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.

Sunset on the ferry to Bali.

02.11.11

Neil and Beth had decided to leave with us to go to Bali, so we

had arranged for Made to drive us to Lembar and stop off at Sade,

a Sasak village near Kuta.

When we arrived we were met by one of the villagers who showed

us around his village. Firstly we walked in to a small

square with the 'chief' villagers house at one end and a

terrace at the other, which was the village meeting hall. He then

took us around and through the 150 houses, all very similar, that

housed the 700 residents of the village. He explained that

people married within the village. He showed us a prism shaped

building on stilts built from long grasses that housed 6/7

families' rice, so these were spread throughout the village.

Each house had 2 rooms; the first room at the front of the house

was for sleeping, the parents on one side, on the floor, and the

children on the other. You then went up some steps to a second

room where meals were prepared and there was a shielded part

'for the women'. The houses all had a pitched roof and used

buffalo manure to make the floor, which they 'topped up'

every few weeks. Suprisingly the floor was smooth and solid and

there was no smell! Traditionally this village weave and they

go to the beaches to sell the sarongs/blankets they make.

Our tour was only brief and we hopped back in the car for the hour

or so journey to the harbour. Made kept us entertained along the

way.

When we arrived at about 11am the ferry was just about to depart

so we hurried on. We rushed up the gangplank, being gestured

at by the staff to go on through. We were faced by a wall of lorries

parked at various angles, with mopeds somehow squeezed in between.

We looked at the lorries, looked at the staff who were still

shooing us through and wondering what we were waiting for! So we

slid off our packs and began the slow process of ducking wing mirrors

and squeezing between cargoes until we reached the steep steps to the

passenger deck. Meanwhile the staff were trying to work out how

they were going to get another motorbike on!!

Upstairs we found a table outside on the first deck. This ferry

was different to the previous one, the top deck had no seating and

just had a cabin for crew. So we got comfortable and were pleased

when the ferry sounded it's horn and chugged slowly in to the harbour.

Off we went!

Or so we thought for a whole five minutes until we realised we'd

shuffled round in a circle and had then gone back to dock. And there

we sat for another hour. An extremely loud screeching noise marked

the couple of announcements that were made, but unfortunately these

were all in either Indonesian or Balinese so we couldn't understand.

All we could do was sit and wait patiently.

Eventually we did get going and to our suprise 3 and a half hours

later we could see Padang Bai harbour. Unfortunately, it stayed

the same distance away for the next 5 hours! We were unable to find

out any information for a couple of hours, until a fellow passeneger

was able to tell us that we weren't going to dock until 8 o'clock

but he couldn't tell us why. The good news was that Neil discovered

there was wifi on board and managed to get the code!

So the ferry bobbed around, along with several others, for hours until

at about 7.30pm (which we were very impressed with, because we thought

if they'd said 8pm that probably meant 10pm) the ferry's engines

started up and we headed with purpose towards the harbour and

to moore.......where we sat for another half an hour waiting for

another ferry to leave.

Finally, at 8.30pm we were off the ferry, being pursued by various

people shouting 'Room, room' or 'Transport'. We headed

away from the harbour as fast as we could, so we could find a room

and Beth and Neil could find a taxi to take them to Ubud. We went

out separate ways and Martin and I ambled through the small

town of PadangBai, which seemed to have quite a lot going on. We found

a nice harbour view bungalow at Billabong's, dropped our stuff off

and went in search of dinner.

There's lots of nice restaurants and funky bars in PandangBai, for it's

size. But we'd got used to paying 10,000 rupiah for a meal so we

trying to find a local warung, which was closed. So we decided that

we would have to pay tourist prices and headed for one of the

restaurants by the beach, Puri Rai. It was good to have something different to

eat and the food was very tasty and good portions.

Last day at Mimpi Manis :(

01.11.11

Today was our last day in Kuta and we enjoyed another lazy day

down at the Full Moon, chatting to

Rudi the barmen, in between his naps! We also met an Iraqi guy

who lived in Germany. He was hanging out in Kuta for a few hours

before catching a flight to to Jogja. He had just done the komodo

dragon trip off Flores, so Martin was very envious!

