Tirtaganga-Bali-Indonesia!

Our hotel is lovely-with awesome viuews of the rice fields and the mountain! We visit the water palace.It's very impressive and only 66p to get in!You can swim in the natural pool with the big koi carp but thats not my idea of fun so we just take a stroll around.There are lots of Hindu statues  and its very beautiful and peaceful!Perfect place to get a feel for real Bali!Its also just perfect for relaxing with a book while Moonface trudges around the countryside......heaven!

Tulamben-Bali-Indonesia!

Tulamben is a road full of dive shops and guesthouses-restuarants!We stay directly opposite the beach (which has black sand!)We go for a little walk and Moonface takes me NOT down the actual path to the beach! I was looking forward to seeing the WW2 shipwreck but cant see it!Great! This photo was about as near as i'm getting to a scuba steve impression!Next day Charlie snorkelled to have a look he said the highest point of the wreck is 5m below the water,there are lots of colourful fish and coral to see but the visibility is low...it doesnt matter though as the wreck is so close.Sounds good hey!

Ubud To Kintamani (Gunung Batur)-Bali, Indonesia!

 

We walk to the market and jump into a beemo to Gianyar (5,000) then Gianyar to Klung Kung (5,000) then KlungKung to Kintamani (20,000).The tourist bus was 90,000 so we saved 60,000 rupiah!

The last parts of the journey were absolutely amazing! The first site of a volcano is truly breathtaking! 

A little information about Gunung Batur.....

it is an active volcano located at the centre of two calderas, it has been dated about 23,670 and 28,500 years ago!The first documented eruption of Batur was 1804!It stretches 1717m to the sky!

Basically two volcanos have exploded in this area...the one we saw was the 3rd growing....just a baby in volcano terms!

When we arrived in Kintamani the place was full of Balinese celebrating a 7 days festival offering gifts at the temple.Balinese Hinduism is basically about appeasing good and negative spirits.Therefore the Balinese leave offrering on the grounbd for the -ve and up on shrines for the +ve!These often include flowers and food!They also burn incense to cleanse the area!

It was really cool to see the holiday in full swing!And of course for us its Easter!Each decoration around the temple and lining the streets is handmade by each vilage-its' amazing craftsmanship.

The next day we intended to leave after visiting lake Batur. We walk down (4km) to the lake and have breakfast...the view is epic!The lake is a lvoely blue and is framed by the volcanic peak all covered in lush flora and fauna.Amazing!

When we get back up to Kintamani we wait with our bags by the side of the road for our next beemo but it appears all the locals have chartered them so no bus today!

The next morning we jump on a bus to Singharaja. The journey apparantly should cost 50,000 rupiah-we paid 15,000 much to the annoyance of the driver. The only thing that is hard work in Bali so far is the bus/beemo drivers obsessuion with ripping you off. We sit int he same seat as a local for the same journey but they still insist be should be paying inflate boule(white people) price!I think not!

In singharaja we walk out of the bus terminal after the locals well and truely tick us off trying to do just this!We eventually arrive in Tulamben after agreeing to pay 25,000 each for a 70-80km journey (2GBP) Better than the other drivers 100,000 fair!Rip off merchants 0- 1 Charlie and Cari!

Dempasar Airport To Ubud, Bali-Indonesia!

Our flight with Merpati was really good- huge sigh of relief as I had heard some pretty bad things. It seems the government have put lots of money into the airline and they now have reasonable new planes!
Dempasar Airport obviously caters for tourists, it has a KFC and a Starbucks!Full of Package whores and their wheelie suitcases too but I found a Diet Coke- YAY! We walk out of the airport and get a beemo to Te gal Terminal (10,000 rupiah each!) There are 14,000 to the British Pound!Then we get a beemo to Ubung Terminal (5,000 Rupiah) and another beemo to Mas (20,000). This is when we came to a dead end!No more beemo! We decide to walk to Ubud thinking it was only 5km when an Australian voice stops us and asks if we would like a cold drink! Its soooo hot! He tells us Ubud is 6-7km away or more, if we wanted his family would give us a lift. The family were waiting for their priest to conduct an opening ceremony for their new garage. The mans name was John and him and his family were so welcoming! They gave us food and fluids and explained about Balinese culture and the intricate details of the ceremony. It was extremely interesting and renewed our faith that Bali isn't just full of tourists getting beered up! John and his family then drove us to Ubud where we found a lovely room and went back to join him at his wifes restuarant! Thanks John and family for all your hospitality!!!

 

Ubud is a lovely town- its obviously a haven of resorts but there are still some backpacker haunts to be found!It's a lovely arty place with some very talented artist.Works are displayed all along the main road.Theres also some beautiful temples to see and views of the rice fields. Later we went to Johns house and he took us to a local market (where i picked up the obligatory magnets!). Due to a parking error we had to drive through the market to get out-very comical moment! The first two days in Ubud where a great introduction to Bali. I tend to agree with Charlie sometimes its not the place but the people you meet there!

