Lake Bled, Canyoning and Rafting

The following morning we got a bus to Bled, which is famous for its lake, cream cakes and activities. On our first day we went for a walk around the lake and came across a tree, which overhung the river and had wooden grips nailed in so your could climb up it and jump into the lake. When we arrived at it, there were a few guys jumping off and a local kid who was nuts and pulling back flips and other ludicrous dives. We got the video camera out and got someone to record us climb to the top and make the plunge into the lake. The water was pretty cold but you soon acclimatised and the sun was beating down so it was all good. After a few more jumps we dried off and continued our walk around the lake, where we met a guy called Will (a stereotipical Etonian) who was staying at our hostel who joined us for the walk.

Before coming to Slovenia, we had heard that this was the place to do activities so we went and booked ourselves on a day of Canyoning and Rafting. Canyoning was absolutely amazing, you got kitted out with a wet suit, harness and helmet and then entered the canyon having to navigate yourself down a river over rocks. The best part was when you got to a rock slide where you lay down on your back and slid down the rock and into the pool below it was ace. There were also sections that you could jump and areas which you needed to abseil down it was so much fun.

The guide that took us canyoning was really fun and even detoured on the way back to take us to a river which had a huge wooden dive board hanging over a 6 metre drop. The water was so clear and there were huge fish swimming around it looked beautiful. Obviously we had to go for it and jump off the diving board, it was just a bit of a shock when you hit the water as it was freezing!

We went to a pizzeria for lunch to fill ourselves up before rafting in the afternoon. It was a 30 minute car journey to the river which where we put on life jackets and a helmet. I opted out of a wetsuit as I couldn't be bothered to put it on which I soon learnt was a mistake as the water was about -12 and the coldest thing ever. My feet were tingling after just having dipped them in for about 5 seconds. The water levels were fairly low so the river wasn't that challenging but fun all the same.

We had only booked our first night in the hostel and luckily the woman said we could stay another night so at least we had somewhere to go after our day of action.We hadn't paid for the second night and in the morning the woman wasn't around so we ended up just leaving the key and saving ourselves the cost of a nights accommodation which was a welcome treat. We hadn't got around to trying the local speciality dish which was a cream cake. Even though it was 9am we decided it was something that had to be done so we ate this huge cream cake after a toastie - not the most conventional breakfast.

It was then a day of travel getting the bus first to Ljubliana, then to Koper and finally to Trieste. Trieste was the one place we hadn't pre-booked a place to stay and it was also the one place that didn't have any free WiFi hotspots. We wandered around a bit trying to find the tourist office, which we eventually found tucked away after asking a policeman. Unfortunately it was closed so we were back to square one, still being unable to find a WiFi hotspot. Luckily Woody went for a scout around while I sat with the bags and he managed to find somewhere even though it was a bit more expensive than we were used to, but at this point we were fed up of lugging our bags around so just went for it. In the morning it was then off to the Airport where we sat around for a few hours waiting to check in.

Once we got through to boarding we were given priority boarding passes to our surprise as we were totally oblivious that we had booked them. Anyway these got us onto the plane first where we were able to snag ourselves some seats with extra leg room. I was under the impression that these seats were like gold dust and there was always a race to get them, but everyone just seemed to get on the plane and sit in any old seat. The last two people to get on the plane got some of these seats which still left 3 unoccupied throughout the whole flight, I couldn't believe it.

So that's it, home now back to my own bed :-) I guess it's time to start thinking about going back to work :(

Slovenia Sightseeing

We got the bus to Ljubliana which took a couple of hours, for which I snoozed most of it so it was great when we got there. As soon as you get into Ljubliana you can see the castle situated on top of massive whacking great hill, so chose this as our first point of call. The castle had an awesome viewing tower, which gave panoramic views over Ljubliana so got a few snaps up there. We had also got a ticket which gave us entry to a virtual tour of the city and to a museum. We managed to pass ourselves off as students so saved ourselves 4 Euro, bonus.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the town and having a general wander around the sights. We wanted some good Slovenian food for dinner so went on the hunt after a quick nap in the evening. The place we ended up at served an amazing goulash dish and had a great atmosphere as there was an acoustic band doing there stuff right outside.