We had our dinner in the same Warung and watched the early evening

football match across the road, that seems to be on everyday. The

pitch that they play on is not ideal, it's small, has the occasional

tree stump or tree that the ball quite often bounces off, in the

middle of the pitch and mopeds quite often drive through it mid-

play! It's odd that they choose this pitch because a few metres

away is a full size pitch with no trees!!

Made had magically appeared in the car as we were walking to the

warung and had said he would come back and pick us up in a bit.

So we called him after our meal and what seemed like 30 seconds

later he reappeared. That's service!

We spent the early evening chatting with Gemma and a young English/Welsh

couple, Neil and Beth, who had arrived the evening before. Occasionally

Made would grace us with his presence (!) and make us laugh, or poke

Gemma through the window with a long piece of grass. Or (this is my

favourite) invite Gemma to smell his armpit; never a dull moment!

We are really sad to be leaving Mimpi Manis tomorrow. The whole family

and staff have been so welcoming and helpful, nothing is too much

trouble. We will miss the laid back atmosphere, watching 'little' Martin

play home-made basket ball with 'big' Martin holding the basket;

getting cuddles with Gangi, getting growled at half-heartedly by Panther!!

Thank you once again Gemma and Made - hopefully we will be back soon x

Secret beaches.

31.10.11

Today we decided to hire bikes to explore Kuta and surrounding beaches from

a different perspective. The bikes had been delivered earlier so we

adjusted seats, collected supplies and free-wheeled down the road!

The problems came when we got to the bottom of the hill and we wanted

to start peddaling and couldn't get any friction. So we tried

adjusting the gears etc. We got to the crossroads to turn left

to Kuta and still no joy, we were both peddling frantically!!

So we called Gemma and she phoned the guy that had rented them to

us and he gave us some advice on how to change gears!! We continued

cycling along the beachfront. Martin abruptly found the correct gear,

as it dropped in, smacked his knee on the handlebars and then again.

By this time I was still having troubles and we were already both

saddle sore, so we decided to abandon our cycling attempts!!

A little disappointed we began walking along Kuta beach. We

could see some tiny secluded bays so we aimed to explore those. As

we walked along the beach, a total of about 1.5km we must have seen

a total of 8 tourists! We crossed between 3 coves as we walked

along Kuta beach, marked by strange nobbly rock formations like

creased rusting steel. Sitting on one we watched several small lizards,

that had skin that reminded me of slow worms, tiptoe silently around.

As we walked further along the beach we passed

simple houses made from bamboo panels. Again there was a small fleet

of fishing boats on the sand and some bobbing around in the shallows.

A few men were folding away their fishing nets and as we approached them

another boat came in. A small group appeared and began pulling the

narrow boat out of the water, using tree trunks. One of them called to

Martin to help so of course he dutifully dropped the rucksack and began

pushing!

With his chore complete we continued walking. Once we had walked past the small

community of fishing huts the beach got dirtier, with lots of litter and

seaweed washed up. But it soon passed. We got to the end of this cove

and just had the hurdle of more volcanice looking rock to climb until we

reached our own private little coves. So we hopped from rock to rock

beneath a half-finished villa being built on the hillside and were rewarded

with the first of 3 little private beaches that we pottered between, examining

between each rock, watching crabs scurry away.

The sand in these bays glittered in the sun and in places the sand was black.

Washed up on the sand was lots of coral, all white but so varied. Some like

bushels of cauliflower; some round handfuls of brain matter (!); some like

branches of a tree that have been dipped in plaster. There was also lots of

different types of seaweed and I collected some beautiful shells.

It was amazing sat on a rock with our feet in the water eating monkey nuts

and looking towards Kuta beach, without being able to see another soul

on the beach and just the odd fishing boat heading back in from a mornings

fishing. While we were sat there we made a new friend, a very friendly, happy dog!

He then followed us back along the beach, chasing the pale sand crabs as they

raced out of their holes towards the sea. He always made the mistake of

pouncing on them, sending sand everywhere and then not being able to see them

again! Martin took up the job of being his spotter, but he didn't tend to

pay any attention to Martin's signalling and whistling!

