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Nice early start, we left for the train station at 6.30am...then we sat on the train for an hour before it actually left, god damn you Indonesian time keeping. It was so cold on the train and with 2 annoying children making silly noises in front of me I feared they might not make it. They had enormous hats on that made them even more annoying, one was an angry bird and the other an elephant.
The views were pretty good, mountains, field after field of rice and people farming with machines we'd probably see in museums at home. When they came round to check our tickets, it was clearly a 3 man job...one man to check the ticket, a second man to watch the first man and a third man to watch the second man watching the first man. Whyyyyyy??!
We were told we'd arrive at lunch time, it was actually 4pm....it's a bit of a joke between us now that we generally don't believe anything we're told and then it can't annoy you. Hotel seems to be in a tourist area, by this I mean I have seen lots of white faces which is unusual. I have the best room in the house, next to the prayer room and reception should I feel the need to pray or run out of toilet roll...very handy. We enjoyed a really really good pizza for dinner and even though my clothes are getting tighter by the day ice cream too. It's so difficult to eat well here, I did ok till I got to Indonesia but everything here is fried, all we do is sit on buses and my fat bits are expanding at a rapid rate...I can't wait to get back to my exercise and non deep fried food.
Thursday was a full day of fun, for the first time in ages and it was really good. First was a rickshaw tour, the old man on the bicycle dragging two of us at a time. Me and Daniel just about managed to squeeze into one, good job he is skinny. They let us have a go at riding/driving the rickshaw, I didn't have any passengers and that was hard enough. We went to a couple of palaces, the first was memorable only because of the guide - he was crazy! The little old man spoke mainly in Dutch, some English and had a crazy laugh. He found lots of his stories hilarious, so might we if we understood Dutch. He was harping on about a belly button, I don't recall anything further. The second was a water palace, I believe used by the same sultan or same family atleast. It basically had swimming pools where the sultan would watch lots of naked ladies who didn't have a name, only a number. If he liked them the lucky lady got to have his babies, along with about 20 others.
We had a bit of a drive then to Borobudur - the largest Buddhist temple in the world. We were taken round and told stories by a nice little man with big teeth and lots of enthusiasm...it was pretty impressive. I've started a new game the last few days, it keeps me amused and it's so simple. We're all so bored with people asking for our photo, or even worse when the idiots just come and stand next to you while their friend takes a picture and thinks you won't notice?! If it's a child asking I play along, but adults and especially men get my new special photo face, I ruin their photo by pulling the ugliest face I can. I caught one dirt bag taking photos of someone's chest when she wasn't looking, so I shoved my camera into his face and he wasn't very happy - I think he got my point.
We had some bad news, our guide Gede had to leave after his dad was involved in an accident. He was very poorly and needed an operation costing $1500 and he could only raise half. One of the girls said we should give our tips to him now so that he could get the ball rolling, it wouldn't be enough but still a help we hoped. One of the girls seemed a bit put out, let's hope she never needs a few dollars to save her parent.
The last day was a free day, I loved it. I had a lie in, breakfast and sunbathed by the pool. Me and Daniel then went in search of the post office so I could post my postcards I've been carrying round for weeks. It wasn't quite the set up we have at home but the lady looked like she knew what she was doing, let's hope these ones actually arrive.
After lunch I went with Cheryl and Daniel in search of bikini waxes and massage, after a few salons and the same shock reaction it's clear the only thing they'll wax for you in Indonesia is your hands and feet!! We settled for massage instead which was £3.50 for an hour and pretty decent. I tried to do a little exercise, it's been weeks since I bothered. Then I tried yoga for the first time, as I've always suspected...I didn't like it. Dinner was pretty pants but they served Smirnoff Ice which I took full advantage of and paid the price the next day. We had some drinks with another tour group one day behind us, there was a few nice people so hopefully catch up with them in Bali.
Exciting day tomorrow - me and Cheryl have decided to leave the tour and head to Bali early. I'm getting less and less out of the days now and for my last 12 days I just want to do what I want - which is nothing! So we got our £25 flight, the plan is to head to the GIlli islands till next weekend when we'll head back to Sanur and meet the group for one last night. Can't wait to get to paradise - no more buses for Emma!
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