The Great Escapade

Hi,
After my return to England on 1st July and hetting over jetlag in Bolton whilst enjoying time with family again, I've since returned to my home in Portsmouth, on England's south coast.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this time away and really feel that God has used me powerfully in the meetings I've had with many people. I hope my attitude and achievements have been an encouragement to others.

The other week I saw my specialist who during my absence has found yet another chemotherapy drug, Avastin, which I may try in the coming weeks. I have a CT scan this Friday to assess if my tumours have grown since early March; if they haven't then I would like to try to return to work at least part-time. If not, then I would be the first in Portsmouth to receive this new monoclonal antibody treatment (administered in tandem with normal chemotherapy drugs). Another opportunity to practice on me ready for those they can't afford to make mistakes with!

I came home to face silly amounts of mail and paperwork. I'm afraid my difficulties with "the world's local bank" have escalated to the point where I may close my current account, and after my debacle following loss of debit card in Indonesia I recommend you check the small print of your card guard policies!

I've decided my next challenge before getting into heaven is to write and publish a book about my fight with cancer, my experiences of travelling and planning such a holiday whilst disabled, all with an emphasis on how my faith has been central to this. But how do I start? Perhaps this blog and my website entries will form the core of my information, plus the notes recorded during my journey. Ideas or advice welcome!

Now that I'm back home and near my own PC the main website will be updated instead of this one; the homepage is at the following URL:
http://www.ankers.webspace.fish.co.uk
(see the "Updates" page for latest information)

Many thanks for taking the time to read this blog. I hope you've enjoyed it!
Martin

ps- all 1500 photos now uploaded to home PC, one of me in the Grand Canyon should be above. I will write something about Las Vegas and the canyon soon!

Hi,
Well, that's almost it then; I fly to England at 7pm local time tonight after over 7 weeks of travelling. I've enjoyed Washington DC but this has been tempered by several factors, not least my weariness and the sapping heat and humidity here which took me by surprise. This week the temperature has been in the low 90s °F (32°C+) with high humidity of around 80% RH.

I've always wanted to go to Washington, DC because of the museums there; I'd have to say I had no interest in paying George Dubya a visit (the Whitehouse probably isn't big enough for two daft people at once!). My travel guide proved very useful for understanding the history and design of this 'Enfant' capital; meeting Sheldon (Jeannette's cousin) and Carol-Ann was great company after lonely Las Vegas and another great source of explanation of the sights and American history.

The City is very beautifully laid out following the designs of Pierre L'Enfant, and as such has a very PArisian feel to it with consistent building heights and nice vistas everywhere you go in the Mall. The Holiday Inn Capitol hotel was located almost perfectly for the short walk to several of the Smithsonian museums and Capitol Hill. I'd hesitate to recommend visiting this city at this time of year to someone in my condition though - people say "it's just two blocks" but one block can be several hundred yards! The underground Metro System is not as extensive as Paris' or London's but nonetheless was cheap and very useful.

On Sunday I visited an Episcopalian church, St Augustines, which is currently working through a merger with the local Lutheran church for logistical reasons. I was made very welcome by the congregation and was invited to a church picnic afterwards! Later in the afternoon I visited the American History Museum. The best & worst thing about this was their putting an industrial revolution exhibition near the entrance! As a result I spent absolutely ages enjoying my pet subject and missing out spending more time on a lot of other great things - a (biased!) history of the war of independence and other conflicts, a history of American inventions and Thomas Edison, and a history of American transportation (development of canals, railways etc).

I rested on Monday and spent a short while at the Air & Space Museum (some great experiments for kids big & small), then visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum on Tuesday. You cannot enjoy a museum like this; it's more of an opportunity that should be taken to remember and respect thouse who lost their lives. I don't know who said the quote, but the idea of "not learning from our history leads us to repeat it" is very apt here. And yet we see genocide continuing in Darfur, Sudan, and less recently in Rwanda and the Balkans. Why?
I would strongly recommend visiting this building, but expect to be saddened greatly by what you see and learn. One horrible thing for me as a trained process engineer was the realisation that the death camps were in effect a form of industrialised killing. Maybe some process engineer designed this system once - if so, how could he live with himself?

I'll leave it there for now as I will meet Sheldon for lunch again before I make a move. I know I've omitted Las Vegas, but hope to return to it. Sorry.

Best Regards,
Martin

Hi,
This morning I'm in Washington, DC and typing this blog whilst waiting for the washing machine to finish my laundry. My apologies for the lack of blog entries lately, I've been either busy, too tired, or unable to find a PC. Even this one doesn't have USB ports so I cannot transfer photos to CD - so unfortunately my pictures in Washington, DC will all have to be at a low resolution!

