The Price of Convenience

In the press recently there has been lots of discussion about whether India should allow foreign investors to own 51% of retail stores. This would allow stores such Wal-Mart and Tesco to open in India. In recent days these plans have been suspended but it is an interesting and ongoing debate and one which the UK's experience should contribute to.

The Indian government claims it will aid competition. For who? For the big brands perhaps, but the fact that a Tesco Express store seems to be opening in every street in the UK is testament to the fact that it certainly won't help smaller independent retailers who simply cannot compete. I would like to compare the numbers of small independent retailers now and 10 years ago in the UK, I bet the numbers have decreased greatly.

Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, also claims that it will help to drive down prices which have risen dramatically with inflation. However this has gone to the other extreme in the UK, where prices for farmers have been driven down so low that many farmers are struggling to stay in business.

Surely India has only to look to England to realise this move can only benefit the big chains and continue to help the rich get rich and the poor even poorer, which seems to be a common theme. I read an article in India Today that advocated the opinion that the Government in India was an enemy of the poor and that by setting the poverty line at 32 rupees per person in urban areas and 26 rupees in rural areas this was actually adversely effecting ordinary Indians. Currently the government claims that 32% of Indians live below the poverty line. This means that 32% of Indians survive on less than 50p a day in urban areas. But the article, in my opinion, was arguing that by setting the poverty line so low they are confirming that it is okay for ordinary people to live on so little, that they need no more than the absolute minimum for survival.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-editorial-director-m-j-akbar-planning-commission-poverty-montek-singh-ahluwalia-rs-32-a-day-democracy/1/154070.html

Another argument for opening up the market to foreign retailers was that there would be no end of choice for the Indian consumer. This may be true but at a cost. We are used to being able to go to one store and get everything we need, sorry want. It is irrelevant whether we can actually grow that produce, whether it is in season, we can still get it. That is what we have become accustomed to, we expect to be able to get everything and anything we want. The result is being sold tasteless fruit and veg, that have been imported at great expense to the environment and to us, that have been stored/frozen for weeks in some dock container.

That was one of the things that was so wonderful about travelling around India - the fresh, flavoursome food. If you ate at a local place, okay you had choices limited to what they could grow or obtain locally, but the food was all freshly prepared. You could eat a well balanced meal of rice, vegetables and lentils for very little cost. Okay we did not eat a lot of meat and a majority of people in India are vegetarian, for religious reasons. Also it is not so easy to keep meat fresh. But still if meat is used it is sourced locally. It may not look as juicy or each cut as 'meaty', but nor has the animal or the meat been pumped full of additives or water.

I have also heard that a lot of vegetable/fruit produce is rejected and wasted by supermarket chains because of how it looks. Apparently British consumers are reluctant to buy an apple unless it is perfectly formed, there is not a blemish or lump in sight. There seems to be parallels here with our cosmetic/modelling/MTV/ celebrity culture!! But how ridiculous, since when does it matter what a potato looks like? What does it taste like? Where did it come from? Is it fresh? Are surely more appropriate questions? But seemingly people fail to consider this and I have to admit in the past I have been one of these people. Much more concerned with being able to get what I need in as little time as possible, only considering the effect on my pocket and time.

Reflecting on my life back in the UK I realise I have spent a lot of time telling myself and anyone else that will listen, what a busy life I lead. That I order my food online from a big supermarket chain because I don't have enough time and I save money. What rubbish! It's taken this 3 months of taking my head out of my own........life (!) to consider my impact on the world around me. I hope when I return to a working life somewhere, sometime soon, I will remember this and take the time to support local retailers, to buy fresh produce from independent stores and prepare more food from scratch. My sister has always been a great advocate of this and does a great job of preparing fresh exciting meals each day. There is no reason why I cannot do this. I'm thinking about having a family in the near(ish) future and I don't want to teach my children to be selfish or apathetic about what they consume.

Another trend that I hope India does not follow, is being able to buy convenience in terms of ready-made food. A wonderful part of the culture, that is lacking in the UK, is the passing down of family recipes. A huge part of Indian culture, according to families we met, is cooking and eating together. Most importantly cooking meals from scratch, making your own roti etc. Every family we met on the trains had brought entire meals with them, which they without fail wanted to share with us. Working mothers cook fresh meals and take great pride in this. I know many families in the UK still do this, but I believe there is a risk within our generation and the generation after us of loosing this, of convenience winning over healthy, nutricious food. People buy 'diet' meals instead of cooking for themselves, which they can guarantee has no additives etc. I am definitely guilty of buying ready-made sauces and filled pasta as a quick meal. I have a very small repertoire of basic meals that I make from scratch. Must do better! It's also so cheap to buy a 'meal' at a Weatherspoons or similar chains, which can be cheaper than buying all the ingredients and cooking from scratch. It's also cheaper to buy some chicken (in the loosest possible sense) and frozen chips than cook a healthy well balanced meal. This doesn't make much sense to my simple brain. Fresh food has been sent to a factory to be processed and created, you'd think this would cost more! No wonder we are fighting obesity in the Western world.

In the same vein, I often question the 'convenience' of using the internet, especially since we have been away. In the past I'd always rather book a hotel on the net or do my banking online. But I think actually in a lot of cases this is a false economy. I've had situations where I've tried to inform my mobile phone contractor that I want to cancel my contract etc. and this is such a pa-lava online with all the security checks etc. There are so many instances where it is so much quicker and straight forward to speak to someone. And I think actually I lost some confidence and felt deskilled at talking on the phone and communicating in different situations. It's really important to be able to relate to people over the phone or face to face. Anonymity is not always such a good thing. Things tend to get done much quicker and are more likely to be achieved if there is a personal element. You would think as a teacher this would have been obvious to me!!

Of course, there is also the transport aspect of our convenience culture. Jumping in the car to nip to Tesco's, a ten minute stroll down the road, because it's raining or because you've got 'so many other things to do'. Or as I'm guilty of, driving to work to save ten minutes each morning and evening, even though it's probably more expensive to drive. The hundreds of thousands of journeys we make as a nation each day that are unnecessary, the impact this has on our environment. I hope instead of sounding like I am on my high horse I am simply demonstrating how far from a 'good' and 'moral' citizen I am. Hopefully I have countered this in some way in my teaching, even if I am not leading by example and am a huge hypocrite! Must do better, before I can preach.

So to finish....watch this space! Will the Indian government continue to block foreign companies having considered the effect on ordinary Indians or just out of the inability to get anything done as a congress? And will I take the small step of changing my own behaviour? If I can't then this may be good news for a nation that are already doing things 'right' (in terms of not living for convenience) and terrible news for the UK who are loosing the battle to a nation of convenience nuts, which in turn is having a detrimental effect on health and our economy.

Cameron Highlands

27.11.11-29.11.11

From Ipoh it was only a 3 hour journey in to the Cameron Higlands and the small

town of Tanah Rata. However it is currently school holidays in Malaysia and a

3 day weekend so the roads were rammed with domestic tourists meaning we ended up at a

standstill as we wound the 6 or 7 km between the 2 towns in the Highlands.

My first impressions of the CH's were not as I'd imagined. The area seemed much

more commercialised than I'd thought, with the roads lined with garden centres,

restaurants and strawberry farms. In places all you could see were hills covered

with huge plastic green-houses. I later found out that this is the only place in

Malaysia that strawberries are grown and they are not exported to anywhere else in

Malaysia, they solely supply the tourist industry here. That must mean elsewhere in

Malaysia strawberries are exported, what a waste.

Tanah Rata is pretty much a one road town of guesthouses, shops and restaurants, not

very picturesque. Our guesthouse, Twin Pines, was the cheapest and by default the least inviting

place we have stayed so far in Malaysia and the room itself is probably the most

basic room we have stayed in throughout our whole trip. The walls were really thin

and the room smelt damp and the blanket on the bed even felt damp. But it was clean

and there were plenty of showers with hot water. It also had free wi-fi and a nice-enough

communal area. However we went to go and have a look at Fathers Guesthouse, which had

been recommended to us, and next time I would definately stay here. The dorm was

very cheap and had a lounge feel. The communal area was lovely with lots of comfy

sofas and the staff were so friendly and accomodating. Recommended!!

