Indonesia Round 1 Finale

Before I get into this blog, let me start by saying that at the time of writing this, we have left Indonesia after a month, been to, and left Malaysia already (just for a week) and are now back in Indonesia. This time tackling Java with the hope of soaking up as much Bahasa Indonesian culture as possible.

In the interest of getting whoever reads this thing up to date, this will act more of a summary (starting from where we left you off last) and reflection of our time in Indonesia, round 1. Sounds good? Cool.. here we go.

I think we left off in The Gilis? Whats that? Oh just one of the 17,000 (slight exaggeration but relevant number given its how many islands make up Indo) slices of paradise that can be found in Indo.

After 3 weeks of beaching we felt we owed it to ourselves to get some physical activity in before ending off round 1.....with more beaching that is. The perfect opportunity revealed  itself to JJ and I. A 3 day trek up a volcano.. not just any volcano.. The Rinjani. Only the highest volcano in Lombok…

More-so than just physical activity, we were craving to get a deeper dive into what Indonesia has to offer… Where better to search than Lombok, what Bali was 25 years ago (so they say).

We left the Gilis and planned to stay one night in Senaru, the launching pad town for the trek before embarking on the 3 day journey. What we found there were some amazing waterfalls, a ping pong game (NO… not the Thailand kind) and some great laughs with the locals and trekking staff. Side note.. they are SICK at ping pong….

Stepping stones over the river 

Two hours later we reached these amazing falls 

Well worth the hike

 Next up… the trek - You would think that 5+ months on the road would put us in decent shape….  It doesn’t.. at least not from a cardio standpoint. That is where we saw the immediate difference between us and Clegger, That girl basically ran up 2000m of altitude via tropical, turned rocky, turned gravel terrain.

What she discovered an hour before we did, was an amazing sight - a volcano, in a Lake, on a volcano. Think about it……. picture it… or just look at these photos

Ladies at the starting point of the trek

View at end of Day 1 - Volcano in a lake in a volcano

Hanging out high above the clouds

The girls at the end of day 1  

Sunset on day 1

After day 1 of the trek we woke up to Clegger poking her head out of her tent….looking a little worse for wear with a question…

Clegger: Hey guys… What are the symptoms for altitude sickness?

JJ: light headedness

Jonny: Major dumps

Talia: Headaches

CK: dehydration

Clegger: I think I have altitude sickness…

Jonny: Are you sure because I have been going like crazy this AM, and I feel fine…….

We started out the day 2 trek but Clegg was getting much worse and given some of her symptoms (i.e. Vom-poo….sorry Clegger) she was suffering from some pretty bad dehydration in additional altitude sickness. After about 3 hours of trekking we reached the lake where we had some scheduled chilling time. After some team deliberation we decided that would be the end of the road for us for the day given we already had to carry Clegg the last hour – she was in no shape to keep going. That and it’s too dangerous to ascend when you have altitude sickness….. So we hung out at a lower altitude with locals, hit the natural hot springs and took on the views that made you feel like you were in the land before time (another epic movie I was reminded of on this trip [refer to a prior blog where I found that travelling makes you think of the most amazing classic movies]…. Although, we still haven’t watched Harry and Hendersons…. Next rain day for sure). Since we had spent the night at the lake instead of at higher ground we didn’t summit the volcano, based on the advice of Salmon, our guide, we doubled back the way we came which was a safer route for Clegg.

J.J under the waterfall

It was actually like the land before time

Fisherman down at the lake

Camping at the lake

After 2 rough days, NOW, we owed ourselves some more beach, surf and generally epic island vibes……and that is exactly what we got in Senggigi. A small beach town with some high end and low end resorts. We obv stayed in the low-end but the true flavour of Senggigi owes much to the locals there. To be honest, we didn’t truly have a real experience with them until our last night…. But WOW… did it ever leave an impression.

