Big Names Overseas Adventure

Hardcore Borneo Styles!!

jared_lingard — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 22:15:00 GMT

June 21st, 2009

Jared and I arrived in Sepilok where we stayed the night at Uncle Tan's base camp. The night only consisted of a few games of pool and a beer cause we had to get to bed early since we were going to the Oran Utan Rehabilitation Center the next morning.

June 22nd, 2009

We were meant to wake up early to have a nice big brekky before heading off but the alarm never went off. We woke up with only a couple minutes to get ready otherwise we would have missed the feeding at the Oran Utan center. We were rushed off in the mini van and when we arrived they had just started to feed. The whole time of feeding, we only saw 2 Oran Utans. A baby with his mother. They were adorable though and the baby was showing off while eating his bananas. He knew we were all taking photos. The feeding only lasted like 10mins and no more Oran Utans came. Then the cheeky Maques came to finish off the food. We then went to watch a DVD on the Rehabilitation center and how they help the Oran Utans. It was a very informative movie and a great way to get out of the heat but they only showed parts of it because they want you to buy the original for like $45 NZD. I guess the money goes towards a good cause though. You are also able to adopt a baby Oran Utan for $90 NZD/year.

At 2:30 we headed off for Uncle Tan's Jungle Camp and on the way we stopped for a few necessary items. Rice wine, water and a flashlight. We were told you can buy beer at the camp but we figured it would be a tad bit pricey so we thought we'd buy something strong. We drove for an hour where we had to change vehicles to a 4x4 because the road was not suited for a minivan. It felt as thought we were driving for ages through the palm oil plantations and we were. It took us over an hour to drive like 20kms on the bumpiest road ever. I felt quite sorry for the Malays who were hitching a ride on the back of the pickup. Once we got to the river, we all piled into 2 boats and headed off for the camp. It didn't take Jared long to nickname the group in the other boat, Team Delta Force. They were a group of 6 who all wore the same jungle gears. Except for the Auntie. They had matching green shirts with white longsleeve tops underneath, green hats, khaki cargo pants and hiking boots. It's funny cause they wouldn't have been camoflaged from the animals on the river safaris because we had to wear bright orange vests anyways so waste of money. And plus, it was hot and humid so don't know why you'd want to wear those gears anyways. Most of our group was wearing sandals, and shorts. Keeping it very chilled!! As soon as we headed down the river, we saw lots of Proboscos Monkey and Maques.

We arrived at Uncle Tan's Camp and I was very surprised at how well set up the camp was. I was expecting something a bit more rough but there was a long boardwalk with roughly 7 sleeping huts along it, a large hut as the common area, another medium sized hut where you can discuss about wildlife and check out the many photos of the wildlife seen there and of course, the toilet/bathing area. The huts were very basic with just a foam matress and a mozzie nets. They didn't even have doors on them.

A few hours after arrival, we had our introduction meeting where they told us about the safaris and treks and what gear we need to bring with us.

After dinner, we went on our first proper river safari. We cruised down the river in our wee boat with 2 guides. One of the guides was sitting at the front of the boat looking out for the wildlife. The object was to find some nocturnal wildlife. We came across some more proboscos monkeys, silver leaf monkeys, long tailed maques, a small crocodile, and a few sleeping birds. As we were heading back to camp, we saw a mangrove snake. It was a black and yellow striped snake and we were told it was poisonous. I was a bit scared to hear it was poisonous since our boat was directly under it and at any moment it could've been in the boat. Not funny!!

Back at camp, we sat around with the boys who work there and polished off our rice wine and sung along with the guitar.

June 23,2009

Early morning start with not the best sleep. One of the guys who stayed in our hut, snored so loudly you can feel the vibrations. But after a nice hot coffee things weren't too bad. We're in the jungle. Our morning safari started at 6:30am and Delta force was waiting to go at like 6:15am. They didn't even have a coffee or tea, just straight on the boat. And all in matching jungle gears of course.

On the safari we didn't really see too much wildlife. Our guide Pipi, was on the search to find an Oran Utan but we didn't see one. We did see a gibbon, which is probably my favorite monkey. They move through the trees like tarzan and they don't have a tail. Pretty sweet!! We also saw maques, and a few birds such as the kingfisher and hornbill. We then headed back for breakfast.

