Daredevils

Back in October 2017, whilst attending a wedding of a best friend on the island of Bali, history was in the making. The active volcano Mt Augung was ready to erupt for the first time since 1963. The island had been on lock down for around 3 days after the first warning and then followed by the airport closing. Many travellers on the island were looking for alternate routes to leave. It was a strange feeling because none of the locals were not that bothered to be honest. Everyday life continued for the local Balinese as if it was an occasion that happened once a month! For the tourists on the island i could sense a little fear amongst everyone as facebook messages were appearing on the groups and Chinese whispers were floating around. A few of us discussed the options, whether to take a train up to Java, wait at the airport for a flight to neighbouring Thailand or Singapore, or to buy supplies and sit tight. There was a real worry of when the volcano would erupt that the ash would blanket the island and we would have to be locked indoors for a considerable amount of time.

I decided to buy supplies, sit tight and pull out the backgammon and guitar. At the same time and i’m not sure why, but i had the wonderful idea of jumping on the scooter and riding 3 hours north up to the volcano!! A fellow traveller Jorge (@jorge_m_m) from Merida in Spain, who needed a little convincing, decided that it would be a perfect time to get some quality travelling snaps!!

So we decided to go ahead with the great idea of leaving at 2am in the pouring rain with our rain coats on, hopping on the scooters and starting our ascend up the mountain to Mt Augung. We were heavily advised to stay away from the volcano as the eruption was imminent and we could be in grave danger! But what the heck we trundled our way up there at 35mph in the pissing down rain with our cameras and bottles of water stowed away in the scooter.

We had no idea where we were going really, as google maps wasn’t working properly and the streets of Bali are all very similar looking with limited signage. With a little bit of help from the gods and a little sense of direction we were on the right track, climbing in altitude and eyes that started to burn and sting!! This was the first real exciting part as we had to pull over and apply our gas masks and sunglasses!! You could really feel the change in the air as we got closer. My eyes began to stream and become filled with grit. There was a change in the air  temperature too. It became very clammy and humid but was also quite chilly as we gained altitude heading to our view point.

Around 04.00am and 15 km’s from our stopping point, the sun was beginning to rise and the ride was becoming a little easier with natural light in our favour. Several cars had passed us with the same intention as Jorge and I, showing their madness too by beeping their horns. We passed through a couple of check points and 40 minutes later we had reached our destination and we were greeted with an incredible view of nature taking its cause!! Mt Augung was 50 Kms in the distance and was sure letting everyone know who is the boss!!

So we parked the bikes quickly, had a quick chat with some locals who kept us warm with some tea and biscuits and proceeded to snap away at the Volcano waiting in anticipation of any signs of eruption. We were blessed by some of the locals for making the journey up there, but who had actually gone against the government advice and decided not to evacuate the surrounding area.

To see nature speaking to us and letting us know who is boss was quite simply amazing and to be there in the flesh. Albeit the weather was not on our side in the morning of our adventure, nevertheless the ride and the build up of adrenaline was ace. We stayed up there for around 2.5 hours waiting for any signs of an eruption but she continued to just bellow out smoke and ash like she was just teasing us!! So we supped another couple of teas, took a few more photos and started the long journey back. It was well worth it anyway!!!

Stop or continue

Being on the road permanently can test you in many ways. It can test your strength, your mental awareness. your trustworthiness, your passion. These tests are sent to us to make us improve in many ways. Thats the great thing about travelling you don’t even realise that all this is happening to you whilst you are trying to find accommodation for the night or emailing your CV somewhere!! It brings out traits within you that you never knew you had. It opens many doors for you that would never have been opened if you had never packed in the 9-5 Monday to Friday grind!!!

Sometimes on the road it can become quite frustrating and a few hurdles need to be jumped in order to move on. For example like applying for Visas, language barriers, being ripped off by the locals and so on. But after a little bit of time and becoming an observer you soon start to see how the mechanics of a country work and get a feel for the pace for the place you are in. For example, living in the Caribbean, do not expect to get anything done quickly. Everything is completed on ‘Island time’. The West Indies is a fascinating part of the world and lives by its own rules. The locals prefer to have another rum over there, rather than deliver your produce on time and make a few extra EC dollars!! Its just time like these when you just shrug your shoulders and say ‘Wag Wan’!!

