75% Stats

lodgings 52
Time in transit 302 hrs
Photos 8000
Countries 16
Capitals 12
Money £13400 ($17980)
per day £73 ($110)
flights 13
Time in Air 77 hrs
Time underwater 4 hrs
World Heritage Sites 9
Nights in Transit 10
Nights in Dorm 11
Nights in Campervan 10
Movies in Cinema 7
Times poo'd on by bird 3 (matt 2, Betta 1)

Jakarta

We arrived into Jakarta domestic terminal an it was very new and shiny and first impressions of Jakarta were good. However that didn't last long. We got a bus into town and we very quickly saw a city of contrasts between the big high rise buildings and malls, and large areas of very poor, slum like neighbourhoods. Also the smog and polution was incredible. You could barely see the buildings through the haze. We soon saw the reason fo this...the traffic in Jakarta is worse that I've ever seen. They have big 8 lane highways biscecting the city and they seemed to be perminantly full of cars, and the cabbie on the ride from town said there was no traffic as it wa the weekend!
We were staying in a 'homestay' and once the cabbie had found it (3 u-turns and lots of asking directions later, meter still runing) we were happy enough with the place. It was very quiet, but mainy as it was right in the middle of nowhere ,well as much as you can be in a city of 10 million people. We tried to go for a walk that first afternoon but there are hardly any pavements and the pesky moped riders just swarm everywhere like a buzzing liquid, following the path of least resistance, even if that is on the pavement, we didn't feel very safe as pedestrians so didn't stray far from the house. We were reminded that Indonesia is a very muslim country at 5am the next morning there when the call to prayer started, it was so loud and lasted about 30 minutes! From then on we used our heathen/christian earplugs.

I read in the paper that Jakarta is the biggest city without a subway and it is a huge problem, as is the growing middle class who refuse to give up their cars for anything. They have started the transjakarta (a big AC bus in a dedicated lane) all over the city but basically it's a 3rd world, inadequate solution and it's still mercy to the traffic so not much quicker, even it is more comfortable. Still we caught a local bus and that was reminiscent of India or something so I guess it's an improvement on that.



We went to the old town, but there's really not much to see and by the time we'd spend 2 hours getting there by bus we'd lost any enthusiasm we may have had anyway. For the rest of our thankfully brief time there we got with the locals and stayed in the mall, ate good food at the food court and watched a movie. We could have been anywhere, which felt like a beautiful fantasy until we stepped out in to the street again, .

There were 2 reasons that meant we were able to endure a day there, it's quite safe for tourists, and the cabs are cheap but I honestly cannot think of a single reason why anyone would go to Jakarta, definitely a contender for worst city on our trip.

MandB

Bali, Ubud and Gili Islands

When our Asian Air plane landed on Bali the pilot welcomed us to “paradise island”. Needless to say, we had high expectations! We had a free pickup from the hotel we were staying in, and let me tell you that those dreams were shattered on the ride in to Kuta!! We saw neon signs, drunken Australians, tons of motorbikes and people selling sunglasses. I thought to myself “What is this place? Las Vegas? Thailand on speed?” We decided to sleep on it. Maybe Kuta would look better in the morning. It didn’t!

Kuta was hot, crowded and full of tourists that probably don’t really like travelling to other countries. These tourists could frequently be spotted on their motorbikes without helmets and with a beer in their hands. Some of them were even driving around with their children. WITHOUT HELMETS! We had enough of red, fat Australians after the first day (sorry, I do normally love Australians!), however, we had booked our hotel for 4 nights. We decided to spend our days drinking fancy coffee, eating great food and reading books. Luckily we had a pool where we were staying. We loved just hanging out there reading and swimming.


After our 4 nights in Gomorra was over we decided to check out what attracted Julia Roberts to Ubud. I think that’s where that movie/book Eat, Love, Pray is based (haven’t seen it). I could really see why anyone would come there to “find themselves”. We LOVED it! There are so many statues and old sculptures everywhere. The hawkers were less annoying, and there are so many cute cafes and stores. It is also very green there actually. I did feel that I was back in Angkor Wat sometimes. So yes, we did finally find our paradise Island in Bali eventually!

After a few days in Ubud we went to Trawangan in the Gili islands. There were no cars or motorbikes here! Although, there were many cute horses that seemed to be worked a bit too hard. The place was amazing though! Imagine combining diving, beautiful beaches, great, cheap food and places that show recent movies every night for peanuts! We had a really good time there. We managed to read a couple of more books, and we finally realised what backpacking is all about ; reading and eating.

We were quite sad to live our beautiful island today after 6 days of paradise. We are currently back in Ubud. We will stay here for 2 nights before we head to Jakarta. Hopefully we will get to see a Balinese dance tomorrow.


Hope all is well in Norway and the UK!

Matt&Betta

Singapore

We arrived in Singapore to begin the Asian segment of our trip. A bit that we have both been looking forward to since we left LHR some 142 days earlier. Singapore is a very good starting place for asia as it's got the hustle, bustle and food but it's also very westernised and extremely clean and safe. A gradual way back in.

