Day 76-79 Cemorolawang to Bali

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Day 76 Cemorolawang to Bali (Fri 17th Sept)

0500 departure today, so again a packed breakfast. We watched the sun rise as we were leaving the resort. After a fun ride down the mountain (though a few of the group preferred not to look), we rejoined our coach and were on our way.

We made it to the ferry terminal just in time to drive straight on to the 1100 ferry. The trip from Java to Bali was only about an hour long and uneventful. The water actually looked quite a lovely deep blue and made me feel like going swimming. And of course the clocks go forward another hour here, bringing us in line with Perth. Again.

While on the ferry coming over, Norma turned to me and asked “so, in this part of the world, does the sun still rise in the east?” I think my mouth just dropped open and it took nearly a minute for me to be able to answer her after the shock. Was that a legitimate question? Turns out it was...and even worse, when I mentioned it to the others, a couple of the group even thought it was a “fair question”. How do I even begin to make a comment on that? Seriously. Thankfully Heather thought it was a silly question too, otherwise I’d really begin to wonder about the state of children’s education in Europe.

We arrived in Kuta in the evening and checked in to the Simpang Inn, which was quite nice. A small pool and lots of greenery to mask the noise of the traffic and the other guests.

Helen and I took a walk down the road, checking out what was in the area before deciding on a restaurant for dinner. The food was lovely and of course I made the most of having seafood available. The prices are very high when compared with the other countries/cities we have travelled through in the past couple months. It’s a bit odd. We really noticed the Australian accent and I had to cringe when I heard the real whine of a couple of voices.


Day 77 Bali

Today was spent sleeping in and taking a walk around to check out the shopping in the area. Again I don’t want to be buying things that I have to carry around with me for any length of time.

For dinner I took a walk down to Legian, about 45 minutes walk, to meet up with A. Leanne and Ashleigh at their hotel. It was a huge complex right by the beach, so after a drink down by the water we went to a restaurant nearby for a nice meal. And I now have a phone!!!! Actually I’m pretty impressed to have lasted so long without one - and it didn’t even really bother me that I didn’t have it either.

But now I do have one and it’s surprising how much easier meeting up with people becomes. So thanks for bringing it over, A. Leanne...

I head back to my hotel around 2200 and Helen had just got back from her evening out. So we had a relaxing night in.



Day 78 Bali (Sun 19th Sept)

Another sleep in today. It was raining this morning so I elected to not go out in the wet. I sorted out my backpack in preparation for the flight to Australia and read a book for a nice change.

Around 2000 we all headed out to watch the soccer at a bar down the road. Most of us also ate while out and it’s strange to see the western foods dominating the menu again. The drinks were more expensive than we have become accustomed to, but also with more variety - and very strong!!

We spent a few hours in the sports bar before heading to a reggae bar for a bit of dancing. It was really nice but I elected not to stay out until dawn this time. Heather, Helen and I made our way back to the hotel together, leaving the others to crawl home at first light.


Day 79 Bali

Today we slept in yet again but had to be out of our rooms by midday. Only one room was being kept to store our bags and make a shower available since we are flying out tonight.

Helen and I took our time and packed up all our things and made sure to shower before checking out. We didn’t want to fight 10 people for one bathroom later in the afternoon...

We walked down to a post office so I could ship a few things home. I don’t need a few of my things any longer and since it wasn’t too expensive from here, I lightened my case by a couple of kilograms.

We did some shopping and got some lunch and then relaxed on the verandah of the hotel for the rest of the afternoon.

Dinner was included tonight and we ate at the hotel restaurant. It was our goodbye to Anto as well and we departed the hotel at 2000, to head for the airport. Our flight wasn’t until 2300 though and we killed some time in the airport. We did of course have to pay our exit fees, which used up all of everyone's rupiah.

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Photos

Resort
This is the view from our resort near Mt Bromo

On the Ferry
From Java to Bali

Sports Bar
Heather, AJ, Jo having a drink with dinner

The shuttle bus
So very colourful