2
nd-7
th
January 2016
Here we go
then. The start of a new chapter
I’ve had
this planned for ages. I had originally intended to travel through South East
Asia before I did my second year in Australia so I’ve been waiting for this for
over a year! In fact I first started looking into this when I was working in
Franz Josef at the end of 2013! In the two years since I have revised the plan
a few times but never did I intend to go Bali but that is where I find myself.
Bali has been described to me as Australia’s Magaluf. Its where the Aussies go
to get drunk and cause chaos and so I wanted to avoid it.
Having said that, it worked
out cheaper for me to fly from Cairns to Bali before continuing on to Singapore
rather than going straight there so that is what I did. I arrived at the airport in Bali at a very early 2am on
Saturday 2nd January. I found myself a comfy sofa in the airport to
get a few hours sleep so that the sun would be up when I took on my first ever
day in South East Asia.
The sofa was
surprisingly comfortable actually and I wasn’t the only one there so I felt a bit
safer. Initially when I had come out from arrivals I was greeted like a
celebrity by the taxi drivers. Every one of them, and there were a lot, wanted
to talk to me and take me where I needed to go. Now, though, they weren’t many
taxi drivers around. I managed to find one and he took me to my accommodation.
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| Fancy dorm room |
Wow they
drive crazy here! There may well be painted lanes on the road but they are
completely ignored by all the cars. If there's a space then they’ll drive into
it and all the other tiny spaces are occupied by the thousands of motorbikes.
Red lights are optional too. It really is amazing that there aren’t accidents. I’m sure there are some but I
never saw any despite the amount of mental driving.
I arrived at
my booked accommodation at 6am which is the time I said I would be there for.
There was no one there to check me which was probably a blessing as I noticed a sign
on the wall. Someone had written “WARNING BED BUGS!” and stuck a tissue with a
dead bed bug on it underneath the writing. This was enough to put me off and I
quickly started trying to source alternative accommodation. I found a hostel
just the other side of the main road that seemed good and it was cheaper.
I actually
met the girl that had made that note in this hostel. She told me she had had an
argument with the owner who wouldn’t believe her that she had been bitten by
bed bugs until she found one. Once she found one the owner ran away and
wouldn’t talk to her so she made the sign which seemingly hadn’t been noticed by
the owner yet.
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| Down the road |
There was a
bit of a mix up at this new accommodation. I paid in the morning at about 7am. I
thought I had been allowed to check in early but all that had happened is I
paid for a full nights accommodation and they wanted me to pay again. I wasn’t
happy and managed to negotiate a half price for the few extra hours I had spent
in the room.
After
grabbing a shower and having a little sleep I went to explore the town of
Sanur. I had tried to avoid the party scene of Kuta on the other side of the
island. This place was still very touristy but there weren’t any party bars
here. I ate lunch at a restaurant just around the corner from my hostel. I had
a chicken sandwich. I wasn’t too keen on trying the local foods just yet. I was
too hungry!
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| Sanur Beach |
I went down
to the beach in the afternoon. I only went for a look. I thought I would go for
a nice casual stroll along it. Unfortunately if you’re not walking quick enough
then you will be harassed by every Tom, Dick and Harry trying to sell you
something or other. I had one Indonesian woman offer me a ‘happy ending
massage’. I had been told that I would probably be offered this but I didn’t
expect it on my first day. I laughed and refused.
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| Hired a scooter! |
Now that I
had had sleep I decided to throw myself into all things Asian. The best way to
get around Bali is a scooter. I realise this would be throwing myself in at the
deep end but I might as well. I hired a scooter for a couple of days. The woman
asked if had ridden one before. I said “yes but could you just show me how it
works again”. She must have realised that by the time I drove off that I hadn’t
really got clue what I was doing.
I drove
around for an hour to get used to it before a big drive tomorrow. Turns out its
either really easy or I’m just a natural. It was a reasonably quite area so it
wasn’t too mad and I was able to get the hang of it quite well. Tomorrow would
be a different story.
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| Local restaurant |
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| Good food |
I went back
to hostel and got chatting to a couple people hanging out in the pool. There
was a Brazilian man who had been here for a couple of weeks and seemed to be
the go to man for information on things. He and I with, a couple of others, went to
this local Indonesian place for food. It was kind of buffet style where I could
just point at things that looked nice and they were serve it up for me. I went
back there a few times as it was a great way to try all the different things. A
full meal plus a drink was $2. Such a bargain. The restaurant I had lunch in
was way more than that.
