I left Korea on a late flight bound for Kuala Lumpur where I had a 5-hour layover. 5 hours of staring at my computer screen begging the time to go faster! At 9:30am I boarded a flight to Denpasar, Bali. I had to get a visa on arrival and had prepared myself for a long wait but securing the visa was a matter of putting my money on the counter and taking the slicker to the customs agent who stuck it in my passport and waved me through! Waiting in the No Goods to Declare line was a whole other story. It was muggy and busy and a bit pointless. After that it was off to Kuta and Poppies Lane II to meet up with the girls.
Kuta is insane. It’s a total party town. Most of the people there were surfers up from Australia and very pushy locals attempting to sell us their wares. The 5 of us couldn’t wait to head somewhere less inhabited and in your face. The beach is less than pleasant with large amounts of garbage washing up on shore when the tide goes out. Not to mention a local coming up every 4 minutes to try and sell everything from sarongs, messages and surf lessons. It wasn’t a relaxing or an inspiring place so up to Ubud we went. Ubud is where the love in Eat, Pray, Love took place and there were plenty of people looking for the answers on how to love themselves. I have a feeling it was easier to do this before the book came out!
The 5 of us however did not travel to Ubud to find ourselves; in fact I think we are trying to lose ourselves a bit while on this trip! We went for the monkeys! Ubud is home to The Monkey Forest Sanctuary, a lush forest, home to temples, ancient trees and hundreds of pretty cheeky long-tailed Balinese macaques. It was a breathtaking place like a scene out of Indiana Jones. We all escaped the forest without having a run-in with any of the locals but witnessed others who weren’t quite as lucky. All of us did have some close calls but it’s hard to blame the little guys I mean I’d get grumpy too if people were sticking camera’s in my face all day!
While Ubud was nice it was a bit above our budget so we arranged for a car to drive us to the east coast area known as Amed. The drive was stunning. Rice terraces made up most of the landscape with impossibly green mountains rising into the clouds behind them. The roads were narrow and winding but drivers here seem to have a good head on their shoulders!
We are now at the Sama Sama Bungalows across the road from a black sand beach lounging in a bit of luxury! Despite being above our budget at $6 a person this place is pretty worth it! I have a feeling that it would cost much much more elsewhere!
We snorkelled the US warship Liberty which was sunk in WWII today and it was brilliant! Very eerie but amazing nonetheless! My favourite part was definitely getting caught up in a large school of circling Jack Fish! Magic!
Tomorrow we're off to Lombok!
We are not in a location that will be affected by the Japanese earthquake.
We snorkelled the US warship Liberty which was sunk in WWII today and it was brilliant! Very eerie but amazing nonetheless! My favourite part was definitely getting caught up in a large school of circling Jack Fish! Magic!
Tomorrow we're off to Lombok!
We are not in a location that will be affected by the Japanese earthquake.
(Pictures to come when internet is faster)
No comments:
Post a Comment