After breakfast we went on our first jungle Trek. We took the boat to get to the trail and we finally saw wild Oran Utan. It was a baby and mommy Oran Utan and they were on the other side of the river from our camp. On the jungle trek, we were mainly on the look out for insects and interesting plants since it's too hot for the wildlife to be out. Not much to report on many cool insects since I think we only saw a few small spiders and a millipede. Our guide showed us some poisonous plants which we then realized later that they were all over our camp.

After lunch, Pipi and another guide Popeye, took a few of us out for fishing. We learned how to fish with a net but Jared and I didn't catch anything. :( It's actually quite hard to throw the net properly in the water. Would take a lot of practise I think. We spent about 3 hours in the boat and it was sooooo hot. We weren't even allowed to dip our toes in the river because it is infested with Crocs. Recently, someone saw a massive croc snatch a pig from the side of the river. So needless to say, you wouldn't want to fall overboard. Popeye was great at fishing and caught some prawns and a descent size fish. One of the prawns he caught was about 20cm in body length and had really long pinchers.

There was an afternoon river safari about an hour after we got back from fishing but Jared and I were too knackered to head back into the sun. We pretty much suffered from heat stroke and dehydration even though we had already drunk heaps of water. You can never drink enough water in the jungles of Borneo.

For dinner Popeye cooked us up the fish he caught as well as the gigantic prawn. It was delicious. Mmmmm!!!

After dinner we went on our night trek. The trek took place in behind our camp. Considering Jared's bad eyesight, he actually spotted a slow Laurus (David Attenborough. Soooo....) which is very rare and has only been spotted once this year. They are simiar to a sloth as they move very slowly. But it was quite high up in the tree so we couldn't really get a good photo. For the rest of the trek, we saw a few birds, some frogs, fireflies, and a few other insects.

June 24,2009

Our last morning safari. We didn't get to see any Oran Utans this time but we did see a family of Pig Tailed Maques, more Proboscos Monkeys, and some birds.

After this we headed back to camp to prepare for departure. Jared and I were shouted a few beers from the boys. As we were drinking, we noticed team Delta force were waiting to board the boat. And it wasn't even time to leave yet!!

All in all Uncle Tan Wildlife Camp was an amazing 3 day/2 night adventure which you would never be able to experience anywhere else in the world. We got to see and learn about so much wildlife and it was just a stones throw away from where we were sleeping. Also, we noticed the camp is run by all young males and surprisingly, it was very well kept. They all seemed to know their part at Uncle Tans without an Alpha Jungle Male being present. Or so it seemed. It is quite sad to see however, all the palm tree plantations that are being established just for palm oil, which is destroying the habitat for the wildlife.

We headed back to KK amping for a nice hot shower.

Links provided below for viewing pleasure.

Gibbon

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Primates/Facts/FactSheets/Gibbons/default.cfm

Pig Tailed Macaque

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Pig-tailed_Macaque

Probiscus Monkey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis_Monkey

Hornbill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hornbill

Slow Lorris(couldnt find a picture)

http://slowlaurus.blogspot.com/

Sabah Borneo-just gets better

jared_lingard — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 20:31:00 GMT

Well its been a while since I have written but when your chilling on the beach in the land of Thai's sitting in an e-net cafe for an hour isnt that enticing.

We flew into Kota Kinabalu which is the main city of Sabah Borneo mid afternoon and were rather happy to be here considering we were getting sick of talked up Malaysian cities. You would hardly know you were in Asia though(due to the place being flattened during WWII).On the subject of WWII this area was where Aussie and English POW's were put on death marches from one side of the island to the other-not surprisingly none of them survived. The city sits right on the water with many tropical islands witihn close proximity.

Before I go any further there are a few things we noticed about Malaysian culture during our time here.The first being an obcession with Kareoke. Most bars or clubs double as Kareoke bars and we thought we had gotten away from this in KK(Kota Kinabalu) but as we sat down in a nice garden bar on our first night a "live band"(two girls and a guy on a keyboard that had pre recorded jingles) proceeded to play typical kareoke tracks including Abba's dancing queen which soon made the few beers we were drinking wear off and us needing to find solice in another establishment.

In Malaysia they go out for dinner to Western Restuarants in much the same way we go out for Asian cuisine. Speaking of food you become pre programmed to find where the locals eat or a market selling stall food. This can be hard sometimes with an hour needed to find something but when you find somewhere it becomes your go to most times. Kirsten found it hard because due to the strong Chinese influence being able to read the menu makes selection hard. I go Nasi Gorang or Mae Gorang most times so no issues for my easily satisfied stomach.