We walked to our favourite warung for a refreshing, cool freshly-blended

pineapple/mango juice and then began our walk to Mimpi Manis, which seems

a lot longer at Midday! School had obviously just finished as hoards of

school children were walking/riding in groups down the road. To our

suprise a moped whizzed past being driven by what looked like a 9 year old,

with 3 other children on the back! A large truck was sat at the side of the

road full of people standing in the back, and 5 or 6 boys sat on top of the

drivers compartment playing drums! Along the road, we smelt it before we

saw it, was buckets of cooked fish on sticks. Outisde most houses families

were sat dozing or chatting on shady terraces, most greeting us as we

walked past.

We were extremely hot and sweaty once we got home and spent the rest of the

afternoon dozing, writing and reading. Another lovely day!

Lazy day, Kuta beach again.

30.10.11

We decided to have another lazy day at the Full Moon. We spent a happy

few hours planning in more detail our stay in Bali next week. We

alternated between sun and shade reading our novels and admiring the view.

We opted for an early dinner at Warung 1 this time, and watched as buffalo

lumbered past in front of the football match, while we enjoyed a very

good Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng.

Exploration by Moped.

29.10.11

I was really excited about today because Martin was feeling brave enough

to hire a motorbike so we could revisit the beaches Gemma had showed

us on our orientation tour. We were both a bit more nervous than

we had been last time we went travelling,I'm not sure why, so we made sure

we had helmets and Martin drove at a cautious speed!

There is such a sense of freedom that some with riding a moped/motorbike.

Something about the wind blowing your hair, whizzing past a beautiful beach.

We visited the first 2 beaches Gemma had taken us to. Each beach was

just as deserted as the first time we went, we had trouble finding any

shade. At the first dounble-barrelled bay we did find some shade in

a little cove created by the rock between between the 2 bays. This was

great because all we could see was our little cave and the sea, along with

teems of gleaming black crabs shuffeling around. At this beach we made the

acquantance of 'Linda' and her crack team of very smiley, rotten-toothed

friends who managed to team sell us 2 sarongs. One of which Martin is

rather smitten with!

On the second beach, which is really good for paddling and exploring

rock pools, we enjoyed a coconut each. It was so good to be sat on a

near empty beach tipping cool, sweet coconut milk in to our mouths

(or all down our t-shirts, in Martin's case). There was an amazing

amount of milk in each coconut, Martin was glugging away at his for

about half an hour and I gave up. When he had finished the seller

came back and chopped the coconut in half and chipped of a couple

of spoons out of the shell. So we took it home to enjoy.

I went for a little paddle and a clamber on the rocks to spot star

fish. The star fish seemed almost to mark the path of higher sand that

you could walk on between the rocks out to the rock monolith still

surrounded by water. I had never seen star fish like this before.

In their centre they have what looks like a limpit shell, not sure

if it's hard or soft and then five spindly, wavy arms that grope around

them. There was hundreds of them, some half buried beneath the sand.

It was slightly trecherous driving away from the beach as there was

deep sand in places and lots of pot holes, but we made our way back

to Mimpi Manis.

Early evening we drove back in to Kuta for dinner and found a couple

of little warungs. We chose Warung 2, for no particular reason and

had a very cheap and tasty dinner, with a good view of the

kick around going on across the road.

Full Moon at Kuta beach

28.10.11

Gemma had recommended the Full Moon cafe/bar on Kuta beach where you could have

beach loungers and enjoy some shade, so we decided to go and spend the

day there. I was looking forward to reading my book and cooling off

in the sea. I would recommend this cafe, because it is so laid back,

you don't get hassled to buy drinks, in fact you have to seek them

out if you want to order anything! So we had a few soft drinks throughout

the day and some lunch. The only thing you have to be a little tolerant

of are the many children selling bracelets and sarongs. But they seem

to have a good sense for those who don't really mean 'No' and otherwise

once they have asked you once they will generally leave you alone!

Although there are some excpetions!....

Mid-afternoon we decided to go for a walk along the beach, to the left.

The sand is suprisingly difficuly to walk on because it is so deep.

