Bali

Somewhere over the south China sea, me and Gen realised that we were going to land in an hour, at 11.30 in the evening, with no idea where we were, or where we were going, in a place where we couldn't speak the language. Also we had none of the local currency and didn't know where our hotel was. To say that we slightly paniced at that point would be an understatement. We landed in Denpassar Airport (which oddly is about 30ks from Denpassar, which is quite a distance considering the island in total is on 90ks from top to bottom), we paid our $20US for our visa (luckily we did have some US$), and proceeded through the staring officals to the front door. Once we had got past the various warning signs warning us that drug offenses are punishable by death, we asked a guy in some sort of uniform where the nearest ATM was. Whether or not he understood the question I am not entirely sure but he ushered us out the front door all the same. It was here, to both our astonishment, and releif, that we were confronted by a little guy holding an STA sign saying in big bold letters MR E. LEFTWICH. I was amazed. Not only had someone unilaterally decided to pick us up from an airport in the middle of nowhere at near on midnight, but they had spelt my name right too! The Balinese guy with a sign was called Sammy. He spoke excelent English. Turned out that he wokedfo touring agency called OBB. Apparently when you book a flight o Bali wih STA they pass on your details to OBB who then arrange free airport transfers for you and offer a range of tours and hotel booking sevrices at discounted prices. Once we arrived at Taman Agung Beach Inn, we checked in (they had kept reception open especially for us) and checked out our room. Ensuite, Air-con, Minibar and all the balinese language TV you could ever want. Of course we promptly fell asleep.

Taman Agung was situated in Sanur. Like the more famous Kuta (the place that was bombed by terroists), but on the opposite side of the island and a bit quieter. "Sleepy Sanur" as it is refereed to by locals is a road fuill of hotels, resturaunts, bars and shops just off a rather beautiful beach. Sanur became our base so to speak, we did leave for a while, but we ended up returning, as it was cheap, relaxed and beautiful. Wesampled many ofthe lo9cal resturaunts and bars on our stay. mostly very cheap and all nic.
Somewhere along the line we befriended to Aussies on a break form Uni for a couple of weeks. Between us we found a rather nice cocktail bar, serving very very cheap cocktails that were all pretty damn good. As yu can imagine we spent some serious time making sure all the differnet cocktails were good, which we are happy to report they were. Incidently, one night we met the owner of the bar (called the Wayan). As it transpired he owned OBB too. We were glad that he was Balinese, and that we weren't using a foeign based tour company. We were even more glad when we got given free drinks. We ended up getting shots of Arak everytime we arrived and left he place. Arak is rather strong. It is a Rice wine of sorts, somewhere between 50-70% proof. Dangerous stuff. I also discovered my favourite dish of the trip so far. It is called Nasi Goreng. It is very simply indonesian fried rice, but it is so delicious. Unfortuantly I ate so much rice I made myself rather ill at one point. However that is neither here nor there. It tasted good.

Naturally during our stay on this beautiful island we did more than drink and eat food. We went on three different tours ofthe island wit Sammy as our guide. Firstly we took a trip to Uluwatu. This hindu temple sits, perched, on a cliff overlooking nothing but the endless ocean. We saw the many many monkeys around the temple, and whilst it is nice to see animals loose and free, I thought it was a shame that they had just reverted to beggin food from tourists. it makes a sad sight to see a monkey drinkng out of a coke bottle. Once we had visited the beautiful temple, we headed to dinner in a fish resturaunt called sharkys. The fish was so fresh that when we arrived it was still swimming.

Our next tour was to visit the volcanos that lie at the centre of Bali. Firstly we went to see a traditional Barong and Kris dance. This was a traditional sto depicted through a traditional dance. After a long drive, visiting various temples and sights along the way, including the Water temple, which is a truly beautiful temple, even though it was raining when we arrived, ironic as that is. After visiting a Wood carving Centre and a silver craft shop we headed for lunch. The resturanut was perched on a cliff overlooking the two mountains. It was a truly spectacular backdrop inwhich to eat lunch. Returning via the rice terraces for pictures, we got home truly knackered.

The final tour took us up to the very North Coast to a town called Lovina. On the way we visited another temple, a rather spectacular waterfall, more monkeys and the Dutch colonial capital. We spent three nights in a really nice hotel in Lovina. Lovina has a beautiful Black sand beach and nice main town. However it was very quiet. so we relaxed and spent time in the pool and on the beach realxing. The final part was visiting the town of Ubud. Ubud is the capital for arts and crafts in Bali. after brosing the many shops and visiting he local Monkey Forest, we crought ome things, sampled the local cuisine and headed back to sanur.

Back in Sanur It was recovery time. It was at this point that I became ill from too much rice. So we spent much time with our two aussie friends, chilling by the pool and on the beach, drinking and eating. It is not just cocktails that are good to drink in Bali either. The local beer is called Bintang. Not only is it 70p a pint but itsa damn sight better than carling back home, and better than anythng I had in NZ and Aus.

So all in all we had a great time in Bali, we enjoyed the food and culture. Butwe especially enjoyed I think the hospitality of its people.