Borneo is very safe and there seems to be zero civil disobedience or unrest. We never felt uncomfortable for the entire two weeks.

The extent of deforrestation is quite striking with Palm Oil plantations now stretching as far as the eye can see. There is still large patches of jungle but these are constantly threatended by your usual greedy resourse baron whom making even more money seems to be their only perogotive. In saying that though modern man doesnthave a choice as a nice jungle doesnt sustain millions of people also it would be hypocritical of me casting to a negative view considering New Zealand used to be covered in natural bush.

And finally you dont get hasseled here at all for goods and services(taxi being the only one). It seems if you want it you buy it. No worries of being scammed here either with the consistent price of a taxi being evidence.

Back to the story then aye. Well the next day we woke up and decided we need to go to the beach as we hadn't swam let alone been on the beach since the "incident". We got on a ferry which after 10minutes took us to Mamutik.A tiny wee tropical island with white sand and blue waters coupled with a stunning view of KK with Mt Kinabalu in the background. As you can imagine we did nothing but chill that day reminding ourselves constantly how good it was to be here. Swimming didnt suite my still healing elbow that well but oh well not going to pass up a swim.

The next day we headed off early to Mt Kinabalu which is a rock mountain roughly 4000m high. We decided a week earlier that climbing it was out of the question. The guy that took us up there appeared to be learning to drive but at least we got to take in the hill top views. Once there we walked around for a bit and did a minor trek. There were people in the group keen for large walks but we know in this climate nothing too strenuous was what suited us today. Leaving the mountain village for the Poring Canopey Walk the guide books tell us this is a relatively easy thing to do-try a logistical nightmare. I wasnt going to pay 85RM($40NZ) for a taxi so Kirsten "lets hitch hike". 10minutes later we are picked up by a van of Born Again Christians on their way to Minister training camp. "Are you Christian mate"-ahh no, "Muslim"-ahhhhh no, an awkward silence spread across the van as I wasnt going into my complicated spiritual beliefs with this guy who would'nt be able to understand how someone couldn't belong to some form of organised religous group-my parents are catholic...I pronounced.That stopped the line of questioning and I was reminded that I must pray everyday-"Yea ok I will if you say so". By the end of the trip the van was full with 9 people, 2 foam mattresses and groceries.By the end of the trip heavy christian rock music was blearing through the soundsystem. Samoa had given us a taste of this music but this was next level and Kirsten was not allowed to cast a cheeky smerk at me as full throtle laughter could break out at anytime which could have left us on the side of the road. Not really hitch hiking as we payed a small fee but hey what a ride.

We did the canopey walk which is a series of five suspension bridges situated at the top of a hill that run through the tops of the trees(I was sweating up a storm by the time we reached the top). Walking across the bridge was quite scaring as you are looking down into deep dark jungle. What made it scarrier is with a 6 person limit the impatient malay wanted to be done with the walk in 5mins so would sometimes have 15 or so on the bridge at one time. Always in a bloody rush.

One the way back down we got our first free Bornean shower-drenched in 2mins. Back at the office we were soaked and needing to get back to KK. We got offered a ride half way by some random guy whom on the way back changed cars to his actual taxi. We got a bus back to KK station from Ranau luckily and then caught a local bus to our hostel. What a mission but we were loving the fact we managed to get our way back with having no clue as to how prior. After talking to others we managed to get back for half the prices as most paid upwards of 150RM(70 bucks) to taxi straight back to KK-haha suckers.

The next we did absolutely nothing-(maybe hit the mall a few times).This suited us fine as next was Uncle Tan Jungle Adventure

Welcome to the Jungle!-Sarawak,Borneo

jared_lingard — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:34:00 GMT

Arriving in Kuching was such a relief after Jakarta. Kuching is the largest city of the state of Sarawak and is a quiet wee river city. Borneo is made up of Chinese, Malay and the indigenous tribes.

Our first day in Kuching we slept in to 12 which we felt was well deserved. We also had to wash all of our clothes due to us thinking we may have got bed bugs from that slumhole in Jakarta. Turns out we had the record for the most amount of washing done at one time. By this stage as well we resmembled a couple of walking scabs but at least we were mobile. We walked around Kuching(typical tourist stuff) and indulged in what we dubbed nibbling. This invloved walkng the waterfront and sampling food from the stalls scattered along the riverbank.

