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Published: October 15th 2010
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Arrived in Bali on the 9th of October at Denpassar, Bali Airport at approximately 12 pm Bali time- just a 4 hour journey from Bangkok. The journey over was absolutely brilliant on account of the view. Obviously flying in an economy class plane is never going to be the transport fantasy of the platinum virgin service which obviously i have never had privy to, all those who have flown with virgin long haul we've all seen how the other half fly as the march you like prisoners through the comfiest seats you've ever seen in the top classes till you reach the cattle section at the back by the loo.Advantage-its easy to go the the toilet? ...Disadvantage - its easy to SMELL the toilet.
All that aside, air Asia did a good job based on the budget involved. The view from the window is the crux of this whole finger wag. Ive never taken off and not been met with absence of clouds when reaching the final altitude. It was amazing! nearly the whole flight was without cloud at any point in the sky,stunning.
When we landed in Depansar we quickly gauged the transport situation and got ourselves a
taxi to go to "Little Pond.JI ,Danau, Tamblingam , No. 19 Sanur" However upon our arrival we couldn't find the actual Home-stay. So we called our contact in Bali (Nico's very good friend Jenny) and we eventually met up with her and walked the short distance(It didn't feel that way at the time, with a hiking bag and a rucksack in 35 degree heat) to the "Little Pond". It was absolutely Perfect! a Small refuge with a freshwater pool surrounded by little bungalows back from the main road.
once we had unloaded our bags etc. we decided vegetate a bit as we landed in the just after 1pm so the beach was a little too far for our little legs.We swam in the cool waters of the pool, talked, smoked and made merry.Just what we needed at that point. I also got to meet a lovely french girl named Sonia (a good friend of Jenny's) who would later become a big part of our stay in Indonesia. After a bit of much needed R&R we went to the beach for the first cocktails in Bali . I went with Jenny to pick up the other half of our transport(no
knowing i would have to drive it) in the shape of a Scooter....Now , keeping this in mind i have to say i was not exactly good at driving it. i made it home - a bit shaky after nearly driving into the centre of the road amidst traffic. However - with a bit more practice or ANY practice actually, i think i could quite enjoy this way of traveling. I cycled everywhere in London for 2 years and didn't die so if i can handle that i'm pretty sure i can handle anything.
The day after, in the evening we had to vacate our room in the 'Little pond' as they were booked only long enough for for our arrival and moved to just across the road to 'CoCo House home-stay' - a charming little place with extremely nice staff.
Early the next morning (shall we say 8-9) a little trip to the beach was in order which was perfectly situated just 5-6 minutes walk away from the Little pond. The culture of Bali compared to that of the cities of Thailand is just on a different level. I never visited the oasis's of Koh phi
phi, or Koh Phangan for instance so i really cant comment on the culture of relaxation there but Bali is an absolute haven. Even when trying to sell you things or bring you into their shop- they don't grab and shout, but speak softly and kill you with kindness (so to speak) even if you say "Tidak terimah kasih" (no thank you) they still want to speak with you about themselves,yourself and learn a bit about you and after they will sometimes say "if you want, my shop is just there come later if you can" as opposed to "you come now , buy now" this is something i really noticed straight away .So afterward they know your name , you know theirs and it means you can really bargain and get a good price for things as well as feeling good when you buy - and not pressured. Needless to say i bought a excellent cap and 2 pairs of swimming shorts for less than 5 pounds.
The next day - Sunday the 10th of October we had a fantastic day on the beach , we had drinks, food and bail massage. all for the price of a packet of cigarettes in the UK. Something i could get used to very easily. We also ate in the Sanur food market which was not short of vegetarian choices for myself and great fish and chicken choices for my compatriots, Nico, Jenny, and Sonia.
on Monday, our final day in Bali - we went to Kuta on the mopeds (obviously i didn't drive this time - 'i didn't want to get blood on my new cap obviously) just a 40 minute drive by Scooter from Sanur for a bit of shopping and exploration.
However we encountered a small problem en route. My love - traveling solo at this point, was pulled over by the Bali Police. He had become stuck in a giant crossroads after running a red light and the Bali pigs spotted it straight away. I was riding on the back of Jenny's Scooter and just happened to turn around just in time to see it. We turned round and met with him. Mr Oinky wanted to take the registration card of the Scooter - but after a bit of bargaining with him he accepted a fee off 300,000 Rupiah from me to save mon amours petite derriere and retrieve the card. After 'Scootergate' we continued on our way to consumer-land , i decided to ride with Nico to help calm him down a bit -encounters with the law are always a bit nerve-wracking.
The prices were a little extreme for us in the larger shops as we searched frantically for 3 Large rucksacks to replace the smaller (mine was also broken in several places)ones we had already to take with us to Gilli Trawanga (an island off the coast of Lombok - just 2 hours by boat from Sanur). A task we didn't complete until just after leaving the beach in Kuta (Filthy).Where we also booked the boat across to the Gilli islands to begin the next stage of our journey.
Then we jumped back on the mopeds and began the death defying journey home to pack and prepare for our journey to Gilli Twawanga.
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