I had a great restful time in Thousand Oaks (near LA) with Phil, Alex & Elliott; much time was spent catching up with each others' news - though I think I learnt more about Portsmouth news than I gave since they had only recently had John & Wendy visit them from England. We went for a short walk & drives around the local valleys, and visited Hollywood and Malibu Beach. I had a mission to find and take a picture of Dustin Hoffman's star on Sunset Boulevard (apparently my dad looks like him) but he's clearly not as famous as my dad as there's not been a star dedicated to him yet!

The family I visited only left England in April 2004, but it was instantly clear that they have taken on the American language to a large extent (perhaps to be understood; some of you may remember my own thick Lancashire accent had to be softened for it to be understood by southern England). Already I spot words like gas (petrol), line (queue), trunk (boot) and the infrequent "kinda like..." creeping into the vocabulary.

Off to collect the washing; more later.

I'm typing from the lounge at Taipei's Chiang Hai-Shek airport, with about an hour to go before my 12h flight to Los Angeles to visit Phil, Alex and Elliott. I will cross the international date line so am confusingly scheduled to arrive 2.5h before I set off!

The past few days in Taipei since my last post have been nice. I met up with two friends I made in Taroko Gorge and we visited the Chiang Hai-Shek memorial hall. I've also attended the yearly Dragon Boat racing festival, catching a few races on the final. Just think of Hawaii-5-O with a ornately carved and painted boat and you're nearly there. Good fun, and compared to the UK's stuffy Oxbridge boat race each year, this is an invitational event so teams from all over get to compete in stages around the country then meet for the finals here in Taipei over a weekend in June. Final this year was between Japan and a Taipei University team! It would be great if the UK had a similar system, I'm sure my alma mater Loughborough University would give the old guard of Oxford & Cambridge a run for their money! As I walked along with an ice cream I was hollered at by some inebriated locals enjoying themselves and asked to join them. Turns out they were a team of aboriginal Taiwanese (from near Taroko Gorge!) who had been knocked out a day or two earlier but staying on to see the finals. With them were Clare, Greg and Anna, students from America, Canada and Germany respectively, on an exchange arranged with the Taiwan Rotary Club. Lots of fun but my dodgy stomach had to decline the Taiwan beer and tiny snails offered to me!

I also visited Longshan Temple and 'Snake Alley', where you can see snakes handled, annoyed and murdered (I didn't), and drink various fluids of snake origin. No thanks!

In 2001 when I finished my time working in Beijing I was really sad to leave, the first time a city had that effect on me. I would say leaving Taiwan is also a sad experience; my 10 days here have just flown by, even without any preplanned friends to meet up with here. As with all my stops in Asia, I have found the people incredibly friendly and welcoming, but I would rank Taiwan's people as the most friendly I have ever met. Even a few words of Chinese asking directions or checking underground train journey details often lead to a short conversation. My only frustration is that I'd say I'm getting very accomplished at the same conversation topics and am frequently floored when it comes to any on-the-spot situations! The words 'zhei ge' ['this'] and a pointing finger is good for a while but I need more vocabulary!

I think it's about time I devoted some sentences to the many friendly people I have met during my journey. This is not exhaustive (sorry if you read this and have been omitted!) but I hope it gives an indication of how many people are being put in my path to guide & help me, and give me companionship.
In Singapore, I met some really friendly people from Indonesia and an elderly Korean couple on Sentosa island. At the Raffles' "Long Bar", a handful of adjacent tables seated four people all from Lancashire, England (that's how I learned of Chelsea's defeat to Liverpool!). I was also lucky to meet Jeannette's brother Richard and his wife, along with a couple involved with the OMF charity in the region.
In Indonesia, aside from touching base with Michael's family I found a good friend in Simon, a teacher from Kent. We travelled to see Borobudur together.
In Beijing I was blessed with meeting not just Trevor, Farah and Michelle, but I managed to get in contact with my old friend Mr Ye and colleagues from my last trip to Beijing. Several other work colleagues also turned out to be over from England, it was great to be back at the Big Easy bar with them again 4 years down the line. Seeing JJ again was an unexpected surprise too!
In Shanghai I had a great afternoon exchanging English/Chinese lessons with 3 students in a KFC, and in the beautiful Yu Yuan gardens I met 4 lovely English tourists; I'd say my meeting Teresa must have been pre-ordained!
In Taiwan I made two friends in Keiichi and Sue, we somehow managed to communicate despite being English, Taiwanese & Japanese! The Hotel Les Suites in Da'an, Taipei was like a home away from home, I was made to feel very welcome indeed by all staff, and was deeply moved today when I received a signed "Farewell" card from all the staff and a gift of some Taiwanese tea. Even the night porter Stanley signed the card in mandarin! The other night I was helped in my efforts to have a haircut by a girl who (correctly!) translated my requirements for the barber, and as is often the case we exchanged help with languages. I also enjoyed teaching some English to the masseuse Sally and her colleague in Taipei after the great massage to recharge myself before Taroko Gorge.
Loreta, Victoria and Jason were very welcoming members of the Grace Road Baptist Church in Taipei, and Loreta even took me to see Danshui and the YWAM cafe there.