Our "low end" resort in Sengigi 

I think we’ll just post pictures to tell the story… probably easier and more entertaining that way. But to summarize:

• We enter the Happy Café for dinner, knowing it’s our last night, drinking is a tad more aggressive than usual. “Gentle pinting” as I like to put it
• The girls order a pitcher of Monkey Juice
• We become a little louder and rowdier than most of the other patrons (both local and non)
• We request the best tunes for the band (which is one of the best Asian cover band I have ever seen) – led by our soon to be friend Yodi… who likes to call himself “Yodi-Only One:
• After noticing our enthusiasm, the owner of the bar sent us a round of Jose Tequila (or as Berman and I like to call it… Funny Juice)
• He decided to come join us for a few cocktails and then took a liking to us so the next round of shots were Patron, from his personal stash
• After the band ended at Happy Café, we headed to the next bar along with “Yodi-Only one”
• Blah blah blah.. look at the pics

Drinks with our new friend 

Enough Said

1

YUMMMM

Yodi Only-One on the mic 

Although there was a band playing at the next bar, Yodi took to the mic anyways and belted out a range of hits from Smells like Teen Spirit to Don’t Stop Believing.  What Yodi didn’t know is that I have passion for singing too…. All of a sudden the back-up mic was nowhere to be found, and the Asian tweaked cover songs had a little more Canadian flare to them. Ill leave it at that.

This was almost the end of the Cleggers trip, so we headed back to Bali (slowly) the next morning. We spent a chill night back in Ubud with our new besties Ketut and Nyoman back at Sadru’s guesthouse. Clegger shopped her brains out and we SMASHED Nasty Nuris – some of the best BBQ I have ever had…. Ribs ribs and more ribs.

After saying goodbye to Clegger we headed to Nusa Lembongen, a small island off of Bali for a few more days. We went there to relax…but mostly to surf as it is known from some pretty epic reef breaks. There where we met Lana, 20 years of surfing made him more than eligible to captain us out to the break and guide us through the bigger-than-we-should-be-surfing waves. We spent about 3 hours catching waves at Lacerations, one of the famous breaks on the island and then rented scooters for the afternoon to explore the islands hidden beaches. Although our surfing might be more entertaining to you than Lana… he was truly a highlight. A great dude, and owner of NEWBRO surf shop.

Low tide on Nusa Lembongen

Dream Beach - a hidden gem

Sunset on Mushroom Beach

Our time in Indo was winding down big time. Tals, Kait and JJ headed to Kuta for one last day/night to get in some final surfing and I headed to Sanur to squeeze in some Kite Surfing lessons (my newest passion), before Tals and I had to take off to Malaysia.

To go back in time for a minute, when we got to Indo, it was clear that we were no longer in India. We spend 2 amazing months in India where we got everything we were expecting and more. A really magical experience to say the least.

Because of how epic it was, at times, Indo (round 1) felt like maybe we were missing out on culture…I mean, how long could you fall back on beaching it (I could do it a lot.. but we are going for new experiences  and global perspective here). Then at the end of the month it really dawned on me. It was the people. Everywhere we have been, it truly comes down to the people that make the experience, give you the insight your craving and intro to their culture.

At the end of the day that is truly what it all comes down to though isn’t it…. It’s about surrounding yourself with great people. Whether you’re:

… on the road

… living out of a bag or even a suitcase

… at home doing the everyday

… at work, etc….

The best experiences or the experiences you’re looking for will come when you surround yourself with amazing people.

A special thanks for letting us into your lives…

Ketut and Nyomen, Wayan (our driver, not the other 50% of the Bali population), the local beach people of the Gilis (both on and off the main strip), Abdul, Hardy and the rest of the Rinjani team, Senggigi bar owner (no matter how epic you are, I’ll never remember your name), Yodi Only One, Lana, All the dude bros from the Rip Curl Surf School and everyone else I’m probably missing.

Off to Malaysia for a week of… well…. I have no clue because we haven’t done any research.

