a small fishing village with the freshest seafood you could imagine and huge surf, all up the coast is big surf, I was unaware that Peru was renowned for its waves, be good if I was interested in surfing!!

But instead we got into the local (fish) food 'ceviche' Its raw fish with onion and lemon..very tasty. Barranca was really nice and quiet (not many tourists) After a few days on the coast it was time to explore the Andes of Peru. The bus ride was windy and steep (and sometimes scary cliffs) into the mountains but beautiful scenic. 5 hours later and only 150 km the temperature dropped with 15 degrees. It was dark and raining when we get of the bus in Huraz and of course a Peru-en dragged us to his hotel to stay and expected from us to go on a 3 day hike.. but we rather try to get used to the altitude and relax a bit. (that’s pretty much the greatest down side of travelling in South America.. many people haress you to sell souvenirs,tours or drugs) Understandable but annoying.

In Huraz we moved the next day to another hostel with the best views over the snowy mountains..and in this place we found some great souvenirs for the family. In the mountains we really got the feeling of 'proper' Peru. Beautiful dressed people!

At the information centre the told us our options in the Andes, and a one day walk to a lake suited us well. We moved to the next town (Caraz)which was closer where the track started. Early in the morning we went to the start of the track which was an hour drive up the mountain.. wow beautiful but chilly.. and we started to walk. We thought we were not unfit but walking at a hight of 5000 meters feels like walking against a wall. Every 5 min we needed a rest for 10 min. To much for us to walk all the way up to Lake 69. But the scenery so far was great. We decided to give the lake a miss and headed back. The taxi driver supposed to wait for us but no sign of him so we walked down along the river. Out of a sudden he rocked up and we drove down the mountain. Under way we stopped at a trout farm with all different sizes of trout jamm.

Back in Caraz we discovered a restaurant where they served 'Coy' (Guinea pig) James was keen to give it a try. But with already an upset stomach this did not seemed to be a good idea. After the cool mountains it was time to warm up a bit on the coast. We arrived after a horrible 12 hour bus ride in Trijillo and we grabbed a taxi to Huanchaco. Where we crashed out in the hostel. We ended up here for 2 weeks.. James suffering from a gastro and Karolien with a flu.. Great when you are far from home.. Lucky the hostel was really nice with a little restaurant and the pharmacist around the corner. Some days we were able to walk down the beach to watch the impressive surfers.

When we felt a bit better we headed North to Mancora, another (really touristic surfing town) and our last stop in Peru.

From here we are going to catch a bus into Ecuador

Peru-Iquitos

james-karolien — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:41:00 GMT

At 2.30 in the morning we had to get up to jump on a motorbike to cross the border from Colombia to Brazil. (in Colombia it is against the law to boat before 5am which is not a problem at all in Brazil) At 3 we had to take a little motorboat into Peru to get on a big speedboat, which left at 4 am... How early, we where hoping to arrive 10 hours later but the trip can take up till 12 hours... of course we were lucky to be stuck on the boat for 12 hours. The scenery of the Amazon river is amazing and lots of little villages on the way.

James was lucky to see a few pink dolphins as well. They only live in the Amazon river and adopt themselves many years ago to the fresh water.

But after 12 hours we were really happy to see Equitos, although the harassment started straight away when we put one foot on shore. “taxi,tour, moneychange, drugs..” pfhoo full on! Our bags where in a taxi/motorbike before we knew and off we went to our guest house. Time to drop our bags and find a cold beer. In the centre of the square we found a nice spot. Not much after the first beer a refreshing cool breeze rolled in together with heavy rain and thunder and lightning very nice.. Till it all got a bit to excited when the lightning hit a pole a few meters away from us. Wow I've never seen anything like it. It gave a bit of firework followed by a power cut for a couple of hours.

But we are all safe and sound, and it was a good opportunity to have dinner by candlelight ;-) after dinner time for bed. Which was a bit unpleasant without a fan..

The next day we strolled a bit around town and decided to go into the jungle for a couple of days, plenty of tour operators around, and they are all very keen to take you out. But the first office we walked in seemed pretty alright and James was convinced straight away. I wanted to check out a few more. We had a suss over a 'mint beer' bleghh (that’s what you get now and then when you don't understand the language, but we are getting better)

We ended up with the Lemon tree lodge, a small company with only three bungalows. And even better we got 2 tour guides with us and the lodge to ourselves. It was soo nice to arrive in the jungle and get away from the horrible street noises in Iquitos. (there are about 50.000 motorbikes in this small jungle town)

The first day we went for a short walk to hear all about the flora and fauna.

