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Published: August 17th 2007
After the stressful weeks of living out of a bag and travelling again, we thought it was about time we found a base for a week and chilled out. Luckily, Asia has its very own low-cost airline in the shape of Air Asia. We had our travels through Singapore and Malaysia all mapped out so that we arrived in Thailand just in time to meet Couch and Lucy when they landed to join us for a few months, but, nothing goes according to plan. As they were flying out of the UK a week or so later than planned, we decided to make use of the low-cost airline and booked a return flight to Bali, Indonesia. The night before we flew here we were watching CNN and found out there had just been an earthquake measuring 7.5 on Java, a couple of hundred kilometres away. Good news is that no one was hurt, no buildings fell down and Bali was running as per usual. Lets get it on!...
After paying for our week-long visa we hopped in a pre-paid taxi to our accommodation for the night. The cheaper area in Bali's seaside town, Kuta, is spread out around one big
Spot the monkey
Feeding the monkeys at the monkey sanctuary forest. block and the majority of accommodation is down two thin lanes named Poppies Gang 1 and 2. These two streets are lined with restaurants, tourism desks, bars, (very slow) internet cafes, and little shops selling fake surfing gear, wooden ornaments and wall hangings. At first it seems like there couldn't be any nice, big hotels with gardens and communal swimming pools, but a few steps down an alleyway and behind the shops reveals these places. On our first night we paid about four pounds each to stay in what could only be classed as a top-end hotel. The place was brand-spanking new and with a shower big enough to swing a cat in and a nice big balcony. Class. The following day we moved to a place down the street for half the price which was almost as nice with our own poolside porch where we could eat our breakfast, which was delivered to your room each and every morning when requested. The British pound is great. Anyway, enough about the accommodation.
If there is one thing that you can not avoid here it is being hassled. Outside of every single shop or business there is someone trying to
The rice terrace
The hillside farming fields of Pajung, in the centre of Bali. get you to come and have a look at this or that. 'hey mate' ... 'i give you good price' ... 'you want a massage?' ... 'eat here' ... 'transport?' ... 'how much you pay for that? i do it cheaper' ... and if you do not respond with 'no thanks', these people will continue to hassle you. You can't ignore them no matter how hard you try! We eventually ended up giving in and looking around a few shops. Now my mask collection has a further three additions on an England bound ship, somwhere at sea. We began to look in a few shops and if the owners hassled us too much, we just walked out, preferring to look in shops where we could actually think about what we wanted rather than be told. In one of the first shops we visited, i glanced at a t-shirt as i walked in and the guy said 'yes, it is your size, i get it for you' ... the shirt wouldn't have fit a thirteen year old girl.! I turned around to find the lady in the shop trying to braid Cheryl's hair without even asking her if she wanted it
A water temple
Pura Ulun Danu temple at Danau Bratan lake. done! It took a while to get the hang of haggling but by the time we left Bali i was managing to get up to 70% off their initial asking price by offering a stupidly low price and then increasing ever so slightly, making them think i am meeting in the middle. I think that is how you are meant to do it... who knows? it seems to work okay.
The Kuta beach is lovely and the popularity of surfing is massive. There is a small area marked out where you can not surf so that people can swim safely but, other than that area, virtually all of the coast is packed with people catching waves. And the waves are huge! Bigger than any we have seen during the short amount of time we have been surfing fanatics. Most days on the beach begun with us bathing until we could no longer take the heat, then grabbing a surf board and trying to catch some waves in between being beaten by some of these monster waves. Over the week we both progressed a fair amount and i can now assure you that just because surfing is on water does
A Bali offering
These little gifts of food, flowers and incense are all over the streets of Bali, outside every home and business. Offerings to the Gods that keep away the bad spirits. not mean you won't get winded, battered and bruised! It was not always the heat that made us want to jump in the sea, oh no. The beach is also thick with locals trying to sell you things... fruit, sunglasses, jewelry, drinks, sarongs, massages, watches, pillows... the list goes on. Even if you have you eyes closed and are wearing headphones, they will be sure to get your attention in some way before moving on. I understand that everyone has to earn a living. If only i got paid for every time i said 'no thanks'.