OOO_Jonny and Tals

Bukit Peninsula, Indonesia

After a few days in Can-Kuta we were ready for a change so we headed further south on the island of Bali to the Bukit Peninsula in search of serene beaches, more surfing, less people and less McDonalds. This is exactly what we found in our first stop and home for a few days, Balangan. Balangan, along with the rest of the beaches along the Bukit peninsula are some of the most amazing, paradise evoking spots I have ever seen. White sand and crystal water beaches concealed between huge bluffs at the end of long hidden roads that only a few venture down.

We stayed in in the Balangan Sea View Bungalows which sits on top of a hill overlooking Balangan beach. They certainly don’t call this place the Sea View for nothing, from our balcony we could watch the massive waves rolling in as well as the very experienced surfers catching them.

View from our balcony at Sea View

Since the beaches along the peninsula are quite spread out the best way to explore is by hiring scooters and head out on your own in search of paradise. It was pretty late in the day by the time we got settled into the Sea View and had a quick swim so we didn’t have time to explore other beaches that day but we decided to arrange for our scooters for the next anyways. We opted to get them for 24 hours so that we could use them for the night as well and after a late lunch we hoped on our new wheels and drove down to the Ulu Watu temple to watch the sunset.

In addition to being a really famous surf spot, not for the faint of heart surfer, Ulu Watu has a Hindu temple that people and tour buses come from all over Bali to see at sunset. The temple itself isn’t much to write home about compared to many other more ornate ones I have seen, but the setting of the temple is incredible. It sits on top of a massive cliff on a section that jets out over the ocean and because of its position on the island the sunsets here are one of a kind.  There is also a traditional Kecak Fire dance put on every night after sunset at the temple. Kait, J.J and Heather grabbed some tickets but since Jonny and I had already seen the show in Ubud we opted out and decided to wander around the temple a little more taking it all in, while dodging aggressive monkeys.  After the show the five of us rode off into the night, had some dinner at our hotel and went to bed after a few hands of cards – we needed some good rest for our totally to prepare for our epic beach day.





After a quick breakfast at the Sea View, a few Skype calls home, a quick lesson for Clegger on how to drive a scooter since she was going to have to drive her own today we headed out in search of BEACHES. We spent the day beach hoping along the coast on all the beaches we were able to find – here are a few highlights;

Padang, Padang: probably the best beach we have come across yet in Bali. If you blinked while driving by on the road you would miss it hidden down at the bottom of the hill. The beach itself is not much bigger than a suburban back yard. You have to walk about 5 mins down a staircase carved into a rocky cave to get there but once you pop out its nothing but powdering sand and turquoise water.

Ulu Watu: This is not technically a beach; it’s an incredible surf spot, only for experienced riders where you get out into the break by sliding into the water in a cave and paddling through. Like most other spots along the peninsula the entry spot is at the bottom of a cliff. We stopped here at had lunch at Blue Fin, a wicked spot on the edge of the cliff. We watched the surfers catch wave after wave, dreaming that one day we could be like them……highly unlikely.

Surfer catching a wave at Ulu Watu

View from Blue Fin restaurant

Bingin and Dreamland: After Ulu Watu we set out in search of Bingin beach, a supposedly white sandy beach with waves ok for a beginner surfer. We rode for a while following each sign we could find that said Bingin, each proving to be a dead end. After over an hour of searching we finally found what we believed to be the spot where you park your bikes to walk down to Bingin but after talking to the locals there they informed us that Bingin is a rocky beach and we would be better off at Dreamland. Back on the bikes for another 5 mins, a 5 min hike downhill and we found ourselves at beautiful Dreamland. For some reason I have no photos from dreamland so images courtsey of Google Images

Balangan: After a day filled with scooting, swimming and bronzing we headed back to our home beach to watch the sunset and the day’s surfers heading in with a couple of Bintangs from one of the thatched roof huts on Balangan beach.

