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Published: October 27th 2007
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Hello everyone! Hope you are all keeping well!? You are? Great, then I'll carry on.
We flew from Phuket down to Kuala Lumpur as we were pushed for time to get through to Singapore for our flight down to Bali. The first sight we visited was the Petronas Towers which truly are spectacular, the journey up to the visitor's "Sky Bridge" afforded some magnificent views of the city and was free so we couldn't really grumble! We spent the rest of the day wondering around the city and chanced upon a large group of Macaques that call central Kuala Lumpur home as well as a Monitor Lizard that was well in excess of a metre-you just don't get those kind of things in Devon! The city was a nice place to spend a day and a bit but unfortunately we had to move on rather quickly and got a bus for the 4 hour journey down to Singapore.
In Singapore we spent a little time shopping and wondering around the harbour which was pleasant, we also ate some good food-both KL and Singapore have a large variety of S.E Asian cuisine to choose from. The last place we visited
was The Raffles Hotel at the behest of Mumsy Atkins (as it was one of my Nan's favourite places on earth). It is a lovely place, rife with colonial atmosphere and architecture which zips you back to the days when wealthy spice traders and frontier colonists would have been the only people checking in (and Chick and Joyce Charlton-though not in the same time period of course!). Unfortunately we couldn't quite afford the fee for a room (understatement!) and even the Singapore Sling was a little hefty by Asian standards-about the same as an expensive cocktail in a nice bar back home.
We left Singapore after too little a time and headed to the little tropical island of Bali in the Indonesian Archipelago. We spent our first week in Kuta Town which is a little busy and full of tourists owing to the large and lovely beach that fronts the town. We decided that as we were facing another 6.5 months of beautiful oceans it may be worth becoming adept at seeing them where they are most interesting-from within! We enrolled on our PADI Open Water Diver course which was conducted on the east of the island in a
place called Nusa Dua. At first we started in a pool for basic training along with a bit of time spent in a classroom learning theory (which Janice obviously revelled in but was devastated to be defeated in by the mighty me!!! HA HA HA!!!-There's a first time for everything...). We got our first taste of diving in the ocean in shallow water (12-18 metres) off the coast of Nusa Dua which was lovely but our first magnificent dive was at the site of a US freight ship (USAF Liberty) which was sunk by a Japanese submarine in the 2nd World War. We saw some enormous Barracuda and a large variety of soft and hard coral as well as lots of smaller fish in large shoals. It was a great experience and we were ecstatic to be qualfied meaning that we can now dive anywhere in the world-should be handy for Oz!
Our friend Sarah arrived after we had been in Bali about a week for a holiday. We spent a couple of days surfing and chilling out in Kuta during which time Janice fell foul of an unfortunate accident of chance when she was hit forcibly in the
face by her surfboard after "wiping out"! Being the warrior we all know Janice to be she didn't even realise that there was any problem until the horror on another surfer's face told all and the blood now covering much of her upper body forced her to retire to a local surgery for some stiches! Janice now wishes to be known as "Scarface" and don't make her show you her "little friend"-you won't like it. Unfortunately I was beaten up by some locals later that night (truly no fault of my own) and procured my own black eye! Janice and I were thereafter to be the butt of many jokes from both travellers and locals alike!
Sarah really wanted some peace and quiet away from the hustle and bustle of Kuta after a few days and picked the "Gili's" as a place for us to relax. Sarah isn't known for always making the most coherent choices (!) but this one ended up being one of her better efforts! As soon as we arrived on Gili Trawangan (the larger of the three picture perfect islands that make up this destination) we all knew that we wouldn't leave without heavy hearts.
The island is not allowed any form of motorised transport-horses pulling carts and bicycles are your two options. There are around 5/6 dive operators and a handful of bars that are open until late but don't get raucous, and a selection of really good restaurants. We stayed at a place run by a man called "G" who was very welcoming and we spent the next 5 days diving, snorkelling, swimming, sun bathing, eating and drinking. Sarah became PADI qualified herself whilst there and fell in love with the ocean a little bit more. We did indeed leave against our better wishes.
We went back to the tourist ghetto that is Kuta only to hire a car before heading to the calm, cultural town of Ubud in the centre of the island. We visited the "monkey forest" there (self explanatory), Janice and Sarah indulged in Pedicures and Manicures in a local salon and we relaxed a little more before heading an hour or so out of Ubud to do some white water rafting which was great fun. We also met up with our Dutch friend Jasper and his lovely girlfriend Anna (who's visiting for an extended holiday) for a few
meals and drinks as they happened to be passing through during Anna's visit.
In the final few days that we had in South East Asia Janice, Sarah and I went to a beach called Dreamlands which has a nice little surfable break out in front. It's a lovely scene there with just a handful of surfers and small beach front restaurants/guesthouses but unfortunately we only had time for one night before heading back to Kuta and having to say goodbye to Sarah. After one last meal with Jasper and Anna we also had to say goodbye to Asia which has been our home for the last 4 months. We certainly will miss the exotic beauty, eccentric locals and cheaper than cheap prices but we are ready to move on to our next big adventure: Australia!!!
Bye bye, miss you all-now we must get back to the sunshine and I think there is a beer with my name on it by the swimming pool..........
Adam and Janice.xxxxxxx
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Krish
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Aww janice... never imagined ur 'wound' was so serious! Adam ...got beaten up...what did u do u plonker? Say hi to jasper if u ever meet him in Oz. Adam 'Fabio' Christian is on his way to Oz...so beware of his antics and dont let him near a child...lol anyhow guys thankx for a wicked time in thailand and enjoy the rest of ur trip...stay classy