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Published: January 6th 2007
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After spending a small fortune in Singapore we flew south to Bali where we spent Christmas and New Year. Bali is a stunning little place with the friendliest people we have come across so far, they always have a smile and time to say hello, which is always appreciated. Bali also has the strangest weather…its sunny and warm but not too hot…but we all could not stop sweating! All you needed to do is scratch your arse and you were dripping, it was bizarre. Ad found a way to stop the sweating on Christmas day when he climbed into the 11/7s freezer to the amazement of the workers…one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen (check out the pics).
I would like to tell you that I saw a lot of what Bali has to offer, but that would be a lie, the first week followed the following pattern;
1)Sleep to midday. We got a room each for 3quid with double bed so thought we should make the most of it.
2)Swimming pool until about 7pm. We just lazed around all day topping up the tan and reading. Mangos and white mangos grew in the trees around the pool so
the workers used to get a few down to try for lunch…doesn’t get much better! It was at the pool where we reached the lowest point of the trip, I ashamed to tell you this…we ordered McDonalds to be delivered (they do that over here) to the pool…the shame! But we did have particularly bad hangovers that day. Around 7.30 everyday someone would do the beer run and we would have a couple of beers in the pool as the Sun set and the stars came out - the best beers I have ever tasted! Even saw a few shooting stars one night.
3)Eat usually in Skygarden, a restaurant that has a sky terrace that over looks the main strip in Kuta. Cracking food, cracking views and friendly staff. We ate there pretty much every night. Then a few cocktails and either bed or ‘M Bar Go’ the local club, we usually chose the later.
We decided to treat ourselves for Christmas so we checked into 5* apartments (only 10 quid a night so didn’t blow the budget) were we spent most of Christmas watching DVDs, well whenever we weren’t drinking! Christmas Eve was a cracking night drinking in
Skygarden with the regulars and staff we had got to know and we had our picture taken which made it into the local press, not sure how that will attract people to the bar but at least we are now famous(ish) in Bali. The funniest part of Christmas Eve was when our gay waiter took me to one side to let me know that he would like to "unwrap me for Christmas this year"! To which I politely pointed out that he had made a mistake and I was not singing ‘All I want for Xmas is two sore cheeks’ it was ‘two front teeth’...Sorry! He got the point but me being me I made the most of this situation and every time I asked for a drink I asked him to make it extra strong and gave him a wink. And they always came back very strong, anyone would think he wanted me on my back!?!? Great night as you can probably tell from the pictures.
It was very strange waking up in Bali on Christmas day with no family around and no presents to open, then I walked out the door and took a stroll down the
beach and remembered that I have opened a present every day for the last 4 months. I ended up just walking along the beach for a few hours having a cold beer and watching the surfers. Everyone that I came across said Merry Christmas which was really nice as most of the people in Bali do not celebrate Christmas but they are just nice people. The highlight of Christmas day was ringing home and speaking to Mum, Dad and Rach but sadly I couldn’t get hold of my bro. It was really nice hearing about them all having a normal Christmas and wishing I was there. We did manage to sort out a Christmas dinner that was probably better than at home (sorry Mum) but they didn’t do roast potatoes so it wasn’t technically a Christmas dinner (everyone knows you need Roasts!!). Then we just headed back to the apartment for more drinks and we all just reminisced what we would be doing if we were back home now. Ad decided to show us so rang his Gran and got her to tell us a joke over the phone as she does this every Christmas…it was a cracker!Then got very
The old wreck
Not you Mum!? pissed and me and Ad decided at 3.30 in the morning that we wanted to go out...not a good idea, back by 4, but all in all a very good Christmas day not with family just drinking with two good mates!
After spending so long in Kuta we thought we should see another part of the island so we headed off to Amed to do some diving and see some sights. The diving was pretty average, we dived the USS Liberty wreck that was sunk 90 years ago in WWI. This just made me ask one question…what was the ship doing in Bali??? From my history lessons I do not remember a Battle of Bali or even Bali being involved in the war, so what was a war ship doing there??? Who knows. But it wasn’t very interesting as most of it had disappeared. We decided to leave Amed after 1 night because - remember I’m not normally superstitious - but our room was haunted! I really don’t believe in this stuff but the one night we stayed I kept hearing the voices of people back home and saw the faces of friends that have died, Ad dreamt that
people he knew died and Rob kept seeing figures in the room. It was so creepy we all got up in the morning and suggested we leave so we did as fast as possible back to Kuta. Very Strange!!!
We saw the clock strike 12 in our usual bar, Skygarden, well I say we saw it strick 12 but technically we were all to busy with Champagne and chatting up the waitresses to notice it was new year. Then we hit a few clubs around Kuta but as with most New Years it was a bit of an anti-climax. It was strange being in a different year to everyone back home but other than that it there was nothing special to report about the night so I won’t bother.
And that brought an end to our time in Bali and Asia. Over the last 4 months we have been to some amazing countries and met some amazing people and I have enjoyed every minute of being in Asia. The sights in China, views in Vietnam, parties in Thailand and people in Bali!!! All great memories.
Next stop is Australia. At this point I would like to thank
Boxing day
Wouldn't be the same if we didn't spend the day in front of the TV the 11 men that between them could not put one descent performance in the Ashes…the England cricket team…for the amount of stick we will get from every single Aussie that knows the name Shane ‘I’m too fat to play a proper sport’ Warne! Cannot wait!
Hope you all have a great 2007 and I will see you in the second half of the year.
Andy
Also, just want to congratulate Eddy Messenger on not passing out before midnight on New Years Eve for the first time in 4 or 5 years, wish I could have witnessed it! Well done buddy, I’m proud of you! Happy Birthday.
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