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TRAVEL
Around
the World in 12 Issues
9. ISLANDS
March
2003 - Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia
 Hello.
After a longer pause than usual here is this issue of
JAB. Our recent travels have reminded us that travelling
and working are not always compatible; we've either been
without power sockets to plug in Mr Benn (the name for
our laptop) or Internet access has been a boat and bus
ride away from our accommodation.
The
closed Thai-Cambodian border led us to change our plans
and head south to Ko Samui. Staying in a quiet part of
the island, Mae Nam, we loafed about on the beach and
hared around on a moped. I haven't been on a bike for
years: the first and last time I was on two wheels, in
Ibiza, I crashed into a stationary milk float within seconds
of mounting the bike and later nearly broke both wrists
after going over the handlebars.
Older
and wiser the bike rides were more successful this time
and we made it around the island unscathed apart from
an unintentional wheelie flinging Dee onto the floor and
the bike into the air, and a brief but interesting excursion
up a one way street ("These people are very friendly,
look they're waving at us.")
 After
two weeks of sun, sand and shifty salesmen we moved on
to welcoming and hassle free Malaysia, to Penang. In that
culturally diverse city we did the tourist thing before
crossing to Sumatra.
First
stop Bukit Lewang, famous for orangutans, magic mushrooms
and tubing down the river. All great fun. Lewang should
be the sort of place that is tucked up in bed by 8pm but
this one horse town is livelier than some capital cities.
Pulau Samosir, positioned in a lake formed by a collapsed
volcano, is a more sedate place with nothing much to do
but sit, stare, swim and chat to cat eating descendants
of cannibal converts to Christianity. The stores are staffed
by six year old children and you can hail boats like taxis.
We
are presently back in Malaysia, in Malacca, trying to
finish JAB before heading to Singapore tomorrow. Taking
advantage of some of the sleepy places we've been at in
the last five or six weeks we've put some photographs
of our trip online and have finally completed a new issue
of The Working Traveller. This issue of JAB is also accompanied
by a repeat of the Travel Security Supplement from last
year. The next issue of JAB hopefully will be sent to
you in a couple of weeks as I want to get it out of the
way before (if) we head to Cambodia and we don't intend
to go with Mr Benn.
Lastly,
apologies if you've got in touch with us and we haven't
got back to you. Our email backlog has got completely
out of hand and I don't expect to catch up until we get
home in a few months.
>>
Next >> 10. Cheesecake & Whiskey
1.
First Issue / 2.
Inca Trial / 3.
Lake Titicaca / 4.
The Border / 5.
Leaving LA
6. Flush
& Queue / 7.
Christmas Dinner & Bombs in Bali / 8.
Thieving Monkey
9.
Islands / 10.
Cheesecake & Whiskey / 11.
Another New Year
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