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Published: November 21st 2006
Have finally added my Hong Kong photos if you are interested to take a look! I will add some more photos from Bali and also some from New Zealand very soon, now that I have found an internet cafe with a good cheap connection!! Hope you are all well. Email me soon!!!! xxx
In comparison to the essay on Hong Kong, there is not too much to write about Bali. This is mainly because we did very little apart from lying on the beach, lying by the pool, sleeping, reading, eating, enjoying Balinese massages. It was extremely hot, all the time, and we both managed to get sunburnt (only the second time in my life!). But it was LOVELY. Sooooo relaxing.
One of the days we were there we went on a tour of various places in Bali where they make silver jewellery and wood carvings. We also visited some temples, a traditional Balinese family compounds and saw an active volcano (it was not erupting at the time!) which was very exciting! We had a really cool guide called Ekka who was Hindu (about 90% of the country is Hindu) and he knew loads about Balinese culture and politics
and the Hindu religion and told us loads which was fascinating and really helped me to understand what I was seeing.
The other days we literally did nothing major, apart from go for nice long walks along the beach, swim for hours in the sea whichwas really clear and warm. We tried surfing (!!!) which Anna was good at (see the pics) and I really was not (no pics of me, thank goodness).
I did enjoy it, although have to admit it was not quite the magical and spiritual experience I imagined it would be. I decided that this was partly because we were 2 girls travelling alone. The men in Bali are AWFUL. They just do not leave you alone. You get hassled constantly whenever you are walking along the road which gets rather tiring and a bit disturbing. For the most part I think they are harmless, but it still did annoy me. I think that if we had had a man there, they wouldn't have said anything. The women are generally very sweet and kind but even they constantly hassle you to buy tons of tourist rubbish.
However, this was a minor point really,
Playing in the sea!
It was so warm and calm and lovely.and overall Balinese people are soooo sweet and welcoming and they totally have the whole "let's relax and have a massage" thing down. I had two INCREDIBLE massages while I was there that totally sorted me out. They only cost 5 GBP for an hour!!! I totally loved that.
Our hotel was also lovely and had a beautiful pool with a waterfall and a good restaurant where we made friends with all the waiters. In fact, Anna made such good friends with Arman on our last night that she ended up going out with him to a club to dance!! Very intrepid of her, especially as it involved riding on the back of his motorbike. LOLOL...so she can now say she has been out with a Balinese Hindu waiter! 😊
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anonymous
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Some people have all the luck. Hope NZ works out well for you as well. If you need contacts in beautiful New Plymouth let me know. Good to hear from you El. ......Andre