Indonesia

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Hi everyone.



We are now 4 months into our trip and I can't believe how quickly it's gone! When we left Sri Lanka we flew to Kuala Lumpur. It's an incredible city and it had a great atmosphere, however, I'll save KL until I write about our final month in Malaysia!



The next four weeks we spent in Indonesia, a truly unique and fascinating country. A vast archipelago of over 17000 islands Indonesia is huge and immensely varied. We visited 4 (5 if you count lunch on tiny Gili Air) out of these 17000 so I can hardly claim to know the country inside out - we only scratched the surface but I think we experienced a few different aspects of the culture.



We flew in to Bali and arriving at midnight we decided to stay in Kuta, which is a beach resort close to the airport. Driving along the main strip flanked by McDonalds, Starbucks and KfC and seeing drunk westerners stumbling down the street confirmed what we'd already been told about Kuta. Not really the indonesian culture we were after. We stayed one night before we got the hell out!



We got the bus to Ubud the next morning. The drive was pretty congested and there are more motorbikes on the Balinese roads than I have ever seen before. My opinion of Bali so far was mixed, it wasn't the peaceful place I'd imagined. This soon changed however. Ubud is a charming town in the countryside of Bali, filled with art galleries, boutiques and cafes. We spent about 4 days in Ubud soaking up the atmosphere, picking up souvenirs in the bustling market and whizzing around the countryside on a motorbike to visit innumerable temples. We saw traditional Balinese dance, we both got relaxing massages and Lewys had a haircut, which now, thankfully, doesn't look so much like an egg... If you walk for about 5 minutes outside of Ubud you suddenly find yourself in the real Bali and realise that it is achingly beautiful - lush rice paddies fringed with palm forests and valleys with cascading waterfalls and rivers. It's more than just the landscape though. There is something about the quality of light there, the contrast between the bright blue sky and the vegetation that is every shade of green you could possibly imagine, the smiling farmers at work sewing rice seeds in their triangular hats, and the endless scattering of ornate shrines and temples that infuse the place with a spiritual atmosphere. This is the Bali I had been hoping for. Away from the tourist area and women trying to emulate Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love you find that the Balinese are effortlessly spiritual. Everywhere you look there are offerings that come in all shapes and sizes, an array of frangipani blossoms and an incense stick on a banana leaf or an elaborate display of fruit carried on the head of an elegant woman wearing a beautiful batik print sarong.



From Ubud we took a tourist bus to Amed on the north east coast. After the Sri Lankan public buses that are packed to the rafters it was nice to get picked up from our guest house in an AC minibus that was empty for most of the way but it felt like a bit less of an adventure. I wasn't sure what to expect from Amed; it had been recommended by a few people we'd met but I'd never been to a black sand beach before. I needn't have worried however because Amed is beautiful. With the imposing backdrop of Gunung Agung in the distance, the gently curving volcanic beaches contrasted wonderfully with the green palm trees and made the sea a deep rich blue. The water was the clearest I've ever seen and we spent a few days snorkelling in the coral reefs a few metres from the beach and exploring a mysterious Japanese shipwreck that is now teeming with underwater life.



We caught the fast boat from Amed to the Gili Islands (thankfully it went too quickly to be a repeat of my whale-watching experience..) The gilis are a set of three tiny idyllic islands off the north west coast of Lombok. We stayed on Gili Trawangan, the 'party' island. Wading from the boat through turquoise water and powdery white sand, it's easy to see why people love these islands. Gili T is very touristy, full of westerners on gap years, but it was fun for the first day or so and we met some nice people. After that though, the weather changed from blue skies to rain and the atmosphere was dampened a little. We waited a few days for the weather to clear, getting cabin fever a bit since there's not much to do on a small island if you can't go to the beach! We did eventually get to do a snorkelling boat trip around all three islands, which was amazing. There was an incredible amount of multicoloured fish and we even saw some turtles!



Next we made our way over to Lombok. Still just as beautiful as Bali, Lombok is a mostly Muslim island whose landscape is more wild and untamed than the Balinese rice paddies. We stayed in a place called Kuta on the stunning south coast and it really couldn't be more different from Kuta on Bali. With few tourists except surfers, long sweeping bays with soft white sand, green hills rolling into the blue sea and largely untouched beaches, we knew we'd stay here for a while. We found a gem of a guest house where there was a friendly mix of people and motorbike hire included in the room rate! We spent a good few days exploring the coastline; just when you think the beaches can't get any better an even more secluded and beautiful bay pops up! One day we went on a long motorbike ride with a Croatian guy called Marin and an American girl called Alex. We drove through lots of small fishing villages, eating fresh mackerel smoked over a wood fire next to the beach. One particularly remote place made us feel a bit like invading aliens; the whole village came out to say 'Hello tourist!' and stare at us. Most of the children were giggling and waving but some of them seemed a bit scared (or maybe it was just Lewys' hair...).



After relaxing in Kuta for a while we decided it was time to move on to Java. To save money we decided to take a bus to Yogyakarta, leaving at 7am on Sunday. When, at 8pm Monday evening we were still on a bus and still about an hour from Yogya we were wondering why we didn't just fly. The journey in total took 38 1/2 hours and to make it go even quicker they played Indonesian karaoke, which consists of women wailing a tune that bears no resemblance to the backing track being played by men in the worst shirts I've ever seen. The promise of karaoke is even printed on the ticket, as if the thought of a 38 hour bus journey wasn't appealing enough then the thought of such entertainment might just sway you. This was played just loud enough so you could still hear it over your own music and when Lewys' ipod ran out of battery I thought he might cry. Thankfully none of the passengers took 'karaoke' literally and started to sing - I think I would have jumped out of the window!



When we finally arrived in Yogya it was (nearly) worth it. Yogya is a vibrant city with lots to do and see. During our week relaxing there we took an Indonesian cooking class, which was really fun, and visited the Borobodur temple complex, very peaceful apart from the Indonesian school kids (or 'the paps' as Lewys called them) who were much more interested in taking photos of us westerners than the religious monument. The highlight for me was seeing the Ramayana Ballet in the spectacular setting of Prambanan. The outdoor auditorium with the ancient temples as a backdrop was really atmospheric, the performers were unbelievable and the costumes were spectacular.



On the way to Surabaya we stopped off at Gunung Bromo, one of Java's breathtaking volcanoes. Unfortunately Lewys had some dietary issues so we didn't make it to the viewpoint for sunrise. While Lewys spent the day recovering in the room our friend Ann and I decided to head up to the crater. Speeding across the 'sand sea' on the back of a motorbike with the surreal lunar-esque landscape as a backdrop was amazing. We climbed a series if steep steps to reach the crater itself, which was an awe-inspiring sight with bubbling water in the crevice and billowing steam wafting into the sky. Definitely worth the hair-raising motorbike ride behind an Indonesian man who interpreted our shouts to go slower as indications to grin maniacally and go even faster! Luckily Lewys was feeling well enough the next day to see the crater for himself.



We rounded off our month in Indonesia with a night in Surabaya before flying back to Kuala Lumpur. Indonesia, like everywhere else we've been, is an amazing country. There are so many islands to explore that it would take a lifetime to see them all, but I think we made the most of our month there.

We're back in Malaysia now and have met up with Kylie and Tristan (Lewys' sister and brother) for the last month of our travels! Next time I write I'll probably be back in sunny England!!



Lots of love xxx

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