Lombok, Indonesia

2nd - 4th January 2012 Having sorted a scooter the previous evening we got out of our dark, dank little hole, had some thick Lombok coffee and banana pancakes for breakfast (I watched the lady make them and saw many things go in to the batter but not one of them was flour, odd...) and got out of Senggigi. We were out on the road before 8o'clock and the light was fantastic, we followed the coast for part of the way, stopping to take some photos of the sea.

From Lombok, Indonesia

We turned off and used the new road to the airport, it was in excellent condition, one of my new things that I really care about, now that we use scooters so much more frequently, are the road conditions in a place.

From Lombok, Indonesia

Firstly and most importantly, it was beautiful; the road divided rice paddies and to the left and right were fields in various shades of green, we saw bunches of young rice plants sitting in the fields waiting to be separated and planted in neat rows,secondly and almost as important is the number and frequency of potholes, whether the surface is loose and gritty (a nightmare on two wheels thinner than a pencil line) and last but not least the weight of traffic. By far and away the quieter roads are the best, they are usually more scenic and you don't have other scooterists, lorry drivers and crazy bastards in cars trying to claim your piece of tarmac. So, this new airport was a dream, beautiful views, zero potholes and because of the time, almost no traffic.

From Lombok, Indonesia

We zoomed along, stopping once or twice to take pictures of the fields and one of the many mosques in the distance. We arrived in Mataram, a biggish town/city which is actually four towns that have grown and merged into each other, it was heaving with early morning commuters, and policemen. Gulp. Driving through town was actually okay, the traffic was heavy but because of that it was also slow moving, people weren't zooming along at breakneck speeds and (over)taking us by surprise. The policemen, miracle of miracles seemed to be more intent on directing the traffic and easing congestion than fining foreigners for “loose chins straps”, I kid you not. Out of Mataram and our tank full of petrol we headed in the direction of Kuta and the coast.

From Lombok, Indonesia

Our first stop was to eat, I left the dishes crawling with flies to Djalma, who tucked in happily and hungrily (and also without any nasty repercussions!) and took my growling stomach outside with my camera to distract it. Funny it may seem, taking (what I think are) good photos takes my mind off of almost anything and puts me in a damn good mood for at least several hours. I watched a dude driving a herd of water buffalo up the road and getting them round the roundabout, hilarious. I then stopped to watch the many red clawed crabs that were scuttling in-between the muddy mounds in a wet field.

From Lombok, Indonesia

After scaring them off and then squatting by the road to wait, I was rewarded by the sight of the cautious little things speeding around the mini mud heaps and waving their claws at intruders. Djalma, finished his rice and maggoty side dishes (apparently it was actually quite good) and we got back on the bike and went to investigate the expensive hotel on the beach.

From Lombok, Indonesia

It was piping hot in the sun but large, heavy clouds were closing in and emptied just as one of the employees was very nicely telling us that we had to pay to use the beach or go. The beach was nice but not the most beautiful, it was sheltered in a huge bay and in the distance you could fishermen standing in the shallow flats or further out and in boats. Hawkers strolled up and down the beach trying to sell drinks and sarongs to anyone who spared them half a glance.

From Lombok, Indonesia

The rain eased up and we said goodbye to the swanky resort, but not before using the facilities, and headed off to the next beach. We followed little roads along the coast, the sun beating down on us like it was our own personal oven and intent on getting us roasted (thank God for factor 50). One of these rubble paths led us through the palm trees and to the next stretch of blindingly white sand after the hotel.

From Lombok, Indonesia

Our retinas (I'm not sure if we still have them) took a pounding, the sand was bleached white and big, lots smooth dry little balls of sand about five or six times the size of a usual grain of sand (very odd!), and difficult to walk through. Djalma covered the bike with his tropical sarong to protect the seats and joined me for all of two minuted to watch the fishermen waist deep in water even though they were dozens of metres from shore. The heat both from the sun and then reflected off of the sand drove us back to the scooter so we could enjoy a breeze while driving.

From Lombok, Indonesia

After stopping further up the beach for a packet of much needed crisps, we drove further along the”main” road which was slowly being reclaimed by green and therefore very beautiful. We came to our final beach which had a small restaurant and several thatched covered sun-loungers, it was stunning. More white sand stretched along the wide bay and the water was shallow enough for the water near the beach to be a beautiful crystalline green, when the sun came out it was magical.

