Bali & Komodo Islands

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I'd been really wanting to visit Bali, which was one of the reasons we booked the cruise. The bonus we got was that we actually got to visit Bali AND Komodo Island, which was something we never would have done.

Bali was nice, but I'm glad we didn't spend more than a day there, maybe if we'd of been locked away in an all inclusive resort we would've felt different but we went to Kuta, where we spent some time on the beach and walking along the local markets being pestered by people to buy their t shirts and beads. The people are friendly, I found a cute little kitten that kept miaowing at me so I got down to stroke it, next thing you know a little girl no more than 3 came running over and smacked my arm away from the cat. I kept trying to stroke it and the girl kept pushing me away, a lady eventually explained the kitten was the little girls and she thought I was going to take it. She was right, it was cute and I have been known to lure cats into letting me cuddle them and then try to steal them! I walked off before the little girl could hit me again.

I bought a couple of play suits and Mikey bought a ukulele - I don't know why.

The next day we went to Komodo island which was so exciting! We got to the island and it was immediately obvious the people here have nothing, and rely on tourists heavily! We were put into our groups and before my group set off a lady yelped coz she saw a dragon coming towards us, now when I saw it I thought F me that's big, later on I realised that was actually a baby.... we did an hour and half hike and on the way saw various birds and bugs and even a deer! A bit fed up we thought we had just wasted our time, as despite its name you're not always guaranteed to see the dragons, sometimes they hide and camouflage.

Towards the end we came to a great big watering hole where we found 6 massive male dragons.... now these were fully sized adults! They stink of poop, we almost stepped in some on our walk back, a huge pile of it! They were unfriendly looking and very dangerous! There are park rangers there with big sticks ready in case the dragon attacks. I'm not sure id want a stick as a weapon to battle a dragon! After googling I found out that children have been taken by the dragons before, as dinner!

We walked back to the pier and had a beer and while we were sitting there a child no more than 5/6 years old came up to me begging for money... I looked around and this was happening everywhere I looked. It was sad, I watched a lady give a child $2 and when her back was turned the child was grabbed by what I assume was it's mother and had the money snatched from its hand and sent back out to beg. I appreciate it's a way of life for these people but it's sad to think that rather than playing on the beach or having fun like little kids should they're being forced to beg from tourists. And getting eaten by dragons.

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