Bali is somewhere I had visited before aged 11 and remembered it as being this exotic almost paradise location. When I got there as a 23 year old I was going to remember it for something else – Aussies, nightlife and surfing. It was the first place on our trip that we'd actually encountered other tourists and the fist time we'd met Aussies on the tour. The capital on the south side of the island was a hedonistic array of surf shops, reflexologists, spas and bars. A place that I found on the first day though was an Eco Warehouse boasting the biggest array of sustainable DIY and building materials in this hemisphere called the Little Tree. It was newly opened and at the back they had an organic vegetarian cafe which me and Rob enjoyed lunch at. My diet had taken a battering of various McDonald's when I couldn't eat spicy stuff and other meat laden dishes when I could so I was keen to become more vegetarian to maintain a balance.
The evening of our first full day in Bali the whole of Ozbus11 had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Then a few of the youngens went out to experience the Bali nightlife. And what an experience it was. Suddenly in these more than recognizable I got a sense of returning to the Western world and in that, leaving some of the adventure behind. But I did enjoy the frugal sense of going out and spending time enjoying oneself.
Day 75 saw me get up at a reasonable hour and head to the beach enrolled at one of the many surf schools dotted along the coast. I had visited with Irish lass Lou and Germanic blondie Lara when they booked their lessons and decided a beginners morning session was in order. It had always been my plan to come to Australia pursuing Surfing after being introduced to it in the South West of England and I can tell you now – lessons in Bali are a far sight cheaper than in Australia. So the lesson in Bali went well – standing up on the board isn't the hard part for me and I've got the technique pretty much after a weekend session back in England 2005 and a morning in Bali refreshing it. What I find difficult though is having the stamina for catching the wave over and over again without getting super tired. Guess that's just my lack of fitness but at the time of writing – I've been in Australia for almost 5 months and the closest I've got to surfing is taking photos of those actually doing it on Manly Beach.
But it was all good fun in Bali and nice to do something challenging. That evening a few of us made our way to the beach to watch the sunset with a beer and I had dinner in a tiny off street eatery with just the right amount of cuteness. I used the morning of our last day in Bali doing boring administrative stuff like emailing, trying to get photos off my laptop for a OzBus11 souvenir book but my laptop had refused to get better since Mt Bromo. Then it was time to pack. For some reason, just because my bag knew that we were in Bali for a couple of days, it took the opportunity to expel all of its contents forming a volcano of clothing at the foot of my bed. I was sharing with Dru again and she must have been shocked at the mess. At 6.30pm a light dinner was laid on for us before we all loaded onto shuttle buses at 7pm to the airport. It was an agonizing wait in the lounge for a 10.45pm flight to Darwin. Once on board, a few of us got a little shuteye until we landed at Darwin Airport, NT, Australia.
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Friday 23 April 2010
Ozbus11 in Java and Sumatra, Indonesia
Our ferry over to the islands of Indonesia was fairly indescriptive. It was a different kind of ferry to the ones we had been on before. It was a sit down one, with no outer decks but also no windows so you couldn't see how you were positioned on the sea. It was fairly crammed inside with seats but this ferry company provided passengers with 80's music videos and a film for entertainment along with a snack lunch. We left Melaka, Malaysia at 8am and arrived in Bergalisk,on the island Java 12.40pm local just in time for some horrendous rain. At the port we jumped on our Indonesian bus and arrived at our hotel in Pekanbaru seven hours later.
It was a one nighter there and at 6.30am we were on our way again. Now I write this a long time after we were there and my memory of the country is mostly marred by long days, group politics and the impending sens that this amazing journey was soon going to be over. However one of the highlights for me and something not a lot of other people really got was an experience on day 66 of the OzBus London to Sydney tour. At 9.35am we arrived at the Equator in Tugu. This was an enormous symbolic event for me. Firstly it symbolized that I'd left one hemisphere behind – the north I'd known all my life and this new and exciting, opposite southern one. Secondly it's a point on the world map I have always wanted to step foot on. Ever since daydreaming in Geography class, flicking through my school atlas and pointing at all the weird and outlandish locations I hope one day to see with my own eyes. And when I though of this, at the time, all I had around me was four walls and an expectation from other people of how my life would turn out.
So there I was, finally having reached the Equator and loving it! A couple of snack stops later it was evening and we had come to Jambi in Sumatra. Another one nighter (and Indonesia was simply littered with these and severe daily drives) and we left at 8am to arrive in Palambang at 3.30pm. Which didn't seem so bad and obviously meant we had some decent time to spend exploring – only I don't recall there being anything in this town worth exploring. I think the most exploring we did was attempting to find somewhere decent to eat (for those who didn't automatically turn to Pizza Hut just because it happened to be available). At 6.30am on day 68 we left and at 4.30pm we arrived at Bandar Lumpung. This was our Sumatra/Java border and at 8.45am the next morning we arrived for the ferry.
Indonesian ferries are interesting. I don't think our roll on/roll off boat was particularly overloaded but we did notice other ferries coming in with their cargo doors already down! Alarm bells! I don't think our one did that and the only bad thing I remember of it is that the deck with the toilets on smelt really bad. At about 12pm we arrived in Java and continued on to Bandang. I probably enjoyed this island more than the last but I think mainly because we got a chance to rest up a little on this one. We left 7.30am the next day on the way to the Green Canyon. Here we were loaded into traditional boats and taken to a swimming hole with currents, and boulders to jump off. It was a little bit of paradise and I didn't even find out there were leaches in it until I was in Australia which is great.