From Lombok, Indonesia

Kids played in a huge inner tube, a (probably Russian) girl was sunbathing with a wedgie and heart plasters on her nipples, a group of ogling (Japanese?) tourists soon had her decently covered up (Lombok is a predominantly Muslim island), and Djalma and I sat with our feet up and tucked into ice cold fizzy pops and spicy beef baguettes with chips. It was such a delicious beach, proper postcard material, that it felt really wrong to be suffering from horrible period pain and generally feeling low. After more than an hour of some much needed relaxation out of the sun we took a few more photos before leaving, we rushed in and out of the sun to take them because it was so hot.

From Lombok, Indonesia

Back on the bike we continued on to our final destination before turning back, Kuta. It's a small village which is nothing like its namesake on Bali. It focusses almost solely on surfing and the little bay we saw was packed full of boats to take surfers out to the breaks which are all offshore.

From Lombok, Indonesia

We didn't hang around long, I wasn't feeling too marvellous and there was no beach top speak of, so we headed back through the green fringed roads, stopping only to take some photos of a “traditional” village. We did stop at one on the way to Kuta but we had to pay an obligatory “donation” and fork out more for a very unofficial looking guide who insisted that they were mandatory. The view from the road was probably nicer than those in the village itself, rice paddies stretched out all around and kids played while the odd lady in a coolie hat did some weeding(?) in the fields.

From Lombok, Indonesia

We came back the same way, stopping in Mataram to pick up a Bahasa phrasebook (the official language of Indonesia even though there are hundreds of different languages and dialects in the thousands of islands that make up the country). We made it back in record time and along the way I picked up a cold which thoroughly buggered up the next week, but more of that later (in Java). The next morning we were up early and I was feeling dreadful, like someone had systematically pummelled my face during the night. We had a butter jaffle and coffee for breakfast. If you come to Indonesia, especially Bali, you'll see plenty of 'jaffles' on the menu, it's only a toasted sandwich but the name makes it sound so much cooler, I love it! However butter jaffles are crap and I personally thought that our lady chef should be thoroughly ashamed of herself at such a cop out breakfast. We packed up and caught the 8.30 shuttle bus to the airport my head pounding the whole way. The flights were uneventful, we stopped at Surabaya which is in the East corner of Java, neither flight was longer than 90 minutes, small mercies. Once we had collected our bags from the carousel – we didn't even need to check in our luggage despite having over the European limit of liquids, we even took a full bottle of water on board and it was fine – we caught a bus into the centre of Yogyakarta. I've never had a bus ride like it, thankfully it wasn't long, we stood the whole way in a crowded bus that pumped out the most eclectic collection of Indo tunes, I could only bare it by thinking how much more amusing it would be to recount the journey than it was actually living it. I would describe the overall flavour as an Asian, country, jungle, pop fest with plenty of drums and percussion. The buses on the local routes all have a conductor on the bus who calls out the name of each place and helps people get off or help pack them in, you have to buy your ticket at the stop which is an enclosed space with a bench and more people working to help the flow of people. It's actually very organised and had we not had our bags and a stinking headache I would have been very impressed, however it's not like they're big on chivalrous acts and most of the dudes who got on were quicker to get to recently vacated seats than women with children or God forbid an overloaded, overheated tourist. Heaving a sigh of relief we got off and walked down the main road, we followed a guy who knew a place in our price range and we were soon tucked away in a small dump with the most 'unappealing' toilet (Djalma's words not mine and he's not nearly as fussy as me) but at least it was cheap. I don't mind staying in a dump as long as I'm not being overcharges, it's just rude paying over the odds for a roach infested hole of a room.

Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

28th December 2011 - 2nd January 2012 Feeling hugely better the next morning Djalma and I lay in bed and watched the rest of the Muppets' Christmas Carol that I had started watching while waiting for him to go and get dinner the previous night. I decided I felt well enough to work out and so Djalma went to meet the Brazilian Crew (BC) and wait for me while I did my thing. After working out in our hotbox room, I did some washing and then walked twenty minutes to find them, arriving as they were talking about leaving. I met the last two to join the BC, Diogo a German looking Brazilian and his wife Nina a Brazilian looking German, both spoke perfect English and I loved them immediately for that alone.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

Not having eaten yet and feeling rather wilted from midday sun I couldn't get my act together in time to order. Of course, we were all on Brazilian time and I had plenty of time, instead of eating at the pricey beach side restaurant Djalma and I stopped at a small warung (kiosk) on the beach and ate some rather good, if not particularly fresh, food. We took our time eating, enjoying the rather bright view out onto the beach, just after a little driftwood/coral tree. Feeling a lot better we walked further down and joined the BC at another bar on the beach. I did nothing for several hours, in fact I did nothing for so long that I had to have a snooze. Meanwhile Djalma went out snorkelling with a few of the guys and guess what they saw? A turtle, a pretty brilliant introduction to the marine life round the island.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

That night we ate at the night market, a large empty square by day it fills up with various vendors and their petrol doused coal barbecues under makeshift tents by night, everyone sells pretty much the same thing, so we pulled up chairs at a long table and ordered some fish and rice. We sat opposite two American guys who were talking to some other travellers about living on the island, we picked up a few tips about where to eat and drink cheaply and also about snorkelling. They were pretty cool although one of them did say that he was bored of turtles, I couldn't decide whether to be impressed that there were so many turtles or that he thought that such an incredible creature was quite so mundane. We walked further along the beach front and met up with the BC who were eating at a smarter restaurant, Djalma had a second dinner (true to form) and then we headed back for an early night.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

The next day we were up bright and early with the sun and headed to the beach to walk round the island. Everything was quiet, a few people were out sweeping the main street parallel to the seafront and making our way along the thing strip of blonde sand we watched the sun come up behind Mount Rinjani on Lombok.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

We walked along the sand and enjoyed the quiet of the morning, it seemed like a completely different island and further North up the beach it was. There were a few expensive resorts sitting behind tranquil if not exciting enticing seaweed covered coral flats and we soon started looking for a place to have breakfast. We stopped at one with tables underneath a huge spreading tree and shared and Italian breakfast – coffee, fruit salad and a banana pancake – possibly not the most Italian breakfast ever but it sustained us for the next three hours.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

While we waited for breakfast to arrive we watched a couple of guys working their way along the shoreline and admired the coral strung from the trees branches by way of decoration. It was quite serene. Breakfast arrived, we shared it and then carried on our way.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

The beach stretched out forever, the sun was behind some spectacular looking clouds which made it a pleasant temperature for walking, we watched birds fly over the coral looking for breakfast and further on children out looking for things in the low tide. We passed one eco resort which had made small arches with driftwood and hung strings of sun bleached coral from them, framing the view out to sea and little boats bobbing in tiny waves.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

The next part of the beach was dotted with driftwood, I went mad taking pictures, it was so beautiful.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

Rounding the corner this time on the pavement to give our feet a break from the rather rough coral sand we came to a couple of beach side restaurants and a table covered with goats, a big fat guy scared them off much to the amusement of his wife and son. There was a standalone toilet with a little turtle painted on, easily the coolest toilet I've seen, we left it behind and carried on walking.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

The beach stretched out even further with the tide out and lots of green covered rocks stood in the shallow water. We could see the island of Lombok with it's green hills and volcanoes over a slim stretch of water and more guys standing in knee deep water fishing with rods.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

We found another tree like the one at the restaurant where we ate breakfast and after a Russian style photo shoot we took some more photos of an abandoned boat with the becoming phrase “get your rat out” which reminded us of the lovely Jess and Jonny who we'd spent a month with in Goa.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

It had been a good four hours since we started and we were now almost full circle and back at the end of town, it was busy with restaurants and bars getting ready for NYE and choc full of tourists looking for accommodation or breakfast or both. Our blissful little walk in the peace and quiet of the surprisingly beautiful island was definitely over. We bumped into Diogo and Nina on the way back and had lunch together at the small warung Kiki Novi's which was just putting out the different curries and dishes for lunch that day. It was gorgeous food, they put a big spoonful of rice in a dish and then covered it with whatever you pointed at, there was egg curry, chicken curry, beef rendang (curry), pumpkin curry, about six or seven different vegetable dishes, fresh coconut and beans, dry/fried coconut to sprinkle of top and tempe crackers which is a bit like tofu but from soy bean flakes rather than flour. It was cheap, the cheapest food we'd had in Indonesia and the best by far. I headed back to have a shower and work on the photos while Djalma hung out in town. In the evening he hung out with the BC on the beach while I went in search of free and decent wifi – no easy task, to email friends and family and upload photos.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

