charlotteooo

[charlotteooo]

On our final day in Bali, we booked a surf lesson. I had done a teeny weeny bit before at Saunton Sands, with Olly, Will and co. years ago. But I claimed to be a beginner, since that was how I felt! Our instructor 'G'day' came and picked us up. No joke, that's what he called himself. He wasn't Aussie though, he was Indonesian. Maybe he was trying to fit in...in his own country. Anyhow, we learnt the basics on the sand, then headed into the water to try out our technique. And you know what, we weren't too bad! I mean, no style was involved and no intended change of direction was achieved... but Jamie and I both stood up pretty quickly and got into the swing of it. Before long we were off on our own. It was completely shattering! Wading into the sea against the current, paddling out to sea and paddling furiously to catch the waves...by the end of the hour I was done in. Back on the shore a young lad who had just finished his second surf lesson told us proudly that he had progressed to level 2! What was level 2?? He explained that was being able to paddle and catch the waves *yourself*. Jamie and I looked at each other and felt very pleased that we had managed to achieve that in our FIRST class. That we were comparing ourselves to a boy was by-the-by. We celebrated by playing chess on Jamie's ipad and eating M&Ms back at our villa. Good times.

[charlotteooo]

In addition to beach time and organised fun, we had a great time eating and drinking out and around Seminyak. It caters for all tastes with cuisines from across the world. In full-on treat mode, we went to town on our choices. From coconut cocktails at a Mexican, to bubbles at a champagne bar, we tasted the delights on offer and got giddy/sleepy, depending on how active our day had been! One of my favourites was on the first night, at a Greek restaurant. I ended up dancing in a circle with the resident band and other patrons, until it escalated into plate smashing madness! So my tip for Greek restaurants: don't wear flip flops as a precautionary measure, should the evening result in crockery-related revelry.

[charlotteooo]

The best place we went in Bali was probably Balangan beach. I got the tip from Aussies I'd met in Laos: Tom and Jodie. It was a more rustic surfer hang out, with big waves and cheap nosh. All the beach shacks lining the shore were just deep enough to fit a long bar, with every bar stool looking out to sea for a view of the action. We saw photographers with huge cameras set up to capture the best riders. To my untrained eyes, there were some pretty awesome surfers out there that day. Including one who snapped his board in two. Hard core.

[charlotteooo]

With a little research, it turned the best waterpark in Asia was just down the road from where we were staying. It would have been rude not to go! We had such a hilarious day, racing down different slides, cruising in rubber rings and drinking in the sun. We spotted a few too many Aussie teenagers with braided hair, but I guess everyone needs to make dodgy holiday attire decisions at some stage in their life...and it turns out only Billabong or Quiksilver board shorts exist in this particular part of the world. Anyhow, we waited until the end of the day to do the aptly named "Climax" ride. It was a sheer drop that went into a loop-d-loop. To go on the ride you had to get into this plastic enclosure, standing on this platform that falls away after the dramatic countdown. The queue obviously didn't help my nerves and by the time it was my turn, I was absolutely terrified. Shaking, I got in, with Jamie watching with a grin. He thought this was hilarious. Before I knew it a scream was escaping from me as my stomach lurched from the drop and the flip, followed by a watery crash out the other end. I did it! Disorientated and with water up my nose, I got out with the utmost poise and elegance (whilst janking my bikini back into place), then turned to watch Jamie get ready to go. Into the booth he went. And I'm counting to three, five, ten... but he's still there. Why hasn't he gone? I'm gesturing "what's going on?" to him and he's shrugging his shoulders back at me. About a minute goes by and I'm starting to worry that he's trapped in there and it's broken. Suddenly without warning, he drops and disappears! I was very relieved when he reappeared with a huge splash. I thought maybe the guy operating it and Jamie had been purposely winding me up with the massive delay. But no, there genuinely was an issue with it. All I could think was, thank goodness that didn't happen to me. I would probably have freaked out and got out. Ah well, it all worked out. Later on, we saw a girl not make it round the loop-d-loop, so she slid backwards and to be rescued from a little hatch. At least THAT didn't happen to me.

[charlotteooo]

After a big buffet lunch (which included spring-rolls, no less), we visited the island. Relaxing at a café, a guy with a guitar sang "Beyond the fields of Bali". Not exactly location-relevant, but I'll give him credit for creativity. A short wander on from the café and we found a rustic beach worthy of an ice cream stop. We also saw ALOT of cock fighting breeders. It's illegal, but still widely practised. It was a little window into this island which was less touched by tourists, other than day trippers. Then we got our ride back to the boat and it was home time. We had rough waves on the way home too, but this time we were on the front deck of the boat. We were clinging on as it threw us up and down! A local lady was screaming as she attempted to crawl up from the lower deck to join us. It was actually a bit dangerous. Jamie was in his element. His favourite part of the day!

