Indonesia- Bali & The Gilis

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From Cairns we landed in Bali late at night. The rain was lashing down and we had no accommodation booked. I was covered in bites and my leg had swollen up to twice its normal size after the flight giving me a very unattractive cankle. We went into an internet shop and quickly realised that most of the places for that night were already booked up. After a bit of a panic we managed to find a place in Kuta. We didn't really want to go to Kuta as we had heard that it was a bit of a scummy place, however we actually had a good day there. Our hostel was quite nice and there were a lot of young people staying there which was good because we made two friends, Katy and Simon to explore with the next day. Unfortunately the weather hadn't cleared up in the morning but we still found plenty to do. I bought a new dress and then took my bag to the laundrette and had the entire lot washed, dried and ironed for about six quid. This was the biggest luxury after sniffing clothes before wearing them towards the end of Australia.

After doing this we went to explore and I was desperate to get some tiger balm (I was literally covered in bites after Queensland). We walked up and down the streets, firstly buying some umbrellas for about 50p. We got fairly hassled but it was quite nice as it made such a lively atmosphere.

After we were fully drenched we went and had massages. These were nice but also pretty brutal. I could hear the others all getting slapped and whacked about around me. I also had a pedicure and the whole lot only cost about 6/7quid. Amazing.

We had a delicious meal that night- just because we can- and booked our ferry to the Gili islands for the next day.

It was STILL raining the next day but we sailed off to Gili Trawangan regardless- picking up an extra friend, Phil, on the way- and when we arrived the weather was boiling hot, hooray! The sea is such a gorgeous colour there and it was so nice to be on such a small place where they don't even have cars. The food we found here was also incredible; we ate at the night market every night, eating fresh fish- tuna steaks for a couple of quid- and baskets full of noodles and crispy spring roll pancakes. It was all absolutely delicious and so cheap, the only downside was the stray cats that are everywhere on Gili Trawangan, creeping around the market in search of stray fish bones.

In addition to this, Gili Trawangan is also a massive party island. There are people out all night every night and magic mushrooms are legal here so there are signs up everywhere and little Indonesian people grinning at you saying "mushi mushi".

Whilst on Gili Trawangan we decided to do a snorkelling trip. I really wanted to do this because we were told we would almost certainly see turtles in the water (we missed out on these on the reef). Unfortunately for us what started out as a beautiful day ended as a bit of a horror show. We stopped at two places and saw some interesting fish, including Nemo and Gill. At lunchtime we went to another Gili Island called Gili Air and had an omelette for about £1.00. However when we set off it started raining and we could see that the direction we were heading in looked a bit stormy. This was an understatement. I spent most of the journey huddled under my sopping wet towel, occasionally looking up to see the water level with the boat or feeling splashes hitting my back. I think most people thought we were going to capsize and at one point I turned round to see a group of people, including Katy, clutching life jackets. Phil and Simon had also put their snorkels back on because of all the water splashing in their faces. We eventually made it back to a huge cheer off everyone on board. It seemed as though the island had taken a pretty big hit from the storm too because the streets were completely flooded and we had to walk through a small river to get back to our hostel.

Fortunately, the sun came back out the following day and the streets looked as if nothing had ever happened.

After leaving the Gili Islands we went back to Bali, aiming to spend the majority of our time in Ubud. We had a pretty tense moment in the taxi when our driver tried to charge us more than the agreed price; I was so tired at this point that my argument back when he was asking us to pay more was "No! Just no!" while Katy quietly slipped the bags out of the boot. However, when we arrived at the place we had booked we all had massive grins on our faces because we had an incredible infinity pool and a huge room with our own television. We were enjoying this luxury after our shady accommodation on Gili Trawangan.

On our first day we pretty much just relaxed by our new pool which resulted in me getting bright green hair from the chlorine and burning under my nose producing what looked like a red hitler tash. After another day staying in luxury we thought we'd better look for something cheaper, and we found it. We moved to some really basic rooms which looked pretty grubby but at three quid a night (between us) we weren't too bothered. This was until Luce and I came back to our room and found huge cockroaches running around; after seeing one crawling on our bags we all decided to cram into one hot room for the night. Katy, Luce and I were in one bed, while we pulled a sun lounger in from outside for Gwenda. It was certainly a travelling experience.

Because we are massive cheapskates we kept the room for another night anyway but kept ourselves busy by going to the huge Ubud market, getting some pampering for Katy's birthday and going to a dance show. The dancing included someone shimmying around in a load of red hot charcoal which was quite a sight. In addition to this, we had heard quite a bit about the Monkey Temple in Ubud so decided to take a trip there. Luckily we had been advised not to buy bananas for the monkeys and on walking in, seeing a man with a banana getting piled on by some monkeys, I could see why. I know monkeys are supposed to be cute but I have to admit I found them quite scary. They were running around like devils in disguise stealing people’s things and jumping out of every little crevice imaginable. Katy also felt my distress after one monkey took a liking to her and was chasing her round tugging on her sarong. Needless to say we left fairly soon afterwards.

After leaving Ubud we got a taxi to Seminyak for our last night. At this point we had given up pre-booking accommodation as it had been so easy to find it. This was a massive mistake for Seminyak because it is quite an upmarket area and we trooped around in the blistering heat for hours trying to find a place. Eventually Luce and I waited with the bags and Gwenda and Katy went to find a place we had seen in Gwend's lonely planet guide book. When they came back they had got a taxi with them who had brought them back and was waiting to take us to the place they had found. This taxi driver was insane. He couldn't even remember what day of the week it was let alone where he had picked the girls up from to take us back there. It was a stressful ten minute journey to the rooms and in the end we walked down the street to get there as the taxi driver couldn't understand a word we were saying but just kept grinning and giggling at us.

Luckily the accommodation was perfect for us and within our budget so we left our stuff and spent the afternoon on the beach. In the evening Gwenda and I decided we wanted to try the local Balinese delicacy- Luwak Coffee. This originates from an animal called the Luwak which looks like a cross between a rat and a cat. The animal has a diet of coffee beans and when it digests these back out they are made into a different type of bean and turned into coffee. I have to say I was impressed with this drink- when you moved past how disgusting the idea of it was it was really nice, all the flavour of coffee but not bitter.

This was pretty much the end of our stay in Indonesia. It was a nice relaxing visit but we spent a lot of time relaxing and not doing many activities so unfortunately there's not a lot to say. The Indonesians were so nice and funny; when you walked past them in the street they would make jokes and wait until you laughed before bursting out into their crazy high pitched cackles which would get you laughing even more. Furthermore, it seemed like a really diverse place with beautiful beaches but also amazing mountain scenery in places like Ubud. I think I would like to go back as a holidaymaker rather than a backpacker to make the most of all the trips and activities available.

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