Two nights ago I ate at 'The Pepper House', a Japanese chain which serves the meat raw on a stupidly hot iron dish, whereupon you cook it yourself using chopsticks. I had lots of problems understanding this procedure - the menu showed raw meat which concerned me - until I saw the adjacent table's order arrive sizzling away on the dish! University friends will remember my love of peppered steak, and this was almost the perfect meal! Afterwards I offered to write the procedure in English ready for the next daft foreigner, and in return the manager Lynn gave a 20% discount! The food was so good I ate there again tonight before leaving Taipei!

So all in all, I have really been blessed with many great conversations with people of all nationalities. I'd like to say thanks to all those who have helped or provided great company during my journey so far and those who will do so in the US in coming weeks.

God bless.
Martin

It's nearly 10pm and I'm writing this from a complimentary notebook PC in the hotel lounge in Taipei. I'm amazed I only found out about it after 4 days of staying here - I thought the notebooks lying around belonged to guests!

Today, I think I have just returned from the most beautiful place in the world, Taroko Gorge. Two days ago I checked out of my Taipei hotel temporarily and caught the train down the East coast to Hualien, close to the mouth of Taroko Gorge. The tectonic plate boundaries in the Taiwan area have led to significant upheaval of the limestone & marble landscape here, and the rivers resulting from the high rainfall have played their part in shaping the topography. Western pacific winds and earthquakes have also contributed, I'm sure.

I don't think I have the words to fairly describe the beauty of the area; even 100 photographs, limited to two dimensions, would struggle to portray the scale and textures - the cascading tree-hugged hills & jagged rock faces undulate so frequently that the only way to appreciate it fully is to take a stroll there and soak in the wonder of creation personally as each bend in the pathway presents a new vista. The river flow beneath provides a consistent background gushing noise, a reminder of the element's power. Sometimes the river noise is deadened by a short spell in a tunnel, and dripping water predominates. As I leave a tunnel my senses have to readjust rapidly - eyes have to adapt to a blaze of sunlight, ears (but not skin!) welcome the cacophony of the incessant buzz of myriad insects, and another amazing view often awaits my senses' approval.
I arrived at the station and was collected by the hotel's 15-seat minibus; we enter the Gorge 20 minutes into the 1h journey, from here on in our speed is typically 30mph but I don't complain. To illustrate scale, our bus is like a mouse scurrying along skirtingboards and between door frames in a house; we crane our necks to see the top of the gorge and fail. Every so often the bus traverses a short bridge to hug the other side of the gorge for a while - the road or tunnels are easier to construct there for a while, so an impromptu bridge is erected! I'm not surprised to learn many brave people lost their lives in the construction of these roads. There are convex mirrors at every corner, just as well as the coaches don't seem to care which side they use!
The hotel [Grand Formosa Taroko Gorge] was very good, though food was ordinary. They run a great shuttle bus system [NT460] which drops you off at the start of a trail and collects you from the next point an hour later. I was pleased to find the basic trails are not strenuous, the heat is the main problem and I'm learning to get up & out early in Taiwan to be home before 11am! I'm certain I overdid it on the first day but was determined to make the most of it after what I'd seen, so did another trail this morning. I'm so pleased I did, the Bai Yang trail was absolutely breathtaking! The path takes you through a number of tunnels, up to 300m or so, and the path follows the cliff side some way up while you dare to look down at the boulder-strewn river below. Later we reach Bai Yang Waterfall, two sheer drops of a large stream of maybe 40-50m each before a confluence with the bigger main river. It's only as you turn round after taking pictures that you realise the main river has it's own surging waterfall, possibly due to rock upheaval. Amazing. From here another tunnel takes you to Water Curtain Cave, a short tunnel (reminiscent of a small scale English canal tunnel with internal towpath) with major water leaks above head height. Twenty metres in, a wall of water is a belllowing curtain across our path - so absolutely soaked we have to turn back toward the shuttle bus.

I'll stop going on about Taroko Gorge for now, I'm sure you could be bored!
I'm lucky to find the Dragon Boat Festival arrives in Taiwan this weekend, so some plans have been altered to accomodate that. I hope to meet up with a Japanese/Taiwanese couple I made friends with in Taroko and I still want to see the Palace Museum, Longshan Temple & Chiang Hai-Shek Memorial Hall. Though to be honest, anything would be an anticlimax after the past few days so to miss a few of these would be acceptable!