We were joined for dinner by some lovely french girls, who were struggling to find a place to sit as all the tables were taken and it would have been rude not to offer. It was one of the girls birthday so they had come out for a nice meal and music and I'm sure our company topped it off. After we had finished our food we went along to a bar on the river, which was pretty quiet but then it was a Sunday night. We then got talking to the waiter and his mate and ended up staying out for a few beers until hunger struck and grabbed a taxi with them to get a horse burger, which came highly recommended - sorry horse lovers.

I bedazzled the locals with some magic and they paid for our beers, taxi and burger - they wouldn't accept a cent! The horse burger was bloody huge, about the size of my face and it was jam packed with salad, ketchup and cheese which oozed out of the sides when trying to tackle it. That taste of horse was still in my mouth the morning after, lovely.

Croatian Cruising

Our couple of days in Zagreb turned out pretty nicely. We did the walking tours suggested on the tourist maps and also wandered about aimlessly exploring the city. When we went back to our hostel we met up with an Australian guy called Adam and went out to get something to eat from a beer hall that served pints for a bargain price of 9 kuna (about a quid). I seemed to end up with the biggest meal and couldn't finish it but it was cheap enough so it didn't feel as much of a waste.

After a few beers we headed back to the hostel to find that someone was in Adams bed - were in a 3 bed dorm. We strolled in making a bit of noise and some girl rolled over and said "hello". We made a quick exit and informed the reception of the problem which was swiftly sorted out - at the embarrassment of the receptionist.

After a nice long kip we got up and had a lazy stroll around the town before finding a nice spot in the middle of a park to lye down and chill out. We went out and got ourselves a pizza for dinner and then made our way to the train station to get our sleeper over to Split. We'd put our bags in lockers at the station so grabbed those and went to the platform.

We handed the tickets over to the conductor who replied "guys we have a problem" errrr what do you mean???? we responded, which is when he then informed us that our reservation was for yesterday!! Whatt!!?? we couldn't believe it! the stupid woman that booked our tickets did it for the wrong day - I admit we didn't check the date but you just expect it to be right. We were not happy.

Anyway we couldn't have our sleeper and ended up on the couchettes. Luckily we got one each with no-one opposite so could treat it somewhat like a bed although it was the most uncomfortable thing on earth. We also had some guy in our cabin area that looked like he had cut some of his fingers off, which were bandaged up but you could see the blood seeping through the dressings, far from pleasant.

After an awful nights sleep we got off the train and had a short walk to our hostel, again which had stated 24hr reception but didn't turn up until 8am. We got there about 7 and went and grabbed a drink and stuff before we could drop off our bags. We decided that we were going to sort out the ferry to Rijecka so went to do that and then went in search of the nearest beach.

We decided just to go for the deck on the ferry which meant not having a room. This resulted in us finding a space on the floor of one of the decks and spreading out our stuff to set up a place to kip for the night. The place we got was OK, although there were super bright lights on all night so I ended up throwing a towel over my face to block out the light. I had a pretty terrible nights sleep, tossing and turning all night.

When we got into Rijecka we headed straight to the bus station as the place looked a bit of a dive and got ourselves tickets for the next bus to Pula, which was only an hour away so we grabbed a drink in a local cafe and wasted away the time.

As I was still ultra tired I snoozed most of the journey to catch up on some sleep. We had booked a hostel but on our arrival found out we had booked two days in advance of when we arrived so there were no rooms. I worked out that the problem stemmed from the fact that my date on my netbook was incorrect so had screwed us over. The woman at the hostel phoned another one nearby so we had a short walk to get there, hoping they had some space.

On our arrival we were greeted by a guy who was helping out and didn't know if there was space so we were left wondering where we would be sleeping. Even when the manager turned up, she seemed to have no idea what was going on and whether there would be spare beds so we decided to go and check out some sea caves and come back later to see what the situation was.

It ended up being a bit of a walk to the caves and we passed some unsightly images in the form of naked people sunbathing, but when we got to the we loved it. There were huge caves and

people were jumping off the top of the cave into the sea....I had to have a go.

