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We arrived in Amed to discover it was a small one street village with a few hotels and a black volcanic beach. The hotels were cheap but not very good, they all looked a bit old and in need of a refresh. The most disappointing was the snorkelling, there were some lovely fish and coral along the shore but there was also lots of plastic rubbish and old fishing nets all over everything. The people of the village seemed to be always sweeping the leaves from the front of their houses but just left rubbish around everywhere. We only stayed for one day and then moved onto Sanur on the south coast.
Sanur is a busy place with more places to stay and some very expensive hotels. The Lonely Planet says that there beautiful white beaches clear blue see but the sand is yellow and a very coarse grain. The beaches are mostly clean but out of each of the big hotels when the tide is out you can see large sewer pipes going out into the sea which is a bit off putting. The sea looks mostly clean but not the deep blue colour you see on the postcards. While here it was the Hindu new year, they call it Nypie, on the 22nd they parade these big figures of good and bad gods they have made, then on the 23rd (Nypie) no one is allowed outside the boundaries of where they are staying, the airport shuts down, the tv stations are all put off air, you are not allowed to make lots of noise, and when it gets dark you are not allowed to have any lights on. This is strictly enforced by guards patrolling the streets, a girl was caught outside where we were staying, we could not see what was happening, but they were shouting at her, she was crying and then they took her off to who knows where.
The weather here is either really hot and sunny or really hot and raining, it is way too hot for me, it's so hot all you can do is sit around all day, but this gets boring after a few days. We have spoken to lots of people who have been to Asia and they say it is even hotter there, currently 40 degrees in Thailand, so we have decided to miss out Asia and fly home directly from Bali, as I can't stick this heat for another 2 months. We leave here on 1st of April and arrive in UK on the 2nd. Am looking forward to getting back after 6 months away. I really enjoyed the US, Cook Islands and New Zealand and think for future trips I will stick to countries like this, where I can do active things and it's not so hot all the time. We are now treating the final week just as a holiday, going to the beach and updating my CV, as I need to get a job asap as when I get back as I have a new track bike to buy :-)
See you all soon
Sharon and Dai
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Mike Come back to NZ. The weather is great at the moment. I know where I can get my hands on a great tent. Great swimming pools, great beaches. Great people (no comments, Dai). Great World Famous in New Zealand places to visit. Got the largest Gannet colony in the World!! And the longest non-place place name.