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Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Kuta
March 29th 2014
Published: March 29th 2014
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7th March, arrived late on the 6th but checked into my hotel sometime after midnight, I slept on the plane so wasn’t tired. Met two Americans in my dorm who had just got back from the Casino and were topping there alcohol up before heading out again as it was one of their birthdays, this was around 1 am, they were really nice and did invite me but I had only just arrived, so declined. They got in at 5 and discussed that one of them had punched the other in the face, lol.

Hotel is next to a bar called ‘Jess Pub’ amazing!

Woke around 9.30am as someone was getting up, good job or I may have slept all day! Headed out about 11am after breakfast to the MRT (tube) station near me in search of the Botanical Gardens as there was an Orchid garden in there that had come highly recommended. Now if KL is anything to go by, getting lost on the way to Botanical gardens is something I am good at.. however I made it there! Didn’t even get lost once! Had a wonder around the orchid garden, was very beautiful, and I am sorry if you get bored of pictures of flowers.. saw a few strange things in the park.. first a man walking a dog – I know this sounds normal, but I get the impression it isn’t normal in Asia, or maybe just Malaysia.. second turtles in and around the small lake, third a couple kissing frantically near a pond – not used to seeing PDA’s as been in mostly strict muslim countries. Fourth was a massive lizard just strolling over a path, it was about 2 ½ - 3 feet long,, looked evil.

After I headed to the MRT to get the train to Marina Bay, which I did then I reaised I was too fr away and should’ve got off at the last stop, so I went back paid the extra 50p to rectify my mistake. Had a wander around the Marina Sands Resort, so so hot. I mean 40 degrees hot. Headed up to the observation deck of the hotel and saw the infinity pool, from a fair old distance, only open to hotel guests now. The breeze was nice up there. From the top I could see the cloud forest and

Headed back to the hotel to meet Lissie – a girl I had been chatting to online re the festival I am going to in KL. She happened to be in Singapore at the same time and the other girl, Arie, lived there also so we all met fr dinner and drinks. We met Arie in the Mcdonalds at the end of our road (me and Lissie were in the same hostel) and then headed to the Maxwell food court nice simple place with kiosks serving different food/smoothies/beers, I had the famous chicken and rice, which was steamed chicken and tasty rice, and we started on the Tiger beer. It was good for us to get to know eachother before we went to the festival together.. pretty cool girls. After dinner we headed to Clarke Quay. I had never heard of it, but it’s basically where a lot of bars are next to the river. So instead of going to the bars straight away people buy alcohol from a shop and drink it next to the river or on the bridge. Legends. Pre drinking but at the party place. You can hear live bands playing and music going from everywhere, there are so so many people, all having a great time. So me and lissie shared a large bottle of coke with a small bottle of vodka in, as Arie doesn’t drink much. We then headed to the main bar area, which is set out in like a cross road of bars. Jesus, so much choice! In the end we negotiated 3 for 2 cocktails each and a free shot of jager. Arie kept trying to pay for us as we were her ‘guests’, erm thank you but don’t be silly!! Lol the night was a great, went a few places, even found one with cider in! had a good old dance and got a Mcdonalds on the way home, however it was so late they were only serving breakfast! A good night had by all.



9th March, Sunday.

Woke around 10am and half-heartedly started packing hoping my hangover would go away, checked out a bit late and just sat and chilled in the communal area after seeing Lissie for a bit. Just sat and charged my camera etc. Eventually I got myself ready to leave for the airport, headed there on the MRT,another easy to use and efficient system, almost like we are waiting for the London underground to catch up. Got there in time and there was a big queue to check in, I have mainly been missing these, so it was about time. When I landed in bali it was not too bad, bought a Visa on Arrival, the customs and immigration was easy enough. Although since heard it has taken some people an hour and a half to get through! Lucky again!

The taxi to the hostel was 70000 rp, about £3.50. Amazing. Hostel has a pool and my room is a 2-5 minute walk away from the pool and reception area. Looks really nice, just chilled in my room as it was about 10/11pm.



