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!