In-cog-nesia

View from Gili Island. Sunset over Bali's volcano. Mount Agung.

Well, four weeks in Indonesia and you think we should have lots to tell. Unfortunately, we have really only explored beaches, snorkeled coral reefs, biked 27km downhill through Bali, been invited to a Hindu temple to watch a 200 year old annual dance, seen deadly dragons. You know, nothing out of the ordinary.

Bali, Indonesia

It was nice to be in Bali, especially to start in Kuta. It is definitely a tourist destination. We found ourselves gorging on food we hadn't seen in a while. Hot Dogs, Chilli Cheese Fries, Cheetohs. It was good, really good. Perhaps too good cause our money was vanishing before our eyes. We knew we had to get outta dodge and quick. We did however manage to make it to the beautiful Kuta Beach 6 nights in a row to watch natures own art exhibit. It really is one of the most relaxing things one can do, plop down on a beach and watch the sunset. The nice thing in Kuta is that it seems everyone has this in mind. The beach fills up before the sun starts to set and everyone just relaxes, plays in the waves or drinks beer. We loved watching locals, they would walk right in to the water wearing their jeans and t-shirts, they didn't care. Or they would just sit where the waves crash and get covered in sand. We really didn't do much while in Kuta, one night though we bought a bottle of red wine for the sunset. Truth be told, we spent a couple days longer in Kuta then we normally would because we were waiting for a friend (Lovely Laura,who we met in Malaysia) to fly in. Our good old chap from Britain, or is it the UK? Can we just say England?

 

The next day we were off to Ubud. The girls to get their Julia Roberts on (Eat, Pray, Love) and me to experience the art and cultural center of Bali. Little did we know upon arrival that Ubud is large and filled with tourists. We lucked out and found a beautiful room. Set back from the main road, this garden villa was stunning. It was a treat to wake up there and a treat at night to relax while polishing off another box of wine, (while Kelly practiced her Zumba.) Through recommendation of a hotel employee we got talked into a bike ride/ Bali tour. The pamphlet sounded good and even listed Tom from Brisbane Australia saying it was "the best tour he had ever been on in the world" Well Tom, it lived up to your quote. It was lots of fun. I don't think the smiles left our faces. It started with an early morning pick up. And when I say early morning, I mean early, 8 o'clock. We had to set an alarm!! The tour started with a great breakfast overlooking a Volcano. You know, no big deal,  only a volcano Kelly and  I  climbed four years ago with flashlights! From there we went to a spice and coffee farm. We tried Good Shit Coffee. Mmmm, Luwak feces. Cleaned, roasted, ground and brewed, the best way to achieve a cup of coffee. (The movie the Bucket List.. coffee beans eaten and pooped out by the Luwak cat) We left the spice garden and that's where the real fun began. We each hopped on a mountain bike and began pedaling! For roughly 27km we road downhill through rice fields, passed schools and villages with screaming kids running up giving us a hello and high five. It was filled with moments that lightened our hearts and lifted our spirits. Of course riding downhill is tough work so we were really hungry. Luckily, the last part of "the best tour in the world" finished at another restaurant with a fabulous all you can eat Indonesian buffet. After three plates each we were back in the van and heading to Monkey Forest. Kelly and Laura were hesitant to go in. Lots of stories of monkeys biting people or stealing their possessions. I convinced them that if we stick together, we would be left alone. After only 5 minutes of walking, we watched a monkey leap onto a mans back and start grabbing at his backpack. Kelly and Laura turned faster then a cheap politician and almost ran out the entire way.

Mount Batur. Volcano in Bali.

Bali Rice Fields.

Large Banyan Tree.

