Bali

 Tues 11^th Oct – We got to Bali at 3am. As soon as we got off the plane, we noticed how hot and humid it was! There was Indonesian music playing in the background at the airport, and we were very aware of being in another country. Everywhere there were adverts for Commonwealth bank, suggersting a lot of Australians come to Bali! Thankfully the hotel had been checking our flight status so we were picked up as arranged and driven back 40 minutes to Ubud. By the time we got to the hotel it was almost 4am, and I met Mitika’s friend Kanch. I was so tired I fell asleep, but they stayed awake catching up.

In the morning, we had a lovely banana pancake breakfast. It was the first time I’d had bananas in a while, because they are so expensive in Australia, due to Cyclone Yasi destroying a lot of the banana crops. We walked around Ubud, and went to visit a temple which was noted as a highlight for the city, but we weren’t that impressed. We went to ask tourist information what to see and do, and after lunch we walked to the Monkey Forest. There was a section which you had to pay to get into, and it was a temple in the forest where lots of monkeys roam around. This was really fun! There were hundreds of monkeys there. One went after my bag and another grabbed my fingers when I wasn’t looking!

I really wanted to visit the Gili Islands as I’d heard so much about them but Mitika and Kanch weren’t so keen so we decided to split for a few days so that we could each do what we wanted. I booked a bus and ferry to Gili Trawangan for the next morning. We went for a nice traditional Indonesian meal that evening, and watched traditional Balinese dancing.

Weds 12^th Oct – I had an early start today with a bus to Patang Bai, and a ferry from there to Gili Trawangan. I met 2 German girls whilst waiting for the ferry Patang Bai, and one of them was with her boyfriend, meaning the other one needed a roommate. I told her I didn’t have accommodation booked and knew of a hostel on the island so we agreed to look for it together. When we got off the boat, I was stunned by the sheer beauty of the island. We stepped right off the boat into ankle-deep water (definitely not in a Western country anymore!), and walked through the beach to the main street. Tons of people were asking us if we needed accommodation, and we really had to concentrate to try and talk to each other as we kept getting interrupted. Finding accommodation with the German girl Caroline was a bit of a pain, because there are no hostels on the island after all. We had so many choices for accommodation, we looked at quite a few rooms for over an hour before finally deciding on one close to the beach. I was lucky to have got chatting to Caroline because otherwise I would have been staying somewhere on my own.

Once we settled in and freshened up, we ventured outside and took in the beauty of the island. It was so lovely. There is no motorised transport, only horse and carriages, and there is one main street full of bars, restaurants, dive shops and souvenir shops. All of the restaurants had seating on the  beach which was great. After lunch we sat on the lounge chairs provided by the restaurant and had a nap. It felt so good to relax on the beach, with lovely music playing in the background from the bar next door. I woke up later on in the afternoon to a stray cat very close to me. It’s funny now that I don’t have flies and mosquitos following me around, cats do! I went across the road and booked some diving for the next day with Manta Dive, then came back to chill with Caroline, Catya and Andrew on the beach. The four of us then went out for a lovely meal together at a beachfront restaurant.

Thurs 13^th Oct – Diving day! My first dive was a dive at Shark Point, where we would might be able to see sharks if we did a deep dive, but I didn’t want to do one of those so I stuck with doing a fun dive. I was a bit seasick on the way over, and we had to do a back crawl entry into the water which was actually pretty nerve-wracking. Basically we had to sit on the side of the boat, cross our legs and dip backwards into the water causing us to somersault before we actually surfaced. I didn’t like it as I didn’t feel in control. We went down to 21 metres which is actually not allowed as I’m only certified to 18m. There was a woman on my dive who was here on her honeymoon and she wanted to split the hire of a camera with me so that was handy and I took lots of great photos. We saw a massive bumphead parrotfish, and a beautiful turtle that I got really close to. Afterwards, I hung out at the dive shop and waited for my photos to be put onto CD. I couldn’t find Caroline and she had the only room key so I had lunch by myself and then went for a 2 hour walk around the whole island. Once you get away from the main street, the island is so tranquil. There were a few posh hotels on the other side, no doubt where honeymooners go to get away from the crowds of tourists. After the walk, I sat on the beach reading for a while, booked my transport to Kuta for the next day and went to do my second dive of the day… a night dive! As I’m not an Advanced diver, I did the night dive as an Adventure dive, which means it can count towards my Advanced Certificate if I choose to do it. We had a safety briefing and then loaded up the boat after sunset. I was nervous to begin with, and it was really difficult getting our equipment set up on the boat in pitch black, with only torches to guide us. Doing the back crawl entry in pitch black is even scarier than in the day time! We had to keep our torches on at all times and when we were at the surface the torch had to be shone on our heads so that people from the boat could see us. When we went under, it was really scary. It was so dark, and we were diving against a wall full of coral. It was an interesting experience, but not one I would do again as I found it scarier than a skydive! I was breathing so much and at one point we were asked to turn our torches off so that we could see the plankton glowing, but me and another guy couldn’t turn ours off, so we missed it. I’m glad I have done a night dive now, and I think if I were to do another one, I would wait until I’ve had more experience diving. After the dive, I wanted to shower but I hadn’t heard from Caroline and I had run out of credit on my phone, (which I couldn’t top up until I was back in Australia). Luckily I managed to get a spare key from a worker at the hotel so I showered and had dinner at the hotel whilst watching Fast and Furious (it was set in rio, is that 2?) Near the end of the film, Caroline found me! Turns out I wasn’t receiving her texts on my phone. But we went to a reggae bar which was lively and it seemed most of the island was there.