The cave jump was immense, I felt like I was free falling for ages until I hit the water and had the best rush ever knowing I have done it successfully. I gave it a few more goes, trying to get a good mid air action shot but they came out a bit blurry. It was then back to the hostel to see if we had a bed for the night. Again the hostel manager was very vague and eventually said we could stay although we were still pretty dubious. We hoped our beds would be made up when we got back and went to find the train station to find out times for trains to Ljubliana.

The station took a little while to find as we first found the old station which was derelict and the new station even looked like part of a ghost town with only one guy tucked away inside selling tickets. We got our tickets which were proper old school little pieces of card which he wrote the train time and destination on.

Once we had sorted that we then went out for dinner and a few beers, where we ended up meeting some Croatian guys who had come to Pula for a football match. I had fun showing them some magic tricks and then we headed off to a club. Half way there they met up with some of their mates which looked like skinhead hooligans so we made our excuses and left- it was about 1am anyway.

Journey of Biblically Hot Proportions

For our last night in Thessaloniki we went out to find a local restaurant recommended by the hostel we were staying in to try some local dishes. This ended up being a mega meat feast which filled the entire 4 seater table with plates of meats in various forms including chips, salad and bread. We were a bit like Michael Jackson in his Martin Bashir documentary pointing at different items and saying "one of them, two of them etc", because the meats were per piece and super cheap nit could have fed a family of 8 easy! We both made a good effort but I'm sad to report back that we were defeated by our meal monstrosity and waddled back to our hostel totally full.

The following day we didn't do much as it was baking outside and we were due to get the 5pm train to Belgrade. We had a good wash and chilled out in the hostel until it was time to head off. We met up with a girl at the hostel who was also getting the same train so all set off together to get the bus. The gut at the hostel had said that all the buses on the main road go to the bus station, as did the bus we jumped on the previous day so we just lugged our stuff onto the next bus that pulled in. It soon became apparent once we turned off into the wrong direction that this was not the case, which was confirmed by a local on the bus. - we felt a bit silly but now we were running out of time to get our train. Fortunately I spotted a taxi heading our way so waved my hands about to hail him over and we were back on track in no time.

To say the train was roasting hot would be an understatement, I've been in colder saunas! I felt like I was totally burning up and someone had a flame thrower held to my face. It was a god send when at the next station we spotted a tap on the platform and rushed out to soak ourselves and get our temperature down a bit. In fact we mostly stayed outside while other locals were boarding and kept splashing ourselves with water to keep cool.

The heat only lasted a couple of hours and for the rest of the journey we made a refreshing air tunnel through our cabin. At one point we stopped at a station and Woody went to get some air, so sat on the trains steps dangling his feet. I'm gutted I missed this but the train started moving again without any warning with Woody sat precariously dangling his feet over the side of the train - I can imagine he totally crapped himself haha.

When we got to Belgrade we dropped off our bags at a luggage place and went to get a beer just to get something refreshing after that journey, we didn't care that it was actually 9am in the morning we deserved it. We were also in desperate need of a wash as I'm sure we smelt as disgusting as we looked so got a map and wandered over to the nearest park which luckily had some taps so we could have a wash with the local hobo's and make ourselves feel half decent.

Armed with a map of Belgrade we set out to see the sights and made ourselves a little walking tour heading towards the fortress, which was lovely and had amazing views across the capital and river.

We had missed the Everton match due to being on the train (not like it mattered in the end) but Woody is an Arsenal supporter so we went to try and find somewhere showing the game. The best place we managed to find was a bookies across the road from the station, but it wasn't too bad and they had a bar which cost 50p a pint - we'll have some of that!

For dinner we again over ordered and had bruschetta, salad and pizza which I was unable finish and took away in a doggy bag. Although I didn't want it myself I thought I would treat some of the local homeless people in and around the park we had washed in earlier and had no problem locating enough to give away my 5 slices.

