Indonesian cooking

I hadn't expected to like Indonesian food as much as I did - how could I have, I had no idea what it was like never having tasted it! But since day one it officially replaced Thai cuisine as my top number one favourite! It's quite different to other Southeast Asian food in terms of flavours and presentation I thought. What I like about it is that it has huge regional differences and whilst dishes are similar they're never the same anywhere. Each cook adds their own touch to the dish. During my stay in Indonesia I had barely any meat. The vegetables they use are abundant and varied, and the flavours blend so nicely there's really no need for meat. My number one favourite dish was Gado-Gado, consisting of boiled or steamed vegetables (spinach, sprouts, potato, cabbage, string bean), fried tofu and tempeh (soy bean bread), boiled egg, and peanut sauce. And in every place it tasted different so you could easily eat it several times a week without getting bored of it.

Olah-Olah is another dish I will be sampling at home reminiscing the meals I had on the beach eating this vegetable curry cooked with coconut milk and Indonesian fresh spices. And from now on the only acceptable dip anytime anywhere is Sambal, which is a tomato based chilli dip that just goes well with everything.

Because I was enjoying Indonesian cooking so much I decided to sign up for a cooking course so I could get some of the basics down taught to me first hand by an experienced native chef.

The course I chose was Lobong Cooking Experience and I chose it based on the five out of five stars it had on Trip Advisor (what would I do without good old TA?¿?)

The half day experience included a visit to the local market, cooking of nine traditional dishes, lots of explanations of the origins of the foods and spices, and a cookbooklet to bring home with us. The course was held at their family compound. Balinese people live in compounds that are like little houses grouped together, and are homes to the family members. They all face the sacred volcano Gunung Agung. Each compound has a temple, sleeping areas, socialising areas, kitchen, and bathrooms. New structures are added as the family grows - the bride almost always moves into the groom's family compound. In this compound there were 19 of them living together, which is considered rather small..! It was a stunning place, lots of space and greenery around,very quiet and peaceful.

The way Balinese normally eat is that lots of food is cooked first thing in the morning for the entire family and everyone helps themselves throughout the day whenever they're hungry. So what we were cooking on our cour was ceremonial food more than anything, not something the Balinese would whip up on an ordinary day.

The visit tothe market in the morning was interesting. It was a very authentic place with no other tourists around. I always think it is wonderful to see the side that's not been adapted for tourists, to really see the authentic side of things. It was pouring down with rain so the market was unusually busy as everyone was trying to cram inside. It was good fun to learn about the various foods, spices, and utensils. On interesting observation was that nothing had a price tag, but rather if you wanted something you had to negotiate the price, every single time.

After the market we went to the family compound and cooked and cooked and cooked! I got confused with so many dishes being cooked and prepared at the same time and wasn't sure what dish I was working on at any timeout since I was mostly keen on learning how to make the peanut sauce and Sambal I tried tray extra attention to those. Indonesian cooking is extremely healthy, they don't use any of the sauces Chinese and Thai cuisines do that may not be good for you, like oyster, soy, sweet and sour, etc. No MSG here! Just lots of shallots (hardly ever onion), chilli (mmm yum...), and LOTS of garlic (MMMMM YUM...!). a lot of the skills I learned I realised I could apply to my own cooking, they're very basic details that can add a lot of flavour - even if you're only planning to pan fry some chicken for dinner. Simple easy ways to marinade the chicken so that it ain't quite as plain. Whilst not very complicated, Balinese cooking was certainly time consuming so I won't be cooking this every day that's for sure.... Or perhaps I will, it's not like ill have a job to go to when I go back! It was a beautiful day, and here are some of the things we cooked:

Ubud, the sleepy yogi town; and Kuta Beach, party central

It was difficult for me to get used to the idea of having to go home, and thinking about it distracted me a lot from enjoying Ubud...probably it's a whole lot of a nicer town than my clouded mind let me understand.

