Sanur, Bali

Last week my parents came to Bali and we were able to spent a week together at the Respati Beach Hotel in Sanur. Before that, however, I got sick.

The doctor called it Bali Belly. You might call it food poisoning or traveller's diarrhoea. I call it "hell hath no fury like an Indonesian boat".

There are people, like my mother and my best friend, who are really quite lovely when sick. If you detect their illness at all, because these superwomen generally just keep going until they drop dead, they maintain a certain poise and sense of humor. I most definitely do NOT possess that kind of grace. When I am sick, I whine and I whimper and I generally feel very sorry for myself in a "Why is this happening to ME?!" sort of way. It ain't pretty, I know, but I just HATE being sick. I hate it so much, in fact, that I'd rather lay sick in bed all night long rather than just throw up for a couple of minutes and feel better afterwards. But as we moved my sick body from Padangbai to Sanur and my illness turned from bad to worse, I had no choice but to stay in bed, obediently take my antibiotics and throw up when necessary. In between it all I also got a bladder infection so now I feel that I've been through the entirety of possible travel-related illnesses and should be left alone during the rest of the trip. I had so hoped to make it through South East Asia without getting sick...

But enough with the complaints, because, in the end, we had a great week in Sanur with my parents! We did a couple of nice things together and it was so cute to see my parents enjoy Bali the way that they did. We took a trip to Tirta Gangga ('Water of the Ganges') where we admired the beautiful water palace called Taman Tirta Gangga. Dad and Jochem were even able to swim in the pools.


Taman Tirta Gangga


Taman Tirta Gangga

We also spent a day in Ubud, which is a really cool town. Here we indulged in a gigantic shopping spree that was just so much fun and at night we attended a traditional Balinese dance performance called the Kecak Fire and Trance Dance where an old man in a horse suit walked through burning coconut shells - it was wild!


Now that my mind is more at ease, I've let different colors come back into my wardrobe, and I like it! My parents gave me the red and wooden bracelet during our shopping spree in Ubud.


Balinese horse dancer after his encounter with the burning coconut shells

On our third outing our private driver, called Corona, drove us to Penelokan from where we were able to enjoy the beautiful views over the crater rim of the active volcano Gunung Batur. Afterwards Corona took us to the spice plantation of Amertha Yoga Agrotourism where we tasted all kinds of coffees, teas and cacaos, including a very special cup of Bali Kopi Luwak. You may have heard this story before, but this coffee originally comes from Sumatra and is now also produced on Bali. A wild animal called Paradoxurus (named Luwak by the locals), which looks like a mix between a badger and a cat, eats the coffee beans. People then collect the Luwak's faeces, clean the undigested coffee beans, roast them and turn them into coffee. It was nice coffee, albeit a bit expensive to drink on a regular basis ($500,- a pound seemed excessive). On the drive back to Sanur we were able to enjoy the beautiful rice paddies surrounding Ubud.


Gunung Batur


Bali Kopi Luwak


Balinese ducks in the rice paddies near Ubud

What we did most, however, was relax. I think that all of us got at least three different spa treatments, from fish therapy to manicures and from facials to massages.


Some women like shoes, some women like bags - I like brightly colored toe nails!

Our hotel was a little bit weird. The setting was beautiful, the rooms were immaculate and the staff was very friendly, but we just couldn't get used to our fellow guests. I find it hard to write about this without sounding overly critical and judgemental, but our fellow guests were not very nice people. During our stay we were constantly surrounded by other Dutch people, which was weird enough, but these were a certain kind of Dutch people. My Dutch family and friends might know what I mean: they were the kind of Dutch people who wake up at 6 AM in order to secure themselves the best beach beds (which I know to be true because my father once got up at dawn to see the sunrise and witnessed this scene). They were the kind of Dutch people who brought their own luncheon meat, mustard and mayonaise to the breakfast buffet. They were the kind of Dutch people who constantly made fun of the shy Balinese staff in their crass dialects. Needless to say, I will not miss their particular companionship. Our spacious rooms, our swimming pool and the long stretch of white beach, however, were pretty nice.


