Bali and the Gili Islands

I'd enjoyed KL and Java and now it's Bali's turn to draw me in. When I think of Bali I think of blissful beaches and lounging around. Normally I like to be on the go at all times. I wasn't sure Bali was going to be for me. However that was then, now I have the time to lounge around and relax I may take to the beach life easier than I thought.

 

On my to do list was snorkelling, I'm not sure how I would take to this, I've never opened my eyes under water even wearing goggles, also I'm not the greatest of swimmers.  All did not end too well as you will find out at the bottom of this blog!

 

One of many Bintang beers

The first couple of days I stopped in Seminyak famed for glorious beaches and bars.  During my two days I spent here I never saw the beach or the sea! The simple reason is that I was meeting 2 Barmy Army Legends to watch the cricket in a bar over many beers and the odd Jagerbomb to celebrate milestones.  It was great to speak with familiar likeminded people for a couple of days.  I took a holiday from my travelling and for two days it was like been on a cricket tour! 

 

Up until this point I had meticulously written down every single expenditure and had a full reconciliation of what I had spent on accommodation, transport, food and drink etc.  These two days my stats are a little hazy due to excess Bintang consumption, but I got it back on track.

 

I wasn't overly fussed to have missed out on the beach life as I was aware I would return prior to catching my flight, by which time I would have none of the barmy army to 'encourage' me to stay in a bar all day.

 

Using the excellent Uber that has been introduced to parts of Indonesia I travelled by taxi up to Ubud for some culture and recover from a couple of heavy days.  The 1.5 hour taxi was less than £6 for a door to door service and worked out cheaper than the tourist bus.

 

My £9.50 a night hotel in Ubud was about 3-4km from the centre up a slight incline.  It had a glorious infinity pool, which was occupied by 8 foreign exchange girls from South America, nice.  One afternoon I was in the infinity pool watching the sunset through the coconut trees, thinking it was Monday morning back home, and thought this is more like it.

Hotel pool (minus the South American girls)

I didn't do much in Ubud, visited a couple of temples but the highlight was the Monkey Forest.  Basically a jungle just near the centre of town which housed thousands of monkeys.  I'm not normally a fan of monkeys but these ones seemed to be used to tourists.  Some tourists were quite clueless in picking up baby monkeys much to the anger of the mothers.  I had a great time watching them play and get aggressive with overly enthusiastic tourists. The walk back to the hotel each day was eventful as you would never know which temple a dog would belt out of and start barking like crazy at you, it didn't help it was pitch black after dark also.

My favourite Monkey.. 

From Ubud I hit the coast at Padangbay wandering to some picture postcard beaches, then caught the speed boat to the Gili Islands.  The Gilis are 3 small islands ringed with white sand.  I watched some beautiful sunsets into the ocean (one of which with a German girl I had met on the boat), had freshly caught fish for dinner on the beach with waves practically tickling the table legs.  My choice of drink moved from the decent beer that is Bintang to a whole variety of cocktails.  The Gili Islands were more expensive than Bali and a bit of a tourist trap.

 

Gili Air

Mojito at Sunset

Beenbags on the beach at sunset, got to be done

The sunsets one final time over Lombok from Gili Air

Finally, my snorkelling trip didn't quite go to plan, I booked a day trip on a glass bottom boat which took you to 4 different snorkelling locations.  This was my first time, and in doing so in the middle of the ocean was quite literally diving off the top board.  Thankfully someone in the group requested a life jacket, and I followed suit, something I was so pleased about.  The first couple of minutes were brilliant, a whole new world opened up in front of my eyes, technicolor fish and a coral seabed.  I was loving it until my snorkel filled with water I started to panic, flapping about and taking in more and more salty seawater.  I was quite distressed, I swam to a different boat and clung on whilst I got my composure,  I made my way back to our boat got in and the snorkelling trip from then on turned into a glass bottom boat trip. 

They say when travelling you should try new experiences, which I did, I may do this again, but next time walking out from the beach where I can put my feet on the ground if I don't like it.  An Aussie women whose 6 year son was also finding it difficult was extremely nice to me.  At dive spot number 3 I was determined to go back in but like a bungy jumper teetering on the edge, I was on the side of the boat and fear prevented me from jumping.  From the safety of the boat I got to see 2 giant sea turtles with hoards of snorkelers from my group frantically pursuing them.

