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Published: December 19th 2006
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Shark Attack!
Dylan this ones for you from Singapore Under water center. hi all, Dave here it's our last day in indonesia and we're flying to Melbourne tonight and back to the western world, i can say now that i haven't really missed it that much infact gonna be sad to leave asia really, for one it's so cheap over here, the foods all pretty good (although am a little tired of rice) the people are really friendly and there are loads of great beaches. out of all of asia i think i'm gonna miss indonesia the most esspecially the bit we just spent the last week in. Gili Trawangan is a small island just off of the coast of Lombok, and it is spectacularly beautiful, crystal clear waters, golden sandy beaches, palm trees everywhere and hardly anyone is on the island, we walked around the island in about four hours (El's fault it's only supposed to take on hour and a half) and for the middle 2 hours i think we saw 1 or 2 people, think of the things the two of us could do on a desserted beach in the sun for a couple of hours...... thats right dig a great big hole and build a giant sand castle uninterupted.
(what were you thinking? dirty thoughts? me too.) The other good thing about this island was the fact that there were no police on it everybody looked out for each other, and there were magic mushrooms, weed and whatever else you can think of going around everywhere. I suppose the locals are all high every night cause theres not really much else to do. it's was all good for me, the mushroom shakes were really cool, begining my trip on a pitch black beach just watching the stars and listening to the surf, one of the best experiences of my life. i'm NOT a druggie i sware i just like to dabble a bit. other stuff we did on the island included a snorkelling trip and lots of sunbathing, thats about it although i did get to finish my first book of the trip (Tom you were right "the time travellers wife" is really cool) I think El's really getting the hang of the snorkelling she's had a couple of panicy moments but all round they are getting few and far between, or as she would put it she "lived to tell the tale". Talking about living to tell the
Rice Fields
During the Ubud tour we also visited the beatiful Rice fields. tale, on our snorkelling trip out in a glass bottomed boat it felt like we almost wouldn't survive. The boat takes you out around all three of the islands in the area Gili's Twawangan, Meno and Air stopping around each island for a bit of snorkelling and turtle spotting ( i saw a couple there really cool, just like in nemo) before stoping on Gili Air for some lunch. While we were sitting eatting our lunch it started raining really heavily and i thought that i would mean we'd be stuck on the island till it died down, but nooo. the crew of the tiny little boat decides that it's fine and we head out into the storm and at first it's not to bad but after about 5 minutes the boats pitching and rolling massivly, me, El and the other couple on the boat are all holding on for dear life. El turns to me and say's that she's not worried because none of the crew look worried, untill i point out that the crew are all completely stoned and are incapable of being worried in their state. It was a very scarey trip but we made it back and we "lived to tell the tale"
We haven't spent all of our time on the island though, before we went there we stayed in Bali for a week, flying into densapar airport and spending the first 3 nights in Legian which is about a mile away from Kuta. The place we stayed at was so nice, massive bed, air con and a swiming pool for relaxing after a hard days shopping and sunbathing, because thats all there is to do around here, spend some of the day on the beach then go and buy stuff because it's so cheap and because it's so much fun to bargin with the stall holders. I've been ripped off a couple of times but the amounts are so small that i don't really care that i spent 100,000 (5 pound) on a watch that should have cost me 30,000 (2 pound). it was so much fun getting the bloke to 100,000 from 1.5 million that i just don't care. at least he had a good day. Anyway after three days hard bargining we moved up into the center of Bali staying in Ubud the capital of the country there's a bit more to do here, it also being the culural center of the country, here we went on a trip of the surrounding areas to see some temples and what i wanted to see the most, Kintamani the home of an active volcano, i've never seen an active volcano, and altough it did look cool, i was expecting something a little bit more like the end of episode 3, lava flows with big rocks floating on it, with some cocky tour guide jumping on and off of them. silly i know but i'm a big kid and i wanna see the hot stuff! instead we stopped about a hours drive away from it and sat in a resturant eating jaffles (toasted sandwiches) and taking photographs of it, from a SAFE distance. back in Ubud we also spent a night at a cultural show watching a Kekac dance, this was really cool. there were about 50 - 60 men all sat on the floor in concentric circles faceing the center where there was a big candle stick holder. All the men chanted and swayed in unison was a bit erriee the chantting, but it was also kicking out some great rythums, i just hope i can remember them when i get back. anyway in the center of all these men a play was carried out by some stunningly dressed people. The costumes were excellent especially the masks some of the characters wore, i'd seen them for sale on the streets around Ubud and had very nearly bought one earlier in the day (would have looked great on Martins drums at a kong gig) but couldn't have carried it around with me :-(
Anyway gotta go now this connections not very fast and it's taking to long to upload the photos, i'll add some more into the blogs once i get to Australia.
see you soon
Dave
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I'm on holiday too
Hi Kids, just wanted to say hi. Partly to prove that I am actually reading your blog but also to tell you how jealous I am. Sounds like you're having a real blast. Dave : If you fancy bringing make an assortment of electronics for me, I'd very appreciate it ;) El : Still with Ally (nearly 4 months!) G