So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Bali, Lombok and Gili T.
Bali. Vibrant, beautiful, wet (well it was the wet season, I suppose). During our miserable months on the farm, we had decided, along with our British comrade Rachel, to spend the Christmas holidays away and picked Bali as our destination. We'd heard nothing but good things and to try and make the most of our short stay, we booked a tour that would take us around Bali, Lombok and Gili Trawangan.
I'm not even going to beat around the bush. The moment we'd booked it, barely 5 minutes after clicking that all important "Confirm" button, the first news bulletin came in about the impending volcanic eruption of Agung. I was pretty p****d. This was back in September. Then towards the end of November, Agung started spewing ash and all the airlines stopped taking people into Bali. My stress levels were barely coping. Our flights had quickly become part of the huge list that became recommended to change the date of, or attempt to rebook for a different location. It wasn't a great time. Glued to the news feed, day in, day out, the ash finally subsided and we were good to go and go we did.
We arrived in Denpasar in the evening so got to see very little of Bali as we headed to our first hotel. We felt like accomplished travellers, having navigated through the sea of "Taxi?! Taxi?! Good price." And sneakily headed to departures to pick up a more reasonably priced cab. Our first hotel was in Sanur. It was actually a great little hotel and with pretty cheap food in the restaurant so we could quickly relax after a stressful few weeks. A little less than 24 hours later and we were greeted with our first experience of the rainy season. The thunderstorm was relentless; the rain hammered down hard and the thunder sounded angry. It went on for hours, not that you'd have known the following morning.
Sanur itself is probably one of the less interesting places in Bali. The beaches aren't too pretty and there's not a lot else to visit.
After 2 days acclimatising, we headed to our tour's meeting hotel. As is generally the case when meeting new, strange people, the welcome meeting was a little frosty to start with. Within a day, the ice had melted and the group transpired to be the best group of people we could have ever been fortunate to travel with. Completely bonkers, hangry 90% of the time but 100% brilliant.
Our first day was spent being shown around the UNESCO supported Jutiluwih rice paddies. Everything was green and full of life. Having driven in miserable conditions, we arrived to the intense sunshine- after having watched our suncream drive away in the bag we didn't take with us! We were kindly given some and thankfully didn't burn at all.
The break in the weather didn't last as we were pummelled by torrential rain for the rest of the afternoon as we visited the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple. Huddled under the few umbrellas we were given, we tried to get the best snaps we could of the temple- it's hard to make a grey sky look exciting but the temple was still beautiful. Like most photos, our expectations of what the temple surroundings would be like from the pictures we'd seen were so different from reality. I'd sort of assumed it would be an isolate temple in the water, rather than being surrounded by buildings (almost swamped as you couldn't really see any of it as you walk towards it). Even in the downpours, it was still very busy and difficult to take a photo without capturing the other tourists and visitors there.
After a brief visit to a local waterfall in Munduk, we spent a couple of hours at one of the local hot springs. Having been told that it contained sulphur, we were a little put off knowing the foul eggy smell that sulphur usually produces but was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't the case. We enjoyed a pleasant swim in the cloudy warm water and watched as anything remotely white or cream turn a vibrant orange.
Along the roads in Bali are a huge number of stalls-many of them selling fruit. Our guide Barry decided to share with us some of the local delicacies. It started ok. Jack fruit. Sort of like a drier, chewy mangoey-bananary thing; it was ok. Our tasting session got dramatically worse, actually dreadful, actually needed to evacuate that s**t from my mouth terrible. Durian. Like, it's not a fruit, its a mushy, solidified tree fart that should be avoided at all cost. After the terrible betrayal of trust, Barry slightly redeemed this by offering us the far more tasty Mangosteen, which funnily enough (or to me at least) was the flavour of my shampoo and conditioner for the previous few months on the farm. It smelt lovely but I hadn't a clue what it was!
On the third day of the tour, we were given the first chance to experience on of the "optional extras" designed to pad out our tour a little. Now, I like my sleep. There are few occasions that I will voluntarily opt to wake up at 2:30 am. Climbing a volcano in an attempt to catch a beautiful sunrise is one of those time that I will sacrifice some zzzz.
