Don't let the bed bugs bite and other stories.

Written 4th October 2012

Well I have been very slack in keeping the blog up to date! There have been several reasons for that but they will be reveled in the fullness of time...

The first reason was that while we were at Bingin nothing of much interest really happened.

We surfed of course.

I ate some more yummy mango pancakes for breakfast.

My fin bruises blossomed colourfully and then healed eventually.

You can't really see this one well, it's on the right leg on the calf muscle.

Steve drank some Bali coffees - the trick with a Bali coffee is to stir in some sugar and milk and then let it sit for a while so that the sediment falls to the bottom.

Here are some prayer boxes on a rock.

At Sally's where we were staying at Bingin they made the yummiest fruit salads which you put fresh lime and honey on top of. Yum!

We got our washing done. It comes back neatly packaged and smelling yummy.

At Uluwatu we saw ladies carrying 2 creates of beer on their heads each down the steep stairs! Crazy stuff! Then we saw some others doing it at Bingin - even crazier as there are way more stairs!

The day before we left we surfed Uluwatu again. The swell had risen though and it was high tide when we went out. (On all other occasions we had gone out on low tide where you can walk across the reef.) I was a little nervous of this combination as I had heard all the horror stories about people not being able to get out of the surf on high tide because of the strong current and the the fact that you have a very small part you can get out on (you have to go in and out through a cave). I decided to be brave and go out anyway. We plunged out of the cave into the brightness of the choppy sea. The current over the reef was causing the water to splash erratically. It was like paddling though a river of salty, chopped up jelly. I was paddling as hard as I could but I was being sucked along the cliff too fast to make it through the next set. Normally Steve would leave me to it but he knew I was scared and stayed with me. I focused on paddling towards that calm blue on the other side of the white but I kept glancing over my shoulder and seeing the rocks of the cliff face looming ever closer. I was trying not to panic but I could feel it boiling away behind my focus. Finally I made it to the blue where Steve was waiting for me - and promptly burst into tears! Weather these were from fear or relief I cannot now say but I sure did not want to go back in until low tide. I did not have too good a surf that surf. My perseverance in trying to catch good waves was cancelled out by my tiredness of constantly having to paddle. Oh well. Steve had an okay surf. When the tide had dropped about 3 hours later we walked back in over the reef together.

This is Gede and Made - Made sporting his "new fashion" T-shirt which he had altered the day before.

Here I am with our scooter in the car park at the top of the hill.

We visited this restaurant a fair bit - it has yummy organic food. Mmmm.

We met some fun Azzie guys called Patric, Chris, Scott, and Tash.

On our last morning I finally bought a sarong from Ani, she was stoked. (IDR 42 000)

I also thought I'd put in a photo of the interesting plumbing system...

Here's a guy selling DVD's on the beach.

We hiked it up all those Bingin steps with out packs and boards and day bags and caught a taxi back to Kuta (IDR 200 000). We decided to mix it up a bit and try a different hotel.

Bad decision...

After we had dropped our bags off we headed to Gong Corner to eat some more good and super cheep food.

I like this graffiti on the wall outside it. :)

This is looking down Gang Ronta. The restaurant on the left has yummy pizza.

We headed back to the hotel which was stiflingly hot and went to bed...

I was so hot I slept on top of my pyrethrin soaked silk liner... another bad choice.

I woke up in the morning COVERED in bites. These became more itchy as the day progressed. I took antihistamine but it did nothing. We did some research on the internet and discovered I had been bitten by bed bugs! I actually had seen one which was hiding under the pillow before we went to sleep. It was an adult one which is about the size of the top of a pencil. I was like, "Ew, a weird bug!" But didn't realize what is was as I was expecting them to look different. (They have 6 stages they go though from tiny to that big.) We moved to a different hotel. Back to Tunjun.

We tried getting some cream but it not do much either - if anything.

That night we met up with the Ozzie guys and went out on the town with them. We went to Alley Cats, Surfer Bar, and Sky Garden. All the bars had good atmospheres. We played Black jack at Alley Cats. At Surfer Bar we were harassed by a really waisted guy who would not leave us alone. I was loosing my temper (which was frayed to begin with) because my bites were getting worse. They are the itchiest bites ever!!! Then they begin to burn and itch like crazy! I wanted to jump right out of my skin it was so horrible! So this waisted guy was not helping manners! After that we moved to Sky Garded which is a multi level club and quite impressive. I would have enjoyed dancing there if I didn't feel so miserable. 