As we only had one whole day, and we'd got the impression that all the things we wanted

to visit were quite spread out, we decided to book a tour. We booked a days 'Rafflesia'

tour through Father's Guesthouse and it was well worth the money!

We were picked up by a dodgy looking 4 x 4 with huge horns on the front (obviously)! We clambered in and

chatted to our companions for the day, as we made the 40 minute journey to a local village.

It had rained quite hard the previous night so our guide explained that the 4 x 4 could not

go as far up the track as usual as it was too muddy. This meant we would have to trek

an extra 45 minutes or so each way. We were up for the challenge but were a little concerned because

we knew we weren't exactly equipped for any serious hiking. But the guide laughed it off

and we hadn't seen the track yet so off we went.......

Half an hour in it was apparent that it was going to be tough going for Martin in particular

as his trainers had no tread left on them. The track was pure mud and mainly uphill, if

you didn't watch your step you ended up up to your knees in mud. It was slow going! And

once we had reached the point at which we would usually have started walking we had another

hour and half to go. It was quite a fast pace and very slippy so you didn't get much

time to take in your surroundings. We were walking through occasionally very narrow

over-grown trails through rain forest. To either side of us and across the path were teepees of

stripy bamboo stabbing in to the sky. Our local guide led us through the paths hacking

at undergrowth as he went. At the times I was behind him I was concerned I would slip and fall in to

him, impaling him with his machete! It didn't happen thankfully! Otherwise this may have been

a very different blog entry!

Once we got of the track that the vehicles took it got marginally easier as there were

usually rocks or roots crossing the trail to give you more grip. But at times when

the trail went steeply uphill or downhill it became very difficult to stay on your feet.

We were fearful it would rain while we were trekking as this would make our route even more

difficult, but luckily the weather held up.

Our guide was a local and knowledgeable about the area, he stopped to break up the trek 3 times

to talk to us about our surroundings. However he did have a 'guide in training' who he

asked to do the first 'briefing' to our group. This guy was obviously very nervous at having to

speak in front of his boss and froze, managing to only mumble a few incorrect sentences. At

which point our guide interrupted and told us he was all wrong and carried on himself. This

made us all very uncomfortable and I didn't think it was particularly professional of our

guide.

We were shown 3 rafflesia in different stages of their life cycle, dead (!), in bud and in bloom. The

flower that was in bloom did not smell as rumoured. Apparently it only smells (like a corpse) for

a few hours after the flower first opens. It is strange looking fleshy flower, a cross between a

fungus and a flower.

After we had viewed the flower we took a break and were refreshed with a drink from a freshly

cut piece of bamboo! We then had the gruelling trek back to the vehicles, which for Martin

was particularly painful as it was so difficult for him to stay on his feet. About an hour

from the vehicle, Martin called me back as he saw a snake on the path. It looks like I got lucky

as I must have stepped right over the small brown snake that was in striking pose and was according

to our guide poisonous. Phew!

It felt like a great achievment when we made it back to the vehicle, albeit covered in mud. We then had

a few minutes walk to a nearby village where our guide demonstrated how to us a traditional blow

pipe and we all took it in turns to try it. It's suprising how powerful they are.

Afterwards we were driven to a local indian restuarant for lunch. We then embarked on our afternoon

tour of the areas' sights driven by the trainee guide, which was hairy at times to say the least!

Our first stop was at a viewpoint over the local tea plantations. Bushes were about 3 foot tall,

course and stumpy with waxy, shiny leaves, planted in rows with half a foot gap in between. The view

of the undulating valley was gorgeous, rich velvety green as far as the eye could see with younger plants

a brighter, lime green. Our guide was laughably abrupt (because of his limited english, not out of

rudeness!) and hurried us along to the BOH tea factory, which was unfortunately not running as it was

a public holiday. But the exhibition gave a good overview of the company and the tea making process.

You can also have a cup of tea while soaking up the views of the surrounding tea plantations.

Our next stop was probably the highlight of the afternoon, the Butterfly farm, not a grand affair,

purely set up for the tourists. As part of our package we were allowed to hold various creatures.

We started off with a small, very slow moving lizard. Then we built up to a rather large rhinocerous beetle,

which was huge with large pincers and a horn, a shiny, oily black colour. Didn't like him much!

Next was a leaf beetle, which is an exact replica of a light green feathered leaf and each

part of it's body is leaf shaped! Very clever evolvement! Then it was time to bring out the big

guns!...the scorpions! The guy opened up the enclosure lent in grabbed 4 or 5 scorpions by their tails

and slapped them over his body! "Right who's first?!" We all looked at each other, after a few seconds

a german man on our tour volunteered. In a flash, 2 scorpions had been placed on his chest, 1 in

each hand, without a word of instruction. Then to top it off, mid pose for a photo, the guy leapt

in with a final scorpion which he ceremoniously placed on the german guys crotch!!!

We were stunned, I have to say I was very reluctant to hold one but did agree to hold one in my hand.

However I didn't trust that it wouldn't hurt me! After we had all held them, our guide decided to

divuldge why we had been quite safe (he didn't feel the need to explain this to us before we held

to ensure we didn't get hurt!). Apparently the scorpion can only sting you if you touch it on it's

back because it can only move it's tail back and forth. Phew!

After that excitement we went in to the butterfly enclosure, which again we were hurried around

which was a shame. There were butterflies the size of my hand, with black wings and colouful

'eyes'. There were some children visiting in bright, light coloured t-shirts who had 2 or 3

butterflies land on them! It was easy to see the butterflies up close and watch their 'tongues' curl

in and out on the flowers.

Our final stop of the day was at a strawberry farm, however we only had the opportunity to

buy a strawberry product. So we scoffed a strawberries with ice cream!

A great whistle-stop day with plenty of memorable moments!

Ipoh

25.11.11-27.11.11

We had decided to stop off in Ipoh for a couple of days before taking the bus

to the Cameron Highlands, which not many people decide to do. However we

really enjoyed our stay here, particularly for the food (notice a theme here?!).

On our first night we made a bee-line straight for a Lonely Planet recommended

eatery where they served boiled chicken and beansprouts. On this occasion LP

were spot on. The chicken was tender and succulent and the beansprouts were fat

and juicy. It doesn't immediatly strike you as a particularly appealing meal but

this was one of the best meals we've had on our trip so far. As we sat outside

on the street the rain cam hammering down on the corrugated roof above us and

the thunder and lightning began to come closer and closer together. Until

there was a huge 'CRACK' and a flash and we realised the lightning had struck the

pavement a few feet away from us. It certainly made us jump and added a bit of drama

to our meal!

Once the rain had eased off we walked back towards our hotel stopping off at

an upmarket bakery for some treats. We were so excited at the

selection of pastries, cookies, cheese cakes and gateaux before us. We managed

to reign in the impulse to purchase one of each and instead bought a cookie each

and a slice of cheese cake to share, which we eeked out through the course of the

evening, savouring every mouthful. I have to say they weren't up to standards at

home but nonetheless still an adequate replica!

On the theme of food, we also tried the famous Ipoh White Coffee while we were here.

It was really cheap and good, quite sweet. With our coffee we also enjoyed some

small crumbly pineapple pastries. 2 coffees and 2 pastries for about £3 - bargain!

One evening we went to the children's playground which is surrounded by food stalls.

There we had some chicken satay and nasi goreng with fried chicken while watching a

mother cat and her 4 tiny kittens frolicking around her.

