Gili Trawangan

On the 11th we woke up at 7.30 and went to pay our nights, laundry and the beers. We were ready at 8.30 to wait for a pick up. Kuda Hitam Express car came and took us to Jemeluk where we had been snorkeling the day before. These porter women took our bags and put them in the right piles on the beach. They carried all the bags on their heads. The boat arrived at 9.15 and after everyone was in it it took of. It seated around 40 people. We were little nervous how pumpy it was gonna be but it went rather smoothly. An hour later we arrived to the Gili Trawangan beach. After struggling of the boat, we had a snack before heading to find a place to stay. Buys busy it was!

Bemos (horse carriage things) going to every direction, bicycles everywhere, the main street was really busy! After searching for ages in the hot sun and only finding place that were way over our budget (1 million were the highest) we decided to take another break this time for a beer. When our beers were finished we tried the place across the street Coral Beach and managed to get a double room there for 250 000 with breakfast and a pool!! We dumped all our stuff in the room and it was time for a swim. After the swim, we decided it was time for the beach. We found a nice spot with comfy sofa type cushions on the sand so we stayed there for a while, drank beer and listened to reggae music. When we got hungry we went and found somewhere to eat and then went back to the room and showered.

Then we walked on the main road and collided into Els, one of the Belgian girls from our group trip to Bromo / Igen. We hang out there in this reggae kind of club with other people until like 1 am. The next day we got up like 10.30 and went to eat a very nice breakfast with pancake or an omelet and banana juice or a fruit salad and tea. We then grabbed couple of bean bags on the beach and made that our spot for the whole day only having breaks to eat and drink at the same beach bar place.

For the sunset, we wandered to the famous Gili T hammock and swing place! It wasn’t as busy for taking pictures as we thought it would have been apart from a bunch of Columbian girls who seemed to think they were on some kind of model shoot and some aussie couple who thought they were professional photographers.. So, we got our sunset pictures and headed back to the main street for some food. We ended up stopping at the night food market where we stuffed ourselves with a selective of local stuff! (not cheap tho..!). After this we took a shower and met up with the Belgian girls again in some lvie music bar and the band was pretty good! Few beers in there and eventually ended up back in Sama Sama bar where me and Steve actually dance a little to some reggae.. We headed back around at 1 am again.

On the last day in Gili T was much of the same and spent most of it on the beach on our bean bags. We walked for some pizza at another beachside place. Went to ask tickets for Gili Meno and played some table tennis (Ping Pong). We then headed back and showered, got ready and went out for a couple’s night. We chose a slightly more expensive place to eat, right on the beach with candles, under the stars, quite romantic for us! After this we had a walk down the street, got some cash from the ATM and headed back to the room early because we were waking up early to leave for Meno. 

Amed, Bali

The next morning we didn’t have to rush since our pick up was only at 11 am. We ate breakfast, went to buy snacks and get money from the ATM. The bus ride took about 2,5 hours to Amed. The scenary was nice, local villages, rice paddies and mountains.

In Amed we instantly took a time out and went to sit down in this restaurant with wifi (of course) and to eat. Steve went to wander to find a place while I stayed with our bags. After a long while he came back, we took the bags and went to see the place together. NICE little cottage! Lovely decoration inside and out. Loved it! We got it for 200 000/ night. Reception woman was really nice and helpful. The whole hotel area was nice and relaxed with hammocks etc. The fridge was open, whatever you took you just wrote it down to this booklet thing and paid everything after.

After settling down we went to our black beach. The sea was a little rough but we still went for a swim before the sun set behind this active volcano. Amed itself was tiny, only small local village with only local family restaurants and couple of diving places. Our first full day in Amed we just chilled on the beach and drank beer. The next day we went to buy tickets to Gili Trawangan for the next day for a fast boat 225 000 each. Then Steve rented a bike and I walked while he rode to Jemeluk to snorkel. It was only a 20-minute walk away. We took sunbeds, left our stuff and hit the water. Even tho really close to beach we could see all sorts and colors of fishes! Bright blue ones and all! After eating and chilling Steve left for a bike ride but shortly after came back since the chain had broken.. He went to return the bike and eventually didn’t have to pay anything. They hadn’t made any paper work or anything and it wasn’t his fault. And he even got a scratch on his belly.

Later on basically by accident we went to this restaurant on the beach to catch the sunset. Didn’t eat there tho since it was a little too expensive for us. We went back to eat at Warung Ole which seemed to be full every night! 

Ubud, Bali

The next day was only swimming pool day and little shopping (couple of vests for Steve). We decided to stay four nights mostly because of our lovely pool and that it was so peaceful in there. The last day wasn’t too different to the previous one. We gave another chance to the beach but soon after pictures we headed back to our home base. The close by streets became familiar since we walked around them at nights. After the last night, we woke up early to check out and go to eat something more than just a pancake. We had seen in couple of places advertising shuttle buses to Ubud for 60 000 so we went to ask for timetables.. We booked one for 1 o’clock so we had almost two more hours by the pool!