[charlotteooo]

Another day trip was cruising over to Lembogan island, on what was literally described as a "fun ship". Once aboard, the first thing we were offered by the crew was a travel sickness pill. My instinct was to go with it and with hindsight I wondered why others didn't take the same opportunity... I mean if someone is handing out free anti-sickness stuff, that's a pretty clear indicator of what's to come, right? After an initial chorus of "waaaheyy" at the excitement of the first wave, as we rocked over the choppy sea, the boat slowly descended into silence except for the wretching from passengers and the scuttling of the crew up and down the aisles to assist those who'd thrown up. Nice. Totally smug, Jamie and I were fine and went straight up on deck for fresh air and a view of where we'd anchored up. We had arrived in a beautiful bay with the sun shining. We were amongst the first to take the slide into the water. So. Much. Fun. Then we checked out the glass bottomed cabin, snorkelled to see lots of fishies and take a ride on the banana boat. We had ALL the fun.

[charlotteooo]

Our final stop was to catch a show of traditional Kecak dance, which features bare-chested men chanting deeply and slapping their bodies to provide the musical accompaniment. It was spectacular to watch. That they could maintain that rhythm and breath for the entire performance was fascinating, especially for the lead man. Then intertwined with that baseline of sound and movement, were the delicate performances of characters telling some excerpts from the story of Rama. The male characters mostly wore decorative masks, whilst the ladies displayed expressions and gestures that were so precise, even their jutting jaw and each nail polished finger seemed to be choreographed. The finale was watching a man dance through fire, which was exhilarating, particularly as the anticipation mounted. The whole thing was the highlight of the day for me. It was for Jamie too, possibly swayed by the fire bit. There endeth our full day in Ubud. I remember Mama always insisting on at least one day each holiday of visiting churches or museums or *something* to learn more about the place you are visiting. This is one of many traits I'm proud to have inherited from my mother. Like going for a run or taking a shower, you rarely regret doing a solid day of culture. It allows you to indulge in the place's pleasures with added benefit of some understanding.

[charlotteooo]

Just minutes outside of the main town there were rice terraces in every direction, the primary source of income before tourism took hold in the last 20 years. We stopped for a late lunch and ate traditional Mie goreng, Indonesian noodles, sitting slightly uncomfortably cross legged on the floor. Then as we wandered around the town of Ubud itself, we saw many shrines and temples and locals preparing for a festival, wearing their tradional dress and buying offerings of fruit and flowers. Less charming were the baskets of birds lined up for cock fighting (not photographed).

[charlotteooo]

Next up was tasting Kopi Luwak coffee. Reportedly the most expensive in the world due to it's relatively slow process in very small volumes. The beans are eaten by these little creatures and digested, before being roasted and ground into coffee. It was far too strong for my taste, but Jamie drank it like water. We also tasted a variety of other teas and coffees, whilst overlooking rice fields. It was a civilised experience. George, my Malaysia-to-Cambodia travel buddy, would approve. The only thing we were lacking were some postcards to write for a truly refined traveller's experience.

[charlotteooo]

One of our day trips was venturing to Ubud and its surrounding area. Famed for being the final destination in Eat, Pray, Love (where Julia Roberts' character finally 'finds' herself), it's the cultural heart of the island and a hippy haven. Now I don't go in for hippy stuff (find me a souvenir in Asia WITHOUT an elephant on it, please), but I'm always up for some spirituality. So the first stop with our private tour guide, Dewa, was the river temple Gunung Kawi. We descended into the grounds to see the tribute to the Queen and then the King, whose rule pre-dated the unification of the thousands of islands that make up present-day Indonesia. I loved the ambience of the place: at one with nature. More challenging was the climb back up! We had to stop for a Diet Coke break, then got overtaken by a lady carrying a massive wood plank on her head. Our defence is that we are not built for the humidity. The sweat was our proof. In contrast, spot the dog and the reptile basking in the sun. The animals are built differently here.

[charlotteooo]

Our first venture to another part of the island was to the peninsula, the most southern tip of the island. It's where Ulluwatu temple stands high above the sea and pilgrims make the trip at sunset to pay homage to the shrine. We joined in by donning the provided purple sarongs (this was the first but not the last time Jamie embraced this tradition) and climbing the hill in a bit of a rush to catch the dying sun. It was an amazing sight to see the waves crashing against the cliffs with the temple silhouetted against the sky. Less enjoyable for me were the monkeys and the fear they were going to steal our stuff. So we left them behind and headed for Singlefin, "the" place for all the top surfers to hang out. The place did not disappoint, it lived up to the dude clichés in my head, with Jack Johnson playing as we entered! The place was funky, but crowded. All the sunset-view seats were taken. So we snaked our way down to a beach shack nearer the ocean to watch a handful of guys catch the last surf and the life guards shoe them back in. Then we played 1D top trumps until night had properly fallen. That's how cool we were. Not exactly surfer cool, but cool nonetheless.