Respati Beach Hotel, Sanur


Respati Beach Hotel, Sanur


Respati Beach Hotel, Sanur


Sanur Beach


Sanur Beach


Sanur Beach

This morning it was time to say goodbye and it felt like the week had just flown by without any of us really noticing. Perhaps this is for the better, though, because I don't think any of us wanted to replay another tearful goodbye. As we speak, my parents are flying back to Amsterdam via Hong Kong and we are here in Ubud.

Ubud is where we'll spend our last 8 days on Bali. These are also our last 8 days in Indonesia and our last 8 days in South East Asia. We thought long and hard about what to do next - perhaps book a flight to Yogyakarta to visit Borobudur? Hire a car and drive along Bali's coast? Travel through Bali's only national park in the north west? See the black beaches in the east? In the end, though, we settled on Ubud. Although I'm all better and well-rested from our week in Sanur, I'm not feeling up for anything too spectacular and (although I'm a little bit ashamed to admit this, knowing that it must be cold and grey back home) I'm actually a bit beach-tired after three weeks. And Ubud is just such a nice city to be in. I really love it here - it is not a small town in the middle of nowhere, or a big cosmopolitan city, but a perfect blend of both. It has everything that you would ever need without compromising on its authenticity. The people are a lovely mix of locals and expats and tourists and backpackers. We have found ourselves a cheap bungalow at Artini Cottages I, which is a family compound on Hanoman Road, just east of the city center. The streets are scattered with hip vegetarian restaurants and yoga studios, which makes me extremely happy, because (although I'm a little bit ashamed to admit this as well) if I never have to eat another plate of mie goreng again, it will be too soon. In Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert describes her time in Rome as a double major in speaking and in eating, with a focus on gelato. In Ubud I plan to major in food and yoga while also doing a minor in meditation. I look forward to this time and will keep you posted.


Respati Beach Hotel, Sanur

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!

Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

One week ago it was time to leave the beautiful Gili Islands for Lombok.


Gili Trawangan

We took a boat to Bangsal and then a bus to Senggigi on the western coast of Lombok. We had been extremely impressed with the beauty of the Gili Islands and were thus surprised to see how beautiful Lombok is as well. During the drive from Bangsal to Senggigi there were white-sand beaches on your right and rolling green hills on your left. While Lombok doesn't share the crystal clear and turquoise waters of the Gili Islands, it makes up for it with its lush greenery. Quite amazingly, we were able to stay in a wonderful hotel in Senggigi for a good price. We decided to spend our days there by relaxing, either at the hotel pool or on the beach.


Sendok Guest House, Senggigi, Lombok


Senggigi Beach, Lombok

On Sunday, then, it was time for our boat trip through Nusa Tenggara. I apologize in advance for perhaps using the word 'magical' too often during this blog post, but 'magical' epitomizes this part of Indonesia for me, with which I have completely and hopelessly fallen in love, and I believe Jochem has as well. All the beauty that we've been blessed to witness during the last 2 months bleaks in comparison to Nusa Tenggara. It surpasses everything we've seen so far, and this includes my beloved Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. It may be the most beautiful piece of earth that I have ever seen.

However, as it says in our Lonely Planet: "Be warned - this is no luxury cruise." Indeed, it wasn't anything like a cruise. Life on boat was ROUGH! It was more back-to-basics than any rained-on camping trip I've ever undertaken. Our boat was small and made of old wood and had a certain smell. The trip was a bit too expensive for our budget, so we didn't opt for a cabin but for sleeping on deck. Perhaps naively, we thought we'd be sleeping in dorm-room-like accomodation, but no, we literally had to sleep 'on deck'. We didn't have any place to put our luggage except for a big luggage storage room, so every time you had to get new clothes or your set of toileteries, you had to dive into this room, locate your carefully packed backpack, dig in, locate your necessities and repack said backpack (and, OF COURSE, it was only after you'd done that, that you realized that it might be useful to also get your toothpaste out together with your toothbrush). Luckily, each night we succeeded to snatch a sleeping spot on the top deck (as opposed to the low deck where it was hot and where you could clearly hear the boat's engines roaring) where we slept under the moon and stars, but during the day the top deck was sunny and hot. At night we were often sailing so there was a lot of wind and, thus, it was often very cold. Because we were out at sea, you and everything that you own smells and feels like the sea - you know, that kind of salty dampness that you may recognize after a day at the beach. Add sweat, humidity and heat to this mix and imagine getting dressed or getting under your sleeping blankets. Maybe you're wondering: were there no facilities on board? Oh yes, there were. Small ones. Cramped ones. Hot ones. 3 toilets/showers on 40 people where the water pressure is non-existent and you have to flush the toilet manually with a bucket of water. And, since you don't have your own room, you also have to get changed here. Although I did end up with fabulous beach hair (so Bic (and I know that you're reading this, even though you appear to have vanished from the face of the earth), if you're still interested in volumized hair: go on this boat trip!). I've never felt dirtier in my whole entire life.