In the afternoon we visited a place for orphaned animals. There were monkeys, a sloth (luiaard) couple of snakes a little caiman (type of crocodile) and we finished off with a few jungle rums really nice! We stumbled back and on our way we stopped by another village for a few beers.. Great to get tipsy with locals! Lucky we didn't have to paddle back in the canoe to the lodge. (the tipsy guides did, but really... Don't drink and paddle)

The next morning James was keen for a sleep in, but I wanted to go for the early morning bird watch. It is an amazing how great the diversity of the birds are. I could sum up all the names of them, but it would be to many. (Besides I pretty much forgot the names anyway!) Later we all went for a boat trip to do a bit of Amazon fishing and pink dolphin spotting. But it seemed they had the day off today. I caught 2 different Amazon fishes and that was it.

On the last day there was a 3 hour jungle trek planned, but it has been raining all night. And I wasn't to keen to do 'a slip sliding away' walk.. So instead another canoe trip in the hope to see some pink dolphins.

We went to a spot and tried to fish, and I was lucky to catch a piranha (of about 10 cm) and then all of a sudden, a few pink dolphins rocked up. I was stoked! Really happy to see them. After lunch and a rest in the really comfy beds it was time to head back to the noisy town.

Monday morning we went to visit the local market, where the sell everything you can think of; Fruit and veggies, chicken, beef but also turtles (to eat) cayman,monkey meat, and a armadillo (gordeldier) Yep in Peru they eat pretty much everything what moves. At the end of the market was the floating village. The poorest and dangerous area of Iquitos. You really can't go there without a guide. We jumped in a boat to have a look around. What a eye opener! So sad and disgusting, unreal how people can live and survive. Quite often people (because getting drunk) and young kids drown in the Amazon river.

We are very blessed in the countries were we live!!!!

In the afternoon I wanted to see the rescued dugong s (zee olifanten). I hopped on the local bus which is made out of wood. It gave me a bit of a laugh. Half way the bus needed to stop to top up the water and oil.

In the rescue centre there were a couple of baby dugong s sooo cute! And I could feed them and pat them... The dugongs are endangered, because the people hunt them. (Even it is against the law)

On the way back in another bus.. this time the bus needed to change a tyre.. And I wasn't to sure where I was going... I got off the bus a bit to far, but found my way back to the hostel. (good old scouting skills ;-) ) At night we had a delicious dinner at a pizza place. (The local food in Iquitos is not that good..) And tomorrow we hop on the plane to go to Lima. The original plan was to boat a bit more but we are 'over-boated' and chances to get robbed on the slow boat are quite high. So safety first!!!

Ciao

Photos: Peru-Iquitos

james-karolien — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:08:00 GMT

Photos: Colombia-Bogota-Leticia

james-karolien — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:37:00 GMT

Photos: Los Angeles

james-karolien — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:59:00 GMT

Colombia-Bogota-Leticia

james-karolien — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 03:07:00 GMT

Buenos dias, Como esta?

Well I shall take over from where Karolien finished her chapter.

We flew into Bogota, Colombia with major jetlag again and all we wanted was a good bed to crash out on, the hostel we picked was nice but the beds were as hard as hell, bugger,

Colombia is beautiful, and so are the women, a single mans heaven! The next day we ventured out to a church on top of a huge mountain, 3600m to be exact, I got a bit crook from the altitude but all good, an awesome view from the top over the whole city! we took some nice photos and had lunch up there. (no idea what it was but tasty)

We were staying in the older part of Bogota and our hostel is just across the road from the university and when we arrived back from our morning excursion all the uni students had finished for the week and it was party time!! the place was going off, when I say the women are nice, the ratio is about 9 women to 1 bloke!

Bogota Has an average temperature of about 14 degrees, so it drops considerably cold at night, between 6 and 8 degrees, we were bloody cold! (but a good opportunity to snuggle up!)

The Friday markets were on so we rugged up and staggered down the hill to check things out. Bloody freaks everywhere, from nuns to transvestites on crack! A real eye opener.