My snorkelling trip which turned into a glass-bottom boat trip

From Java Script to Java, Indonesia

This was the real moment when my adventure really began, Kuala Lumpur was the warm up, the breaking me in gently, this is the moment when I added a new country to my portfolio and get a new visa in my passport.

I flew into Indonesia into Yogyakarta on Java Island.  I had thought about Jakarta but was put off by not great reports of the place I'd read online.  Yogyakarta is home (or near home) of one of the great temples of Asia, the Borobudur Temple. 

When I arrived many taxi drivers were trying to win business from me and take me on the short journey into town.  A local I'd been speaking with had told me where the public bus left from and obviously a cheaper option.  Around an hour and half later and 18p lighter in the pocket I arrived at my chosen destination (8 miles from the airport).  All the locals on the bus were very friendly and found it a novelty that a westerner had decided to take this route into town.

My £13 a night hotel was great, a bargain in fact.  My £1 Nasi Goreng (fried rice with chicken prawns, vegetables and anything else left over in the fridge with a fried egg on top) meal was great too, as was the £1.70 for an oversized (650ml) bottle of beer.  I instantly thought that me and Indonesia were going to get along fine.

The following day I had a look around town, it is just my luck that some sort of political demonstration was going on.  Basically it was hundreds of youths revving motorbikes, menacingly wearing bandanas over their faces and carrying huge flags with either swords or guns on them, others were wielding black painted batons.  It really was quite intimidating.  I only dared take a picture once the main mob had passed and it was the kids at the rear.

Trust me it was more menacing than it looks here

I had a quick jaunt into the Sultans Palace which was about correctly priced at 61p (66p if you wanted to take photos) and a couple of markets.  I booked myself on a tour to Borobudur Temple for the next morning, somehow they managed to persuade me that it is best at sunrise and was therefore a 03:45 start.  As you would expect with such an early start I got myself an early night, wrong! I got chatting in a bar and one beer led to another and before I knew it, it was late.

The sunrise over the temple was imaginatively sold to me as I could hardly see either the sun or the temple as the photo below shows.



First sighting of the sunrise, the temple is on the hill in the middle of the picture

Inside the temple it was great and got better and better the higher up you climbed.  A load of school kids spoilt it a little as they were running around and making noise.  One of the kids politely asked for a selfie with me which I obliged, seconds later they all wanted one!


Borobudur Temple

The next day another early start this time for a train to Surabuya (5+ hours).  Little of note goes down in Surabuya but it was memorable by seriously challenging Columbo, Mumbai and Cape Town as the hottest place I've ever been.  A brief 'dry' overnight stop and it was back on the on the train to Banyuwangi (6.5 hours).

The house I was staying at here was well cheap, in fact I got overcharged but didn't complain at the £6.06 per night especially as they picked me up from the train station and dropped me off at the ferry port.

The main reason to stay in Banyuwangi was to go up the Ijen Crater (an 'active' volcano that had a minor eruption a few days earlier).  This was another 'do before daylight' attraction, this time a 02:00 start.  The hike up the volcano was tough especially as my group were all 20 something's and believed in been the fastest up to the top.  I just about kept up, puffing and panting.  We then scrambled down inside the volcano still just by torchlight. 

As we approached the bottom of the crater, sulphur was spewing out and we needed to put on gas masks.  The volcano produces a blue flame (one of only two in the world - the other been in Iceland) which we just got to see before daylight made it invisible.  Once it became light it was fairly impressive (if not a little dangerous) where we had come from, to be honest I don't think I would have done it if I could see where I was going!



Gas mask selfie



Ijen Crater back from the top

That was my time on Java, next stop Bali, after 3 successive dry days I was ready for a beer and meeting up and watching cricket in a bar with a couple of  Barmy Army legends I wasn't to be disappointed....

The big leap - first stop Kuala Lumpur

After years of dreaming of doing it and months of seriously considering it, I finally took the plunge and handed in my notice at work and decided to come travelling.  Is it the right decision, was it the right decision, only time will tell.  Currently 4 days into my travelling it feels like the right decision, and as this can longer be undone I need focus on the future not what might have been.