Still, Ubud is small, cultural, cute, and has a lot of character. For being so small (population 30,000) it sure has managed to become the centre for a lot of things in Indonesia like art, yoga, and culture. Why it's all concentrated here I don't know? Should probably google it :)

I liked Ubud. It was actually bigger than I had expected but even so only had three main streets. The most noteworthy thing about Ubud was the shopping. The number of jewellery and clothing & souvenir shops was pretty impressive, there was no room for anything else in the whole town. Some of the people I met there only went for the shopping! I wish I had more space in my backpack, as I would've wanted to load up on all the beautiful things I saw.

Another thing I noticed about Ubud was the amount of yoga centres, shops, and yogis - there were more in Ubud than London I bet! I knew Ubud had become yoga central in Southeast Asia but I didn't expect this. I like yoga, it makes me feel great and the retreat in Thailand was enjoyable to the max. But there is only so much yoga talk I can take, it was a little overwhelming.

Finally I will always remember Ubud as the town that had the worst death trap pavements I have ever seen. You really had to pay attention as you were walking down the streets there, as it would have been too easy to trip in the uneven pavements or step into one of the many huge deep holes right in the middle of the walkways.














It rained quite a lot during the few days I stayed there. Sometimes the rain would last for the whole day, and sometimes it came out of the blue and stopped just as abruptly to make way for clear blue skies. There was no way to tell what the weather would be like the next day. I almost booked a sunrise trek to Mount Batur when I was there but in the end I didn't dare to as I was afraid it would rain and the whole experience would be torture. But when it was sunny man was it hot! Luckily there is a monkey forest in Ubud, which I visited one day to get a break from the heat. It's outdoors; but the trees are so high and dense that it provides the perfect shade from the midday sun. It was like a scene from the Jungle Book, temples covered in green moss and vine like vegetation, little monkeys running around chasing each other.

I stayed in Ubud for three days. I probably would have stayed longer if it wasn't for my old PT Ross from London who happened to be in Bali at the same time, and so I decided to go and meet him on Kuta beach. There's no real public transport in Bali so I had to take a taxi for the two hour drive from Ubud to Kuta beach. It didn't break the bank luckily as it only cost USD20!

Market stall selling silver jewellery

Kuta beach was, if you ask me, hell. Poppies lanes one and two was where the concentration of shops and bars were, and this is where I stayed. Kuta beach has nothing original about it; its' malls selling all western brands, clubs playing music too loudly, and very, very, drunken tourists. Seeing Ross after such a long time was awesome. In fact, it was so much fun I think I got a bit carried away as somehow going out for one beer with him and his travelling buddy Tom Tom resulted in a 1 am speedboat ticket purchase back to the Gili Islands the next morning. So....at 11am I somehow found myself with my feet a few metres from Gili Trawangan's shore. Funny how things go sometimes. So much for discovering new places....oh well, there's always next time!

Wayan Family compound where I stayed

On the boat on our way to Gili Tee!

Getting our tickets to Gili Tee

Bad News Week

When I left Gili Air for Ubud I was crushed. I had become emotionally attached to that little island and wasn't sure how to mend my broken heart. What I didn't know was that there was more bad news waiting for me in my inbox.

London Business School had emailed me telling me they wouldn't consider my application before I had completed my GMAT, and the deadline was 30 April. At the time I read the message it was mid-March. I had submitted my LBS application only a week earlier, and had my LSE one still pending waiting for my last reference. I had been under the impression that they would process my application despite not having taken the GMAT and if successful through the first stage offer me a place under the condition that I'd score a certain result on the GMAT... I had not been expecting this. I thought I had easily at least until the end of April to carry on travelling, and wasn't even expecting to hear from them at this stage - so you can imagine the shock I got when I went online for the first time in ages to get in touch with reality. And what a reality check it was! I didn't know what to do with myself. It all came out of the blue and slapped me on the face - I didn't know which order to process my thoughts in. With every thought came a new overwhelming feeling - I went through anger, confusion, sadness, anxiety, panic and fear all at the same time all the while asking myself how I was going to handle this, how I was going to make it, was I going to make it, should I fly back on the first flight, should I abandon ship, would I have enough time to study, and was this actually what I wanted in the end?

