Hi everyone I\'ve made it to Java and I\'ve got tons to write so this is going to be a long one (you\'ve been warned...). Just before I start from where I left off I have to tell you how wonderful Java/Indonesia is. Java can fit into England twice and 115 million people live here. That\'s 115 million smiley, happy friendly faces living on some of the most beautiful landscape I\'ve ever seen. There are not many westerners here so they all want to talk to us and the children keep running out of their houses to say \"hello, hello, hello\" I feel really at home here and feel very welcome and priviliged to spend some time with the Jarvenese. One thing, last night I posted lots of photos on here from my first few days in Java and as I\'ve come today to update and write this, the photos are not there - it\'s terrible internet here (that\'s when you can find one that works) - so I\'m really sad that you can\'t see for yourself my first few days as the photos are already off my camera but I\'m going to see if I can get a copy of some from Jon and show you then. Anyway when I left you last I believe I was at Singapore airport tempting you all with tales of Karaoke and Brothels.... We left KL last week (it seems like a life time ago now) and headed down to Melaka which is an ex Dutch coloney in Maylasia. We stayed at this really odd guest house called Sama Sama run by two hippes into Bob Marley and their dog called Doggo. The guest house was very basic and we felt like the 3 bears in bed in our room (which we also shared with about 10 geckos). We arrived in Melaka quite late in the afternoon and decided to be real tourists and take a trishaw ride these were decorated all over with flowers and lights and they played ABBA on tapes as we went around seeing Melaka which is a lovely town and once again (as in most of Maylasia) either you\'re in China or if you prefer India at the turn of a street. After the fun of the trishaws we went for a traditional Indian meal in a local street cafe and re-practised eating curry with our hands which was very messy (esp for me...). So a night in Melaka and what do you do? Well it has to be Karaoke of course. We went into China Town and hit the best bar in town which was full of Chinese singing Chinese but they had western options so of course we had to have a go. Jon went first as he\'s a brave lad but also has a great voice and the crowd loved him as he sang Don\'t Let The Sun Go Down On Me followed by Angels which earned him yet another encore from the crowd. By now I\'d had a one or two beers so bravely approached the stage and sung my heart out to receive a very bemused reaction from the audience and can you believe it - no encore!!!! But I was not deterred and carried on regardless with my next number, then the next and then for some reason the bar was empty. But the waitress who we nicknamed Roxy must have been impressed as she offered us a lift back to our guest house which we gratefully accepted and which proved to be the most scariest experience of the trip todate - she was flying down the middle of the road between all the traffice (and it\'s always busy) and she was screaming all the way and then laughing out loud when we all screamed (this was for real) and screamed louder and went faster - never again. After the thrill rides of Melaka we had a long journey the next day into Singapore and reached their late afternoon. After about two hours of trying to find a money changer that would accept travellers cheques I had a quick 10 minutes to get ready before leaving for night safari. We\'ve been told that this is the best attraction in Singapore but to be honest I was really disappointed with it - I think I only saw one Rhino and two otters but I did meet a nice Kiwi called Pete who was on his way to England to work - he kind of latched on like a lost puppy as I guess he was scared of the tigers and maybe I looked like I could fend one off. Left the safari quite late and went into China Town for our last dinner together as the current group. From the 8 of us, only 4 were carrying on to Bali. As it was the last night of course the s***head gang had to have a last night out together as Jon and I were going to lose Vix and Simon. We had heard that if you go down to the harbour most of the bars there charged a fixed price to drink as much as you like so of course we had to try it out. What we was not told was that the places were dives so after paying our 15$ we made sure we got our drinks worth then quicky departed asking the barman as we left where the best clubs were - \"Oh you want Orchard Towers - open til 6am\" he said so that\'s where we went. We got to the Towers and realised there were about 10 clubs to choose from but they all looked the same so we asked the security guys which was the best one - \"You want Easy Girls\" he said so we headed up to the 2nd floor payed our entry fee and was looking forward to a night of bopping around the dance floor but was in for a bit of a surprise. Quickly upon going in we realised that it was not quite the club we had expected - lots of young girls and older western men and poles but as our entry fee included a free drink we stayed, and stayed some more and laughed and drunk and tried to take photos (but they kept stopping us) and attempted to dance (not on the poles) and when it was nearly light, left. The next morning I told Trent (our group leader) where we ended up to be met with \"I can\'t believe you lot went to the four floors of w****s\" - well we didn\'t know.... Feeling very hungover the next day I decided to have my Angel Cards read and that was fun and got a bit of spirital healing thrown in for good measure (and it worked my feet are fine now - but just as dirty) then Jon and I said our sad goodbyes to Vix and Simon and jumped a taxi to the airport for the next leg having no idea that the best was yet to come. However, I\'ve got to go now as leaving in 50 mins for the ballet and have to have a shower so you\'re going to have to hold on a little bit longer for the wonder that is Java and BinTang Beer. Salamat jatan one and all (that\'s goodbye in Indonesian). I\'ll be back soon xxxx