Update

To keep up with my journey west to America and then on to Chile see http://sarahgoeswestwards.blogspot.com  ...

The End

So basically this is it. Hoad's blog finished. I am now in Ko Phnangan, Thailand spending my last days on a beautiful white sand beach, doing a couple of hours yoga a day, lots of swimming and eating the best Thai food ever before I head back home.

Yesterday the sun had a ring around it which was a little weird but after numerous conversations with my fellow beachites I think it can be put down to the full moon on the 20th. The girls, Carys and Laura, are from Hackney ... such a small world.

Finally I just wanted to say a few big thank yous which I know sounds all very awards ceremony-like but I really do so .... to Emma for sorting out my mortgage - no mean feat and I am sorry it was so stressful but also for the most useful going away present - namely the pink whistle which I have of course used every single day of the trip ... ; Tobes for looking after Hoad stuff and for the incredible NYC eyemask that has been the envy of many fellow travellers - I cannot wait to see you, Lina and the Gloop; Jessie for looking after the flat - I hope it has behaved itself as well as I know Tabby will have; Emilie for showing me how to set up and keep up the blog and for the incredible bag of skin goodies; Gill and Tim for looking after my shoes, the incredible Himalaya defying socks and earplugs (I have one left and am keeping it for you to marvel at); Joris for advising me on downloading photos in the early days; Dan, Resh, Irene, Tobes, Tom, Gill, Fleur, Joris, Ben, Tanya, Emilie and Heath for buying me the Ipod - invaluable but just pipped to the post by the ever so useful pink whistle; Irene for the adapter and for being 'Renie; Ben and Tanya for the Point It book which has provided endless amusement to everyone I have shown it to; Elke for the bronzing powder so I can keep the dream alive for a little longer; Dan & Loo for introducing me to Elliott Smith ... this is getting silly ... but also everyone at BB for the stuff and for making going away so easy and finally my family for being my unique and wonderful family. I miss all of you buggers and cannot wait to see you.

Ubud

Up on north I went to Ubud where Nick and Lucy (Latitude last year for those of you who went although looking a bit like Wallace and Gromit here ...) had just arrived from Java. I braved hiring a motorbike so we could go up through the rice fields and on in to the hills to see the volcano at Batur

Jimbaran

Leaving Vicky and Luke to look at waves and ponder about whether or not they were going to ride them I headed north to Jimbaran to gorge myself on the freshest fish you can eat and to see the infamous fish market ... The fish being carried is a tuna .... big big big

Bali - Bukit Peninsula

After leaving the boat everyone, apart from Michael, went on to Sumbawa - the little visited island between Flores and Lomobok famous for big waves. Whilst the everyone else paddled and caught waves I took to the infinity pool and enjoyed life not on the boat. Lots of fantasic pictures of waves for all the surfers and yes James and Heath the swell certainly did hit the day we left ... you would have loved it.

After an emotional goodbye to first Judith and then Jeff, Vicky, Luke and I headed down to Padang Padang on the southern tip of Bali. Vicky and I braved the motorbike again so we could go and see the infamous Ulawatu which as you can see is incredibly beautiful. You can also see what happens when monkeys are fed too many bananas ... it couldn't move and no it wasn't pregnant.

Finding Dwagons

On the way to the dwagon's lair we first came across some of its poo - white dusty stuff in

case you ever need to know - and then one of their nests more easily identifiable to us humans as a hole. Just so you know dwagons can grow up to 3 metres in length. I even risked my life (well ...) to capture them up close and personal on film but sadly the machine tells me it is corrupt so once again you will have to wait until I get home to see it. Oh and no they don't breathe fire but I understand they can move very very quickly if they want which they didn't when we were around.

Dwagon Hunting - setting off

So on to Komodo and Rinca our merry little band went - home to the infamous and human eating (if hungry and no buffalo or deer around) Komodo Dragons. Whilst some may have been a little sceptical about this stop off I can assure you I was leading from the front in my keeness to see them. Before setting out on the trek our guides had to arm themselves with sticks in case of attack ... personally I was a little worried as to the effectiveness of the stick but then what do I know being a mere Suffolk girl.