It was then another night spent on a train to Zagreb in Croatia, which meant making the most of the baby wipes we bought to have a good clean as we were without the luxury of a shower for a second night. The train got into Zagreb and the stupid hour of 4am so we strapped on our bags and went to find our hostel. We were going to walk there but asked a policeman for directions and told us it would take an hour which then didn't seem so appealing. He pointed us in the direction of the tram and as not wanting to be caught out again asked how we paid for it - to which he responded nahh just get on, it's early so won't matter. After which we rather reluctantly got on the tram hoping that we weren't going to be stopped and demanded to pay some ludicrous fine. I'm glad to report back we didn't and successfully found the hostel.

The world's most beach -less seafront

After getting some free pancakes for brekkie at the hostel, we left our bags and went for another walk across Sofia. We ended up taking it in turns at each junction to decide whether we would turn left, right, or go straight ahead until we came across a nice looking bar where we stopped off for a drink. The majority of the morning was consumed by looking for a travel adapter and towel for Woody, which we did have a little trouble finding but managed it in the end.

It was nearing lunch time so we headed to a vegetarian restaurant I had eaten at before to get some healthy but tasty food. As our train was not until 10:30pm we had a lot of time to kill so continued our exploration of Sofia.

A new beer was spotted so we took a seat and wrapped our lips around that. I think that makes the new beer total up to 7 so far so we’re doing pretty well.

We grabbed some supplies for our train journey and used up the last of our Bulgarian currency. It was then a short tram ride to the station, so we got our tickets and parked ourselves down on an available seat. One stop away and some ticket officers jumped on the tram to check tickets, which was fine as we had time stamped ours so they were valid. Unfortunately for us the driver had not informed us that we had to buy an extra ticket for our bags – not that they took up any more room space. So anyway we were about a stop away from the train station but had the ticket inspectors hassling us demanding we pay a 10lev fine each (equivalent to about £4) but I had spent the last bit of shrapnel I had on some snacks to take on the train.

I tried to explain I had no mor3e cash hoping they would just let us off for not knowing, but I ended up being frog marched to an ATM machine to get the cash. If I hadn’t had any bags it would have been so easy to outrun them but unfortunately I didn’t and also had a train to catch.

We got to the station in plenty of time anyway and found ourselves a bench to sit on in the delightful train station where you had flies landing on you every few seconds and no air-con so it was uncomfortable as hell. The train was then delayed and we were sat there wishing away the time – sometimes I would much rather be sitting on my sofa at home than in a situation like this when travelling.

The train eventually got in and we embarked on our ride to Thessaloniki. It was an overnighter so we got ourselves a sleeper train so we could at least get a bit of shut eye, which was a bonus but the toilets were less than desirable and there were mosquitos in their the size of my fist. The train got in about 5:30 and we used the directions I had written down from our hostel’s website to navigate us on the bus, which ended up being straight forward and we found our accommodation easy peasy.

The downside to this was that no-one would answer the door, which meant having to sit on a bench outside overlooking homeless people sprawled out on benches while playing a few games of gin rummy. Well so much for the advertised 24 hour check-in, after countless door bell rings Woody gave the phone number on the door a ring and was told that reception didn't open until 8am - go figure?? We then dropped off our bags and went for a wander around the town and visited some of the ruins and other monuments, at this point feeling absolutely disgusting and in desperate need for a shower.

Eventually we got to freshen up and after deciding there wasn't actually that much to do in Thessaloniki (not even a beach in sight) took a trip to the train station to sort out a ticket to Belgrade. Turning up at 2pm we were delivered the amazing news that the international ticket counter didn't open until 4pm so we ended up spending the afternoon chilling, or rather boiling in the cafe in the station. At 4ish we went over to find a huge long queue which was going down slowly but the most annoying thing was some guy we dubbed "the flanker" as he was trying to weed his way in half way down the queue - these foreign types, you never get an English national doing that we're pretty fair when it comes to queueing.

This is when it gets even worse as a woman asks where were going and send us off into another queue. When we get to the front (after 40mins) the woman at the counter tells us we're in the wrong queue and we need to join the other one, what a sham. So in the end a nice 4 hours spent in Thessaloniki train station, superb. We have managed to book our Belgrade tickets though and are off tomorrow on another over nighter.

