Hi everyone,

As we have done for the previous sections of our trip we decided to do a summary blog of our time in Indonesia. We are now heading to Vietnam and Thailand and expect the culture and landscape to change quite a bit as we visit places that are more on the normal tourist trail.

So our Indonesia adventure…

Days travelled = 26

Islands visited = 14

Modes of transport = 7

Volcanoes climbed = 3

Favourite place = (M) Gili T and Bukit (K) Bukit Lawang (G) Gili Trawangan

Worst place = (M) Medan (K) Kuta (G) Kuta

Best meal = (M) Anything cooked by Nora in Bukit Lawang (K) Fresh lake fish in Toba (G) The BBQ grilled prawns on Gili T

Worst meal = (M) Crap set menu in Ijen coffee plantation (K) Rotten fish tasting curry in Brastagi (G) night Market on Gili T

Best day = (M) Bukit Lawang Trek (K) Same (G) 5th day on Komodo Boat cruise (waterfall jumping on Moyo)

Worst day = (M) Day after Brastagi trek, sore legs then a journey on 3 different buses (K) Travelling back from Sengiggi to Kuta (took far too long, boat then bus) (G) first hour of Rinca trek (just wearing flip flops)

Best journey/trip = (M) Journey up Bromo (K) Trip to mount Ijen (apart from bumpy road) (G) Visit to red beach

Worst journey = (M) Bus from Toba to Medan (K) Boat from Bali to Gili T (G) bus back from Padangbai to Kuta on final day

Fav animal = (M) Orang-utan (K) Gibbon (because of how they run) (G) Cats on our balcony in Gili T

Fav beverage = (M) Bintang (K) Bintang (G) Sprite (defo not Gin and Sprite tho that they tried to pass as a cocktail)

Amount of beers drunk = A lot more than Malaysia

Most overheard phrase = (M) 'Hello Mister' (K) 'Transport, Transport' (G) 'Any questions so far' Manuel on boat tour

Things we liked = cheap prices (not in Bali), fried noodles in Sumatra, Beef flavoured Chitatos, fresh fish, chocky milkshakes (Gemma), pancakes for breakfast, Bintang, the "Van Camp's" - genuine names - gay Belgian guys on our boat trip, Indonesian kids (except the ones that scream on planes), tubing, Manuel, orang-utans, fresh pineapple, scenery in Java/Sumatra, lack of lash-packers in Sumatra!

Things we didn't like = non-flushing toilets, ants in my bathroom, stray dogs, mosques that sing at 3am, cockerels that crow at 1am, ice cream motorbikes that sing all day long, mosquitoes and other things that bite, grey rabies-monkeys, our 'hotel' in Brastagi, Kuta (and the tourists that visit it), touts in Bali, unfiltered coffee, chain-smoking locals on buses!