Earlier in the day we had visited a nearby pet shop which I had had to drag Martin away

from as they had lots of adorable puppies. They also had Hippo Guineapigs, which I

had never seen before, strange looking bald guinea pigs! In addition the shop had a

large selection of reptiles, snakes and terripins and persian kittens.

Ipoh isn't a large town but has quite alot of character. It is organised in blocks of

traditional merchant houses, most quite scruffy looking retaining their original

shutters. Hence it is quite an interesting town to wander around and interest is added

when you stop off at the wide range of eateries around town.

We got lucky and happened to be there during a rugby tournament between university and

college teams. Not the first sport you expect to see being played locally in Malaysia.

And I have to say many of the team members didn't seem to have the ideal physique for

rugby, many being rather more skinny and short than you would think ideal, or over weight!

Never-the-less the standard improved thoughout the afternoon as the tournament progressed

and made for an entertaining afternoon.

And that was Ipoh!

Kuala Lumpur

22.11.11-25.11.11

Kuala Lumpur was not as dirty and dingy as I remembered from my last visit

but I'm not sure if this is because it's been cleaned up or because I've visited

other dirtier places, namely India, since! Anyway we really enjoyed our few days

in KL. It's just the right size to get around and with plenty to do. Although

the transport system is a bit confusing at times and not properly connected.

Different services, MRT, LRT and Kommuter, have obviously been added piecemeal at

different times and don't quite link up. It doesn't compare to Singapore's transport system

but it is negotiable and with a bit more time and effort get you most places in the city.

We'd made a friend on the way in to KL - Anders from Denmark and we spent a very

full first day doing the sights with him. Our first stop was Batu caves which was

easily reached by Kommuter train. These are Hindu caves, with colourful icons and

several temples inside. To get to the caves you pass a huge golden statue, that

unfortunately was covered in scaffolding while we were there. There are then 200+ steps

up in to the caves. Along the way there is a small army of monkey guards who are very edept

at sniffing out any food you may be carrying. If you are suspected they will acively block your

path and pull on your clothes until you hand over your precious cargo! There is no

denying what is in your posession -they know! Once you have been vetted you can enjoy

the view back over the city as you climb and watch others being hijacked!

All the way in to the dramatic lime-stone caves you are escorted by chattering, playful

monkeys. Several of the monkeys had young clinging to their stomachs and we witnessed

frequent displays of intimidation from older monkeys.

The higlight of the rest of the day was making our way to the Petronas Towers, which I

have seen before but are still very impressive. Unfortunately the sky bridge was closed

so we couldn't go up it. We went to see the towers during the day and at night, which

I would recommend. Although they are a more formidable and dramatic sight at night when

they are lit up. It is also worth walking around to the other side of the Towers to the

lake and park where you can enjoy the view in the shade and with your feet in the cool

water of the paddling pool!

I think one of the most memorable occurences during our stay in KL was our meeting of a

man living in KL. In hindsight it seems he had probably been sat at Masjid Jamek waiting

for some tourist to come along that looked approachable. He started chatting to us as we were

waiting for the MRT, got on the same train as us and told us he was getting off at the

same stop as us because he lived nearby. When we told him we were going to visit the Masjid

Jamek he led us there and then insisted on taking us inside amd taking us around. The Madjid

is not a great feat of architecture but it is an airy and graceful building surrounded and reflected

by glass panelled tower blocks.

When we were getting ready to leave he handed us his business card and we thought with relief this was his signal that he was leaving. Apparently not! We began to realise that he was very lonely and didn't really have anywhere else to go, so we ended up letting him tag along for the rest of our day. Once we had left Masjid Jamek and turned the corner we came across some break dancers. One in particular was quite impressive - incredible upper body strength, standing and hopping on one arm. The audience were suprisingly subdued about their performance and were more concerned with taking photos. That's one thing that has struck me while we have been away, that there is a real balance between trying to get a good shot and just enjoying the moment. I find if you are concentrating on taking a good photo you miss something of the experience, you're not living it in the same way, you are trying to record and observe instead.

We also visited the Central Market, which was a disappointment. I thought it was going to be an

actual food or locals market but instead it is an upmarket tourist market with lots of knick-knack stalls and overpriced food stalls.

Early evening we headed to Bukit Bintang, which is part of the Golden Triangle area, much more

commercialised. The proximity of Christmas was very prominant here! Especially in the mall where was well as huge, elaborate christmas decs there was also a huge toy fair with various characters performing, presumably with the aim of emotionally black-mailing parents in to buying the most expensive gift on behalf of santa! We ate dinner at the malls food hall which had a vast selection of food.

Our day was finished off by a 2nd visit to view the Petronas Towers. It was a very busy day and

we really enjoyed Anders company. As to our other 'guest', he was a very sweet man and made us feel very fortunate to have each other and such good friends back home.

The next afternoon we headed to the Lake Gardens. We made our way to Masjid Jamek and then walked for about 30 minutes from there in to the park, then following the road south through the park past all the attractions. The walk felt very long and sweaty!! I expected the Lake Gardens to be more park-like (maybe it is if you get off the main road) but from the road it was not very open, no vast green space as I'd anticipated, after the entrance. We made our way to what is supposed to be the main attraction; the Bird Park, passing about half a kilometre of net enclosure. It did look very exciting but the price was extortionate! So unfortunately we didn't go in. We thought we would stretch to a cold drink in the attached restaurant that was also housed in a bird enclosure, for the experience. But again decided against

it when the price of can of drink of 8 MR instead of the usual 1.80 MR!

So we continued through Lake Gardens for another 10-15 minutes until we reached the Islamic Art Museum.This museum is very well put together. The first exhibition is of Islamic Architecture and includes beautiful detailed scale models of mosques from around the world and detailed explanations. There is also a beautiful exhibition of clothing, scripture and jewellery. The museum is well worth a visit.

As seems to be typical in Malaysia, we had some delicious meals in KL. But the highlight was going to a small pavement cafe that only served Beef noodles. We both had a bowl of Beef noodle soup and it was so tasty. Lean slices of rare beef in a delicious broth soaking oodles of sloppy thin noodles! We also frequented a different very basic pavement cafe on the same road as our hotel, a couple of times. There was a choice of about a dozen different dishes cooked by individual stalls. We enjoyed the popiah (vegetable spring rolls) and roasted pork and rice.

Capitol Satay.

21.11.11 Melaka

This morning started with a move to our third hostel in Melaka and the

best! We have moved in to Roof Top Guest House, which is number 1 on

Tripadvisor and it's not hard to see why. STill a shared bathroom, but

plenty of clean spacious shower/toilet rooms. Our room is large, immaculatly

clean, wifi in our room and the bed is properly made up with a top sheet!

This is something I will nolonger take for granted!

We dropped our bags off and headed for a recommended eatery -Jonkers 88.

We ordered sour laksa and seafood laksa. This was the first meal we've

had in Malaysia that we didn't really enjoy, not because it was a bad

meal it just wasn't to our taste.

We spent the rest of the afternoon, exploring the surrounding quieter

residential streets of Chinatown, decorated with traditional red lanterns.

Temple Street is the home of at least 3 temples, including the beautiful

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple and Masjid Kampung Hulu.

The hostel owner recommended a place called Capitol Satay which is the

original restaurant serving satay celup. When we arrived in the drizzle

there was a long queue, thankfully under cover, which we took as a good sign!

We ended up waiting nearly an hour for a table. Once we got a table we went

up to a fridge cabinet, where there were an array of skewers and plates to choose

from. You could choose from different meats, seafood, tofu, wontons. We

took a selection of a dozen or so back to our table. In the middle of

our table was a metal pot full of a 'satay soup' bubbling away. We were told

to place the skewers in the soup for 2 minutes for it to cook. The soup

was rich and full of flavour and it was all part of the experience as you

picked a skwer each time not sure what delight would be on the end of it!

Part way through the meal one of the waitresses brought over 2 skewers with

a huge king prawn on each one, for only 80 cents! We could not resist! This

time we had to wait 7 minutes and the tricky job of peeling the prawn before

we could sample this delight! The whole meal was a real experience!

