Friday: Took the 8am train from Gambir. They told me to get there an hour before, but I am not sure why as the train only turned up 10 mins before and it's reservations only. Trains are great, air con, loads of leg room and seat back better than on planes. They have TV on which shows movies or music videos. And the journey is lovely, going through villages, rice fields and by mountains. I wasn't quite sure how to order food so survived on a bag of crisps. Took ...

Landed in Jakarta this morning. Quite a long taxi ride to Jalan Jaksa area which is backpack country though I am staying in a hotel, Fave hotel. Jakarta is hot, noisy, brash as one expects. I thought it would be dirtier but there are many sweepers and people looking for recycling materials to live on. It reminds me of Hong Kong in some places, with luxury malls next to not so nice buildings. To ease the transition I have found a Starbucks where I am typing this. ...

Day 0 Left LHR at noon with Malaysian airlines. We are 2 hrs from Kuala Lumpur somewhere over the ocean and just had my first breakfast of rice and sembal. Quite a turbulent flight, and of course my VOD does not work. Have therefore started to watch the Good Wife on ipad thanks to Val. I had a couple of meetings with ZSL before I left to get more understanding of the work and what I will do. It's really interesting and causes that I can relate to, so am excited...

Card from work

Business visa obtained! Meeting ZSL tomorrow to learn more about the projects and be trained on their reporting system. Slightly concerned that I still have not booked accommodation for my arrival, but guess that's part of the adventure!