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.
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.
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
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!
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!