The next day we were up at 6am and headed out to Bako National Park for some jungle action. We headed out there in a rickety old bus that shaked the entire way-it wasnt the road just the crapy suspension and the age of the cruiser. We headed to the park by boat up a river with an old mate with the best mullet I've seen and best off all it looked ligit on him. Heading there we saw a crocodile and a masive jellyfish. Turns out the Malay eat them and even export them to Japan.We arrived to the park and were greeted by some monkeys and as always they wanted to get their wee hands on our stuff.

We headed into the jungle which gets dense very quickly. The heat under the cannopey is intence like maybe 95% hummidity-I lasted in my David Attenborough gears all of 20mins until I was soaking wet. We trekked with a few other people which made it interesting including an Ausie Steve Irwin "I just love reptiles aye". We ended up at this beach but unfortunately scab one and scab two couldnt go swimming due to the "incident".We then took a boat aound a few more bays and began the trek again. It was amazing how much the sceneary changes. As the day got on it got hotter and hotter and by the time we got to the cafe for lunch we were buggered and of course I was hissing.

The cafe was interesting because the monkeys knew it was lunch and would jump in and try and grap things of the tables and even out of peoples hands. They were fiesty wee things. Bascially in Borneo you are rendered motionless from between 1 and 3pm as it is just too hot. We decided to head back out for a couple of hours and ended up seeing Probiscus Monkey which Borneo is famous for-they have huge noses. Got up close and personl with a bright green viper and even gave it a wee poke(I felt ok cause I was doing this with old mate Steve). A massive monitor lizard walked past the entrance to the cafe-"some people buy camera's with longer lenses, I just get closer".Buy the way Mr Chris Cochrane sold me a excellent camera. Real good zoom and picture quality is great-thanks Kwady. We walked for about 6hrs all up and the majority of wildlife we saw was centred around park headquarters and the cafe.Dont know why but think its too hot for the animals during the day.On the way back to the lodge we saw an Albino Malaysian. He had bright whitey/yellowish hair and heaps of acne. Its been a trip of firsts and thats definately the first albino I've seen.

The next day we headed to Sibu aka Little FooChow due to the number of Chinese that live here. Nothing much going on here but the local market was interesting as you could buy live chickens wrapped in newspaper.

The following day we went and stayed at an Iban Longhouse and in our style no plans we just got given a name and set about finding it. The Iban are a tribe that inhabites the Sarawak states and they live in these Longhouses which consist of long,skinny houses conected together with a large hall that stretches the entite length of the building in front of the rooms(each individual house). Where we went to thre were eight longhouses. The Iban are famous for their headhunting past where they would drain the blood of skulls into the soil to ensure a good harvest.We managed to see some baskets of skulls hanging in one of the halls but this is rear as alot of the Iban are now either Christian or Muslim.We got taken out fishing and got to wear those Vietnamese style hats which was cool. The highlight for us was being able to put on the customary dress which for Kirsten was a sorong with a large head piece and a multitude of bracelets-couldnt believe my eyes as she resembled a tribal princess.She pulled off the look very well. I got to wear the warrior outfit so had a spear that doubled as a blowpipe, a shield and a long dagger. We felt so priverleged to be wearing the gears.

We loved our night at the longhouse and the lady whom we stayed with was very informative on the Iban way of life.She gave us some rice wine which is very potent. Just a note these people aren't living in absolute shacks. They have power, tv, phones, stereos, playstation and basically everything else-but they just live in a longhouse. The resemblance to Maori is striking as the Iban are now moving to urban centers to find work. Thre seems to be a real push here to try and pass down the customs and culture of these great people.

Nothing much else after this-another night in a city which we are getting rather sick of as they all are the same after a while and theres not much to do in them. They all seem to be talked up way too much.