 

West Timor-Indonesia!

So...tourism definitely hasn't hit West Timor yet!!I can't even purchase a postcard people! There are a lack of hotels to chose from and they are expensive for the condition of the rooms...but hey ho...that's getting off the beaten track as Moonface says! People seem genuinely pleased to see us here and are excited to practise their English with us.It's nice....but in all honesty I still struggle with being the only white face in town!
We decided to do a day trip to a smaller town called Soe...it is known for its traditional wood and grass huts and is very much an animist society. The bus there was extremely hot and long (3 1/2 hours) and when we got there the only thing to see was a local market which was very small. I got a bit grumpy (no surprise there if you have been reading the blog lol!) it seemed a wasted day to me....Charlie seems to have a much better mentality, he appreciated the journey there because we got to see lots of small villages and real local life! I guess he's right...its something I have to learn to notice a bit more!
After that things went a bit 'tits up'! We were supposed to be boarding a ferry to Flores. I was a bit nervous about a 7 hour boat ride in Indonesia to begin with but when I found out it was going to be more like 19-20 hours panic set in!!! It was time to board the boat so we started to walk down to the ferry...then I saw the boat....it looked a bit like this

No I'm exaggerating for comedy value (we can laugh about it now!) but lets say the boat wasn't in good condition 20 years ago!You only have to Google Indonesian ferry and look through all the results (90% depicting various sinking's and fatalities) to get an idea! Gut wrenching fear kicked in and i knew that I wasn't gonna be able to dig deep and get the strength to do that journey.A big failure on my part because the whole point of this trip was to test myself and push my boundaries! When your sitting at home and someone you know is off travelling the world you think its all parties and bumming around but when your actually doing it it's flipping hard work...physically,emotionally and mentally your tired (of course its all worth it) but at this time in the trip I felt like my battery was nearly at empty! So I have a big apology to give to Charlie because I ruined his trip in Indonesia (he has had to give up all but one of the things he wanted to see) instead we are flying to Bali (which he hates) and have had to hang around for 5 days until our flight (which bores him to tears) So once again I'm sorry babe..I really am!
We did get to see one of the biggest nights on the Kupang calender...a ciggarette company put on a party with a DJ from Jakarta and a dance competition,live band etc! Wouldn't say it would live up to party expectations in the U.K or even Brentwood for that matter but the locals had a great time and it was interesting to see!
So thats West Timor so far....we plan to head to the beach tomorrow and then we have our flight to Bali!

The Journey to West Timor!!!

So we left Hat Yai by bus and drive all the way through Malaysia from top to bottom! Luckily the bus we had booked was very comfortable (few cockroaches but you cant escape them in South East Asia...Ive learnt the hard way!)
We crossed the border to Singapore (OH MY GOD -Singapore is soooo clean and organised its amazing i cant wait to come back for the three days (universal studios!!)
Then we got a train to Singapore airport (even the budget terminal is amazing) and boarded a flight to
Jakarta Indonesia with Tiger Airways.Brand spanking new air plane it was very good!
We had to wait overnight at Jakarta airport...luckily there was a seating area with a Indomart (Indonesian equivalent of 7-11) otherwise that wait could have been horrific lol!
Then we boarded the Batavia flight to Kupang,West Timor! The plane was pretty old! and we had an engineer on the plane at one point flapping around! Doesn't make you feel the safest especially when you know that Batavia are not allowed to fly into Europe because they dont meet the standards!Charlie is already asleep before take off lol ....thanks bf!thanks a bunch! The take off is HORRIBLE...the engine is making a sound iv never heard before and Ive flown a lot!We swerve to the right...then the left....then the right...then the left and eventually turn right...i can see sky one side and ground the other!And i think I'm going to die on a crappy plane in Indonesia....GREAT! Landing was pretty much the same story! But we got to Timor safe and sound in the end!!! And it looks pretty cool!

Hat Jai-Thailand

We were both very excited to catch up with our long lost friend Gerry and his lovely partner Ooy! We had been to see them before in Hat Yai so we knew what to expect from the place. Its an interesting place with a huge mix of Thai,Malaysian and Chinese people and is a big business centre....for Gerry i think its just a nice place to get away from all the other ex pats.
Gerry very kindly put us up for the whole time we were there and fed and watered us....thanks very much Gerald! We took Ooy to the movies to see John Carter...don't think she was that impressed with the movie but she loved the popcorn lol! In a Thai cinema before the feature starts you have to stand for the national anthem and the kings portrait on the screen....very strange!The ongoing joke was that Gerry kept asking Ooy if she liked the movie and Ooy kept replying in her Thairish accent (Thai and Irish) REALLLY!!!very funny if you were there!
We were also pleased to be there for Ooys birthday....so we went out for a lovely meal and then to the post laser disc for some live music and so Ooy could have vodka splite (vodka sprite lol! ) It was lovely to see her have such a great time!

We had a lovely time....cant wait to see you two again!!