On Monday I felt absolutely awful, maybe jet lag catching up with me, maybe also the tiredness after sharing my cancer testimony in front of 100+ people at Taipei's Grace Road Baptist Church the night before. After doing precious little, I still felt rough Tuesday so treated myself to a massage; quite expensive but certainly refreshing, I was recharged enough to visit Danshui (where Taipei's river meets the sea) and a YWAM-run cafe offering English conversation and positive Christian witness to local young people; very similar to some work I see in my home church in Portsmouth! I've been able to share my story with a number of people here (most days) in Taiwan.
My Chinese is pleasingly good, just to the extent that I can manage, though I admit I'm getting a tad bored of the same conversations, limited by my vocabulary. To my teacher's credit though, almost all locals I speak to are astonished that I haven't learnt the lingo by living here or by a Chinese person [thanks Catherine!].
My ankle is reasonably good now, though my flu-like aches after flying for 10h indicate the flight to LA on Tuesday (1530 London time) will hurt me! Worryingly I'm struggling to enjoy savoury food as much as usual - this reminds me of my habits when first developing the bowel cancer. I'd value prayer for sufficient nutrition whilst I travel! I'd also value prayer for continued action in the lives of those people I meet and speak to, that God may put other Christians in their path to help them grow to accept Him as Saviour.

No more for now, I'm getting tired!
God bless.
Martin

Just a short (famous last words!) post as I'm in Singapore's lounge and am tired. I'm also enjoying the objectivity of the BBC website for a change here in Singapore.
The last week must be the longest I've been away from a PC since my 3rd operation in 2002! I'm pleased to say I managed ok in Shanghai without any internet cafe's, though I was surprised to not see a single one in the streets there (but I wasn't looking).
Overall I've really enjoyed my time in China, but particularly my return to Beijing. I would say that the city of Shanghai is far too western for my liking, quite similar to Hong Kong in many ways. This view was probably tainted by the poor service offered by what I expected to be the most luxurious of the hotels on my trip, the famous Peace Hotel of Shanghai. Whilst it's fair to say it's a very beautiful hotel, with large rooms and a nice view of the river and the 'bund' (a promenade on the west side of the Huangpu River), this "four star" hotel offered courtesy I would only expect in some poor guest houses. It only took me two nights to complain to the front desk! Breakfast was an extra and nearly 10GBP, all for food which was being removed as I ate. Evening meals were again expensive and frequently late/cold or delivered to the wrong table. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone! The redeeming staff were the concierges though.
If you like shopping then Shanghai is the city for you; but I believe you can shop anywhere in the world. I enjoyed the astounding Shanghai acrobatic show, the Shanghai Museum, and especially the oasis of calm that is Yu Yuan (Jade Garden) in the "Chinese Area" (!) of this busy city. I also enjoyed a night of the touring Beijing Opera, though only understood it thanks to an elderly Chinese neighbour (who had net the Queen in Scotland while HM was still but a Princess!). The cast is all-female, and the male characters are noticeable by their wearing of platform boots and funny beards!
Thankfully my replacement bank card will be sent on for me to collect in Taiwan, but it's amazing how constrained "the world's local bank" are - it seems branches aren't really allowed to talk to each other so I spent a fortune trying to get my UK branch to solve my problems. I think perhaps "local bank" in China is the equivalent to lots of "local" corner shops, all independent of each other!
I had to be up at 0530 this morning for my Shanghai airport bus, and the walk to the business lounge floored me; I had the sense to drop my pride and ask for a wheelchair to the gate. Singapore Airlines have been very helpful today!
In Taiwan I have no huge plans yet other than the huge Museum, Longshan Temple, and Taroko gorge; I also need to find a PC there to download my camera pictures!
Health wise I'm reasonably good but easily tired in this heat. Stomach upsets are acceptable (As ever, I have no choice!) though I'm having more pain just above my left kidney which annoys me. I feel as if I nearly have a sore throat, the back of my nose seems wrong, but I cannot explain it! The ankle is quite strong now.

It was great to revisit the Beijing International Christian Fellowship last Sunday, God used the Hawaiian preacher to speak powerfully to me. I'd value prayer for this 'cold' I can't shake off, a soothing of the kidney pain, and for more opportunities to witness to people whilst in Taiwan (and protection whilst I visit some odd temples there!).

God bless,
Martin

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Hi again,
The return rail journey from Bandung to Jakarta went well and I enjoyed my stay at the Mandarin Oriental in Jakarta. The single train ticket for the three hour ride in executive seats costs 75,000 rupiah (less than a fiver!) and takes you through the hills and valleys of Central Java. Bandung is a city of maybe 2 million people and is sited on the Eastern slopes of the hill/mountain range separating Central Java from Jakarta in West Java.
The route to Jakarta takes you past steep terracing which ensures every spare acre of land is utilised for farming; as the Argo Gede train takes you out of the city the simple agricultural life takes over and many people can be seen working the wet paddy fields. Crops appear to be mainly rice though in the steeper area a thin, twin-stemmed shrub occupies perhaps 10% of the land; this has typically two thin curved 'trunks' leading to a crop of radial leaves at the head about 1m from the ground. The whole plant is harvested as the patches are sometimes seen partly scythed down to a few inches from the soil. I'd love to find out what these plants are, any ideas welcome!
On occasion the train passes some palm-like trees where the leaves look like they've come off second best in a fight with a machete. I had wondered what these where during the outbound journey in the twilight; it appears now that some form of banana grows on the taller, mature trees.

