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Published: June 25th 2008
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Rottness Island, Perth
Just after the torrential downpour! So i met up with Claire (finally, her plane was about 4 hours delayed!) at Perth having spent the day just relaxing and reading (shocking, I know- me reading a book! The Kite Runner- amazing book). Perth was nice but more of a stop over for us than anything. We saw the city and went to an island about half an hour's boat ride away, Rottness. It was beautiful but unfortunately for us we went on 'the worst day in over 3 years'. It rained a LOT. But was good to see nonetheless.
SO after a short flight to Indonesia, we arrived in Jakarta, Java. Oh my goodness what a culture shock. Our flight arrived at 3am, and as soon as we were through customs we were being mauled by people trying to get our money by taking us to the city. We decided to be safe, as we really didnt know the area at all, and got a metered taxi to where we wanted to stay in Jakarta. As it was so late we just took what ever was open at the time, and ended up in some grovel, really not nice, but it was a bed and it
Pangandaran, Java
We went to watch a lady make sugar from coconut trees! had a fan so what more do you need? And it only cost the equivalent of two pounds between us, which we have since discovered is the standard price for accommodation everywhere here! Its amazing!
Jakarta was busy busy busy! A bit overwhelming coming from nothing but western countries so far! Apparently Indonesia is the 4th most overpopulated country in the World. So we decided to just walk around the area where we were staying, booking our transport out of there as soon as we could! We did go to the 'old town' on the local train, but it wasn't really worth the trip! What I have found the strangest thing since being here is that people cannot stop staring at me because I am so white! I have since learned that the women here pay lots to buy skin whitening products as they prefer to be white than tanned- the complete opposite of what us Brits want! So i had a lot of people in Jakarta just coming up to me to touch my skin (well, what can I say? I am stunning!) Very odd.
The next day we headed to the coast, to a town called
Pangandaran. After a very long, horrible journey we arrived late at night and checked into our hotel. We were only planning on having a couple of days here, but one of the men that worked at the hotel (as an activities guide really), Hendra, took us under his wing and we ended up staying for nearly a week! It was such a beautiful place, but made even better by the amazingly lovely people we met! I ave never known people to be so friendly and lovely to complete strangers! By the time we left we really felt at home there, it was sad to leave!
While in Pangandaran we were taken to the Green Canyon (a river with a big canyon which you could swim in, really clear and refreshing), and the Green Valley, which was a hidden gem for us. Hendra says not many people know about it so we were really fortunate to get to go, and noone was there apart from us! There were waterfalls, caves, everything! On the way home we then stopped at a place for dinner. It used to be called the Blue Lagoon, as it was on the sea front, but the
tsunami destroyed a large part of Java's coast and took it with it. So the restaurant moved to a fresh water area in the countryside, where we caught our own fish and watched them de-scale them and cook them. It was such a good meal!
The next day Hendra took us to some really nice beaches in the area, and took us on a gorgeous walk to see the sunset over the whole town. Then the next day we went to another beach, this time beautiful white sand and clear water (the beaches here are good for surfing, but not for swimming!). the only way to get to this beach was by walking through a monkey forest, which for me was so exciting as i Love monkeys!(or at least I did until one of them nearly attacked Claire! Stupid monkeys.)
We were planning on leaving the next day, but he had told us his friend was getting married the next night, a traditional Indonesian Wedding, which we were invited to! How lucky were we?! It was such an amazing experience, where Claire ended up dancing with all these women in the middle of a huge circle! So funny!
She tried to get me up but I would have made a fool of myself and ended up falling over or something! So Miranda (a German girl we had spent the past few days with) and I sat it out and just watched everyone get so passionate about their dancing!
From Pangandaran we headed to Yogjakarta (or Jogja to the locals), another city but much quieter than Jakarta and much much nicer! Here we met a dutch couple, Carolien and Wes, who we ended up spending the next few days with in Bali. This was really a stop over point for us to make the long trip towards Bali. Our first day here was an early start, up at 3am to go to watch the sunrise at Borobudur, a huge Buddist Temple, verynice it was too.
The first stop from Jogja was in a small village where we stayed in these cute wooden lodges, with a hot shower! (It was the first time in over a week I had had hot water, so was very exciting!) Our reason for staying here was to see the active volcano, Mount Bromo. Again we woke at 3am to begin our 2
hour walk up to the top of the volcano before sunrise. We got to the top at 5am, after a very tiring walk! But what a fantastic experience it was! To actually see an active volcano and stand and look into it smoking away, wow. Occasionally the smoke blew in a way which meant we could see across from Bromo to another Volcano smoking away too. I was exhausted but it was most definitely worth it.
We got back to our lodge at 9am and so began the long drive to leave Java and head to Bali, our next stop! We arrived in Kuta, Bali, at around 10pm and again it was such a shock. But not like last time, more of a shock at the number of tourists! It was crazy as for the past week or so we had been most definitely in the minority (being white, that is) and now everywhere you look, it was like being in the Costa del Sol! Very amusing. We had a good few days here, relaxing on the beach, going out at night, just having a really relaxing time! We were worried we would get caught in the trap of
never leaving Kuta, but as time is running out we decided to leave and head to Udub, Bali. We spent a couple of days here, hiring a bike and cycled around the area, before getting the bus and boat across to Lombok, where we then headed to the Gili Islands which were just stunning! there are no roads or cars or any form of transport on thesee islands, other than a horse and cart! So beautiful, but unfortunately we could only spend a couple of days here as we needed to head back to Kuta, Bali for our flight on Saturday! We did end up meeting a few people we saw along the way again which was so nice to end our Indonesian trip on a high!
So now it was off to Hong Kong for a few days! Wow! Such a cool city! Will most definately go back there when I can spend all my money as there are thousands and thousands of shops, all with really good cheap stuff!! Loved Hong Kong though, very nice city!
It was sad that Indonesia came to an end, but we both had such an amazing time there and are
so excited alrready about going back as there is so much more to see! But now its onto Thailand and start the final adventures across Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Should be good!
xx
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LegallyBlonde
Sophie Birkett
Where are u guys now?
When do you guys get into Cambodia and Vietnam?? Am in Battanbang in Cambodia atm and then heading in two days to Pheom Phen and then into Vietnam until the 22nd July, will you guys be around at all then? xx