Thailand to Indonesia (Java)

Hello again, I hope your cobblers are nice and toasty. When I left of I was in Pai, north of Thailand. I changed my travel plans slightly, rather than going to NZ from Bangkok I decided that I wanted to see a bit of Indonesia so had booked some cheap Air Asia flights from Bangkok to Bali. My next flight was to NZ from Bangkok, so I'd have to come back to Thailand after Indonesia. On the way down to Bangkok I stopped off at Sukhothai, one of the old capitals, and spent a pleasant day cycling around the temple ruins.
I'd met someone who was travelling down to one of the islands in the south of Thailand, so I decided to go along, as I wanted to check out Ko Pha Ngan anyway. It was a long journey, and I ended up only getting 4 days on the island. A relatively expensive place, maybe it wasn't worth it for such a small time. I did stay on Hat Rin though, which is the most touristy part. I spent most of the mornings walking up in the jungle behind the resort. Some nice views, and I followed trails that led to other beaches, including Leela beach, my favourite.

I saw a bit of wildlife too. And not just at the Black Moon party.
Next stop was Bali, via a not very interesting plane journey to Bangkok. Waiting 8 hours in an airport sucks! I decided to avoid Kuta at first, the beach resort on the south of Bali, as I'd heard only bad things about it. I had one night in Denpasar, the island capital, which was interesting as there were no tourists there at all. I managed to order food with the help of a local man (Nasi Goreng - fried rice). After that I went on the computer and wrote down a lot of Indonesian language that I thought would be useful. Going to Indonesia was a random decision and I hadn't planned at all, no guidebook, nothing. I soon found out there was quite a few vege meals, probably my favourite was Gado Gado, mixed vegetable with peanut sauce. I only had 2 and a half weeks so I did a lot of travelling there. Unfortunately I arrived in Februrary, the rainiest month, which is the worst month for going to the Komodo National park. So I had to come up with a different plan.

First I took an overnight bus to Yogjakarta as I wanted to check out Borobudur. It was okay for a day trip, the fun thing to do is to look in the giant stone bells on the top, and try to touch the Buddha statues inside (apparently for good luck - what else?).

The city was Yogjakarta was quite cool, there is a palace surrounded by a walled village area, and an interesting market street. I headed back to Bali via Mount Bromo national park. I only saw a small area of the park. From the village of Cemaro Lawang I got taken up in a jeep at 3am up to the viewing platform to see the sunrise over the volcanoes.
Then we did a short hike up to the Bromo crater rim.
Another "with hindsight". I'd booked a bus to Cemaro Lawang as part of a tour. I met some people on the bus to Bali who had just turned up and hiked up it with a local guide from the hotel, I think that would have been better, I only got the morning in Bromo and a few more days would have been nice. Of course, when I first booked the transport the agent said it was not possible to do it independently. I decided after that experience to do no more tours, in fact staying clear of touristy stuff altogether. Well I almost managed it... (Bali next time!)