The biggest shock was realising that I'd have to come to terms with the fact that my wonderful journey through Southeast Asia was going to come to an end. If I thought I was going through the "five stages of grief" before reading this email, well it just multiplied a tenfold.

And yes, I do see it from "the other" point of view too - the one where a girl was blessed with having the opportunity to go on a five month amazing holiday that most people can only dream about and cried because she had to cut it short by a few weeks and threw a tantrum about it. Yeah I hear ya.

I figured since I was a bit paralysed and didn't quite know what to do the best thing would be to stick to the original plan and do my best to get into school. So the deadline for taking the GMAT exam was on the 30 April - that meant I had to start studying ASAP. With no good GMAT courses being offered out of Singapore I signed up for one in London starting in the beginning of April. Unfortunately the London GMAT centre was booked up for exams in April so I signed up for one in Reading...! Now all I had to do was to get flights to make it back on time for the start of the GMAT course and that wasn't going to be a problem - flights never a in this part of the world. All that was left was to just study like I've never studied before and cram three months worth of studying into three weeks, and to get a score good enough for two of the top universities on planet earth to offer me a place. Piece of cake!

That's it, two weeks left and then it would be home time.

There's something in the Air on this Gili

You can forget the image you had of paradise, and replace it with this.

I may have said it in the past a few times, that I've found paradise but this time I mean it. Gili Air IS paradise. It's much smaller and basic than Gili Trawangan, but as Gili T, has no motorised traffic. Horse and carriage or walk, up to you! Furthermore, the roads are made of sand instead of concrete, it's a lot cheaper, and things are A LOT more basic. Electricity comes and goes and Internet is slow and unreliable at its best.

With the owner of Mawar, Anno

Accommodation
For the first two nights I stayed in a bungalow in a place called Mawar. I always had this fantasy of what it would be like to stay in a bungalow on a little island in paradise. You know, quiet little island, a bungalow made of bamboo right on the beach but with the jungle behind you, a hammock on the porch where you can just relax and listen to the waves breaking a few steps away and at night hear the gentle noises from the nice human-friendly animals in the jungle in your spider- and other insect-free super hygienic room with a proper hot shower with lots of water pressure...that kind of thing.

Bathroom at Mawar

And I'd look like Elle Macpherson in a bikini of course. Well Mawar wasn't quite like that (it wouldn't be for $10 a night I suppose). The place was located inland, on an open field at the end of a dark narrow alleyway, and the bungalows were very, very basic. My shower was a pipe coming straight from the sea, the creaking in the walls and floor made me think the structure might collapse with any radical movement so I tried to tiptoe around, and the whole place made me feel uncomfortable in general. But the reason I stayed for more than one night (or even one for that matter) was because the people there were so wonderful and welcoming I couldn't tell them I didn't like it! They loved my name, as they thought it was hilarious that one of them was called 'John' and I was 'Terry' so after we introduced each other everyone was in stitches for about 15 minutes. Someone else made a joke my name was like 'Jerry' from 'Tom and Jerry' so he shouted 'Heeeyyyy Tom And Jerry' at first every time he saw me but after the first day reduced to calling me just 'Tom' for my entire stay on the island.

Bathroom at Mawar

From Mawar I moved to Nina Cottages which, whilst still not matching my fantasy bungalow, was a huge upgrade from before. It had tiles on the floor which made it a bit fresher, the location felt a bit safer - I didn't feel like I would be attacked every time I got home after dark, and I kind of liked my outdoors bathroom. The roof was half covered so the toilet was under the roof but when you were showering you could look up and see the sky and the forest behind the bungalow. It's quite nice showering with the sun shining right above you, or alternatively under the stars. The minus points came from the fact that it smelled very strongly of damp so I always slept with the bathroom door open which then made me feel paranoid about all the dangerous jungle animals that'd crawl into my room at night and eat me alive. Oh and the salt water shower....sigh....

