Bali.... - Kuta, Indonesia
Kuta, Indonesia
Bali still looks exactly the same from when we came here last year, road works still going on and loads of hotels still being built. The people haven't changed either, we seen Bagus today (our beach bar friend we made last year) he was chuffed to see us and was asking loads of questions about home. He was also giving us loads of tips for when we go to Lombok and The Gilli Islands, always helps to try and pre plan, especially with money. We also met our Chinese neighbours in the next room this morning, doing some sort of martial arts with sticks, outside our front door, as you do. Breakfast was lovely, the table and cushions were all outside under a roofed terraced sort of thing. Bananas and syrup pancakes, lovelyyyyyy. Stu wanted to rent a scooter today, not the best idea I think he has had, but everything has been okay so far. It's completely different driving over here on the roads and using their vehicles, I'm just hoping we get used to it quickly. I've been trying to keep an eye on money as best I can at the moment, I know we have just started out, but it does worry me that we won't have enough and all the stuff we do want to do. Yesterday I totalled up that we spent £25 between the two of us, plus accommodation. We have spent more today, because of the scooter, however we have rented it for a week, so long term should be okay. Well after last nights 2 hours scooter ride, I don't know where and back again we wanted a day at the beach. Well more to the point stu wanted to surf And try out his go pro, so I thought I could make a start on my tan. So far I have brown legs, white bum, and red shoulders. Only had 5 mosquito bites so far, but the amazing bite cream I had from Thailand, seems to be working. Last night we went for a cheap restaurant down poppies lane 1, a little bargain I found, £4.50, for soup, chicken and rice, BBQ ribs and two cokes. The food was lovely, however the cleanliness of the place lacked a little bit. Tonight we plan on having food on the beach from a local. Stu ate rice and chicken lunch time today and was fine (had to get him to taste test it first) So we thought we would have a very cheap night tonight.... Keep watching those pennies see. Today we went on another road trip to Uluwatu (took us approx 1 hour), the trip there was adventurous enough, but we still looked forward to see the temple and the beach where it's well known for surfing. There were spectacular views up there, however they do have your pants down on things you have to pay for, such as; 10p to enter the car park, £1.50 to borrow a sarong and cover your legs, £1.50 to go see the temple and then they chuck bananas on you to feed the bloody monkeys (another £1.50) each. But it was nice to get out of the hotel and see different parts of Bali. The temple is lovely fab views, unusual to see one right on the edge of the cliff, not really much there to do though, just look at the view. We then went along the coast road again down the the beach, where all the surfers go to actually surf Uluwatu. I didn't realise it's about 500 steps down, and all the shops, cafes, hotels are actually built on the cliff side, most of them over hanging the water. Amazing views again right next to the surf, any photographer paradise and of course your keen surfers. After our scoot home, we decided to spend what was left of the afternoon on Kuta Beach again, just lazing around under the trees. We also ate food off a balaneise woman who was cooking chicken and rice again, two portions, popadoms and some rice cakes came to £1.10. Bargain! Well can't believe it, we come all this way, at last got 30 degrees heat and we have the flu! Who gets the flu in this weather! Seen as we haven't been feeling very well for the past couple of days, we have had two quiet days in the hotel and on the beach. Last night we decided to have a DVD night in, bought 3 'copy' DVDs knowing the quality wouldn't be amazing, but hey it's a change, two decided not to work, but we did enjoy the one which did. Lucky for me it was my choice of DVD that worked 'Monsters University' haha unlucky stu! Today we thought we'd take the scooter out as we have rented it for a week but only used it like 3 times, so we decided to go and see a water temple up north in Bedugul. The temple was on a huge lake, up the biggest mountain ever, which took us 3 hours to get there. And yes you probably would have guessed 3 hours on a scooter wasn't such a good idea. Il be walking like John Wayne for the next 3 days I think. The temple its self was lovely, lots of tourists there, but on the edge of the lake very peaceful surrounded by well kept gardens. Once we had seen the temple, we decided to tackle the long and scary journey back down the mountain and home again. On the way back, stu wanted to stop to have food, he wanted to try Babi Guling or suckling pig in our terms. We had 3 dishes with rice that they gave us, for less than £1. The pig was lovely, however the soup and other dishes were quite hot, so stu mainly ate mine. We headed back to Kuta after it, which seemed like the longest journey ever, but we made it home safely anyway. Stu decided that his butt couldn't take any more scooter riding for a couple of days so we decided to hand it back in early. We went out that night then to a little mexican restaurant down Poppies Lane 2 and had a walk down the beach afterwards. We sat with Adi and Bagus and had a few Bintang's on the beach... Bliss! Shockkkkkkkk! I knew this would happen sooner or later but we