TAKE 2

Internet died earlier, think the whole server went down so this is take 2:
Me and Jen are chillin out in our rather nice hotel room today-Its a bit of a haven from Jl Jaksa/Jakarta which so far seems to have very little positives....! When we flew we went over gorgeous pale blue sea dusted with hundreds of different islands scattered with palm trees, which seems to be a far cry from where we are at the mo- its been pouring down all day and is very humid and sticky. (im currently listening to a shockingly awful interpretation of Bob Marleys exodus in Indonesian scattered with the word tsunami every few mins, which must be a hit as all indonesian men in the internet cafe are singing along!)
So tomorrow is going to be a travel day, where escaping jakarta for Bogor (about 90mins by train) which with any luck will still have award winning botanical gardens.....its a good stepping off point for the rest of java, and should hopefully contain some friendly backpackers who we can befriend!
Not much else to comment on really- havnt tried ANY indonesian food yet as Jl Jaksa has got travellers-fare food to the T, with Italian restaurant numbering approx 12 so far. May be well try our luck later.
So to me we still havnt really started our trip yet....jakarta is pretty crap but then that isnt much of a suprise- the lonely planet says 'it has little to redeem itself' and they are known to be optimists!
Til net time- hopefully with more interesting news!
xxx

Wve arrived, in Jl Jaksa now.....yesterday was mad, had no sleep on 26th then arrived in indonesia on 27th and had fun trying to work out how much money our taxi driver was intening to charge us!!! lots of tolls but got it for bout 5 quid so not bad.
Its pouring down, but really humid. Jakarta is mad, not as bad as delhi but not much to see from what i can work out. Think were gonna head of to bogor tomorrow which is only an hour by train and gets us out of the big city.....dont know what itll be like really but weve got PLENTY of time!
till tomorrow
Loads of love

IM OFF!!!

Im off to London today to meet jen and stay at ro's house.....had a really fab family gathering last night(in my honour!), and my grandad bob cooked me a fab breakfast this morning-bloody brilliant send off-jolly good grub!
Just got a call from Jen saying that chesterfield train station has been flooded so her trains been cancelled.....horrah!.....so shes hotfooting it over to derby now. All sould be well though, it means less waiting around in london.
Its really funny cos i have felt so chilled the last couple of days, but i know that when me and jen see each other its really gonna kick in!
So my next post will be from Jakarta, Indonesia....!!
Salamat Jalan!
xxx

2 days to go

Just arrived down in Whitstable after a day of travelling. Ended up betting on the right train at the wrong time (from birmingham to london euston) and nearlly had to pay £50 extra- gotta love the logic of public transport- so hopped off at Coventry and waited 15mins for the train i was SUPPOST to be on. fun and frollocks. Its been a mad day-didnt finish working til yesterday so its all gone really fast and suddenly found myself packing all my stuff for indonesia this morning and saying all my goodbyes (FOR 3 MONTHS!). It was a nice send off though...really gonna miss the buxton peeps.
So im frantically burning piles of CD's onto my new Zen Creativ (finally took some good MP3 advice from ro and gave up on Ipods!).
Really looking forward to catching up with ro and jen on monday, should be a really lovely send off with my two favourite people....cant remember the last time we were all together-been a while! So tomorrow is going to be a rush to pack my indonesia stuff, pack remaining other stuff into boxes to go back to buxton, and finish off a couple of canvases ready for exhibition in October! Lots to do and time is going realllllllyy fast! Getting excited now-feels good to know weve got 'nice (?)' accomodation in Jakarta.
xxx

9 days to go!

Its now less then 9 days until me and jen head off to the airport to start our 3 month trip to Indonesia. Ive reached the stage today where im getting seriously excited-it keeps on coming in waves and i have to have a good jump around to get it out of my system! Its really strange cos it seems like its been a long time in planning and waiting, but we only had the idea after i came back from India at the end of February. 3months of seriously hard graft and organising and were nearly there!
The apprehension is still there, and i think jen is feeling the same too, but its not in how much that needs doing anymore-both our visas have now arrived-its more the fact that it is actually happening! Madness.....Indonesian visas have to be one of the most complicated visas to get, the amount of organisation it took was hilarious, and dont get me started on the fun we had sorting out flights!
I cant think of anything else that i need to do now, other then work til friday and fit in as much babysitting as possible! Today I bought £100 worth of Dollar travellers cheques and changed £100 to U.Sdollars, Ive just got to pay Jen what i owe her (AGH MONEY!), and put £800 into my Nationwide account....(set up a bank account with them cos they dont charge you to take out money abroad unlike HSBC!wasted about £30 with that in India).
Because Jens finished working now she went off to CCC's in Sheffield on her own and picked up some stuff that we needed (sleepingbag liner, mozzies net and deet spray), she gets a big discount there cos she works in the company....which is fab news!
Im still stressed about money, ive got about £450 of my own to take (its mad how much money goes into visas, travelinsurance, equipment etc) and will have to borrow the rest (approx £600) that i need from mum and jon....but they seem very cool about that and i can easily pay them back within a month working when i get home. Jens got about £3000 in her bank account (!) but then she's been given more hours, on better pay, and for double the amount of time!
My little shock of finding out i have shingles, is waring off now- its not too bad, just got 3 patches on my back that can get a bit sore and itchy. Ive been prescribed antivirals so are having them AND homeopathy, so should be sorted soon....with a bit of luck! Its gonna be sore carrying my backpack though.
So as you can see ive given up on trying to find witty things to say on this blog- my brain is completely full of indonesia at the mo- so its turning into a bit of a diary! Waffle Waffle Waffle.

SHINGLES!

yep....ive been diagnosed, by a really creepy doctor who i wasnt too happy at showing my back to!
(socks and jesus sandles-need i say more?)
So ive got shingles, thankfully not too bad, only a smallish couple of patches on the left side of my back, got an emergency appointment with the doc today who prescribed me horrible antibiotics (which i have chucked) and have just been to my homeopath who has given me some little sugar pills (i know what i would rather take!)....only 12 days til i fly but should be sorted by then.
In more positive news, had a nice weekend camping with the folks, really lovely weather, and only slightly marred by a disasterous nights sleep on a blow up mattress that decided to deflate slowly through out the night. nice to spend some time with the girlies before indonesia.
Ive now got the pain in the neck decision whether to take antimalarials in indonesia- th eones that ive got are antibiotics as well, and i hate taking anything like that. (less then 60% effective and mask the first signs of malaria anyway.....) Lots of serious decisions to make. Ugh.
So been a mad day of docs and health worries but hopefully all okay-at least i got travel insurance last week!

Patience is a virtue

Having only intended to come up north for 5 days, for a quick visit with the folkies and pick up stuff for indonesia (still in the middle of my floor from india!), im still here. Got stuck by the green. I was suppost to be travelling down south today but then i thought im not going to see my sisters or parents for 3 1/2 months- called up an old aquaintance who i had worked for when i was 16 on the off chance that she had any work available-which she did. Had my first day yesterday- its an ironmongery business in macclesfield- which was a nice change from making endless latte's and paninis! Hard work but i should make about £450-500 in the next 2 weeks (+babysitting) which is a great boost to the indonesia finances...
So im enjoying my first weekend off in ages, finally getting somewhere with my visa application form (which IS going to be sent off today), set up a Nationwide account (no charges for taking money out abroad!horrah!), and am sitting writing this with a blue plastic bag oer my head from henna-ing my hair-very fetching!
So all is well, things are getting done, money is being made, and my lists of endless things to do are getting small. All is well with the world.
xxx