Bali Jaunt

I’m currently in zombie mode, clutching to the last bits of my holiday while slowly embracing the fact I’ll be back at work in t-minus 48 hours. But before then here’s the run down on my five-day jaunt with my best friend Kristie, to arguably the number one island of Indonesia’s 18,307 islands, Bali.

Our plan, or mainly mine was to simply relax by the pool, read the four books I had brought and be holiday smoochs. However, plans are only a guidance system right, what happened was a lot more.

 

Kristie set her alarm every morning. I’m not a morning person. This was not cool. But I’m a good person and was out of bed by nine each morning to grab brekky at the hotel. We stayed at the Ananta Hotel, Legian. I would definitely recommend it! Great staff. Nice mix of clientele, not only families or Aussies, but a great international mix. It made for some fun people watching in the mornings. To top the hotel off were the Tsunami warning signs, indicating to run up the stairs in cases of tsunami. Only in Bali.

The days saw us bartering with locals making a fair few enemies and limiting our friendships, to lying topless while being straddled by a back rubbing masseuses, falling into rice paddies and racing around the crazy streets on our little scooter.

A day trip out of the Denpasar region to Ubud, watching six-year olds stand up in ute trays speeding along the highway, drinking lewak poo coffee -- the coffee beans are actually from the animals excrement-- on the top of rice paddy mountains is unbeatable. However, not being a coffee drinker I couldn't appreciate it fully. Especially when I added a small glassful of cocoa and a sachet of sugar to it. I felt like I was committing the biggest sin.

Our day trip also included popping into silver jewellers to watch them create masterpieces in the middle of a bamboo house. I helped support the local economy by purchasing a small set of earrings for myself. 

Viewing, what I think, were greater pieces of art than in the Louvre in a local persons house. The colour, thickness and use of multiple medias was awe-inspiring some of the acrylics were five-centimetres thick. Our security guard guide explained that some of the art would take up to one year to complete as the drying process for each layer could take two months. Please note the photos below are a result of teamwork, Kristie distracting while I take a quick snap.  Spies in the making!
 
We visited the Ubud Monkey Forest, where I quickly divested myself of my water bottle as this seemed to be prime monkey bait. Cue the photo below.

There are those moments in one’s life where you know better than someone else. I had one of those moments at the Ubud market place. I saw this Chinese lady, ecstatic about her purchase of some harem pants. I asked her how much she got them for. She proudly replied, "a bargain $180 000IDR".

Oh sweet lord. I looked at Kristie, her eyes exploded, this was overkill. But this lady was so proud of herself and, well, why burst her bubble when she was more than willing to let go of her hard earned money so readily. So I said, “Awesome price.” And kept on walking, but in truth, she’d just paid three times their worth.

The Indonesian people are very friendly in general, they teach their children from the start how to harass serve foreigners. Today it was a pleasure. We had three little girls- all called 'Maddy' offer to be our tour guides through  rice paddy hills for $10 000 $1AUD each.  A tough bargain! We countered with $5000 IDR, roughly $0.50 AUD each.

That was the best $1.50 I have ever spent. The girls were such characters trying to show us where to go, leading the charge up hills and muddy paths that, well, are quite dangerous. 

Another fabulous change that has occurred in Bali’s continual growth is the new Beachwalk shopping centre. This has a Zara, Topshop, Victoria Secret and many other UK shops. But oh what bliss, we don't have these shops in Western Australia yet, so I went a bit wild. We also went wild at the Game Arcade we found on the top level, going crazy with shooting games, basketball shots, dancing comps and best of all the $1.60 photobooths!

   

 

I can hardly cover everything else that went on, but one thing worth mentioning was the He She show we saw at the beach Shack on Garlic Lane. My hats of the guy girls, that’s crazy stuff! We saw a Nicky Minaj, Pink and an Indian snake dancer amongst others. 

The funniest moment was being simply me being impatient on the moped, or as I like to call it “Channelling my inner Balinese”.  I drove the moped up on the footpath and almost ran over a group of tourists. They were fine! I yelled, “Excuse me, excuse me!” And we passed a dozen cars. The best thing was Kristie got it all on video. 