It didn't start too fab. The car journey to the start of the walk had made me feel sick before we'd even done any walking. Fortunately, the feeling went away reasonably quickly and was replaced by feelings of pure death, whilst being drenched head to toe in sweat, as we charged up the side of this volcano. My fitness levels had not improved at all with our long walks and climbs up 1000 steps. Not at all. It was brutal, made worse by the guides walking with us- walking, gracefully sprinting? They made it seem so easy whilst the rest of us melted into a puddle of pain at every stop.
Somehow, we all managed to drag our sorry selves to the top of Batur. It was an amazing sense of achievement. As we had thought might have been the case, however, the volcano was wrapped in a thick layer of cloud that blocked our view of the villages and lake beneath us, as well as blocking any view that we might have got of a sunrise. It seemed a shame but brought it's own sense of eeriness to our adventure. Walking along the edges, it didn't take long for us to vanish as the cloud covered us completely. The cloud itself seemed strangely warm in places, heating you up briefly- like when you pee in the sea. The crevices in the volcano produced its own heat as well, very intense steam like putting your hand over a recently boiled kettle; it's hot enough to cook an egg through completely.
Whilst the majority of our view was obscured, we were treated to periodic glimpses of the views below with the cloud thinned and parted. We may not have seen the sunrise that we had hoped for, but being at the summit was completely worth it.
If I thought the walk up was difficult, the descent to the base was easily as or even possibly more problematic. The ground below our feet was soft, loose volcanic soily gravel. The slopes down were just as steep and meant navigating through sharp rocks and boulders. It was harsh on knees and toes as we all battled to not slide all the way down. Most of us made it down in one piece, although a few returned with cuts and grazes, one lucky to have commando rolled on the only patch of soft grass for miles and another with her ankle in my makeshift sarong brace, but with no broken bones among us, I think we did pretty well!
The views on the drive back were amazing. Having not seen anything on our arrival to the "Lake view" hotel, it was wonderful to see the volcano in all its glory, lake below and its black trail from top to bottom from its last eruption. We feasted like kings once we arrived back but with no time for a nap, could only rush in a shower and "pack" before heading off.
As we had so much time on our hands from getting up so early, we decided to take the opportunity to visit a coffee plantation owned by one of the drivers that drove us to the volcano. Starting with a nice tour of their garden crops (lemongrass, citronella (or is it limoncello?), papaya and for the brave, chillies), we arrived to a hut where coffee beans were being roasted; in particular, Luwak coffee beans (the ones shown in the Big, Fat Quiz of the Year ages ago that are digested by civic cats and s**t out before being dried, roasted and ground to make really very expensive coffee). We were given samples of a large range of teas and coffees, as well as the opportunity to try the cat poop coffee for a fee. As I don't like coffee, Kjel took up the chance to try it- apparently it's far improved after a mouthful of chocolate orange! Being buzzed off of caffeine, we headed away to our next stop of the day.
Later on in the day, we stopped briefly at a foundation designed to support disabled Balinese members of the community. We were treated to a delicious lunch and some music- Kjel couldn't say no to an opportunity to join in with some djembe drumming.
Our next destination was the bustling city of Ubud. Ubud is one of those places that people say tourists have ruined, and maybe they have? But we loved it. With so many cute cafes, boutiques and markets, you can't help but feel the pull to spend the millions that you'd worked so hard for. Everything is within walking distance and it doesn't take long to find somewhere that does amazing food. As a group, we'd accepted the Classic Secret Santa challenge and within 2 seconds of being shown around the art markets, it was clear that someone was going to receive a beautifully decorated penis bottle opener.
The hotel we stayed in was opposite the monkey forest. I can't say if there were many monkeys left in the forest as most of them resided within the grounds of our latest residence. I also can't say that I enjoyed my time around them; they may be small but they are enormously loud when they scuffle on your balcony in the early hours and are a general nuisance.