The minibus picked up other people almost an hour but the trip itself was only like an hour and a half or so.. The bus dropped us of not in the center so we had to walk on the Monkey Forest road. It wasn’t too far tho! We went to check couple of hotels but weren’t impressed with their pools at all! On the third one we settled to pay 175 000 night so we just took it. We arrived in Ubud around 4 o’clock and went to eat and walked to the center and tourist info. We bought tickets to this local Kedac dance show and went to watch that at 7pm. It wasn’t anything too special but nice experience. On the way back we really struggled to find ANY cheap places to eat!

The next morning in Ubud we woke up and ate by far the best breakfast so far! We could choose from 5 different options like jaffles, pancakes etc and also 5 options for drinks. After eating we walked 5 minutes to Monkey Forest sanctuary paying 30 000 each to get in. The forest is a home to over 600 monkeys and couple of temples. After a while of wondering we got bored pretty fast. It was time to catch some more food and go trekking to the famous rice paddies. 

The track was this 90 minutes round trek. Tho first we had to walk to the start which was a bit further away. On the way we saw this hippie woman with a dress on and literally boobs hanging out! :D The first 3 km of the trek was nice! We stopped to have a coconut drinks at the rice paddies. Just when we were setting of again we saw a sign saying Ubud 6km.. We decided to go that way anyway. Soon the rice paddies changed into forest and just boring roads. Exhausting walk it ended up being! So all in all this 90 minute walk was closer to 3 hours and 12 km! Obviously we rewarded ourselves with a large Bintang and a Radler. After showers we headed back out again to buy tickets for this shuttle bus to Amed. The cheapest ones were around 150 000 each.

On the market street in Ubud we went to buy couple of more vests for a price of 50 000, not 180 000 like this one woman was trying to sell! :D Food, some UFC on TV and to bed was our night. 

Kuta Beach, Bali

The drive was surprisingly long and took closer to four hours. Others booked their hotel on the bus but we thought that it was too expensive.. Arriving to this big parking lot with like 10 taxi drivers helping us out from the minivan.. We quickly made a plan to avoid  them.. We walked from the parking lot and quite fast after wandering a while we took a blue bird taxi to Poppieslane 2 paying 20 000 BT the meter.

First hotel that we went to check out was a match! NICE swimming pool, breakfast, wifi and we paid 150 000 a night! First impression of the place around us was BUSY as fuck. Scooters on the pavements, everyone trying to sell you something or offer a transportation.. We went to eat at this near by local palce and noticed that we can eat and drink cheap if we wish so. Cheapest beer was a big Bintang for 25 000.

It was time to go check out the famous surfer's paradise, Kuta Beach. It took us patience both to walk there and walk on the beach... People trying to sell stuff or asking us if we wanted to surf. So annoying. The beach was okey, nothing special except massive waves. Didn't spend more than 10 minutes on the beach and headed back for an evening swim.

At night the streets woke up with loud music and Aussies. No matter what day it was there was still a party. We took the first night easy wandering the streets. We got offered probably every single drug that there is on the planet by so many times!!

The next morning it was a banana pancake time (read breakfast) aaaaanndd swimming pool time!! We didn't really do much else all day than chill by the pool drinkind Radler and beer and watch this Aussie guy's one man show entertaining every one (or so he thought). In the evening we went to Sky Garden to catch up with the Belgium girls and Ben. It was close by to ours and next to this memorial monument for Bali Bombing on 2002 killing over 200 people and wounding over 200... :(

So what made me really happy was that there were security check up and loads of guards there. We paid 100 000 each in for all inclusive food and drinks. Our hopes weren't that high for the food but it was really nice! BBQ, salads, burgers, desserts, San Miguel or couple of different coctails which were so strong!

We got in around 18.30 and it was until 21.00 that you could drink.. Those strong cocktails didn’t need that much time. We had a really good time chatting to people and drinking! After 21.00 o’clock it was time to head downstairs for the dance floor. Oh, and by the way the toilets were so nice and clean! Cushioned toilet doors, tv’s inside, couches etc.. On the dance floor Steve literally almost cuddled with this guy who used to play in NRL. Quite soon it was time to head to another club next door, Engine Room. We had really good time also in there (at least what I can remember..) Dancing and we even put this limbo competition on. At around 00.00 am when we changed place I head to sleep and Steve and the others continued.. Steve got back at 6.00 without answering his phone or anything… I was really worried about him since he was so drunk already when I left! 