[charlotteooo]

The optimum for relaxation: the beach. As you can imagine, we went there a lot. So I'll save you a blow-by-blow account of our sun holiday... But there were some lovely aspects that made Seminyak, the area where we were staying, particularly special. Whilst it was dominantly an Aussie tourist destination, the Indonesian culture was immediately visible from the blessings placed on small shrines and outside shop fronts. Many locals wander up and down the sand offering anything from ice creams to massages, so got my nails done with traditional Bali flowers painted on. They also played gentle live acoustic guitar on the beach, whilst us punters sat in bean bags sipping drinks. The surf made it extra fun going in the sea. Our first day we hired body boards. I was "pulling up the rail" (as my bro James taught me), catching some *awesome* waves (imagine Aussie accent). But we stupidly just wore our swimsuits, so we got ourselves some sore rashes on our chests. On day one. It was the price for amateur, cheap surfing fun, so worth it! Later in the week we visited Kuta, further down the coast, and it was frankly hideous in comparison. Like all popular tourist destinations, it depends where you go. Bali is to Aussies what Tenerife is to the Brits. So in relative terms, we avoided Las Americas, stayed in the much nicer Los Cristianos and then took day trips to La Gomera and the north.

[charlotteooo]

Very early the next day (too early for me) we started our journey to Bali: taxi, flight, taxi and then a personal buggy straight to our private villa. This kind of treatment I had not experienced on my travels and it was a serious contrast from the dormitories I'd been staying in! It was to be a holiday from the holiday. Jacuzzi, pool, pancakes for breakfast and five star service. Seven nights was also the longest I'd stayed in one place, so it was time to recharge, properly catch up with Jamie and relax.

[charlotteooo]

To wrap up our time in Bangkok, we went shopping and I posted a big ol' package home by slow boat, because Jamie couldn't physically fit all my souvenir cr*p in his bag. So I paid probably double what I paid for it's contents, to get the parcel home with a delivery time of 2-3 months (which I can report did make it home safely because I'm THAT behind on my blog). From there we headed to Asiatique, a collection of restaurants and shops on the riverside near our hotel. We caught a lady boy show at the Calypso theatre (I'm not kidding) and it was the most fantastically camp show I've ever seen. Jamie was bewildered/amazed with their appearance, whilst I was thoroughly entertained by covers from Marilyn Monroe, Burlesque, Moulin Rouge, Chicago and other classics. They weren't always the best performances technically, but they could lip sync like pros. Hmmm, I guess they are pros. But I was impressed, anyhow. It was a fabulous finale to our brief time in Thailand's capital.

[charlotteooo]

The next morning, we met our local guide Pu for our private food tour. She was a gem! Such a lovely lady, full of enthusiasm for her city and country's cuisine. She conveyed how important food is for the Thai people. We spent a wonderful few hours trying lots of different street food, meeting the local stall owners, winding through the back streets of Bangkok and laughing at her little jokes. Favourite things we tasted were: the pasties, mangosteens, Papiya salad, deep fried bananas and green thai curry. My favourite things that she said were: 'pick a flower' or 'shoot a rabbit' were sayings for women and men going to the toilet, that the three seasons in Bangkok were hot, hotter and very hot, and that I had found myself a man who was "open to new experiences". Well, the last thing I already knew, but it was nice for someone else observe it from first impressions. It was a serious highlight of our trip and something I would recommend to anyone. Taste of Thailand tours...if you plan to go, look it up!

[charlotteooo]

Having a handsome boyfriend come to meet you when you're travelling round the world is the perfect excuse to buy a new dress, new shoes and dig out your GHDs, so you can get into a swanky bar and pretend you're not a backpacker. So that's exactly what happened... the Green peacock effect took place and I felt like a new woman, clutching to Jamie's arm! We got a cab to Lebua, famous for being the posh bar the gang crashed in the Hangover II. We got there *just* at the right time, as the sky faded from dusk to nightfall. The view was breathtaking, our Hangovertini cocktails were delicious and we just soaked it all right up.

[charlotteooo]

In the afternoon, we took a respite from the busy sky trains and visited our hotel pool. We also tested the waterproof nature of my camera with MUCH hilarity. I doubt very much looking at these photos will be as much fun as us taking them... You kinda had to be there.