Kuta beach is large crescent bay, with only the odd tourist on it and

a few fisherman. We watched as local Sasak people began wading out in to the sea

carrying large buckets to collect the seaweed. The bay is very shallow

and the waves break about 500m off shore. When we walked to the end

of the bay there was a group of trees in the shallow water, the tide was

out. Under the trees was a bed of strange spiky organisms growing out

of the sea bed (I'd seen them before in Palolem). They look like someone's

inserted nails in to the sand and left them to rust. The water had receeded,

leaving glimmering ripples of sand and the sun was low.

Then it happened...we were accosted by the terrible two, our nemisis(es).

These two were a force to be reckoned with! It started with a simple,

cute, "Hello! Where are you from?" Then they began counting Martin's

steps and following behind him, chorusing in different languages. The

eldest whispering the correct numbers to the littlest. They trailed

all the way up the beach behind Martin, waving their card of colourful

bracelets. We stumbled back to cafe, still being pursued, hoping to

seek refuge, but no one would protect us. So continued the relentless

sell and questioning, "Why do you speak English?"

"Because I come from England."

"You should buy for your girlfriend, or your girlfriend cry and leave you"

"She doesn't want one"

"You can buy one for your mother"

And so on. Then came the repeating everything we said! Oh what fun! It was

tempting to buy one but we had seen what happened earlier when someone

bought from one child and not the others; the tantrums (purely for show!),

along with the sob story (It's not fair, why can he buy books for school and

not me!). We also did not want to risk getting mobbed by every child selling!

Anyway eventually she left us alone! And we walked back to Mimpi Manis.

This was slightly more eventful than we'd hoped aswell! As we came to the

end of Kuta beach we came across a friendly looking brown dog, who seemed

to be wandering in the same direction as we were. He crossed the path

of several other dogs and got in to a few scuffles and they began to follow

him. We came to the junction with the right-turn that leads to

Mimpi Manis and still our mate was with us, along with 2 other dogs that seemed

to be chasing him. We crossed the road, he crossed the road with us! I was

a bit nervous, I don't mind dogs at home, but they are usually pets and a

bit more predictable. We eventually lost our original 'friend' after about 15

minutes of walking but all the way to Mimpi Manis we had a crew of 3 dogs

following us! One of the dogs was white and across both sides had Eva written

in large black writing. She followed us all the way in and had to be shooed

away by Ilu. Eva was sat outside for quite a while. Very strange! Martin

thinks it's a sign, because Eva is the name I would like to call my daughter

when I have one, after my granddad. So maybe it was my Bupu saying hello!

I'd like to think so.

Today is our 5 year anniversary so we went out for a 'posh' dinner! Gemma dropped

us at the restaurant,Bule, again highly recommended. The chef is Novetel trained.

We ordered duck and beef and both dishes were really good,the meat was tender, presented

beautifully and the service was excellent. It was worth the extra money and the beer was

cheaper than some of the other cheaper cafes. For desert we had fried banana with ice

cream and chocolate sauce. It was a huge portion and delicious.

Beach paradise!

27.10.11

What an amazing day today turned out to be and all thanks to Gemma and Made.

This morning Gemma took us out to show us around Kuta beach. Mimpi Manis is

about 2km from Kota, which to our surpise consists of only a small strip of

losmen, bars and warungs around a beautiful crescent shaped sandy bay. It was

a lot smaller than we imagined. Gemma drove through Kuta and continued

along the coast road to another beach called Tanjung Aan.

At this point in the day, I had never seen a beach like it.

It is a double cove, shaped like a 'w', in

the middle is a large bolder. The sand is so deep and golden on one side and

paler and finer on the other side. The water is a bright turquoise in the shallows

and a deep blue further out and so

clear. There is barely any shade along the beach apart from a few wooden

shelters and the odd small tree. The beach is backed by dry rugged hills and scrub.

On the beach there was only a couple of

other tourists and a dozen locals hoping to sell coconuts or sarongs.

Next we drove five minutes or so back towards Kuta. Here we came to another

beach. Again pristine, with only seaweed strewn across the sand. About

20 metres off shore there are 2 shallow rocky islands with elongated domes

of rock in the centre of each.

The third and final beach we drove to, again deserted, was just as beautiful

and is famous for surfing.