Day 71 we were taken to a National Park and even though we weren't changing towns we were changing hotels which was more than slightly annoying because of all our one nighters. At 7.30am we left Pangadarran and headed for Yogyakarta the cultural capital of Indonesia. This was a delightful two night stop over and on our 'free day' we went on a cultural tour of the city which included: The Sultan's Palace where every artifact symbolized sex according to our guide, a batik demonstration studio, a Buddhists temple where Rob the Geography boy assured us that big mass of black cloud wasn't headed for us and then changed his mind when were all stranded at the top where a torrent of rain was deposited on us. Suddenly I was cold and wet with only summer clothes on. I am not a cold and wet person – I have no central heating. Basically I'm amphibious and cold blooded – I need the sun to live. When I am cold and wet I tend to go into hibernation. Getting back to the bus from the temple was a bit of an assault course but lucky for me there was a tall French/Canadian who rescued me from a few deep puddles. Back at the hotel the weather had taken it's toll on me and I decided to miss out the cultural dinner that had been laid on for us. Besides I wanted to get some precious sleep before a 5.30am departure the next day.
Day 74 we arrived at a small hotel complex besides a crater besides an active volcano called Mt Bromo – oh yeah! It smokes, it smells, it's majorly cool and I got to ride across the crater on horseback. It was here that I found my laptop had ceased to live throwing my already sporadic OzBus updates into disarray. Bromo was a fabulous three night rest for the Ozbus group. We all got to wind down a little and enjoy ourselves in a relatively isolated location. All the places in Indonesia before had simply been towns or cities. We left on day 75 already excited about our next ferry trip to Bali.
It was a one nighter there and at 6.30am we were on our way again. Now I write this a long time after we were there and my memory of the country is mostly marred by long days, group politics and the impending sens that this amazing journey was soon going to be over. However one of the highlights for me and something not a lot of other people really got was an experience on day 66 of the OzBus London to Sydney tour. At 9.35am we arrived at the Equator in Tugu. This was an enormous symbolic event for me. Firstly it symbolized that I'd left one hemisphere behind – the north I'd known all my life and this new and exciting, opposite southern one. Secondly it's a point on the world map I have always wanted to step foot on. Ever since daydreaming in Geography class, flicking through my school atlas and pointing at all the weird and outlandish locations I hope one day to see with my own eyes. And when I though of this, at the time, all I had around me was four walls and an expectation from other people of how my life would turn out.
So there I was, finally having reached the Equator and loving it! A couple of snack stops later it was evening and we had come to Jambi in Sumatra. Another one nighter (and Indonesia was simply littered with these and severe daily drives) and we left at 8am to arrive in Palambang at 3.30pm. Which didn't seem so bad and obviously meant we had some decent time to spend exploring – only I don't recall there being anything in this town worth exploring. I think the most exploring we did was attempting to find somewhere decent to eat (for those who didn't automatically turn to Pizza Hut just because it happened to be available). At 6.30am on day 68 we left and at 4.30pm we arrived at Bandar Lumpung. This was our Sumatra/Java border and at 8.45am the next morning we arrived for the ferry.
Indonesian ferries are interesting. I don't think our roll on/roll off boat was particularly overloaded but we did notice other ferries coming in with their cargo doors already down! Alarm bells! I don't think our one did that and the only bad thing I remember of it is that the deck with the toilets on smelt really bad. At about 12pm we arrived in Java and continued on to Bandang. I probably enjoyed this island more than the last but I think mainly because we got a chance to rest up a little on this one. We left 7.30am the next day on the way to the Green Canyon. Here we were loaded into traditional boats and taken to a swimming hole with currents, and boulders to jump off. It was a little bit of paradise and I didn't even find out there were leaches in it until I was in Australia which is great.
Day 71 we were taken to a National Park and even though we weren't changing towns we were changing hotels which was more than slightly annoying because of all our one nighters. At 7.30am we left Pangadarran and headed for Yogyakarta the cultural capital of Indonesia. This was a delightful two night stop over and on our 'free day' we went on a cultural tour of the city which included: The Sultan's Palace where every artifact symbolized sex according to our guide, a batik demonstration studio, a Buddhists temple where Rob the Geography boy assured us that big mass of black cloud wasn't headed for us and then changed his mind when were all stranded at the top where a torrent of rain was deposited on us. Suddenly I was cold and wet with only summer clothes on. I am not a cold and wet person – I have no central heating. Basically I'm amphibious and cold blooded – I need the sun to live. When I am cold and wet I tend to go into hibernation. Getting back to the bus from the temple was a bit of an assault course but lucky for me there was a tall French/Canadian who rescued me from a few deep puddles. Back at the hotel the weather had taken it's toll on me and I decided to miss out the cultural dinner that had been laid on for us. Besides I wanted to get some precious sleep before a 5.30am departure the next day.
Day 74 we arrived at a small hotel complex besides a crater besides an active volcano called Mt Bromo – oh yeah! It smokes, it smells, it's majorly cool and I got to ride across the crater on horseback. It was here that I found my laptop had ceased to live throwing my already sporadic OzBus updates into disarray. Bromo was a fabulous three night rest for the Ozbus group. We all got to wind down a little and enjoy ourselves in a relatively isolated location. All the places in Indonesia before had simply been towns or cities. We left on day 75 already excited about our next ferry trip to Bali.
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