Sunny Zanzibar, Tanzania

After nearly two months loving Tanzania we have barely scratched the surface of this amazing country, let alone Africa. Our time here as been absolutely incredible and like no other experience we have had yet on this trip. The landscape and once in a lifetime type experiences like climbing Mtn Kilimanjaro and cruising the  Serengeti were amazing, but what has really left a lifetime imprint on us is the people we have met here.

We know this is not the only time we will spend wandering this amazing area, in fact we have already made a pact to ourselves to try and get back here within 3 years. Since we had spent the better part of our time here exploring the more "rural" side of Tanzania, we decided that we would spend our last few days seeing another side....... the beach! 

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous group of islands off of mainland Tanzania and features all kinds of wonderful things to do, spice tours, boat tours, snorkeling, etc........we decided to spend out few days engaging in our favorite pastime - beaching and watching sunsets. We were ready for the extreme relaxation. We spent our time between the exotic beaches on the northern end of the island and a few days in Stone town exploring the Arabic influenced architecture and culture, and dining at one of the best night food markets we have come across in a long time! 

The only downfall with Zanzibar is the ferry required to get there, which have a tendency be really rough and occasionally sink. Luckily for us sinking did not happen, but our return journey to Dar Es Salaam was so rough that they passed around much needed (and widely used) puke bags. I was never more happy to be in Dar Es Salaam as the moment our ferry docked!

Here are a few pics to help us all daydream!

Boat under construction

Ladies farming seaweed

Endless white sand and aqua water

Sunset soccer

One of many amazing sunsets

View from Zanzibar hotel

Sunset sail

Beach beers

Jason jumping into a game of volleyball

Strolling in Stonetown

Spying in Stonetown

OOO_Talia and Jonny

Canada Day in Paradise

Since we had only heard of them the day before, we really didn’t know to expect of the Perhentian Islands, a set of islands off the North East Coast of Malaysia. The one page print-out in our hostel in Penang promised white sand beaches just a few kilometers off the mainland so we figured- hey, why not. We were ready for island life again.

What we found when our “ferry”  (aka a small speed boat that fits about 12 people) rounded Perhentian Kecil, the smaller of the 2 inhabited islands, was nothing short of a scene out of the movie “The Beach”.  But not like what that beach in Thailand looks like now (we have it on good authority that it is now crowded and dirty with wall to wall tourists…but I haven’t been there myself) but what it looks like in the actual movie.

Arriving on Long Beach

Our first glimpse of Kecil 

We opted to stay on Long Beach, the busiest of the handful of beaches on the island. It has about 10 places to stay and 5 restaurants…..so really not that busy.  After surveying the spots that had vacancies we settled on a room at Panorama, a hotel/dive school/restaurant/bar/live music/internet café venue.

After dropping off our bags and getting settled, we ventured out to do what you are supposed to do on this island…..chill on the beach! In addition to the most amazing, refreshing, transparent azure water and fine white powdery sand, zero cars or roads and nothing but Bob Marley and Jack Johnson blaring all day long across the beach, the area is supposedly a heaven for those into snorkeling and scuba diving. Although we didn’t partake in the underwater happenings, the people we met who did spoke very highly of the day trips and dives around the island. We choose to spend more time at the various beaches and dipping in the glorious water.  For the rest of day 1 we enjoyed Long Beach and then took the 15 minute stroll over to Coral Bay, the smaller, quieter beach on the opposite side of the island. It boasts the same beautiful water and sand, but with some coral lining the water’s edge.

Beach side set-up on Long Beach

At sunset the restaurants on Long Beach spread out grass mats in the sand at little tables and light tiki torches to set the mood for evening filled  with Chang’s (local beer) and Monkey Juice (local alcohol) and dancing in the sand.  We enjoyed a gentle few with some new friends we met throughout the day….. who strangely enough seemed to almost all be from our home and native land – CANADA.  It may have been a coincidence that we were meeting all these Canadians but it was amazing timing since we were going to spend Canada on this Island paradise!

Beach Bar getting set up for sunset

Changs on the beach

One day we decided that we would take a walk to the other side of the island to experience it from other perspectives.  In order to get to the other side of the island you need to take a path through the forest/jungle. Walking for about an hour will get you to 3-4 remote beaches and panoramic view of this amazing group of islands in the South China Sea.  As we approached the entrance of the path into the jungle a 2ft long iguana darted out about 6ft in front of us - this is something that I did NOT anticipate. Iguanas have about the same effect on me as snakes – paralyzing fear. So we stood just outside the entranceway to the path for upwards of 30mins (I wish I could say that I was exaggerating this, but actually it was probably closer to 45mins) while Jonny and a handful of locals tried to convince me that it would be fine and I should take the path. Eventually after much discussion I finally agreed on the condition that Jonny carried me across the dark part of the path until we passed where the Iguanas were and that he would put me on his back anytime another iguana poked his or her head out.  I wish I could say that the rest of the stroll was a breeze ……..but it was totally worth it. We spent the afternoon exploring lookouts and private beaches, including one named Adam and Eve, aptly names because you actually feel like the only 2 people on earth while you are there.