We only stopped at each beach for a few minutes just so we could get our bearings

and hopefully find our way back another day.

Gemma then took us back to Mimpi Manis as she had to drop off Made to do

another fishing trip. They had apparanetly had a very successful trip,

catching 3 baracuda and a 17kg GT! Which

meant Gemma very kindly invited us to a fish supper this as the

couple who went on the fishing trip would be coming back this evening

to see their fish get filleted and to eat it!

While we waited for Gemma to return we got chatting to some friends of hers;

Al and Debs, who had been some of her first guests 7 years ago. This

demonstrates what a lovely places Mimpi Manis is and what friendly and

accomodating people Gemma and Made are, as it seems guests keep coming

back year after year. Al and Debs are a couple from Perth. Al is a very

softly spoken professional masseuse/alternative therapist and Debs is a

truck driver in a gold mine. I'd never met anyone who works in a gold mine before!

They have visted Bali and Lombok many times and been on yoga retreats in

Nepal, so they were very interesting to chat to.

Gemma had organised to spend the afternoon with them and drive to a raved about

beach, about 45 minutes away, called Selong Blanak. So Gemma very kindly

invited us to tag along. At this point we hadn't

read or heard about this beach so we were in for a pleasant surpise. We

all bundled in Gemma's car including Gemma's young son Martin. It was a pleasant

journey chatting and enjoying the scenery. When we got to the beach we drove

down a private road, on the way we passed some young deers in a small enclosure.

The road took us to some villas and an exclusive looking cafe,

that I would definately recommend, but it was a little out of our budget!

However we did treat ourselves to one of theie divine mango cheese cakes,

which we shared.

After a relaxed lunch time we ambled down to the beach - another crescent of

beautiful barely touched golden sand. This time much wider as the tide

was out. At one end of the bay,two dozen colourful narrow fishing boats

sat on the sand in front of bamboo huts. The water was so warm but still

cool enough to be refreshing. Again there must have been about 10 people

on the beach! Just incredible.

To top the day off, when we returned we were joined by the Danish couple,

Tobin and Tina, who had caught the fish that morning, along with Deb's

brother Craig, for a huge fish supper. There was plenty of fish to go around,

cooked to perfection and accompanied by veg and steamed rice. A sensational

meal with fantastic company. And of course the evening wouldn't be complete

without the excitement of a power cut!! The funny thing is Gemma and Made

have a generator and when they switch the generator on there is alot more

power than through the mains supply in the evening, so the lights get brighter.

Gemma says there seems to be have been less voltage since development started

locally.

Anyway we had a fantastic day thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Gemma

and Made.Thank you x

Finally in Lombok!

26.10.11

We slept well last night and it was so hard to get up. But we had to get up

early again to be in Kuta, Bali for 5.30am for our final day of travel to Lombok.

It only took 15 minutes by taxi to get to Kuta, to the Perama office where

we had booked a shuttle to Kuta, Lombok.

So once again we got on a minibus! 2 hours later we were in Padang Bai, sat at

a little cafe, waiting to get on the ferry. This ferry was much bigger, another

car ferry. There were 2 upper decks on this boat. The middle deck had a lounge

area, where people wre sat in the dark watching the tv. There was also a little

tabled area, again with a tv and a small shop/snack bar. Then up on to the upper

deck, it was completely open with a few solid fixed benches and tables along the

sides and very little shade.

We spent the 5 hour journey dozing on our backpacks, following the shade around

and standing at the helm of the boat making the most of the sea breeze. For a

little while we were being accompanied by several dolphins, including a mother

and child. They kept darting across the front of the boat and then circling round

and leaping in and out of the wash of the ferry.

When we got off the ferry there was a Perama staff member there waiting for us and

he directed us to yet another mini bus! On this mini bus were a French couple who

were 7 months in to a 12 month trip. Before they left they had both been accountants

in Madrid. Exciting lives! We were expecting a 3 hour drive to Kuta and were busy

chatting. We were just explaining where we were staying when the driver asked

where we were staying. When we told him he told us we were there and stopped the

car!

