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We arrived a few days ago in the most wonderful location of Pedang Pedang. It consists of a village built into the cliffs with stunning bays dotted along a few KM coastline. I have been told it has some of the best waves in the world here so it attracts surfers from all corners of the earth to claim they have surfed Pedang Pedang.
In the the last couple of weeks we spent a few more days in Gili T, made our way over to Kuta Lombok and finally found our selves, after a 12 hour journey in Pedang Pedang.
Gili T was a lot of fun but I was unfortunately struck down by the dreaded food poisoning so we kept to some of the less strenuous activities, one of which included yoga by the beach. The lady who took the session was incredible. She got us contorting into all sorts of positions and stretching muscles I didn't even realise I had. The sun was setting as the class took place which created a very serene atmosphere. Definitely something I'd like to take up in the future even if it did take a few days for me to feel human again after the muscle aches. So not only did I loose a dress size from dodgy food I also managed to tone up a bit. Win win situation I say :)On our last night we found a little restaurant that served food to you in little private booths where you can sit and watch a movie. The Indonesians love their pirate films so we were able to watch the Hangover 2 on the beach whilst eating dinner. Fabulous evening.
The people on Gili T were so lovely and full of fun it felt quite sad to be leaving there but the waves at Kuta Lombok were beckoning Trev so we said our goodbyes, took the boat over to Lombok and said out prayers as we got on another crazy shuttle bus. I don't know where these guys get their spatial awareness from because we should have crashed 10 times over but they manage to fit through the tightest of gaps with cars/bikes/horse and carts/goats and chickens!!!!! all coming towards us with people tooting left right and center for no apparent reason. Somehow or another we always seem to make it to our destination and so we arrived at Kuta Lombok.
Kuta L was strangest place we had been to by far. I think it has only recently been developed into a tourist attraction as it was very basic. The selling and haggling was relentless and we experienced the same kind of aggressive selling that we had seen before in Lombok. The people weren't particularly nice and in all honesty seemed a little strange. It was quite sad to see so many young children desperately trying to sell things with glazed expressions. Some of the children were quite fun though and were showing off their English and French to us. I took a picture of one little boy on the digital camera and showed him the picture which he thought was hilarious. Nevertheless we found some stunning spots and had a great couple of days. We hired a motorbike as everything was stretched over quite a few Kilometres. That was an experience in itself. To get to one beach we had to travel over what can only be described as a dirt track with craters in it with a dusting of sand to finish things off. Not only that, it was going through the mountains so it felt like we were going up and down vertical gradients. I decided this was probably not the best place to learn to drive a bike however I did manage to drive it from one side of a carpark to the other. Yey to me. The road was worth the drive as it opened up to a secluded bay with white sands and turquoise waters. It's amazing that no matter how many times you see these sorts of beaches they never seace to take your breath away.
We found a surf spot that could only be reached by boat so we got onto a rickety boat that looked a bit like an oversized canoe with a motor and went out to the waves. A random Aussie joined us to keep the cost down and away we went. It took about 20 mis to get to the spot where we were quite literally dropped in the middle of the ocean. The waves were bigger than I had experienced before so I stuck to body boarding. I'm not sure if I was really in control of what I was doing but I seemed to be doing quite well. It was an amazing work out as the wave takes you a good 100 metres forward and then you have to paddle back again. After roughly an hour we went back to the boat which waits for you and headed to another spot. I was exhausted by this point so Trev and the random Aussie took this wave on. It's strange looking from the boat where you are in totally flat waters and looking at huge great waves a couple of hundred metres away.
Two days were enough time in Kuta L so we headed back to the mayhem of Kuta Bali and left early the next day for Pedang Pedang. The whole vibe here is totally different. It's so chilled out and noone imposes themselves on you. Trevor has been surfing the most immense waves every day. To get out to the waves at one of the bays you have to go through this small tunnel in the cliffs. Not only is it incredibly difficult to get out and back in, you are met with 10 foot waves once you paddle a short way out. I stick to my little look out point when he goes to this bay and work on my tan (or sunburn as it has been on several days). Our days here are generally spent going from one beautiful beach to another and filling our evenings watching the sunset on the beach and going to different forms of entertainment. We spent one evening at a temple watching Kacak kacak dancing. This was a bizare experience. A group of semi naked men use their voices to provide the music whilst a story is told through the dancers. It was held in an open air amphitheater at sunset which added to atmosphere and provided a thoroughly good evening.
Last night we had a sunset BBQ on the beach. We chose our fish which had been caught that day and settled down for a Bintang and the most flavorsome fish I have ever eaten. It was so large we had to share. It was another spectacular sunset which added to an all round perfect evening. It was all the more exciting as to get to the beach you have to make your way down steep steps in the cliff which have a million obstacles along the way. This is fine in the day when you can see but trying to make your way back up in the dark after a couple of Bintangs proved to be a memorable experience.
We're now ready for some more adventure so are making our way to Malaysia on Friday where we have long trecks through Jungles and more island hoping to look forward too. I hope everyone at home is well and sending lots of love to everybody. Special love to Marley Bench who will become my God daughter on the 21st August which I am over the moon about x x x x x
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rach we so love to hear what your up to, and getting into yoga on the beach is just the perfect setting wish I could have joined you. sending you both lots of love and big cuddle from marley xxx