After working in Kenya for almost a year I decided to spend 3.5 months traveling through Southeast Asia and Australia on my way back to the US. I kept a basic journal during that trip. So here in this post and the next post are my journal entries and the photos I took during this trip.
3/31 – Nairobi – Last hectic work day. Office lunch BBQ for me and then left for airport around 3:45 with Bob, Ina and Leslie Hannah. No more Mbogo, Nduta, Wamboi, Ngigi, Nduritu, Maingi, Jabutu, etc.
4/1 – Bombay – Arrive at 3:30AM, made it through customs at 4:30AM, after incident with yellow fever vaccination card. At airport till 6:30AM. Cab to city – homeless poverty manifest everywhere. Found hotel room. Went to Gateway to India for boat to Elephanta Island. Got departure time and went to restaurant for lousy masala omelet and great fruit drink. Elephanta Island has large temple carved out of a hill. Very impressive. They only used chisel and hammer and it took 200 years to build. Met Indian govt worker there who read my palm. It was his hobby. Fairly accurate. Nice guy – he was in Bombay for a job interview with a bank. Scored very high on his govt tests and will do well. Walked around the city, rested, had a nice, large dinner for 83 rupees and ended up in very seedy bar with bizarre Indian band. Stayed for one beer.
4/2 – Woke up late. Wandered around the hectic, bizarre city until 2pm, then took 4 hour city bus tour. Saw Prince of Wales Museum, Hanging Gardens (nearby is Towers of Silence where Farsi have their dead exposed to natural elements), Gandhi Museum (where some kids were playing with a dead rat next door), Mehru Science Center and Aquarium. Took 9:45pm flight to Hong Kong, which stopped at New Delhi. I regreted not knowing this. I would have liked to have visited Delhi.
4/3 – Arrived in Hong Kong. Took bus to Kowloon and found expensive youth hostel. Banks and Chinese Embassy were closed for 2 day (!) Easter Holiday, until Wed. Wandered around small streets and saw all sorts of goods for sale; packed with local people. Had cheap dinner and talked with some of the roommates for a while.
4/4 – Got up earl and organized China visa, China overnight ferry and trip to Macau. Took ferry to Kong Kong Island. Wandered around city and took bus up to top of Victoria Hill. Had beautiful walk around nature trail around the hill. Talked with Hong Kong resident at small park; he studied English literature in college, but worked in customer service at a bank now. Tried to sleep early but woken up by new roommates; wandered around city at 2am and ended up at Ted Lion Pub. Had a couple of pints and slept well after that.
4/5 – Went over to Ocean Park Theme park. Main aquarium was closed. Nice park; great lift over the mountain to other side of the park. Went back to pick up China visa, showered, then saw Schindler’s List. Great movie. Wandered around, had some drinks, then went to bed.
4/6 – Took 9am ferry to Macau. Wandered around, saw fort on the hill, had great seafood lunch at outdoor café and took 5pm ferry back to Kowloon. Took 9pm ferry to Canton (Guangzhou). Met Kim from Hong Kong and had a couple of expensive beers at boat bar. He was trying to do some business in China. One of my roomates was American named Glenn from New Mexico. He was going to spend 5 months in China learning the language and trying to organize a doctorate.
4/7 – Arrived in Guangzhou. Kim, Lenn and I walked over Pearl River Bridge. Glenn and I got room in youth hostel. Glenn and I walked up to beautiful Chinese school. On the way went to Qingping Market. Saw all sorts of animals in cages to be eaten. Saw live, breathing skinned rabbit. Stepped on a dead frog. Bags of dried bugs, snakes, seahorses, etc. School/gallery was beautiful. Met Tang and Su; two Chinese who worked there. Had very difficult time catching bus or taxi back to Shamian Island. Went to dinner with Tang. After dinner had “tea” at another restaurant and more food and beers. This was an official communist party restaurant. Had fun with some Chinese children at restaurant. Tang forgot his wallet and lost big face when Glenn paid the bill. He also wants us to do a favor for his English teacher – which happens to be Su. We will meet tomorrow night.