No Shit, Sherlock
Anyone heading to Indonesia should consider doing it this time of the year - unless it is more crowds and party you're after. Officially it is still rainy season but during the couple of weeks I spent on the Gilis it only rained a few times and only once did it rain for the whole day and night. Most times it only rained for an hour or so at night. But having said that, you could also see rain clouds both around Mount Batur in Bali and also Mount Rinjani on Lombok so maybe the Gilis are a bit of an exception? It's also of course cheaper around March and April before the Ozzies invade with their surfboards and the shops and hotels up their prices.

Typical bit of the road around the island. It's always pretty windy, part reason I enjoyed the Gilis so much

On the party front, I moved to Gili Air to get away from all the partying on Gili Tee, but with silence day coming up on Bali the island was getting ready for all the Balinese to come over and boogie here.

Nyepi is a Balinese "Day of Silence" and it is a Hindu celebration. It's a day when everyone stays inside (you're not allowed on the street), there is no light, music, or disturbance of any kind as it's meant to be used for silence, fasting and meditation (even the airport shuts down for 24 hours!). The day following Nyepi is also celebrated as New year.

You could feel the anticipation of the big party which was held at Zippbar, and the couple of days leading up to it the nights were busier on the island than normally - so much for my chillout and detox plan.... The vibe on the island changed drastically after the big party was over, which was good both for my liver and my mind! Was a good party though, bonfire on the beach, plankton lighting up the sea, amazing DJ, dancing until sunrise. Now that, my friends, is a beach party!

Some of the island kids. The cool ones, clearly.

Also here I went for a walk around the island and surprise surprise, it was stunning. I found a strip of bars and restaurants, including Zippbar where the big party was, close to the harbour (well I say harbour I mean the bit of sand where you hop on and off boats and wade through the water, no one uses the one pier there is) where I'd hang out every day and night. I got to know many of the people who worked in these bars - everyone being so friendly and talkative it would have been hard not to! Randomly I taught them the meaning and use of "no shit, Sherlock." It took a while since they didn't really understand the sarcasm involved - or who Sherlock Holmes was. So after story time on detective Holmes I gave some examples of how to use it, and they in the end they got it and loved it, they thought it was absolutely hilarious. Everyone laughed and laughed at it and it became our joke. It all started to go a bit wrong when they started overdoing it, and I think forgot what it really meant and when you should really use it. One day I was walking down the street and shouted a 'Hello, all good?' to one of the barmen who had waved at me, who, with the biggest grin on his face replied 'no shit, Sherlock!' And by the end of my stay everyone and everything was 'good shit, Sherlock' or 'whats up, Sherlock' or just plain 'Sherlock'.

I had difficulty understanding people in this part of the world more often than not. I just kept hearing different words to what they were saying, and kept having to ask them to repeat themselves. Most commonly I'd hear a horse-taxi driver complement me on my "nice boat" when he was actually asking me if I wanted "transport?" Or I'd think they were telling me to "eat rice" when I complained I was tired, really saying "get rest." I also had difficulty locating Zippbar seeing for the first couple of days I was looking for Jeep-bar....

Day trip to Lombok

Notice Jenkins...

Originally I wanted to hike Mount Rinjani, an active volcano on Lombok that many travellers say is an extremely challenging but worthwhile experience for three days and two nights. It involves lots of hiking, and also getting up at 3am and hiking to the rim of the volcano in the dark for the sunrise.

Gasoline is sold in glass and plastic bottles

This had been on my agenda ever since Anne told me about it, so when I found out that due to it being rain season the hike is too risky and therefore closed I was really disappointed. So in lieu of the hike I decided to do a day trip to Lombok to see at least a little. When I say doing a day trip I mean a more casual drive around Lombok with one of my new friends, Ari, from one of the beach bars.