Having said all of that, I must underline that IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!! Our company, Perama, was professionally organized. Our tour guide, Gary, was sweet, attentive and knowledgeable. And the amazing crew on board did absolutely everything to please us, including cleaning up after us, preparing our sleeping spots every night and cooking 3 meals a day. I'm actually very proud of myself for having handled these difficult living arrangements for 5 days and 4 nights. It made me realize that while I like having a routine and definitely don't like to give it up, I AM able to let it go when the situation calls for it and still enjoy myself. I only had one low point - this was on the last day of our trip. I'd been pretty sick for a couple of days by then (sleep-deprived, dehydrated, still sunburned from the Gili Islands, with belly aches and a liquid stomach) and in the morning I wasn't careful enough when putting in my contacts and the wind blew one on the floor. Jochem and I spent 15 minutes frantically looking for it with flashlights in the very dirty sink and on the very dirty floor and I was like: "Get me off this )(*&^%$#@! boat!" Miraculously, Gary found it and all was well again. What really made the trip worthwhile for me, though, was Nusa Tenggara itself. This is beauty of the remote, deserted and parched variety. The mesmerizing landcape is made up of deep blue waters studded with hundreds of moon-like islands. It is beautiful in its harshness.





Our first day was mostly spent on Lombok. We made a quick visit to the village of Masbagik to view the craft of pottery-making by the local women and saw how the local men make wooden boats by heart in the village of Kampung Padak. In the afternoon and evening we spent a couple of hours on Gili Kondo for some snorkelling, a walk around the nearly deserted island and a bonfire barbecue.


Gili Kondo

We sailed all night and woke up near the island of Satonda. In 1815 a nearby volcano erupted that caused a tsunami, which accounts for a beautiful salt water lake on the island. It was magical to swim in this lake - it is like swimming in a giant green crater and if you sit still long enough, wild fish therapy fish will come to nibble at your dead skin. This place was one of the highlights for me during this trip.


Satonda

After Satonda we sailed for 6 hours to Kilo/Donggo Beach on the island of Sumbawa for swimming and snorkelling. We sailed all night and witnessed a couple of truly magical things on the boat - millions of stars, a bright red full moon and glow-in-the-dark algae that glowed up when it was disturbed by the fish. I was laying on my back, listening to my friends' playlists, looking up at the sky. It was my favorite moment on the boat.

The next morning THE highlight of the trip commenced: our visit to Komodo National Park on the island of Komodo.


Komodo National Park

Here we saw a couple of big and small dragons laying in the sun digesting their meals of previous days.


Komodo National Park

However, we also stumbled upon one dragon as it was eating a deer! Only later did we understand how rare this is - our rangers, who had worked at the park every day for a year, had only seen it 3 times, while our tour guide, Gary, had only seen it once in 2 years. We were extremely lucky, then, to have seen this!


Komodo National Park

The park was gorgeous, but dangerously hot - I could literally feel my skin burning despite the protective clothing and layers of factor 50 that I had just put on.


Komodo National Park


Komodo National Park

Which is why I was extremely happy to be heading for Red Beach on Komodo, which is the most beautiful beach I've ever seen and comes as close to a deserted island tropical paradise as I can imagine. I think it's called Red Beach because the white sand is studded with red dots of crumbled red coral.


Red Beach, Komodo


Red Beach, Komodo

After swimming and snorkelling some more, we headed for Labuan Bajo on Flores, which was as far east as we would travel. When you look at a map, Lombok and Flores look really close together, but in reality it's about 850 kilometers apart. We only had a couple of hours there, which we spent at a cafe overlooking the sunset over the harbor. At night, back on the boat, some people got off at Flores and some new people boarded and we slept in a drizzle of rain.


