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Published: December 27th 2008
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Experiencing a great flight from Singapore to Denpasar Airport in Bali, (good meal and a great film - 'Wanted' with the lovely James McEvoy!) we arrived in good spirits. Then we saw our hotel and our grins broadened even further! The Dewi Sri Hotel in Kuta, booked by our dear mate Trude, was everything we weary travellers could have wanted after some of the dives that we'd been staying in. Air con, hot shower and space! Oh, how the little luxuries mean so much!
The hotel was set back from the main strip, Legian St, in Kuta and was a stone's throw from the Memorial of the Bali bombing. Even though we were all a bit nervous about the possibility of reprisals following the execution on the bombers only a week or so before, and in spite of various warnings to avoid all but necessary travel there (the ozzies are such drama queens!!) we decided to brave it. And hell, was it worth it!
The first mistake of the trip was allowing Bec the Blonde to assume responsibility for working out the currency. As you probably know, the Balinese money is a nightmare to get your head around, e.g. 5000 rupiah
The Birthday Girl!!
Bec hits the ripe old age of 35!!! is about 30p. So, when we paid our taxi driver 150 000 rp each to take us from the airport to the hotel, we did wonder why the guy started doing cartwheels across the road after dropping us off . . .We had given him the equivalent of about a tenner each - which probably would have covered the same journey about 20 times over.
Legian Street itself is full of shops, stalls and nightclubs and buzzing with young, drunken australians - or schoolies, as they are known - all enjoying the Bintang beer and being away from their parents.
Kuta Beach itself was a bit of a let down - the sea was full of rubbish and sitting quietly on the beach was a physical impossibility due to beach vendors constantly pestering to buy their wares or give you a massage.
So, we all agreed it was a good idea to hire a car so that we could get out and explore other beaches and our lil friend, Craigy, who we met in Singapore, volunteered to be our trusty chauffeur as long as he could bring his surfboard.
Before I go into that though, there were 2 events
of note that must be mentioned. Firstly, this old bird celebrated her 35th birthday - yeah, I know I don't look a day over 30, ha ha!!. We went to a fantastic restaurant, called Kori, off Poppies 2 and Gina bought me the most amazing chocolate and cream cake I have ever eaten in my life which was brought out by the entire staff, who were banging pots and pans and singing a version of Happy Birthday to me! It was fantastic. Secondly, our dearest mate, Trude, came out for a holiday, making it probably the best birthday present I could have had. Aahh.
Was good to also meet up with some new friends we made in Malaysia, namely Jen, Nina,Charlotte and Jenny.
So, on to where we went. The beaches we visited included Nusa Dua, Canggu, Echo Beach and Alu Watu. Ole Craigy became a dab hand at negotiating our little ute round the treacherous Bali roads and we got to see a bit more of the island. For a fiver a day, it was well worth the money to be able to get out and about.
Deciding to do a bit of island hopping, we moved
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Bec's birthday meal at Kori, Poppies 2 on to Nusa Lemboggan, paying 80 000 rp to get a boat there. We booked into a hotel called Secret Garden for 100 000rp a night each (about 6 quid). The best thing about this place were the friendly and obliging staff and the massive round bed that me n Trude got to share. The worst thing was the outside bathroom and the accompanying insect infestation that appeared to develop every evening when you turned out the bathroom light.
Whilst on Lemboggan, we got a boat to Mushroom Beach (beautiful but lots of boats making swimming a bit of a hazard) and making friends with the local lost boys, they took us on their bikes (no other transport on Lemboggan) to various places, including Dream Beach. This place was gorgeous; quiet with a mellow little restaurant and bar, called Pandan (after the fruit - no, I never heard of it either) that did the best strawberry milkshakes.
However, the sea here was lethal, with crashing waves and strong currents, so whilst looking inviting, it wouldn't have been the relaxing dip we were hoping for!
After a couple days on Lemboggan, the next stop was Lombok. It was a bit of
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The staff at Kori join in the celebrations to toast Bec's birthday! a performance to get there - first of all we had to get a boat to a place called Padang Bay. The boat that we took transports vegetables to and from Nusa Lemboggan daily so it seemed apt that we hitched a ride on this mode of transport, costing us 50 000 rp each. We then needed to get a ferry (which turned out to be the longest ferry journey for the shortest distance ever), for which we were fleeced 250 000 rp, when it usually costs 70 000!! Arriving in Senggigi in Lombok, we booked into the Dhar Marie Hotel. The hotel Manager, a dubious fellow called Hussain and who had the annoying habit of speaking through gritted teeth, coaxed us into booking our transport to Gili Trawangan with him (not a wise move, as it turned out as, yes, you guessed it, we were fleeced again).
We always knew that we would be visiting the Gili Islands as part of our island hopping and we kind of thought they would be beautiful but nothing could prepare us for how much we would all fall in love with it here! Gili Trawangan is a small island (you can
The bird has landed!
Our dear friend Trude finally makes it to Bali.... get around the whole island in a couple hours) with the only mode of transport being horse and cart and bicycles. Gina and Trude successfully navigated their way round, but I declined having developed saddle soreness due to a crappy seat!
The island has various cheap accommodation. We stayed at the Big Bubble, which was recommended to us by Gina's boss, Julie. It was a fantastic little place, with a pool and great breakfasts! There is a thriving nightlife scene on Trawangan, with different places taking it in turns to host a party on each night of the week. We went to the irish bar (there's always one wherever you go) and Same Same bar (one night it was a singalong so we were in our element, belting out the old Oasis favourites!) Whilst on Trawangan, we met Adam, a swedish Robinson Crusoe lookylikey who won us over by his appreciation of the Office and other english comedies.
The beach on Trawangan is amazing and one day we had the good fortune to swim with a huge turtle!
Although we didn't head across to the other Gilis, (Meno and Air) the 4 days we spent on Trawangan were some of
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....and didn't take her long to get out on it with us! the most enjoyable yet, although poor ole Geen's last night was one she would rather forget, having suffered the dreaded Bali belly, she spent most of it talking down the porcelain telephone and can't face eating chocolate icecream again.
So, back to Kuta for the last part of our holiday in Bali and to see Trudie off with a bang! Having learned from our hellish journey on the ferry, we decided to get a flight back, which cost us 25 quid! Met back up with some people including Craigy, Mikael (I love Sweden!), Sari and met some new friends including Sandy from Adelaide, Pete and Rob, the 2 campest straight guys we have ever met. We also met up with Geen's boss, Julie and her partner, Doug, for dinner back in our fave, the Kori, so Geen could show her what 3 months of not working looks like!
Probably the most breathtaking thing about Bali, and one not mentioned so far, are the awesome sunsets. It truly is a sight to behold and made us fall in love with Bali all the more. In the words of Trudie's favourite man, Vinnie . . it was emotional!
Although gutted
to be saying goodbye to Trude and Bali, we were now ready to embrace our lives for the next 6 months in Australia. Look out Sydney!
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Joanne Dimond
non-member comment
awsome
Hi Bec and freinds just to say Happy new year and what a fab one it is for you guys your so incredibly lucky, have enjoyed reading your blog and love the photos you have had so many amazing expereinces im sure you will never lose that travevelling bug ! My son Kyle is off to Austrailia on the 2oth Feb (you will not miss him he is 6ft 6" - ha ha) i have shown him your blog he is starting in Brisbane and then moving onto to some freinds and hoping to go to Thailand. Your Mum says how brown and happy your looking - she cannot wait to get out herself to see you. Any way take care keep the memories going with your blog. Happy Travelling Love from Joanne x