Path down to the beach

Bintag after a hard day

Sunset in the beach hut

Jimbaran: Ok, so this beach is not actually on the Bukit Peninsula, it’s on the other side of the southern tip of the island and is filled with endless resorts. We didn’t go here for the beach we came here for the food. Every night Jimbaran beach is taken over by seafood restaurants that set up tables on the beach and serve massive (and overpriced) seafood dinners where you select your own fish. This was a treat only for the seafood lovers in the group. Jonny, J.J and Clegger indulged on a ridiculous sized seafood feast while Kait and I dined on chicken burgers - trust me this was not their strong suit. But after grabbing some fresh corn on the cob from a man with a BBQ on the beach, we all left satisfied

Team seafood enjoying thier dinner

After diner we headed back to Sea View where yet again we ran into people we knew from back in Canada, completely unexpectedly!

Random Canadians run in

Such a small world. Jonny and I had a couple of Bintangs with them before heading to bed to prepare for another 6am wake up call. Next stop Gili Islands!!!

OOO_Talia and Jonny

Can-Kuta, Indonesia

After a wonderful week in Ubud we were ready for the B.E.A.C.H so we headed down to South Bali hotspot, Seminyak, this is where all the beautiful people come to hang out, and home to many swanky resorts and hotels.  Lucky for us, after a little searching we were able to find a budget homestay for just $15/night in the main part of town and not too far from the beach.  Only problem was the pesky angry dog next door that we had to walk by each time we left, but he seemed to be sufficiently scared of Jonny and J.J.’s air karate kicks so we made it our safe and sound.

After a late dinner, Kait and I headed to the airport to pick up our friend Heather (Clegger as she is known to us) who was coming from Canada to join us for about 3 weeks. FINALLY REUNITED!! We celebrated our joyous reunion at the arrivals terminal of Denspar airport for a few minutes and then hopped in a cab back to meet the boys in Seminyak. While we were out at the airport the boys had apparently done some exploring and discovered an unreal bar called Santa Fe that featured and even more unreal rock cover band – Crazy Horse. These guys really knew how to rock out, even though the drummer could have been over 50. You would swear you were at a live Pearl Jam concern.  The 5 of us caught up there until late into the evening over Bintangs, a local Balinese beer, before heading to bed to get some rest before our big day of beaching-it.

Enjoying Bintangs and reunions

Day 2 in Seminyak was spent 100% totally on the beach, from morning all the way to sunset. We spent the day beating Clegger’s jetlag and catching up on all the bronzing that we missed while in India followed by a pretty tame evening of dinner near the beach.

How was your Monday??

Sunset in Seminyak

Next up we headed to Kuta Beach, one of the most famous beaches on Bali. This is where you find the massive clubs, fast food joints, surf shops and Aussie’s on spring break. This is why we dubbed the place Can-Kuta, because it is basically Cancun. A wonderful beach spot but basically void of any and all local culture. We decided to spend only a few days there to enjoy the beach and good surfing before venturing out to find more culturally attractive spots to spend our time.  

We checked ourselves into a fantastic little find called Suji’s Guesthouse where for just $35 a night (total not each) we got a private 3 bed villa, with hot water, breakfast, a pool and Wi-Fi mere minutes from the beach.  I highly recommend it if you find yourself in Kuta. We spent the day bronzing, surfing and shopping before we headed back to Suji’s just after sunset. Even though it is pretty void of any culture, one thing Kuta is not missing is wonderful beach and amazing sunsets.

Poolside at the Suji Guesthouse

At night we hit another delicious dinner spot called Un’s, there really seems to be no bad place to eat in all of Bali. It was at Un’s that we got our first taste of the local booze – Arak. We eased into the Arak with a round of Arak Margarita’s but as the night wrote on we stepped it up to Arak and soda’s all around.  As everyone knows what happens in Can-Kuta stays in Can-Kuta so I we will save the details for stories told later in life to embarrass each other, but the night included dancing, shots, absinth, pizza and shenanigans that would have made our 20-year old selves jealous.

Ladies before the night on the town

Starting into the Arak cocktails

Sunset on Kuta......where we nursed our hangovers

After a much needed sleep-in we nursed our hangovers on the beach. We surfed until evening where there was yet another sunset that would give a post card a run for its money. After a pool dip and showers we headed out to a real Italian pizza place we had pasted the night before. The place had just opened and was run by an Italian/Balinese couple. The pizza was amazing as was the company, we chatted for a long time with before being treated to a shot of Limoncello (Italian liquor often shared among friends). After dinner we tried to hit the strip again but no one was in much condition for round 2 so after stopping by the Kuta bombing memorial we headed back to play some cards (how old to we sound??) 