have had our first greetings with a bedbug and a cockroach (small thank god). Both got squashed I'm lucky to say, but it has given me the creeps completely now. The bedbug I found by the headboard in our last guest house on our last night. I did search everywhere for anymore but only found that one. The little cockroach we found on the floor in our room, in our new hotel, so I'm completely alert now and on bug watch. Stu doesn't seem too phased by them, but I just can't help trying to search every corner in my room to make sure I sleep bug free! I'm still trying to prepare myself that I will see worse whilst traveling but finding it hard to accept at the moment. Last night they had a ceremony outside our hotel, preparation started at 5am so we had a nice wake up call then, was very nice to see. All the locals dressed in white and sat up the lane by our hotel, the kids are very friendly and love their photo taken. Soon as they see a camera, they stand in front of you and pose, then call their friends. They just laugh and giggle and say Hello, Hello as they don't know much English. I do think it's a good thing though as that night I didn't hear one dog bark at all, they must have had Satay Dog, after the ceremony I think... Poor dogs, but at last we can sleep. The last few days all we have done is laze around on the beach... Thats about it. We have met a few friends some which we have number of, which will come in handy when we go to Australia. Sam, one of our friends we met, is from Melbourne, so we've been chatting to her the most and her little boy Josh. We're going out for food tonight with them, then probably going for a few bintangs afterwards. She said she defiantly wants to meet up with us in Melbourne when we eventually get over to Oz, she lives with her parents about half hour outside the city which is good. Well had quite a few expensive days the last couple of days, we went out to Legends Bar in Seminyak with Sam and her son Josh. We had a bit of a birthday night for Stu as Sam had already been there before so she knew what they would do to him. Well I really enjoyed it not sure about Stu though. First they gave him a head band to wear saying "I'm a legend" (I think he liked that), then called him up on stage in front of everyone, whilst we sang happy birthday to him, then they sang him another song (the band and the waiters), gave him a big pink cake with candles on, and gave him a cocktail which he had to down. Quite funny to watch. We went back to their hotel afterwards to have a few drinks and oh my god, it was a villa on the beach in Bali Gardens. The hotel it's self was massive, defiantly beats our last 2 hotels by far and makes a change from the basic rooms we are staying in. Next day we had a surfing day at the beach after moving hotels again after no sleep all night and stu nearly taking the head of a drunk, drugged up English person. About 6 boys decided to drink, smoke and be very loud outside our door on our patio from 12 (midnight) until 6am, when stu blew and had a few "quiet" words with them, didn't go down too well as you can imagine. However the new hotel is lovely, quiet and lush pool to cool down in, right on Poppies Lane 1. At the beach, Sam and Josh decided to join us again, Josh wanted Stu to teach him how to surf as they live quite far from the beach in Melbourne and only had one lesson the day before. That night we went out to TJ's Mexican to have food down Poppies again, as we looked at the prices on the Menu, we decided it was going to be another "expensive" night again but we would eat cheap tomorrow. Well we didn't stop spending there, after food we carried on walking up Poppies until we found a music shop that only sold hand made wooden instruments i.e a lot of Ukuleles. 2 weeks piece and quiet that's all I had, as they were a lot cheaper than back at home stu had to get one, to "make his life complete" was his excuse. So another day at the beach today and the pool this morning, relaxing is really hard work! Our last day in Kuta was today, tomorrow we leave and head inland to Ubud. We managed to book a hotel for 3 nights this morning for when we arrive in Ubud called Gayatri Bungalows 2, which is right on Monkey Forest Road. As it was our last day on the beach for a few days, we decided to make the most of it and stayed right until sunset. Our journey to Ubud and our day trip to Karangasem (east Bali) was today, very long day and very hot. As the transfer to Ubud from Kuta was expensive, we decided to do a day trip all day for £10 more instead of just going straight to Ubud. We set out at 8.30am and headed to Goa Lawah Bat Cave first, this was another temple to us, but really interesting as about 100 locals were inside the temple praying when we arrived. After leaving the Bat Cave we headed to the water palace in Ujung called Taman Ujung Water palace. This was really beautiful to see, built in 1919, for the royal family to use. In the middle of the water where the main palace is situated, was different rooms that you could go in telling you about the royal family and what each room was used for. Next we headed inland to a Native Village called Tenganan, which was very interesting to see, however a little disappointing afterwards. When we got to the Native Village we had a guide who took us around to show us different areas and what they are used for. We didn't see many people at all really, just mainly empty temples and meeting places, which the villagers gather on different occasions. He did take us into his house to meet his