Lombok and the Gili Islands, Indonesia

We enjoyed Bali but it was time to leave the hoards of tourist and head to Lombok (the neighboring island, some say it's the Bali of old)  We were fortunate enough to find a great homestay with fabulous owners just outside the town of Sengiggi. We organized a day scooter trip with one of their employees to show us around. Normally, guests would drive scooters and explore themselves, but Laura didn't feel comfortable driving a scooter by herself. (We all know Kelly can't!!) She did however, have no problem sharing the seat with Wayan. We did some great coastal driving and checked out a waterfall. In the afternoon we went to multiple temples. One of the temples, Wayan explained, is the only temple in the Indonesia where Muslims and Hindus pray together. It was a long day, but definitely full of many great moments. The next day we left our homestay and were on our way to town, when we wandered into a nearby Hindu temple. When we got inside, we were greeted by some people who invited us to come back at night. They told us it was their annual ceremony of music and dance, one that has been going on there once a year for over 200 years. Our homestay lent us the appropriate attire to attend the event and we returned that night. We sat with many locals watching the kids and adults perform significant dances that have immense religious meaning, while sweet sounding music was played on drums and cymbals. We were treated very well and some asked us if we would come back next year.

 

 

This little guy stole our water bottle off the scooter, unscrewed the lid and took a drink.

  

 

Local Fisherman.

We left Lombok after only a couple days and made our way to the Gili Islands. Funny side note- Gili is Indonesian for Island, so technically I just called them Island Islands. An areal view shows them as three small circles in a row, just off the NW coast of Lombok. The three Gili's which are popular amongst travelers and vacationers from Europe are Gili Trawangan, Gili Air and Gili Meno. Gili Trawangan, being the most popular due to its large resorts, plethora of restaurants and budget lodging. There are no cars or scooters on any of the islands. The only way to get around is to walk, rent a bicycle, or hire a horse and carriage. It was kinda neat, but you did feel sorry for the horses to be working in such intense heat. Unfortunately, our first night there Kelly started to feel nauseous. For the next four days she was unable to do much of anything. She had no appetite and the couple things she forced down came right back up. We took her to a doctor and he figured she had caught a bug somewhere. So our time on the Gilis was spent with Laura and myself wandering around, laying on the beach and drinking beer. Kelly spent her time laying in the room, watching some downloaded television shows. Luckily, Kelly started to get better quickly with the antibiotics in her system and she was able to come on a snorkeling trip.  On our second to last day we booked a trip to see the other two islands and have lunch on Gili Meno. The snorkeling was pretty good, but in some areas it was filled with hundreds of tiny, stinging jelly fish. The current around the three islands made swimming very difficult and only twenty feet off most beaches was an incredible drop off into the depths of the ocean.  The islands were pretty and unique, but as far as an island paradise, we have seen better. We said goodbye to Laura after 5 days on Gili Trawangan. She was heading back to Bali and Kelly and I back to Lombok.

Look into the distance and you will see the 3 Gili Islands.

Gili Island Transport.

Gili Buddies.

 

 Kelly and I hired a car to drive us to the south end of Lombok, to the surfers town of Kuta. The town itself is quite small and most of the stores and restaurants were made out of bamboo. It was a unique little town nestled in a desert type landscape. The main beach in Kuta had the most bizarre sand. The sand was tiny multicolored balls. It looked like lawn fertilizer.  It made walking on the beach very difficult.  We stayed in Kuta for a couple days. One day we rented a scooter and drove around to see some neighboring beaches. They were a unspoiled splendor. I'm sure you can get an idea from the photos, but photos never do anything justice. We had lots of fun playing in the waves and exploring the unique country side on the scooter. We were fortunate enough to get a brand new scooter, so we knew nothing would go wrong with it. Near the end of the day, the wind blew my hat off and over a bridge. I quickly parked the scooter and ran to retrieve it. Kelly thought it would be fun to turn the scooter around and drive it back to me. I heard her calling my name when I was under the bridge, but I was unable to see her. When I got back up she was struggling to stand the bike back up. A couple locals had pulled over and were helping. Somehow, Kelly was walking the bike to turn it around when she lost control under its weight and it ended up falling on top of her. She managed to avoid hurting herself, but she did scratch up the brand new scooter (which the rental guy repeatedly asked me several times to go easy with and not damage.) When the owner came back to collect his bike that night, we ended up arguing for half an hour. He was wanting money to replace every piece damaged. (side mirror, side panel, brake handle and a running plate.) I called him on the b.s, that he wasn't going to replace anything. In fact, I told him that I wanted the damaged pieces if he was actually going to put the money towards it. All the while, Kelly was up in the room feeling incredibly sick to her stomach with nerves. In the end, we settled on $50 dollars for the damage. We felt really bad for the small amount of damage we did do, but please, its a rental! We left Lombok after a couple of days and flew to Labuan Bajo.