We started bright and early and took the first public boat at 8am to Lombok, rented a motorcycle and off we went! Lombok is a huge island and has a lot to offer so sadly there was no way we could see it all, but since I had missed out on the wonders of Mount Rinjani by foot I thought maybe I could still see some of it even if it is through cheating a bit and driving up rather than hiking! Ari suggested we go and visit a couple of waterfalls on Rinjani which I thought sounded excellent! I had never seen a proper waterfall before so I was well excited.

Rice Paddies on Lombok

A drive through the countryside in Southeast Asia never goes unappreciated on my part. I've loved the landscape everywhere I've been so far and this was no exception. I kept asking him to pull over so I could take pictures of the black sand beaches, tall coconut tree forests, and of course the famous rice paddies. The green of the paddies is almost fluorescent and can even look unnatural. The higher up we got the more beautiful the fields looked against the dark blue sea and contrast of a clear blue sky in the background. I couldn't get enough.

Sometimes the green of the rice paddies is so bright it's hard to believe it's natural

We also drove through a busy local market selling fruit, veg, meat, etc. I was about to ask Ari if we could go and have a look when I realised everyone had stopped doing whatever they had been doing and were staring at me. With no helmet on (sorry mom) and my hair bobble gone with the wind me and my blonde head were sticking out of the crowd in a very obvious way. I was the only foreigner there, and based on the way they were looking at me I was the only one they had seen in a while. The way they looked at me made me a little uncomfortable; they weren't giving me hostile looks, but at the same time no one smiled or gave me a friendly look either. Everyone just stood still and stared. Probably unnecessary, but it was the first time I've felt a little awkward and unwelcome during my travels.

The view of the first waterfall from the restaurant

The drive to the viewpoint restaurant where we parked and continued on foot from took all in all about an hour and a half. The hike itself to the first waterfall is doable for anyone, it's only probably a 15 minute walk up and down stairs. This 30 metre waterfall is an impressive view from the viewpoint restaurant where we had parked, you can see it perfectly cascading in the middle of the jungle midst all trees. Whilst this waterfall is very grandiose it is at a bit of a difficult angle to really appreciate from closer up (you're better off looking at it in all it's glory from a bit further back), the second waterfall is rather intimidating as you can get very close up to it but totally worth it!

...what's the big deal? It's only tree tops you see to the right...!

Again, it doesn't require a huge level of fitness to make it to the second waterfall, but I can assure you it requires a sense of adventure and a certain relaxed mindset when it comes to safety measures. Or the lack of them. The 'footpath' to the second waterfall is muddy, narrow, uneven, and covered in loose stones and tree trunks. That's the easy bit. The bit that scared the hell out of me was a bridge leading the water from the river over a huge ditch (probably 50m) that you had to cross to the other side. They had just kind of forgotten to put a railing on one of the sides, and the "bridge" had enormous gaps between the steps. With my fear of heights I found this the biggest challenge. Usually I would just not look down when high up, but how could I when that meant I would probably step into one of the gaps?! The only place you could walk in a (narrow) straight line was next to the 50m drop with no railing. In retrospect I'm dreading it more than I was at the time. Ari got on with it like it wasn't a big deal at all. I followed suit except with trembling legs and my heart that was beating in my throat at 200 bpm. I tried to keep my focus point on the bridge, but I couldn't help looking slightly to the right every now and then, into the bottomless death trap beneath me. And every time I did I could feel my head starting to spin and the panic creeping up chest and blocking the air in my throat. Sherlock, this shit just got real!

This is where the road came to an end and in the river we went...

The last bit leading to the waterfall was also a little challenging seeing there was no road, and the only way through was walking upstream trying to balance on the slippery and unstable rocks with the forceful stream constantly beating against my legs.

By the way, at no point did Ari tell me there was going to be any hiking or extreme rapid trekking happening, so I was wearing my flimsiest pair of flip flops for this excursion. To be perfectly honest though, even if he had told me I would not have had much choice of footwear with my last good pair left behind in Krabi...

So worth it!!!