wife which was lovely however seeing the huge glass fish tank in the centre of his brick/tin house was a bit amusing. His wife was showing me around and telling me about the hand woven material which she makes to sell in market as well as bamboo scrolls, they were draped everywhere in their home. It did make us laugh though as most of the villagers live in brick built house with tin roofs and no flooring, however they all have the latest mobile phones and accept money in several currencies if you want to buy anything from them. They also have card payment if its easier for you in quite a few of the houses, just incase you don't have cash. It was very different to see, but not what we were expecting in a native village. Anyway, after leaving the village we headed up the mountain to two view stops which were spectacular, one of which we stopped for lunch. The view was of rice fields and a mountain behind, which were amazing. Only down inside was, as it was cloudy a lot of the mountain was covered up but the view of the rice fields were still beautiful. We then started to head back to Ubud which is where we would spend the next 3 days of our travels, in Gayatri Bungalows. Gayatri Bunglows 2 is a lovely hotel situated on Monkey Forest Road (min road through Ubud) and about 10 minute walk to the Ubud market and 20 minute walk to the monkey forest. We booked the hotel on agoda and for £13 a night you cAnt really moan, even though some things were a bit dodgy in our room, such as our door. Our room door had a padlock on the outside, which you could still open about 4 inches when it was locked. On the inside we had a wooden stick that we had to slide through both door handles. Well one way to save money, who needs proper locks anyway. The hotel it's self was lovely, very nice gardens, a lovely infinity pool over looking rice fields and breakfast was probably the best we have had since starting traveling. Our first day in Ubud started bright and early at 8am we were up and ready for sight seeing (cheap of course as we had spent quite a lot yesterday on the trip), we did decide to take any valuables with us though as we didn't have too much faith in leaving them in our room. First we walked up the road to Ubud market, which was okay, it had changed a lot since we were their last year. Most of the stalls are now inside 6 big buildings which are based where the actually market once was. ************e was trading outside like before, which was disappointing as that was part of the fun being involved in the hustle an bustle of the market. I still enjoyed though looking around and although Stu wouldn't admit it I think he did as well. We then went up to Ubud Temple, which was lovely, we hadn't seen it before, quite tricky to find as it is based behind a few cafes and restaurants but no charge for it anyway. (Well we didn't pay) After seeing the temple we decided to walk down Monkey forest road, past all of the shops and into the Forest it's self. We didn't really want to see the monkeys again for a 3r year, but as it was only 20,000 Rp to get in (£1.50 approx) we thought it would kill time. We did enjoy it as it was a different part of the forest that we hadn't been before and the monkeys were everywhere. You could buy food to feed the monkeys and have a tour guide to take you around but we didn't bother this year as we just wanted a stroll really. As the day went on we decided to go back to the hotel for a bit to cool off in the pool as it was starting to get really hot and not being by the sea, no wind at all! In mid afternoon we decided to go for another walk and find some food but cheap as we were trying to stick to a budget now. We came across another Babi Guling restaurant however this one was meant to be the best in Bali and famous to go to. The restaurant was called Ibu Oka Ubud, known for the best Babi Guling meat in Bali, even Heston Blumenthal has been there. The flavour was amazing defiantly the best meal I have had in Bali so far. It was a lot more expensive than our last Babi Guling, last time it was £1.50 each, but this restaurant it was £4.50 each, but defiantly worth it. We really wanted to stick to our £8 a day challenge, so after all that we had spent today we had roughly £1.20 left, so an evening in with Pop Mie sounded like a good idea (pop noodle really). That night was rather interesting, we had seen other guest staying above us and below us, but we didn't have anyone next door. Well at 3.30am we heard a loud rattling noise (which was our room door) someone was shaking it and supposedly trying to get in. Well there is no other worlds to use apart from I was **** scared haha! It was quite funny looking back now as me and stu were awake and just lying in bed listening to someone trying to get in, it didn't occur to us to get up out of bed to see what was going on, only after what felt like 10 minutes Stu decided to shout 'hello' then the noise stopped. Stu jumped straight out of bed and went outside to see who it was but no one was around, until a head popped up from our neighbour upstairs and said he was locked out of his room! Seemed a bit odd because if he was locked out of his room, not sure what he wanted to do, share a bed with me and stu??? Who knows. Well the next morning me and stu set out to find the Elephant Cave Temple, which was meant to be only 30minutes down the road by foot! Well like hell it was, we seemed to be walking for about 1 1/2 hours, every now and again we would stop and ask a local is it this way (one sent us in the wrong direction