On arrival at Jakarta's Gambir station I was greeted by the usual porter offering his muscles for a small fee, and it appears he has a friend with a taxi! I knew the hotel wasn't too far so was hoping to spend less than 30,000rp on the trip to the hotel - instead he claimed a 50,000rp minimum fare until I settled for a generous 40,000rp after a quick haggle.

The Mandarin Oriental is the most flash hotel I've ever stayed at. Stunning lobby and spare staff everywhere to do everything for you. The room was large and quiet and (compared to Singapore) I could use the air-con thermostat myself!
I rested, watched ESPN for a while (well chuffed - Bolton beat Everton 3-2, then I later found that was with 10 men for most of the game!), then ventured down to select the Italian restaurant. The carbonara and red wine were lovely, though my stomach didn't appreciate them. A pity as I had had a trouble-free stomach for a week, though the positive is that my journey to Beijing should be easier now.

I had a nice chat to the adjacent passenger on the short flight from Jakarta, she seems to have travelled everywhere, including a year in Beijing, so it was good to receive advice on places to see in Beijing. I hope to see the Summer Palace this time, though my first challenges will be to get the hotel to allow me to check in early tomorrow morning, then to handle the weekend trip to Xi'an for the Terracotta Army.

I'll leave it there as I hope to eat a little here in the lounge and then sleep during the flight to Beijing. Here comes the acid test of all that Chinese language study...(and I'm really looking forward to it!)

Zai jian!
Martin

Hi again,
My apologies for not posting to this blog more frequently. I’ve been busy for the last few days and I’m keen not to hog Mike’s computer for too long at a time! Most of my time on the computer last night was spent transferring my 390MB of photos onto CD so I can clear the camera’s memory cards ready for China on Thursday.

I think it was Napoleon Bonaparte who said “The English are a nation of shopkeepers”. Clearly, he’d never travelled to Indonesia, or he would have retracted his comment! My two main impressions of Indonesia [island of Java] are that (a) the people are incredibly friendly and polite; and (b) you can’t travel down any street without seeing throngs of sellers of things.
Travelling through Bandung in Mike’s car we see that the sellers appear to take part in a form of saleperson’s evolution. The simplest trader will have a tray supported around his neck (picture Monty Python’s ‘Albatross’ sketch) and will walk between cars at traffic junctions offering his wares. Others may balance a length of bamboo over a shoulder with goods in baskets strung to each end. As business is more successful, the vendor moves to a kaki lima; this literally means “five feet” and refers to the two bicycle wheels and caravan-style jockey wheel to support the 0.5m x 1m framed trolley/cart which is pushed along by the owner's two feet. Typically these will contain a paraffin burner/primus stove and a single wok and snacks are served from it.
Other examples are when the kaki lima stops on the pavement and is covered by a tarpaulin awning to keep the owner in the shade. Gradually this will develop into an awning over the front to shade the customers too and the vehicle transforms into a lean-to or shack. I don’t know how the planning permission works in Bandung, there seems to be little of it here!

The roads are another amazing experience. I’ll find it hard to complain about being cut up by drivers in the UK in future, having seen the inches of space remaining when the 4x4 vehicles and innumerable mopeds and motorbikes ooze along to their destination. The drivers seem to only look at what is ahead, it’s up to the driver behind to look at the space behind you! The Lonely Planet guide summarises pedestrian crossing of roads very well – you put out your hand as if to magically stop the traffic whilst striding out in a step of faith; the other hand should be reserved for prayer! This method does work though!

