We have…..gone to Chinatown and a Buddhist temple, eaten Chicken Rice (recommended by Anthony Bourdain) at Maxwell Hawkers, had Singapore Slings (with Mezcal on the side) at Raffels with our friends we met in Indonesia, gone shopping, visited the Botanical Gardens, hung out at the beach at Sentosa, smoked hookahs on Arab Street, and slept in. It’s been very nice.

Kip and Monica

Alphie

Peyi Pey and Paul

The Singapore Flyer

We got sucked into this place when we walked by and heard a cover of Peter Bjorn and John being played :)

Also, Singapore has some of the nicest taxi drivers anywhere. This is a very liveable city, and at the very least is worth a visit.

I spent the last couple of days here sick and not able to do much, so my last adventure was to the Prambanan Temples.

There wasn’t that much to do here so we kind of had a mini photoshoot.

Indonesia has been interesting! A mix of positive and negative for us. It’s cool to experience a place so different and there is a lot of beautiful places to see. We missed the social outlet that we’ve had in the last few countries though. It’s been a lot harder to meet and make friends here. People think we’re weird for some reason :)

See ya Indonesia, it’s been terribly vivid!

The next day, we took the ferry to Java…an experience in and of itself. Not sure how many people just stared at us and took cell phone photos of us, but it was a lot. This is also where my bags and I got covered in dirt and grease, which I can’t get completely off. When we got to Java we weren’t too sure where to go next (what else is new though), and some nice Muslim family picked up on this. They insisted on helping us out, even though they couldn’t speak any English. The plan was to take a train to Probolinggo to see Mt. Bromo. Long story short, we wound up getting in their car, going to the train station, saw that the train wasn’t leaving for hours, went to the bus station, there was no bus schedule and no way of knowing where the buses even went, so we just hung out with the family. We stopped so they could pray ( a 5 times a day activity), stopped at an internet cafe to use Google Translator so we could communicate (he said “please do not be afraid of me because I am Muslim and because of terrorists!”), stopped for lunch and ate a few whole fish, then went to their house to meet the rest of the family. They were all so nice and sweet, and wound up taking us to a hotel near by when we decided we didn’t want to take a 10pm train to Probolinggo. Hotel…not so nice. The next morning we woke up an hour early because we forgot to change the time on our phones (at 5:30am) and got a motorcycle ride to the train station. After the guy tried to charge us way too much for a ticket, we made it on as it was pulling away. The next 6 hours were spent on an incredibly dirty and hot train. All kinds of interesting characters on it….people were selling weird snacks, shaving kits, and…birds. In cages. With really long beaks. If I’d had smaller bills on me I would have bought a bird, played with it for a bit, then set it free.

I’ve definitely never felt so dirty for so long (sometimes the shower is just a bucket of water next to the toilet). We made the decision to take a break and checked into a 5 star resort in Surabaya, where I am writing from now. We’re internetting, ordering room service, and are about to check out the pool. We even get to do laundry! Hope they know how to take care of bed bugs, I’m tried of carrying the garbage bag of my sleep gear/bug collection around.

Building some character out here!

They met us at the front desk of the hotel (Hotel Majapahit) with champagne flutes of some delicious fruit juice…normally I keep a pretty positive demeanor and don’t mind “roughing it,” but after that I grabbed Nicole by the shirt (no doubt creating a cloud of dust) and said “I can’t go back out there…we’ll pay whatever they ask for the room!” Pretty sure we’ll be camped out here for a few days.

Just hanging out in a bathtub full of flowers!

We spent three days on Gili Meno, one of the 3 small islands off the coast of Lombok. It was interesting getting here. Someone we met in Australia said it was nice, so we showed up at the airport in Denpasar, bought a round trip ticket to Lombok for $50, caught a taxi from the airport to the harbor, took a “slow boat” to Gili Meno…we arrived after dark, and the boat dropped us off on the beach without a word and left. We grabbed one of the first hotels we came across, and I think it was probably one of the best (and still cheap) ones there. And in case you were wondering, that’s pretty much the extent of our “planning” on this trip.

Unfortunately Nicole and I were both a little sick with colds (still getting over it) most of the time there, but we got to relax on the beach.

Our friends at the hotel on Gili Meno.

Also, monkeys!

Back to Bali, and more monkeys.

In our friend July’s village.

Rice plantation.

Elephant caves.

July!

Tried Kopi Luwak!

Holy water.

Bike tour! Which I highly recommend if you are ever here. Being part of the organized chaos that is Bali traffic is a neat experience.

Well that’s all for now on my Bali report…tomorrow we head to west Bali, and will eventually take the ferry to Java. No major plans yet, but I’m sure that it will all work out just fine.

(Hi mom!)

The harbor in Cairns

Me, sick.

And we end with a passed out Craig.

Australia was beautiful, but I will definitely have to make a trip back because I didn’t get to do everything! Next time :)

Here are some of the awesome people we’ve been spending time with lately..

Frenchie <3 We first met her in Sydney and then found her when we got to Cairns, she is the cutest frenchie ever!

Craig…he works at the hostel and is a sweetie, we love him! also a great dancer.

Nathan also works at the hostel, is from Ireland and is hilarious. He’s gonna visit us in Atl!

Family dinner!

Thomas and Frenchie.

Nathan trying to show me how to roll a cigarette. and eating an icee.

Frenchie, Nicole, and Philipp.

Some live music from Sweden!

Gonna miss everyone..

Went out in Sydney with Dukki, Ronnie, and Joseph once more, love them so much!!

Stranded for a bit at a random train station.

Found some good local music in Newcastle.

Got picked up by Damian, Moey, and Paul near Newcastle and stayed with their friend Mick and Becks for the night. We went swimming, grilled out, and drank Guinness with the family, amazing time! Oh, and rode dune buggies and dirt bikes around the farm.

Mick and Paddy

Cassie was so sweet, she picked us up and drove us right to our hostel (the Arts Factory Lodge, amazing place) in Byron Bay.

Yoga.

Today I got some leeches on me, had half a can of spaghetti for dinner, and did not see a duck-billed platypus. All in all, it was a pretty good day. We can’t decide the best way to get from Sydney to Cairns at the moment…money and time are the main factors (go figure), hoping to get that sorted out soon. Tomorrow we’ll catch the train back to Sydney and crash at our friend Dukki’s house again before heading north. Now I’m going to read in my bunk bed.

Anyways, Australia is fun so far. We miss our friends that we made in New Zealand/Fiji, but I’m sure we’ll make some new traveling buddies soon enough. Looking forward to meeting up with my family and friends in Ireland (if we survive India) at the beginning of June!! I’ll post this tomorrow morning from the library, then we may go to the zoo to pet some koalas.

Walking along the harbor

Dukki

Opera House

Bronte Beach

Bronte Beach

Bondi Beach

The crowded ferry to Manly Beach