Ridonculous houses Things to know about Medan. 1. Third largest city in Indonesia 2. Gateway to the Orangutans - which Leah loved 3. Home to cockroaches that love climbing up Leah's skirt And 4. They have the most ridiculously stupendous monstrosities of houses we have ever seen. Mock this and that, and more Doric columns than you could shake a stick at!!!! DW

We came, we saw, we stayed and Leah got mugged (by a monkey) Ubud - the quintisential chill-out town in Bali. We were advised by the guidebook that we'd stay longer than planned, and that we did - with only minor casualties. I got my first manicure, LZ made a Spanish friend, we sampled the local restaurants and then it all went downhill. The main attraction of Ubud is the Monkey Forest and it all started so well. LZ was up nice and early to wander around monk...

Duck dinner We're staying near the airport after a few days tracking down orang-utans in Bukit Lawang. Not much around here and the hotel restaurant is clearly not any great shakes so we went exploring. We found a little local warung and managed to have another fried duck plate as our last Indonesian dinner. We'd had some at the Dirty Duck Diner in Ubud and loved it. Have to say that we've found Indonesian food yummy here and not anywhere near as same-y or b...

Jungle trekking.... A slight detour from our Malay Peninsular odyssey for the last few days. We hopped over the Straits of Malacca to visit Medan, Sumatra for some hiking in the jungle and some primate spotting. The orangutans were described as semi-wild, and while I am not exactly sure what this means, I am pretty sure that we weren't that adventurous. But LZ got to use her walking boots for the first time in SE Asia, and we had amazing Indonesian food where ...

Airports are the same all over the world - duty frees with random goods, overpriced cafes, with most of the other shops shut at 5am. At least we have good free wifi here. Just finished a week in sleepy Sanur, another chilled Bali town. A relaxing proper 'holiday' feel with days at the pool, beach, reading and some planning for the next few months. Looking forward to the next stage of the trip - a few days of big city hecticness in Singapore with friends befor...