On Friday I visited Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogja locally) and the nearby world heritage site of Borobudur. One of the teachers (from Kent!) at my host family’s school was keen to go too and the school allowed him the day off. Simon proved excellent company and a much-appreciated fluent Indonesian speaker to ensure we got to the right places and coped with the myriad of people selling wares to tourists! Borobudur is a Buddhist temple built on a hill, pyramidal in shape with 5 or so stepped layers before a few more steps (galleries) of stupas. A stupa is a bell-shaped stone structure which has little gaps in the masonry to show a Buddha facing outwards; apparently it is good luck if you can reach inside and touch a Buddha. We stayed at a very local hotel and climbed Borobudur both for sunset and then for sunrise (at 5am!). The first time I had seen sunrise since a 24-hour pool marathon I did for charity aged 18!
Sitting still by the big central stupa (empty, representing nirvana) was really peaceful and it was wonderful to witness nature slowly waking up. After a few minutes the insects and bats became visible and less frequent, and then at daybreak the rest of the natural world seems to awaken, throughout the valley the crowing of cockerels ring out to announce the start of a new day. The martins (or swifts?) slowly replace the bats and dart gracefully around you in an effort to get their share of the insects. The hues of the foliage around Borobudur below become increasingly diverse and bright as the rising sun offers more rays of light to feed our eyes. I sat still here for a good 30 minutes and appreciated that despite our digital watches, nature and the world at large remains governed by God’s amazing timepiece, the sun and rotating earth. The impact of celestial bodies like the sun and moon are immense and yet we often just take them for granted.
Jogja was once the capital of Indonesia following independence from the Dutch in 1949, and then the capital moved to the larger Jakarta (12million or so people today) in 1951. We spend a short time in the Jogja at the Sultan’s palace (Kraton); because of its history Jogja is seen as the cultural capital of Indonesia. During the guerrilla wars following WWII, the Sultan gave refuge to (later President) Soeharto in his walled palace, and so Jogja became the only city which reports only to Jakarta, rather than a regional governor. Sultan number IX became vice president of Indonesia until 1978. The current Sultan is Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, though he is 59 and (at time of writing!) has no male heir, which is a first. I couldn’t help but wonder if this will lead to the first Sultana?
The tour offered a great insight into Indonesian history and culture, and stimulated an interest in learning more; one pleasing discovery was the way that the Sultan acknowledged three faiths at once despite him being Muslim. Many pictures and ornaments (and even postures of the Sultan in paintings) also represent Buddhist and Hindu teachings and methods; this is explained by the proximity of such major Hindu and Buddhist hotspots such as Prambanan and Borobudur, respectively. It is a shame that we in the UK cannot tolerate each others religions in a similar manner.

I’m really lucky to have been able to spend time with Mike & Rachel’s family, in a real household in a normal town. Rather than see the sterile cleanliness of standard hotel rooms it has been good to see and speak to local people. I have been learning a (very) few words of Indonesian with the home helper, Ibu U’un (Ibu is the polite term for Mrs, just like ‘Pak Martin’ would be the polite term for Mr Martin). I’ve also visited the Bandung Alliance International School twice. The Christian school has children of many nationalities and I was invited to speak twice about what seem to be my two best subjects – 45 minutes talking about having cancer, coping with it and how my faith helps (to a health class), and another 45 minute talk on chemical engineering to a chemistry class. Really enjoyable and rewarding, though yet again my fast northern accent may have got the better of some students!
Another thing to notice about Indonesia is the concept of the kampung. Rather than have towns split into poor and rich districts like in the UK, life is much less polarised here. Behind nearly every street of rich (upper/middle class) housing there is a kampung, an unhurried community of local people with smaller housing. Maybe the inhabitants are the home helpers, gardeners, kaki lima owners and warung [food stall] owners. Everyone smiles and says hello as you walk through the alleyways; I was even invited to join in their game of volleyball!

Tomorrow I get the midday train to Jakarta and stay in a city centre hotel before travelling to Beijing via Singapore on Wednesday evening. I arrive early Thursday morning so will be in a hotel local to my friend Trevor in Beijing for just one night.

Regarding health issues and things to pray about, I’d like to thank God for His amazing grace in keeping me fit and well so far. My right ankle is still a bit weak after twisting it last week, though yesterday I forgot painkillers and managed to climb Borobudur and travel on a long day back with minimal pain, just one paracetamol at night! Praise God!
I foolishly left my bank cash card in the ATM at Jakarta airport last week, but managed to cancel it a few days later having thankfully only having 1.5 million rupiah removed from my account. It’s an expensive lesson to learn that ATMs in other countries return your card last of all, but I’m lucky to have made the mistake here and only lost £87; a country with a different exchange rate may have been more of a problem!

I’ll leave it there for now, well done if you’ve had the patience to read this far! Thanks for your continued prayerful support.
God bless,
Martin

Hi,
Correspondence from the business class lounge in Singapore Airport. The business class toilets even has little hoses to wash your bum with! How the other half live...

At 1220 I have to board my flight and will arrive around 1400 in Jakarta. The exchange rate is 16500 to 1 Pound so the maths is a bit harder from here on in (divide by 100 (1000?), then by 6 I think).

I have to get a taxi to Gambir rail station and buy a ticket in a nice air conditioned train carriage to Bandung. Mike & Rachel have told me the train to catch and it seems to be a direct one. My first concern will be to spend some money at the airport to get some smaller change than the 50,000 rp notes I have been given; then I think I will take the advice of a couple I met in SIngapore and get a pre-paid taxi to Gambir station. It may cost me a bit more but the haggling will be less and I'm likely to be ripped off quite as much for the moment.

Saw the night safari last night, truly amazing to be driven around on an electric tram whilst a guide whispers about each of the animals on show either side of the road. It looks like the zoo feeds them at suitable times (see the piles of hay) to ensure they are in view but the conservation work done here and the opportunity to see them in subdued lighting during their normal hours is wonderful. A Creatures of the Night show was laid on afterwards (no sign of Michael Crawford or other funny men wearing operatic masks!) where some animals (raccoons, otters, wild cats, owls, pythons...) were presented or fed as part of the show whilst the audience spread around in an ampitheatre took part to some extent.
The journey there & back was a long one (1.5h train and bus) in the heat though and I regret not getting a taxi. However, I take back my comments about Singapore being a 'city state' - the suburbs becoime much more green in appearance and the huge reservoir near the centre of the island and the Zoo is amazing. Lots of noise from the insects, some very wet, musty-like smells and in general I was glad to have already started my anti-malarial medication!