Beergaria

Bulgarian airways was a delightful surprise as we had plenty of leg room and were even provided with a sandwich, cake and a drink. Getting to the hostel was pretty straight forward as we just hopped on a bus for 1lev (40p) which took us into the city centre and a short walk away from our destination. It came in useful that Woody had learnt a few Cyrillic characters so we could translate a few of the street names. Once we had dropped off our bags we armed ourselves with a map and set out for a wander around with our main aim being to try and find a micro brewery.

Due to the weather this took longer than expected as we made a few stop off's on the way to try other local brews (we have tried 4 so far) so it's going pretty well. One of the things I love about Europe is the different graffiti you come across and I couldn't resist a snap of the one above.

6 or so beers later we went back to the hostel to freshen up and find somewhere to go and eat and preferably where the England game was being shown. Well we managed to find an amazing local place to eat where we literally had half a pig on a plate with potatoes. Apparently it had been cooked for 5 hours and the meat literally fell off the bone and melted in your mouth. Even though there was so much after we finished we both agreed we could have eaten the same again as it was so nice.

There was no football in sight but we had a couple of hours before kick off to find somewhere. This did result in those 2 hours painstakingly wandering around streets to try and find an Irish bar as there were no TV's in sight. We eventually found one but it was a red herring as it looked as though there was a TV on through the window but it turned out to be some digital Carling advert! After nearly giving up we found a Bulgarian guy who was actually useful and guided us to JJ Murphy's bar where we were just in time for kick off!

I did wake up at some ridiculous time in the morning realising that I had forgotten to take my contacts out - My eyes looked like cherry tomatoes but I did manage to get the buggers out.

1,000k And We're Done.

Last day in Cyprus and then it's an early wake up to get the plane to Bulgaria. Well we've done at least 1,000k in the car travelling around and managed to get a good feel for the place. We went to Nicosia today which spans across into the Northern Territory occupied by the Turks so it was necessary to flash the passport so we could hop across the border. Once we were over the border it was like being transported back 30 years (This is an estimation as I am only 27) but the place was full of war torn buildings that looked like they were on their last legs. After a brief visit to the mosque and a patter around the super comfy carpet we went and got a bite to eat. I went for a tuna salad as after the lovely ham and salad the night before I was on a health kick, but obviously I got a pint of Efes with it as I had't tried it yet on this trip.

It was necessary to top up the tan so we went for a bit of a sun bathe down the beach and a soak in the sea to cool down. After a shower and a freshen up we were treated to a lovely meal by the the Woods whose hospitality has been 5*. The plan now is to get to Sofia and sort out a train down to Thessaloniki the following day to soak up some more sun.

Mountain Tour

Yesterday we had day 2 of Woods tours which took us across the island to several hot spots consisting of lunch in Aiya Napa and a quick wizz around the club district. It was then back to catch the football and a few beers before heading out for Dinner. It was a car journey across to a tranquil harbour which was full of Cypriots feasting on fishy delights. The restaurant was situated right next to a calm harbour which had a nice welcome breeze to keep me cool. I went for sea bream which was a treat and with a few helping of chips i was more than satisfied.

Day 3 of Woods Tours took us into the mountains to the highest point in Cyprus, Mount Olympus. It was a good 2 and a half hour journey which passed some stunning landscapes and gave numerous photographic opportunities on the way. When we finally reached the peak we had gone from 34 degrees down to 25.5 degrees due to the fact we were 1900 metres above sea level. At one point I had a bit of a spazz due to the fact I picked a pine cone off a tree only to see some black insect crawling inside. I didn't bother to give enough time to investigate and see what it was a threw it on the floor like a little girl. We stopped off fof lunch in Troodos where I had a cheesburger and chips to keep me going before we went to find a waterfall hidden away down a 2k dirt track. Although it was a bumpy ride I was well worth the trip as it gave me the opportunity to dip my feet into cold water. I did misjudge a step when trying to get into a posing position for a photo and sunk up to my shorts, I blame the deceptiveness of the water - I have also got photographic evidence of this which is quite amusing. In the evening we went for a quick dip in the pool before going for a few pints down the local and retreating back for some ham and salad - just to balance out the alcohol consumption.

Cyprus Sun

Well check in at Birmingham was a bit of a joke as we stood in a queue for an hour until we got to the front. I'm sure our time would have been better spent having a few beers and joining the end of the queue instead as it would have no difference at all.

