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Published: June 15th 2007
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Hey again!
We are spending our last day in Indonesia, and Asia, today. Quite wierd really - I'm having to eat as many noodles as I can today, to fill up.
Anyway, since the last blog, we flew to Bali (and I bought myself a new camera on the way too, to replace the old one). We stayed in a place called Kuta, which seems to be the touristy hub of Bali - lots of shopping, a beach and surfing places all over.
We gave surfing a go too - had a lesson on the first day, and the rented boards out by ourselves on the second day. Its great fun, but so frustrating when I started - the whole of the first day, actually, I just couldn't get it. I could stand up on the board, but not actually go anywhere - for some reason, the thing didn't seem to want to move forward.
It took Ro to point out that I needed to start where the waves were breaking to get anywhere - which I tried, and the whole thing became a lot easier. So, on the second day, I was very pleased with
Surfing on Bali
Anyone believe that this is me?? No??? Thought not. myself. "Gnarly". Etc.
Kuta itself isn't that nice - really busy, and loads of locals constantly trying to sell you things. A bit annoying, and it isn't increasing my love of shopping - I'm not exactly fond of it at the best of times either.
So, after a couple of days in Kuta, we decided to head east, towards a small group of islands just off the coast of Lombok (the next big island to Bali). After a 13 hour journey (which could have been done in two if we weren't so cheap), we arrived on Gili Trawangan. It's a tiny place, about 2km long and 1.5 wide, and we'd heard lots of people saying how nice it is.
It was dark when we eventually got there (having left Bali at 6 in the morning, by the way - i'm still bitter), so we couldn't really see what the beaches and things were like, so we went to find a hostel, and discovered that there was a party on that night. Apparently, the various bars on the island have a rota to decide who has a party when - on Fridays, it is Rudi's Bar. So, that
was our activity for that night.
Woke up in the morning, and headed out to the beach - amazing place. White sand, that blue/turquoise water you get on postcards, and the island doesn't seem that busy at all - long stretches of sand without anyone one them. And the weather was great - after coming from mainland SE Asia, it was nice to discover that in Indonesia, it is not the rainy season - in fact, we arrived right at the start of high season, so the weather is perfect.
After spending a couple of days doing very little, apart from eating loats of fresh seafood from the various restraunts on the beach, we decided to do some more diving. It was dead good to do it again - I'd forgotten how much fun it was. Did two dives in two days (Ro just did one because her ears went a bit funny after all the flights we've been doing recently, so she couldn't equilise properly). Then, the following day, we did a snorkling trip to various sites around the islands (there are two nearby islands called Gili Meno and Gili Air), travelling on a glass bottomed boat.
The beach on Trawangan
This is right in front of a bar, by the way As usual, saw a load of turtles, a lionfish, giant clams, morey eels, and a lot of loads of random tropicial fish that I don't know the names for.
That night was my birthday (so we stayed up to see it in), and had a great time - the party was at the Irish Pub that night.
Sadly we had to leave the next day - needed to get back for Bali to get our flight to Sydney. This meant another 13 hour return trip with a bit of a head ache. So, after meaning to spend 3 days on the island, we somehow ended up there a whole week. Oops. Means we didn't see that much of Bali, but we did have a great time, and met some really cool people.
So, tonght we fly to Sydney. I have a feeling that it is going to be a very strange experience, at least for a couple of days - bit of a culture shock, I think. Arriving on Bali was bad enough after coming from Cambodia, god knows what Sydney is going to be like.
Anyway, hope all is well with everyone. Thanks to everyone
Sunset.
I realise that my blogs feature tonnes of these, but I like them. So there. who send a birthday message! See you all in just over a month. Really doesn't seem that long when I think of it like that.
Simon.
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