We were finally home! We had read great reviews about this homestay, Mimpi Manis,

and we would not be disappointed! We were greeted warmly by Ilu who showed us our

rooms and made us a fruity drink. We had 1 of 2 rooms in a separate block adjacent to

the main house,each with their own terrace. There is also a little 2 storey

house for a family to rent and a small restaurant area to eat.

As soon as we'd had our welcome drinks Martin raided the owners vast collection

of DVDs they have for guests to borrow. A.s.a.p. we headed to our room for a cool

shower and bed, after 3 days of travel.

A few hours later Gemma, who owns Mimpi Manis, along with her husband Made, came to

introduce herself and to arrange our free Orientation tour for the next day. She

then offered us either a lift in to Kuta town or dinner from their menu so we

decided to have dinner here and an early night. The food was really good. We

tried a Nasi Campur for the first time which includes boiled rice and side

dishes of vegetables in a a tasty sauce, tempe and fried tofu. As we

were eating we had our first experience of the Prayer Call from the nearby mosque,

which is in the practise of letting children have a go! Their parents must be very

proud but to us all you can hear is wailing, shrieking children so loud that you

can't always concentrate on the conversation you are having. This takes place

twice in the early evening. But Lombok is a Muslim country and we had begun to get

used to hearing this in Java.After dinner it was time to fall asleep to a film or two.

Mount Bromo

25.10.11

The alarm went off at 3am and we scrambled around putting on as many layers as possible

and fell out the door to wait for our lift a couple of kms down the road to Cemara

Lewang, which of course was half an hour late! Anyway he dropped the four of us,

including Pierre and Charlotte, off at about 4.15am and it was still dark. We had then

opted to walk the few km's to the crater of Mt. Bromo and then climb up the crater

in time for sunrise. Willhem and co. had opted to pay more to be taken by jeep to a

viewpoint for sunrise and then to the foot of Mt.Bromo so they could climb it.

The first km was down hill on the road, it wound down in to a valley and we could barely

see 10 foot in front of us! All we saw and heard was the occasional motorbike driving

past trying to sell us a ride to the crater. As we got in to the valley we could see

the dark sihouette of what we assumed was Mt Bromo ahead of us and other hills surrounding

us. The walk across the valley was hard. We were walking on deep ash or sand and

there was quite a breeze. As it got lighter, everything took on a mellow grey/yellow

light. It felt like we were on another planet or in the midst of a desert some where.

There were rolling dunes ahead of us gently being absorbed in to Mount Bromo which

we realised was actually to the left of us. During the 35 minute walk across the valley

to the foot of Mt Bromo we must have only seen 2 or 3 mopeds, a man on horseback and of

course a few vendors when we got to the foot of the mountain!

We hadn't realised how hard the short walk to the base of the crater would be, but the last 500m took

us a long time as it was all up hill in deep sand. We were also facing the wind

that was constantly blowing sand in to our faces. However we had the excuse of stopping

to admire the increasingly light view behind us. Eventually we reached, what had been

described as steps to us, but were more of a sand slide! There must have been about

150 steps and they were a struggle and we were racing against the sunrise!

But we made it and it was definitely worth it! Now, we did get bit of a shock when we

reached the top. We had been told that when we reached the crater we could walk around

it. However when we reached the final step, there was barely room for the 4 of us at

the top. From the top step to the edge of the crater, and a disintegrating 2 foot

'safety' barrier, was about 6 feet! You could move left or right from the steps up hill

on very slippery ground if you were careful. But apart from the 10 foot of flimsy

fence as you arrived there was nothing to stop you falling in to the smoking crater!

It was quite sensational being perched precariously at the mouth of a volcano watching

it gently smoke below. The actual crater was probably only about 300 metres across.

The views from the crater were amazing, all the way across the undulating waves of

grey, brown dunes, creating striped patterns across the valley floor. It was quite

misty as the sun rose, which must have been bad news for people at the viewpoint

but actually created more atmosphere for us!

Pierre and Charlotte were a very interesting couple. Charlotte lived and worked in

Hue, Vietnam for a French equivalent of the British Council. She is the Director of

programmes there, so she organised the lessons etc. for mainly adult students, working

alongside local and French teachers. Pierre had been living there with her but now

was back in France. Before that she had worked in Ho Chi Minh, and she had also worked in

Senegal and Tanzania (i think it was). What a fascinating life! I'm quite jealous, but

I suppose my job can give me similar opportunities if that's what I choose.