The next morning we discovered that Steve had been bitten as well (the same night as me) but he didn't react so badly and only had a mild rash which was about as itchy as a mozzie bite.

I was even bitten in a line down my face. All my bites were swollen so I felt like a right freak.

Next they blistered which was even more uncomfortable. So the bed bugs was another reason the blog had not yet been written.

Steve had a whole snapper to each at Gong Corner that night.

For about $5!

The next day we decided to by a GoPro as it is the cheapest place to buy them (from what we could tell from our research.) Now we can take photos in the water too! Yay! And videos! We had spent the last few days trying to sort out our Visa extension. It is a drawn out process. The first day (Monday) we went to Immigration and arrived about 2 - it was the day I was bitten by the bed bugs and it took us a while to shift hotels, figure out what had bitten me and try and get some medicine - and there was a sign saying that you could only apply for your Visa extension before 12! We intended to go back the next morning but Steve had a hangover and I slept in too. So finally the next day we applied (Wednesday) we had to wait a day and go back and pay on Friday. We were supposed to go back 3 working days after that but you could go back later so we decided to do that. The last day we could get it was on the 28th September so we decided to do that. So after we had payed for the visas we bought the GoPro and then booked a ticket out of there for that afternoon on a fast boat. (Kuta is okay for a few days but it is pretty busy!) I forgot to mention that whole there we surfed Airport Lefts on Wednesday and Thursday.

We caught the fast boat to Nusa Lembongan. (It cost IDR 350 000 each to be taxied from our hotel to the boat (about 40 mins), catch the boat (25 mins) and then be dropped at a hotel (on the back of some locals scooters).

We found a really nice hotel. Right on the beach for only IDR 200 000 a night! (About $25 between us.) 

Here's the view from the table out the front.

Not a bad place to have lunch!

This is our room, it's the one down the bottom.

Lovely flowers were everywhere.

And there was a huge bed with no bed bugs living in it.

Steve went straight out for a surf at Ship Wrecks which was right out the front of our place.

His nose keeps getting burnt no matter how much sun screen he puts on so he has gone back to trying zinc. 

I walked along the beach and admired the high tide treasures.

All the locals chill on these shady chill-out platforms.

That night we enjoyed another dinner with a view.

We spent the days relaxing, surfing (mostly Steve as a big swell came) and doing as we pleased. In the evenings we played 500. I could have written the blog then you may be thinking. But the internet was too bad so it was not possible.

I gave my surf board a bath so I could attach the GoPro mount.

Here is the path to the beach from the road via Mega Cottages.

This is the main road.

This is looking the other direction on the main road. We saw some funny things on that road, including (and not limited to) small children (age about 6-7) driving other small children (age >6) on scooters!!!

This is the main industry (besides tourism I suppose) of the island. They farm seaweed and they pick it on low tide in their boats. They bring in up the beach in baskets and dry it out in colored batches. I think most of it goes to be made into cosmetics.

These are the steaks for the seaweed farms.

Here's me in one of my new Bali dresses. (IDR 45 000 - about $6) I like to call it my wizard dress.

This is were we stayed - Star Two Thousand.

Isn't it a nice spot! We liked it so much we are going to go back there!

Not a very flash 500 hand. Oh well.

Stacks and stacks of Bintang Creates.

Love how this lady is just casually riding her bike with a basket on her head. 

These are the prayer boxes that are left out everywhere. I'm not sure what they are really called but that is my name for them. They normally contain flowers and incense and often food swell as money. Some even contain cigarettes and other funny things.

A little bonsai tree.

More seaweed!

You can see the baskets they use to carry the seaweed in this photo.

I took some photos of Steve surfing Lacerations.

I was sitting on this platform to take them.

Another Bali dress. This one IDR 40 000 - about $5.

One day we got a scooter and went exploring the island. 

This is the view from the hill looking back towards where we were staying.

We had no map so some guys we met on the side of the road let us take a photo of theirs incase we got lost.

I like how this guy is chilling in this tree while chatting on the phone. :)

We saw some shady graves along the way.

This is our one mirrored scooter.