The next swung round, nice and sunny. We tried to sleep late but were awake at 7.30, marvellous body clock timing. We had lunch again at the same place and while the rest of the BC went out on a diving boat in the afternoon we borrowed a couple of masks and snorkels and went with Nina and Diogo to the beach where there was some pretty good marine life.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

We started out half way up the beach in front of the main street but the current took us down towards the little jetty and the boats fairly quickly so we got out and walked further up the beach to a bend and got back in the water. Djalma had sarongs and things in the dry bag which he tied round his waist with our washing line and hung our flip-flops and water bottles off that. It was a great afternoon, we had to swim quite far out to get a bit deeper – there was plenty of sea grass but it was all too shallow to see many fish.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

Fortunately for us the water was fairly clear and the sun was shining so we managed to take a few good photos, there were small starfish, lots of trigger fish and small schools of tiny brilliant blue fish, the corals were living and the sand was white, it was really lovely. The highlight of the day was a turtle, it was fairly close to me but I didn't see it until Diogo pointed it out behind me, it was beautiful and hung around for a little look before swimming off, I tried my best to stay still and not do the crazy hands thing I usually do, Djalma managed to get a good picture of it as well, bonus.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

After a couple of hours in the water, my lunch was complaining and felt like it wanted to come out, without fins swimming was also quite tiring so I decided to head to shore, typically I missed out on the second turtle of the day, but I was more than happy with one. The others soon followed me out and we walked back drying out quickly in the hot sun. We stopped at the turtle breeding centre and watched lots of little baby turtles scoot round the big tanks or sleep with their little arms and legs tucked up over their shells, too cute for words. We headed back to shower and get some rest before the celebrations that evening, after another workout and one more shower, I put on my party dress, clipping up the rather low and revealing neckline so I wouldn't flash and offend the locals on the walk through the village to the beach. Before meeting up with everyone else at Carlos and Carolina's hotel, Djalma and I had a rather nice dinner and cocktails at an Irish bar on the beach. The place was packed but we got our dinner fairly quickly, we shared a plate of calamari, some bruschetta with goats cheese and a Greek salad with real feta cheese and olives. It was gorgeous, it was also the first time in a long time that we'd made the effort to get dressed up for a night out, we washed our food down with a Mojito and a Margerita before calling the BC and rolling up with a couple of extremely strong Long Island Iced Teas (LIIT).

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

Everyone was sitting on the porch and listening to some nice music, it was all very calm after the rowdiness of the beach front where everyone was gearing to party. Someone had brought some vodka from Australia and after mixing it with fresh coconut water in big litre and a half bottles, they were passing the resulting coco locos around. Ademir was on his own short cut of neat whisky and well into the party spirit before everyone else, a role model for us to follow. We put some more upbeat music on, taking care to keep the volume down and not wake the cute little Luna who was sleeping. After the drinks were finished and midnight soon approaching we grabbed Mummy, Daddy, the baby and everyone else and headed down to the beach where we found a spot of sand next to a restaurant where live music was playing.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

We got some more cocktails from the bar, apparently the best LIIT on the island, they were so strong they were undrinkable, so we got a can of coke and watered them down as we went. We had about an hour of drinking and talking and I found some time to share around some of my bindis left over from India, before midnight rolled round.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

Our big group broke up into smaller groups to talk, I spent most of my evening talking to Nina, it was great fun we talked and drank and talked and went to get more drinks. I forgot that my watch was a little too fast and started celebrating the new year five minutes before everyone else, excellent timing as always. One of the Brazilian traditions at new year's is to make seven wishes for the new year while jumping seven waves, backwards. Nina and I got to five wishes when a huge roar went up along the beach and then everyone else joined in.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

We hugged everyone in turn and wished each person a happy new year full of good things and then the party moved off the beach and into the little pit in front of the band. Everyone in the restaurant was sitting in their seats and enjoying the music and then the BC got in there and livened things up, the atmosphere was brilliant, the music was fantastic and the drinks were flowing. After a point the band tired, played three more songs for some extra cash and then things quietened down. Mum and Luna went to bed and the rest of us strolled up the busy street to the cheapest place in town, Rudy's. We got some more drinks and danced on the dirt with hordes of other budget travellers and locals.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