But once I got the it was all worth it! Looking up at the enormous cascade falling vertically down towards me whilst bathing in the cold pond with the clearest fresh water you can imagine, the trek there was a price I was willing to pay! Well, I say 'price' but I had so much fun on our way there and back that I wouldn't exactly classify it as any kind of sacrifice.

It's me! A well deserved swim

Lunch. Grilled Grouper with Sambal, rice, veg, and to drink, a coconut

After our jungle adventure we drove to a viewpoint from where we could see all three Gilis. On our way there I saw more stunning landscapes including a bay where I insisted I had to go for a swim in. I would never have forgiven myself if I hadn't "carpe diemed" the hell out of that moment. It was the most beautiful beach I had ever seen (I know, I say that a lot), with the colour of the water being the highlight but the bonus points came from the little wooden shacks where you could lie down and relax, no other people around, and the local food stalls next to the road selling beautiful food. Plus, the ice cream man cycles up and down the beach all day guaranteeing a continuous supply, what else could you possibly want? I enjoyed our lunch on the beach very much, as I felt it was a very authentic experience. It helped that the Grouper was grilled to perfection, too. After lunch the early start and events of the day started to catch up with us both so we napped on one of the wood shacks in the shade. Hey, it had been a stressful day!

Mine!

Running into friends
The great thing about the beaten track in Southeast Asia is that you are pretty much guaranteed to run into some of the same traveller friends over and over again. The Gilis are a sure spot, everyone ends up there at some point! During my stay I ran into two friends I had met earlier in my travels. Brianne I met in Thailand at the wonderful Glur Hostel in Krabi. When I found out through Facebook stalking her that she'd be in Gili Air we celebrated over a long lazy lunch on the beach sharing our travel anecdotes and giggling like little schoolgirls.

Frans and I

Frans who I met in the Philippines in Puerto Princesa came to the island the day before I left so we had a catchup over a beer or three reminiscing our motorcycle adventure to the hidden beach a few months earlier. Love it when you can 'catch up' with people who feel like old friends but are actually people you barely know at all.

Mohammed and I, my new best party friend ;)

Then there was of course Mohammed who I had never met before but who is a friend of my dear friend Thess. And ever since we met in Indonesia through Thess putting us in touch with each other I believe I have found (yet another) soulmate for life and who I hope to see again before I'm home bound!

There's something in the Air on this magical island. It's like it's almost too perfect to be real. The day I left I felt the saddest I had in a long time (and I changed my mind about whether or not to leave a hundred times that morning). I felt I was being torn in half between my heart that felt I belonged there, and my brain that...well....was trying to think of a way to make the heart's wish come true. I knew it wasn't real, I knew living there wouldn't be the same as spending a week there, but when the feeling is so strong, it's the rational that doesn't make sense anymore. The people I had met and gotten to know there, the lifestyle, and the way I felt when I was there all just felt right. I can't explain it, but the salt water showers, badly flushing 30 year old squat toilets, nonfunctioning electricity and wifi all turn into things you love about the island rather than drawbacks. It's like when you love someone, it's their little flaws and quirks you come to love just as much as their great qualities....and that's Gili Air for me.

Not sure I could think of a better way to spend the day than relaxing on a paradise island to guitar music...

In front of Paradiso bar where I'd spend most my days.

Good bye, Thailand. Oh but Hello, Indonesia!

I had breakfast here one day on Gili Trawangan.
Bali in the background. 

Leaving Krabi
I don't know why I do it to myself, go out for a few too many the night before I have to travel. The whole travel day was disastrous from the get go, and it didn't help that I was feeling like a hundred monkeys were playing drums in my head.

I overslept, of course, so when I got up I panic-packed shoving all my possessions into my two backpacks. There was no time to run through checklists to make sure I had it all (consequently left my shoes behind), nor was there enough time to shower so I couldn't even wash the hangover off me. Why, Terhi? Just.....lets try to remember this next time, ok?

Another guest, Ken, was leaving on the same flight as me to Singapore, but whilst I was continuing to Bali he stayed in the city of lions. He was fun to travel with, I'm glad I had some company to take my mind off the drumming monkeys.