4/8 – Went to a university so Glenn can find cheap housing. Beautiful campus. Met an Australian – Cameron from Brisbane – who was on a one year scholarship to study Chinese. Students in China studied with rote learning. Good fundamentals but little creativity or problem solving ability. The food in the dorms was horrible, but Cameron only had one roommate, in Chinese dorms there are eight to a small room. The students have very little social life and high academic pressure. We all took a ferry across the river and had lunch at a McDonalds. Cameron is sick of Chinese food. Glenn and I took a cab to a rail car/ski lift which took us to top of White Cloud Mountains. No big deal – new temple being built, smoggy views of Guangzhou. Ended up getting ride down hill with army soldier and French lady and small child. Took cab back through slow, rush hour traffic. Met Tang, Su and Su’s girlfriend, also Su, for dinner. Su needed a favor – in Jan a US businessman from “Hawaii” wanted 300 rugs. Su has not heard from him since, even though he sent three faxes. Turns out businessman is from Louisiana. I ended up calling his office and leaving a message with his secretary to contact Su before April 20, or the whole deal is off. I doubt anything will happened, but all the Chinese were very happy.
4/9 – Slept in late. Went to nice park and wondered around until 2pm. Then went to train station so Glenn can get ticket to Shanghai. Train station has all the dregs of humanity and is dangerous. We could get no info and didn’t even go into the station; the train lines were huge. He ended up buying a plane ticket for tomorrow instead. We went back to island, had some food and beers, had a great conversation, then he went with me to ferry station. I took 9pm ferry back to Kowloon. Shared room with Chinese couple and young son.
4/10 – Arrived back in Kowloon, took bus to airport and hung around and read for a few hours. Arrived in Bangkok and tried to get bus to town. Didn’t work, so caught a cab with two Canadians and ended up at New Merry V Guest House on Prah A Thit Street. Wandered around and had dinner.
4/11 – Spent whole day arranging travel. Finally got plane tickets from Singapore to LA through Indonesia and Australia. Friend of Ryamini from Kenya – good travel agent – GMT Travel. She was a Thai lady who had started her own travel agency. Also paid for trek from Chang Mai and train tickets from Chang Mai to Bangkok and Bangkok to an island. Had dinner at small local Thai restaurant near travel agency and took bus back to guest house. Wandered around Potpang Streets that night to watch the shit show there.
4/12 – Hung out at guest house in morning, then took backpack to travel agent where I booked my trek. Wandered around Bangkok. Got picked up by tuk tuk driver who would take me to a couple of temples for only 10 bhat. Turns out he took me to one beautiful temple, then an expo center where he got a free gas coupon, then a second temple where he ended up leaving me. I laughed at my first rip off, then took a bus back to Main Palace, which was closed. Wandered around a huge nearby wat for a while, then took a tuk tuk back to KoSahn to take night bus to Chang Mai. Thai New Year’s was in full swing and I got soaked with water walking down the street. Dried my clothes out, along with everyone else, on the bus that night.
4/13 – Arrived in Chang Mai to discover that Rose’s Guest House didn’t know about my four day trek. They scrambled to find someone else. We all got soaked from the New Year festivities leaving the city, as everyone along the road had squirt guns or water buckets, and had a long, wet ride. Found Rose’s only paid my guide for a 3 day trek. He promised to sort the thing out later. We ended up at a small village and walked all afternoon and early evening through beautiful scenery. Arrived at a village just at dusk. I bathed and washed my clothes in a pond in the dark. Had a rice and vegetables dinner and we all crashed early.
4/14 – Within two hours of waking and eating a troop of elephants entered the village and we got on and started riding. I was on the last, and most temperamental elephant with a Japanese guy. We rode for about two hours; it was great. Ended up at a village near the river, then started 3 hour raft ride on flimsy, flat bamboo rafts through more tremendous scenery. Afterwards, walked for 2 hours to a village of the Akha tribe. Ate lunch there and hung out all afternoon. Went for a walk with Jack, from South Africa and entertained all the kids we saw. We all relaxed and enjoyed the ambience of the village and ended up staying there that night.