At some point we needed the loo and Nina and I braved the floods of sandy water that protected the ladies loos. On the way back, fighting our way through the crush of bodies someone grabbed my crotch and my wonderful evening ended. I looked around for the culprit but couldn't find him, just as well I would have only got myself into a fight, what liberties! The mood thoroughly ruined for me I searched for Djalma who took ages to find , I told what happened and we promptly left the party, I didn't feel like hanging around for someone randy islanders to finish the job by groping my chest and pinching my bottom. In true English fashion I had to say goodbye to the excess alcohol in my system on the way home and after a few retches in the bushes I felt much better. We slept like babies in our hot little room and woke at ten the next morning feeling, remarkably okay. We went out in search of the biggest hamburger on the island, we found them. They were so big that I could only finish half, the rest we took back for the cats living next door. Feeling worse as the morning wore on I went back to bed and slept for another three hours, Djalma taking the belated hangover much more stoically than me, went out to get more money for the group and do general organising and things. We ate at Kiki Novi again and then met up with some of the BC who were also tucking into burgers on the beach. As we were leaving the next day, we said our goodbyes making loose arrangements to meet up with Sciani and Dudu in Java in a few days and Carlão and Carolina in Bali after that. We left the island the nest day, up early to get the public boat we had a rather forgettable breakfast at Kiki Novi's whose breakfast didn't even come close to the lunch buffet. We got tickets and then waited for the boat to fill up, the list of names full, we got on the boat and then spent more than twenty minutes sitting adrift in the bay while they tried to start the engine. Packed onto the boat and perched precariously on a big armchair (?!) I sat and wished that I had charged my Ipod battery. After countless fruitless attempts to get the motor going, a German got up to have a look and pointed out one vital (and obvious) missing part, the key. The key was located, put in the ignition and we were away, the ride was a lot smoother than on the way to the island and we were back in Lombok in just over half an hour. We dropped off the empty 20litre water bottle that we had got before leaving for Gili T and got our deposit back and then walked down the long road to the intersection to wait for a bus to Senggigi. After a while of waiting patiently, Djalma started to look around for alternative transport, especially because the buses going in that direction wouldn't actually stop where we wanted to go.

From Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

We ended up getting a taxi and drove in air-conditioned comfort round the winding coastal roads that had turned my stomach going in the opposite direction but with a sensible driver where rather nice and relaxing. We drove up and down “town” trying to find a cheap place to sleep, unfortunately for us, people were still charging inflated New Year prices, we ended up in the first place we stopped at and paid well over the odds for a dump with a crap fan. Home Sweet Home.

Balangan Beach, Bali, Indonesia

24th - 27th December 2011

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

After a little rest and a proper cleaning of Djalma's foot, which hadn't shown any signs of improving, in boiled, salted water we slowly made our way up the small cliff ringing the long blonde beach and met the rest of the group for dinner. It was Christmas eve and since we couldn't afford the swanky Christmas dinner in one restaurant (50USD per head) I settled on some rather good fish and chips to feel as English as I possibly could. We had a few beers although no-one was really in the Christmas spirit much, Eduardo was still sick and Carlos wasn't feeling very special either, Gabby had a poorly stomach and everyone was tired from the long bus ride. At about 10.30 Djalma and I trudged back down to our little shack of a room and fell sound asleep.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

Sunday, Christmas Day came round, guess what Father Christmas brought little ol' me? The runs. Mmmm, thanks so much – the thank you letter is in the post. Djalma looked after me with extra special Christmas spirit, but there really wasn't much he could do given the situation, at some point the Brazilian Crew (BC) came down to the beach to enjoy the sand, some surfing and Christmas Bintang. I stayed in bed and a tired little Luna kept me company for a couple of hours.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

Djalma joined his friends and took some rather nice pictures of Carlos' family and people surfing, Later on in the afternoon I joined the “party” on the beach but by this point most people were ready to head back. Djalma and I were starving and we had sandwiches and chips for our Christmas dinner. Suitably fortified we made the walk up the many steps to their nice bungalows where we used the wifi to try and call home. I managed to talk to a tired sounding Mum early in the morning while the rest of the house was asleep, the internet connection gave up after that and I couldn't call my house back to speak to Nan, Kate or Mike, Djalma had the same problems calling his parents. We walked round to the restaurant where they were all eating and found an addition of two more to the BC; Rafa (pronounced Hafa) and Rita (Heeta) both are Brazilians living in Australia. We joined to group and after a while, having nothing to contribute to the conversation, I decided to send some Christmas messages and sort out photos. After another failed attempt at using the wifi back at their bungalows we said goodnight and went down, back to the beach and drifted off to sleep to the sound of waves crashing against the sand.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