Fri 14^th Oct – I went back to manta Dive to pay for my diving, and saw Jodie so gave her the copy of the photo CD. I was going back to Kuta today to meet Mitika and Kanch again. After I got off the ferry at Patang Bai, I was waiting whilst the boat crew were taking the luggage out of the boat. They picked up one bag which made everyone on the port go “oh no!”, I looked up and it was my bag, dripping wet. When I asked what the hell had happened, they said a big wave came and soaked my bag. Not anyone else’s, just my bag. Terrific. The first thing I checked was the side pocket where I’d kept my dive photo CD and the envelope was soaked. I dried the CD with my top (as all my other clothes and towel were wet) and put it in a separate ziplock bag I found, hoping that it wasn’t damaged. We hit lots of traffic driving to Kuta so I got there an hour later than I was supposed to and Mitika wasn’t in the hotel. I had no credit, and the hotel wouldn’t let me dial international numbers. I called her from a payphone, arranged to meet her, and in the meantime gave all of my clothes in for laundry. When I saw Mitika and Kanch I was in a foul mood but we walked on the beach, saw the sunset, and went out for a meal together. After dinner, I picked up my clean clothes and felt a whole lot better. 

Sat 15^th Oct – Today I got my eyebrows done and we did lots of shopping around Kuta. There really isn’t much else to do besides that! We walked around different markets all day and bought lots of stuff. It did get irritating that we couldn’t walk anywhere without being asked to buy something. “Yes please?”, “Come in to my store please?”, “Nice dress for you lady?”, “Transport please?”, “Massaz?” (aka ‘massage’). One woman actually held a man’s hand on the street and kept asking him if he wanted a massage. He tried to walk away and then she said “Massaz? Massaz and sex?” He looked horrified and let go of her hand and looked embarrassed at the three of us standing behind him sniggering. Welcome to Bali.

Sun 16^th Oct – We were going to go to Seminyak today but we decided against it as we still wanted to more shopping. Whilst looking in a shop, my handbag which I had bought the day before broke. As we happened to be next door from the shop I bought it from, I went to take it back. Well that was a nightmare! The woman refused to admit she sold me a crappy bag and wouldn’t exchange it unless I gave her more money. In the end me and Mitika argued so much we refused to leave her store. She eventually gave in and replaced my bag but not without cursing me first. She said she is cursing me with lots of bad luck. Ooooh I’m so scared…. (!) Ha!

Mon 17^th Oct – I woke up with loads of insect bites today (may be cursed?), which were very uncomfortable. The girls had checked out of the hotel whilst I found a room for myself. They were leaving for Darwin tonight, whereas my flight back to Perth wasn’t until tomorrow afternoon, so I needed accommodation. I found something cheap, not veryluxurious, but it was nice to have a room to myself. It was a really hot day and we were all tired so we just sat around in cafes all day, and then went onto the beach in the late afternoon to watch the sunset.

Mitika and Kanch left after dinner and I walked around for a bit, I was pretty bored though and unfortunately due to feeling so itchy I had a terrible night’s sleep.

Tue 18^th Oct – I checked out of the hotel, had brunch and tried to find a taxi. It’s not so easy to get transport when you actually need it! All week people kept asking me if I wanted transport and when I do they are nowhere to be found! I did eventually get a taxi and got to the airport, and back to Perth without any problems. The pilot announced it was a warm 18 degrees in Perth. After spending the last few weeks in 35+ heat, 18 degrees was far from warm! I was freezing at the airport waiting for the shuttle to town, but I got there eventually!