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Indo has been thrust upon us with with a crazy force over the past 10 days. The country is the strangest contrast between hectic streets with far more cars and bikes than should possibly be able to fit on them and laid back people who bask in the sun selling their produce on the streets and beaches.
We headed for Kuta as soon as we arrived in Bali which seemed to be the main hub. Right from leaving the airport we were inundated with people wanting to sell their goods so we had to get our haggling brains into gear right away. We arrived in Kuta and found accomodation was very cheap. We paid about 14 pounds a night which we were very happy with. As soon as our bags were in the room we headed down to the beach. To get to the beach we had to by pass a million motorcycles and cars getting through impossibly tight spaces with out getting as much as scratch on them. The street, as with most streets in Kuta, had every inch filled with clothes, food, paintings and what ever else they were selling. There were also a number of bars selling food at around 3 or 4 pounds for a meal.
As soon as we walked onto the beach it felt a million miles away from the hectic street we had left 5 seconds ago. The beach opened up into miles and miles of golden sandy beaches which were simply stunning. The street vendors stayed at the top of the beach selling food and renting surf borads whilst the rest of the beach was left for people to chill out in the sun.
We spent the next three days in Kuta. Trevor bought a surfboard which he fell in love with and I hired boards. The surf was fairly small so I could get out every day. I was managing to stand every time and starting to catch a few waves from the back line. Trev made the whole thing look like a walk in the park but it's really hard. I got battered all over the place and found sand in all sorts of places for days afterwards.
We lived on a diet of banana pancakes for breakfast, fruit for lunch and a proper meal for dinner. We found an awesome fruit guy on the beach who gave us a massive bowl of fruit including EVERYTHING for about 70p. He also sold us coconuts which we found to be better than any medication for an upset stomach.
Trev was really great at haggling guys on the beach. He kept telling them his name was Rambo and I was Pamela which they all seemed to find rediculously funny. (That may have something to do with the copious amounts om Marajoana that fills the air most of the time). I'm starting to learn that my tendancy to show that I'm interested in what they're selling right from the start, immediately looses me the battle.
Kuta was wonderful but we were ready to leave the crazyness for something a little quieter so we hopped on a shuttle bus and drove to Ubud. The shuttle buses feel like a continuous near death experience. Everbody hoots and drives up the back of each other but throughout the chaos it seems to work. We arrived in Ubud a couple of hours later and found another very nice place to stay for a similar price. We were greeted by a massive snake as we arrived at our appartment so kept a look out after that just in case.
Whilst in Ubud we went white water rafting through the rain forest, visited the monkey forest and had the most mazing massage overlooking one of the rice paddies. The rafting was a great experience. We managed to see so much of the rainforest and paddy fields whilst continuosly going down fairly steep rappids. To finish off, we went down a rediculously large waterfall which was such an adrenaline rush. I can't see any of it passing health and safety standards back at home :)
Ubud was wonderfully serene however we were craving the sea again so after a couple of days we decided to move on to one of the Islands - Gili T. It took 12 hours to get there travelling on shuttles, a ferry, more shuttles and a fast boat. One of the frerries took about 5 hours with only a small amount of shade on the boat so everyone huddled together trying to keep out of the sun. It's a far cry from being at home and seeking the sun at every oppertunity. We had to go through Lombok to get over to the island which I wasn't overly keen on. The people were much more aggressive when trying to sell us things and were pushy for tips. This was very different from the laid back guys in Bali who enjoyed the banter and knew when to walk away if someone wasn't interested.
The last boat we took to get to Gili T left at sunset so we had the most beautiful image of the island highlighted by a red glow with the volcano from Bali looming in the background. Gili T was not quite the exotic getaway we had thought it would be and soon found that it had been labled the party island. There are loads of bars, restauants and people selling excursions. We had a dodgy acccomodation for the first night but have since moved to a bungalow that we're very happy with away from the noise.
There is soooo much to do here. The Gili islands consist of three differend islands which all have a very different feel. We took a snorkelling tour around the three islands which was stunning. There was plenty of marine life and reefs and we were fortunate enough to swim with a couple of turtles. They were so graceful and inquisitive. The water is like a bath and so clear, the visibility is to about 15 metres. Yesterday we hired bikes for the day and cycled around the island. We expected it to take a good couple of hours but we were back in about 45 minutes so we decided to go round again. We could mostly follow a road around but there were a few hundred metres that we had to lug the bikes through sand. We were pretty hot by the end so we treated ourselves to a dip in the sea :)
Trevor has managed to find a surf spot on the island so has been surfing in the afternoons. It's a bit big for me and breaks over reef which I don't really fancy slamming into so I have a little R n R on the beach whilst he surfs. It's a hard life.
The internet connection is pretty dodgy here and I think this has sent through several different versions. It's taken me a couple of days to write it as every so often the electricity goes off throughout the whole island. It's kind of nice in most respects but a little frustrating at times.
Thank you so much to everyone who has written to me with updates from home. I love hearing from you all and I'm sorry I haven't been able to write back. Hopefully the internet will be a little better elsewhere so I can write back soon. For now I will be getting back to the 30 degree heat and going to hire a kayak for the day. I hope all is well with everone and sending lots of love x x x x
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stacey Sanders Looks amazing hun, so pleased your having such an adventure together, experinces that you'll have for life that nobody can take from you. love you heaps and keep us informed x x x