View from the lookout

Stairway to Heaven 

Adam and Eve Beach

Finally….. CANADA DAY ARRIVED! Although our hotel was having a Jamaica party that night we partied with our new Canadian and other international friends on the beach like we were on Parliament Hill. 

Happy Canada Day!!

Our Jamaica paint for Canada Day

We partied so hard in fact that we slept in the next morning and missed our ferry in the morning…..oppps. This in the end spiralled us into the longest travel day ever in order to make it back to KL in time for our 6am flight back to Indonesia…….but soooooo worth spending Canada Day in Paradise.

OOO_Talia and Jonny

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

Put the lime in the coconut…. Gili Islands, Indonesia

Do you like beaches with powdery white sand and turquoise water? Do you like places with no cars? Do you like seclusion? Do you like dancing on the beach until dawn? ……… Then why are you not in the Gilis?? If you haven’t heard of this place you should look it up. It is a set of 3 tiny islands (you can bicycle around the largest one is less than an hour) off of Lombok where there are no cars, white sand, endless diving, snorkeling and beach parties and friendly locals just for good measure.

After a 6am pick-up by Wayan in Balangan, we arrived in the Gili Islands, Lombok just before lunch via the fast boats from Pandagbai, Bali. The fast boats are a pretty easy ride and only take about 1.15hrs, if the water isn’t too rough you can also enjoy the view riding on the roof which Kait, Clegger and I did. We had pre-booked our stay at D’Harbour hotel before we arrived and much to our delight the place looked even better than it did in photos. Our home for the next few days were gorgeous thatched roof bungalows set among gorgeous gardens conveniently located behind one of the islands hotspots for food and beach partying - which we absolutely took advantage of. It was a bit more costly than our usual places but at only $30/person/day we weren’t exactly breaking the bank.

Our home for a few days

After settling in and feasting on tacos in the D’Harbour bar (which the boys did on a few occasions since these tacos were so good) we headed immediately to the beach.  Although there is not much surfing on the island we did manage to find the one spot where they rent boards and there are some very VERY minor waves that you can surf for about 2 hours a day. This small beach bar where you rent the boards was run by some of the best Island locals I have ever met, they were the epitome of island life and just spent every day hanging out on the beach and surfing…they even showed off for us by surfing on their heads – no joke.

Amazing beach with Lombok in background

Jonny w/ his massive board... only way to catch these mini waves

Jonny and J.J headed out to catch a wave

Clegger making her way out for a surf

After a few hours of surfing and exploring the island we headed back to our bungalows to get ready and dine on the beach before heading to the islands best (and only) Reggae bar, Sama Sama, for the night’s party. We danced to reggae, partook in the local vodka and danced until well into the evening before we all started to fell asleep; ok well I pretty much fell asleep, so we headed home. The next day we rented bicycles and nursed the effects of the night before at the various secluded beaches around the island. That night we uncovered an amazing night food market just minutes down from our hotel so we took in some local favorites and the boys put down some fresh fish.

Investigating the fish before purchase

Checking out the local favs

Carts in the night market

After the night market we headed back to D’Harbour, who happened to be hosting the nights big party so we enjoyed some Bintangs and danced in the sand until before we knew it, it was 4:30am.

Beach party bonfire

Making some local friends

On our last day on the island we decided to take our rented bicycles on a cruise around the entire island to explore. After discovering an amazing beach bar at 11am …well beach hut with drinks is probably a better description, we decided to turn it into an island pub crawl as well. Over the course of the day we uncovered the islands most private beaches, homestays and bars, away from the backpacking masses, which just added to the magic of the Gilis. Our final stop for the day was a hidden spot on the north end of the islands for sunset.

One of the amazing hidden spots on the island

Cheers!....it's 12 o'clock somewhere

Sunset yoga poses

That night we had one more delicious dinner in the night market before heading back to D’harbour for some gentle Bintangs and a few hands of Shithead (our new fave card game). Next up 3 days on the Rinjani volcano in Lombok!

OOO_Talia and Jonny