The flight went smoothly and we landed on time at Larnaca airport where we were greeted by the Woods. Stepping outside of the automatic doors at the airport I got that welcome smell of warm air that you get went you arrive in a hot country. It was then into a nice air conditioned car for our trip to the Woods home where we're staying over the next few days. By the time we arrived back it was about 10pm local time so it was straight off around the corner to the local Chinese for some food and a late night after a few beers and a brandy.

We awoke in the morning to begin day one of "Woods Tours" across Cyprus which took across to see monasteries, amphitheatre and views of the forbidden zone and ghost town in the northern territory. The area these covered was vast, but all the buildings were dilapidated and derelict as they had been sat untouched since turkey invaded as ownership had not been agreed. To me the areas looked like something from a level in Call of Duty, they would definitely make an amazing paint ball area.

During our journey back we passed Achan village which has been deserted for 36 years before continuing on the road down the "green line" whereby on one side of the road were observation stations manned by UN soldiers for the Cypriot side and on the other side Turkish soldiers for the northern divide. Although I didn't manage to spot and actual soldiers, I'm assuming they were probably having a snooze as it was the afternoon and pretty damn hot!

The afternoon consisted of a trip down to the beach in the sweltering 40 degree heat to top up the tan and have a dip in the med. It's always a pleasant to step into luke warm sea water and there's none of the messing about getting to the point where you either just go in up to your crotch or psyching yourself up for the big dip when you just go for it and submerge yourself up to your neck to acclimatise yourself to the sea temperature.

In the evening I had a nice kebab with Greek lamb mince in which was ace, washed down with a few Keo beers it was a really good meal. A few more Keo beers later and it was again another late night.

East European Extravaganza

It's the summer holidays again and this year is gonna be a short trip around eastern europe with 5 day stop off before hand in Cyprus. Below is a rough idea of the route, though this is more than likely to change!


View Eastern European Extravaganza in a larger map

Bout of the Bali Belly!

Lack of updates are due to me being bed bound for a few days after falling victim to the "Bali Belly" and I'm still fighting it off 6 days later!! I reckon it was this "Frosted Algae" stuff I tried while being adventurous and have regretted it since.

Bali So Far...

So we left the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur and jetted off to Bali making our first stop in Kuta. We were a little surprised how commercialised it all was, a surfers paradise however. The beach was lovely during the times I wasn't pestered by hawkers, old crinkly masseurs or guys trying to sell bow and arrows no less. After a couple of days chilling out at the beach and around the pool we made our way over to the other side of the island.

Once at Sanur we instantly noticed it had a more chilled out vibe and the beach was less overcrowded. People trying to sell us transport are in abundance and the constant pipping of horns does start to grate. Despite this we have had a lovely day on the beach where we began to plan our tour of Bali.

Yesterday we began the day by watching a Balinese Barong and Keris Dance. An hour long performance involving dance and music (I reckon they could have condensed it into about half this time as I felt it did drag on a bit.) We then returned to the car + driver we hired to taxi us about for the day where he proceeded to take us onto the elephant cave. It was here I adorned a fetching sarong and could't help but feel a little disappointed by the temple as it was pretty small and hard to discover. It was then onto Kawi Agung - a shrine created at the bottom of a deep valley. It was ok to get down to, but a mission to climb up from trying at the same time to refrain from the persistant hawkers.

Wayan our driver guided us onto an amazing view of the volcano Mt. Batur where we sat and had some drinks and admired the view. As we headed back down the island we stopped off at some padi fields to admire their distinctive formations within the landscape. It was then through Ubud the arts and crafts capital before we were introduced to the Monkey Forest. The forest is home to many Macaques and three temples. This is where we ended the day and slumped back into our room exhausted.

Today we headed down the beach to the Sanur Village Festival. It took a little longer than expected (1 hour) but on our arrival were welcomed by the sight of hundreds of spectacular flying kites. The arena beckoned us where we saw a bonsai tree competition, many international food delights and a big decorated events stage.

The walk back presented an unexpected sight in the form of a spikey starfish that I picked up with my flip flops and saved as it appeared beached. We're off for another adventure tommorow exploring the rest of the island.

