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Published: September 18th 2005
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Sunrise from Amed Bay
I went out with a fisherman, caught no fish, but saw the sunrise Since I wrote my last entry I have extended my stay in Bali by another ten days. I didn't really have any specific plans when I made this decision, I just didn't feel ready to leave. It's nice here, there's plenty to do and it is so much cheaper than it will be in New Zealand. It seemed like a good decision!
My last morning in Ubud was spent climbing Mount Agung! I was picked up from my guesthouse at 2.30am (I didn't really get any sleep - I was so worried about over sleeping!), and driven to the base of the mountain along with three other hardy souls. We met our guide and were given our breakfasts to carry to the top.
The climb was far harder than I expected. It only took two hours to reach the summit, but it involved scaling a very rocky path - and by torchlight no less. The stars were unbelievable - miles from the nearest settlement, it was without a doubt the clearest sky I've ever seen. Not that I could look at it too much, for fear of stumbling over and accidentally casting myself down in to the as yet
Rise Paddies on the way to Amed
It wouldn't be a trip to Asia without at least one stop to take pictures of the beautiful rice paddies unseen volcanic crater we were circumnavigating.
Once we arrived at the top, we huddled shivering in a small shack until the sun started to rise. A guy who had followed us all the way up tried to sell us Cola and Sprite - not really what you want at 6:00am after a two hour hike!
The sunrise was stunning, coming slowly over a ridge of lower hills, lighting up nearby Mount Batur and the 7km long lake that sits between the two mountains. It was a stunning view that was certainly worth the climb. The surrounding country side, an amazing panorama of craters and old laver flows, was gradually revealed to us.
The climb down was just as hard, if not harder, than the walk to the summit. I had a good chat with my fellow hikers. One girl was a police officer (much to the amusement of the guides) from Australia. She works 12+ hour days, BUT gets FOUR days off a week. And six weeks holiday a year! Imagine that.
So, having spent a night in scenic Kuta to rearrange my flights (for which they charged me $50, the bastards.... I will be having
words with STA about that, no mention of any such fees like this when I signed the dotted line), I moved on to Cadi Desa, with the intention of continuing to the teeny-tiny village of Amed as soon as possible.
This journey turned out to be quite costly (by Balinise standards), and I was annoyed that the buses would only run with 2+people. As luck would have it, I got talking to a couple of people staying in the room next to me. They were going to Amed the next day, so we agreed to share a taxi.
Amed is small. Really small. The stretch of coast I am staying on, just south of Amed village contains a couple of guesthouses, a few diving outfits, some shacks, and a lot of animals! Along with the usual dogs and chickens (no road here is complete here without at least one of each), there are also goats, cows and pigs. The animals are sometimes literally metres from the beach, and as I lay dosing on the sand one day, I opened one eye to see a chicken wander past, presumably going for a dip to cool off.
Today I
Sunrises over dog
Nice dog. One of the few in Bali. And found up a mountain, no less... tried snorkelling. There is coral reef 5-10 metres off the beach, swarming with a surprising number of brightly coloured fish. Yesterday morning I went out with one of the fishermen and saw the sunrise. I was disappointed he didn't catch any fish (that was going to be my lunch!), but it was a nice experience none-the-less. The boats are basic, with sail and loud diesel engine. We were part of a loose fleet of 100+ boats leaving from villages up and down the coast. The boats were all brightly painted and of similar design. They all head out at roughly the same time and, as the sun rises, they all turn round in unison and head back towards the shore.
Tomorrow I will start my PADI Open Water diving course. I'm really looking forward to it - I've been looking forward to learning to dive for many years and tomorrow is the day. Today will be another day of reading, dozing, reading and, uh, dozing. The traveller’s life is a hard one indeed.
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Paul k
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Lucky B%$tard
Glad you are having such a good time seems as if you are loving it , you will probably stay traveling for the next 5 years by the sound of it . Looking forward to seeing some pics sounds like a amazing place . look after yourself and keep us up to date in the wonderful world of paul . And hope you are thinking of further chapters for the pencil case story. Matt has just finished Harry potter and was screaming that Snape was a B%STARD and thet he cant belive dumbeldore dies . all id great in the world of Norwich weather is Sh*t and the most exciting thing thats happening is that the busses are in stick . ( as if the dont get paid enough for driving !!!) all the best speak soon Paul K #1 paul in the call centre and on app average of 13 bring it on !!!!