Our stay in Ubud was made complete with a hugely enjoyable evening in one of the local bars with a live band, who played songs we could actually sing along to. The drinks were tiptop (thanks again to Si and DB for their generosity!) and it was a grand night bonding with our tour family. With it again pouring heavily, we donned our ever useful ponchos and navigated the rivers back to our rooms.
We couldn't possibly visit Bali without making an attempt to see the source of our angst for the past few months. We'd considered using our free day in Ubud to make the trip over but it's still hours and hours away from there and would have cost a bomb. We were then kindly informed by our tour leader that we would be much closer to it when we reached our next destination of Candidasa.
Our day began with a visit to Bali's historical court of justice, Kerta Gosa. The building had a decorated ceiling, covered in paintings which showed depictions of the given punishment received in the afterlife should one "sin" on Earth. This particular image shows people who sinned by choosing not to have children being hung from trees and presumably chopped up by a monster with a machete.
En route, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch that apparently had great views of the volcano from the dining hall. We wouldn't know. Any view we might have had was obscured by thick layers of cloud. Upon arrival to our hotel later in the day, the manager kindly organised some cars to take us to a local viewing point to try our luck again. It wasn't to be. The cloud just wouldn't shift and we couldn't wait all evening so slightly deflated, we headed back.
The next day was Kjel's birthday and we were determined to get the shot we wanted. A group of us woke early and wandered 500m or so down the road. There it was. In all its magnificent glory. It was everything we'd hoped for. The stress and angst felt before coming and there we were staring at the giant volcanic time-bomb. It was almost empowering. It just didn't matter if it blew there and then, we were in the (apparent) safe zone, we'd been promised free board at the hotel should the airports shut and we be unable to leave and it was going to be a great day. We finished our viewing time by driving up to the spot we went to the day before to get a dozen instagram-ready photos before heading to breakfast, smug and satisfied.
Our morning continued with our first group snorkel. Our boat took us past more amazing views of the volcano and into the "Blue Lagoon". I can't really say if it was more blue than anywhere else but the water was warm and there were plenty of fish- fish who apparently get excited over bread! Being the only super sunny day of our trip so far, many of our group burnt spectacularly, including the birthday boy himself.
Our time on Bali had come to an end and we were ready to head to our next destination. We were given the opportunity to experience the phenomenally slow public ferry to Lombok as part of our tour. It was slow. It was hot inside. It was hot outside. It was slow. The lives of the delightful velvet/valour bench rows were extended further by a wonderful plastic covering that thankfully helped secure one in place in the sweaty conditions as the boat rolled from side to side and was excellent waterproofing should one require a wee and can't be bothered to wait in the queue. As we waited in the dock for many unnecessary hours, we managed to catch a glimpse of some of the ash cloud coming out of Agung. Mercifully, difficult to hear conversations with members of our tour group helped to ease the drone of our journey before another few hours stuck on a coach to our Christmas Day destination.
We had a quiet Christmas Day in Kuta (Lombok, not the one with the amazing water park) and rejoined the majority of our group for Christmas dinner. We'd decided along the way that we felt like a big, fat, juicy steak might have been the way to go for this unusual festive occasion and boy, was it the rightest decision ever. Between a group of us, we shared the best rested steak we'd had in many, many moons and paired it with freshly caught lobsters and king prawns cooked on the BBQ. It was devine. I was fairly sure that I'd need to have been rolled back to our hotel room but somehow, we found the energy to participate in some local badminton in the middle of the road. It was brilliant. Feeling much more merry (and not even from the drinks), we headed back; our first Christmas away from the UK was complete.
The rest of our time in Lombok was spent visiting another rice paddy- albeit a slightly more interesting one than in Bali. The ground beneath us was only just stable given the thousand of litres surrounding the little walk ways and the rain that poured from above. It made walking much more difficult but fun nonetheless. Once we'd left the paddies, we went on the hunt for Black Monkeys in the trees surrounding us. We were fortunate enough to spot maybe 10 or a dozen jumping between the trees and were too interested in what was going on above to realise that some of us were being eaten alive from below. Leeches. Delightful.
