Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
7 july
Two and a half weeks in, so much has happened. I should really be keeping a daily dairy to remember each day’s events but at the end of the day I am either on the Bingtangs or to tired from the Bingtangs from the night before. Since Bish has gone, there have been a few more incidents. One of our members had an accident which resulted in breaking his femur. Due to insurance purposes we are not allowed to talk about it but the outcome was a 70 thousand dollars US hospital fee which he was not covered for. Originally an emergency ambulance plane had to come collect him to take him back to New Zealand but last night he flew out with the boys on regular pacific blue. One expensive holiday, poor guy! There has also been Matty who had yet another motorbike accident and bruised/battered up his foot. Kahn got run over by a surfboard and has a bruised swollen elbow and then there are also the multiple cases of Bali Belly and intense reef cuts. It is fair to say that bali will leave a mark on every one of us, literally.
All of the second week really consisted of trying to organise a Gili trip and failing every time, Kuta shopping and surfs/sunbathing at Padang beach. Friday night was a night of looseness which is really only as far as my memory will travel back to today. Kate, the boys and I decided to go watch the Fifa soccer game, Brazil Vs Netherlands. s*** got loose. After convincing the owner of the club to make us under the table vodka concoctions we started to get rowdy. A large group of taranakians. Getting hold of a guitar was lethal as I remember squinting at the strings hoping that some form of tune would exert out. Pretty adamant it wasn’t the best sound, lucky tatey took it away from me fast.
The next day very hungover we all thought it would be a groovy idea to go out in Kuta. Learning from past experiences we took Taxi’s in. Our taxi cranked Robbie Williams, a real treat! We went to various bars getting cocktails called rocket fuel and liquid ecstasy. Espresso Bar where we have been hanging out is a small club with a live band every night, and this is where Kahn and bish had been singing the other nights. After a few cocktails Del and I thought we should go for a stroll and see if suedo effrogen would pop into our paths. Not far down the broken road we were offered some and suddenly our bodies were tingling. It was time for the bounty. With a fire poi display outside, green cages, half naked models on catwalks and three stories of sweaty tourists, the bounty is one messy place. The majority is filled with sexed up twenty somethings from Australia, throffing on any moving female. It is a pit, a hilarious soaking room of doom. We danced, played pool and absorbed numerous jam jars (best cocktail ever). Suddenly it was 4am and time to venture back to Padang, though not without a mushies stop. Lets just say the rest of the night was a beautiful blur.
Sunday and Monday were non existent to me. I had a bad mix of hangover and Bali belly which is only starting to come right now (Wednesday). Yesterday I started to feel a bit better and was sick of being cooped up in a hot small room. The girls had planned a trip up to Lovina, which is at the top of Bali. They were going to swim with dolphins and visit temples and waterfalls. Originally I decided I wouldn’t do it due to it being overpriced but in the mist of sickness and being unactive for two days I thought why not? We were taken up in an air conditioned van which was a nice change from a scooter. We stopped at a resort just before the mountains which looked over lush green rice fields and beautiful palm trees. There was a buffet lunch, consisting of a massive spread of Indonesian and western food. AMAZING. Our table looked over bamboo and flax huts surrounded by ponds and flourishing garden. Mean feed, incredible view.
After lunch we drove through the monkey infested forests which cloaked the mountains. The temperature dropped the higher we climbed. Arriving in Lovina we were interested to see that it was a ‘city’ like Kuta though was quieter. The streets were clean and there were fewer tourists. It had a similar atmosphere to the Bukit Peninsula though was lively like Kuta.
We got a shock once we met the dolphins. They were not freely playing in the ocean but limited to a small salt water pool. There were two who performed a twenty minute show which just made me angry. Here they were, these beautiful kind creatures acting as circus folk. I hated it. We then discovered that the dolphin we would be swimming with was alone in a sad tiny pool, shallow and cramped. I couldn’t believe it.
Looking around the rest of the place we found otters, monkeys, crocodiles, turtles, peacocks, iguanas etc caged in concrete prisons. No bush or greenery to play in or room to move. The worst part about it is that this place was a resort, accommodation with a zoo. I would not be able to sleep there, next to miserable animals slowly dying in their own filth. ANGER! It needs to be shut down.
After this very angry walk we were allowed to play with lonely John the dolphin. Swimming around with him was an experience but more than anything it was surreal to think right now, a week later he is still in this tiny pool depressed and forced to play with annoying humans who just want to touch him. This is a massive contrast to the dolphins I watched play in the ocean yesterday when I was witnessing the insane surf at Uluwatu. Poor Johnny boy, I want to free him.
