Homeward Bound

Alex & I are in airport-land (Changi, to be specific), awaiting our flight home from Singapore. Alex is feeling better - but he had a rough night. Poor wee kitten.

I've really enjoyed keeping this blog/journal. Although I thought it sounded silly when Alex told me the plan, but I have to say he was right. Has to happen occasionally I suppose.

Thanks for keeping an eye on us over the last 5 months - it's been really groovy having you share our adventure with us.

Love Rach
(& Alex - who is somewhere in the airport too I hope...)

Kuala Lumpur

Alex & I spent our last non-travelling day cruising central KL.

"No, thank you, I do NOT want massage/ handbag/ sunglasses /crappy plastic toy."














I found this amongst the bikinis.

But hey, it's nice to see they have designed a swimsuit that satisfies the demands of hijab. No worries about skin cancer I suppose.

Ah, Islam, words fail me.














Then back to the fish nibbling place of course - oh yeeeeeeeeaaah.






















As I write this, poor wee Alex is sitting with a precautionary bucket reading (Alex is reading, not the bucket.). So a quiet night ahead for us as tomorrow we leave kooky KL and begin our journey home, starting with a 5hr bus trip to Singapore.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go and check on my patient....

Love Rach

Back to Civilisation

Todays trip from Pulau Weh may not have been as eventful as the trip there, but it still felt like the proverbial 3 day camel ride.

We were up just after 6am to drive over the on other side of the island via it's smooth (ha!) roads. After watching a lady give the ferry a rhythmic blessing with incense - important part of the maintainance team here in Muslim Indonesia - we were on our way to Banda Aceh. A mad taxi driver (is there any other kind?) took us at light speed to the airport with its inexplicable pre check-in X-ray and three sets of immigration to clear. What is it with the third world's love affair with bureaucracy?

We waited a quiet couple of hours then there was finally movement on the runway - men with clipboards, motorbikes clearing the runway of animals - and an actual aeroplane arrived. A nice shiny one. Ahhhhh, I bet it's even got air-con. (I am so ashamed - when did I get so creature-comfort mad??)

So we are back in Kuala Lumpur now, freeloading once again at Paul's groovy pad in Titti*snigger*wangsa.

Alex cooks up a storm in the kitchen.
















KL cooks up its own storm around the KLCC (Petronas) Towers.

It is raining buckets, off & on, and lightning is flashing all over the place. One was really loud & close - it was a bit scary. Very pretty and exciting though.

Our last days in Pulau Weh

   Our time in Pulau Weh has come to an end. We've enjoyed it here, Rach has 12 dives under her belt now, we've had a lot of fun diving together, but after two weeks here we've ready to get back to Kuala Lumpur, and then home.


This place has been our home for the last ten days. Geckos run around the ceiling squawking and feeding on hapless moths. Frogs trying their luck outside in the light from our bungalow. Insects chirruping ceaselessly in the nearby trees. Goats and dogs making a racket all through the night. Ants getting everywhere. Mozzies trying to suck our blood.

Ahhh, fond memories...


The Dang Dang Na Restaurant has been our local for most of our visit here. You can't complain about a place where the biggest, most extravagant meal on the menu is $NZ6. And the standard feed will set you back only a few dollars.

Our dining companions are Laura and Phil who did the diving course with Rachel. They're doing the globetrotting thing as well and their next destination is none other than Christchurch City! So we'll catch up with them in a few days on our home turf.



A pic of yours truly on the dive boat out to Tekong dive site where we hoped to see some Manta Rays, but they were busy elsewhere, dang it all!





I snapped these two fellas (Cleaner Shrimp) on our last dive, the day before we departed the island.







We were diving alone when we came across this tentacled chap hiding in a crevice. We sat tight and watched him for about five minutes as he slowly emerged from his hidey hole. As he did so he instantly changed his colour and skin texture to perfectly match the background he was on. Amazing.



Just before I got out of the water on our last dive, a few metres from the shore, I looked down and saw this tiny guy. He's a Banded Snake Eel, and makes his living a bit easier by imitating the somewhat more deadly Banded Sea Snake.


Everything's just so photogenic in this place. This is a school of Redtailed Butterflyfish hanging around a pier.