Bali Hai!

Ok.

So apparently Indonesia was doing everything it could to prevent me from updating my blog. I'd get on the internet and then the place would close, or the power would go out. Or there would be no internet. Anywhere. Or I'd forget my camera cord and not be able to put up any pictures. So, I'm back in Australia now, and what did I do? Forget to bring my camera with me. So hopefully mom or dad can go run and get it for me when they get back.

Aaaaanyway, we've had some crazy adventures in Indonesia. We should have taken the hint from the Amazing Race we had just to get there, but either way we all had a lot of fun.

We started out in Kuta, the big tourist town and beach area. Mom and dad forked out the dough to spoil Ryan and I with a 5 star hotel room for, *gasp* $45 a night. Breaking the bank huh? Indonesia rocks that way. But it was a welcome home for me after 4 months of hostels. We did some shopping, surfing, laying on the beach, and some sightseeing there, and did a day trip out to the very south of the island to Ulu Watu temple. It was supposed to be fabulous at sunset, so we went, and had our next adventure there. We were warned going in that the monkeys were thieving little jerks that would steal anything they could get their hands on, including glasses, hair ties, earrings, necklaces etc. So remove them all. We even had someone try to get us to pay them to 'protect us' from them by carrying a big stick they would hit the monkeys with. We politely declined that...

Anyway, when we were all watching guard over Ryan and his snazzy camera while he took pictures, mom put her glasses back on for a split second to see to take a picture. And before she knew it a monkey was running off into the bushes with them. I thought they were gone forever, but some local boys managed to chase it down and get them back for her. I figure they make a living off of doing that because people like mom are willing to give them a couple dollar reward to get their precious items back. Anyway they were a little bent but no worse for wear. Ryan almost got his camera lens scratched too, but what do you expect when you stick the camera right in a monkey's face? Anyway, I liked the monkeys even though they were little jerks, and the sunset WAS beautiful.





Our next stop in Bali was a town called Ubud, where we managed to get mom on a river raft. Once she stopped screaming over every little dip in the river I think she ended up having a good time! Ryan and I would have liked a little bit more action to the ride, but we gotta ease mom into those type of things. Can't throw her onto a class five rapid right away! We also went to a traditional Fire Dance and Ryan almost got hit with a flying chunk of burning coconut husk.



And another monkey story. Mom was understandably hesitant to go to the Monkey Forest in Ubud, but we convinced her that these monkeys are more interested in bananas than glasses or jewelery. We managed to get her in, but she was not having any bananas. Long story short, a monkey sat on my shoulder to eat a banana, and decided to thank me after he finished by peeing on me. Lovely.


Right before it peed on me



Also in Ubud we did a sunrise volcano hike where we had to get up at 2am and then drive out to the bottom of a volcano and hike up it before the sun rose. It was interesting climbing in the dark with flashlights, but the sunrise from the top was amazing, with two other volcanos in front of it. I think I took about 60 pictures of that alone. That was the first time I was actually cold in Indonesia. But as soon as the sun came up the heat was back! We were all pretty tired after that morning so we had a chill day and an early night.





Our next stop was a teensy town on the north east coast called Amed. We stopped there because Ryan and I wanted to do some diving, and there is a cool shipwreck just off the coast there. It was a WW2 cargo ship that was sunk by a Japanese torpedo during the war, and beached near Amed. But then a volcano nearby erupted in 1968 and the vibrations slid the ship down under the water. So Ryan and I did two dives there for only $50, and had a great time. Saw some really cool fish like clownfish, barracuda, firefish and parrotfish. I got stung by a jellyfish on my lip and hand though - that hurt! Mom and dad did some snorkelling and saw some neat fish too so they were happy. We all got massages on the beach for $6 for an hour, and I got a lovely $5 pedicure. I love cheap stuff!

Our next stop was further along the north coast to a town called Lovina. Not much to do there specifically, but mom had a beach to enjoy, and Ryan, dad and I rented motorbikes to go off and explore some mountains and lakes nearby. (I doubled on Ryan's. There is NO way I was going to attempt driving down here. It's insane. Or rather, organized chaos. Everybody passes everybody all the time, there's no need for the street lines because no one pays attention to them, and a horn is used just to let people know you're there. At first it looks insane and crazy, but then you realise it works. Lol.)

So the three of us went off up the mountains to a temple and did a bit of hiking, and got completely soaked on the scooters on the way back down when it started raining. But it was a nice change from the boiling heat!



