Slinging it out of Singapore

This is the end of the road for Timmy's Travels - the end is nigh. Tonight I fly back to good ol' SA. The rat race awaits!

Wends and I had a great time lurking around Kuta in Bali over the last week or so. We had planned to venture back down to the Bukit Peninsula, to Dreamland and the like, but never really mustered up the energy. Between my bouts of piss poor attempts at surfing and Wendy's determination to meet every guy in The Bounty we were in a perpetual haze of hungover exhaustion. We did manage to curb Wendy's natural compulsion to buy every dress on sight (note I said "curb" not "stop")... though I think this was more to do with babalaas than anything I ever said.

The lovely duo of Olivia and Danny (met in Bali and rejoined in the Gili's) provided plenty of back-up, meaning I could retreat out of the nightclubs a little before the sunrise they were all determined to see and still leave the little sister in good hands - thanks girls! It was also really good to meet up with Funky, James and Claire again, its amazing how the same great faces keep popping up in so many different places. Note the rhyming in that last sentence... Wends and I have just been sipping Singapore Slings at the Raffles Hotel here in Singapore and I'm feeling duly creative.

Wends takes in a famous Singapore Sling at its home, the Raffles Hotel. Asked if she wanted another one she replied: "I'd rather buy a house..."

One of the lovely colonial style streets lined with flash cars and backed by skyrise buildings. Typical Singapore.

We landed here in Singapore yesterday afternoon and have so kindly been offered the opportunity to freeload with Caitlin, a fellow Maritzburgian. We joined her for dinner at one of the famous hawker centres last night which was great. Today Wends and I have just been doing some of the more well-known walking routes around the city including Chinatown and the Colonial waterfront. Tonight we'll explore Little India as I only fly out at 2am. Tomorrow Wends flies to Bangkok to start her own little solo adventure.

Its been a truly wonderful and incredibly memorable year. The places I've seen have been tremendous, nearly matching the fantastic people I've met. I not even going to try to write a worthy conclusion, but it'll suffice to say... "Its been real!"

A shopping storm is brewing

I think another little update and some photos are overdue. Wends and I are back in Kuta, Bali now after a great 5 days on Gili Trawangan and a short stay in Seminyak. I really enjoyed some chill-out time on the Gili's, but there was the odd party going on to keep my relaxation in check too! I'll never look at mushrooms in the same way ever again...

The sole means of transport on Gili Trawangan, the elaborately decorated horse cart.

Our upmarket digs on the island, Pesona Cottages, complete with beachside pool!

The beach on Gili Trawangan, looking back toward Lombok, with Gili Meno on the left.

The trip back was a long one but Wends and I are now accustomed to motorbiking on these roads now so we actually enjoyed the journey. On getting back to Bali we decided to go and check out the more upmarket beach scene at Seminyak, further up the coast from Kuta. Its a bit out of season now so we didn't really get much bang for the extra bucks, we even ended up partying back in Kuta last night.

It looks like we'll now stay here in Kuta for the remainder of our time in Bali, with the odd surfing day trip down to Dreamland or the like. The surf here in Kuta is disgusting, maybe we've just been unlucky but I fail to see how it ever became famous. Wends is shopping up a storm here so it'll be impossible to move her. She hasn't yet mastered the art of bargaining so I have to try keep an eye on her; she set an all time record for a price paid for a sarong in Lombok and hasn't improved much since. We are yet to have any form of fight though, which will come as a surprise to my folks! We're very different in our tastes but we seem to find common ground easily enough. I'm thinking I can give her some cash and send her out to do my Christmas shopping while I go surfing or watch the rugby... see, compromise is easy!

Its time for an afternoon siesta now. Wooz had me clubbing until some ungodly hour last night and then my determination to surf had me up early (though sleeping in would have seen me find an equal number of catchable waves!).

Lombokke!

Okay, so we're not actually on Lombok anymore, rather on one of the Gili Islands off Lombok's northwest coast, but after the Sprinboks' demolition of the poms last night I had to throw that title in!

