12th July

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Latest update: I’ve found a place that sells a whole mixture of different foods which have been really good and there have been no hidden chillies. It tastes really fresh food served on plastic table and chairs. I’ve started to try and learn the names of different foods in Indonesian/Balinese so that’s helping. Very popular dishes are fried noodles or rice and a soup with a plate of rice. The language is quite confusing though. People speak Indonesian but people also Balinese. Apparently Indonesian originated from Malaysian but has added a lot of there own words. On the dive boat, one of the divemasters who is Malaysian, was talking to a local girl in a mixture of Indonesian, Balinese, Malaysian and English. Lets just say, I didn’t have a clue what they were saying.

I have actually had a day off scuba diving today. I got up at the usual time to go out to the local area. The visibility was so bad that we only did one dive and called it a day. Apparently the vis will be bad at this dive site for the next few days because there was a dark moon the other night. A dry day has also been good because I’ve got a few insert bites which have scabbed but I’m desperately trying to stop them getting infected which doesn’t help with bring in the water all the time. I also stubbed my little toe the other day and it is a bit of mess now. It looks worse than it is because its stained yellow with iodine but hopefully it won’t get any worse!

With only doing the one dive today, I found I was finished my half 9 so I went to the beach. I went to beach where we get the little boat we dive from. I think this is where the locals go as it was quiet but quite small. It was lovely to sit under a tree, listen to the waves and just read my book. Definitely don’t want to leave the beach behind me when I come home. After lunch I went for a hair cut which was interesting. I might have felt a little bit nervous as it was being done because there was definitely a language barrier between the hairdresser and I. I just put my fingers a centimetre apart and pointed to all of my hair. It seemed to work and it only took 10 minutes. In and out and it only cost my about £1.50. Wish it was that simple in the UK!

In the afternoon I went to the local supermarket and it’s definitely your typical Asian supermarket - very busy and packed. I think they sell everything in there. I walked back from the supermarket along the beach and there area a lot of nice hotels on that side of the road, all with beautiful swimming pools and restaurants on the sand. I was shocked to realise that the beach is a lot closer to my hotel than I had thought and that it’s taken me so long to realise. I got onto the beach my just walking through a random hotel. I think I might try and use one of the swimming pools because I don’t think they would know I’m not a guest if I’m confident enough. They look amazing pools with little lights around the outside and a beautiful view looking out to the sea. I also saw lots of watersports on the beach as well so think I might try out a bit of windsurfing if I get another day not scuba diving. See if I can remember how to do it that is!!

The evening was a bit of an adventure. A friend had an ear injection so hasn’t been able to dive but the injection has cleared but she still can’t dive so had a bit of a road trip on the mopeds to find the local hospital. We had to ask for a lot of directions from people who didn’t speak a lot of English but somehow we found it. I have to say it was a bit scary on the bypass when cars on the other side were just rushing past my leg but that’s not a road that I use/will use very often. The doctors surgery looked so old. The devices they used to look inside someone’s ear were huge with a massive old fashioned looking tv. Anyway we got back much easier than we had got there which was good. Got another early morning of diving so had better be off. Will be assisting with an advance course tomorrow, doing a deep dive and a drift dive which has been compared to being on some sort of theme park ride!

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Comments

[Revelyne]

Adventurer
Hi Katherine, Just caught up with all your travelogs since you arrived. Sounds somewhat primitive but you seem to be taking it all in your stride and accept the basic accomm. I guess your dad is going to be visiting then? Dont envy you the chilli learning curve youve been on.. i dont like them even remotely and your experience sounds a killer one. Glad you are so adept at fitting in with the environs and always gadding about busy doing something or another. You quite tire me out just reading about it all. You dont have to convince me about beaches.. and i can visualise yours quite readily. Keep well.. and safe.. and enjoy every day with the diving. Very proud of your achievements and adventurous spirit. You and Richard quite the happy wanderers ! Lots of love. R