The walk back to our pick up point was easier and absolutely stunning!

We got back to our hotel at about 7am. We had time for breakfast and a lovely hot

shower, which was needed as we covered in ash (my face was black!) and it was still

pretty chilly!

We were picked up by the minibus at 9.30am. This time our travel companions were

Willhem, ----, Charlotte and Pierre, the 5 Indonesian tourists and an English

guy called Tim, back to Probollingo.

At Probollingo, the group of Indonesians all got out as they were going on back to

Jogja. So we had 2 German girls join us instead, however we didn't get to chat to them

as much as they were in the front seats. The French ladies also rejoined us.

We drove another 3 hours to the harbour, Ketapang, mainly chatting to Tim. Tim was from

York, a Religious Studies/Philosophy teacher who had travelled extensively around Asia.

So we were quizing him for places to stay around Malaysia and Asia.

We were hurried off the bus as the ferry was waiting. Our driver introduced

us to another man who we were to follow. We walked through the harbour and up the

gang plank, being beeped at by cars following us on, then up the steep stairs (trying not

to fall backwards on to my backpack!). The deck was much like a ferry to the Isle of

Wight, but a litle worse for wear, with rows of plastic chairs.

As we chugged out of the harbour the sun was beginning to get low and clouds were

gathering over the volcano backing the harbour. It probably only took 40 minutes across

to Gilimanuk, Bali. However as we approached the harbour we seemed to drift/bob around

just looking at the harbour for about 20 minutes. But this was fine as we got to watch

the sunset, a beautiful pale orange.

Once off the boat and on another minibus it took us another 5 hours to get to Denpasar.

We were dropped off at a small bus station, where we all hopped in Bluebird taxis, which

had been recommended to us as being the most legitimate taxi to get - they will always

put the meter on. We took our taxi directly to the hotel we had booked, part of the Pop

chain. We were really excited about this hotel! We had paid a bit more, as we couldn't

find anything cheaper that the reviews said weren't dirty! The hotel was very bright

with white walls and then neon coloured furniture and feature walls. Our room was along

a corridor of multicoloured doors. Inside our room was so clean, the linen white and soft

and our nice hot shower was in a little pod! We were so happy. It was half past ten, but

before we could fall in to bed we made a quick outing to Circle K to get some roti for

tea! The bread here comes in rolls and is soft,white and sweet, often you can get it

with something inside, maybe with chocolate or banana or cheese. It's good!

Leaving Jogja, with 3 days until we get to Lombok!

24.10.11

We had spent quite a while debating on how we were going to get to Lombok. We

knew it would probably be cheapest to do it ourselves; booking each indivdual

bus journey seperately and directly from the bus station. But we knew this

would take more time and organisation. We also read that in Bali in particular

it was easy to get ripped off and there arelots of places posing as 'official' ticket

vendors etc. We'd also read that Perama were a very trustworthy company and had

a established website etc. Even though it was probably a bit more expensive,it was

also convenient because we could book it all in one go etc. So we had organised

a shuttle bus to Cemaro lewang, 1 nights accomodation there to see Mt Bromo then

a shuttle bus to Denpasar. From Denpasar we had arranged a shuttle with Perama

to Kuta, Lombok including the ferry.

So we began!

Today we made the long journey to the crater of Mount Bromo, leg 1 of the journey!

The minibus picked us up at 8am.

It seemed to take forever to get out of Jogja, picking up 5 holidaying

Indonesians along the way. Two hours in we began to relax and spread ourselves

across seats trying to get comfortable for the rest of the 9-11 hour journey we

had left, from central to eastern Java. But we must have jinxed it because 20

minutes later we pulled in to a hotel. There we picked up 5 very lovely ladies,

4 from France and 1 from Montreal. These ladies were on a 3 week trip, doing a

similar journey to us. One of the ladies, Martina, was sat next to Martin and

began chatting to us. She started off cautiously, speaking English to us. As the

journey went on she began to get more and more confident. Martin also started to

speak a little French to her. By the end of the day she was speaking rapid French

to us and Martin was suprising himself by mostly understanding and speaking French

back to her. I was very impressed! I, on the otherhand, was struggling to keep up

and not quite confident enough speaking, apart from the odd sentence or two. I

always find it frustrating that we meet the majority of people while on a journey because

it means I find it difficult to take part in conversations properly, as I have to

concentrate on the road ahead so I don't get sick. But it's nice to be able to

listen to others and join in occasionally!