Dim-sum delights and the Baba-Nonya museum.

20.11.11 Melaka

Our first stop today was the Baba-Nonya heritage museum, which is a

Pernakan town house. The museum was set up by the family that have owned

and originally lived in it for 4 generations. It is a beautiful

traditional malaysian merchants house and still has all the furniture and

belongings in place from the beginning of the 19th century. We were given a

tour, along with a large group of giggling girls from a school netball

team (I think Martin was a bit of a distraction at times!). Our guide

was quite amusing, throwing in a few casually sexist jokes, which went

down well with her current audience! The house had 2 open courtyards

dividing the house in to thirds, this gave plenty of light and air to

the house. It gave an interesting insight in to the lives of the upper

classes, I really enjoyed having a nose at their belongings!

It was hot, sticky and rainy this afternoon and Martin is still missing

watching films so we decided to pay another visit to the cinema and

watched Immortals - a great film to watch in the cinema.

Dinner this evening was simple and exquisite! Back at the night

market we started the evening by watching Doctor Ho Eng Hui who stabs a

hole in a coconut with his finger, in order to sell his 'miracle oil'.

It is impressive and he is a world record holder! Then, we each took a bag and

picked 6 dim sum off the market stall, armed with a skewer we headed

for a curb seat where we could hear the finely wailed karaoke going on on the permanent

stage set up in Jonkers Walk.

Jonkers Walk buffet!

19.11.11 Melaka

First things first - we had to move hostels to Sayang Sayang 2 this morning,

which is much newer. But I couldn't help feeling they've cut corners and a

lot of the thoughtful little touches were missing here, even though the

price was higher and the bedrooms/beds/showers are all smaller!! But, hey,

it's clean and the lady that runs it is helpful and friendly.

Next we crossed over the murky brown river in to the 'historical old town'.

Melaka has a interesting history and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Melak first grew as a trading port and developed an interesting cultural

mix because of this. Melaka has been under the rule of the British and

Dutch in recent history.

As we crossed over the river we came to Town Square or Dutch Square where

tens of competing trishaws are waiting around the Stadthuys, which is the

old dutch-builty town hall and governors build. It's hard to miss as it's

a rusty pink colour. The trishaws surrounding it are solely for tourists and

are all in competition to be the most wacky. Most covered in gaudy plastic

flowers and some even blaring out western music.

When we walked behind the square and around Bukit St Paul towards Porta de Santiago

we discovered there was an arts festival going on this weekend, due to start

in a few hours. We ducked in to the nearby mall for some much needed air-con,

on the way passing an outdoor paint-ball centre. Inside the mall there was

a cinema, acquarium, roller disco and small archery centre. What more could

you need?!

Out of the mall and strolling to the sultanate palace we came across a small

crowd forming around a lone performance artist that to be honest came across

a bit deranged. She was doing some interpretative dance of some sort,

neither of us could really follow what she was doing, work out of there was

any narrative and wasn't very impressed with the actual dance, but it was

interesting!

The Sultanate palace is a wooden replica of a Melaka sultans palace and houses

a cultural museum, that tells some historical stories about personalities

important in Melaka's history and explains how the sultanate is governed.

Not a particularly scintilating museum!

Next we went back to Jonkers walk and one of the hawker stand cafes where

where we had a guess at what we wanted to eat, Ice Ice. We enjoyed a cheap

late lunch of wanton noodle soup. Afterwards we went back to the festival

and listened to a local singer-songwriter, who mixed it up with, of course,

a cover of Jason Moraz! Then we went to sample a cendol each. In Lonely

Planet they describe this delicacy as an ice monstrosity and they're not

wrong! You can have different flavours but the orignal one is coconut with

ice, with a kind of syrup over the top and then strangest of all, at the bottom

are green-bean looking jellies, sweetcorn and kidney beans (of course!). We also

sampled a mango falvoured one, which was a little more familiar tasting as it

was sweeter and fruity!

This evening, we had en exciting dinner! We spent a happy few hours walking up

and down the night market sampling food from different stalls. We tried Tiwanese

sausage on a stick, a 'tornado' crisp (which is a potato cut in to a big screw

and put on a skewer and then cooked, so it becomes a cross between a chip and a

crips) and a popiah (spring roll). We also shared a mango milk tea with pearls,

which is like a milk shake but with small balls of chewy jelly. Later we had

japanese oyster balls. These were delicious parcels that melted in your mouth

hiding chewy oyster. Next we shared a sweet potato cake and finished with a bag

of dim sum.

After we had filled our bellies we clambered up St Pauls hill to the church to

watch some performance artists. Unfortunately we were too late to be able to

fit in to the church,but glimpsed a half-naked man, painted white prancing

around under blue lights and flapping flowing fabric around and thought it may

not be to our taste anyway!

Never mind!

Melaka melting pot.

18.11.11

Today we arrived at our first stop in Melaka. We woke up late with Chris soon

knocking on our door, saying he had to go as his flight was earlier than

he though (5 hours earlier -oops!). Luckily he made his flight home. It's

been really good fun having Chris with us for a couple of weeks, it's

going to take some adjusting now he's gone and feeling like we're back

on the road again!

Anyway it was only a 2 hour bus ride to Melaka. We arrived at the main

bus station, Sentral, and got a taxi to the hostel we had booked. It

was all a bit confusing trying to get a taxi - there was a booth, but

no sign in English but lots of willing drivers. So we told them

where we wanted to go and the guy in the booth consulted his list then

there was a bit of discussion between the drivers and a call out over a

tannoy system and another man appeared who was to be our driver. We

agreed a price for what we had expected (15Mr) and off we went.

Our hostel, Sayang Sayang, is clean and the staff were really friendly

and helpful. Our room is a double decker, so you go in to the

'living room' with a small sofa and then you go up some stairs to

your bed. The bathroom was shared, but this seems to be the case

throughout Malaysia in budget accomodation. Unfortunately this place

is fully booked for the next 2 nights and so it seems are lot of

other places, because it is the school hols and there's a arts

festival going on, so we have to move to their other hostel Sayang

Sayang 2 tomorrow night.

It was now late afternoon and we were told there was a night market

going on at Jonkers Walk at 6, so we did a few jobs on the internet and

then headed out. Jonkers walk was really busy, with loads of stalls

set up along the street selling souvenirs, jewellery, flip flops and snacks.

You know instantly you are in china town by looking at the traditional

chinese architecture and the trinkets on sale. We really

enjoyed walking up and down the street soaking up the atmosphere. We

eventually decided to go in to one of the cafe was some local cuisine.

So we setlled on the famous chicken and rice ball meal. A very simple but

tasty dish in a popular cafe.

So far we are really excited about our few days in Melaka and expecially

about sampling as many local dishes as possible!!

Eating in Singapore.

17.11.11

The last few days in Singapore have been really enjoyable and leisurly.

We've done a fair bit of walking. Yesterday we went to Chinatown, to

find a recommended Hawker centre for lunch. We tried a selection of

food, including Char Sew roasted pork, dumpling soup and crispy fried

wontons for mains. All of which were simple but delicious. Then Chris

went to point at a selection of odd looking drinks and deserts that

he'd seen people having and came back with Jellygrass tea. This is a

clear black coloured cold drink with lumps of jelly floating around!

It has a strange after taste, but is drinkable, until it starts getting

lumpier! We also tried soya milk, which is very popular and beancurd

with warm sugar cane, which none of us could really get in to, the texture

was too unnusual! It was a really lively, bustling atmosphere sat amongst

the food stands in this market. Chinatown was quite interesting to walk

around, but quite geared towards tourists.