At the airport I suddenly remembered I had not booked a flight out of Indonesia - and without proof of exit they won't let you into the country (or so they make you believe but really no one checks, but I didn't know this)! I then remembered trying to book it the night before in my drunken state but gave up because I was seeing double and just thought I'd do it in the morning - which clearly didn't happen. Well done, yet again. The monkeys in my head turned the drumming up a notch after this realisation, and due to my last minute packing there was no way to locate my medicine bag with the good pills. Oh, and I had of course forgotten to start my malaria tablets. Duh. So instead of checking my bags all the way to Bali I only checked in for the first leg of the journey, just in case I'd never make it to my end destination.... I think it's safe to say I won't be nominated for the Ms Organised of the year award....

After check-in I found an AirAsia ticket counter- hooray! This meant I could book my exit flight, which in turn meant I was going to be allowed into the country, all good news! With my new flight ticket in my hand and a smile on my face Ken and I went to sit in the waiting lounge, waiting for the boarding to start for our flight. I'm not quite sure what happened at this point or how it happened but I suppose we were just so immersed in conversation we were paying minimal attention to what was happening on the boarding front. We saw people boarding and when the line was short enough we joined in. When we got to the front the lady looked at my ticket and said "Miss, this is a flight boarding to Bangkok, the one to Singapore has already closed for boarding."

WTF

WTF

WTF

nononononononononononono

"Maybe if you run you can still make it." And we ran. We ran in the direction they had pointed to, got to the escalator to go down to ground level except as I started walking down the escalator I realised it was pushing me up instead! Ken was laughing so hard he was bent over looking at me trying to balance and figure out what to do next - there was no other way down, so I just kept walking down with wobbly legs not going anywhere. Finally someone came and took us down with the elevator we hadn't realised existed. We ran to the plane - across the whole airport, between planes and runways, and just as they were closing the doors we made it! The monkeys in my head were also cheering!

In Singapore I parted ways with Ken, but not before we had had a few good laughs about our journey together.

It annoyed me I had to go through immigration, pick up my bag, go to departures, check in, go through security all over again but hey-ho, at least I had made it, I was on time, feeling a bit better and half way there. Minor panic incident when I realised Singapore was one hour ahead of Thailand so had to hurry to the gate (so wasn't THAT on time after all) but nothing compared to the near-miss of the previous flight.

I didn't think there'd be more drama but sadly I was wrong. 20 minutes after take-off the captain announced that regrettably we had been asked to turn around back to Singapore. I thought at first it was a joke because he had such a jolly voice but when the plane tilted sharply to the right to make a U-turn I was starting to think that he was either taking this joke to a whole other dimension, or that we were actually going back.

Legian Beach, Bali

And back we went, only to be told, after 30 minutes of random airport workers running in and out of the cockpit, that it was all a miscommunication and that there had been no reason to come back at all! Awesome! I'm so glad this all happened on the. Longest. Day. On. Earth.

When I finally got to Bali 3 hours late I didn't even stop to admire the beautiful hotel I was staying in, but went straight to bed and crashed.

The Island Hotel Bali

The Island Hotel, Bali

The next morning I had a good look around. The only word you need to describe The Island Hotel is Beautiful. It's every backpackers dream place, hot hot hot showers, over the top clean dorms, pool, lounge, great people, and good location. The price tag makes you cringe though, because at $20 a night it's more than most budget travellers want to pay. For me it was perfect for the two nights I stayed in Legian Beach, and after THAT journey from Krabi I needed someplace nice to relax.

The Island Hotel, Bali. The view from my dorm room.

I got to Bali with absolutely no plan whatsoever. I had done NO research, I knew nothing about what to do and where to go, so when I woke up I was on a mission to find a place with decent coffee and a good wifi connection so I could plan my stay in Indonesia.