It's also a lot more expensive that other asian countries, so we stayed in a dorm room. The first time we had to do that in a while...in fact the first time for a month that we had to stay in a hostel at all.

We've both really enjoyed Singapore, it's a very interesting place and it's got a fascinating history and some amazing new developments. The Marina Bay Sands hotel complex is astounding, and the Singapore Flyer is very impressive too. We went to the Zoo which was great, possibly the best Zoo I can think of, as well as the Changi WW2 museum and rather eclectically, the Philantelic museum too (we were very hot and they had air con!) However, trumping all of this by a country mile, are the hawker markets. These are very basic eating areas, where there are loads of stalls selling local fayre. They are not posh but they are very functional and incredible value. You are looking at £2-3 for a wonderful plate of local grub, freshly cooked. Noodles, Rice, Dim Sum, Curry. It's all there and all lovely. I didn't try the frog porridge though I'm sure it's delicious too.

We also had some business to attend to. Namely getting our visas for China and it turned out to be a bit of a pain. We turned up with forms printed and filled out and passport photos, but were told when we got there that we needed proof of our flight from China. We had to go back to the hostel (90 min round trip) to pick that up, only to be told on our return that the forms were out of date and we'd need to fill out new ones too. So much for trying to be organised. We eventually got our applications in with seconds to spare before they closed (at 3pm obviously!) To our amazement 4 days later we collected our passports with visas with very little fuss (and £50). Yay, we can now go to China.

We also discovered when we were there, and somewhat by accident, that Joe was arriving in Singapore for work, and more incredibly, Ragnhild was coming out for a holiday too! As such we met Joe for dinner twice and Joe and Ragnhild once, as well as hanging out a bit, and even blagging a swim in the roof top pool of the Hilton. It was really nice to meet up with some friends from home and for Betta to speak some proper Norwegian too.


Next up, a new country for us both, Indonesia.

MandB

Brisbane and beyond

After having said goodbye to beautiful New Zealand we found ourselves in Australia once again. We spent 3 and a half day in Brisbane. Hospitable Nikki picked us up from the airport and we spent 2 days at her place. She took us to an amazing cheese factory and we had a good time there.











On Friday the 8th we met my old friend Julian. It was so great seeing him again! He has a flat with nice views of the city. Since we wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, we decided to stay with him for the last night (Sat the 9th). We had a great time! Julian was playing the piano and the guitar for us constantly. It felt like being in a musical. Seriously! Julian’s nice friend Craig was also there.

Inspired by the Ylvisaaker brothers (Norwegian guys), we decided to make some prank phone calls to the states. Julian was playing the piano and singing while trying to ordering rooms. It was so funny! Unfortunately, most people hung up, but there were a few that didn’t ;)

It was very sad to leave on Sunday, but at the same time we knew that Asian food was calling for us.

At the moment we are in Singapore. We are spending 6 days here because we want to get Visas for China. Man it really was a hassle trying to organise that! Matt had checked out the information in regards to getting the visa. When we got to the office (after an hour of looking for it), they told us they needed the immigration papers for Singapore, and our itinerary! So we had to go back to our hostel and get it. Why don’t they put that information online??? When we got back we had to fill out the forms we had printed out from the internet again. It turned out that the version we printed out was outdated. We get to pick up our passports again with the visa on Thursday. However, I am starting to feel nervous about that! China keep cancelling all these meeting because of the Nobel peace price issue. We all know how important I am, so will they let me in? I guess I shouldn’t joke about that online. You never know. But seriously though, I really hope it all works out!

Singapore is very hot. We have been walking around a lot. We saw Little India and Chinatown yesterday.
The hawker markets are amazing! The food is really cheap and OH SO GOOD! Matt was very excited about getting bubble tea again. I was not so excited about drinking rubbish coffee. Is it time for me to give up my addiction?

It is raining at the moment. We are going to the zoo today. Hopefully we’ll see the white tiger.

By the way, we only have less than 3 months left of travelling now. Christmas will come before we know it, and then we’ll be home. Luckily we get to eat loads of noodles before that happen.

Enjoy the fall guys! At least you don’t need to worry about aircon.
Matt&Betta

New Zealand

Sorry for the delay in this instalment of the blog. We’ve just been having too much fun. We’ve been here almost a month and it really doesn’t feel like it.

We took advantage of some home comforts in Christchurch (and were able to feel what a 4.6 earthquake is like) before setting off on the first leg of our NZ road trip. We got our Jucy ‘crib’ campervan and headed south. Unfortunately this coincided with the most unseasonable weather for about 20 years and a storm the size of Australia brought rain and snow in large quantities. Fortunately we were able to borrow blankets, so sleeping in the car was OK but it was pretty cold at night and getting out of bed in the morning was a real struggle. In a nutshell we went to Queenstown and felt like the only people not going to the mountains but it’s so beautiful there we didn’t mind too much. The weather meant we couldn’t head south or west so we went down to the east coast and to the Dunedin peninsular which is very pretty. We waited for 90 minutes for Blue Penguins to not appear on a freezing cold night but that slight disappointment aside we had a great time.