Wends and I arrived here on Gili Trawangan yesterday morning. Its a gorgeous little island with beautiful white sandy beaches and coral reefs packed with turtles (my first snorkelling sortie found three). There are also a plethora of bars and cafes on the beach so it should be a blast. True to my style I checked us in to a very good value for money bungalow, recommended by a mate, right on the sand - but it is a little away from the action. This is not Woozle's style. As of 12 noon today we will be breaking the budget and staying at a great spot in the thick of things (with a pool!). I guess I should live it up a little in my last 2 weeks.

And I was in the front row of one of the pubs last night at 3am, waving my flag, to watch the Boks. How satisfying...

The walking wounded

Wends and I are in Sengigi for a night before we head over to the Gili islands tomorrow for a bit of R&R. We only planned to make the trip up here tomorrow, but since we were unable to surf today we thought we might as well get the mileage done a day early.

With our surfing careers skyrocketing in spectacular fashion, with the inevitable lucrative sponsorship deals on the imminent horizon, we have both unfortunately been sidelined by injury. Wends managed to "sit on too many books" (her ass is well red...), getting a touch sunburned while lying on her board (that's what you get for perving over the surfer boys instead of catching waves Wooz!).

I myself got thumped by a tsunami and re-tore an old shoulder injury (sustained while snowboarding in the 2002 Winter Olympics, or thereabouts) and stubbornly refused to get out of the water and made a right mess of myself as a result.

Besides the injuries, the surfing in Kuta was a lot of fun. The area around there is really picturesque and as the surf breaks are offshore we had to hire a fishing boat to take us out each day, which adds to it all. We also had a surfing guide/coach in the form of Mole - a legendary youngster from the surf shop in town. We may even decide to head back down there after the Gili's.

I would love to include a photo or two here but I'm waiting till Wends drops her guard and I can snap a photo of her on her new motorbike. She managed to hire a bright pink one and its quite a sight when the bright pink surfboard is attached! Only Wooz...

Surf's Up... somewhere.

Well, Woozle arrived as scheduled on Thursday, and was immediately ushered into the swing of things by my picking her up on my motorbike (clutching her six bags of luggage and thirteen surfboards...).

Our plan was then to spent the last three days surfing here in Kuta, Bali. Unfortunately there has been a distinct lack of any waves. We really are desperate to get into it so hired another bike for Wooz and missioned down to Dreamland beach to find some surf. Whilst it was gorgeous down there I have seen bigger waves on Midmar dam! I was very impressed though with Wends' enthusiasm and determination to learn to ride a motorbike... in some of the most chaotic traffic I've ever scene. She's been a star.

Dreamland beach. Check out those massive waves at this famous Bali surf spot!

At the entrance to Dreamland beach. At least we are starting to look the part if nothing else!

Wends at the Uluwatu temple near Dreamland.

After a very chilled night in a small backpackers in Dreamland we gave up the dream and chose to head inland to Ubud as we figured we might as well check out some of the interior whilst the beach was a no go. A mate of mine from diving in Pulau Weh, Funky, met up with us in Dreamland and joined us. The ride out there was highly eventful with numerous wrong turns, many stops for directions, and even a little bribery and corruption after we apparently ran a red light... Ubud, however, was worth a bit of effort and we all enjoyed the night we had there. I have even started my art collection with a lovely and relatively inexpensive painting.

Funky gets into a scrap with one of locals in Ubud.

Tomorrow Wends' and I have decided to head over to Bali's neighbouring island, Lombok. I've been told beaches around the south are very beautiful and a good place to get in some more secluded surfing. Tourist transport over there is pretty pricey so we've chosen to hire motorbikes again for the trip - I just hope they let us take them across on the ferry. We'll probably be out of touch for a while, but I do plan for us to be on the Gili Islands come the night of the 14th for the Springboks v England rugby game - I'm not missing that one!