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| Local petrol station |
I got myself
a sim card after dinner which would come in hardy for maps the next day. Whilst
we were doing this my new Brazilian friend pointed out the local petrol
station. A set of jars containing petrol! Weird!
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| Scooter adventure |
I set off on
my scooter very early the next day. The plan was to drive to Ubud and see a few
sights around that area. I was fully convinced that I would seriously hurt
myself on this bike trip but I set off anyway. The first part was a little scary
when I found myself on a highway with 6 lanes at one point! I stuck to the
inside and decided everyone can just go round me. It got a little easier as I
drove up into the hills.
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| No tourists here |
It may not
seem it but there is a system. The only rule is don’t crash into the person in
front of you. Undertaking is fine, including going up onto the pavement.
Overtaking on blind corners is also perfectly fine although extremely
dangerous. There was a moment when I came to a corner to see two cars driving
side by side coming towards me! Somehow he managed to pull in before I got to
him. Like I said earlier, its madness but somehow it works and no one crashes.
Only westerners that are too scarred or hesitant have the accidents. You just
got to go with it.
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| Volcano |
I loved it!
I had so much fun driving these roads up into the hills. Once I was out of town
the scenery became spectacular. I drove through villages and saw locals. No
touristy shops or masseurs offering happy endings!
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| Waterfalls |
The first
stop I made was at Tegenungan Waterfalls. Here, the touristy stuff returned but
they were still setting up and didn’t bother me too much. I walked down to
waterfall just as a group was leaving and I had the place to myself.
 |
| Scary bamboo bridge |
There was a
little bamboo bridge to cross the river which was very sketchy and I very
nearly fell in. There were a lot of steps here and climbing back up nearly
killed me. I was so hot and sweaty by the time I got to the top. Some of locals
saw me and laughed!
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| New fashion accessory |
Back on the
bike the next stop was Goa Gajah Temple where I had to wear a sarong to cover
my knees. This did not help with the heat issue I has having.
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| Temple pond |
 |
| AHHH |
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| Elephant Cave |
This was my
first temple in Asia and it was pretty good. Not very big and I think when I’ve
seen a thousand this won’t be a highlight but I enjoyed it all the same. There
was a little cave thing that I couldn’t decide if it looked comical or terrifying
but I went inside all the same. The inside was just a hole. Nothing special.
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| Inside the elephant cave |
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| More temple things |
I continued
to walk around and look at things. I saw some people getting a tour and thought
this might be a better way to do it so that I would get some understanding of
the place but I’m on budget and time constraints.
 |
| Monks house |
Whilst I was
wandering I suddenly realised I had stumbled into a monks house! It was pretty
basic so I didn’t notice at first but then I saw the bed! I think it was OK to
be there but I left quickly just in case.
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| Rice paddies |
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| The wild |
Next stop
was Gunung Kawi. I needed to borrow a sarong here too. I walked past a couple
of rice paddies on the way into the temple. This area was stunning. It was like
a proper jungle. It is a proper jungle!
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| Time for a sprinkle |
Just before
I entered the temple I came across this bowl of water and the sign asking you
to sprinkle holy water on my head before I went in. I did this whilst feeling
like an utter twat and entered.
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| Awesome! |
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| Temple Temple |
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| Again, its not real! |
The main
area of this temple was pretty cool. It had river flowing through the middle of
it with a bridge connecting the two sides. It was very picturesque indeed.
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| Bedroom? |
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| Bedrooms? |
I came
across these deep holes cut into the rock and I think the monks used to (or maybe
still do) live in them. I might be completely wrong on that though. It was
definitely lunch time now so I jumped back on the scooter and headed for the
town of Ubud.
 |
| Ubud market |
I had lunch
at a restaurant in Ubud. It was a little expensive but I thought I’d treat
myself. Then I went to have a look at the markets there. There were loads of
stalls but only perhaps three different type of stalls. It was like an
old school cartoon when you see the same things going past on a loop. I tried my hand at
bartering for the first time when I bought a t-shirt. The woman was a seasoned
professional and I was a complete newb so its fair to say I was had!
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| Monkeys |
I went down
to the Monkey Forest in the afternoon. It was my first time seeing monkeys in
Asia but I soon came to realise they are actually everywhere and I needn’t have
paid entry to this park.
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| Monkey Forest |
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| Cute baby monkey! |
I’ve never
seen baby monkeys before so that was quite exciting. It was fun just to watch
them wrestling with each other and then bug momma gave them a look and they
stopped immediately.