We also spent time visiting a traditional village, whose customs were very intriguing. Their ritual for marriage involved young boys literally stealing- yes, stealing- a willing daughter away from the family and eloping just long enough for the parents of the girl to have reduced their levels of being thoroughly p****d off at the lad long enough for them to marry. After some more information on the lives of the inhabitants, we were taken for a tour around the village. I suppose it's sad to see that so many modern influences have seeped their way into what was supposed to be one of only a few remaining traditional villages left- smart phones, TVs, a well known brand of teeth-rotting drink available in a vending machine. It wasn't quite the stripped back to bare basics that I sort of hoped to see and with a stall selling questionably hand-made sarongs and bracelets amongst other items every 3 metres, it felt less village and more market place. But with the increase in use of electricity, villagers need to find a way to pay their growing bills.
Our last main stop was to two waterfalls after another frustratingly long coach journey. The second of the two gave us an opportunity to swim in the waters below. Excellent. Having traversed several reasonably fast flowing sections of the river, we reached our destination, got water ready, headed in and immediately froze. I felt like a car in a car wash in winter, being power sprayed by the freezing cold water from the fall. It wasn't the serene swim we'd anticipated and it didn't even warm up after a while but it was an experience!
After enduring the slow boat to Lombok, we were treated to a much more speedy crossing over to the Gilis, much to the dismay of our sea-sick stricken travel mates. While the swell didn't seem like anything from a glance, we certainly felt it as we launched from a wave, crashing heavily down with a rather loud thud- it was great!
As we only had the chance to spend two evenings in the Gilis, we spent the first one eagerly anticipating the spectacular sunsets that draw so many to the island. Our first sunset did not disappoint; deep yellows, oranges and pinks across the horizon with Agung proudly beside it.
We hadn't eaten at this point and the sunset views were not in the same location as the main town area. Not keen to use the local horse carts more than what was sort of necessary, we commandeered practically all of the hotels free bikes and cautiously made our way into town. The ride was horrifically uncomfortable: my seat was broken; the road was more pothole than road; and there was such little light to help us on our way. It felt like it took a small age to ride in. Once there, our dinner was delicious, made better by the purchase of some rather tasty cider- not that I could keep my eyes open to finish it all! The lack of sleep and long hours of travel were catching up and I was exhausted.
Our "free" day on Trawangan was actually mostly spent snorkelling. Having been allowed a small lay-in (mainly to help those who'd spent the evening out recover), we headed to the water. The trip to town and back the day before had actually caused us more pain than we'd realised- it was safe to say that I rode back to town mostly stood up on the pedals. The snorkelling areas were much busier than we'd experienced in Candidasa and in all honesty, was pretty uncomfortable. There was little in-water etiquette and next to no room to actually swim around so I think we were all glad not to stick around for too long. We headed to a different location in an attempt to see some turtles but the rain had churned up the water, making it difficult to see anything. After lunch, we returned to give it another shot and thankfully was successful. We had amazingly close views of a turtle that made our day.
The late return left little time to do much else on the island, which was a shame. We had one final meal together and prepared for our departures. When the morning came around, we hadn't quite comes to terms with saying our goodbyes to people who had so quickly become firm friends, so it was actually horrible leaving them behind. The boat back to Bali took longer than we thought, leaving us with less time to organise ourselves before our flights back to Australia. We made time for our last Balinese dinner though. A big, fat KFC. I think some of our tour group thought we were joking around when we were discussing it and their faces were priceless when they realised that we were not kidding around. It was delicious.
We squeezed in a tiny nap after re-packing our bags again before saying more rubbish goodbyes and boarding our flight. Having flown to Bali with Rachel and spent two weeks with so many people, it was oddly lonely flying by ourselves and continuing our travels again as just the two of us.
The tour itself wasn't quite what we'd anticipated but we'd participated in so many wonderful activities, sat bemused at Barry's terrible yet brilliant jokes on the coach, and spent our time with people that we actually want to see on our return to the UK, so really we had a bloody brilliant time away.
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