10th March Monday

Headed for breakfast around 9.30am, it had just finished! Oh well, so headed out walking, found my way to the main street, it was very colourful and lively, lots of beautiful things for sale. Stopped at tourist info places on the way to get a decent map, but it appears they are few and far between. Got talking to a very friendly an named Jhon and booked a boat tour to Lembonganfor the next day, including a glass bottom boat and some snorkelling. He also offered to take me on a tour of the island on his bike as it was just me and private cars are twice as expensive. I was a bit wary so I declined, paid my deposit for the boat. After this I went in search of Kuta beach, It was nice, but busy and people were hassling to sell chair/drink etc. all the way to the beach there were people asking if I wanted ‘transport’ meaning a lift on their mopeds, it started to really annoy me, how about if I want a lift I will ask for one?? It was rare to see people walking actually, everyone are on bikes. Anyway the beach – the sea was crazy, massive waves and realised it was definitely a good area to surf! Just stood and watched the sea for a bit. Decided to go in search of somewhere to have lunch overlooking the beach. This turned out to be more difficult than you would expect. There were just push carts selling drinks and ice-creams that also asked if I wanted to rent a chair.

So I came off the beach and walked down the main road, hearing ‘transport?’ as I go. Found a posh looking place that had big brightly coloured seats and cushions and the outside area was still in the shade. I had a Thai beef salad. Oh my it was good, I also had a Bintang Beer – as per Jennies request. Not bad! Got talking to a guy from Norway called Erlend. Eventually set off again – as the sun was creeping towards where I was sitting. It was very hot. Found a road with a KFC, Starbucks and a Mcdonalds. Continued to walk and somewhere that was advertising shellac manicure/pedicure so decided to treat myself to a pedicure. It’s a hard life. After this I did a spot of shopping, bought a bracelet, a batik bag and a Bintang top. I tried to get some more cash out but it declined, I had an issue in Cameron highlands that was because I tried to withdraw cash twice in one day, so I thought I would try the next day. Was then limited to 100000rp for dinner, which is doable, including beer – priorities! Whilst looking for a place to have dinner in the Legian area – very busy vibrant area and only 2 streets away from me. As I was looking I ran into Erlend again who was also looking for food, sorted, no dining alone tonight. It was funny actually as we didn’t even swap emails etcs and I didn’t know his name the first time he told me… oops. I had the beef satay which came on its own mini barbeque. Amazing! There was a power cut and the whole vibrant lively street went into darkness, was quite eerie, but it was cool too. It happened again while we were eating too, but my BBQ let us see a bit at least. Bid our farewells and I set off down the alleys that I knew how to get home, however due to the power cut it was a lot darker than I was expecting, I used the torch on my phone and tried to remember the way back. I found it eventually.

11th March

Up early for the boat trip. Picked up at 8am and headed to the office where I pay the rest of the money for the trip via an ATM. Declined. CRAP. Tried taking a card payment at the office which didn’t work either. So I told them that I do have the money but need to contact my bank and that I can arrange to pay the Jhon guy that I bought the trip from later on. Which they could have been mardy about but they still allowed me to go on the trip! Legends! So off we went to Lembongan. It was a great boat ride, about an hour away from the jetty. Was a beautiful day. I sun creamed my shoulders etc and then I went on the glass bottom boat on my own, as I was then only person to have booked this package. We slowed down after a while, there were beautiful corals and fish everywhere. Got some good pictures! I was glad I did the boat actually as the pictures are similar to what you see when you are snorkelling, so it’s easier to describe to people.

We stopped and I went snorkelling. He told me the best places to look and also threw bread into the water so I could see the fish eating it. it was magical. The colours of the corals we light blue, bright pink, orange. The fish were even more colourful! I felt my back burning a little bit but it was ok, after an hour I got back on the boat. I was very tired for some reason, I had slept in the bus on the way to the boat, slept on the boat then after lunch I went and found a shady spot and fell asleep again. When I woke up my left arm was in the sun.. buggar. Oh well it felt ok, moved out of the sun and fell asleep again, I had set an alarm so I wouldn’t miss the 3.30pm bus. So headed back to the boat station at about 3pm. Checked in and ready to go. On the way there was a wall which was wide enough to be a path, however it had broken and there was about a 3-4 foot gap. I full on jumped over it. Getting adventurous! Ha ha!

I think I managed to stay awake on the boat back, in fact I know I did as the sea was getting choppy and the driver was going pretty fast, it was fun! Bouncing up and down everywhere and everyone were screaming etc, in a good way.. like a fireworks display ‘ooooh’ ‘aaaarhhh’.