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| Munching on a stick |
Even without
the monkeys the park itself was pretty nice to walk around. There was a temple
in the middle that was actually closed. There was also this questionable
statue.
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| That a stick your holding? |
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| Clapping monkey |
I saw one of
the conservation workers teaching one of the monkeys to clap. If he clapped he
would get a treat.
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| Large green lion |
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| The theif |
There were a
few monkeys fighting over a bracelet that one of them had no doubt stole from an
unsuspecting tourist. To be honest it was just as entertaining watching monkeys
outsmart the dumb tourists. You really think you can open a bag of chrisps,
give the money one and then put the rest back in your bag?! Don’t think so. I
saw one girl do this and they jumped all over her until she dropped the bag.
They got the chrisps as well as a bottle of water and her sunglasses! Mugged!
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| Wow |
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| Just chillin |
At the
bottom of the park was a stunning bridge. It would have been an amazing little
spot to sit and watch the monkeys but it was a tourist hotspot and packed with
people.
That was the
end of my mini roadtrip. I headed back to Sanur just before rush hour kicked
in. It was still very busy though as I came into town and it was a lot scarier
than at any point in the day. At one point I had to cross four lanes of traffic
so that I could take the right turning. Again, I’m amazed I didn’t see any one
crash and even more amazed that I managed to go the whole day without any
incident. I had heard that the police here are prone to “fining” people that
don’t have an international license but I guess they’re off on Sundays.
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| BINTANG! |
 |
| Live music |
I went back
to the same place for dinner after recommending to a couple of people who had
just arrived and they joined me. I went to test out the local beer, Bintang, at
a place near our hostel. They had live music and a guy called Pierce and I
stayed for a drink. We decided to avoid this unfortunately named place.
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| Really? |
I had to
make a choice. There were two other things I wanted to do. The plan was to do
the hike to the top of Mt Batur volcano and then the next day go the Gilli
Islands which had been highly recommended to me. Unfortunately I couldn’t book
the trek in time so I would need to wait a day. The choice was a tropical beach
or a massive hike. For most people it would be a no-brainer but I went for the
hike. I would see plenty of tropical beaches in the months to come.
 |
| On Mt Batur |
I got picked
up at the ungodly hour of 1.30am. I know, its ridiculous! But, being a sunrise
trek, you had to get to the top of the mountain before sunrise! There were a
few pickups after me and then we had a hours drive before we got to the place
where we had breakfast. It was here when everyone woke up and started to talk
to each other. We had quite the mix of people. It was mostly an older group of people with real lives and real jobs.
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| Sweaty but worth it |
We had
another drive to get to the bottom of the volcano where we started the hike. It
was probably a good thing you couldn’t see how high it was when we started
because it was a massive effort. Your body is telling you that you should be
asleep but instead you’re killing yourself trying to get up a very steep
mountain. We got to the top just as the glow from behind the mountain opposite
started to get brighter.
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| Epic view |
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| Sunrise |
We stayed up
there to watch the sunrise which was truly magnificent. As the day slowly
dawned the surrounding land became more visible and it was a fantastic view. We
were stood on the edge of a volcano crater which seemed to be within a larger
crater that went right around to the mountain opposite. Inside it was a large lake
and rice paddies.
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| Definitely morning now |
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| Mount Batur |
Once we were
back at the bus we could look back at the whole mountain and congratulate
ourselves on our achievement.
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| Hot pools |
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| Fried banana |
The fun
didn’t stop there. As an added bonus to our tour we went to some hot springs
where we were given more banana. This time fried! It was better than the sandwich. It was a nice little spot. I don't think they were natural hot pools but it was very nice to sit in them and chat to everyone on the tour.
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| The lake |
 |
| with fish |
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| Interesting spellings |
We were
there for about an hour before we started to question how much longer we would
be there for. It wasn’t even midday yet but we were tired. I certainly was.
Apparently it was up to us when we wanted to leave although our guide never
told us that. We said we were ready yo go and we went for lunch. This was included in
the tour along with a foot massage.
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| Lunch time |
The lunch
was actually really good. A lot better than the variations of banana we had
been given so far. Whilst we ate we took it in turns to get our foot massage.
I’ve never had a massage before of any kind. It was OK I suppose. That was
until she pulled on my toes until they cracked. I didn't enjoy that so much!
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| Back to the airport |
I spent the
rest of that day and the day after chilling in and around the pool area. Then
it was time for me to leave Bali so I jumped into a very questionable looking
taxi to the airport where I could sit back and admire the Balinese driving one
last time.
My next
destination, Singapore!
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