Here is some more seaweed industry going on.

We crossed the little bridge to the other wee island and visited the Blue Lagoon. (People apparently jump off there but the swell was too big that day.)

Love how the warning sign is hanging of a shoulder high power line...

To get down you have a rickety rail to hold onto.

Once down I was trying to video the waves crashing up the rooks opposite when a rouge wave crashed up behind us (up the 13 metre high cliff we were standing on) and I just managed to turn in time and shield the camera from the down pour of salty water! You can see it happen in this video.

We were both drenched to the skin!

Love the tan line!

After that we found a spot for lunch and headed back.

I got a surf at playgrounds and we tried out the GoPro.

The next day was our last day and we decided to go snorkeling.

I'm SO glad we did! It was the best snorkeling of my life! The water was so clear and there were thousands of beautiful colorful fish! We did two dives. The first was a wall dive.

The photos really don't do it justice - the GoPro's surf housing does not work that well underwater.

Look how deep Steve can dive!

The second dive was a dive by the mangroves.

This is the boat we went on.

Those dark patches under the water are seaweed farms.

That afternoon we had to head back to Kuta. The crossing was quite choppy and one of the ladies was freaking out and bawling her eyes out, poor thing!

You can sort of see what is was like here.

That night we got a massage.

And when we got back to the hotel the backs of my legs were a bit itchy. I though I had a reaction to the massage oil or something but... it turned out I had been bitten by bed bugs again!!!

So I had to endure the intense itchiness and burning and swelling followed by blisters again! Poor Steve had to deal with my short temperedness. 

I also had really knotty hair from the dive mask!

We headed to immigration at 12.30 as you had to be there to pick you visa up only after 1.30 (and the traffic can be bad, and was bad)

I was going to put a video here of us driving there and some of the way back (with some bits missing so it's not so long) and I have made it 8 times faster than real life... but the internet can't handle uploading it. So if I can get it to work I'll add it in later. 

The next day we did a few chores. We booked transport to Kuta Lombok for the following day costing IND 220 000 each which included the taxi (2 hour), ferry (4 hour slow boat), and another taxi (1 hour). Pretty good deal! We bought a wrist housing for the GoPro and I bought a Dive housing for Steve for his birthday.

The next morning we were picked up by a taxi at 6.30am. I had slept badly due to bed bug paranoia (with the lights on) and itchiness. We then had a two hour taxi ride to the ferry. It is hard to get food not in a restaurant in Indonesia so we had a bag with some junk food in it to last us until we arrived in Kuta Lombok with the healthiest thing being a small pot of yogurt each. So after the 2 hour drive we were deposited on the side of the road with the instruction "You wait here, someone come." I used a toilet that was a squatter with no toilet paper and then a guy came on a scooter and said "Follow." and blazed off. So we followed him...

And walked with all our gear to the ferry. We were ushered to go on to the ferry so we stared walking on. Two trucks were coming off. Just as I was nearing the end of the first truck people started yelling and then the second truck crashed into the back of it! It completely shattered the windscreen which came raining down next to us. Next second, the first truck zooms off but it was towing the second one (it turns out) and so the rope and wire (20mm thick) that was joining them snapped and went pinging back!!! So lucky it didn't come more out to the side and decapitate us! What idiots! I don't know why 

they got us to walk across while they were doing that!

So next we were on the ferry which was leaving at 9am an it was 20 to 9. Then we began to be harassed by women with baskets on their heads full of stuff. Eventually we were convinced to buy "Chicken rice." which we were assured was "No spicy." which was in fact so exceedingly spicy that not even Steve could handle it. He ate some of his. Mine remained only nibbled.

The ferry was delayed an hour so we sat there being harassed for that long ending up with a bunch of bananas and something which we were told was mango but definitely wasn't. (We thought it was dried but it was like deep fried taro or something!) Finally the ferry got underway for an uneventful 4 hours.

We did see these guys fishing off the back of another ferry as we were leaving though. Pretty classic.

Here is the bag of "Mango."

Here is some of the music we got to listen to on the trip...

My bed bug bites blistered too which was unpleasant and itchy. It never looks as bad in photos.

This is Lombok.

When we arrived (hot, tired, itchy, and hungry) we had a one hour taxi ride to Kuta Lombok.