OOO_Talia and Jonny

The Travelers' Abyss

When you are travelling like we are – On a budget – sometimes you end up having to take a round-about and longgggggggggggg route to get where you are going. Sometimes it can even result in a few days of what we have termed “the traveller’s abyss”. This is when you find yourself in the midst of days of travel without ever sleeping in a bed, never quite being anywhere, but all over the place – essentially in transit for days on end.  For our last few days in India we were entering into the “traveler’s abyss” as we made our way to our next destination – BALI, INDONESIA!

It started with a 4:00 am wake up to catch a shared jeep from Darjeeling down to Siliguri so we could catch an overnight train to Delhi. Eleven people were cramped into this jeep where the trunk was converted into sideways facing seats. Jonny and I shared an Indian seat for 2 (meaning it should have been for 1) allowing us only 1 butt cheek each on the seat. Any attempt to sleep in the jeep was rendered useless as we were thrown around like ragdolls on the terrible streets heading downhill from Darjeeling. It is almost as if it’s meant to be some sort of driving video game on these streets. Dodge left. Dog. Dodge right. Pothole. Dodge left. Kids. STOP. Oncoming cars. Back-up the hill and squeeze past.

After 3 hours we had finally finished the 90km journey to Siliguri, just the beginning our route through the abyss. Next we had to take a bicycle rickshaw with all of our bags about 10km over to the train station. WORST RIDE EVER.  For future reference, 2 people, 2 big bags and 2 day bags do not fit in a bicycle rickshaw.  After a 4hr wait in the “upper class” waiting room at the NJP train station, something reminiscent of a waiting room at a back alley doctor’s office in Mexico, yet still better than killing time on the platform,  we finally got onto the Radjani express. We had a 3AC berth, which was much like the 2AC style we had been used to but with beds stacked 3 high. Our man Shafi at Destination !ndia hooked us up with these tickets, a very comfortable ride where they served 4 meals.

Cards to entertain ourselves on the 22hr ride

Sunset view from the train

Twenty two hours later we arrived in Delhi around 10am, and since our flight to Bali was at 11pm we didn’t have a hotel or anything booked for the day. Luckily the nice people at Destination !ndia let us leave our bags at their office for the day while we wandered around Delhi, taking in some of the sights one last time. We picked up our bags at 5pm as the agency was closing and took our last Indian rickshaw ride to the airport to wait for our flight. It was a 5 hour wait before boarding…….so is the life in the travelers abyss.

An overnight flight to Kuala Lampur was followed by an 8 hour wait in the KL airport. If we had to kill time in an airport however KL would be at the top of our list. Its clean and modern, but wasn’t too busy, plus they have these amazing little movie stations (free of course) that are surrounded by chairs and love seats, one of which I used for a 3 hour nap to make up for my lack of sleep on the overnight flight. 

KL airport free movie lounge

Samsung internet hotspot

KL airport

We finally left KL around 3pm for a short hop over to Bali where we met our driver and new friend Wayan who drove took us the 1 hour drive to Ubud where we finally arrived at Sardu guesthouse, our finally destination.

Somehow I woke up on a Friday morning and now it is Sunday night - 52 hours have passed, we haven’t been in a bed, we’ve used every mode of transportation and have made our way through 4 cities in 3 countries. This is what we have termed the travelers abyss.

All of it – totally worth it though! We are already totally in LOVE with Bali even though it’s only been 3 hours and the guesthouse we are staying at is GREAT!! Clean, comfortable and run by a totally sweet and welcoming family. They happen to be good friends with my Aunt and Uncle who make the trip to Bali annually for business.

The 3 days of travelling has now caught up with us and we are off to get some zzz’s before getting to know the town of Ubud, Bali tomorrow!

OOO_Talia and Jonny