All that looking for the perfect beach has paid off, Gilli Trawanger...

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My trip up from 'Nam up to Hong Kong was certainly not the easiest or most pleasant experience so I decided to speed through it and do it all in one mass journey that took 2 1/2 days. Arriving in Hong Kong was nice and familiar and made the most of all the cheapies I had learned last time there and did a bit of space walking before heading down to Indonesia namely Bali and Lombok. I decided to head straight to lombok and have a couple of days there staying in Singgigi a little beach town, kinda wish i hadn't bothered.certainly not the best beach in the world and the lack of tourists means you get hassled for everything all the time. you also get a lot of hassle of the local men as due to the Muslim culture then men don't have contact with the women so they try it on with all the Westeners. I got asked if so many men could 'accompany' me- don't think so, time to ship out to the paradise Gilli Islands.

I head for Gilli Trwanager, the 'liveliest' but still a peacefully oasis with no cars no bikes and only horse and cart as transport. It was bliss, beautiful coral rimmed island with a stunning beach and some awesome diving and snorkeling and you could have a wicked party and still sleep in a very quite (and VERY cheap room. All in all heaven. The diving was great and did some deep diving and a night dive as well as a couple of fun dives, loads of wicked fish and coral and one dive we saw the biggest turtle ever and so many more just swimming around. As much as I could have stayed forever my flight was looming so I head back to Bali and the culture center of the island, Ubud. My word the shopping was aw some, and so cheap it would be rude not to take advantage! There was as lo a monkey forest where all the monkeys just run around wild and swim in a little pool. Funniest thing seeing monkeys swim.

The Balinese version of the Spanish coast, Kuta was my next stop as its so close to the airport. It seemed really busy, but apparently its really quite compared to before the boomings which have left it looking a little defeated. We decided to put of Kuta beach for as long as poss and head to 'Dreamlands' beach a massive resort they are building (very slowly!) It was stunning, but the waves were MASSIVE and quite a challenge for swimming so we head to Jimberan beach for swimming, sunset and dinner. All in preparation for a big girly night out to the glitzy Bounty Discotech. a huge ship shaped club with all the staff in YMCA sailor outfits and 1 pound buy one get one free buckets. Needless to say you can guess the rest!
Of to Oz next and some civilization or so it would be if the flight I was booked on existed insted of a nice simple Bali- Dawin had to go 'via' Perth adding only 4 hours to the jouney!

(Again photos will follow, hve to make you jelous with the views!)

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