The mini-bus was now completely full and felt quite cramped. 2 of the French ladies

were sat in the 1 and half seats in the front, which must have been very uncomfortable.

We were all suffering from numb-bum syndrome and the airconditioning wasn't working

so we were very happy when we pulled in for lunch about 5 hours in. Our Nasi Gorengs

(fried noodles with veg, egg and chicken; served with prawn crackers) weren't up to

much but at least we got to stretch our legs!

We arrived in Probillingo about 7.30pm. Where we all piled off the mini-bus and were

given our itineraries for the next day. We then all got on a different bus to be

taken to our accomodation in or near Cemora Lewang, between 1 and 2km from the

crater of our volcano. Unfortunately it was dark so we couldn't get our bearings

or enjoy the fantastic scenery as we climbed in to the mountains and through

the villages. This time I was in the 'death' seat which was probably a good thing

but quite scary, as we wound round and round!

An hour and a half later we arrived at our accomodation Sion view, which was pretty basic.

The plan was to get dinner asap and get to bed asap as it was nearly 10pm and we were

getting picked up at 3.30am to go and see the sunrise over Mount Bromo. On the way

out of our room we got chatting to Willem, from Holland who was travelling with

his friend, so we joined them for dinner at Yoshi's, along with a French

couple, Charlotte and Pierre. We all ordered our food together, 20 minutes later

everyones food arrived apart from mine and Martin's. Another 20 minutes later and

everyone had finished and our food hadn't arrived. When we asked they said of course

it's coming. 5 minutes later, Martin's mediocre soup arrived. We waited a few minutes,

still no food for me! I asked again, they'd obviously forgotten because another 15

minutes later and my food finally arrived!! So much for getting to bed quickly! And of

course when I pointed the problem out to them they didn't really see it as too much of

a problem!

However it was a really nice evening, chatting to our companions.

Lazy day!

23.10.11

We had decided to stay an extra day in Jogja to relax and recuperate. So we spent most

of today around the hotel, catching up on emails, reading and cooling off in the pool.

A day well spent!

Carnival Time!

22.10.11

This evening we had heard there was a carnival to celebrate Jogja. So we bargained the

nearest cycle rickshaw driver down to 5000 rupiah (35p) to take us to the centre of

town. He was very amusing to talk to, kept telling us about his 'helicopter' which

we presumed was his cycle rickshaw! Before we could get to the Kraton/Palace the road was

blocked, presumably for the procession, so we hopped out and walked the rest. As

we walked towards the Kraton the streets became busier with families excitedly chatting

and trying to find themselves a good viewpoint. We realised it was going to be really

difficult to find a place where we could actually see the procession go by. However

there was a big screen set up so we headed towards there. There were lots of street

vendors hawking tasty snacks under lamp light and people selling toys, in particular

some really cool helicopters that spun really high and were lit various colours. We

became a bit of an attraction ourselves as we watched the various dancing acts and

floats come towards the main arena for the end of the processions. As people walked past

us they waved and smiled, it was a fantastic atmosphere. We then realised that the floats

were all ending up near where we were stood and were all coming to park up. So we went

over to 'greet' the first float as it arrived. All the floats were respresenting

an aspect of Yogykarta. The floats included: an large ornate batik lantern; a Borubudur

float; a large horse carrying a DJ (no idea what that was representing!); a large robot

(again no idea!) and a float that looked like the Great Wall of China?! The crowds were

very excited at the arrival of each float and rushed forward to photograph each float.

When the floats came to a halt, people took it in turns to clamber on to the float

and pose for photographs and this continued for the next hour and a half until we left.

We walked through the dark but bustling streets back to our hotel, very happy that we

had had this experience!