Indonesia - Bali - Kuta

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Hi 😊

Sunday 29th August - Kuta
We arrived at Bali airport (where there were two men playing some sort of local xylophone to welcome us), paid $25USD for a Visa, collected our bags, made friends with Ryan and got in a taxi to Kuta, a town on Bali. It was so so busy even though it was nearly 10pm. It was an interesting driving through Kuta, the shopping looked really good, if you like shopping, lots of big name shops like Topshop and Marks & Spencers and there was a huge Hard Rock Cafe. I saw a Pizza Hut but resisted, I could have got Macdonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut in in 24 hours! We headed for Poppies Lane II (the backpacker accommodation is mostly in Poppies Lane I or Poppies Lane II) to a place that Lyndsey (aka Pin) stayed at before (Pin has actually been everywhere, which comes in very handy!) but they were full up so we had to stay somewhere else that wasn't so nice. There wasn't really enough room for all of us but Ryan had a spare bed so he said that one of us could stay with him. Lyndsey went out and got us some Bintang (I LOVE all beer in Asia) and we got ready for a bit of a night out. We had Pizza on the go and started off in a very nice bar for some cocktails. Then went to Sky Garden which was nice although I really didn't like the music and although they do cool drinks deals where they put an offer with a countdown on a screen they were only for Vodka drinks, and I can't drink Vodka. We eventually moved onto Bounty, which is an awesome club! There are lots of different parts of it with a Karaoke bit and a rock bit and a bit where you can get up and play guitar and drums and the like. We headed straight to the night club bit which is in a big ship. It was packed. And the music was so so good! Again, all the drinks deals were Vodka based (including the Bomba, which Lyndsey and Laura seemed to like!) so I didn't drink very much but danced a lot. We weren't back too late, I ended up sharing with Ryan as he had air con in his room and we only had a fan and I was struggling with my asthma. Again.

Monday 30th August - Kuta
We were up early to move house, Laura had been over to the Suka Beach Inn, where we had wanted to stay the night before, before we were even awake to see if they had a room for us, which they did so we moved in there. There was a lot more space for the 3 of us and a really nice swimming pool. The water was lovely! It got a bit shady in the afternoon so at 3pm we went and got something to eat and sorted out a speedboat (not as jet set as it sounds!) to the Gili Islands and put in some internet time. I was impressed there as when I Googled Taman Negara (the Malysian Rainforest) my blog came up second in the search results!! We then had a Balinese massage which was really good and had a tiny little sleep then went out to Gong's Corner , an amazing fish restaurant, for dinner. Ryan had a very impressive seafood platter, too messy for me though. I had fish satay, was lovely. And the chips were like my Mum's but not as nice. We got ready to go out (whilst having drinks on the balcony, where a poor Gecko ended up in Lyndsey's Vodka! Laura saved it but apparently it moved off a bit unsteady) and eventually went out at 1am!!!!! 1am!!!!!!!!!! Bali is crazy! I danced and danced and danced. It was loads of fun. It was nice being back around so many Oz and Kiwi accents, and most of them were surfers. Girls, you'd all love it here! We got in at 4am, and on the way home I took a call from my lovely friend Georgina who I think (I hope!) found it funny as we were not making an awful lot of sense!

Tuesday 31st August - Kuta
We got up really late and had lunch then chilled by the pool. I was reading Lucky Child, the book about the Cambodian girl that follows First They Killed My Father and it made me cry. We headed to the beach when it got shady. Kuta beach is really nice, the vibe was a bit like Bondi (I guess all the surfers help with that) but bigger. I was impressed to see a plane headed out into the sea.......hadn't realised when we landed that the airports runway was so close to the sea! We chilled there for the afternoon, waiting for the sunset. Laura went to Skype her Mum for her birthday (Happy Birthday Mrs Chilton!!!) and then we all watched a lovely sunset together. With a Bintang. We walked back through Poppies Lane II and had dinner at Gong's Corner again (Fish Curry this time, was so nice!). Laura and I liked it so much we raved about it for days, we had the Same Same but Different as she had crab and I had tuna in mine. Laura and I always seemed to have the Same Same but just a little bit Different for dinner. We were so tired after that so went to bed early. Me and Laura fell asleep chatting, Lyndsey said we were totally out of it when she came in from the balcony a bit later. We would have had a nice long sleep if Ryan hadn't come knocking on the door at 3am (he scared us half to death) looking for his iPhone, which he'd left with us for safekeeping. He was supposed to be up at 6am to get a boat to the Gili Islands, we said a little prayer for him!

Wednesday 1st September - Kuta
We were supposed to be up early, but had a few alarm issues, so only woke up when Ryan arrived at 10am looking for his iPhone.! He had completely forgotten coming to get it at 3am, and as he was in our room in Kuta, he had missed his boat to the Gili's. I felt for him but he was still smiling. We got up and had breakfast at the hotel and then went to the Kuta Beach Resort pool, which Laura had really wanted to go to last time she was in Bali. It was really lovely, a treat for us as we had to buy drinks etc to use the pool and they were a little expensive. We had a Bellini at 11am! We spent the day reading and sleeping and swimming and eating a nice lunch. The only downside was that I was practically molested by an older Aussie man. He was pleasant, but very 'confident' and unfortunately took a shine to me. He was very touchy feely (even tried to play with my belly ring) and prone to making inappropriate comments. He came and sat with us whilst we were having lunch, and he couldn't take the spare seat next to Lyndsey, oh no. He had to squeeze in next to me so I was practically sitting on top of Laura trying to escape. And then he actually grabbed me for a kiss! It was a bit uncomfortable to say the least. I'm not very good at dealing with that sort of situation at the best of times! He seemed pretty harmless and we figured it was best to keep on smiling as we knew he was leaving for the airport soon. And I had Lyndsey and Laura who wouldn't mess around if back up was needed! I was relieved when he said bye! I guess he's just very enthusiastic! Back at the room we packed and had dinner with Ryan. It was a very nice dinner of Beef Satay (Indonesia does great satay sauce) and a quick drink. We were tired though (I was practically dropping off at the table in Stakz, which is a great place and not one I wanted to drop off in) so headed back and got a good nights sleep ready to be picked up for our trip to the Gili Islands the next day. Another holiday, whilst on holiday! I'll tell you about that next time. It would have been a good nights sleep, if some drunk people hadn't kept us awake most of the night shouting about.

Xx

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