The next day we had something planned. Wow, the power of Monday. Djalma and I got up early and ate our breakfast looking out at the sea, and then walked up to wait for the minivan to take us round the beaches on the West coast of the Bukit Peninsula. The sky was overcast and threatened rain but all I could think was 'fabulous, now it won't be too hot and I won't have to worry about so much suncream'. Famous last words, it rained cats and dogs all morning and in the afternoon the sun came out and I got redder than I planned to.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

The first stop on our little day trip was Padang Padang Beach. I've got to say it. It was a pretty crap beach. It rained non-stop, the sand was wet so we couldn't sit down, the beach was tiny and although it was quite pretty it wasn't what you'd call photogenic, but we stayed here for well over half an hour before trudging back up the numerous steps we'd trudged down to this piss poor excuse of a beach. Of course the drizzling abated... to allow torrential rain fall out of the grey sky before we made it to the minivan. On the upside people were so wet that for once it didn't matter that the air-conditioning wasn't really strong enough, we opened the windows once the rain let up and let the warm island air dry us off. We gave the beaches in-between a miss for the time being and drove to the furthest beach; Ulu Watu.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

It wasn't much of a beach, we followed steps snaking down towards the coast and followed the wooden boards to a lookout point, this place was also good for surfing but to get out to the waves the intrepid surfers had to make their way out through the small and not very protected bay that was pounded by waves. The coastline was beautiful and the rain let the sun try to do it's thing.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

After a few pictures we walked part of the way back up and stopped for lunch, I was famished – it doesn't matter how big a fruit salad is, it doesn't last all that long before you're hungry again. The BC had beers and we all ordered food which came out in the fullness of time. Djalma was sat further down the table so I didn't have any translations, I did my best not to cry from the boredom or read my book at the table and nearly wept with relief when my food came and I had something to do. I talked a little to Carolina at some points and tried to think of photography tips for Carlos, who I must, doesn't really seem to need them. Then our rather large group made its very slow way back up to the top where we got back into the van and went to the next beach. I got back into my James Bond book and kept myself amused for the short trip there.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

The last beach was the best beach, by this point we had killed most of the day but we still had a few hours before sunset and we spent a couple of hours on a stretch of sand that spanned the coast turning into different beaches at different point. Some people swam and some people sat on the wet sand, I did the latter and read some more. Just as people decided it was time to leave having spotted some greedy looking monkeys, I decided to go for a little walk and take some photos, I thought I'd have at least half an hour before people actually started moving towards the steps back up.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

I was right, I even had time for a quick and much needed beach wee. The sun had really come out and turned the shallow water into a beautiful jade green and the deeper water into sapphire, it was the most beautiful beach of the day. After a few pictures my mood picked up enough and I allowed Djalma to take a photo of me.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

The we got started on the steps back up. I can't tell you how many steps there were, a ridiculous amount, the beaches here really require some effort to visit. We took some pictures of the waves breaking further out, huge rolling waves that seemed to steam in the wind.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

Back in the minivan, this time with the air-conditioning on, we made our way to the final stop, the sea temple at Ulu Watu. This temple is one of many that span the coast and are supposed to protect the island from the sea. I'd been looking forward to see some different temples for a while, make that three months, but although the carvings were different the temples were little more than four brick walls, enclosing open air and they were closed to visitors.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to look at but there wasn't much of it. The real pleasure of the site was it's position and the view of the sunset. We walked along part of the path, lined with thieving monkeys, that looked out over the sea. The monkeys. Sweet Mary, it was like talking a walk through Dickensian London trying to avoid, not so stealthy pickpockets. The monkeys were large, aggressive and had their eye on everything.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

We saw one take off a lady's flip-flop while she was walking, it fought to get her shoe off, incredible, and after a quick bite and a play it tossed it somewhere else. Plenty of others were playing with footwear, water bottles, stabbing themselves with earrings and I'm sure there was probably a stolen phone or camera among the loot. Djalma and I walked by ourselves through the crowds of people also there to see the sun set and after a little exploring set ourselves up at a nice point to see the sun go down, Carlos and his family were there along with Rafa and Rita. The sun took so long that we actually let before it went down properly and we missed the pink sky. Whatever, it was along day and I think most people were keen to get back and put their feet up.

