Bali

2nd – 6th September

We broke our time in Indonesia up in three main parts – Kuta and Ubud in Bali, the Gili Islands and Sengigi in Lombok. First stop was Bali.

Stepping off the plane in Bali we immediately had that holiday feeling again as the heat and humidity hit us – and it was 11pm at night! Ah, it was good to be on the road again!

As we passed through the airport, the immigration man decided that Ady must have looked like rich pickings as he whispered ‘give me ten dollars’ over the counter. Ady refused and nothing more was said. Welcome to South East Asia!

Our first stop in Bali was Kuta, what can only be described as Tenerife for Australians, only fortunately for them, more upmarket than the European version. With an amazing beach and great surfing, we were happy at least, even if we couldn’t afford the cocktails in the pricey beach bars!

We hired a motorbike for a couple of days and headed down to the Bukit Peninsular to see what the beaches were like. After riding round without a map, we spotted a tourist with a surfboard on his bike, and followed him. Before long, we were stopped by a couple of policemen who wanted to see our documents. Ady proudly produced his International Drivers Licence (thanks Ben!) and got away without any ‘fines’. The guy we were following was not so lucky! Not knowing where we were going again, we stumbled upon Pedang Pedang beach, which turned out to be a beautiful small cove with white sand and turquoise sea backed by chalky white cliffs inhabited by monkeys. The monkeys also liked to shower the tourists that chose to sit under their trees… how lovely!

In Kuta, we had a mission finding decent places to eat and drink which didn’t cost the earth. The majority of people here are on two week holidays, and the prices are inflated because of this. We decided to move on after three nights, and headed inland to Ubud.

Ubud gave us a taste of the real Bali and had a really nice chilled vibe about it, but it was still full of tourists on day trips from Kuta. We stayed just one night and decided to go straight to the Gili Islands in search of some dive action.