Labuan Bajo, Flores

The next morning we woke to another magical moment: dolphins jumping out of the water near our boat. We made our way to the island of Rinca for more hiking and more dragons in Komodo National Park.


Rinca


Rinca


Rinca

After another gruelling exercise in the burning sun, we sailed to Gili Laba for yet more swimming and snorkelling.


taking the smaller boat out to Gili Laba


Gili Laba


Gili Laba

One last night of sailing and we found ourselves in Labuan Haji on the island of Moyo.


comparing nail polish colors in Labuan Haji on Moyo

We walked through the village and its beautiful rice fields.


Labuan Haji, Moyo


Labuan Haji, Moyo

In the woods we played like children at this waterfall. Jochem acted dangerously on the rope (no worries, Linda, I preached him about it until his ears fell off), while I enjoyed the simple pleasures of shade, coolness and fresh water.


Moyo


Moyo

Our final stop of swimming and snorkelling was the tiny island of Keramat.


Keramat

After that things happened very fast. We sailed back to Labuan Lombok, took a bus back to Senggigi, found a really nice hotel room, had about 4 showers apiece, ordered room service and crashed into our beds. In the morning we took a cab to Teluk Nare, took a boat back to Padangbai on Bali, found a room at the same hotel that we stayed in 2 weeks ago, arranged our transport to Sanur on Sunday (where we will FINALLY see my parents again) and had a big lunch. I plan to do absolutely nothing in Padangbai but rest from an, arguably, very difficult, but very rewarding trip.


back in Teluk Nare on Lombok with Stefan, Alvaro and Aleix

I bet that I'll be fabulous on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!

Gili Islands, Indonesia

We are on Gili Trawangan, which can only be described as tropical paradise!



On Sunday morning we took a VERY early flight from Singapore to Bali. From the airport we fought to get a cheap taxi (as opposed to a more expensive airport taxi) and drove to Kuta. We didn't like Kuta at all - it's like a Balinese version of Salou, which says enough, I think. But we went there to book a bus to Padangbai. Luckily we were able to get a bus that same day. In the afternoon we arrived in Padangbai, found a nice hotel, and relaxed on the beach. The next morning, then, we finally took a boat to the Gili Islands.



There are 3 Gili Islands: Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. They are close to North West Lombok. Gili Air is closest to Lombok and is very quiet. Gili Meno is between the other 2 Gilis and is pretty much deserted besides a couple of fishermen and a few couples on their honeymoon. This scared me a little bit, so we decided to go to the island that is the farthest removed from Lombok: Gili Trawangan - the Party Island. I suppose that one could party here if one wanted to, but if you stay on the northern side of the island, you hardly notice this, even though the island is quite small. Most of the bars and extravagant hotels are found on the southern side. It took us a while to find accommodation, but just as it was starting to rain, we were able to get a sweet bungalow in a tropical garden at Warna Homestay, where the water that comes out of the shower is salty (?).





On Monday we took it slow and explored the island a little bit. It turns out that you can purchase magic mushroom shakes here and that there is no police on any of the islands! But with the Indonesian authorities still rewarding foreigners with the death penalty for drug use, we're staying far away. Not that we feel inclined to use some by any means - I have hardly drunk any alcohol at all during this trip, because I just don't feel like it.

On Tuesday we had something very special planned: a snorkelling trip at 4 different reefs around all 3 islands. It was just magical - the sun was shining, the skies were blue and the water was crystal clear. We were on a boat with a glass bottom and no matter how deep the water was, you could still see all the way down to the bottom of the sea - amazing. We visited Good Heart Reef, Turtles Reef, Garden Fish Reef and Bay Rock Reef. We also had lunch at a beach shack on Gili Air. While snorkelling we saw colorful coral, a shipwreck, turtles (!), lots of small sea life and every tropical fish you can imagine, mere inches from our face. This was just what I needed after 2 months of plowing through humid jungles and wet mud.











But, alas, despite the waterproof factor 50 that we lathered on, we still got severely burned. OUCH! It hurts to even sit, so we've been hiding from the sun for a little while, but we hope to get a few more hours of tropical paradise in before we leave for Lombok tomorrow - we come armed with 2 bottles of factor 50 and sarongs to block the sun.



We only have 2 days on Lombok, which we'll probably spent at the beach in Senggigi. On Sunday we leave for our boat excursion to Komodo to go dragon spotting!

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!