Ijen Krater

At 00.30 we woke up, went to eat breakfast (a toast and an egg) and left to drive towards Ijen Krater. Only a short 45 minutes drive away we got to the place where the hike started. Andi was our tour guide.

It was a three or four kilometre trek UPHILL! In the middle of the night! I hated every second of that up hill walk! My knee hurt, i was tired and just hated it! The higher we got we started to smell this eggy smell of spulphur. I was gagging all the time.

At the top we waited for Andi for ages to get masks from him! From the crater we started to descent down into the crater with this narrow rocky path in pitch black. It took ages and many careful steps towards the blue fire. On the way down so many people coming up said that it wasn't worth it. The smell got stronger and stronger and my eyes were stinging and Steve wasn't feeling good at all, really anxious. We decided to turn back up. When our group got back up later their pics were not good at all. So we didn't really miss out on anything.

We got to see the work men in action carrying sulphur up on their shoulders weighing 50-80 kilos. Up the rocky paths they went and so so fast with terrible shoes hoping not to step on loose stones. Up from the crater to the villages and back twice a day..

When we started to walk back in a day light we could see how steep the mountain really was!! Ridiculous. I could have laid down and I woulda been standing up...

After surviving down from the volcano we asked our driver to stop somewhere for breakfast. Well, we were all so tired so we fell asleep and woke up when he announced that we were at the harbour.. No breakfast, no waterfall, coffee plantation (tho we stopped once since this girl needed to pee and he said on the right is coffee plantation.. xD).. At the ferry terminal we were the only ones the driver bought tickets to.. Good thing we had asked to write everything down.. The ferry ticket was only 7500 so not much but still!

We basically walked straight to the ferry (after the fight with the driver). The boat left instantly and took around 30-40 minutes. We had decided to head towards the Kuta Beach as had everyone else also. So we started haggling the prices down from private cars.. The prices they offered for us at the bus terminal both for private and public ones were ridiculous.

Eventually we got the deal down to 600 000 for all of us (7?) to Kuta, not Denpasar..

Mount Bromo

On monday the first we woke up dead tired and packed ourselves to this minivan with other westerners. We drove around two hours towards Bromo. When leaving from Probolinggo in the middle of the night it was so weird seeing how much action there was still going on on the streets. People preparing their stuff and food for morning markets etc.

The drive was mostly uphill with SO many jeeps around! Finally we arrived to this Gunung Penanjakan (2770m) which is the best place for sunrise since you can see the whole Bromo area (Bromo, Semeru puffing up regular plumes, Batok and Kursi).

Us and two belgium girls started walking up the hill with one flash light to guide the way. We were so out of breath climbing in the middle of the night. Eventually we arrived to this view point and me and Steve ate our nasi goreng that we had bought previous night on the street. Then it was just waiting for the nature to wake up and the sun to rise. SPECTACULAT SUNRISE! Just amazing seeing the active volcanoes. The hike down to our minivan was easier. :)

 

The next drive took only 10 minutes. The tour had promised to drop us of in front of the stairs and now they told us that we had to hike there.. After fighting with this guy we had no choise than to start walking there.. First down this steep hill side and then throught the Sea of Sand. The closer we got we could see probably over 100 jeeps there. We were the only ones walking.

There were loads of people, horses running around and past us etc. The climb up to Bromo wasn't too bad since there were stairs. Up at the crater we could see this smoke rising from the inside of the volcano. Way too many people up at the crater, couldn't even move there.

The walk back took around an hour. In the minibus we started to get to know our group and noticed that everyone had been promised different things of this tour. Some didn't even have any receipt! We had asked to write everything down even that we had paid!

On the way back we tried to nod of and close to our hotel when I had just woken up our driver and this scooter boy crashed! The boy got up fast with marks on his elbow and leg. The left side mirror on the minivan broke and the scooter got scratches. Our driver paid him 50 000, shook hands and we continued. We got dropped of at our hotel with four others. We were supposed to eat breakfast there, surprisingly that didnt happen.. No one told us what time we would set off agan. They had told us that we would set off at 12 and arrive at 15.00 so we would have time to go jungle trekking and see coffee plantation and a waterfall. The others had been told that the journey to the next place takes 7 hours... Our guide book said 5.

After an hour and 20 minutes our new driver came to pick us up. We asked him to stop somewhere to eat on our way, little after two hours we finally stopped to eat with our group. A 21-year old Ben from Leeds, two girls from Belgium, one Lebanese woman, 40-year-old american woman and a hippie German guy and a girl.

We arrived at our destination at Sempol, around 18-19, more than five hours after we set off.

The place Arabica homestay was in the middle of nothing and you could only order a buffet for 60.000 (not the one where you can eat as much as you can...). The guy we bought the tour from had said that we set of again at 4 am. Wrong. The set of was at 1 am! So we quickly ate, showered (wasn't a hot shower like promised) and went to bed.