and sometimes, there's waffles

Here, have an orchid:

Lucky I'm not Jedi then, ain't it?

The good news is that I now have Indian and Burmese visas in my grubby little paws passport. YEY.

I mean, look at this place!



But. Dammit, Bangladesh. Why you make things so haaaaard? OK, in fairness, flying in and getting a visa on arrival isn't hard but I don't wanna! (Plus, it would involve flying clear OVER the country, just to turn around and fly into the capital, meh.)

Lingering doubts as to the veracity of the guidebooks' claims that Agartala issues same-day tourist visas means I've been trying to get hold of decent, recent info. Thorn Tree forum: nope... India Mike forum: nope... using a Bradt author contact to get hold of the author of the Bangladesh guidebook to ask him: nope... calling the bloody high commission myself: no answer...

Then I found two guys with recent activity on Couchsurfing who live in Agartala. I asked them if they would mind calling/going down in person to ask. They both said they would, yey. (Do I get bonus sleuthing points for this method?)

Naturally both came back with different answers but neither bore good news; either it's a 3 day wait, minimum, or tourist visas are not issued to non-Indians at all. Balls.

So, the only remaining chance to keep the trip as true to overlanding as possible - something I very much want to do - is to try the embassy in Bangkok. Unfortunately, this means hanging back in Bangkok for an extra day (arriving over a weekend is not ideal for embassy shenanigans, would you believe) but hey, taking a 60min flight to Sukhothai won't count as cheating and will largely make the time up.

If Melbourne would be so kind as to be consistently in the warm to hot range for the next month, it would really help with my pre-acclimatisation.

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Somehow it's been nearly nearly 3 years since I moved here. This means it's almost time to put in for permanent residency, woot! Not overly worried but it's more visa issues of a different nature. And still a stack of paperwork, second time round. Ought to be granted around August or maybe January? Come on, DIBP!

I'm plotting a trip - aren't I always? - and I think this one might actually happen. Man, I've not been somewhere crazy where no-one speaks English for faaar too long.




Thailand to Bangladesh overland. Via Burma and India and three border crossings I'm not 100% sure I'll get across. Up until very recently, getting across the Burma border and then travelling beyond the immediate area was impossible, so this ought to be exciting.

- The Thai/Burma border should be fine, barring any regional fighting (yey).
- The Burma/India one has been done before, though only by a handful of people as far as I can tell. To get to the border on the Burma side, I'll need a permit (from Yangon; will take a couple of weeks to process) and will have to specify the exact date of crossing. Gah, such precise planning on the red-tape front is difficult in the middle of a trip where you need Plans A through F in place. Burma is also rather big for south east asian standards and I don't want to be caught without enough time to get across once permit is in hand. Once in India, there is the possibility of problems with bandits and separatist groups (further yey). Also, India might decide to reinstate the permit regulations it recently dropped (the same ones I had to get for this trip), since Manipur has (did have?) the dubious honour of being the most dangerous state in the country.
- Then there's India/Bangladesh which will be a breeze as long as I get the visa itself, something I'm planning to do at the office in Agartala, India Bangkok. No point getting it until I'm across the previous two borders. Bangladesh visas are a total pain in the backside (see above link again) but I think Agartala Bangkok offers the best chance other than getting a visa on arrival at the airport (boring!).
- Finally, there's Bangladesh which apparently has some unrest of its own. Will be avoiding the CHT (Chittagong Hill Tracts) this time, instead heading to the tea growing areas of the north-east to escape the heat.

So. Adventure. Possibly can has, just as soon as bossman approves my time off. THUNDERBIRDS ARE GOOOOOOO!

In an attempt to avoid high-season in Burma as well as the start of the monsoon, it'll be March and a bit of February. Will be very hot.

Least I'll not be driving this time, eh? Though I kinda wish I was...

- Patagonia
- Antarctica
- Darling River Run
- Iran
- Central Asia
- Kamchatka
- Bali to East Timor
- Ethiopia and Somaliland
- Tibet and Mongolia
- China
- Indochina
- Afghanistan, Wakhan Corridor
- something in the Sahara - Chad or Niger or south Algeria

To obtain a year-long working holiday visa for Australia, I needed to be out of Aus itself. The application and the decision process is not a long one, but due to my recent international exploits, I wasn't sure what they would need to check up on, medically or otherwise. So, a month was decided as a safe window. Australia is rather a long way from almost everywhere, except New Zealand, which is not at its best in winter. Next closest place, in terms of ease and cost, is Indonesia. A month there in June didn't exactly seem like a hardship!


sunset, Togean Islands, Sulawesi


So, thank you Sulawesi, for the friendly welcome and advice, the entertainment, the "baby grapes", the turquoise waters and the copious amounts of rice and fish with sambal.

And thank you Australia for allowing me to stay and work (albeit casually) for the next year!

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Heading to the Rio Sambadrome in 15 mins. There are millions of people all flowing down the streets towards the runway and if I don't lose one of my 20 new possums in the chaos, I'll eat my bright purple wig. But...

CARNIVAL BABY. Biggest party on Earth. Awwwwww yeah!

* heads up: the content of some comments will definitely put you off your dinner!

A snake and some palm grubs (amusingly, called suri locally, which just makes me think of the Cruise spawn) and then a cute puppy.

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And not at all icky:


The best way to take a puppy on a waterfall scramble in the Amazon. So cute!

Michelle! The expression on this guys face cracks me up.