We had night out, visiting some of the local town hotspots worth mentioning are the Bounty and its foam party and Sky Garden. Fun was had! We had these three girls, two Malaysian and one Mongolian who joined us, they were crazy except the Mongolian, she kept bowing and placing to her hands together to apologize for her friends behaviour. Nothing wrong in having a little fun!

Well, who can complain? Morning massages, yummy food on every corner and a shining sun.



You just have to remember to drink only bottled water, drive fast, go to legitimate money changers and always halve the asking price, then halve it again and offer that as your first bid in dealing with the stall holders. 

Photo credit to Kristie for many of the amazing shots!

Venice, in water? No way.

You know when you put some thing off for a while, in your mind you have categorised it into the 'bad' stuff group, stuff 'I don't want to do'. Somehow my blog ended up in that group this week.

I visited Venice last weekend with one of my great friends Speck, who I do know reads this blog. So I apologise if it looks like I was a psycho lazy freak who didn't want to talk about our never ending fight against Italy and it's weather. It was simply lumped into the 'I'll do it soon' pile. 

But never the less my subconscious and excitement of the next few weeks has spurred me on to update  this blog.  Forewarning, this will be a long blog, so go grab a cup of tea, or a coke, or a beer, or something. You'll need it to wash down your jealousy with.

Friday, 26th October 2012
I have to say today was probably one of the worst days ever, in relation to things going my way. It was an early morning start, by early morning I mean 2.20am, walking out of my flat, bag packed weighing 7kg.... Yes, you heard me 7kg. One digit weight! Caught the 3.20am bus to Stanstead airport, an hour away, from the galleria; a massive outlet shopping centre, 10 minute walk from my house.

 

That was an uneventful trip. I had previously printed out the boarding pass, and tucked in behind my ipad in it's case. Reaching my hand into my sports bag, shovelling around and coming up empty. I have to say I have never felt so away at 4.30am than I did this morning. No iPad. My stomach dropped. No friging way. I lift my iPad at home. Looking down, I remember thinking, well that's alright, first travelling mistake in 4 months, not  shabby not to shabby at all. Just a pity that it'll cost me £60 for a reprint. 

However before resigning to wasting more money, and getting into to this ridiculously long cue for this time in the morning, I do one more soul searching, arm raping of my bag. And guess what. I FOUND ITTTTTT! It was at the other end of the bag. Opps. Blonde moment. Morning moment. Red head moment. Awesome moment!

So booyah, waltz through security, grab a Frappuccino, and find my plane... A bit bumpy but amazing views whilst flying into Venice!

I met speck at possibly the smallest airport i have ever had the pleasure of being in. We caught the shuttle bus into Venice, all perfect timing and great so far. 

Get into Venice, the main bus station, walk down to the canals, get slightly lost, ask for directions tot he 'people mover'. Slightly nerve racking name right? Back to the bus station, get pointed to the 'people mover' i.e. trams like the ones at changi Singapore airport. Spend a euro  to move 400 metres, yay for ripping tourists off.  We were now at the meeting point for our hostel shuttle. Hour and a half later, no shuttle. We make the wise decision, and call it quits, time to dominate Venice's mad public transport. 

We miss the first bus, and have to wait another twenty minutes. Get off at the right stop thank goodness. In a neighbourhood that doesn't look to shabby, I would possibly classify it as the suburb of Venice's, if that's even possible. 

We get lost, eventually find our hostel. Grab our keys, chill in our cabin, decide to take the 4pm shuttle into Venice. Hop on the bus, get kicked off the bus for no ticket. Walk to the public bus stop and find the best Gelato EVER! The whole day was just recovered! Our reward every time we caught public transport was gelato... Good reward system.

Upon arrival back into Venice, the heavens opened, flooding the streets. We were spectacularly drenched in record time, shoes and socks sodden, jackets no more use than a wet towel, but it was fantastic. Successfully got lost again after dinner, illegally stowed away on the ferry taxis, in an attempt to get back to the bus station.     All in all, the first day was amazing.

