On Wednesday, Abi and I set off to Lombok to join a group of expat hiking enthusiasts called Java Lava. Abi is Laura's flatmate, and as this was a 4 day weekend (Ascension I think), she convinced me to join her on this trip as Laura was going on a detox retreat in Thailand. The destination was Rinjani, the second highest volcano in Indonesia at 3726m. I had to invest in proper equipment as we were warned that it would be cold, and difficult. Armed with warm clot...

I am writing this from Jambi, in Sumatra, where I am training ZSL field staff over a couple of days. Last week was a typical week at work: normal office hours, then either a massage or cinema, and still a good gym attendance and diet following. I went to see The Avengers in 3D at the cinema, with Laura and a group of her friends / work colleagues. I think everyone really enjoyed it, I thought it was fun and packed with action and good CGI / 3D. Thor is still pr...

Have already been in Bogor at my friend Laura's for a week. Working with her at ZSL (Zoological Society of London) meant that I struggled to find time to write this blog. And a weekend on a private island as well. Laura lives in an old house of colonial style, in a neighbourhood which was apparently built by the Dutch when they had interests here (not read that bit of lonely planet yet). She shares with a mix of foreigners, all English apart from one Canadian, w...

At the airport about to leave for Jakarta and Bogor. My week in Yogya has been very fruitful, and it's a town worth visiting. The classes at Realia school have been useful even if I still have a long way before holding a conversation! Indonesian is not particularly difficult, I am just particularly useless at languages... I still say spanish words by mistake (which I guess will be useful for later in the year when in South America). The main highlight of the las...

Day 3 at the language school and head is about to explode. Think have not had to remember so many new things since uni! I am making progress however can still see the look of despair on my teachers when they have to repeat every sentence word by word for me to make sense of it. It will be some time before i can have a conversation! The school is in the north of Yogya, which is really the modern side of town, slightly on the outskirts so not much to do around. Ac...