Back to Christchurch to warm up for a couple of days before heading off again for our road trip part 2 up to Auckland. We planned a day in the vineyards of Marlborough near Blenheim. We biked around from cellar door to cellar door. We actually learnt as much as we drunk and it was a brilliant day out. The biking was the most exercise we’d done for weeks though so we were a bit sore in both head and bottom the day after.
Our road trip north was really nice and a few standout things included The Waitomo Glowworm cave which were really nice as well as the Coromandel peninsular which was beautiful too. We also had a slight car accident in Rotarua (not my fault I hasten to add) but there were no injuries, we had a zero excess insurance policy, and there was not much damage so it was no big deal thankfully. An example of the notorious bad NZ driving though.

Following that we went up to the Bay of islands where we were lucky enough to stay with Terry and Celia at their bach. The highlight for us was a boat tour. The bay is just lovely and we saw so many Dolphins and also Orca too which was great. This part of the world is really stunningly beautiful, even if Cook once called it ‘the hellhole of the pacific’. It’s changed quite a lot for the better since the whaling days of the 19th century.


Finally we’ve been relaxing and taking it easy in Auckland with Elizabeth before we hit the road again.

I can safely say we are leaving NZ with very fond memories, every one is so friendly in shops and cafes etc. Apart from that it’s also really English in so many ways and it’s been really nice to stay in ream homes rather than backpacker places. Even though we’ve had a month here there are quite a number of things we would like to have done but didn’t have the time. Next time.

We have been really well looked after by friends and family in NZ and Australia. Everyone has been so helpful and generous to us so a big thanks to Suzie (Sydney), Tony & Dawn, Terry & Celia and Elizabeth. We are very appreciative of all that you have done for us and you’ve helped make this a very relaxing and fun segment of our trip.

Off to Brisbane for 3 days later today then Singapore on Sunday for the final third of our trip, in Asia. Now where did I put the suncream…


M&B

Argentina

The border crossing from Chile to Argentina was a long, hard, COLD experience. First our bus was lined up for an hour. Then we were finally hushed out of the bus only to stand for 1 hour in a immigration queue in about 0 degrees! It was snowing. We still don’t have winter coats. After we got our stamps we had to wait for another 20 minutes while they searched through our bags. It was so cold!! The bus ride itself was very beautiful though. We saw tall, beautiful mountains and we even saw a couple of ski resorts.

Mendoza
It was really nice to arrive in Mendoza on the same day as we left Chile. We almost always travel on night buses these days, so 8 hours on a bus seemed like a luxury. I love the movie Evita, and I had always wanted to go to Argentina. Finally I could sing all the songs and and prentend that I was in a musical.

In Mendoza we decided to do a wine tour. We got to go to two wineries, I olive/chocolate place and one winery where they made Grappa. All the wine was very good. They didn’t give us much of it though! Malbec is a type of wine that famously good in this region. It was amazing. We bought a great wine from the local winery, and drank it with our very rare steaks that we had for dinner. We have discovered that cooking meat is an art that we have not yet mastered. Does anyone know how many minutes it takes to cook a medium steak?

Buenos Aires
The bus from Mendoza to Buenos Aires was AMAZING! We went with a company called CATA, and we had a luxury bus. All the seats had a TV. The seats could decline to an almost vertical position! The food was great on the bus. When it was time for dinner they brought out a tray with a lot of different types of cold food. Matt and I were wondering how we would be able to eat all of it. Shortly after they brought us hot food! Steaks! And we even got dessert. It was like being on a plane. Did I mention that we drank free wine?

Buenos Aires is a cool city. We went to an antique market. The shopper in me really wanted to buy some old brooches, but the flies in my wallet said that it wouldn’t be a great idea. In general Buenos Aires seems to be a Mecca for shoppers.
The leather shoes are gorgeous! I felt like I was the most masculine woman in Buenos Aires. The other women all looked so cute and feminine with their long, curly hear and leather gear.

Unfortunately, I got sick in Buenos Aires. I have been coughing like a mad person for 8 days. It is really interrupting my sleep (and Matt’s sleep). My immune system is obviously not doing its job!!

What else can I say about Buenos Aires? We went on a free walking tour one day. It was a really good way to see parts of the city. We also got out hair cut by a stylist called Ryan Oakley. He was very entertaining and obviously he is a genius when it comes to hair. If anyone is going to BA I suggest that you squeeze in an appointment with him. It is worth it!


Our flight from BA to Sydney was wonderful! We flew with Qantas and the food was sooo good! We also had a great choice of videos. Although, I do regret watching half of Sex and the City 2 because it was really as bad as they say!!

We have actually been in New Zealand for a few days now. Tony and Dawn are being so good to us! We will update the blog with posts for Sydney and New Zealand very shortly! We are in Christchurch, and yes, we have felt the earth move more than once!