After Lovina we went to a really small town near the west coast called Pemuteran, where there was a cool turtle hatchery and sanctuary. I wanted to spend the $8 to sponsor a baby turtle and release it into the ocean, but none of the babies were old enough yet. Darn! But they were very very cute. And Boomer is an adult that came back every time they released him, so he just lives there permanently now. Ryan and I were going to do more diving there, but it was quite expensive so we decided not to.



Our next journey was to take the ferry over to the island of Java, and get off Bali and away from the really touristy places. We headed straight to a place called Cemoro Lawang, which was on the top of another volcano. Only it started raining buckets on the way there, and mom almost had a few heart attacks climbing the skinny, windy mountain road that looked more like a river. We got to the top and it was kind of like something out of a horror movie. We got there right before dark, it was fogged in so we couldn't see the view, we were the only people in the hotel, and the cable was out in the middle of a huge storm.... Luckily we were fine, just a tad bit cold in the hotel room.

The next morning we got up for sunrise and got a nice surprise. It was a lovely day out and the view was spectacular of the volcanos. We had breakfast and then went down into the crater of the larger volcano and walked across the crater floor to get to the other smaller volcanos inside. We climbed up to the top of Mt. Bromo which is the active vent, and it was all steaming from inside and pretty cool. Ryan, dad and I walked around the rim to the back of the crater, but mom stayed where there was a railing she could hold onto. She had a great time there and met some locals while she waited for us. After we got back, in the afternoon it started pouring again so we had a quiet night and arranged to leave in the morning.




The next day we drove to a town called Jember because our travel book said we could do coffee plantation tours from there. But when we got there we found out that the town is pretty much of the travellers circuit, so hardly anyone spoke English and arranging a tour was almost impossible. So we went for a walk, and turned out to be a huge attraction. I guess people there don't see many white people at all, so everyone we passed was honking horns, waving, saying hello, and coming up to meet us. It was a neat experience, but a little creepy for me. I like blending in, not sticking out! I had a tough time sleeping that night as well, since it was a Muslim city, so all night there were people singing through huge microphones and speakers all over the city. Even at three in the morning. It must be hard to live in that town and get any sleep if you're not a muslim!

The next day was a crazy day. We took a taxi to the train station, took a train to the ferry, took a ferry back to Bali, and took a bus to our next stop. What a travel day! The train ride was lots of fun though because Ryan, dad and I took turns sitting/standing at the car doors and looking out. You're not allowed to do that back home! In some places the train would go over a huge bridge and you could literally walk off the train and over the edge without a problem. I found it a little scary so I made sure I held on tight!


The next few days were kind of uneventful in some small towns on the beach. One night though we experienced the worst storm Bali has had in 7 years. There was lightening hitting the ocean, pelting rain, leaking roofs, power going on and off, and Ryan almost got hit by a clothes rack and a falling ceiling tile. He's a lucky one! The next day when we left we saw so many flattened rice fields from the storm - so sad because that is all ruined crop. We also went to a really famous/important temple to the balinese people called Tanah Lot, which is built out on a rock out in the ocean. It was very neat, but tourists aren't allowed to go out there.



After that, it was pretty much back to Kuta. It's such a different world when you get away from the touristy areas. I really don't like being hassled constantly as you walk down the street. People trying to give you rides, advertising massages, pedicures, trying to sell you watches and sunglasses and get you to come into their shop. I didn't like coming back to that unfortunately.

In Kuta again we had a few days before we left, and through a fun coincidence the Irish guys I had met the first few weeks of my trip were in Kuta at the same time. So we arranged to meet up and we had a great time. My brother and I learned a very valuable lesson: never question the Irish's ability to drink... Somehow it turned into an Irish vs Canada thing, and my brother and I spent the next day recovering... But it was a really fun night and it was so great to see them again. They had met up with a few of their friends from home, and so there was a big group of us. My family really enjoyed meeting them too, cause you all know how much my parents love Ireland!


My brother Ryan, Ray and Conor from Ireland, me. All doing the Taiwanese classic picture pose Ryan taught us.

Ryan again and Kevin from Ireland

Here you can already see the effects of the 620ml, $2 beers on Ryan... haha

And after a last day to relax, Ryan headed back to Taiwan, and now mom, dad and I are back in Sydney. They leave back for home again tomorrow, and now I have my 5 weeks here in Australia.

Whew! what an update! I hope you all enjoy it, sorry I wasn't able to make a few smaller ones while I was in Indonesia, but like I said it just wasn't working.

Few more pictures:

Rice terraces



Missing you all lots,
Julie