4/15 – Woke up after large rainstorm that night, which uncovered all the holes in the thatched roof. We had a two hour trek – accompanied by more children for part of the way – to a beautiful village on the river. After relaxing and swimming in the muddy river, Jack and I decided to stay a 4th day to solve my trek problem. I promised to meet the guide the next day and help him get his money from Rose’s guest house. He had told us that Akha was half Catholic – we saw the small wooden church on a hill above the village yesterday. They all had only come down from Burma about six years ago. We stayed at a place owned by a man nicknamed Spider. He had 2 wives in Chang Mai and one at the village. We took a nap, then took a 30 minute walk with Spider to his small fish farm. Stayed around and peacefully caught – and threw back – small fish. On the way back he couaght a spider – which looked like a tarantula – and took the fangs out and carried it back with him. We ended up roasting and eating it. It tasted like charred crabmeat. Had a nice dinner – made jokes with the family and had some horrible tasting moonshine.
4/16 – Woke up with a headache and a small case of diarrhea. Not fun to use the communal trench toilets that morning! We took it easy, walked around the village and hung out waiting for other trekker to arrive to catch a ride back to Chang Mai. Arrived in Chang Mai and found out our guide had already taken care of things with the guest house. He didn’t tell the driver, who asked me for additional 100 baht when he dropped me off. I had Rosa’s people tell him they paid the guide and should collect from him. Kind of funny overall. I took a very comfortable air conditioned night train to Bangkok.
4/17 – In Bangkok. Went to Khow Sho (?) street and had clothes washed. Bought a swim suit for under $4. Saw Thai Museum. Watched part of Dennis the Menace in air conditioned restaurant. Caught night train to Surat Thani.
4/18 – Arrived in Surat Thani and took boat to Ko Phangnan island. It was raining. Met other people in pick up truck/cab and ended up at beautiful beach only reached by a small boat ferry. Very peaceful place. Played a little volleyball and just hung out.
4/19 – Did nothing but swim, lay a bit in very hot sun and read Ken Follet novel. Got very drunk that night on Mekong with an Australian and a Brit. The Brit had shortwave radio and we listened to BBC.
4/20 – Woke up with hangover and had a late breakfast, swam for 20 minutes to clear my head and got ready to take boat back to main part of the island. Spent the evening in Thong Sala and finished my book and took 10pm boat to Swat Thani.
4/21 – Arrived in Swat Thani around 6am. Took air conditioned bus to Khao Sok Nat Park at 7am and got there around 9am. Met by Sao and taken to Beehive Inn. Beautiful series of huts. Had a nap and went for a 3 hour walk through the jungle. Beautiful lush scenery as storm clouds started coming in. Rained on way back and used poncho to cover my day pack. Spend evening reading Clear And Present Danger, talking to other backpackers and eating. Went to bed early, was very tired.
4/22 – Woke up around 9am, ate, talked, read and relaxed. Will catch 3pm bus to Phun Phin to catch night train to Malaysia. Bus actually went to Suret Thani – train didn’t leave until 2am. Walked around and bought groceries. Went to a restaurant, ate dinner and read. The lights suddenly dimmed and a guy started warming up a keyboard. Eventually different girls kept coming up and singing. There were no customers. It was very surreal. The music was lousy, so I left. Ended up reading at train station until train showed up.
4/23 – Woke up at 8am at Thai border, went through customs and caught Malaysian train which arrived at 12:30pm at Butterworth. Bought tickets to train to Kuala Lampur – which arrived late at 10:20pm ticket for 10:30 night train to Kluang – which arrived at 4:30am.
4/24 – Walked through dark early morning streets of Kluang as prayers were being called out eerily from various minarets. Had breakfast with some locals across the street from bus stop. Took 7am bus to Mersing and just caught 9am ferry to Tioman Island. Arrived at Kampung Salang at noon and went with two Brits named Ian and Simon. Found a place, sorted out diving info for tomorrow, then had a long lunch. They were both traveling independently for along time and joined up a few weeks ago. Smashed my toe before dinner – felt like I may have broken it – time will tell. Met some Malaysians who just caught some fish and they invited us for a fantastic fresh fish dinner. Even watched them plop down a couple of eyeballs.
4/25 – Made two dives. First one was nice, the second one was fantastic – dove through caves and narrow canyons. Tons of beautiful fish and coral. Like swimming in an aquarium. Had dinner and went to bed early – was very tired.
4/26 – Two more dives. First one I had a leak in my BC and had a somewhat short dive. The visibility was poor anyways, there was a rainstorm that morning. The second dive was beautiful. I borrowed a divemaster’s BC, but my air was not on all the way and near the end of the dive I had to surface with my buddy’s octopus. Was a great experience in a non-threatening environment. Had dinner at a cheap place with great fresh seafood and crashed around midnight.