Finding something to do in the evenings is really easy in Kuta as most of the better restaurants show films, a couple a night, so you can watch one during your meal and then hang around for a few drinks to watch the next. As nice as the food is, we only found one place that we really rated for the simple fact that they served both of our dinners at the same time! There were some places where one of us would completely finish a meal before the other's had even been put on the table! Of course, we tried to wait
Pura Tanah Lot
A temple carved out of rock. When the tide comes in it becomes an island. for the other to begin eating, but after fifteen minutes of waiting, you risk eating cold grub! Sometimes both our meals would be finished before we had been served our drinks! The national beer, Bintang, is served in 660ml bottles and is really cheap. We usually drank juice smoothies and water all day so that we could drink Bintang in the night. It is all about finding the right balance or something. You just have to remember keep your attention up when walking the streets both day and night, especially after a few Bintangs. Most of the streets don't have pedestrian pavements and the most common form of transport is scooter, and these little buggers are everywhere. When we first arrived we were wondering why everyone who passed us tooted their horn but the reason everyone does so is to let you know they are passing. The laws in Indonesia seem pretty relaxed. Not very many people wear a helmet (a 10,000 rupiah bribe to the police, around sixty pence, gets you out of trouble) and we saw kids no older than thirteen riding scooters. One day we saw four people on one bike... a guy riding the bike with
Ain't he cute!
Okay... so i love monkeys. a small child standing in the foot well and the mother on the back cradling a small baby. And its not uncommon to see dogs standing in the foot well with their hands over the handlebars!
It has been on the cards for some time now and Bali became the location where we chose to finally end the waiting. Time for a suicidal leap. Not base jumping (saving that for next month), but bungee. I think i was actually more nervous when we walked out onto the 45m platform than i was when we jumped out of a plane 15,000ft above a volcano in New Zealand. The feeling in my gut was not eased when i found out that to connect you to the bungee they simply wrap a towel around your legs, strap it and hook on the bungee cord. Luckily, the guys on the top count you down and so you must jump on zero or you will look like a right plonker. What a rush though! We had two jumps for the price of one and the second jump was just as much of a buzz as the first. This time i opted to dunk into
Another fine sunset
Guys open you a beer, pull you out a couple of chairs and make a table out of bottle crates so you can enjoy the sun setting over the huge waves. A nice end to a relaxed day. the pool below, not realising that it meant my nose would fill up with water, accompanying the blood filling up my head as i waited to be unstrapped. I do have video footage of both our jumps but the tinternet isn't being too ace and so it'll have to wait. Doh.
Although we initially wanted to go to the beach every day and do a lot of nothing, we came to the conclusion that we couldn't visit Bali without leaving our half a mile long comfort zone for at least a day. Through some nice guys we had made friends with at one of the tourist stands, for about ten pounds we hired a sound guy named Maddie to drive us around Bali for a day, checking out all the spots we wanted to see. This included three impressive temples (see me photos!) and a cool little forest full of macaque monkeys. We brought some nuts to feed them, the majority of which were eaten by one or two of the bigger males. One of them wouldn't let go of my hand, convinced i was stashing more food. Every time i tried to shake him off he showed me
Schools out
It beats playing the Playstation. his teeth and held on tighter! He eventually got bored and left me be. The place was absolutely swarming with monkeys, some of them as young as two weeks old. I want one. We also stopped at the Pajung rice terraces, endless hillsides of farmland carved into horizontal plots, growing rice, chillies and flowers. Quite a sight. Driving around Bali, it is quite blatantly obvious just how religious the Indonesians are. Most homes have their own family temples in their yards. Sometimes the home may only be a run down little hut yet their garden temple will be a grand example, covering twice as much of their land. Our day trip also revealed that Cheryl may be keeping a secret from me as everywhere we went people wanted to have their photo taken with her. At one temple, she had a cue of more than ten people waiting to have their photograph taken with her! She kindly accepted but then they began to ask me to be in the photos and so i had to put my foot down. I'm trying to get away from the paparazzi... how did they find me?!
As i type this i am staring
Poppies Gang 2
'I give you good price, sunset special' ... 'hey mister, you want a lighter?' ... 'hey mate, you need accomodation? i give you honeymoon price' ... etc... out the window at Patong beach in Phuket. I'm not trying to say that i can type without looking at the monitor, although i can, if you were wondering. We have only just arrived here in Thailand and have already sacrificed our first couple of hours by writing this for all of you. The rest of the day belongs to me and Cheryl! Couch and Lucy turn up in a few hours time so we must track down a good lady boy show to take them to for evening supper. Couch will think they are all real ladies... this is going to be so much fun. Mur-hur-hur-ha-ha-ha (evil laugh)... Adam x
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Sam Carr
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Happy Belated Birthday!
Happy Belated Birthday Ady!! It sounds like you are having so much fun and those monkeys are seriously cute! I want one, he can be friends with Max! Your diving sounds so fab, though I reckon I would have been pretty scared if I had seen that shark! Take care, speak to you both soon xxxx