Sailing the world, avoiding the pirates!

Whilst spending time at sea you are able to see a different aspect of nature. Some of the marine life that comes to say hello is mind blowing. The sunrise and sunsets can be breath taking at the same time. Photography on the other hand is something i’ve never really had a big interest in to be honest. I have always been the tourist type, taking pictures of landmarks etc. But one morning somewhere in the middle of the Indian ocean i decided to snap a beautiful sunrise whilst my bread was baking in the oven. The photograph below is taken with my iphone 6 looking through a pair of binoculars. It was just perfect timing that a flying fish lept out of the water and began its 100m journey skimming across the top of the ocean. I was actually quite impressed with the timing and the photo!! There is no filter used in this photo just great timing!!

The last voyage i took on board a vessel was sailing back from the Maldives to Valencia in Spain. This consisted of 28 days at sea consecutively without touching land and sailing through the pirate waters of Northern Somalia. We then navigated up the Red sea passing Djibouti on our left and Saudi Arabia on our right. We continued up the Red sea to our next anchoring point which was the entrance to the Suez canal. Luckily we had  3 former special service soldiers with us, equipped with their high powered rifles. On TV documentaries about piracy they often talk about Dows and skiffs. Well on the first photo below thats exactly what it is. The larger boat is the fishing dow, used by fishermen, which is pulling the skiff. This skiff is the boat the pirates use to approach the vessel they wish to hijack. For around 8 days as we were sailing through the high risk area of northern Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan, we were on high alert as there were many skiffs ferrying drugs and people smuggling to Saudi Arabia too not just the pirates lingering around in the back ground!!

As an adrenaline junkie this part of the trip was exciting for me as it was happening right in front of my eyes. Its what you see on TV but was actually happening right there and then. Whilst sailing through the high risk area, i was being entertained by the countless stories of the 3 ex special forces soldiers who were on board. The tours they have participated in for the UK, the close combat with pirates on other voyages and the training they have had to endure in the past. I cant mention their names but Soldier A,B,C kept us safe throughout the whole voyage and entertained with their banter!!

Being at sea can take its toll too, we call this cabin fever. Being surrounded by the same crew members for long periods of time can become draining. So its imperative to keep yourself busy, make sure your banter is good and learn how to bite your tongue! For the chef i find this quite easy because you are always in the galley preparing food and are able to experiment but as long as the crew are fed on time that makes for a happy boat. Happy crew, happy boat!!

I find life at sea, the galley is a focal point of the boat. All crew members like to come and have a chit chat in the galley whilst making their morning tea and pestering the chef to see what is for breakfast!! A good choice of music in the galley is imperative throughout the day as music can lift a crew members mood almost immediately. In the morning i like to play some light jazz and blues. A nice album by BB king would suffice. It starts the day off in a mellow kind of way. You really wouldn’t want to blast out some Metallica at 7am whilst all the crew are waking up, put it that way!! The photo above is of one of the armed forces preparing some protein bars for the crew. Throughout the voyage the 3 armed personnel (chancers!!) would drop subliminal messages on a daily basis as to what they like to eat!! It was kind of a little helping hand to be honest because when you are cooking 3 different dishes a day, for 28 days, you kind of run out of things to cook plus having the added pressure of the produce running low!! But after a few days i let one of the chancers into the galley to prepare some protein bars for the crew. It was a lovely gesture actually and it gave me a little breather to spend some time on deck. The 3 chancers would often help out with washing the dishes throughout the voyage and keeping the coffee flowing too.

I don’t really know what to say about this crew member to be honest but what i will say is, spending a long time at sea can really play with your mind!! #goodbanter!!!

One of the best moments of embarking on a long voyage is the time to yourself to reflect on things in the past and also to catch some bloody lovely fish the ocean has to offer!! The photo on the left was a 30lbs tuna we caught which i turned into some sushi, sashimi and tuna steaks. The other photo above is of a beautiful mahi mahi which was rested, filleted and then thrown on the BBQ!! It tasted amazing!!