I was not prepared for the level of hustlers. No-one had warned me about how aggressive taxi drivers and street vendors were in Bali! I though Khao San road in Bangkok was bad but this was a completely different level. The taxi drivers would drive next to me honking and shouting "Where you go! Where you go!", the street vendors blocked my way and grabbed my arm trying to persuade me to step into their shop, and the restaurant owners would shove menus in my face. The street in this part of Bali (perhaps elsewhere also but I don't know) are extremely narrow too, so there is nowhere to hide. It aggravated me so much I just wanted to scream and swear at them, to make them understand I wasn't interested in buying anything, and that this wasn't the way to entice a tourist to browse in their shop. I quickly found a restaurant on the beach and escaped the harassing hustlers.

I had originally planned to hike mount Rinjani
on Lombok but due to it being rainy season the
tour operators were not taking people there as
it was too dangerous

The Plan
It took me a good couple of hours to come up with a plan, and it wasn't even very elaborate. The plan was to leave Bali the next day to Gili Trawangan and then take it from there. Yes, that took two hours. My problem was that there are over 17,000 islands in Indonesia and I have a total of 23 days before my flight to Kuala Lumpur, so after I spent a fair amount of time researching a handful of them I decided the Gilis were the ultimate must. Gili actually just means literally 'small island' and there are lots of Gilis dotted everywhere in Indonesia, but by saying 'The Gilis' I'm referring to Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air. These three little paradise islands are located just off the northwest coast of Lombok and they're famous for the turquoise waters, diving, beaches, and party.

Gili Trawangan

With no police around, people smoke weed like cigarettes,
magic mushrooms are sold on every corner, and if you fancy
a party drug for some "extra energy", all you need to do is ask. Anyone. 

Is the biggest of them, and has the biiiiiiggest parties (as I found out shortly after arriving), with Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays being the biggedy-biggest party nights. I stayed on Gili Trawangan for five or so days (that's right, who keeps count?) and the reason I left was not because I wasn't enjoying myself but rather the opposite....I was having too much fun, too often! At Gili Hostel it's impossible not to. Seven dorms with seven beds in each room, all getting together every day at the rooftop bar that shows movies all day long and serves drinks all night long. And on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays there's additionally a party that all partygoers attend, each day in a designated location. And because of my crippling Fear of Missing Out Syndrome, every time there was a party, I was there.

I did manage to wake up one day at 7am to go for a walk around the island before it got too hot to do it. I think it was the most beautiful walk of my life. At that time of the morning the party island is still very much asleep so I had the island all to myself. Imagine long white desert beaches, strong warm tropical wind, and the sound of the breaking waves - and no one else around.

One of the beaches on Gili Trawangan

Diving

With no motorized traffic, horse and carriage is
your only option to get around on the Gilis.
That, or  putting one foot in front of the other. 

Ever since my failed diving attempt in the Philippines I had been dying to do it. Being in the Gilis was my chance, as it's renown for the coral reefs and colourful fish life. I had dived only once before and it was years ago in the Balearics, so my recollection of how it all worked was rather vague. I therefore signed up for the one day comprehensive experience including a practice round in the pool.

Anyone who has dived known the mesmerizing feeling of doing it the first few times. That pretty much sums the experience up for me! The pool bit went fantastically well and off we went out into the big blue. The underwater world around these islands is straight out of a National Geographic programme, and to couple that with the amazing sensation of weightlessness and freedom when you're floating several metres below the surface - well.... Mesmerizing  Oh, and you can all relax now, I found Nemo!

With all the partying, walking, diving, snorkeling  and more partying I barely had time to relax so one day I woke up and I decided it was time to move to Gili Air which I had heard was a lot quieter.

Farewell, Trawangan! Although to be honest I wasn't really that sad to board the 'Hopping Island'. I was excited for Gili Air because if half the stories Anne told me about it were true, then it would be the most magical place on this planet.....

Went on a snorkeling trip around Gili Meno and Gili Air, and got trapped on Gili Air for a few hours when this beauty of a storm hit us out of the blue. Lombok, which can be seen in the background here, disappeared completely about 5 minutes after I took this picture. 

Bali, as viewed from Gili Trawangan