We headed back to Geylang to get showered and changed and then got back

on the MRT to Marina Bay. We went to see the casino at the marina, which

is quite a new addition and huge. Gambling was only recently legalised

in Singaore and the casinos opened in 2009. The floor space is about 50% fruit

machines and then tables of Marjong, black jack and some other dice

games we didn't recognise. There is no poker played here much to the

disappointment of Martin and Chris. Singaporeans have to pay 100 SD

to enter and play at the casino.

After wandering around we went to dinner at Cut, which was just an incredible

experience for me (Martin had been before). It is an upmarket steak restaurant.

I'm not really a connosieur of steak so I needed some help choosing the cut of

my steak. The cows are bred specifically and are reared on a particular diet

in order to make the meat really succulent and get a particular taste. After

ordering we were presented with a selection of breads to choose from, including

olive bread, very exciting!! The meal itself was phenomenal. All the cuts of

meat melted in the mouth. I didn't realise there was any difference in taste

depending on the cut of steak. The vegetable side dishes were amazing too and

we also enjoyed a bottle of Cianti.

I felt very spoilt! Thank you Chris x

Today we got the MRT back to Orchard and then walked the length of Orchard

out to the Botanic gardens, which took about 45 minutes, longer than the

boys were happy about! Once we left Orchard road we were in a wealthy area

with plush apartment blocks and then huge mansions, with private security

booths and acres of land, so it was quite interesting gawping at these

properties, trying to decide who would live there etc.

The Botanic gardens were really pleasant to walk around, with various different

types of gardens over a vast area. You didn't feel like you were in a city.

The Orchid garden in particular was worth a visit, housing so many different

types of Orchid. I didn't realise that the Orchid is supposed to be the

largest group of flowering plant.

For dinner we went to find another recommended hawker centre in one of the malls

on Orchard Road, Ngee Ann City. Martin and I tried Carrot cake which we think

is slices of a tofu type substance and veg fried, in this case in a black bean

sauce. Not too sure about it! We also tried some deserts - mango pudding,

which was like a mango jelly, really good.

Then this evening we went to the marina to watch the Immortals, and before hand

the boys played a game of bowling while I wandered around the shops.

Kuta, Bali and arriving in Singapore

15.11.11

We've spent the last 2 days in Kuta, which I'm not going to write about

in any detail because we could have been anywhere in the world

quite frankly! But we had a really good time. Our hotel - Anemone

Hotel was really lovely with a clean little pool, spacious clean

rooms and a very cute little puppy! We spent an hour or so each

afternoon at the beach, which is the busiest beach we have seen so

far but still not too bad, watching the surfers. Sunrise on

our last night was stunning. We also had a really good night out,

although I particularly suffered for it the next day! It was also

nice having such a huge range of places to eat that all did reasonable

western food.

However this morning we had a really early start for our next stop;

Singapore. Our flight was at 6:20am, which in my opinion is probably the

worst possible time for a flight, especially if you are still recovering

from a hangover! So we left our hotel at 3.30am to flag down a taxi.

Of course the streets were Kuta were more busy and tragic than during

the day.

6 hours later we were hopping on and off the MRT and in no time at all

had arrived at our budget, musty smelling hotel, again in Geylang.

After a couple of hours sleep we headed out to Orchard Road, where we

wondered around the many malls. Martin was extremely excited because

he found a cinema. The prices for the cinema are so much more

reasonable than at home (about half the price) and you can pay £2 for

popcorn and a drink (ok the popcorn isn't a ridiulous size like in

England but still good value). So we booked tickets for a bit later

on and then went to find a coffee somewhere - something we had really

missed!

We saw 11-11-11, which was enjoyable. Although Martin spent the whole

movie waitiing for a dramatic battle between the mortals and immortals,

which never happened. This films worth seeing though; gives you a few things

to think about.

In the evening we decided to eat in Geylang, just a few minutes walk from

our hotel was one of many street cafes. So we pulled up some stalls

in between a couple of groups sat at trestle tables and began examining

the vast picture menu. We were obviously looking suitably confused as a

lady next to us asked if needed any help. We asked her to recommend some

dishes and ordered those, all of which were delicious: porridge with

minced pork; chilli squid stuffed with pork; tempura prawns and wantons.

Again it was a really nice atmosphere, all along the road people were

sat enjoying a beer or some food, chatting with friends.

Snorkelling the Japanese shipwreck.

12.11.11

Today we hired mopeds and went off up the coast to try and find

the site of the Japanese shipwreck. We buzzed over the

hilly terrain with terrific views over each little black

sanded cove lined with smiling water-boatman fishing boats.

We took a wrong turning in land and wound through a tropical

feeling valley, the road shadowed by tall palm trees. Coming

reound a corner at one point was a swarm of school children all

piling out of school, driving like lunatics on both sides of the

road. We had quite a hairy experience when one boy came

tearing towards us on the wrong side of the roads turning around

chatting to his passengers, after several beeps on the horn he

realised he was heading straight for us and at the last second

swerved to avoid us and then continued laughing with his friends.

We didn't find it quite so funny!! We stopped for petrol from a

man at the side of the road, sat on his veranda, he kindly told us

we were going the wrong way and were headed straight for the police!

So we back tracked and found the turning he had directed us to. This

continued up and down hill aong the coast passed numerous small

resorts and diving schools, until we came across a sign for parking

for the Japanese wreck.

The wreck was off a stony beach, only about 5 metres off shore.

However it still took a little time to find as the tide kept taking

us off in the wrong direction. Snorkelling around this wreck was

another magical experience. We had been disappointed that we couldn't

afford to scub around this and the Liberty wreck but in actual fact

you couldn't have seen a huge amount more around this wreck as it was

in such shallow water.

It's really quite eery under water, I'm always a little afraid, especially

when you are swimming over the skeleton of a near complete hull and you

can imagine what the ship must have looked like. On the ships carcass

was all different types of coral. Barin matter was being nibbled on by

tiny electric blue fish. I swam through huge sholes of silver fish

flashing in and out the autumn forest growing off the main hull. Below

on the sea floor was huge blue starfish and larger fish lurking in the

shadows. Just behind the main bulk of the ship the sea bed suddenly got

a lot deeper. There was little coral from this point and the water seemed

a lot cloudier. I was too scared to venture beyond this point, my

imagination going in to over drive!

Afterwards we went for lunch a short walk in to a resort up a hill with

great views overlooking the bay, before we had to nip back for a taxi to

take us to Kuta.

On the 3 hour drive back to Kuta, we passed Tirta Ganga again and the

beautiful views of the rice terraces in the valley below. Our driver

kindly stopped for me to take snaps. The journey was relatively swift

all the way to Sanur, as there is a dual carriage way that is partly

open. Then at Sanur you hit traffic and Kuta is a maze of one way

systems with hundreds of taxis sat at a stand still.

Our driver 'missed' the turning for the one way road we needed to get to so

dropped us off in Poppies II and we began the arduous prcess of room hunting

in our budget. We ended up choosing somewhere slightly over our budget

because it was just so much nicer and cleaner than the places we had

found at the top end of our budget, which were just really grotty!

To be honest neither Martin nor I had been looking forward to coming to

Kuta, with it's reputation for being the 'party capital' of Kuta but

we thought we should probably do some partying at some point on our

travels. I particularly had to coax Martin in to coming somewhere

where the main purpose was to go out for beer!!

Anyway on first impressions, Kuta lived up to our expectations. Poppies

I and II are full off tacky souvenir stalls and trinket shops interspersed

with cafes and bars. The place is full of skimpily dressed Aussies/Brits in

obscene T-shirts! But we found a a warong that was in lonely planet that

had a huge menu of Indonesian food and for really cheap.

Snorkelling in Amed.

11.11.11

We had arranged for Ari to pick us up and take us to Amed

about 3 hours away. About 3/4's of the way there we stopped

at Tirta Gangga, a beautiful water palace built for the

regional sultan to relax in. It is set amongst green

rice fields and on the site is a small temple at the base

of a 200 year old Baboban tree and the source of the spring.

