Monthly Archive: August 2010

blue and pink shack, with green fence and washing lined up outside. Makassar harbour, indonesia.

Colours of Makassar

Makassar, Indonesia. The capital of Sulawesi. A hectic, noisy port city, where even the scuzziest scenes are full of equatorial colour. Even the trucks, parked...

Sea turtle grazing amid coral. Pulau Derawan, Indonesia.

Turtle Island, Indonesia

***Researching? For more up-to-date information on Pulau Derawan and the Derawan islands, including Maratua, head on over to pulaus.com, which also has current info on...

Giant tree roots grow down over the ancient monastery of Ta Prohm, near Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Eight Months, Seven Countries

As Z and I enter our eighth month of continuous travel, here’s one amazing thing we’ve done in each month of the year. January: Making...

Brightly coloured stripey cakes for sale in Borneo.

Ramadan in Tarakan

Bobby’s minivan has a melodic horn, which intones a three note melody. “It is the only one in Tarakan,” he explains, tootling merrily at a...

Walking Fish & Long-Nosed Monkeys

We were in two minds about whether to stay in Tarakan, Indonesian Borneo, today. But I’m extremely glad we did. Because 300 metres down the...

Welcome to Indonesia!

Welcome to Indonesia!

We left Tawau, the port in north-eastern (Malaysian) Borneo, this morning. For Tarakan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo. The boat was late. Terminally late....

Z, grinning, coming off slide with rubber ring. Poring Hot Springs, Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia.

Mr. Confidence

Sometimes, something happens which makes you look at your child with new eyes. This morning, Z and I were at Poring Hot Springs, the sulphurous...

sun bursts above peaks on the summit of mount kinabalu, borneo, malaysia

Climbing Mount Kinabalu

Dali would have loved the summit of Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak between the Himalayas and New Guinea. Granite towers, horns and cowslicks protrude improbably...