I board in a few minutes so I'll leave it there. My next posting may be from Mike & Rachel's place or from the airport again, we'll have to see. Ankle feeling stronger already.

God bless,
Martin

Good afternoon,
Well, I've just about packed everything ready for my flight from Singapore to Indonesia tomorrow 1250 local time, where I will have to take a 100-mile train journey from the capital Jakarta to the family I'm staying with in Bandung.
For such a small country, I can't help but be surprised with how much there is to do here in Singapore. A lasting impression of the city-state will the harmony between the four main races – Malay, Chinese, India and Eurasian; you sadly just don't see such intermingling of people in other countries.
Despite the very built-up nature of the city, it's still possible to see some greenery dotted around, particularly in the form of tropical palm-like trees along many roads.
Yesterday I took a cable car ride to Sentosa Island, Singapore's 'pleasure resort'. It was inhabited by the British military as a coastal fortess from the late 19th century until 1967 (1972?) before being designated as a tourist resort in 1972 and being renamed Sentosa (“Peace & Tranquility”). Fort Siloso is now a museum; walking around it I was reminded of Fort Nelson on top of Portsdown hill back home. During the Japanese occupation of Singapore 1942-5 the island was used as a P.O.W. camp and the exhibits brought home just how difficult it must have been for those captured by the Japanese. I hope actions like that never happen again and that all parties can somehow forgive one another and move on.
I also boarded the Carlsberg Sky Tower, probably the highest viewing platform in Singapore, and visited the Merlion (symbol of Singapore, a lion's head on a fish' tail). Whilst here I had two nice chats with an Indonesian guy (suggesting I visit Bali instead of Bandung, though still recommending a trip to Borobudur) and a Korean couple. After taking pictures for the latter we exchanged emails and when I upload my photos I'll send them on.
Last night I met up with Jeannette's brother & sister-in-law for a nice meal in Chinatown, and this morning I experienced worship in a presbyrterian church together with a couple my friend John had put me in touch with. The sermon was one of the longer ones I'd ever sat through, though the message was a good one. One key point reminded me of my situation (or that of Job): 1 Peter 2:19 says that “it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is concious of God”. That's not to say God likes to watch us suffer, but rather that God is pleased when we can still trust in Him despite the trials we are going through. As if to drive this point deeper, my quiet time reading this morning looked at Philippians 1, v12 and v19-24 really spoke to me too.
I think I'll try to visit the night safari now, perhaps an hour's underground train/bus journey, and relax on the safari tram before getting an early night for tomorrow.
Will post again when safely arrived in Indonesia. Thanks to all for your prayers. My stomach upsets have been a touch troublesome the past two mornings, and unfortunately yesterday I twisted my ankle whilst walking on Sentosa island. I'd value any prayers for my quick recovery and my continued safe travels.
God Bless,
Martin

