The first week in Indonesia!

Written 10th September 2012.

We flew into Bali in the late morning to beautiful views on the 2nd of September.

After landing at the airport we tried to get out some Indonesian money to pay for our visas but the machine would not work. So after some confusion and staying in a few wrong lines we eventually found out that we had to go through customs, get money, come back through, pay for our visas, line up, and go through customs properly. Luckily we didn't have to stand in the line the first time to go through as it was a very long wait. Then we were out into the hot day and catching a taxi 120 000 IDR to Poppies Two and a hotel Jabin recommended. We stored our gear then went for a walk.

When we got back and unpacked we found that all our boards had been damaged in the plane! Useless!  What does fragile mean to some people? The noses got done on the way to Europe and the tails on the way back! 

We had a bad night sleep due to jet lag again and in the morning decided to get a scooter to go check the waves.

This is where we were staying.

Everywhere has this incense things smoking away.

Our room.

This is our scooter. It has just been filled up with petrol form the petrol shop behind it. All the petrol shops are like that - stands with vodka bottles filled with petrol! 5000 IDR for a bottle. (7500 IDR is about NZ$1.)

First we checked Pedang Pedang

You walk down a crack in the rock to get to the beach.

A pretty cool place.

Next we went to Uluatu. It was MASSIVE. We sat in a cafe watching the huge surf being ridden by brave men.

People come around trying to sell you sarongs, DVDs, gasses, CDs, and massages.

This girl at the cafe looked just like Gemma. Must be a long lost relative!

After that we went to Bingin Beach when Steve surfed Bingin.

I watched him and this funny dog too.

We got a bit lost on the way home on the scooter. The road we needed to go on was closed so we had to go another way and need up deep in some market! Haha, found our way back eventually though and had some tea. We had asked for a new room to be saved for us (one with cold water rather than hot as it was cheeper and it's so hot you don't need hot water) but they had given in away so we had to have two single beds. We had another bad sleep. 

The next morning we picked up our surfboards (which we had dropped off to be fixed).

This is Poppies Two. 

We hopped back on the scooter and headed back out to Bingin where Steve surfed Impossibles. (It was still too big for my liking.)

That's Impossibles over there.

When set off on another scooter ride in which we got lost. We followed the signs to Kuta but at one intersection there was no sign so we guessed left. Wrong choice as after a while we ended turing onto the same road we had been on before. It took us about 2 hours to get back instead of 1! Not ideal being perched on the back of a scooter in the hot breathing in all those vehicle fumes! We made it back in the end though and had a yummy dinner.

The next morning I had a bit of a sleep in and Steve want for a dawnie to Cangua. Loud people had kept us awake half the night partying by the pool very loudly. We just chilled for a while after Steve got back and then we both went surfing at Kuta Beach. That was fun. I got one really nice long right hander. When I got out I was looking for Steve and it took ages to find him because every second guy on the beach stopped me to talk to me. 

The next day (after being woken in the night again by loud partiers by the pool) we decided to move out to Bingin Beach. We caught a taxi for 190 000 IDR. Steve had a surf at Bingin.

This is our room.

It is right on the beach and our window looks out over the breaks.

You have to climb up a ladder to get up to our room.

Not a bad view!

In the evening we went for a walk.

This is where we are staying. Our room is on the left on the second story.

The next morning Steve had another surf at Bingin then in the afternoon we both had a surf at the right hander by Bingin. 

Steve managed to ding both his boards in his two surfs at Bingin. Luckily he had bought a third one the other day in Kuta (the other two being too small for surfing bug waves).

The new one was dinged up first.

Then his old one. On this one he face planted the reef but managed to put his hand up in time and only grazed his hand a bit. Lucky!

I had a nice swim in the afternoon before our surf.

The next morning we walked down to Dream Land and met up with Adam (who was Steve's friend from primary school) and Dean (Adam's mate). We have been hanging out with them ever since. We surfed there for 2 and a 1/4 hours then Steve and I walked back to Bingin and the others met us there and relocated to where we are staying. 

In the afternoon after a bit of lunch and a chill out we all went surfing at Bingin. It was tricky to get waves as the takeoff zone is really small. I got a few waves though but nothing flash.

The next day (yesterday) we were lazy as for most of the day as it was SO hot and the surf was pretty small. 

Here are the boys chilling downstairs.

This is where we are staying.

We hiked up the many steps twice trying to rent scooters but had no luck. Finally we caught a taxi to Uluwatu (100 000 IDR). We left our gear in a restaurant overlooking the surf and headed out. I was a bit nervous about surfing there because of the reef but it was fine. I caught a few waves. It would be a mission walking across all that reef if you didn't have booties!

We had dinner there and then got a taxi back (100 000 IDR) and then had to negotiate all those uneven steep steps in the dark carrying surf boards. We chilled a bit upstairs before bed.

This morning we had a bit of a sleep in and then a yummy breakfast of pancakes (as usual) and then a chill out. After that we caught a taxi to Uluwatu again and had lunch in the cafe.