Saturday 27th October 2012

I think today i got a experience of what it would feel like to be living on a flood prone area. Today consisted of balancing acts. Walking the plank, as on one side the canal, the other side half meter of flooded path. 

Purchasing new 'Alien boots', these plastic contraption that you strap to your legs, so it looks like you feet won't get work. Lie.

Curly hair, drenched again but oh so worth it! we ventured out to St Marks, which was absolutely beautiful, we caught a ferry taxi out to the glass island. Finishing the night with bucketful sex on the beach cocktails and gelato. 

Golly gee. Good day all in all. 

Sunday, 28th October 2012

End verdict Jayllee and Speck 2:Venice 5

I think today would have been the coldest I have been, wettest I have been, and numbest I have ever been in my life.

Walking out the cabin door, no rain just thunderous winds. That's a good thing, perhaps it wasn't as flooded today as it was yesterday? An optimist in my head, the realist saying, its Venice, the place is on water, when it's been raining, and storming, go die of pneumonia. 

But I'm if the half glass full variety, therefore Speck and I donned our thermal tops, singlets, jerseys, jacket, scarves, mittens, beanies, umbrellas, pants (basically every piece of clothing we brought with us), and thongs (flip flops). Yes thongs, our shoes had not yet dried, we debated that if our feet were going to be wet all day, we mine as well be able to dry them at some stages if they were not covered. Let me tell you. WRONG IDEA. Hello 6-degree weather, winds and rain. Smile.

So first journey of the day, get into Venice. This was made nearly impossible for other less worldly independent travellers, but our worldly experience made speck and I a force to be reckoned with. This is where we got our first point against Venice.

The Venice marathon was on today, meaning many roads were cut off because of flooding and closed off for the marathon. Resultantly almost all bus routes has been changed, however, never fear, running across 4 lanes of traffic, risking our necks because remember we're in our thongs. Joined by our new found friends one Australian and one American both students on exchange in Dublin who did indeed end up missing their train. Awkward. But 30 minutes later we arrived saturated but victorious in Venice. Oh yeah. The day was just beginning.

We then proceeded to view the Biennale Architecture 2012. This is where nations from around the world put together a room, competieng. It was fantastic to se e la different sorts of creativity and designs from the worlds best architects!

After a day exploring these venues, we headed home, tot he sanctuary of our warm cabin!

All in all a great trip, with great company! However, I think if I were ever to go to Venice again, I would only go in the Summer months!

Images, photos, pictures, graphics, illustrations and all that jazz,.

You should all very happy reading this, I finally have my laptop back, therefore my blog updates will now have paragraphs! (yay paragraphs), and secondly I should be able to bombard you with photos!


However about that later, crazy stuffs been happening! I caught up with my Air Force buddy Warlum last night, which was delightful. Hearing what he's been up to and also new goss he's in the know about. Fantastic way to spend an evening!

I shall let the pictures speak for themselves.

Just some stones that have been baffling human kind for thousands of years.

 

Rain makes hair frizzy. Plastic stops rain. Plastic rain jacket = God's present to women.

My local hangout back in the day. 

This is just such a stunning photo my Mum took. 

Ahhh you know when you watch those border security shows and see people sitting on the ground looking like homeless people. I joined their club. Repacking at Heathrow. 

My fabulous Mum conquering her fear of heights (We were on the roof of Trim Castle)

The Amsterdam Pancake. Tthe best thing I have EVER had. 

Being a tourist, and ticking off all the corny photographs. 

CarnabySst in London, cute not so little globe, just incase you forgot which planet you were on. 

My future Sister and Brother-in-law at Hamleys.

Hampton Court. Quick little culture observation here, England has the loveliest parks in manors, however none of it is mowed. it's like someone thought, we own these lands, why do we need to mow them. 

Olympic rings.

Next up Warlum is amazing, because he gave me two tickets to the sailing in WEymouth ( down south) on Monday! So very excited to go watch and cheer on the Aussies and Kiwis!

