Sipping cocktails on the beach, watching the sun go down behind Bali and hearing the occasional clip-clop of a horse-drawn "cidomo" on the narrow dirt track behind me, I could be describing any of the three car-less Gili Islands. And a 90-minute walk around the island's circumference along deserted beaches, watching snorkelers explore the turquoise waters and coral reefs would also fit all three. Watching the sun rise over Mount Rinjani from the balcony of my tw...

Our guide for the 3-day trek to Indonesia's second largest volcano joked that there would be as many "bintangs" as I wanted once we reached the "hotel". I realised my error straight away when I asked if the "hotel" had "Bintang", because the name for Indonesia's most popular beer is the word for "star". He was right - there were millions of stars in the night sky, as seen from the "hotel" - a few tents, some tarpaulin and a camp fire perched on the narrow crater ...

I had heard that the gamelan music on Bali was more energetic than the subdued Javanese version, and I knew I would come across it fairly soon. But I didn't expect to be dancing to it at a wedding in the mountain village of Munduk. I got the invite because my home stay owners were close friends of the groom. The Balinese are predominantly Hindus, and as such Bali is fairly unique outside of India. There are big differences though that even I can spot. No cows on ...

Third time lucky, and exhausted by yet another pre-dawn rise, I was finally walking along the crater rim of a volcano. I'm beginning to realise that all volcanoes are unique, each having a character all of its own. Kawah Ijen sits there quietly puffing out a large sulphur cloud from one of its vents, which usually obscures the beautiful turquoise lake sitting in the crater. The lake bubbles when volcanic activity increases. The sulphur cloud was quite big on the...

Dozens of tourists rise at 3-30AM andhead up to Mount Penanjakan via jeep, which is 300m higher than Mount Bromo, so the view is known to be quite spectacular. And it certainly didn't disappoint. The volcano is surrounded by the Sea of Sands, which sits under a blanket of cloud in the dawn light. And on the horizon behind Mount Bromo is Mount Semeru which is constantly active, producing flames from its summit every twenty minutes or so. I had been planning to sp...