Believe it or not that is the stove top level and the boat is on a port tack. Just some of the hurdles the chef has to jump over whilst at sea trying to feed 11 hungry mouths, 3 times a day!! Hahahaha

On the Roads of Mystic India

The almighty India is a very special place for me in many different ways. The diversity of the country, the inspiration it gives me for food and travelling, the chaotic cities and the spiritual aspect all hit you hard as a traveller. The country as a whole can be very testing of ones patience but as your time spent in India progresses you start to love the place with even more gratitude and start to realise of actually how lucky the western world is. The caste system is something i really struggled with to get my head around first. There is still a huge gap within India but in a weird way you start to understand it whilst spending more and more time there. 

The photo above was my first trip to India in 2011 and it was to partake in a crazy race with a tuk tuk. It was a charity fundraising event with 74 teams involved. I cant really remember the total monies raised but i believe it was around 60k euros. The money was raised for a charity called ‘The Frank Water Projects’. They oversee the purification of water for the remote areas of India so they have access to clean drinkable water. The process is called reverse osmosis and it was truly magical to have helped in some way for this process to continue happening.

The trip started in the easterly city of Shillong and finished in the desert of Jaisalmer. It wasn’t really about winning the race said the organiser at the start, it was more about surviving!! But 4000 kms and 15 days later we had completed the challenge unscathed. We took our time though stopping off in some incredible places like bodh gaya, the Taj Mahal, and surviving the bandits from the state of Bihar. We actually took a couple of days off from our 12 hour, 30mph rickety days and chilled out in the city of Pushkar. 

One of the highlights of the trip was actually after the race had finished and we had given back our tuk tuk. We set off to the state of Punjab and to the city of Amritsar to see the changing of the guards and the closure of the border between Pakistan and India. This is where i met some fellow travellers who had informed me that the Dalai Lama was cutting short his world tour to return to his home of Macleod Ganj. This was because a 22 year old Taiwanese Monk had committed suicide in protest to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The Dalai Lama was going to be in his residence for the next 3 days giving readings!! So we hopped on a night bus, headed north to the himalayas in search of one of the most inspirational individuals on this planet. As we arrived there was a procession of monks walking around the temple in a clockwise direction each holding a candle. We did a little asking around for information of what was happening for the next 3 days and what we had to do to enter the temple. The following day we were presented with a time table for the readings from the Dalai Lama. We rented our headphones for 60 rupees and entered the temple with just a pen and paper. The Dalai Lama spoke in Cantonese (i think) which was then translated to a dialect of Taiwanese and then after translated into English, hence the reason for the headphones. It was a very surreal time spending 3 days, being 4 metres away from the Dalai Lama in his home. I had to pinch myself a few times to think, am i really here!!!   The almighty India. We started the journey over the other side of Bangladesh!!

Travel Guides

As a traveller, for so many years and the experiences i have encountered, the places i’ve visited, the people i have met, the food i have tasted and the things that i have learned. I feel now is the time for me to give it all back and spread it everywhere. I believe its my dharma in life to help people in anyway i can. It gives me so much satisfaction in life, if everyday i can put a smile on someones face, may it be through food, advice, laughter or kindness it really does make my day!!! Sometimes being on the road it has its ups and downs, but we must always remember that there is somebody else on this planet worse off than you at that particular time. So keeping positive all the time is a big key to carry on moving forward. A quote by Einstein – life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep moving forward.

OK….. so being on the road and having confidence, one way to meet fellow travellers is participating in 2 of my favourite things. Drinking coffee and playing backgammon. There is discrepancy as to which is the oldest game in the world, backgammon originating from modern day Iraq, formerly called Mesopotamia around 5000 years ago or the ancient Chinese game of GO. The photo above is of Jamaican Blue mountain coffee. In my opinion its the best coffee in the world. The flavour is so strong and powerful that you can really notice the difference between for example an East African coffee or an Italian blend. I think backgammon and coffee are a great combo to kill a few hours whilst you’re waiting for your bus, train or simply taking in the atmosphere of a new city.

I love meeting fellow travellers and hearing their stories about their encounters. It makes me want to share mine too. I believe you can learn something new everyday by communicating with a complete stranger but just having the ability to listen and open up. Its a great way to socialise over a coffee and a game of backgammon!!!