On the way home from Lovina we stopped at a gigantic waterfall. We watched it spewing out tonnes of water over a rocky cliff, loud and proud. There was also the stop at the monkeys in the mountains and the most peaceful place on earth. Ulan Danu Beratan temple which is so sacred, it will not let woman who are menstruating allowed to visit as it is seen as unclean and impure.
The entrance is two high stone walls taking you into a courtyard with beautiful rock carvings and trees. It is situated on a lake side which is gloomy and grey in a handsome haunting way. We stayed there for about half an hour breathing in the peaceful atmosphere.
The sun looked tired as were we so we started the long journey back home to Padang. Rain and fog appeared which made the drive down the mountains an interestingly scary rollercoaster home. Knowing from the drive there that the cliffs we drove around were crazy high and now only being able to see a few metres ahead because of the thick fog was threatening. It looked like a grey pit of death, an infinity deep hole leading to nothingness. GOOD!
12 july
Kates gone. I miss her already. At the moment there is now only Danielle, Kahn and I left. Guthrie and Emma arrive tomorrow and the boys come back from Lombok on Wednesday. Kahn’s friend Jared who is a sponsored surfer is staying at the same place as us now, Cempuka Indah Inn or Kongsi Inn. Matty walsh left on Friday, so on Thrusday night we had a big night out in Kuta. We went to Espresso bar and had cocktails... what else.
The next day after a hungover swim where Kahn and I were running along the ocean floor with rocks, we all were having a nap. I was awoken by the alarm of matt yelling “f***”. He had missed his flight! Knowing he had to leave on Friday the 9th July he forgot to register that his flight at 1am was not the night of Friday but the very early hours of the morning. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAA all is good though as he got on the next available flight.
I am starting to realise what I miss about home and noticing things I appreciate here. I miss wheetbix, my bed, wine, foam and cooking. I miss my parents and s*** talking with Tess and having a sense of security. Then again I appreciate not having wheetbix, foam and wine on demand. I also appreciate not having definite security as you learn to trust people and yourself to not f*** things up. I love realising this. I love Bali. I love this carefree lifestyle. Three weeks to go!!
22 July
The boys have left, Guthrie and Emma have left and Norky and Danny have arrived. I love the constant flow of different people, makes each week exciting. The past ten days have really intertwined into a blur of beaches and beers. We have had some amazing nights out n kuta, one being at Apache a reggae bar by the bounty. The entire place screams red yellow and green and is protected by the memory of Bob Marley. A high fabric shrine of him hangs over the stage whilst a local band plays UB40, Sublime and even Katchafire. Every corner of the bar oozes snozness. I loved it.
Another night out involved many cocktails and suedo effrogen. Kahn, Jake, Burley and I ventured off from the rest of the group and danced in a scummy pool of alcohol, sweat and foam. Indo inside pool parties, classic. Afterward on the drive home we decided a mushroom shake would top the night off. Once we consumed our shakes our night turned into a cyclone of colour. Kahn kicked a dog out of amusement, I took my pants off as wearing wet denim jeans and a coat of mushrooms didn’t mix and Jake/Burley laughed for hours. I remember being in the taxi and so confused about how I entered a euphoric galaxy.
Once home at Cempaka Indah we lay on the road laughing and contemplating what to do next. The night ended on a cliff watching the sun come up(which it never did due to it setting on this side of Bali) The scariest moment was when Burley, Jake and I were watching the fishing boats and wondering how they were not cities when suddenly jake leaped out off the cliff to hang on to a bar about a metre away from the edge. He doesn’t remember why he did it or why we were stressing out at the time but once light entered our side of the earth we could see that the bar hung helplessly over a good ten metre fall. Crazy b******. We all finally got to bed at 8:30am.
We visited Nyang Nyangs yesterday, which is a beach near Uluwatu. Walking to the cliff face that takes you down to the beach is beautiful. The lawn is luscious with multiple prehistoric momentums assorted on the grass. To get down to the beach you have to be let through an antique wooden door which is imprinted inside thick cobblestone concrete. Once through you walk down 500 steps covered in oily green slim among bush and lizards. The beach is massive, long, lonely, airy. It has an intimidating feel to it, with its wide open space and no people. It’s a deserted, lost beach with bright aqua blue shores filling up coral pools for marine life to reside in.
Tomorrow is a new escapade, we are off to G-land. G-land is a surf break off Java, a knarley wave that kicks most surfers in the arse. We are catching a van and ferry tomorrow night at 10. Time to venture on.
- comments