We flew into KotaKinabalu today so more jungle action kicking off tomomorw.I have posted photos on Facebook as this site isnt that great for mass photouploading. If you dont have facebook then check the tech on someone who does

Cheers and until the next time

Jared and Kirsten(I'm so Co-Captain now babe)

Gallery: Bali

jared_lingard — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:26:00 GMT

Jakarta-this is a bit heavy

jared_lingard — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:26:00 GMT

Well havn't wrote for the last few days so will start with a few last things about Bali. In Ubud we managed to get a full body massage for an hour for $20 bucks for the both of us-they call it reflexology oohhhh yeeeaaaa. We also managed to catch some authentic grub from a guy selling food from the back of his scooter-all the locals were gobbling it up so had to worth a try. It was called Bakso and was a fish ball soup with rice the best food we had had.The Bintangs provided relief from the pains we were experiencing and served cold is up there with New Zealand Beers(nice and cheap as well Dad($3 for a 750ml bottle)

Made who we stayed with in Ubud was a life saver. He was so nice and always ready to help out, so much peace love and respect to him.Our room resembled a sort of half way house clinic where we would clean our wounds, try and shower and have the odd minor wallow of our sorrows. We maintained positive throughout thou- Remember do nice things for people because you never know when you'll need it back.We went back to Legian for a night after Ubud and heard a few harrowing stories about other bike crashes that didnt make us fell all that bad about our predicament.

Well on to Jakarta and by this stage I have made a run for team co-captain. We fly into Jakarta at around 11am and after catching the bus into town(after having to stop at 3 other terminals to pick others up) the sheer magnitude of this place becomes apparent. The traffic flows at around jogging pace at best and there is a thick layer of fogg constantly hovering over this megatropolis.The heat here is new level-the humidity sticks to the back of your throat and you can smell the filth covering your body. The poverty here is absolute, we are not talking the bad parts of South Auckland here but living in shacks by a river I wouldnt advise a rat swim in. It is a place of contrasts the haves and the have nots. The haves have alot and the have nots live on around US $2 a day.

You cant phathome 17 million people even when you are inm the thick of it.The strange thing is how western it is, its almost like America but everyone is of Asian decent. We stayed in a place called Jalan Jaksa which is supposably the tourist part although travelers seemed in short supply. The room we stayed in was around 3m by 3m a bed that was to be infested with insects(I think we were attacked by fleas while we slept. We had a small window that overlooked shacks and skyrises. The toilet was interesting with tiolet paper not used here so you use a shower nosel to-you know what after you know what. Actually its quite invigerating haha.Way to gross for Kirsten though so she reorted to buying toilet paper.

We expected a hard line Muslim city but turns out after talking to some expats that its relatively moderate. We did get woken every morning at 5am for the prayer that blars out across the district. This happens five times a day. We did get stared at alot like not a quick glimpce but a wow im going to look at you for a while. This made us feel rather uncomfortable but we learnt this is there custom. The people here definately look big city depressed and not as friendly as the Balinesse.

That night we traveled two minutes down the road where some chiller had set up a stall selling our beloved Bintang which was dirt cheap and there was an American guy sopinning more yarns than Barry's dad-turns out he's writing an autobiography about his caotic life. Drinking on antibiotics probably is a good call but bugger it we need to have some fun after what weve been through.Back to our scum pitt room though

The next day we caught the bus out to the old city. Lucky the buses have their own lanes because once again the traffic moves at jogging pace. We got out to the old city-dont forget we get starred at whereever we go so imagine what the bus was like especially with our Balinesse tattoo's. We got out there which supposably has some good old Dutch buildings from when the Dutch ruled the roost but we got out there had a wee look around and thought"what are we doing out here its too hot and this place is an absolute hole. we got right back on the bus and got the hell out.

We stopped off at the National Museum which is the best I've seen. We saw all the types of tribes that inhabitied the island(200 all up) and they all look distinctly different. From their clothes customs and faces you could expect them to be from other sides of the world-not just from the next island over. The museum also went into alot of detail regarding the role Indonesia played in human evolution-200,000 years ago humans were rolling around here. I was rather stunned at the scientific emphasis on evolution considering this is the most populus Muslim state in the world.Later that night though I talked to a guy from Malaysia and it turns out humans have only been here for around 5000 years and I quote "we just dont know, the human brain cant measure back that far". This maybe was the reason why know one was at the museum.

Next was the national monument aka the national erection. It is a fortress to get in with fences surrounding the gardens and the monument complex itself. There is a high presence of polisi(police) as well so things must go down here as there are a few extremists that lurk in the shadows of Jakarta ready to go boom or as they call themselves-defenders of Islam. We went to the top and there was a man employed who sat on the seat in the lift and pushed the buttons to go up and down. He looked as though all life had been sucked out of him. I just wanted to give him a big hug. As i explained about Bali there is alot of pointless employment here. We got to the top where the viewing platform was and cracked up alughing at how little I could see. You could only see about 1km out and we were 130m up. Dont know whether it was because it was cloudy but I assume it was the fogg. We also got asked buy some girls to have their photos taken with us-celebrity sooo. I have been telling people I'm Tom Cruise after the motocycle accident.

