Day 693: A Red Background
24.11.10: Today’s adventures centre around my efforts to get a new Indonesian visa. Indonesia, being a bit of an awkward sod, only allows you to
Day 694: El Presidente
25.11.10: So what do you know about East Timor? Not much? Good. You must be British. Or American. Aussies will have heard of the place
Day 695: Gadzooks!
26.11.10 When I’m done with all this, I plan to turn The Odyssey Expedition into a board game. The ‘Chance’ and ‘Community Chest’ cards are
Day 696: Yes I Awoke
27.11.10: But only because Dan woke me up. Groggy and sleep deprived I clambered onto the minibus that would be speeding me back to Kupang.
Day 697: The Game Is Afoot!
28.11.10: Is The Odyssey possible? It’s been a question that has been bugging me for some time. Okay, I’ve made it this far, on the
Day 698: The Ende of All Things
29.11.10: So the ferry pulled into Larantuka port nice and early, around 7am. Now I just had the small matter of the entirety of Flores
Day 699: The Ruteng Clan
30.11.10: After dragging myself out of bed at 6.30am, I wasn’t too chuffed when I was told that the minibus to the next waypoint, Ruteng,
Day 700: The Shape of Things To Come
01.12.10: Seven HUNDRED days on the road!! Bloomin’ eck. The boat to Sumbawa didn’t leave until 10am, so I kicked myself for not having a
Days 701-703: Raiders Of The Lost Hat
02.12.10-04.12.10: At 3am the bus stopped so we could get something to eat. Obeying my circadian rhythms, I stayed on the bus and slept. At
Days 704-706: The Power and The Pelni
05.12.10-07.12.10: Noah had nothing on this. All life is here – spread out all over the floor. Picnics, knick-knacks, porridge, rice and tic-tacs. Families, feuds,
Days 707-712: Fuzzy Logic
08.12.10-13.12.10: The ship came into the sleepy port town of Sorong in West Papua pretty much on time, which made me happy. At the port
Days 713-714: The Floating Menagerie
14.12.10-15.12.10: Crikey! This ship is even worse than the last one. At least on board the last on I had a bed. Here it’s every
Days 715-721: My Papua Visa Hell
16.12.10-22.12.10: You know, when I stepped out of the Vietnamese Consulate back in September I honestly thought that my days of being trapped like a
Day 722: He Got Made, He Got Wewak’d
23.12.10: Up early as Jan wanted to get to the border the moment it opened. Mike and Harald had left in the wee small hours,
Day 723: Fairytale of New Guinea
24.12.10: Amazingly, the ferry boat arrived at Wewak early: by 4am, we were less than a mile from the port. I stood out on deck:
Day 724: Special Delivery
Xmas Day 2010: After a couple of hours kip I was up an’ at ’em, ready to TAKE ON THE WORLD!!! My only problem was
THE ODYSSEY: Review of 2010
January 2010 I started the year in fine fettle. Having met Mandy at the pyramids in Egypt for midnight on New Year’s Eve we spent