Everyone is so friendly and always laughing with a big grin on there faces, hard to believe though, they have it so hard, its like stepping back in time, they still use donkeys to cart most of there shit around! We were both a bit concerned because we heard that it can be quite dangerous in south America but there's policia walking around with AK 47s and rottwielers next to them keeping an eye on everything, so you feel safe.

The foods great and the piss is cheap, about 80c for a cold beer and for a main meal we pay about $3.50, that includes an entre also! And the meals are huge with good meat.

12^th of March we arrived in Letica which is a 2 hour flight south of Bogota and has a population of about 35k, and is in the middle of the Amazon,together on the border of Peru and Brazil, no problem at all to have a pub stroll in three countries, and it is fucking hot!!

The first night we stayed in a hostel which is only 5 weeks old, the beds were great and the owners were lovely making us feel right at home. The food and drinks are getting cheaper the more isolated we travel which is great. For a Sunday roast there is a whole pig with its guts taken out and stuffed with rice and veggies and other shit, bloody amazing.

Letica is an amazing spot,

13^th of March we decided to head outta town to chill out in the jungle for a couple of days, we stumbled across a hostel in the jungle with little huts for a good price, $15 per night with our own kitchen and shitter, luxury! We head back into town on the 15^th of march to cruise down the Amazon on a boat to another spot called Iquitos which is in Peru, about 10 hours I think, maybe we stay there for a few days...chao for now

From KL-LA-Bogota

james-karolien — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 03:00:00 GMT

Quite a mission wanting to go to the other side of the world.. After a great Indian breakfast in Kuala Lumpur we were ready to head back to the airport in Kuala Lumpur. We were about 3 hours before departure at the airport hoping for good seats.. But we only were lucky the first leg of the journey from KL to Guangzhou (China) with a bit of leg space.. This part took us 4 hours but then the big cross over. James was really looking forward to this.. We bought some travel pills with the hope it would knock us out.. It did with me I slept for a bit but James was totally nackered after the 13 hour flight. But we saw two times in a day the sunrise and sunset. And best of all we left on Tuesday the 8th of March 14.10 and arrived in LA on Tuesday the 8th of March at 17.50. In LA we grabbed a quick and cheap meal (Finally steak again ;-) ) and we were ready to crash out in the hotel/hostel with really comfy beds.. unfortunately we woke up at about 2 am local time awake as.. What to do.. watch a movie/shag or two, read a book get some fresh air and try to go back to sleep.. Which did not work. We could not wait till the restaurant was open for a nice brekkie and after that to try to get some more sleep. But the American waitress kept topping up our coffees which was not much of a help.. It is really as in the movies.. and lucky she was a Mexican so we did not had to put up with the American accent, first thing in the morning. Ah well if we could not sleep we might as well check out LA. We were in the area of Santa Monica near the famous Venice Beach and a great shopping area. We topped up our bags with clothes and shoes (All necessities though!!) which chewed a bit of our budget ;-) But needed because we did not have any cold weather gear. We walked around LA and after a real big American lunch, the tiredness kicked in and we decided to chill out a bit on the beach. We felt more and more horrible like a really bad hangover.. This must be the jet-lag.. We went back to the hotel and decided to have a beer in a cafe/burger house. In this place you could order the burger you want (tick boxes what you want on your burger) but we were really not keen, but the waitress tried almost to push it down our throats. “ you really don't want a burger'.. Hell no we preferred to go the same place where we had our breakfast and where they don't serve fries (chips) with every meal. Alright off to the airport again, to go to Colombia. Which was already a mission on its own if all is what you want a bed. But they did not let us check in until we had a proof we would leave Colombia again.. Great, what to do now.. Buying flight tickets we can cancel later on. Because from now on we want to travel as much as we can overland. We are really 'over-planed'. From LA to Miami in 5 hours and then to Bogota another 3,5 hours. Anyway we arrived safe without any delays.. We should try to calculate how many planes and how many hours we spend on the plane and airports.. but really cannot be assed... and the beautiful places we are going to see is all worth it! We heard about the Tsunami in Japan and a few more things in the world, but we are safe and sound! Keep us updated, because the news what we are watching is in Spanish.. and much more then Gracias and Hola.. we do not really understand ;-) Salut!

