Bali
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2008
1
14
26
Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Kuta,
Bali,
Indonesia
Saturday, June 14, 2008
We met a guy called Andy on the plane from Singapore and he told us how the taxi drivers meet you off the plane in the baggage hall with your stuff ....this was very surreal and we are glad he told us as it was a bit like they were trying to steal your stuff and rip you off.
Bali is a surfers paradise, there are lots of surf shops, and waves to catch and we could have spent all day watching them at the beach. The beaches arent as nice as we thought and have black sand which is really bizzarre. The street we are staying on is legian street which is full of shops and bars etc so there is plenty to do and lots of shopping to be done ( if you have the money to spare)...we have done a bit of shopping as its so cheap but there are so many nice things.
Its a bit strange here everyone seems to want to be friends with you which is definately not like England and we have had lots of kids come up and ask if they can have there photo taken with us .... it must be hard being a celebrity... they are really sweet though and polite with excellent English. We must be a bit ignorant in England as we dont really learn any other language but here in Bali they learn 4 types of balinese plus indonesian, then elnglish and then another language.
There are so many things to do here and so much of the island that we havent explored....we have seen the biggest bat which we only thought exisited in cartoons, huge spiders and lots of lizards.
White Water Rafting - this was my favourite part of the trip, it was loads of fun and we got to see the rice paddies, the local children and farmers, waterfalls, bamboo bridges, gorges,beautiful river beds, all sorts..... we had a four metre drop which was cool and we just wanted to go again so hopefully we will check out the rafting in Rotura ( New Zealand) for the seven metre drop...i would recommend this to anyone, we saw lots of families and had fun splashing them with our oars...also the local kids like to soak you when you ride past which is also great fun
Mountain Cycling - This was a fun day out, we set off quite early and headed up on to the mountains....our other team members were from south africa and one was a pilot and the other was a artist and they were there with there parents. We stopped off first at a plantation which had allsorts...coffee plants, chillis, cocoa, pinapples, lemongrass, peppers, cinnamon....loads. This was family run area and the guy was like willy wonka ( the jonny depp version...so was really funny and had a strange laugh which was almsot the same), they had a monkey, a puppy and a cow all chained up and the family made, roasted and groud the coffee everyday, along with other homemade items...we tried the products and the lemongrass tea was my favourite. From here we went to a restaurant which overlooked Mount Batur, Lake Batur and the largest Volcano in the country ( i cant recall its name)...the view was amazing and it would have been great to trek up to the top and see inside the active volcano. Then we headed mostly downhill towards Ubud through many local villages...the kids would run out to sday hello and high five you... they were really sweet and we had lots of fun talking to them... we stopped along the way to see some ironmongers making knives which must be hard work in the heat of this country...3hours later we finished and had a beautiful meal full of Indonesian delights. Cycling is a great way to see the country and local life... well worth the money.
Anyway we best get going....speak to you in Australia!!!!!!!!!