Labuan Bajo, Indonesia

Our options to reach L.B were a bus, a 4 day, 4 night sail or fly. We really considered the sailing option, but had read many terrible reviews on it. In the end, we decied to fly as it was slightly cheaper then the sail. Plus, we both didn't like the idea of four days on a small sail boat with over 40 people or a 30 hour bus ride.  Located on the island of Flores, Labuan Bajo is a tiny little town set in some stunning scenery. While there isn't much to do in the town, it is the jumping off point to reach Rinca and Komodo Island. Tourists flock here every year to camera hunt the Komodo Dragons. We found a company selling a 2 day, 1 night boat trip to Rinca and Komodo Island. The trip included meals and lots of snorkeling opportunities. With only 8 people plus crew, we had a fantastic time. The people we traveled with were incredibly friendly and our crew was happy and energetic. (The captain with his young son and two of his sons friends.) On Rinca we took a two hour hike in search of some dragons. On the walk we found a large male under a tree and later found a 4 month old dragon crawling up a tree. (As soon as Komodos hatch, the hatchlings must find a tree to climb in order to escape imminent death. Komodos will eat their own young, which is ironic because a mother fiercely guards its nest) A Komodos bite contains more then sixty deadly bacteria that if not immediately treated will kill anything. After Rinca we went snorkeling just off of a pink sand beach. We saw many different species of fish and coral. A couple of us spotted and swam with a turtle. The turtle came so close to me, I could've reached out and touched its shell. We all boarded back on the boat and headed towards a bay where we anchored the boat to stay for the night. Along the way we saw a pod of dolphins playing in the waters ahead. Luckily, our boat was heading right for them and in no time the dolphins were swimming off the bow of the boat and jumping right in front of us. Our Captain was hooting and hollering, he was so excited!! This lead us to believe this doesn't happen very often. It lasted for a very long couple minutes. We all felt so lucky and there was a euphoric feeling among us for the rest of the night. We had some dinner then relaxed on top of the boat staring at the stars. In the morning we headed to Komodo Island. We again opted for the longest hike for the best chance of seeing some dragons. We were lucky and found a large male waiting at a watering hole. It was a little never racking being so close to something that wants to eat you. What made us more uneasy was the fact that our only protection was two young guides holding sticks. We found one more on the walk but it was a young female and she quickly ran away. Fortunately for most visitors, the dragons love the smell of food and some can always be found near the islands cafeteria. There we found two hanging around and on Rinca we found five! We took some great photos and enjoyed watching them as they watched us. Our guide noticed one had an 'x' painted on its tail, turns out this was the one who bit a guide only a few months prior. We had our fill and it was time to get back to the boat. On the way back to Labuan Bajo we stopped at two different spots for snorkeling. It was great to jump off the boat into the crystal blue water. One spot however was not near an island, but rather out at sea. We were told to ride the current and the boat would follow. We were all hoping to see some Manta Rays. (But it was the wrong season) The other snorkeling location was just off a tiny island. Nobody was to eager to get back in, except myself and one other person. We both jumped in and swam to the reef. I was cruising around checking everything out when I noticed a three foot reef shark checking me out. The other guy who jumped just after me, went a different way and saw a large barracuda. When the women finally decided to get in, we all swam together. We missed nothing and let everyone know when one of us found something. It was a blast. We found a Scorpion Fish, Cuddle Fish (which we pissed off and watched it change colors many times) Sting Ray and then everyone but me saw a Turtle. Kelly was so excited, it was her first turtle! We returned to town and headed straight for our rooms to shower, we were covered in so much salt!! We met up with everyone again for dinner and then said our goodbyes (everyone was on a different path.)

 

 

 

Komodo Dragon Dinner....Water Buffalo.

Currently we are back in Bali working on our visa extensions. We are finding Indonesia to be beautiful, each island is so different. We are spending more money here then we would like to be, but sometimes that's just how it goes. From here we plan to head to the island of Java to see and hike up some volcanoes. We will make our way up to the city of Jakarta and fly from there on Sept 30. There we will work on getting our visas for Vietnam.