Malaysian Mischief

Last night we topped off our day at the "old china cafe" which was recommended by the guy from our hostel. This place retained it's original prewar structure and decoration despite the local government trying to get rid of old businesses. The philosophy of the cafe believed in maintaining the old Chinese community spirit and strives the keep the place open, which I'm glad they do as the food was lovely!

We started off with some spring rolls that I reckon had something in that didn't agree with me as I immediately got a sore throat. Fortunately it didn't last and I was ok for our second starter which was fried anchovies with a chilli dip, yum! I then went for the most expensive thing on the menu, a whole seabass in a gorgeous chilli sauce and it was only about 6 pounds.

Today we set off for the KL lake gardens and first stumbled upon the butterfly park. Here we found an array of dancing butterflies and snapping turtles. Also an unlikely snake with two little fellas that were clearly his lunch. After a giant beetle exhibition on exit of the park we went onto the KL bird park.

This place was the largest walk through aviary in the world and housed many varieties of birds, a particular favourite was the this little white and yellow nervous bird of which i forget the name. I did manage to get a snap of him when he was off guard however. After a thorough trounce around we ended up at the bird show featuring five Macaws. Stunts observed included scooter and bike racing, a tight rope unicycle ride and puzzle solving.

It was then time for a bite to eat so we proceeded to the Hornbill Cafe where we got stuck into a plate of "Nasi Goreng". This consisted of chicken satay, fried chicken, fried egg, prawn crackers and a special spicy rice all served on a banana leaf.

We then perused the orchid garden for free as it only had an hour left until it closed, which was a bonus as we only stayed in there for a bout 30 mins before making the trek back to our hostel.

It's an early get up tomorrow as the departure time for our flight to Bali is 9:30am and I need to sort out the weight distribution between my suitcase and hand luggage to avoid incurring a fine.

Kuala Lumpur

I managed to get us some extra leg room on the flights but it meant that we ended up next to a lady with a baby who repeatedly sang the same annoying songs even when the baby was asleep. The best bit was when she kept clapping and saying "shush......shush" when the baby wasn't making a sound!!!

Anyway after a 12 hour flight, hardly any sleep and also tipping my dinner tray on the floor during the flight we made a quick change at Singapore before arriving at Kuala Lumpur Airport, where we got on the train to a station which is right next to our accommodation. By this time it was getting on to about 10pm after we had dumped our stuff, so went for a quick walk around Chinatown market which is just around the corner.

On our first full day here we got a bus out to the northern suburb of the city to visit the Batu Caves, which was a huge cave system complete with hindu statues and mischevious monkeys with the odd chicken making an appearance. After going up and down 279 steps we grabbed a coconut to guzzle as although the weather is completely overcast it is still really hot.

It took a bit of a trek to get the return bus back to the city as we couldn't find the bus stop but managed to hail one down in the end, which we jumped off once we saw the KL Tower as this was our next destination. Unfortunately it looked closer than it was and due to the detour and bad directions we got, we eventually got there 2 hours later after doing a lap around the tower and forest to find the entrance.

The view from the top of the tower would have been great if it wasn't for all the clouds blocking most of the view. We did get included in our ticket a trip around this animal zoo park thing and a "Formula 1 Simulation" which was basically a computer hooked up to a screen and some speakers put inside a racing car frame...we both came last.

It was then on to the Petronas Towers which were close by, but futher dissapointment was afoot as on our arrival we found out that all the allocated tickets for today were gone :( hopefully we'll get tickets for tomorrow but it will mean having to drag ourselves out of bed early to make sure we bag some.

It's nearly dinner time so we're going to try and find some Malaysian treats!

4 Weeks Later - 8 Countries, 12 Cities, 50 Mosquito Bites, 16 Blisters and About 500 Beers

Well after successfully executing our trip from our hostel in Rome back to the comfort of our houses I am absolutely knackered, still itching from mosquito bites, have a bit of a beer/food baby and am minus a sock!

I will probably spend the next day sorting out my photos and editing the videos we took on our trip, so keep your eyes peeled for our Robot Dancing video coming soon x

Rome Photos