We found a room and then went to get some tea after a scooter had been procured. At dinner there were some very annoying little boys trying to sell us bracelets who would just not take no for an answer. You can see them in the background of this photo.

Steve was still hungry so we got some corn from the corn man.

What a long day!

The next day was the 30th of September - Steve's birthday! After breakfast we headed out to Seger for a surf. Steve tried out the GoPro wrist housing. 

Here is a video he got of me catching a wave. (The bit where I catch the wave is at the end.)

When we came in the tide was really low and we had a bit of trouble with the reef. I hit my fins but Steve gorged up the bottom of his board on it. He got a lot of Kina spikes in his foot. Here he is digging them out.

We got some birthday lunch at a place with cool tables.

And since we had no birthday cake and no candles I borrowed the numbers from two of the tables and made a birthday number!

In the evening we went for a drive on the doggiest road ever! Parts of the road were completely missing. We were bumping and weaving along on the scooter and trying not to skid out. We headed off the main road down towards the beach and drove through a traditional village. The kids were running up to us to get hi-fives from us on the scooter. We drove past a rugged, ditch filled field where the locals were playing soccer. They were waving to us as we wizzed by.

At the end of the road we reached Are Goling but it was too late for Steve to go out there as it was getting dark and the road was too treacherous to navigate at night so after a chat to a friendly local we headed back.

For dinner. Steve got a fisherman's basket.

And I had squid rings. Yum.

We thought the occasion called for some birthday cake. We could not find any however. We did manage to find some sort of apple tart though so had that instead.

The next day we went to Grupuk, where you have to go by boat to the breaks. It costs IND 40 000 each. We surfed Insides but it was high tide so pretty fat. The boat driver was a bit of an idiot. He kept getting caught on ropes and other boats outriggers. Then when we were coming back her grabbed my board off me but didn't bring the leg rope in and then started the motor which it immediately got caught in and damaged by! :( Poos. It was my favorite pink one too.

This is our room at Kua Indah at Kuta Lombok.

We met some really nice people called David and Kate who work on super yachts and are Kiwis too. We went out for dinner with them.

The next day was another surf at Seger.

This is how we take the surfboards on the scooter.

This is Seger. You can see me standing in my summer surf suit to the left of the picture next to some local girls.

We went there again yesterday but I didn't go out as the surf had pulsed and was too big for my liking. Steve had a good surf though except that he creased his board. It nearly snapped, the crack from the creese goes right around both rails!

After yesterday's surf Steve started feeling unwell. We went home after some lunch and he got the fast poos. He had it all night too and today as well and had been sleeping most of the day, poor thing! I think he is on the mend now though. He seems somewhat better, no fast poos for a while but he has still got tummy cramps. Hopefully he will be recovered by tomorrow. He is disappointed that he is missing out on the surf as a big swell has come. We were going to go with David and Kate this morning to Mawi but we couldn't go because Steve was so sick.

Hopefully keeping all that food inside will make him better. I have been giving him electrolytes all day so he should't be too dehydrated. Actually I think he has had more to drink than me! Opps, haha, I better have some water.

We have seen some funny transporting going in here, with odd things on scooters, many people on any kind of transportation and some interesting driving maneuvers. 

Hope you are all great. We are a little homesick at times but aside from Steve's tummy bug have been good. We are looking forward to some Spay 'n Wipe when we get home though! And some salads!

For those of you who have been wondering how to comment on this blog - just click "comments" below and you should be able to add one (hopefully!)

Bye!

Continued 6th October 2012

I got the fast poos in the night after I wrote the blog. Now we are both sick and have been laying in bed for days. We have managed to eat a bit though so have been going out for meals. We sit and watch the chaos of people transporting things on the roads, chooks and roosters clucking about and scratching the dirt up, cats prowling, and the general goings on of an Indonesian village. Today I admired two shirts dancing together at lunch time. They were hung on coat hangers on a skinny little tree and were swaying in the breeze to the music from the shop. I like it because one of them was a man's shirt and the other a woman's one. Cute. I feel sorry for the cats here though. They all have short or kinked tails. It must make it hard to balance! I'm not sure why they have no tails. There are several theories including that they are cut off or that it is genetic. Maybe the locals will know. If I find out I'll try and remember to let you know too!

xoxox