4/27 – Caught 7am boat to Mersing and then noon bus to Singapore. Arrived in Singapore around 5pm. Wandered around and finally found a dumpy hostel for $4 per night. Went out with Ian and explored the one block of the night district – mostly sexily clad transvestites with deep voices. Was pretty humorous. We had a beer in an outdoor café – beer is expensive here also – then wandered back to the hostel.
4/28 – Changed hostels after a fitful night’s sleep to Peoni Mansion. I went to Qantas and changed my flight dates. Went to meet Ian and Simon at a large book store, but they didn’t make it. Went around to Raffles Hotel then to a small, but nice aquarium. Finally bought some books and went back to hotel where I saw two Nigerians get handcuffed and put in unmarked cars. Apparently they had pulled some kind of credit card scam. Ran into Simon and Ian later on. Saw a British play about people watching England vs Germany in Majorca during Italian world cup. Was pretty funny.
4/29 – Went to the zoo. Small, but very pretty. Polar bears, lions, hippos, Komodo dragons, rhinos, giraffes, monkey island, etc. Rained off and on. Made it back in time to go to a classical concert. Scandinavian conductor. Program included Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Very nice. On way back went to Raffles Center Shopping Plaza in the Westin Hotel complex across from the real Raffles and had a Singapore Sling. Was overpriced and too fruity.
4/30 – Went to STA Travel, but couldn’t get cheap Oz airfares. Ended up seeing movie And the Band Played On. Ate lunch in surprisingly expensive noodle shop. Got pack from hostel and took bus to airport. Ran into American from Marin who I had met in the hostel. She had raised a bunch of money for Buddhist monastery back home, lost her job and was now travelling to figure things out. Ended up seeing the end of Demolition Man at free airport theatre. Lousy movie, but pretty cool to have this in an airport. Landed in Jakarta around 8:30pm, met German couple at airport and went to same hotel. We ended up sharing a room together, the place was booked. Lots of mosquitos.
5/1 – Caught flight to Denpasar. Got directions to take a number of buses to the southern beach I wanted to go to – Bolina Beach – from taxi driver. Turned out he thought I meant Lorrina Beach. After 3 hour bus ride realized I was in wrong place and still was able to organize diving for next day and discovered place I had wanted to go to was lousy. Had dinner with a Brit and we got nice and drunk on cheap beer, which was good after the long day.
5/2 – Picked up a 8am for diving. Dove for an hour and then half hour boat to Palau Menjangan Island. Did 2 beautiful dives along coral wall which was the other side of the island. Many different kinds of coral and sea life. Very beautiful. Ended up going to dinner by myself – there were very few tourists during low season – and befriended by a waiter who tried to sell me everything from waterfall trips to a local girl for the night. It was still early so I had some beers at a few bars, include one with a decent band. Nothing much happening at night.
5/3 – Woke up, had late breakfast with some other travelers and bought postcards. Wrote and mailed postcards. Ate lunch, read, slept, meditated, had easy swim in ocean. Mellow day. Dinner by myself at inexpensive family restaurant, went to Malibu bar to see a video of The Fugitive. The British girls joined me.
5/4 – Went diving with Mike from the US to a shipwreck with same dive company. Beautiful, eerie shipwreck with scores of fish. It was a 1915 US cargo ship sunk by the Japanese in WWII. The womend would carry our dive tanks the 100 yards or so to the dive site on their heads, while carrying our weight belts around their waist. I went to dinner at same cheap place as before and saw video of Carlitos Way at Malibu. Not much happening so went back, read and slept.
5/5 – Caught a bemo to Kilamanuk around 10:30am and arrived about 2 hours later. Took ferry to Java. Met off boat by an official looking person from the tourist office. He sold me a bus ticket to Probolinggo for 6500 which he said would take 3.5 hours. It took 5. Arrived tired and frustrated to get approached by scores of touts. After sifting through their stories found out that bemos had stopped running and I would have to rent a jeep for 15,000 to get to Mt Bromo. Ran into an Australian girl named Allison and we shared a jeep. She had similarly bad experience at the bus station. Made it up to a hotel and crashed around 10:30.
