Rachel and Leone

Visited Elli's cousin Rachel and her partner Leone
Kay, Bonnie and family

Seeing Chris's Aunt Kay, her daughter Bonnie and family
Craig, Jo, Azi, Allana

Chris's cousin Craig, his wife Jo and their kids
Sydney layover

Outside Tabanan, Bali

Staying a bit outside of the chaos to regroup after 24 hours of travelling, starting at 3am NZ time
Jatiluwih rice terraces

Drove up to the rice terraces and around
Ubud, Bali

A few days in Ubud, experiencing the Eat Pray Love phenomenon first hand and eating double portions for dinner
Canggu, Seminyak and Kuta

A tour round exploring Bali's beaches, featuring not as many drunk Australians as we expected and an ice cream float
Pemuteran

Stopping on the way to Java to go snorkelling
Menjangan Island

Snorkelling around Menjangan island - part of the Bali Barat National Park and home to an incredible array of sealife in its coral reef.
Menjangan means deer and indeed there were plenty keen for aЧитать далее
Banyuwangi

A couple of days in Banyuwangi in East Java as a base for climbing Mount Ijen.
Mount Ijen

We woke up at 00.30 to climb Mount Ijen, an active volcano in East Java which has the biggest acid lake in the world in its crater, and is home to sulphur deposits, which produce a rare phenomenon ofЧитать далее
Yogyakarta

Took the 12 hour train to Yogyakarta, cultural capital of Java. Features a surprisingly high quantity of car accidents and a volcano that's currently erupting.
Mount Merapi

Took a ride up to Mount Merapi, Yogyakarta's local volcano, which erupted on Sunday. It was very foggy and we saw absolutely nothing but we had a fun (if slightly stressful) day out 🤷♀️
Borobudur Temple

Went to visit Borobudur Temple, which is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. It's 8th/9th century though was only used as a place of worship for about 100 years before it was abandoned andЧитать далее
Yogyakarta Airport

Some surprisingly cultural experiences for an airport. Had to wait to go through security due to the daily national anthem, and a bizarre cartoon
Kuala Lumpur

We arrived in KL on Monday night after some last minute decision making about where to go next, in the end buying the flight on the same day(!) We spent a few days chilling out in central KL, eating aЧитать далее
Mee Tarek Restaurant

Normally a restaurant wouldn't be worth a footprint, but this place was something else.
Ordered on an app, drinks and first food arrived in 2 minutes, the final plate was here in 5 minutes. All cheapЧитать далее
Batu Caves

Visited the Batu Caves, a complex of Hindu shrines set in limestone caves just outside KL. Lots of steps and worth it for the amazing rock formations and temples, despite being super busy!
Malacca

Took the bus to Malacca City, which is a frequent stopping off point between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and for good reason it seems: it's a UNESCO World Heritage site and has a long history as a portЧитать далее
Forest City, Johor Bahru

We spent a weird and very wonderful few days in Forest City, an almost deserted new city. It was built by a Chinese property developer on an artificial island near Johor Bahru (just across fromЧитать далее
Georgetown, Penang

Came to Penang for Chinese New Year, braving the travel rush in some slightly last minute plans to meet our friend Ash in Georgetown. We had to fly in the end as every bus and train was sold out(!)Читать далее
Padang Besar

An overnight stop in a border town. We arrived on the last train to Padang Basar, and the bridge to town was closed, so we had to walk all the way around, through a pitch black underpass, as we hadЧитать далее
Koh Lanta

A week on the beach in Thailand, enjoying the sunshine, cocktails and local poisons and learning to scuba dive (with a few ear related hiccups).
Bangkok

Bangkok is the classic passing through city for travellers. So we took the night bus from Krabi and here we are passing through, for a few days, featuring a lot of lazy days, more sushi than you wouldЧитать далее