Nothing much to talk about after that other than we didnt want to go back to our insect infested room and get bitten to pieces again. The resturant down the road served up some great food and we were partial to the Malay pancake they served.

We got up in the morning and unusually for me I was up for killing 7 hours at the airport as oppose to staying in Jakarta. The fact there is an international airport with outbound flights is one of Jakartas best traits. Dont get me wrong if you stayed in hotels and had money to go out and spend copious on drinks you would have a great time as there is a club here that plays acid trance that can hold 4000 ragging Jakarta hipsters.Im glad I came here though because it makes you feel like a choosen one to be born in a country like New Zealand, but at the same time you get the feeling that the world cannot support this type of intence human existence. There are another 50 million people in Indonesia that will soon be living like us.

Even though we had 7 hours to kill at the airport we managed to get through how we have been keeping ourselves going over the last five days-my light style of comic relief and the fact we are going to Borneo. Our excitement levels are in the stratosphere-we deserve some good luck now.

Ubud-cultural and rice field central

jared_lingard — Sun, 7 Jun 2009 15:19:00 GMT

We have been in Ubud for a few days now and absolutely love the place. It is a vibrant and artistic place and as soon as we got here we knew this is where we wanted to be.

As we are in land there is no beach here but the general vibe is alot more friendly and uplifting. As always transport is not a problem. As im am writing this we are in a state of recovery but I will come to this in due course.

The first day we arrived here we visited the Sacred Monkey Forrest where monkeys run and play freely. They seem very happy to mingle with the vast number of tourists. They can be quite unpredictable so rahking them up wasnt going to be the best idea. That night we saw a show that depicted and ancient Hindu story which entailed a 100 man choir and dancers in elaborate costumes.

The following day we headed up to the rice fields to find accomadation. Our travel books suggested it was a very cheap place but after 2 hours of walking around in 25 degrees with our packs we soon realised we were in some sort of B&B hot spot. We ended up finding somewhere but as usual had to barter to get a reasonable price It was worth it though because we had amazing views of the rice fields from our room and it wasn't too far to walk into the city center.

Yesterday was to be the highlight of the trip. We hired a scooter for around $5 and headed out into the madness that is Bali roads. We managed to navigate ourselves not too badly and headed up to Kintabalu Volano area. It was a rather step climb with some stunnig views of the rice terraces which was in the heart of rural Bali. The tourist dollar didnt stretch out this far for the locals however with some rather run down villages. It is soo different on a scooter than in a taxi as you really can take soo much more in. 1 minute from the summit we skidded of the scooter and sustained some pretty severe gashes and grazes. We saw the Volcano on the way to the clinic to get cleaned up. Everyone was soo nice and helpful and made the ordeal somewhat pleasant. We even had the local police officer stick around and keep us company until we were to head back to Ubud.

When we got back we were a walking spectical with our battle wounds but we went to the clinic in town today and our wounds are all clean and healing. Kirsten is the rock of the team as I was in a sad state due to the injuries she had and the massive dent in my ego but as she said no broken bones so well be fine.

We are recoverying in Ubud today then off to Legian tommorow night for our last night in Bali. We hope to be fighting fit to hit up Jakarta on the 9th. Bali is a sweet place with many sights and experiences. Despite the haggling the people are amazing and always willing to help you out ,although usually for a price. We never felt nervous or got bad vibes from anyone. The deep spiritual nature of the people is something we will never forget.

Sanur (Snore-a)

jared_lingard — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 22:29:00 GMT

We could see as soon as we rolled in that this place was a bit too chilled. It has been dubbed snore due to its lack of anything really to do other than activities that cost a tad too much for our limited budget. Put it this way $100 bucks to go on a bike trip is a rip off in any country.

There is no real quantlet here although to walk to the beach you had to go past some development site and it seems builders are the same in every country-they say hello but I got the destinct feeling they may have been taking the mickey-cheeky

The beach was all good and no trouble if "you want massage"-no, "you want peticurrr, you want manicurrrrrre"-no(they roll there r's more than Justin Marshall).Lucky for us there was alot of transport being offered which we get a bit nervous about if we haven't been asked in the last five minutes.

