Ubuuuuuud

Ubud – 11th-13th October

Our next stop after Nusa Lembongan was Ubud, described by Lonely Planet as Bali’s ‘cultural hub’. After we got over the initial heartbreak of discovering our hostel – In Da Lodge – didn’t have a pool we realised what a gem this hostel really was. It was decorated very typically Balinese style, with multicoloured hanging lanterns, and hammocks hung from trees. It also had a great social area by the bar, with cushions and sofas around wooden tables with books on them.

We did a lot of wandering around Ubud and so many times we accidentally came across big Hindu celebrations taking place. In fact sometimes it was hard not to as they had parades down the main street. I really liked seeing this going on as it was a really new thing to me and their traditional clothing was all so nice.

I had my first experience of feeling unwell whilst travelling in Ubud so I unfortunately missed out on a few activities, but I did discover that other travellers in the hostel are so nice to you when you are feeling bad. I did manage to squeeze in a Balinese massage one afternoon. Elise, a boy we met from England and I went to a cheap massage place in town and it ended up being an experience to say the least! Firstly, we all had to go in the same room, which meant for a fast friendship between us as I had only met Josh ten minutes earlier. Secondly it was a family who did the massages. Elise got the mother, Josh the father and me the eldest daughter! It however a pretty decent massage despite me being very giggly everytime a ticklish part (feet, tummy, underarm) was touched.

On our final day in Ubud, after a visit to the markets a group of us went to the monkey forest. I’d heard so many stories flying about the hostel of people being bit and attacked so I was very nervous to go. The monkeys mainly stayed away unless you had bananas, water bottles or wanted a picture. The mum’s would put their hands up to stop you taking pictures of their babies, which was adorable!! Also I made pals with a big monkey lying on the path who seemed to be blind in one eye.

Ubud, we love you

Lembongan, you beauty

10th October – Lembongan
After four nights staying in ‘the big pineapple’ in Sanur we caught the boat out to the island of Lembongan. The first thing I noticed as the boat pulled up was the colour of the sea. It’s literally turquoise. Along the coastline are lots of Palm trees and huts. Just to fit in with island life here we decided to stay in a hut ourselves for the night. It’s definitely different from the hostel, with our own bedroom, and private outdoor bathroom!

Because the island only takes about three hours to drive around we decided to get a scooter (sorry mum!) so we could fully explore. We spent hours driving around the little island. We saw a seaweed farm, which I loved as I still haven’t gotten over seeing people wearing the little straw hats, and we saw plenty of women on the seaweed farm wearing them. We also drove across a narrow wooden suspension bridge which was an experience in itself, especially passing other scooters! We drove through so many local places with school children playing and encountered a lot of cows and chickens! There was a big religious celebration going on at a temple so we saw all the local people going there in their religious outfits with offerings. We also unfortunately came across two pigs that would later be used as sacrifices in the ceremony!!! I think this has been my favourite day so far just because we saw so much and we had the freedom (in the form of a scooter) to go anywhere we wanted, and of course it’s the local vehicle of choice!

Tanah Lot

8th October 2014 – trip to Tanah Lot

One of the things I’ve really wanted to do since getting here is see a great sunset, cliche I know but the sun just seems to suddenly disappear here!

A girl staying at our hostel told us that a lot of people go to the temple Tanah Lot to see the sunset as it’s by the sea and meant to be really beautiful! For literally £4 each a group of us from the hostel got a car AND DRIVER for six hours, so we told the driver we wanted to be at the temple at sunset but until then could he take us places he thinks we’ll find interesting. Which was the best decision.

Firstly he took us to a waterfall – I wish I knew the name of it – that was brown from the rice fields.

Next we stopped at a temple, again I don’t know the name. It was a really interesting day to be driving around as it was a Hindu celebration, something to do with the full moon, so there was lots of local people waking to temples wearing traditional clothing. I also saw a lot of impressive balancing skills, as tonnes of women had offerings in baskets on their heads!

Our third stop was a coffee plantation. I’m not too sure how much of the site we went to was there for show. However it was interesting and a little disturbing to find out that the Luwak coffee was made by feeding this little furry animal coffee beans and then they later collected his poop and peeled the beans and ground them to make the coffee! At the end of the tour round the different types of beans growing we got to try all the different types of coffee and tea they make, which was a lovely treat and also a huge caffeine buzz.

After our unexpectedly lovely tour around we made our way to the temple. The temple itself was closed, although you could walk right out to it, and looked so picturesque on the cliff edge! To get a good view we walked far out to some rocks on the edge of the sea and sat and watched the sun go down with the Tanah Lot in the distance. It was honestly so beautiful and I think it will be up there in one of the best sites!

Yoga in Sanur

Sanur, Bali – 7th October 2014

We’ve been spending a few days in Sanur, which according to Rough Guides is nicknamed ‘snore’. It’s basically full of fancy beach resorts (which we’ve considered sneaking into) and is extremely peaceful and relaxing.

Yesterday we found a little beach hut type thing where they sold cute gifts and juices downstairs and ran yoga classes upstairs. So this morning we got up at 7am to go to the 8am yoga class. Because I’ve only done it a few times before I can’t say my opinion on how good the yoga teaching style was would count much! But it was such a nice way to start a day and was definitely harder than I had initially anticipated.

Oh and just so people don’t think we’ve got it too easy, I’d like to report that I’ve now seen my first cockroach and had some rats above my head while eating.

Kuta – ‘the Australians answer to Aiya Napa’

Kuta – Bali, Indonesia

October 4th-6th, we stayed in Kuta as it was close to the airport and we knew it would be full of other young tourists. Before I came out I had been warned that it’s the Australians Benidorm but because of the mainly young crowd it draws I changed that to ‘the Australians answer to Aiya Napa’.

Because of all the bad mouthing about Kuta we had heard before hand we were actually pleasantly surprised. Yes, you could see the McDonalds arches from the beach, yes, there was a washed up nappy, BUT that was pretty much it in terms of grossness.

The place we stayed in was called Warung Coco, and was such a gentle easing in to life as a traveller. For a double room (it was the same price as a dorm?!) with our own toilet and shower (which because of the close proximity you could have used at the same time) and a breakfast, it only cosy us the equivalent to £5 a night! Which is a little more than we plan to spend in the future, but was so worth it for the first few nights of adjusting!