5/6 – Woken up at 3:30am and took jeep to viewing platform. Saw the creation of the world. As the sun slowly rose we could see a huge mist shrouded crater below us. Inside was a streaming volcano, Mt Bromo, and another cone shaped mountain. It was a stark, beautiful scene. Went back, took a nap and walked up to volcano. The larger crater was full of volcanic ash and a sea of soft green grass. The volcano itself was steep and rumbling with sulfuric steam belching out of it. It had gone off in 1840 and again in 1981. Wandered back, kicked back on a building foundation and watch the clouds come in. I was told we’re at around 2,000 meters. I could feel the elevation when I climbed to the volcano. Had lunch at a very quiet restaurant. Just me and a bunch of flies, but meal was cheap and good. Went back to guest house restaurant and talked to Allison and an American journalist/ photographer. He left to camp on the volcano rim to take sunset/star/sunrise photos. He had been all over the world and told us how frustrating his field could be to get steady work; there were just too many other people doing this. She had spent one year in Africa and had been robbed in Nairobi. She had been all over south and east Africa. Did some volunteer work and did some heavy, random backpacking. I showed her my Africa letters and promised to send her some copies. I ended up watching a beautiful sunset and eating dinner at that small restaurant, again the only customer. I started getting the chills from the cold weather so I went to bed early.
5/7 – Took a series of buses back to Bali, starting at 5:45am. Was tired and frustrated when I arrived at Singaraja at 5pm to find that last bus to Peneloken left at 3pm. Locals recommended a hotel at town of Air Sanih. It ended up being a bit expensive, but beautiful, with a long, rock filled pool right on the beach. Very nice landscaping. Mostly German couples staying there.
5/8 – Caught bus to Peneloken. Beautiful view of volcano, lake and large mountain within huge crater. Decided to walk down with full pack, it was that pretty. Met local working the fields. He recommended a place called Sutra which was about 6 km before Titra. I got there, liked it and checked in. Met British couple who went on volcano climb that morning; recommended it and a good guide through the guest house. Had lunch and talked with a German woman who spent a long time in India about her spiritual experiences there. Relaxed, slept and read all afternoon. Went to dinner with British couple at small family warang down the road. Ran into Allison from Australia afterwards. Had a beer with everyone and crashed early.
5/9 – Woken up at 3:30am by guide. Joined a German couple and we all hiked to the top by flashlight. It was a long and steep climb and to over two hours. Beautiful sunrise. The sun was an orange ball of fire in the distance and made a great silhouette of nearby large mountains. Behind us were two more smaller craters and a huge crater field of barren dried lava. Climbed down very steep path to second volcano where our guide cooked bananas and boiled eggs for us in the small steam holes. The ground was warm from the geothermal energy. Walked down to third crater and then back to Surya by 9:15. Had breakfast, talked to a Swedish couple, then the British couple before they left, then Allison, then a British girl traveling for over a year with her boyfriend. Showered, washed clothes, then went for lunch. Local girl kept asking me where I was from and if I was single. Went back and took a well-deserved nap. Read for a while, talked to some people, had a great fish dinner at Surya and discovered how good their hot chocolate was. Went to bed around 9:30 – was still tired.
5/10 – Woke up around 6:30am, had breakfast, packed and was on the road around 7:30am. Ran into Allison, Pete from New Zealand, Wayne from Oz and 2 Germans at a stop on the way to Ubud. We all shared a bemo to Ubud. Ended up at small, nice place, minus the Germans, with only 3 bungalows. Found great, cheap local restaurant and had lunch. We all split up and wondered around on various errands. A lot of shops and very touristy, but has a nice feel. Had dinner at same place and saw local Legong dance. Started out with four girls dancing with a basket of flowers on one hand. Music was all percussion with harmonious xylophone sound. Had a couple of more dances with male masked demons and one dance with two girls. It was all wonderful. I was very tired and crashed around 9:30.
