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A little bit of war history

I woke early again. After breakfast, I headed to the Police Station to drop off the photos for my travel permit. The lady said the permit was more or less done and was just pending the photos and I could come collect it in an hour. I hopped on a ojek (motorcycle taxi) to Gua […]

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Colourful Papuan birds

Having retired last night at 2030 (and also slept till midday yesterday), I was surprised to wake around 0600. Especially when my body was on NZ time (3h difference). I expected to feel really alert and raring to go, which is usually the case when I travel west. No, I felt sluggish. After breakfast, I […]

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Introduction to Papua by way of Biak

It was an ungodly departure of 0115 from Makassar. The 2h45 flight to Biak (off the northern coast of Papua) took off slightly late and landed again just slightly late too. The actual flying time was less and with the hot meal and a snooze we landed in no time (well about 0500 actually). On […]

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Long transit in Makassar

Killing a day in Bali I woke around 0600 in Bali and headed out for a morning walk soon after 0700 around Kuta. Balinese tend to wake early but that doesn’t hold true in partytown Kuta. It was dead. There were some people on the beach and a couple of people surfing. The Balinese surf […]

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Bali nightstop

Luggage at Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport took forever. I took a taxi to the Tune Hotel in Kuta which I had booked for NZD17 (including aircon and towel options). Being central, clean and comfy, it was exactly what I needed for the night. It was straight to bed as it was about 3am in Auckland […]

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Cairo’s Necropolis & leaving

Above:  One can see the pyramids faintly through Cairo’s pollution. My departure for for Hong Kong via Istanbul tonight is 2025 which would require a departure from town about 1630. Last night, I had negotiated a late checkout of 1400 for free with the hotel. A standard checkout of 1200 doesn’t leave much time for […]

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Third time lucky with the Pyramids

At the pyramids This morning, I set out for the Great Pyramids at Giza. Hopefully, I’d be third time lucky aas the first and second times I didn’t get to go inside of the big pyramids. The hotel had offered a car for USD35 including waiting time and going to the Egyptian museum (10 minutes […]

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In the capital

There was no online availability for an earlier train to Cairo so I had booked for 1200 midday. I’m sure I could have booked at a station and got a ticket for an earlier one. But I enjoyed the relaxing morning until I had to leave the hotel at 1100. It was going to be […]

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Exploring Alexandria

After breakfast, I took the minivan public transport along the Corniche to the far end at the west. I got off near Fort Qaitbey which I had no intention of visiting. I walked around the area of the Eastern Harbour to have a better picture of the fort and rough waters of the Med. What […]

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The city they named after me

A man boards the train at one of the stops after midnight. He was unhappy to find that his seat was taken by someone else who wanted to be closer to his travelling party. There was lots of shouting. I dozed in and out. Towards the end there was a security guy with a rifle […]

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