Asia Fantasia! Part 2 - Sumatra, Indonesia.

Even Winnie The Pooh likes Indonesia!

Our flight from KL to Padang, Indonesia was short and simple; in just less than an hour and we touched down in another new country.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said of Indonesia's immigration service which was slow and boring! We filled out the obligatory entry card and parted with $25.00 each for the stamp on our passports before queuing patiently at passport control.
It seemed odd, in a good way, to be the only westerners in the airport, but I did wonder why. I exchanged a few Dollars for Indonesian Rupiah in the terminal and inquired as to the simplest way into town before running the gauntlet outside the airport doors; where we were met with the usual throng of taxi and minibus drivers, not as manic or insistent as some parts of Asia though which was nice. And as we had already taken the advice of the nice lady inside it was just a matter of locating which bus to board for Padang  Town Centre (40,000IR each, about £3.30). They don't like travelling with a half full bus though and we waited a little over an hour for another incoming flight before getting underway. It's no big deal though, you get used to the easier pace of life in Asia and just go with the flow. A few minutes after sitting on the bus we were approached by a couple of giggling girls and fielded all the usual questions about where we were from, where we were going and where we had been, before they asked if we would mind having our photographs taken with them. "Sure, why not!" we laughed; and posed away while they snapped away! I wondered if they thought we were footballers or something? Or perhaps they had been reading my blog! Hahaha.

Asia Fantasia! Part 1 - Kuala Lumpur and beyond.

Glug, Glug, Glug.

Dan (my son) and I had enjoyed a really amazing trip to South East Asia at the beginning of the year taking in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia over a six week period. We experienced some amazing stuff (and not just culturally I can assure you! The partying was pretty outstanding, very much helped by some of the great friends we made along the way) including Halong Bay, The Cu Chi Tunnels, The Golden Standing Buddha, Toul Sleng Museum and The Killing Fields, The Temples of Angkor Wat; the list goes on and on really. Not to mention the Khao San Road (backpacker hub of the universe); The Songkran festival (and the partying that goes with it) in Sihanoukville, Cambodia and Koh Chang, Thailand, oh and the Scuba Diving too; along with attending the traditional Thai wedding of my dear friends Stumpy & Kitty which was truly a beautiful celebration and a memory I will cherish forever. I doubt I will ever top that trip; as much for what we experienced, but also the fact that I got to do it with Dan; that was very special for me. After getting home it took us both a while to get back to reality and we both moped around for a good few weeks until we gradually resumed normality.
I still had some annual holiday outstanding that would allow me to take another trip for twenty days and I decided to book a flight to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur (KL) and take it from there. As it turned out the best flights where to and from KL so I booked myself a seat with Emirates for the 27th of September flying out of Birmingham and returning on the 16th of October.

UK Bikers sign here! E-petition for increased access.

I saw this on someones Facebook page and nicked it because I like it! :)

This has been highlighted in this months Mountain Bike Rider Magazine and I think it's worth signing! A guy called Rob Sutherland created it and it requires 100,000 signatures for it to be debated in parliament, so please get signing! :) I reckon there are enough mountain bikers in the UK to make this possible.
Click on the link below to go straight to it.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/3508

Increased Access for Mountain Bikes

Responsible department: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Designating mountain bikes in the same category as horses is wrong and provides a barrier to the lawful pursuit of a healthy past-time. In many parts of the country there simply is not a legal network of trails open to cyclists, or too little to be meaningful. Cyclists should be allowed to use the footpath network to pursue the sport of mountain biking, this would help to promote activity amongst young people, especially as the roads become increasingly congested. Shared use of all paths and trails has been successful in Scotland and could be throughout the rest of the UK. It will spread the density of mountain bikers further reducing the potential for trail conflict and the (disputed) erosive impact of bikes on the trail surfaces. There are no costs involved (we don't need special gates or access) this is just a re designation exercise to make a bicycle an extension of a pedestrian on the footpath network (with the exception of roadside footways).

Lots of photo's on Facebook!

Hi Everyone
I have uploaded a selection of photo's from our South East Asia trip on to the CTR page on Facebook, feel free to check them out and don't forget to "Like" the page if you... err... like it! :D Plus lots of other images on there from our other nonsense!
Click here for the images!
I've added a few on to the end of this post to give you a little taster :)
Lot's of regular updates on what we are up to on there too.

Don't forget we also update regularly on Twitter too, just click on the link on at the side of the main page or in the top right corner.
And feel free to sponsor the good causes we are supporting with The Himalaya Quest!

Pantai Tengah, Langkawi, Malaysia.

Danny & me posing with the smoking volcano that we weren't allowed to go up!

Return of the Langkawi Beach Bums.

Hi folks.
You'll be pleased to know that Danny and I have arrived home unscathed from our South East Asia trip; and with a few escapades under our belt and a few stories to tell too :) I'll try and blog something later this week when I recover from the jet-lag. Door to door it's taken us 26 hours to get home from Langkawi Island, Malaysia and we are knackered! Plenty of cool photo's to share with you all if nothing else.



I also forgot to mention, before we went away, that I have now posted an introductory blog-post to the OceanRidge website. Please feel free to check it out here http://www.oceanridge.co.uk
Thanks to Chris and Euan for the opportunity to spread the word.


On the good news front Dan Thompson has confirmed his offer to supply us with Rab Jackets and Sleeping bags for the Himalaya Quest which will save us a lot of money each and means we can concentrate on other stuff. Thanks Dan :)


Please try and sponsor our worthwhile causes for The Himalaya Quest if can afford to. Just £1, $1 etc from every reader will make a huge difference to kids that are supported by Rainbows and Whizz Kidz.
And remember that you can follow our regular updates on facebook and twitter if you want to.