Speedos and Banana Pancakes

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"You wanna banan' pancake" asked the owner of the homestay, reminding me of the start of 'The Beach'. By morning the place was no less grotty than the night before, infact it seemed the darkness had hidden a multitude of sins.

While I waited for my Banan' pancakes to arrive I got chatting to the guy in the room next door, a harbour master on a rotation away from a Jakarta office job. Once I'd had the pancakes washed down with some Bali coffee (just grounds and water in a cup, but very nice)
I wandered up and out of the Padang Bai town, before grabbing a Bemo to Tulamben. The drive was great, and showed me yet more of Balis beautiful geography.

Finally I arrived in Tulamben which is just a stretch of road with a few hotels and restaurants and a black rubbly beach. Talambens main draw is its diving, and it really is nothing more than a small dive resort. The beauty of so many places so close together was I could play them off against each other, and I managed in the end to get 2 dives, an airconditioned room (with pool) and breakfast for $40. The downside is that there is bugger all to see or do there culturally!

After an overpriced (but still cheap) Gado Gado lunch I went down to the beach to see the 'heart' of the resort. There were very few people there, perhaps 10 snorkellers arranged in pairs. I was pleased to see that they were all women, until I realised in horror that one half of every pair was a speedoed man. This fasion and decency faux-paux led me to conclude that if there were beach chairs they would definitely have towels on them already, as what I was faced with was a beach full of Germans. I am, by the way, allowed to make such sweeping generalisations as I am 1/4 German. I do not, however, wear speedos.

And just to back up my statement.... as it turned out they were Germans. Anyway... enough...

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