It's about 11pm and I'm a bit tired. Today I woke up easily again at 8am and got down to breakfast, though I feel quite weary still. It's not a new pain but I have an ache in the left of my chest just below the left shoulder blade. A reminder maybe that I should stick to my planned strategy of “2 days on, 1 day off”. With this in mind I thought I'd go for a bus tour of the city which involves little walking.
I had a chat with the tour desk at the reception and have been warned that a trip to Sentosa island with a tour party would involve lots of walking and the need to keep up with the party would perhaps be too much.
In the end I walked across the road to the tourist information office and asked about how to do things without walking too far. Was advised to use my Singapore Airlines boarding pass to get a cheap circular hop on/hop off bus ride around the city. It is a slight fiddle as they throw you off at the SunTec City (huge shopping mall) so you spend some time in there. I spent a short while walking round and ordered some food there before getting a later bus back home.
When you walk into a pub back home from a cold street, those spectacle wearers amongst us will know that the glasses steam up as soon as we get in. During my sojourn in the SunTec centre the weather turned from overcast to an absolute downpour and local thunderstorm (so I was glad to be indoors enjoying sweet & sour chicken!), and upon my exit for the next bus my glasses steamed up as soon as I went outside!! Steamed up only momentarily, but I found this a very funny reversal of the usual procedure in winter in the UK.
The bus collected us from Orchard Road almost next to the hotel and takes a 15-20 stop circuit around the city, including routes through Little India, past Raffles hotel, around Chinatown and along Orchard Road after a stop at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. During the ride back I think I experienced my nearest bolt of lightning- all the sky around the bus went bright white and the accompanying thunder followed less than a split-second later. I expect the lightning hit one of the plethora of high rise blocks you pass in Singapore.
It's noticeable that the Indian and Chinese quarters of the city are a bit more worn down, probably due to the absence of multinational chain stores prepared to pay the larger rents required for the incessant malls in the more central districts & Orchard Road. Little India and Chinatown seem to have more smaller or family-run businesses occupying the commercial premises.
I didn't see much of Little India (a few roads) compared to the circuit of Chinatown we completed later. The pastel building fronts in Chinatown are of similar design but have great individuality thanks to varying splashes of colour on each set of bamboo shutters & lintels.
I need to get the diary out and decide what I can & can't achieve in the coming days before I have to leave for Indonesia. For such a small place (the size of the Isle of Wight, I'm told!) there's so much on offer here. I hope to do a night safari, which is a twilight ride past animals in their normal habitats, this time in subdues lighting so we can see them active at the time of day when most of them actually do something- no wonder our standard zoos often present us with sleeping animals!
I'd also like to visit Sentosa Island, a small island resort linked to the mainland by a bridge or (better still) cable car; this has some history (British fortifications) as well as a massive observation tower and the famous Merlion (symbol of Singapore, half-lion, half-fish) near a laser-lit twilight water fountain show.
Other hopes are to see Little India and Chinatown on foot. I've kindly been given another contact in Singapore though I'm wondering about my chances of fitting all these things in. If I can I may offer to share one of the experiences with Jeannette's brother & family, who are stopping over in Singapore from tonight.
My voice mail is now working again though to be honest I'm still likely to have the phone set to divert all calls- I don't fancy being accidentally woken up during the night!
Right, that's it. I'm going to post this and get the aircon switched off then go to bed – I'm learning how to ensure I'm not too hot or cold now at last!
I'm disappointed to have missed the postal voting deadline, especially since many people have given their lives to give me this right; I hope you get to use your vote today!
Good night, God bless.
Martin

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Well, I completed packing the suitcase this afternoon, and have spent some time looking around my room for things I've forgotten. My only problem so far is that I have lost my mandarin phrasebook - and I'd rather take that small one than my big dictionary! I may have to buy a new one in Bolton this weekend.

On Monday I was rudely awakened at 6:20am by a Taiwan hotel's fax machine (3 times - on auto redial!), though I couldn't get my PC to receive it in time. So I made the most of the early start to phone some Chinese & Taiwanese hotels to explain late check ins and arrange airport taxis.
It's amazing how much you rely on body language to know you're making yourself understood (despite learning mandarin for 2+ years!) - I found this a nightmare phoning Shanghai this week to sort out taxis. In the end I have opted to use the brand new "Maglev" train from the airport to Shanghai centre. This is a super fast train using magnetism (imagine when you try to push the north poles of two magnets together) to hover it over the track. I'll tell you more in a month's time!

Tomorrow I drive to Bolton and see my family for a few days before flying from Manchester on Monday morning at 10am. I've had some lovely emails & cards offering support and wishing me well, thanks to all for those. Other good news is that some contacts are appearing suddenly so I won't be alone throughout all my time in Singapore, Beijing & Shanghai, this is really encouraging.

After (polite!) nagging from some friends about it, I've decided to try out the munching of some apricot kernels in an effort to address the cancer with some natural Vitamin B17 (see www.anticancerinfo.co.uk for more background). The bags arrived this morning and I'll be taking them round the world with me. In the past I have been loath to try these concurrently with the chemotherapy, but they can't do any harm trying them whilst I'm on a treatment holiday. They taste VERY bitter though!

I'll leave it there as I think I'm done with the computer now and should try to sleep well ready for the drive tomorrow. God bless.

Well I'm finally close to having everything booked, which is just as well as I leave in just over a week! The only outstanding thing is my itinerary in Taiwan, where I will be for 10 days. Taipe imay have a great Chinese Hstory museum (which I'm looking forward to), but 10 days in one city may be too much. I'm unsure whether to book my start and end hotel stays in Taipei and leave the rest blank so I can explore the island. If only I can get my luggage stored so I can travel light.

I hope to complete all paperwork/booking issues this weekend, then spend a few days slowly remembering to pack everything I need before I head to the northwest to stay with family before departure.

Hi. The purpose of this blog is to act as an online journal during my trip around the world during May and June of 2005. It should also save me a fortune in stamps and postcards!

My journey starts on 2 May and takes me through Singapore, Indonesia, China (Beijing & Shanghai, possibly Xi'an), Taiwan, the USA (LA, Las Vegas, Washington DC) before returning to Manchester, England on 1 July.

I plan to stay with friends in some places, namely Bandung in Indonesia, Beijing, and Los Angeles. Other places will see me in hotels.

If you have stumbled across this blog and don't know me, you can read my website at http://www.ankers.webspace.fish.co.uk, this discusses my fight against cancer over the last few years.

Whenever I find an Internet Cafe, I hope to update this, so watch this space!

Cheers,
Martin