Beautiful Bali

 
Recently, I took a break from the boat to do some land exploration with my best friend, Kate, who came to join me in Bali for a two week holiday. It was great to see her after such a long time - she's been busy teaching primary school students in South East London (while I've been busy doing not so much...).




I went to the airport to meet Kate (complete with sign, in case she didn't recognise me!) and quickly packed her into a taxi to take us to Ubud, our first stop on the whirlwind tour. We stayed 5 nights at Shana Bunglows, on Jalan Guatama - set back from the road with a beautiful garden. 
 

 

Shana Bungalows

 We wanted to make sure we used all the time we had - we quickly booked up white water rafting, a Legong style dance show (actually we intended to see Kecak dance, but went to the wrong theatre!) plus an early morning hike - to the top of Mount Agung in time for sunrise and a boiled egg, freshly cooked by the volcanic heat. 

There were plenty more tasty treats to be had in Ubud - one lunchtime Kate and I just gorged ourselves on delicious cakes. I also introduced Kate to my favourite Ubud eatery - 'Masakan Padang' which is world renown Indonesian food, best enjoyed without the use of cutlery. Kate had a great first attempt at this new eating style. 

The beautiful Legong style dance

In between these activities, we explored Ubud on foot - wandering into Monkey forest, for a full on dose of 'monkey 
babies!' (it was pretty hard getting Kate out of there), finding the local expat population hanging out in 'Betelnut'. We joined the scene for a few nights - The Gong Show was a regular production, with this 'episode' raising awareness to campaign against an intended McDonalds in the area. We did the Capuhan ridge walk - or at least half of it, twice (we turned back as a local told us if we continued on the mapped circuit we'd go back to town on a road, rather than the open fields with beautiful views). 

On Indonesia's Independence day we hit Betelnut again (thanks for the tip, Nicolette and Frank!) for a fascinating documentary, The Act of Killing on the troubled past of Indonesia. I'd recommend watching this film if you have a chance; it's interesting for a variety of reasons - a horrible episode that's successfully kept hidden by the current government (the same government that was responsible for the atrocious 'communist killings' of 1965), and it uses a very clever and twisted idea of asking the elderly criminals to 'play' themselves whilst they make a film of their past crimes (even with all of this evidence, and the thousands of murders they themselves admit to committing, nothing has been done to hold them to account for their actions) despite this it is somehow bleakly humorous - although we know the main characters are the villains, you can't help but identify with some or all of their struggles and characteristics, as the cameramen follow them around in their daily activities. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this film is in the credits - many of the Indonesians involved anywhere in the process have opted to remain 'Anonymous' rather than reveal their names and risk persecution. They don't have the credit they deserve for their seven years of hard work on this project, and perhaps they never will. 

Kate and I, freezing our butts off at the top of the volcano

Although it's true Indonesia has this sad history, we tried not to let this from spoiling our opinion of the Indonesian people: a warm, generous and hospitable nation. Everyone was keen to meet us and have photos with Kate (white skin AND blue eyes?!?). I'm sure many of the men are suffering with broken hearts right now. I made a special friend in Sukadi - a 50-something bemo (minibus) driver who had the misfortune to spend a day driving us to Tampaksiring and Gunung Kawi (a spectacular spot to visit, plus the best shopping bargains to be had in the whole of Ubud!) who called every day after that to find out if we needed him again. Even after repeatedly being told that we were leaving Bali, he kept on calling!

Somehow we found time to have a short lesson in the art of batik, go to a Kecak dance (we made it to the right temple this time!) and visit the gorgeous rice terraces that are the backbone of Asia. We also squeezed in an obligatory spa stop, a cycle around Ubud and a great birthday party. Many happy returns, Nicolette! Also a quick visit to catch up with Hannah, who I'd left on the boat at Gili Air. Phew! I'm exhausted just remembering all of that action!

Dancing on hot coals at the Kecak dance

On to the beach then: Seminyak, chosen mainly because we wanted to meet up with Ronnie and Del, and they'd found an excellent place to do it: a good value hotel with a beautiful pool, fairly close to the beach. All our adventures had caught up on us, as we stayed firmly out in the sun for most of the next three days. Apart from one day trip - a taxi to Denpasar, for Del's visa and some batik-related shopping for me followed by the beautiful temple of Uluwatu for sunset monkey mischief then Nusa Dua for a nighttime crab catching session. Uh, beach crabs, that is.

Catching crabs...or not in Nusa Dua.

We all flew to Flores together (massive panicking about the weight of our bags on the night before. 15 kilos? That's clearly not enough for a backpacking girl). The group joined the growing list of fantastic Furthur crew members, went on a hike to see the most exciting Komodo dragon trek ever on Rinca island and the lovely people of Komodo village, had a discovery dive on the boat each as well as enjoying the town of Labuan Bajo and the scenery of Komodo National Park, whether from the sea, the boat or the kayaks. We also went to one of the best snorkeling sport - pink beach: we were rewarded with a turtle. Kate also managed to spot two baby sharks from the shore! This was an excellent reward for working so hard at cleaning up another beach!

It was great to be with Kate again, even for such a short time. Her amazement at all things Asian was refreshing - I've long since stopped being surprised by four people and a chicken on a single motorbike, but for Kate it's still a novelty. It was also nice to be able to share with someone from home the wonderful lifestyle that's easy to have here. And it gave me an opportunity to show off my limited bahasa skills - although that stopped soon enough as we met up with Del and left all the important interaction to her! 

It was so great to see everyone, same again next year?