5/11 – Allison and I walked through the rain and tried to find Elephant Cave. Got lost once. Discovered my poncho worked well. When we finally found it, it was anticlimactic. One small cave, and a nice outdoor temple amongst some rice paddies. I got stuck in the mud walking down from one of the paddies – my sandals were useless and I had to go barefoot. Went to Monkey Forest on the way back to Ubud. Scores of wonderfully dressed women balancing baskets of fruits on their heads all converging on a nice temple in the forest. When we looked inside they were all sitting there with their offerings piled around them. The monkeys were very aggressive and were constantly snatching peanut bags from tourists – they were fun to watch. Ate dinner at same place. Saw Kekak and Trance dances. First dances had about 40 men chanting and “check-chacking” rhythmically on the ground while two girls and a couple of demons danced out a play. Wonderful, mesmerizing sounds. Second dance was the men with about 10 chanting women and two girls dancing in a trance with their eyes closed. Final dance was the fire dance – again with the men – and one man in a horse custom dancing through the hot embers of burnt coconut shells. They needed two men to stop his dancing at the end – he was in such a trance – and he laid there panting and recovering for a long time afterwards. Had a beer with Allison, then crashed.
5/12 – Phoned home, then walked all over Ubud shopping. Bought a sarong for $2.50 (which I still have), a black hand painted long sleeved t-shirt for $8.50, 3 beautiful silk/cotton ties for $20 and a nice button down short sleeved shirt for $7.50. Had wonderful dinner of chicken with tomato and coconut sauce mixed with rice and avocado – gave myself a treat. Saw children’s dance troop’s version of the Ramayana – beautiful dancers, honorable prince and princess and frightful monsters and cute little monkeys.
5/13 – Woke up and felt bad. Bad stomach, chills, light fever and headache. Ended up buying a tape of Balinese dance music, then going to post office and mailing all my purchases home for about $10, which will take 2-3 months by boat. Went to see cremation ceremony in a village about 12km away. Waited around for almost an hour, then a small procession came by with men dressed in black, women in black shirts with a black or green tops, a float with two black cow figures and a golden, flowery float which contained two bodies. Followed the procession to a clearing. The bodies were taken off the golden float in boxes, paraded around, then place in the two hollow cows. People climbed up to the cows and stood there and dropped things in. Finally, after a lot of preparation, they burnt the logs under the bodies. After all the wrappings burned you could actually see the human shapes, especially the charred feet and toes. Afterwards I went back, finished the book I was reading, showered and went to a Berong dance at the Ubud Temple. Beautiful costumes, the story of a wizard warding off the magic of a sorceress – but I think after four straight nights, I’m getting a bit burnt out of the dances. My favorite by far was the chanting of the Kekak dance on the second night. Still felt ill, so went to bed early.
5/14 – Felt better in the morning. Took bemos to Padangbai – but tide was in, not much sand and some people were laying out in the spaces between the beached fishing boats. Met an English couple. They had been to another secluded beach nearby and the tide had come in there as well. I decided to go to Kuta, since I only had two nights before flying to Oz. Arrived there around 3:30 after a whole series of bemo rides and walked around about half an hour before finding a nice place. Kuta had a huge, wide beach. Showered, took a nap, washed clothes, then ate at a cheap restaurant nearby. Saw the movie Deadfall, then walked down the street at 9:30 and saw Sleepless in Seattle. Finished around 11:30 and I walked around and took in the scene. Mostly horny Bali men, a smattering of prostitutes with offers of “message, message”, and a few tourists mixed in. I was surprised at how few tourist there were on the streets and in the loud bars like Koala Blue – I guess it really is off season. Thought about going into Hard Rock Café, but high bar prices scared me away. Crashed around 1am.
5/15 – Wandered around, bought some things and headed my way to the beach. On the way had a haircut on a street corner for $2 as two girls cleaned my nails even after I protested against this. Originally bargained it down to 3,000 rupiah, but the guy had a good, careful attitude and so gave him a bit more. Price would have been 10,000 rupia in hairdresser around the corner. Laid on the beach of a couple of hours then wandered back. Was a huge, wide beach were some people were surfing and body surfing on the small, well shaped waves as you could see an occasional jumbo jet come in for a landing at the nearby airport. On way back had lunch and saw move A Perfect World. Went back, showered read, then made my way to dinner and saw Mrs Doubtfire. Wandered into Hard Rock Café, but it wasn’t very crowded and drinks were very expensive. Ran across showing of City of Hope about an American doctor working in Calcutta. I’m definitely catching up on all the movies after living in Africa the past year! Crashed around 12:30.
5/16 – Did some errands then went to the beach for a couple of hours. Had lunch, showered got an OK message from one of the local ladies, slept, watched the movie The Firm. Got a ride to the airport, had a bite to eat, read, slept, called a friend in the US, then caught 2am flight to Darwin.