ALos the australian girlies Jess and Caitlin arrive tomorrow! Which shall be fantastic! So much to see and do in such a  little bit of time. 

Peace out homies.

The merry life...

Here's what's been happening. I changed accommodation to this amazing home with a lovely family in London. It has been a marvellous week of relaxing, and getting to know local londoners and London spots.

 I've been biking,  walking, kayaking down the thames, watching the olympics- and admiring the amazing gymnasts- Kristian Thomas can marry me any day!

Reading books, exploring covent gardens, and making some small purchases!

I should hopefully get my laptop back from my cousins house down south tomorrow or Friday, and then I shall blast you all with photographs!

For now I am going to continue reading books and relaxing!

When one door closes another opens. You hope.

Today was a melbourne day, four seasons in one day. I'll quickly ramble off what was achieved Woke up, got dressed, went out to trafalgar square to get touristy pics with the count down clock, had yummy brunch with mum at the cute heathy food cafe. Ended up breaking my sandals, resulting in me walking around London city barefoot for an hour or so on the look out for a shoe store.

Our mission to find shoes took us past a protest/demonstration of an African nation. Then thank goodness came across 'clarks', where the overly helpful store lady stuck to my back 'helping' me find shoes. with shoes back on my feet, and not looking quite so homeless Mum and I hit up Regents street and did some retai therapy.

 After making our feet sore again we went home to chill out before we headed to the airport to say our goodbyes. Yes there were tears, who doesn't cry when say bye to their amazing Mum? But right this moment I'm in bed after finishing packing my humongous suitcase. It has somehow magically multiplied itself in the last three weeks!

 No idea how I am going to manage to lug it around tomorrow on trains to get to my next impromptu home! However ignoring all this blubber, I need to mention a few achievements so far on this journey.

My Mum who is petrified of heights is no longer prettified, probably slightly scared would be an apt description now. The escalators here, going down to the tube are almost vertical. Mums initial reaction was one of a statue, a frozen stance, shaking and panicy breathing, she was practically a new woman today, looking up down, back and around, and not holding on to the rail. The Opening Ceremony so far has be incredible, absolutely amazing! The creativity, celebrities, music and acting. Wow.

Racing car driver

Well yesterday was a long long long day. But fabulous! We did some little touring throughout St Ives and then headed off to Mt St Michael, a castle on an island, there is a path from the mainland to the island! However due to bad weather we were unable to visit the island, but perved upon it for awhile! We the hit the road to drive across the country to be where we are now, Wych Cross in Sussex. On the journey (9 hours), we hit multiple road closures and diversions, courtesy of the Olympic torch relay. Oh the joy, who cares that we had a dinner date with our cousin Steve, who looks after a manor here. But to my great surprise these road closures allowed me to experience a new side of my mother. The Racing car driver. It went like this, one way area and police car trying to push in front of us "fat chance buddy, push over", my mother cutting of the police :) Next we were in a little country lane and we are over taken by some young hooligans, "What pussys, I haven't been passed all day, not starting now"' we then proceed to tail gate the young boys for at least 15km, sticking rights there bum. Was quite an enjoyable experience :) Off to Ireland today!

24 hours on and still strong!

Hectic! Crashed last night and woke up bright an early at five pm, realised that the adaptor I had did not was missing the piece it needed to function therefore my hair was insanely frizzy, imagine einstein but worse.

But otherwise I had a spectacularly jam packed day. Mum and I squished in the bus tours, buckingham, palace, kensington palace, Hyde park & biking, Harrods, new sim cards, Finding Aspley house to pic up our heritage passes and then finding out they are shop. Oh and of course making the London underground our bff :)

 The weather was more pleasant thank goodness.

Some observations people here don't talk, people that work at Harrods are ten times worse than people that work at Myers, their pubs are quite reasonably priced, always order the 'London Tower' burger at Garfunckle- it was amazinggg! Lastly don't forget to lock your room when you share an apartment. Close one.

Tomorrow we are off to Windsor Castle, Stone Henge, Bath, and end up in St Ives. I'll update you then! xx