Photos: From Broome to Bukit Lawang

james-karolien — Mon, 7 Mar 2011 01:04:00 GMT

Bukit Lawang and Medan

From Broome to Bukit Lawang..

james-karolien — Mon, 7 Mar 2011 00:28:00 GMT

From Broome to Bukit Lawang..

Finally the day arrived, to hop on the planes. On Sunday the 27^th we took the first plane from Broome to Perth then from Perth to Singapore, from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and the last flight from Kuala Lumpur to Medan (Sumatra)

4 flights later and a night without sleep we finally arrived in Medan with the feeling of a massive hangover (without drinking any alcohol) But we were not there yet...There was another 3 hours car ride to go. Luckily my friend Leigh picked us up and could tell us what to do, because there was no chance we could think any common sense at all at this stage.

After 3 hours of a bumpy interesting ride.. with a lot of traffic under way, motorbikes with 3,4 or 5 family members on it, or big mattresses or what ever they could fit on a motorbike, and you would think they drive carefully, but they drive around on full speed.. I would say slightly different than in Ozz. But the scenery became more beautiful after each corner and we couldn’t wait to arrive... So we could book into the accommodation and have a few hours sleep.. It is a great hut in Ecolodge with nice views over the river. Instead of waking up with finches in the backyard now we have to do it with monkeys. ;-)

After a drink and a feed with Leigh and her friends we were pretty much ready for a full night sleep.

The next day everything looked so much better and we could finally enjoy Bukit Lawang the best. (The people in Bukit Lawang live in, at and from the river.) In the morning we went for a walk to the 'kindertehuis' an orphanage which is built 2 years ago after the great floods (in 2003 if I am right). It is a lovely place and they live from donations so if you have a spare coin check out the website;

http://www.kindertehuisbukitlawang.nl/index.php?section=12&page=58

After the walk and a good look around we were ready for a refreshing dip in the river, fresh but very nice. After that some good lunch at the orphanage. In the afternoon it was time to see the Orang-outangs in the rehabilitation-centre. This was a bit of a show, we all had to walk into the jungle to a platform where the semi wild Orang-outangs get a feed. It took a while before a mum and a baby rocked up. It was a nice view, which got a bit spoiled by all the people who where there. Anyway after this it was time to grab a beer or two three... which is about 3 dollars for a king brown.(big bottle of beer) Life is great!

The food is great the beer is cold and pretty much we eat and drink together for about 15 dollars each meal... James got excited and asked for more and more chilli it can't be hot enough for him...but the day after, his arse did not agree...

Like I said before we staid at an Ecolodge and they have there own organic farm out of town. We were quite curious to have a look and together with Mim (one of our new friends) we jumped on the back of a motorbike and drove down to the farm. It was great to see how the organic farm in Indonesia works, a lovely lady (who spoke poor English) showed us around. Beautiful, and we finished off with a fresh coconut jummm. In the afternoon we got treated with a real tropical rain (I almost had to put a jumper on. Loving it!

The next day we got up early, after brekkie we went to a place near the Orang-outang centre for a lucky dip to see Orang-outangs in the wild.. (the view of the little restaurant was over the jungle) after the best jungle tea ever and an orange juice we were fortunate to see an orang-outang playing around. It was a great way to start the day. After all the good food and drinks we could do with a bit of exercise, and they told us after the orphanage there are some rubber trees and then a really nice spot to have a dip/bath in the river.. We gave it a shot and walked down the way as they told us. But it was all a bit tricky because there where quite a few side tracks..just before we got lost we met a rubber plantation farmer (whom did not speak a word of English) and he guided us the right way.. how good is body language... And we finally arrived after a walk of about 5 km and it was worth it!

All in all we enjoyed Bukit Lawang alot, but on Friday morning it was time to head back to the city Medan to go to the wedding of my friend. What a horrible city.. the pollution hit you in the throat and head, its like smoking ten packs of cigarettes in one go. We were very pleased we could hide In a really nice hotel with comfy bed and air-con. Saturday was the wedding day, it was really interesting to see a Australian-Indonesian wedding,although we did not understand much of the ceremony because it was all spoken in Bahasa (Indonesian Language) After the official part it was time to have a great feed and drinks and a bit of a dance..

Sunday was a lazy day including packing our bags for the next leg of our adventure. Tomorrow early on the plane, off to Kuala Lumpur for one night and then across the great ocean to Los Angeles...

So far so good!