Hi,
I'm writing this from home, having returned to Calgary on May 11. Although this SE Asia trip is over, I now know what I always suspected. I have the "travel bug" bad, and will continue doing this type of backpacking travel for as long as I can. I view this 4 month trip as the "maiden voyage", and will start planning the next trip almost immediately. Whether it will be to South America, or India and Nepal, I don't know yet. I do know it will be another great adventure.
I met some amazing people along the way, and I'd like to thank those special travel companions who really made this journey so interesting. Please keep in touch, and let me know how your own adventures are going.
The final couple weeks in SE Asia where great. Although Bali was even more touristy than I expected, I made a trip to the Gilli Islands off the coast of Lombok, which was absolutely stunning. It was a long day-trip (11 hours) to get there from Ubud, Bali but well worth it. As I left Lombok at 6pm on the final leg of the trip to the tiny island of Gili Air, I knew this was going to be something special. I arrived with only 5 others in a small wooden boat, just as the sun was setting, lighting up the island with a warm red glow. All 3 Gili islands are free of cars and motorbikes, and the only way to get around is to walk, rent a bike, or take one of the numerous horse-drawn carriage's. I walked around the island on the maze of walking/bike trails in the forest, swam off the many deserted white sand beaches, snorkeled right from shore, lounged on the deck of my simple wooden beach bungalow just listening to the crash of ocean waves, and songs of the tropical birds. There are lots of locals on this island, but few Westerners as it is off-season. After a couple days, I move location to the sunset side of the island and stayed in a simple wooden bungalow right on a deserted beach. I enjoyed walking the island pathways to get to the restaurants on the far side of the island. The food was great and beer was cheap. I hung out at my favorite beach cafe which made the best Fish Curry.
I splurged a bit in Kuta, Bali and stayed at a nice little place with a swimming pool and lush garden. This was a bit of a change from my usual budget digs. I flew back up to Phuket, Thailand which was pretty touristy, as I knew it would be. But I stayed in Phuket Town, rather than the resort areas, and was surprised how much I enjoyed this little town. It has a great local market and some really great Thai places to eat. I enjoyed just sitting in a little cafe in the Market watching the local action. I did spend a couple days at the beaches of Patong, Karon, and Kata, which were a short bus ride away. The beaches are huge clean, white sand. Karon Beach is 4 km of fine, white sand, with few people as it was off-season.
It was a bit of a long flight back to Calgary (27 hours with stopovers), but compared with local Indonesian buses it was a breeze.
The editing of over 5000 photos was pretty time consuming, but is now complete.
My Blog for this trip is at
http://dneame-adventures.blogspot.com/
Cheers,
Dave Neame
Calgary, Canada
daveneame@gmail.com
I'm writing this from home, having returned to Calgary on May 11. Although this SE Asia trip is over, I now know what I always suspected. I have the "travel bug" bad, and will continue doing this type of backpacking travel for as long as I can. I view this 4 month trip as the "maiden voyage", and will start planning the next trip almost immediately. Whether it will be to South America, or India and Nepal, I don't know yet. I do know it will be another great adventure.
I met some amazing people along the way, and I'd like to thank those special travel companions who really made this journey so interesting. Please keep in touch, and let me know how your own adventures are going.
The final couple weeks in SE Asia where great. Although Bali was even more touristy than I expected, I made a trip to the Gilli Islands off the coast of Lombok, which was absolutely stunning. It was a long day-trip (11 hours) to get there from Ubud, Bali but well worth it. As I left Lombok at 6pm on the final leg of the trip to the tiny island of Gili Air, I knew this was going to be something special. I arrived with only 5 others in a small wooden boat, just as the sun was setting, lighting up the island with a warm red glow. All 3 Gili islands are free of cars and motorbikes, and the only way to get around is to walk, rent a bike, or take one of the numerous horse-drawn carriage's. I walked around the island on the maze of walking/bike trails in the forest, swam off the many deserted white sand beaches, snorkeled right from shore, lounged on the deck of my simple wooden beach bungalow just listening to the crash of ocean waves, and songs of the tropical birds. There are lots of locals on this island, but few Westerners as it is off-season. After a couple days, I move location to the sunset side of the island and stayed in a simple wooden bungalow right on a deserted beach. I enjoyed walking the island pathways to get to the restaurants on the far side of the island. The food was great and beer was cheap. I hung out at my favorite beach cafe which made the best Fish Curry.
I splurged a bit in Kuta, Bali and stayed at a nice little place with a swimming pool and lush garden. This was a bit of a change from my usual budget digs. I flew back up to Phuket, Thailand which was pretty touristy, as I knew it would be. But I stayed in Phuket Town, rather than the resort areas, and was surprised how much I enjoyed this little town. It has a great local market and some really great Thai places to eat. I enjoyed just sitting in a little cafe in the Market watching the local action. I did spend a couple days at the beaches of Patong, Karon, and Kata, which were a short bus ride away. The beaches are huge clean, white sand. Karon Beach is 4 km of fine, white sand, with few people as it was off-season.
It was a bit of a long flight back to Calgary (27 hours with stopovers), but compared with local Indonesian buses it was a breeze.
The editing of over 5000 photos was pretty time consuming, but is now complete.
My Blog for this trip is at
http://dneame-adventures.blogspot.com/
Cheers,
Dave Neame
Calgary, Canada
daveneame@gmail.com