Then we went out surfing. I had such a great surf. I caught 12 waves and lots of them were good. One guy said I got barreled but I didn't realize because I was concentrating so hard on staying on my board. This Indonesian guy said I was ripping but I think he we just being nice. I did feel like I was surfing quite well though. I got quite a few long waves that were really wally. I did a few turns too (normally I'm not that good a turns on my back hand as I don't surf left handers as much. But I felt like I improved today. I didn't want the sun to set but that traitorous ball of flames sunk into the sea against my wishes! Steve was coming in when I was so we walked across the reef together and arrived up at the restaurant where Adam and Dean were finishing getting changed and drinking Bintang. We caught a taxi back to Bingin and had tea and Steve and I taught them how to play 500 which was fun. We had yummy fruit salad too. Mmmm!

These are the guys that run the place. Marley and I don't know the other guys name.

Then we chatted a bit and now it's bedtime. Time to get lulled to sleep by perfect waves, a stones throw from our window. :) Night night!

Travel Mission.

Written 9th September 2012

On the 30th of August we set off on our travel mission. The first part of the day was spent relaxing and having lunch. The in the afternoon we got taken to the port. It was pretty windy and choppy so we weren't sure if our ferry would be late.

But it turned up on time. We managed to get quite a good seat again. Then it was a long journey back to Athens. It took 8 and a half hours! We were supposed to get there at 11 but we got there at 12.30 so of course all the trains had stopped running which was how we were going to get to our hostel. So we were going to catch a bus. But we couldn't figure out how. Then a taxi driver told us they were not running any more. So he said he could share the take with the other people he was taking for 17 Euro. We were not sure how much a taxi was supposed to cost. Eventually we agreed. It took ages to get there. We later searched to see how much it should have cost and the recommendation was 15 to 17 Euro but it should not have taken so long. He was a horrid taxi driver. He took us on this mission as drive so we didn't get to our hostel until nearly 2 in the morning. The whole time he smoked disgusting and toxic smelling cigarettes. I am so sick of breathing in other peoples cigarets! It is GROSSS!!!

So we finally got our room and were stoked to find that we had our dorm to ourselves. Yay!

We went for a walk to get a snack then asked of a 10am wakeup call for the morning.

The is how the power works - you put your key card in the slot.

The next morning I work up at 10:20. Where was our wakeup call? So we got ready and we ready to leave just before 11 (check out time) the lady on reception was like "Oh, I've been trying to wake you since 10." Our phone wan't working. You would think she would just walk up the stairs and knock on our door! Luck I woke up! So we loaded up the packs and traipsed off to find an internet cafe so we could print out our boarding passes. We couldn't find one and we were running out of time so lumbered on to the train station. The train ride was quite long out to the airport.

Then we had a flight to Zurich which was 2.5 hours and then a host stop over before flying 1.5 hours to Paris. Then we had to catch a metro train to Gar du Nord station and we were back to our Paris hostel and our surf boards.

That evening we had a last European dinner on a Parisian sidewalk then walked up the hill to Sacre Coeur. 

Can you spot the pigeons?

It was a nice night for view admiring.

And cat patting Bethell's Parisian cousin.

The next morning we enjoyed our last patisserie pain ou raisins.

But then we had to go to another patisserie because Steve wanted a flan...

And I wanted a raspberry tart...

And to try a macaroon! YUM!

Then after a bit of a chill we headed off again with more backs than before to the Gar du Nord.

And a plane to England for 1 hour. It was a mission to check in. We went from being 4th in line to last in line. I will explain how... We have 3 bags - a pack each and a board bag containing Steve's 2 boards and my 1. Normally when we check in we can share the weight of the bags between us. Not so today. My pack was 14 and Steve's was 13 and the board bag was 13. The total for each was 23kg. So that made Steve 3 kg over when the board bag's weight was added to his pack weight. They had already sent our packs off. But refused to let us share the weight. So then they called baggage. Go them to find our packs. Took us down to baggage claim. We got our bags. We had to re-pack them so that everything heavy from Steve's pack was now in my pack. So then my pack weighed 19kg and his 7kg. Then we had to lug them back up to the counter and re-check in! So ridiculous! I mean what a waste of time! I was so frustrated. Anyway, after that we went through the customs to the small area were we ate  some average airport food and I spent nearly the exact amount of change we had left on chocolate bars and lollipops. On the plane I donated all the random coins we had to charity (we had HEAPS of crones from Czech Republic).

Then after a short stop over a 11 hour flight to Bangkok. The flight was okay. We had quite an empty flight so we got to have 4 seats between us! We slept most of the way!

When we got to Bangkok we arrived without our boards. They had been left in London. We got taken to our hotel which had a nice big bed.

We ate some yummy Thai food for dinner.

Then tried to sleep. We woke up at 2am feeling like it was the middle of the day. We couldn't sleep. We waited and waited for it to be 7am so we could get breakfast.

After breakfast we decided to go for a walk. The neighborhood was pretty scummy. There were strong smells coming from all directions. Some strong enough to make me gag. We walked along the road in the hot sun dodging cracks, shacks, and dogs. Eventually we found a supermarket and bought a few supplies. Then marched on back. Some of the dogs looked like they had rabies. We have them a wide berth.

We didn't do much for the rest of the day but did eat some more yummy food, our surfboards arrived, and we got a few hours of sleep before our flight. We got ready at 3am and caught the shuttle to the airport of am. The flight was 4 hours. We got 3 seats to ourselves this time because the guy next to us moved so he could sleep. The food was horrible! We got this asian rice thing which was supposed to be chicken but was mostly these cat foot smelling dried little fish! YUCK! It gave me indigestion. We had roast chicken later and that was nearly as bad. 

But finally we came in to land at Indonesia. Yay!