One of the advantages of not pre booking your holiday is you arent locked into a place that turns out to be a bit average. Glad we came here but its time to see some of the real Bali-Ubud

Boom- We in Bali

jared_lingard — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 21:56:00 GMT

The story takes a turn as now we are in Ace-ia(Asia)

I arrive into Denpesar airport at around 9:30pm to meet Kirsten who arrived a day earlier, and as soon as I get through customs I am scammed out of $20 by some porters to carry my bags all of 10m-I assured myself after that I wouldn't be scammed again.I didnt feel so bad cos Kirsten got scammed as well.

After checking in we head out into the notorious Kuta which is renowned for its nightlife and beach. The place is a real eye opener , the hot smell, the thousands of scooters rolling around,the older caucasian males with their local girl, the security guards with semi automatic guns(obviously to stop fanatical muslims from the mainland going boom in a night club again)

A I am buggered from the flight we only go out for a few drinks but you cant help but notice how westernised the place is. There is an abundance of McDonalds, KFC and Pizza all in an Asian setting

In the morning we venture out to the markets which soon become known as running the gauntlet. They all sell the same imitation stuff and all use advanced selling techniques to lure you into their shop like "hey my friend", hey where you from, t-shirt 30,000 rupiah( the local peso) and the biggest of them all is everywhere you go "you what transport". As it turns out the haggling becomes a real iccue(issue)3 things not to say to a street vendor in reply to their constant questioning- your name, where your from and most of all I may come back in a couple of hours or tomorrow. Everyone remembers a face over here.

We went for our first swim of the winter. The water was pristine and the waves were bigguns. Although to get to the sand you have to walk the gauntlet to get there. It is a tad hot to chill on the beach in the sun for a prolonged time though due to my hissing(sweating)

Despite this all the people are super friendly and the service you reserve is 5 star. They even wipe the moisture your beer creates on the table whilst drinking.

My go to's here are Bintang(beer) and mego rang, although everyone here is repping a bin tang tee.

Went to the food market that is frequented by locals which has around 20 stalls and each one employs around 4 people to stand outside and shout and hold up menus to tourists-you want noodle. The locals seem as they look after each other and there seems to be more kick backs going on here than Taito Phillip Fields house.This was evident when I went for an altered image(haircut). It was like the saloon in Coronation Street-there were definately a couple of our davids working there and none of them were fussed about looking busy to justify their employment.

The most chilled place in Kuta is definitely the beach at night with a few beers, no haggling and no bloody transport to be seen. Kirsten managed to check the sun set the night before I arrived which I ended up missing but get another chance when we head back to the west coast.

Our journey established some defined roles with Kirsten easily nominating herself for team captain for her diligent planning using multiple guide books and as I say to her as long as it has a fan im chilled. I have stepped up and assumed the treasurers riole so at least im utilising my degree whilst away.

Kuta for us both is a love hate relationship-and as our style fits "its off to somewhere more chilled"

The journey begins in Sydney

jared_lingard — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:27:00 GMT

Well peace out New Zealand cheer for the good times. I flew in to Sydney at a refreshing 8am and bolled straight through customs. Managed to talk to some bloke outside whilst having a tobacco cigarette who reckoned he was a big name back in the Melbourne gang land scene in the 70s and 80s, he possed me the question-you seen underbelly? well that was me mate.Couldnt make out much what he was blabbering about but nice enought guy.

Got picked up by Dave D-Bono and headed back to his place and managed to rack up some serious hours on the X-Box. Its quite cold here considering but lucky im from Canterbury.

Waitkens and Sammo are in the mix so there is some good banter going down. Headed out to the Coogee Bay Hotel on Friday and we were set upon by some long clawed cougars-we managed to escape before they managed to maul us. Its been raining at night so hasnt made for great going out weather.

Went to the photo of the year exhibition at the museum on Friday which was somewhat mind blowing-African Albinos definately are hard hitting

Off the Bali tommorow in the afternoon to catch up with Kirsten aka Bobby who arrived there today so hopefully shes warms the place up for me . See you soon babe

This is Jared from Big Nmaes Big Journeys coming to you live from Sydney, well be coming to tommorow night from our new location in Asia.