A photographic negative entry

One of the new techniques I learned while diving around Komodo was the negative entry. When the currents are really strong you need to get down to the reef asap to avoid being swept away. That means no bobbing around on the surface etc. I enjoyed the little rush of adrenalin it affords, but its seems an appropriate term to use here too... I need to get some some overdue photos down quickly before Wends arrives and we're swept away on the next adventure.



Playing games off the mast of the Perama boat.

An afternoon of strenuous sailing on the Perama boat...

I woke up early and found the sunrise revealing the mountains of Komodo Island.

At the entrance to Komodo National Park, with my "special stick"in hand to fight off the dragons...

Mean!

This would make a good advert for Coca Cola...

The coke crates give a good idea of the size of these things.

They seem so slow, but they can move really quickly when they need to.

Ooh, he's coming right towards me...

And veers off at the last minute... (obviously checked out my guns!)

Timmy, with a dragon sneaking up behind...

The Perama boat, and attendant dive boat, off Komodo's Red Beach.

The pink coral sands of Komodo's Red Beach.

A guide looks out for dragons on Rinca.

The view from my bungalow in Labuanbajo.

The beach bungalows on Seraya Island.

Nuss, the irrepressible dive boat skipper.

The famous Komodo dive site of Batu Bolong.

Mantas, Geckos, and a Muslim Mosque

I'm once again penning away in my notebook whilst I lurk in Labuanbajo, this time waiting for my flight back to Bali, and also for the massive doses of nitrogen in my blood to escape. My dive computer says I'm only allowed to fly later this evening, while my flight is at 3pm, but its a Finnish contraption so I figure its just being typically conservative.

True to expectations, the last 3 days of diving I've had have been tremendous. We've done such a variety of different dives and I've enjoyed them all. Yesterday in particular was a great send off. Our final dive had us swimming (I personally was simply gliding of course) behind a beautiful Manta ray for a good ten minutes, and then just as we were about to surface it came back out of the deep, swimming right up to my face, almost as if to give me a goodbye kiss...

I really was hoping to get a good sleep-in today but the varied calls of religiosity in this town make that pretty difficult. At 4 am the mosque down the road starts its call to prayer (with a loudspeaker positioned under my pillow). Another mosque on the other side of town then takes up the challenge, before the two catholic churches wake up and start the bells a tolling! Its all very atmospheric actually and I've kind of gotten used to it now. I still wake up at four but manage to get back to sleep... usually. Now, we get geckos back home, but they're the quiet little types. Here the source of their name is made very apparent - the little monster above my bed started up his "GE-KO"ing at every opportunity this morning, lest I ever forgot he was there. I wonder if gecko is good to eat...

Before i forget, thank you to all of you who responded so kindly to my little hint and deposited such generous sums in my bank account. Much appreciated. But unfortunately it seems I've been out of touch with the world of finance for a bit too long, and with the impending arrival of the shopping virtuoso that is Woozle, I'm going to need a much stronger currency... Pounds Sterling will be fine next time. Thanks.

I'm looking forward to Wendy's arrival tomorrow, and I think I'm prepared. I've hired a small truck to meet her at the airport so we can transfer her luggage to the hotel. And hopefully she doesn't get charged too much extra for bringing in her seven surfboards; only Wends has a matching bikini/surfboard combo for every day of the week...


A sunrise over Sumbawa island from the deck of the Perama boat en route to Komodo.

My first dragon on Komodo... Aargh!

Getting ready to take the plunge just north of Komodo, with Mantas spotted on the surface...

One of the gorgeous beaches around the Komodo Islands.

'Ere be Dragons (Part II)

I’ve got an afternoon here in Labuanbajo with nothing to do (shock, horror), so was hoping to be able to do a little blogging, but unfortunately the sole internet connection apparently only works in the early morning. This post is thus being written in my little notebook from the comfort of an armchair on my veranda overlooking the Flores Sea. If you’re reading this I’ve obviously managed to retype and load it.