There are beautiful pools with fountains and carp. We had a very

amusing guide who crammed in as much Australian 'lingo' as he could

and asked if we were clear after every sentence!

Half an hour of driving later we were on the stetch of coast known

as Amed, which is a 15-20km stretch of villages, one of which

is called Amed. Ari took us to a few different guesthouses/

homestays before we found one in our price range that was

located away from the beach but only a 3 minute walk and right

near the coral reef.

Again the black stone beach was deserted apart from fishing boats

and local people, with the odd tourist snorkelling. We had a

really good fresh fish lunch in a warung on the beach and

then hired some snorkelling sets.

I hadn't snorkelled for about 10 years and at first I felt a

little bit panicky until I got used to just breathing through

my mouth. But I soon forgot all about this when I got to

reef which was only a few metres off shore. The sheer numbers

and different type of fish was amazing and there were so many

different varieties of coral. I saw 'nemo' type fish, sholes

of tiny electric blue fish, stiped yellow and blue fish, large

fish that looked like a huge razor, giant blue star fish and

fish that were about 1 foot in length and different shades of

pale reds, blues and yellows. It was definately a highlight

of our time in Indonesia so far.

This evening we went to a different warung. I had fish in

Balinese sauce (lemon grass, ginger and chillies) steamed in

banana leaves with rice. I'd had chicken like this before,

and both time it was delicious. We decided to try Arak, the

palm wine for the first time, so ordered 3 shots. The shots were

huge - 2/3s of a wine glass. First taste, it was disgusting!

So we piled in fresh lime and topped it up with sprite. It got

a bit more bearable! By the end of the glass Martin was quite

enjoying it - I still wasn't convinced!! But we kept the

warung owner entertained watching us trying to drink it!

As we were sat having our meal there was a huge storm, which

was amazing to watch. Each time the thunder made us jump

and it was frightening watching the fork lightening strike.

It's not something you really experience very often in the UK.

I couldn't believe how loud the thunder was.

Arie Smit and smoked duck.

10.11.11

Today the boys decided thay couldn't hack our busy pace (?!!)

so wanted a lazy day which I conceded to (but of course got my

own way in the end!). So we had breakfast then lounged around

the pool for the morning.

We then went to a restaurant called Deli Cat, which was

recommended in the book for Bobby to have lunch and us

a drink. We can recommend the German sausages and chips.

They do a whole range of sausages and cheese, which you

can select from their shop and have as a ploughmans.

Very tempting! That's one of the things I miss-cheese!!

From there we walked up Monkey Forest road up to the main

Ubud Road and then turned left, to walk out of town. It was

a longer walk than we though. WE wound over a bridge and

up hill passed plenty of spa resorts. Half way up the hill

we came to a big artists studio with loads of pop art

style pictures of the Mono Lisa and decided to go in and

have a look. It was a lovely huge light studio space,

covered in large canvases. All very uninspiring, unoriginal

brightly coloured portraits or Warhol style prints...blah

blah. But we were were welcomed by camp, drunk American

guy louging in a hammock, who when we told him where we were

from started telling us how ridiculous the English were, which

was quite funny!!

Anyway we continued on our mission to find an Art Museum, I wanted

to go and had told the boys it wasn't very far. It did turn out

to be alot farther away than I'd though aswell. But we eventually

got there and the boys were rewarded with a beer (or 3) while I

went in to have a look.

Neka Art Museum is well worth a look. It has a fairly large collection

of Balinese art and foreign artists works that are inspired by

Bali. The first 3 or 4 galleries take you through the historial

progression on Balinese art. From very busy canvasses similar om

style to the traditional wayung (puppets) telling traditional folk

or Hindu stories all the way up to western influenced painting from

the 1930's onwards. The most interesting pieces for me were telling

stories or depicting elements of black magic. There were very good

descriptions of each piece.

There was also a collection of photographs taken by a dutch/american

man Robert A. Koke who set up one of the first hotels in Bali in the

1930's. His photos were taken between 1937 and 1941 and he photographed

some of the different traditional dances, some which took place to

ward of evil spirits.

There were also a whole gallery of paintings by Arie Smit, whose

work I love. His paintings really capture the colours and

vibrancy of the culture in Bali. It is such a sistint culture

even compared to their neighbouring islands, from what we have

seen and been told by locals. They are fiercely proud of their

culture and say if you are born in a village, you will die there too.

Anyway, getting side tracked! I collected the men and we walked

back in to Ubud. We were soon back out again as we had a table booked

at the highly recommended Dirty Duck where we had ordered a day in

advance a whole smoked (yes you guessed it) duck. It was delicious,

and came with satay chicken, prawn crackers, veg and rice. The setting

of the restaurant was also very beautiful. We sat on cushions on the

floor, in our own little pagoda with fountains and little ponds around

us lit by lanterns. Very romantic!

Temples around Ubud

09.11.11

So far in Indonesia we had spent a lot of time on beaches

and had noticed alot about the differences in culture.

But hadn't actually found out a lot about life in Bali,

paricularly about their version of Hinduism, which plays

such a huge part in life here. So we'd decided to

invest in a driver, who was highly recommended online, to take us

around Ubud and the surrounding temples and rice

terraces to try and find out more! It was way out of our

budget but I had far too many questions!

So Ari arrived at 9am this morning. From the word go,

Ari was very friendly and courteous and is eager to

answer any questions about his life and culture. He told

us about his life. He lives in a village with his family,

including his brothers's families and his mother and father,

who all share a compound. Each family of 4/5 has their own

house. Within his village there are 26 compounds and 700

people total living there.

Ari's father was a builder by trade originally, then recently

he was made 'head' of the village, which he did for 5 years and

now he does neither, but manages his livestock and helps to

look after his grandchildren. Ari explained that anybody in

the village can be the 'head', unless they have children as

they will have too many responsibilities and will not be able

to support them properly. They must be nominated by others in

the village and after 5 years someone else will take the

position. It is a lot of responsibility.

The first temple that Ari took us to is called Goa Gajah (Elephant

Caves) because when it was first rediscovered it was thought the

cave entrance was a carving of an elephant, but actually it is

a demon. On this site there is a Hindu temple and also a Buddhist

temple, which was destroyed during an earthquake.

To enter the sight you walk down a long flight of steps. Below you,

you can see a bathing pool and to the left of it the mouth of a

small cave. To get to the bathing pool you have to go down a few

steep steps and opposite you are a row 6 female figures with what was

the 'male' figure in the middle. Ari explained that Balinese Hindu's also

worship Shiva, Krishna and Brahma who are all mainfestations of the same spirit Sanghyang Widhi.

But Balienese HIndu's also believe in native/local spirits and demons and

alot of the rituals revolve around maintaining balance.

Particular colours are very symbolic.

White and Gold are often seen within the temple, and

all worshippers wear these colours, these are holy colours. Black and

white represent good and evil and red represents power.

We went through the mouth of the Demon down a narrow passage way with

some alcoves, used for meditation in to a wide and shallow chamber,

where offering were laid out. Everywhere on Bali you come across

little baskets of offerings; on the pavement, outside every shop,

on the beach. The offerings are in coconut leaf baskets. You can

put in anything from rice, flowers, incense, cigarrettes- whatever

you have. Whatever you can give. If you have a bigger wish you may

want to give a bigger offering consisting of rice, then a coconut,

on top a lotus flower. The rice represents that earth/ground, the coconut the

world and the flower the universe.

We had noticed that down every street there were several temples. Ari

explained that each family had a small temple. Then in each village

there would be several different temples for different purposes/times.

He showed us a small garden temple with a small shrine on a little

island with a 'moat' surrounding it.All around the coast of Bali there are temples to

protect the island. Ari said the Balinese people joke that is there

is a tsunami the Gods will die first!

Once we had walked through the Hindu temple we followed a maze of steps

downwards in to a small valley where the ruins of a huge statue of

Buddha lay, it had once sat at the top of the hill. We followed the steps

up and past the original sight of the Buddha and wound through the rice

fields back to the Hindu temple.

