So i'm finally in Indonesia, the last stop on my adventures around Asia and I plan to make the most of it before hitting OZ and having to go back to work. That's going to suck big time. Anyway you'll be pleased to know that Indonesia has so far managed to throw at me the authentic Asian experience with little difference. I mean c'mon this is a different country after all.....

I managed to finally drag myself out of Cosmopolitan Hostel in KL after 5 lazy days there. It got to the point where the owner had put the movie selection out ready for me when I woke up. Sensing that this was a bad sign I packed up and headed out to the airport and looked forward to what Indonesia could throw at me. Pukey sue is now airbourne by the way and kept me entertained for most of the flight. I gave her my sick bag thinking she'd need it more than me and I wasn't wrong. We landed into Jakarta about 2 hours later and first things first, I need to buy my Visa. No problems there and I head to immigration. I got a surprisingly warm welcome from the officer in charge and then it went sour "Where is your return ticket"? "I don't have one"? I replied......"is that a problem"? The ominous silence told me that it was and I sensed this could be a short trip into the country. After a few hurried phone calls to his superior he types in a random flight number into the computer and I'm allowed in. Hopefully this won't be to much of a problem when I actually leave. I spent the next half an hour trying to locate my bag as there were no signs there telling me which conveyer belt your bag comes out on. This was feeling more like India everyday! Still I found it in the end and headed off into the city.

JL Jaksa is the main backpacker area but it's no Khao San Road. The street is really small and it's filled with what I now term the triple H factor; Hookers, Hawkers and Hobos. I was only there 5 minutes when offers of a"good time", "transport transport " and "10 rupiah pleeeease" met my ears. It wasn't a nice place but it was certainly different which is what I wanted after KL. One girl who was looking for customers called herself Maria after Maria Sharapova, although I reckon she was more of a Pat Butcher. Good luck love. I only ended up staying a day and hightailed it out of there to Yogjakarta. I met up with a guy named Ed on the bus and we headed off. We didn't manage to get any sleep on the bus so we rocked up to Yogja tired, hungry not in the mood for touts. Luckily Yogja is a really nice relaxed place to be and we spent the day walking around the town and eating. What could be better? We decided to head off to a Buddhist temple in the evening called Borodupur which as the LP says is meant to be awesome at sunrise and sunset. So we booked a tour with some other guys and headed off there. It was a cool place and we walked around having inappropriate photos taken with the man himself. I felt a little blasphemous after my photo, but after a few rounds of "Om Mane Padme Hom" Buddha and I were mates again. We didn't manage to see the sunset as the place closed 1 hour before the event. So that was a good tour then. Something told me that Indoensian tours aren't always what they seem. I spent the next day seeing more sights in Jogja and trying the local food. I have to say the food I've tried here hasn't been that great so I ended up being a fast food w**** for the day but promise to try more local food at the next town. Next stop, Mount Bromo.

Mount Bromo is supposedly a beautiful national park with a live volcano thrown in and......a major highlight in Java. So I signed myself up and headed off to the place. For some reason I was told to sit in the front with the driver and as a result I got the full experience of the guys driving. 6 months of traveling never makes these experiences any easier. After 12 hours we finally arrived at Bromo. I decided to walk up Bromo mainly because it was free and also to get away from the annoying tour guide. So I set off at 3.30am and started the long hike up. What I didn't realise was that the guest house I was staying in was 3km further out than I thought. After realising that I wasn't going to make it for sunrise, I stopped and sat down by the side of the road to watch the sunrise over the valley. This was fairly short lived though as a huge sulphur cloud fell down the valley blocking my view and making it hard to breathe. Defeated, I headed back to bed. I suggest you google images of Bromo. I did and it looks quite nice. In India, Sarah told me why she doesn't bother getting up at sunrise for anything and now I agree. It's a waste of time. Still the valley was quite nice and when the clouds lifted, I got some ok pics. After an extra hour in bed it was straight back on the bus and off to Bali. I reckon I like it hard as this "6 hour" bus journey turned into 12 hours. Man alive. It was nice to see pukey Sue back on the bus and this time she bought the kids to. As you can imagine it wasn't a good day. Still a beer with some Austrians I met on the bus made up for it. I love traveling with Austrians and Germans, they always suggest a beer at just the right time. Proust!

So now I'm in Kuta, which can only be described as Magaluf in SE Asia. I'm only going to be here for few days to catch up with some mates before heading off. I think the traveling is now beginning to effect me you know. I noticed the other day that my English is appalling. I keep saying "like" before describing an event or place and it's really irritating me now. I think I'll have to move somewhere really posh when I get back and maybe go back to school. Shocking. Fascinating fact of the week....Australians call toasted sandwiches Jaffles. I'm now ready to conquer Oz with that info. I thank you.

Hasta lauego

Will