for about 2 miles), but they kept on saying this way 3km. We cottoned on after a while that this place was further away than we had anticipated as every time we asked another person, it was always another 3km away. Eventually we got there, and at that point I couldn't even be bothered to see another temple, I was so hot and tired after the walk. We did go in and see the temple which was actually good, we had to wash our hands and faces with the holy water for good luck in the fountain at the bottom of very steep steps, before we enter the elephant cave. The cave was small but still amazing, very different to see from all your other temples. We then walked down more steep steps through the forest and came to a little water fall with huge boulders which had fallen from the land above into the stream. We did have an interesting old man as a guide with very black and mouldy teeth, who seemed to be in his own little world and talked to himself quite a bit. He was quite funny though as he would be telling us about what happened with the stream but every now and again he decided to laugh at random things and just point to objects, bit weird! After the Elephant Cave Temple, we decided to catch a local bus back to Ubud Market, only cost us 10,000 Rp each about 70p, we shared the bus (camper van really) with 3 local women all with their food they were going to sell at the market. This was very different and nice to experience, no comparison with the price though the taxi drivers wanted 150,000 (£12) to take us back, which was only about 15 minute drive. The rest of the day we decided to stay by the pool and cool down as it was getting very very hot, which is when we met James and Mark. They were both on holiday here staying with their friends in their guest house in Padang Padang, but were staying in Ubud for 3 nights like us. They were the first people we had met that were from the UK, both students studying Architecture, Mark was Irish and James was from Newcastle. We found out afterwards that it was Mark that was trying to get into our room last night, he did seem very embarrassed and overly apologetic about the situation. They told us that they went to a house party in a Villa where James's friend was the DJ but had got separated, so mark came back but without his room key. The receptionist told him that the room next to ours was open and he could stay in their, but he chose the wrong door to try and open. They were really nice guys actually we spent hours with them by the pool talking about loads of things, traveling, rugby, home etc. We decided to go out for food with them that night, we did go to take them to the place they had suckling pig, but that was shut, so Mark wanted to take us to a local Balinese restaurant that they had been to for the past 2 nights. The food there was amazing, I had Satay Chicken (well I think it was) with a peanut sauce absolutely lush. The waiter there was really friendly, was talking to us for ages, it was his birthday as well, so we started singing him happy birthday, but he got really embarrassed and went into the kitchen. It was really good to end our stay in Ubud with good company and lovely food, the guys have invited us down to stay with them in Padang Padang after Canggu if we want, so if we manage to sort our visas out quite quickly a little trip down south maybe on the cards. Well yesterday we left to go on another day trip and to head over to Canggu where we will spend the next couple of days. We left at 9am and headed over to the West coast of Bali, but first we stopped off in the Butterfly Park in Tabanan which was very expensive for what it was. We paid about £10 to get in, to walk under a huge net, with loads of butterfly's flying around the Park. We went to see the new butterfly's that were born this morning, some of them were huge. Before I even had a choice the woman stuck two huge butterflies on me about 5/6 inches big, it felt horrible. It was a weird feeling, but all I could imagine was a huge spider crawling up my arm, I was saying can you get them off get them off, but the girl who worked for the Park just laughed and smiled at me! Well we didn't spend a long time in the Park as there wasn't much to see really, so we headed up the the Hot Springs next. This was good, but at mid day the last thing you really want is a boiling hot bath. We still went in the hot springs but was glad of a cold shower soon as we came out. The hot springs once again was quite expensive I think we paid about 300,000 Rp (approx £24) to get in, the man took us into what seemed like a cubical which had a hot spring hole in the floor as well as a table and a cold shower. The water was absolutely boiling which was nice, however after burning my belly the day before by the pool was quite painful on that. Our last stop was Tanah Lot Temple, although we had seen it before we didn't mind going back there as it was such a beautiful place to see. We paid 30,000Rp to enter the temple, which is worth seeing, it is a temple out in the sea, which gets cut off by the tide, when the sea is fully in. We decided to go right up to the temple this time and go up the side of it as we didn't do that before. We had to wash our selves again in holy water before we could step foot onto the huge rock where the temple was, they also gave you a flower and some rice stuck on your forehead as a symbol that you had paid your respects at the temple. After walking around the rocks at the bottom and the cliff tops around Tanah Lot, we decided to stop and have some food before