All things beautiful

The coastline from Lombok to Flores is dotted with lots of stunning emerald green islands ringed by white and, in some places, red sand beaches. Fish and dolphins jump from the sea as the sun sets (no photos I was too gobsmacked to reach for the camera) but as you can see the sunrise was blood red (although I cannot take credit for the photo as I was asleep at the time having spent the night in fear that we were going to sink as we ploughed through the mother of all storms).

Finally a sample of the catch to be had from Flores Sea ... completely illegal apparently but the crew didn't tell us that until it was dead. They said it was a snapper of some kind but I think that may have been the only type of fish they knew the word for in English as it doesn't look like any of the other snappers I've seen but then what do I know!

Sailing from Lombok and heading towards Komodo

Upon leaving the Gillis and having decided that we hadn't had enough of each other we chose a 4 day and night 'cruise' down to Flores via Komodo and Rinca ... The Lonely Planet gives dire warnings about going with a 'reputable company' as the seas can be treacherous but the agent was a very personable guy and talked about the sea being as calm as a pond and assured us the boat was stocked with life jackets, radios and ... err GPS .. When we arrived the boat definately looked as though it may have seen better days but the crew were funny and we had enough food (including a couple of live chickens and an ocean full of fish) and drink to see us through. When asked about the radio and err ... GPS the captain held up his mobile phone and as the boat set off it seemed to be leaning heavily to the left.

That said once the Bintangs were broken out everything seemed an awful lot better - Judith strung up her hammock and the laughter started flowing again. Left is the boat (obviously) and right are Jeff and Luke.

Indonesia - Leaving the Gilli Islands

K

A month on and so much has happened. First up I am now in Indonesia - I flew in to Jakarta and took a train down to Yogjakarta then on to Bali and a boat over to Kuta, Lombok. The trip didn't start off particularly well as, having decided to hire a motorbike for the first time in my life, I got overly confident and crashed in to a tree flying over the handle bars (injury: sprained thumb). A few days later in Kuta Lombok we had to hire another bike - no other way to get around - and Vicki kindly agreed to take the drive with me on the back ... unfortunately one hill proved too much and we did a great wheelie that left both of us on our backs (injuries: minor cuts and scrapes to the leg and knee) . As K L is one of Indonesia's surfing meccas I decided to take Vicki's offer up to teach me to surf. Honestly I tried but having never seen anyone really surf before I found it almost impossible to understand exactly how it was that you were supposed to get from lying down behind the wave to standing up on its face. (injuries: wax burn to the chest, painful ribs and neck, cut toes and bruised knees).

Whilst in KL we hooked up with a fantastic bunch of people ... Jeff, Luke, Judith and Michael and all headed out to the Gillis for some serious R and R. The first night with the almost full moon shining on the sea it seemed like a fantastic idea to go swimming - I should have known better with my recent accident history as I managed to stand on a sea urchin (injury: about 10 spikes in the sole of my foot).

All good fun and I have some lovely photos of all of the above but another technical hitch prevents me from posting them so instead above is a photo of Vicki, me and Luke in the horse cart leaving the Gillis and another of Michael trying to scare a monkey and the consequences of trying to mess with an Indonesian monkey ....

Kathmandu - the monkey temple

One of the biggest sites of the city is the infamous monkey temple where, as you would imagine, many monkeys hang out. It is also an important place of worship for Buddhists and Hindus alike and, again, even having hired a guide much of the meaning behind all of the stupas and temples didn't seem to be able to be translated. Sadly the monkey pictures are on another memory card which the machine is refusing to read at the moment so you will have to wait until I get home to see them but at the end of the day a monkey is a monkey and I am sure you have all seen pictures of monkeys before... but may be not so of the monkey temple itself.

