'Dirty, colourful, noisy, smelly, friendly and a lot more, but it was never boring'.
That's how Declan Coyle from Garrison sums up his latest adventures on board the Ozbus, Ireland's first bus service to Australia.
In his latest report, Declan has just arrived in Bali and is only a few days away from his final destination, Australia.
"The last 10 days in Indonesia has been more or less solid driving about 12 hours a day," he explains, "so getting to Bali has been great for a break. We couldn't get a permit to get into Burma so it meant flying from Calcutta to Bangkok. We had two days in Bangkok which was a bit of a party! It's usually regarded as a bit of a dirty city but since we came from Calcutta and India it seemed like the most modern and clean city in the world!
"Then we had four very relaxing days on the Island of Koh Samui which was brilliant (apart from getting a wee bit burnt - good old Irish skin!). The beach bar was especially nice. The island is very beautiful and it was great to be off the bus for such a long stretch, and we even found an Irish bar!
"Since then it's been mostly driving, we had only three days in Malaysia where the highlight was seeing the Petronas Towers (once the highest building in the world) and after that we got the ferry over to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia."
Indonesia, Declan explains, included the longest stretch of driving in the whole trip.
"We had 10 long days of driving until we got to Bali but there were highlights along the way. One of the highlights of the whole trip was to see Mount Bromo which is an active volcano. We were able to walk right up to the crater and even to walk around the whole rim of the volcano. It was really stunning, there's no lava visible, just smoke coming from the crater but it was fantastic."
Before Reaching Bali, Declan was on Indian terrain, a trip which included five days in Nepal.
"Highlights in the first week included in the Golden Sikh Temple in Amritsar (which is coated in solid gold) and of course the Taj Mahal which does live up to its reputation as a thing of beauty.
"Probably most interestingly of the other places we also visited was Varenasi which is the main city that the Holy River, The Ganges, flows through, and it could well be the dirtiest place I've ever visited.
"People (and cows) use the streets and river as a toilet, and the river is also used for drinking water, the outlet for multiple sewage works, and a place to wash clothes and people.
"Most incredibly as the river is sacred, bodies are cremated on the river side and then the remains are scattered on its waters. If the bodies are not fully burned, it is common to see floating body parts which, unfortunately, we didn't see!"
Declan moved into Nepal which, suddenly, he says, the lifestyle was a lot more laid back and not as hectic as India.
"We spent three very pleasant days in its capital Kathmandu which seemed a world away from the bustle of India. The undoubted highlight was the flight we took to fly beside Mount Everest. It is the height that most Jumbo jets fly at and it actually is higher than all the clouds that surround it.
"It was back into India then and on towards Kolkata (the new name for Calcutta). The highlight there was Darjeeling which is famous for it tea plantations and, because of this, is a lot better off than other parts of India and is a pleasant place.
"The traffic in India is unbelievably chaotic. The first few days we were amazed when we saw cows roaming freely on motorways, cars driving the wrong way, but after a few days it became the norm!"