I may get lucky, but in all likelihood I won’t be able to upload any photos. I’ll thus try to elaborate on my descriptions of where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to; this assuming that you actually read my ramblings and don’t just scan through the pictures going: "Ooh, that’s nice...". Heck, maybe I don’t read the emails you all so kindly send… maybe I just scan them in the hope you’ve included a note to the effect you’ve deposited USD xxx in my bank account. So far no luck on this front, but there’s still a month to go...

I mentioned briefly in my last post that I’m now on the island of Flores, specifically the town of Labuanbajo, a base from which I’ve been exploring and diving around the Komodo Islands. Flores is the largest of a string of islands known together as Nusa Tenggara. These islands stretch from Lombok in the west (next door to Bali) across to East Timor. I’m roughly in the middle right now. The Perama boat from Lombok took 3 days and passed along the northern coast of Sumbawa Island for most of the journey before arriving at Komodo Island, as I said before. From Komodo it was a few hours sailing, past Rinca, on to Labuanbajo.

The 2 days of diving I did at the sites around Komodo and Rinca were spectacular and warrant my forking out for another 3 days worth. The diving is so good, and so different, because of its situation. The hundreds of small islands in this chain form a sieve through which the warm waters of the Pacific and the cooler waters from the depths of the Indian Ocean are forced and mixed. This mix has developed an amazing array of marine life, and also causes incredibly strong currents that make the diving much like an underwater rollercoaster ride!

As a break between my two stints of diving I spent two nights out on a small island called Seraya. There really wasn’t much else to do there except enjoy the gorgeous views from my bungalow on the sand and chill. Okay, okay… I confess… I was actally planning on doing some fishing (but don’t tell the folks at the dive shop – fish are our friends!), but this is what happened:

Imagine my delight when I arrived on the island to find a perfect shallow sand bar stretching out from the beach for 70m before dropping off into very deep water, and a quick look via snorkeling revealed huge schools of jackfish and kingfish patrolling the area! This is what I’d been lugging my flyrod around the world for. I quickly fitted my rod together, pulled out some line, selected a perfect little deceiver pattern and prepared to cast. At that moment a school of jackfish was moving toward me, I could even see their scythe-like tails through the clear water! I had my fly arching over them in a second and was about to land the perfect cast when… (insert your choice of expletive here – just make it a good one!). My rod snapped. Right at the base, making it irreparable. Hell, insert another expletive for good measure!

But, we’ve always got a silver lining filed away somewhere. This time it was that I got to do some awesome snorkeling along the drop-off, even coming face to face with a spotted eagle ray. And I finally got to make some real headway into the adventures of "Hai mian bao bao" (SpongeBob Squarepants).

I really wish I could get some photos uploaded to show how beautiful these islands are. They’re not the palm-fringed, tropical type you see in postcards. The land is much drier, almost barren. But the sea is the most exquisite blue... rather "all" the most exquisite "blues" you can imagine. And the sky is clear all day, with equally dramatic sunrises and sunsets at each end.

It wasn’t the scenery, or even the diving, that first lured my thoughts to these islands though. That honour firmly belongs to the dragons. (And the fact that I’m still bumbling through The Origin of Species is honestly coincidental in its timing). I’ve always wanted to see those massive lizards, and it feels really good to have achieved one of those "lifelong" ambitions. The Komodo dragons really are as impressive as they’re made out to be. The males I’ve seen have been around 3m in length, but its their girth that I find so impressive. A monitor lizard can grow to 2m, but that’s where the similarity ends, these guys are the Os du Randt of lizards! It was good to keep in mind that they eat over 40kg of meat each week and have killed humans, locals and tourists, even recently. Scary stuff, and I’m not even going to get started on the Wild Chickens...

I’ve still got 4 awesome days left here, but it’ll be sad to leave it for the hustle and bustle of Bali. But I’m also excited to see what adventures Woozle and I will get ourselves into...