Next we got back in the car to continue on to Yeh Pulu, which I was

excited about because it was supposed to be really peaceful and off

the tourist trail. I wasn't disappointed. To get to the temple we had

to walk through some picturesque rice terraces, apparently about a month

off harvesting. This temple is on the sight of a natural spring where there

is a small bathing pool. It dates from the 14th and 15th century and

is one of the oldest holy places in Bali. Before you reach the carvings

you stepped through a stone entrance way that is symmetrical. It represents

splitting yourself in two, leaving the bad behind at the gate and entering

with the good. Ari explained inner 'gates' within temples represent

then unifying yourself, channelling your energies to God. There isn't

a inner gateway on this site however. There is 20 metres of stone carvings

of Hindu and Balinese Gods. An old lady looks after the shrine to Ganesh.

The next temple is called Gunung Kawi, the 'Mountain of the Poets'. This

complex dates from the 11th century. It is a very impressive, atmospheric

setting. You have to descend down 300 odd steps in to a humid, ravine

lined with trees. It was thought to have been created as the burial

place for King Anuk Wungsu and his wives. On either side of the ravine,

through which flows the Pakerisan River, are the 9 tombs, said to have been

carved out of rock by fingernails. As you peer in to the ravine you can

see a huge rock which has the imprint of a giant 'hand' pressed in to it!

On the other side of the river is the temple and burial sight of the King.

The walk back up was tiring but we were rewarded with lush views across the

rice fields and in to the ravine. The next stop on our trip was Tirta

Empal, which is one of the holiest sites on Bali as it is the site of a

holy spring. We were really fortunate as today is a full moon, so a holy day

and there was a ceremony going on when we arrived. The Balinese calendar is

based on the lunar calendar.

Before you enter the temple, you should wash at the holy springs. You can

bath in the 2 pools which are fed by 10 fountains, each representing

something different. The worshippers enter the pool and move from left to right

washing under each fountain. Some people also collect the holy water to take

back to their homes.

Walking on towards the temple entrance there were many women carrying large baskets

on their heads, full of fruit and flowers to leave at the temples as offerings.

The baskets are then taken home, after receiving a blessing. On our left as we

entered the temple is a large pagoda with people playing colourful instuments.

Placed all over the floor were small offerings. The temple is open air with 3 or

4 other large pagodas where basket upon basket had been left. Then there was the

inner temple and the site of the natural hole spring.

Within a separate courtyard was a large congregation, again all dressed in white,

sat on the floor. First they faced the 2 priests sat on a pacoda at one end.

Then at the other was lots of baskets of offerings in front of the springs, which

at the appropriate point the congregation all turned to face.

We were so lucky to be able to experience this even though we didn't fully

understand what was going on!

Our next stop, was lunch overlooking rice terraces, near the famous Tegallangtang

terraces, which we stopped at last of all. The rice fields are stepped down

the hill. Ari explained that Balinese farmers use a famous irrigation system,

where water is channelled from the top layer down through the fields to the bottom.

The first month the fields are almost flooded and need increasingly less water

throughout the process. When the rice is ready, you can tell this when the top

of the crop is a brown colour, the field needs to be dry so that the crop can be harvested.

This is of course increasingly done with machinery but in some places is still done by

hand. The rice is cut and then beaten by hand to release the part that contains

the rice. This is then left to dry out in the sun. I was suprised how hard the rice

grain actually is before the outer coating is peeled away to reveal the white grain.

The views were beautiful, so many bright greens and tall palm trees. The view was

only spoilt by the odd farmer loitering hoping to get you to photograph them

'farming'!

We had such a good day with Ari, it was well worth the extra money for us. And

actually Ari's price is very reasonable, but we are just on a very tight budget!

He was very informative, friendly and helpful. He even provided bottles of water,

large umbrellas (which he carried for us) and lent us sarongs. He did however

draw the line at carrying Martin back up the steps from Gunung Kawi!! He took us

around each temple explaining what we saw and has good knowledge of the history

of each sight. Thanks very much Ari!

Circumnavigating Nusa Lembongan

07.11.11

So far Nusa Lembongan wasn't quite what I hoped, so we thought

we'd hire mopeds today to try and get away from the Tourists

and see some 'real Bali'.

Now, Bobby hadn't ridden a moped before and in order to get from

our guesthouse, off the beach and on to the main road, behind, you

had to ride along a really narrow path, with a 3 foot drop on

to the beach. So Martin offered to ride both bikes (one at a time!)

on to the main road and there Bobby was able to practise and suss

out how to ride the bike before we set off. We were less worried

about being pulled over, as we were told there were no traffic

police on the island. A majority of the bikes don't have license

plates here and their not concerned with whether you have a drivers

license.

Anyway Bobby was fine driving the bike so we set off to circumnavigate

the island. We were hoping the weather would clear up (still drizzly

and overcast) so we could do some snorkelling. So we headed north towards

Mangrove Point. The roads were pretty bad in places with lots of

pot holes and were all single lane. It was nice to get away from

the tourist areas and just drive through the villages. On the way

to mangrove Point we couldn't really see very much other than the trees

that lined the road and the odd house on the road.

As we got towards Mangrove Point there were several small restuarants,

renting snorkle gear and selling boat trips. We stopped to buy

some petrol, which is twice the price here on the island, or, if you're Bobby,

20 times the price, as he got confused and paid the (it turns out not so

honest) man with 2 x 100,000 notes instead of 2 x 10,000. We didnt realise this

until later in the day, and needless to say Martin found it very amusing and it

resulted in HILARIOUS jokes all day...

Then we stopped to determine the snorkleing situation. The tide was out

(we weren't sure how you would navigate between the seaweed fields!) and

it started to rain so we decided against. Instead we had a cold drink by

the sea, then set off across the island to where we knew there was a bridge

to the neighbouring, smaller island of Cennigan. On the ride across

Lembongan we passed through 'mangrove forrest' along the winding small

road past a few houses and groups of children who shouted in

chorus at us trying to sell shells. Lembongan is small and it didnt

take long to get across to the other side and reach the 'bridge'. We pulled

over and got off the bikes to take a qucik look around at the view between

the islands and check the condition of the bridge. It was old and yellow,

very narrow, cars couldnt cross, just pedestrians and the odd motorbike,

the floor was horizontal wooden slats, some flush with each other as

you would hope, some further apart than you would hope and some neither close

to the next nor fully attched to the bridge itself, tied on by suspect looking

blue rope. As we had seen a couple of bikes make it across we decided it was safe

to go (also we couldnt see the afformentioned, less than safe looking wooden slats

from the side when se walked up to look).

On the other side we didnt travel far but did get to the far west of the island

where people were farming seaweed, a young boy saw us and came running up to

me asking for a pen! It was a nice change from constantly being asked for money

and a much more innocent and sincere (and sweet) seeming request. I didnt

have a pen on me but found a pencil in my bag which he seemed more than happy

with as he went off to test it on a exposed bit of bark on a palm tree.

We passed quite a few small temple looking places with locals pottering

around throughout the day, it definatley felt like we saw more of the

'real Bali' and it was nice to have the freedom to ride around, stop to take

photos and just enjoy the peace of the coutryside and coast.

We headed back to our hotel via the popular 'Mushroom Beach' named this because

of the shape oof the bay. It was a nice beach with very fine sand and a few

expensive looking hotels but was busy with people getting on and off boats, arriving

and leaving from hotels and day trips. We had a nice lunch (Martin didnt order anything

as he was still suffering a bit with a bad stomach he tried both mine and Bobbys food,

but still had a little moan about not getting to eat) on the beach then headed

back to our hotel, not before getting some beautiful views as we had to ride up and

over a big hill to get back.

Seaweed farming on Nusa Lembongan

06.11.11

Today we came to an island called Nusa Lembongan, where I was

hoping for a more authentic Balinese experience!