Wandering around Kuala Lumpur (KL) on my first day of the trip I obviously gave ‘life’ plenty of thought.  It was nice to be in the reasonably familiar surroundings of KL as this was my third visit to the Malaysian capital and the 2^nd in the last 12 months. 

I grabbed a map from reception and set out walking the city.  My walking tour was quite extreme in the heat and humidity and looking back, perhaps a 24.86km walk on my first full day was not the best of ideas, but it give me the precious opportunity of time to think. 

I thought to myself, time, yes time, that is something that I have never not had the luxury of since my working career started.  Whilst at work I’ve been extremely lucky to have some fabulous holidays, but all of those have been done at ultra-speed power ticking my way around countries to quite literally tick them off.  Parts of this trip are time bound, but much of it is flexible and I now have that luxury of time.  Time to think, time to relax, time to do nothing with if I want.



My walk around KL took in the glorious Petronas Towers, it is nice to walk around the surrounding park taking in the magnificent structure of the twin towers connected by a sky-bridge.  I limited myself to taking just a handful of photographs to add to the many I have of the towers from other trips.

The other great landmark of KL is the Minerva Tower, so I headed across town directed by various glimpses of the TV Tower.  Again I didn’t feel it necessary to go to the top of the tower especially as it was around £15, and after all I’m supposed to be on a budget as I don’t know when or where my next pay packet will come from.  My walk was interrupted both to and from the tower by serious rain downpours the second of which lasted an hour or so and was accompanied by flashes of lightening and rumbles of thunder.



With the air cleared I headed to Chinatown and the famous Petaling Street, which as far as I’m concerned is an indoor market with pushy salesman selling fake watches, clothing and general tourist tat.  From here I visited Merdeka square which is essentially a cricket pitch in the centre of the city surrounded by great buildings, museums, clock tower and a cricket pavilion.  A huge Malaysian flag overlooks the square from one end.  What a cracker of a place this would be to play cricket.  The view from the middle allows you to see many of the sights I’d hiked around to see during the day.

The view from the wicket

After a short nap back at the hotel I set out in darkness.  From my hotel you could just see the twin towers poking up above the rest of the buildings and looking beautifully illuminated against the black sky behind.  I’d not been up to the towers at night so headed over and soon got my camera out and took many snaps to add to my collection. 

As I was leaving the area a large crowd had gathered by the lake in front of the towers, as I investigated soon a sound system soon started blasting out classical numbers with the many fountains perfectly choreographed to the beats of the music.  Not only were the fountains dancing they were accompanied with a vast array of colours passing through them, it really was quite spectacular.

On my second day I found out that a Ladies PGA golf tournament was on in the city, tickets were a bargain £4.50 and included plenty of freebies including lunch, cider, and umbrella. It was great to wander around a golf course getting so close to the world’s best female golfers.  A beautiful course with plenty of lakes and bunkers that made for a pleasant day.  It was hot standing out in the sun all-day though.

The final thing for me to mention on my short stay in Malaysia is the food and nightlife.  I purposely stayed by my favourite neighboured of Bukit Bintang.  One street I have always enjoyed is Jalon Alor.  It is a street that stimulates all senses, it has tables and chairs spilling out into the street from restaurants and street stalls selling a variety of Asian foods.  The smells are great (some less so) as you pass from BBQ to BBQ.  The street is lit with red lanterns above and is packed with locals and tourists alike.  I ate on this street every night and also drank here as it is the cheapest and most atmospheric place to drink in the city.  Around the corner is an upmarket version, with many bars and restaurants offering the same food and beer at significantly greater prices.  The clientele on this street is predominantly ex-pats and up-scale tourists.  I kept away from this area on this visit so not to blow my budget in the first few days.

KL provided me with a nice introduction to my trip, but I’m looking forward to bagging a new country in my passport tomorrow when I'm off to Yogyakarta on Java Island in Indonesia.



Plenty of food to choose from on Jalan Alor, KL

A cold beer on the busy street



Minerva Tower KL 

Petaling Street, Chinatown, KL

A day at the LPGA golf at  KLGCC