From Balangan Beach and around, Bali, Indonesia

After a bad nights sleep listening to thunder roll and the waves trying to wash us out to sea Djalma and I left. One last breakfast looking out to the sea which was considerably calmer by the morning and we walked through some morning rain to the taxi Djalma had arranged. From out of town, this guy was a lot cheaper than the local guys, and therefore we could afford him on our small budget. Rita and Rafa joined us and shared the taxi fare to Padangbai Port. The journey took a couple of hours but we stopped along the way to try and find some sunglasses for my broken and super glued pair (even these are now lost) and to pick up more toiletry supplies and anti-malaria tablets. Successful in everything but the sunglasses, even with good fabric plasters for Djalma's nasty cuts on his feet we arrived in the little port town and set about finding a place to sleep for the night. First things first, lunch. We stopped at a small local place but with a menu in English and some rather good local food, the best choice we'd seen since arriving in Bali, so far there had been an excellent selection of western food and just nasi goreng, (mixed fried rice) or (mie goreng), mix fried noodles and maybe Gado Gado if we were lucky (steam veggies with a peanut sauce). It was all low key but it was also one of the nicest days I'd had so far. Since all four of us spoke English, we spoke English for the day and it was wonderful. While we were sitting at the restaurant we also managed a “cheap” room for the night including breakfast the following morning. I worked on my blog in a couple of different cafés while Djalma spent the afternoon with the Brazilian couple, snorkelling and swimming in a bay near the port area. Djalma and I tried to do a little last minute shopping before leaving for Gili Trawangan the following day where things would be more expensive. At some point we had lost both sarongs and not able to find affordable suncream or good sunglasses I desperately needed a hat, we found sarongs but nothing else and them went to meet Rafa and Rita who were eating with Seonie and Eduardo who had just arrived from Australia, also Brazilian. My heart sank a little at the thought of sitting through another dinner trying not to look bored, but everyone was really nice and spoke English. Seonie and Dodo (a nickname for Eduardo which sounds more like dudu than the extinct bird). They were both really funny and the evening passed quite quickly, it wasn't long before we were all saying goodnight and Djalma and I were off to bed having booked the cheaper route to Gili T for the following morning. I walked back alongside my Brazilian feeling lucky that I'd had a whole day in English. The next morning, I worked out (it nearly killed me), had a shower, packed and ate my breakfast next to Djalma in the little courtyard our stand alone room was set in. We arrived at the pick up point early and I went to get snacks for the journey. We were scooped up by couple of scooters because we were late – we had waited for a good half and hour before we were told to walk round to the pier – and then got on the slow ferry to Lombok where we sat in the harbour for a good half hour before it actually left. The journey was uneventful and took only three of four hours instead of five or six. I lay down, almost the whole way, not feeling all that well and then regretting the rice crackers on the minibus ride between ports. Our cheap ticket deal included transfer between the Lembar Port on the East coast of Lombok further North to Bangsal where the long boats left for the Gili Islands. The guy drove like a maniac and I started to feel seriously sick after a few of his hairpin bends on the coastal road. The ride to the island was dry for those sitting in the back of the boat, thankfully as the last two people on board Djalma and I were. After more than half an hour we pulled up on the white sand beach at the furthest of the three Gilis and began the search for a room. This was no ordinary search, it had taken most of the day to reach the islet (Gili in Indonesian Bahasa) and light was running out, so were cheap rooms, actually all rooms were running out. We found a rather nice bungalow for 10USD and then were told that we couldn't stay, after a lot of worry and lots of looking about we found a room in small house that we shared with other people for only one or two nights, for the rest of the time it was ours. As soon as we were settled and showered, I lay down on the mattress and then couldn't get back up, after the crazy ride on the minivan and then some choppy waves on the boat, my stomach was ready to heave ho. Djalma went out to get some simple dinner and say hello to everyone. I was asleep by the time he came back and after eating I was asleep again within minutes.