Kathmandu - the mystery of Hindu temples

You do not have to walk very far in the city before you come across any one of the hundreds of Hindu shrines and temples. Hinduism is undoubtedly the most complicated religion in the world to comprehend - as I understand it there are 3 deities - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva - who can appear in any one of a number of manifestations with a consort or vehicle on which they ride. The temples are dedicated to any one of these deities and Hindus can come to place offerings at specific temples depending on what they need help with e.g. relief from sickness, a motorbike, success in business, general good luck, thanks for any of the aforementioned. Above the first two pictures show the plates of offerings that worshippers buy, the next is of women preparing the offerings before they are placed at the temple, then a man with a bowl of candle wicks to be offered in thanks for a wish granted and then women getting their offerings blessed. I have asked so many people to explain more behind the ceremonies of offerings I have seen and have managed to glean odd bits but I am certain some was lost in translation and other things seem to be inexplicable.

Kathmandu

Unfortunately the card reader is not behaving and I cannot get the pictures from Chitwan or Bandipur off it so instead I will have to show you some of the sites and sounds from Kathmandu ...

Kathmandu is a funny old city. Poor beyond all belief with a poisonous river running through it in to which everyone disposes of their rubbish, the roads are half made and small Suzuki cars, motorbikes and push bikes of all shapes and sizes jossle with pedestrians to pass each other. Above Mairead and Clare are being pulled by a rickshaw driver half the size of any one of us proving he has the strength and willpower of any car to get them up to the monkey temple.

The calves

Leaving Pokhara, having experienced the dubious joys of paragliding, I went to Chitwan National Park and then on to the beautiful Newari town of Bandipur. First of all I want to show you all Hoad's new improved calves ....

Poor me I am ill. After nearly 3 months away my stomach of cast iron has dissolved to an unpleasant mulch leaving me feeling rather weak and pathetic and unable to do much. Luckily for you this means I can post yet more random stuff from the past few weeks.

Coming down from the mountains you immediately start to notice the change in dominance of Buddhism to Hinduism - no where more so than in Poon Hill where we were to experience the first of many 'tika' giving ceremonies. This involves a dollop of raw rice mixed with yoghurt and red dye being placed on the forehead and a flower behind the ear. I understand this to be the giving of good luck ... that said Clare's looks more as though she has been stabbed in the head and mine looks like a dirty great scab.

Partying Pokhara

Finally arriving in Pokhara to relax .... apparently guys must where hats and girls have scarves but

the significance was lost amongst the Everest beer.

Please note in particular Paksang's attempt at a sad face - as you can see it is a physical impossibility for the guy - he just looks asleep!

It all got very spirited and with the guys in their Nepali hats - off we went to the disco where Mark promptly lost his. Don't worry I haven't become an angry little Gurkha - just a trick of the camera in answer to Clare's photographic direction.

with me

a

The way down

The way down to Pokhara passed in a bit of a haze - the snicker/mars/pastry/general food intake increased as more and more ingredients became available and the price of beer became more reasonable and by now we had wised up to Ram's dire warnings that everything was dangerous ... as you can see I even made friends with Nepal's legendary dangerous.

The communist slogan is an election poster for the forthcoming April elections - the swazstika that bizzarely appears alongside is apparently the equivalent of a cross marking your wish to support that party ...

The top

To get to the top (some 5,400 metres above sea level) we had to get up at 3.30 am to leave at 4, walk up 900 m immediately to a teahouse and then across the pass making sure we crossed before 10 otherwise the wind would get up and rip through us. Having now had some slee the climb went fine and I was practically skipping to the pass having been told that it was 'pretty much flat thereafter' ... in actual fact you have to climb up and down across icy slopes, getting higher then lower until you eventually get to the top where it is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cold i seriously thought I was going to lose a couple of fingers and toes to frostbite. Testiment to the cold is Paksang's down outfit and as you will see he is still smiling notwithstanding the fact that it is about 5 in the morning and he's been up for 3 hours already - a true sherpa. By nowI am sporting my rather elegant gaters in readiness for the snow fields we had to go through on the other side of the pass.

In case you are wondering how Mark managed to get to these dizzy heights whilst suffering from AMS ... the answer is Diamox - a great drug that propelled him up the mountain so fast he had to sit on his own in the freezing cold for half an hour before anyone else could get there.