Got back around 5pm and told the receptionist that a man called Jhon was coming and if he arrives then to tell him I won’t be long and headed out to the nearest ATM. Still declined. CRAP. Anyway long story short, tried a lot of ATMs, the guy Jhon eventually let me use his phone to call my bank, which cut off the first time just I got through the security questions… I was so annoyed, they know I am away and the locations where I will be. Anyway it got sorted and it was like Christmas when I went to the ATM and I heard it counting the money!! I also booked a trip to go with him the next day on his motorbike to see the sights, I think he deserved my custom! Legend! Went for a quick dinner and chilled for the evening. Long day!

March 12th.

Up early again and met Jhon in the reception. Headed out on his bike, 1st stop was a show, Barong dance and show to be precise, there was local music, costumes and storyline. It was very colourful and very entertaining, 2nd stop was a Batik factory, which is a local fabric with beautiful patterns that they first draw on with pencil, then apply wax over it, dye it, apply wax again and dye again, until the colours are complete. 3rd stop was a silver jewellery factory and they were handmaking beads, earrings, etc. I bought some simple rose earrings. 4th stop was the temple village where I had to wear a sarong and make a donation to the temple to enter. Was very beautiful. It was raining on and off throughout the day and we had to wear waterproof poncho as well as my helmet. It was torrential at some points, was quite an experience! Chose a day of rain to be on a bike all day! Ha ha! 5th stop we went to a carpentry place that makes beautiful carvings out of local wood. My first question was weather it was then replanted to which the guy said it was, but I don’t think he really understood the question. So I had a look around, but purposely didn’t buy anything.

Next stop was lunch and I had mentioned to Jhon that I liked Rendang (thanks Jennie) so he took me to a place in Ubud and we had street food including rending and all sorts of amazing things. I don’t know what I had, but I liked most of it. The rending was old though and I only got one bit. Annoying. Oh well it was an experience. Next stop Monkey Forest! The area was beautiful again and I had read up on this place before going, said to be wary of the monkeys as they can steal anything you have loose on you, sunglasses, camera etc. and jhon said the same. It was amazing though, so up close and personal! There was an area which was like going into an actual forest film set and there are monkeys just knocking about. Spent about 10-20 minutes there and all of a sudden it started tipping it down. Luckily the trees were so dense it barely got through. But it wasn’t cold, so a bit of rain isn’t a problem really. Better than English rain where you are freezing! Headed back to the entrance and found jhon and we set off to the next place, I had if we could go to the volcano earlier in the day and he said depends on the weather. So it was a right off, the next place was called Pura Tanah Lot and it was quite far, I think it must’ve been about 2 hours, or felt like it. I was all of a sudden very tired and kept dropping off while I was on the back of the bike! But its ok I lived! The place was like a floating island, the waves were amazing. It was really beautiful. It started raining again unfortunately so I headed back to the entrance and he took me back to my hotel. It was about 5.30pm. Long day and only about 16 quid for whole day of his time! Headed out for dinner had to jump into a close place as it started raining again! Then just chilled out for the evening.

March 13th

For the next day I slept in and chilled out by the pool all day. It was lovely, swam 50 lengths of the pool and realised I couldn’t remember the last time I swam in a pool. Crazy. I relaxed for a bit in the afternoon and went to leave for dinner around 6pm and it was chucking it down so I stayed in for a bit before braving the rain to get dinner. It was basically a very chilled day. Then about 10pm my new room mate arrived, she was an American called Gena. She came along at the right time as I was undecided where to go after KL. After talking to her I decided on meeting Lissie in Ao Nang, Thailand next.



March 14th I got up and packed, sat by the pool and then checked out at 12. Had time for a spot of shopping and an ATM stop and then just chilled out there until heading to the airport at 2.30pm. after the travelling I got to my hostel about 10.30pm, after messing about with immigration, and finding the correct bus. Checked in and headed straight out for some food as I could only afford a snack at the airport as I had to pay an airport tax of 100000 rp. Good job I went to the ATM! It was late but luckily I already had explored this area of KL when I got lost on my previous visit. So I managed to stop at an indian food court and just had a Roti Canoi, basically a bready/pastry thing with a selection of curry sauces. Yum. When I got back to the Hostel the lights were off. Went straight to sleep.


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30th March 2014

mini BBQ!
Awesome I loved your mini BBQ and the orchard farm xx keep up the blog my lovely it is sometimes a pain to have to write xx but lovely for us to read and even better that you can read to your grandchildren one day! Love ya xx

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