we reached Canggu. It was one of the best meals I had had in Bali so far, Satay chicken, with a peanut sauce and chips, lovely! We eventually set off after lunch and arrive in Brekele Berawa Beach House in Canggu,which was a stone throw away from the beach. The Beach House was lovely again the set up was two buildings either side with 6 rooms in total, with different outbuildings scattered in the middle such as the Family's temple, kitchen/diner, and two other buildings which I assume would be their sleeping quarters. It is probably the nicest room we have had so far, a huge double bed in the centre with all dark wood furniture around the room, plus a safe and fridge freezer. The bathroom was also the length of our room, which was massive and designed with all the modern things, can't go wrong for £14 per night. Today so far we have had a lazy day around the Beach House and just back and fore to the beach if we wanted a walk. We were greeted this morning by the woman who owns the guest house with two mugs of hot Bali Coffee, which is really nice, i think stu is going to get addicted to it soon as he said its the best coffee he has tasted. The only down side is there is nothing much really around the Beach House, just two huge expensive hotels right on the beach, two very small shack shops and one cafe that's it. We decided to buy a few things in the shop so we could eat quite cheaply plus with nothing around us we needed food. Last night we had food in the cafe, which is owned by an Australian man and his Indonesian wife, who makes the best food ever. Anything you want she makes homemade, which was bliss instead of having pot noodles or processed stuff. Stu had a homemade burger which was huge and wedges and I had a home made pizza and wedges, which I think would be the best pizza I have ever had! They were both very friendly people and enjoyed the company of visitors passing through as well as the business. They had a little 14 month old son, who was very funny, always laughing and flying around in his stroller/buggy thing. Well as the food was so good we may go back there again tonight, before we leave to head back down the Kuta. This morning we got up early, and went straight down the beach again as the swell had come in and the waves were getting rather big. Stu went in about 5 times this morning, after about 40 minutes coming out just to catch his breath and have a drink then off again. I think he did enjoy and it was nice to spend time on a beach other than Kuta especially as there weren't many people around at all. However, staying in one of the big hotels on the beach was people from "Globe" the surf make, who had people they sponsor in the water surfing while they had a lot of cameras and cam recorders filming them surf. This was good to watch and very entertaining, the people they had surfing were awesome, doing so many tricks and flips on massive waves, a lot bigger than Kuta beach. Later on that day we decided to head back down to Kuta as we had literally run out of money and there were no ATM's around for miles. The taxi wasn't too bad back just over £10 to get back down Poppies Lane, where we decided to stay in Kedins hotel again until we knew where we wanted to go next. We have got approx 10 days left until our visa runs out, so not sure if we will stay in Kuta or head down South again. Well it's been nearly a week now that we have been back in Kuta, we have moved hotels again to Bukung Beach Resort, close to where we stayed before in the Aston Kuta and the Risata Hotel. We paid £15 a night as a last minute offer on instead of £65! The one good thing about it is we booked a week here so we have a base for a week, which is nice after all the moving around to different hotels. We haven't really done much this week beacause on Monday our Visas went in and we booked out boat transfer to the Gilli Islands! Yayyyyyyyy! This cost us 900,000 Rp for the two of them. It was the cheapest we found so we decided to bite the bullet and just book them, we needed to get the visa in as soon as possible though as they take 5 days to be sent off to the Immigration Office in Nusa Dua. Most days all we have been doing is going to the beach, having a shop and going for food lunch time, watching the sunset then strolling back to the Hotel. I have found this amazing Hypermarket right by our hotel which is amazing! It's just like Tesco but a lot cheaper. We went a bit mad the first time we went in there, bought a kettle for the room as well as half the shop, I think I have found my new love in Bali! Stu has also bought a new surfboard here EXPENSIVE considering we are travellers now, but it was a good price normally for a board. (I won't tell him though). I lost my sunglasses to the sea yesterday as well was just having a float, then out of no where a huge set of waves came in, going over my head and stripping my sunglasses from me. On a more positive note, I have bought two more pairs in one of the surf shops so I wasn't too sad for long! One thing I can clearly say I am missing from home is a bloody good cup of tea. I have tried many cups and I can clearly say they don't have a patch on PG tips! Student mind as he's addicted to the Bali coffee, but I prefer my tea. The only thing I found which I am now drinking by the gallon is Twinings Earl gray Tea, cost me £6 for a small pack of tea bags, but sooooo worth it. I knew I shouldn't have listened to stu and not brought my 5 packs of tea bags I wanted to bring. Never listen to men, they don't know what they talking about!