The walk to the boat took a little longer than we had anticpated,

it didn't seem quite so long when we were strolling around

last night! Thankfully we arrived in time. It was only a small

boat, with wooden benches and 'stablisers'. We watched as 3/4

people carried several mopeds through the water and on to the boat.

We then had to wade and climb up on to the boat with our packs,

avoiding the crates of soft drinks and barrells of petrol they

were taking across.

An hour and a half later we arrived, and were accosted by 'porters'

and people wanting to show us to guesthouses. We found a very

simple room, virtually on the beach and Bobby had the first floor

of a 2 storey beach hut. Again there were lots of fishing boats

on this beach.

We decided to get acquainted with the area and walked south along

the beach. Along the beach are peoples houses and then patches

of guesthouse after guesthouse. We got to the end of the cove and

sat on the wall watching some seaweed farmers collect their boat

load of seaweed in to large baskets. They then carry them 2 baskets

at a time hanging from a bar they lift and carry across their shoulders.

Behind the row of building along the beach, aswell as on the beach,

the seaweed is laid out to dry on large tarpaulins. It had quite a

distinctive smell. We then followed a path up some steps and continued

it around the headland. Along this path were lots of upmarket bugalows,

with great views over the bay and the grids of submerged seaweed fields.

This path led us down some steps to Song Lambung beach, another small

golden beach, full of small fishing boats. We had a snooze for an

hour or so before making our way back to our guesthouse.

This evening we walked north of our guesthouse as there was a large

choice of restaurants to choose from. WE eventually decided on

a romantic candlelit table for three and the Star Two Thousand

restaurant, right by the beach. It had been overcast and

drizzly all day, and as we had our meal and it got dark the wind

got up and we could hear heavy rain on the sea some distance

away. It never quite reached us, well not until during the

night anyway.

Sanur

05.11.11

We had quite a leisurely start as Bobby arrived quite late

and then headed down to the beach. We hired a sunbed each

as there is no shade otherwise. It was exciting for Martin

and I as so far on the trip we had only been swimming together

once before as usually we play ti safe and one of us stays with

the bags. Very boring!

The water here is very shallow and there is loads of seaweed so

we just bobbed around in the shallows, picking up shells etc.

Again there is so much coral washed up on the beach, it's really

sad to see.

As we were leaving the beach, we noticed worshippers all dressed

in white sarongs, with gold underneath, gold sashes and white

sashes walking enmasse towards the beach. Some were carrying baskets

on their heads and colourful umbrellas. On the beach a

teepee types structure had already been built and some offerings

left. We decided to stay and see the ceremony. A large congregation

arrived and seated themselves in rows facing out to sea. Umbrellas

were closed and lent up against the 'tee-pee'. They all sat

quietly waiting while the odd couple of worshippers took small

baskets of offerings to the shore and laid them down. After about

15 minutes a gentle murmur of song began. There didn't seem to

be anyone leading the ceremony. We were sat a fair distand away

on the pier and already felt a little intrusive, especially as

we didn't know what the ceremony was about. But other tourists

were walking straight in to the corregation and snapping away with

no respect. We decided we didn't want to be associated with this

kind of behaviour so continued out walk along the beach!!

When we came back 30 minutes or so later the ceremony was still

going on. I keep meaning to find out more about this religion,

I've only read a little in a Lonely PLanet guide that we borrowed.

I'll update the blog once I have more info!

This evening we headed to a sports bar for happy hour and something

to eat. I had my first cocktail of the trip! There were about 8

people in the bar when a 6 piece band came on and began

playing western 'hits', they were suprisingly good. But not

really what you want when you're in a sports bar trying to watch

the football!

Bobby Arrives!

04.11.11

Luckily Martin was feeling better this morning, so we lugged

our bags to the Perama office and booked ourselves on a bus

to Sanur. This was where we had arranged to meet Bobby who

was due to arrive this evening and where you can go to the

island Nusa Lembongan from.

We had a few hours to kill so I led Martin to the turning for

the beach we had read about-Pantai Cecil. It was a steep

walk up a gravel path. At the top of the rise they had started

and abandoned building villas. We then had to scramble down

a path throught the undergrowth and piles of gravel down to

the beach. It was a stunning little secluded cove with 3 or

4 little warungs offering shade and food and drink. There were

probably only 15 other tourists on the beach. 1 of which

happened to be from Southampton. We have met 3 English people

to speak to so far on this trip and 2 have been from Southampton!

We spent a happy few hours relaxing on the beach and then got on

the bus to Sanur, which only took a couple of hours via Ubud.

When arrived we decided to pay the extra 10,000 each to take us

to a guesthouse we wanted to check in to as Sanur is very spread

out. In the end we chose the 3rd guesthouse we looked at, Coco

Homestay.

Bobby wasn't arriving until around 11pm so went to look for somewhere

to eat and explore the surroundings. At first we couldn't reconcile

the map we had with these orange signs we kept seeing with a

picture of a beach on. According to the map the signs were pointing

away from the beach and we couldn't work out why. We eventually

realised that the picture actually depicted a person running

away from a large wave, and the sign were showing you which way

to run away from the beach,ie. in case of a Tsunami.

Martin was still feeling a bit fragile after a day of tummy upset

the day before so didn't want to eat Indonesian, so as a treat

we went to Pizza Hut. Which was actually very similar to

England, taste-wise and cheap. We shared a medium tuna pizza

for 50,000R, which is less than £4. So no big trauma to our

budget as feared!

Sanur is incredibly geared up for tourists, but a nice place to

spend a day or two. There are lots of places to eat, medium priced

places to stay with beach view bungalows and pools. Needless to

say our budget didn't quite stretch to that. But Coco's was only

a ten minute walk to the beach and on a road where there was

plenty of choice of places to eat. There is even a wedding chapel

made of glass and shaped like a diamond! Along the beach there are

small pavillions and walk ways out in to the sea. The water

is very shallow and the waves break about 100 metres out, you can

tell why the surfers call it 'Snore'.

As we explored the streets away from the beach every few minutes

a taxi would beep at us and pull over to ply for business, which

gets a little annoying! The road our guest house is on seemed

to go on for miles, with restuarant after another, 3 'Paul Smith'

outlets, several Croc shops and loads of souvenir shops.

After a jaunt of a few hours we headed back to our guesthouse to

await Bobby's arrival.

Poorly day

03.11.11

Unfortunately Martin wasn't well today. So I kept him company

in the morning and then went for a little wander around

PadangBai in the afternoon, which doesn't take long.

I walked along the beach to the Gilli fast cat harbour and then

turned right away from the beach, past small bars and

restaurants. Then left down a small residential street, which

must have had 4 or 5 small temples down the one road. Outside

one a group of men were making a long flag-like decoration

out of long grass and hanging from weaved creations and flowers.

Two of these stood either side of the entrance to a temple.

At the end of this road I turned left back towards the main

harbour, whihc was as busy as yesterday. Then before entering

the harbour I turned right down a small street, to try and find

the turning I had read would lead to a secluded beach. Along

this road there were lots of stalls and warungs and of course

another temple, where followers were taking baskets of

offerings. The dress of the women reminded of something a

Geisha would wear. They wore colourful sarongs, a white

blouse with a coloured sash. Their hair was pulled back in

a bun and they had flowers in their hair.

A short distand up the road I found the turning I presumed

lead to the beach, for tomorrow, so began walking back

towards the beach. This time I went down a different right

turn to walk further along the beach. Lining the beach

of PadangBai are loads of fishing boats. There were also

lots of chickens/cockerals in dome shaped cagessat on the beach

next to the boats, no sure of the significance!

Anyway I didn't want to be too long, so went back to see how

Martin was feeling. That night he felt up to braving

a simple dinner so we went to Topi Inn for dinner, which

offered a really good Indonesian and Western menu, a really

nice atmosphere and wifi.