We arrived in Bangkok at around 9pm, took a taxi straight to our hotel (we’d booked an airport hotel so only about 10 mins away) and got an early night. It was so strange being back at Suvarnabhumi Airport as the last time we were here was the very first day of our travels! It brought back so many memories about being so excited to step outside in Asia for the first time in my life with 6 months of adventure ahead of me, and also how clueless we felt about getting a SIM card and not getting scammed by the taxi drivers.
In the morning we took a taxi to the MBK centre, which is a huge indoor market that sells pretty much anything you want. I was really interested to see what we thought of Bangkok this time compared the first time, now we were fully acclimatized to Asia. The first thing I’d forgotten was how bad the traffic in Bangkok was, it took ages to get there! We grabbed some mango & sticky for rice for breakfast from one of the food vendors downstairs, and then spent some time exploring the market and buying souvenirs/gifts for friends and family. It was nice to be able to buy all the stuff we’ve seen on the whole trip, but never had the luggage space to carry it (our return flight is the first time we’ve had both our bags checked in).
We then started walking towards Khao San Road, but it was quite a long way so ended up flagging down a tuk tuk. The tuk tuks definitely don’t feel so scary compared to the first time (if you can survive the roads in Indonesia, you can survive anywhere!). Ram Buttri is a road close to Khao San, but a bit more chilled out, so we had a walk around there and did a bit more shopping, and stopped for a Pad Thai for lunch. We then had a foot massage on Ram Buttri Alley at the same place we had our first ever Thai foot massage. It was nicer having a massage when you know you have 6 months of relaxing ahead of you, but we still enjoyed it. We showed the staff the picture of us there 6 months ago and it was funny to see how pale our skin was then. We also stopped by our favourite smoothie stall we used to visit first time around, it reminded us how frugal we were at first before we got used to a backpacker budget, as in that first week we always got a single smoothie to share to save a few Baht.
In the afternoon we took a walk towards the Grand Palace, and surprise surprise, on the way a tuk tuk driver started telling us it was closed today. We were now wise to the tuk tuk drivers so just thanked him and carried on walking (they lie to you and claim there’s a national holiday which means tuk tuks are free, then you find yourself being taken to a jewelry shop or tailor where they convince you you’re getting a special bargain).
We stopped by one of the piers on Chao Phraya River for a coffee and it started hammering down with rain. We hung around for a while, but it wasn’t going to pass, so we bought some ponchos and hailed a tuk tuk to take us to Pratunam Market so we could do some more shopping. We bought some Thai rum for Lisa’s dad and a little bag for her grandma, and then walked down the road to Central World (another mall) to check out the Red Sky Bar for a rooftop drink overlooking the city skyline. It took us ages to find the entrance, and when we finally got there, there were no seats with a view so decided to give it a miss.
Over the road was The Market, Bangkok. It was quite a strange place, really modern and offering loads of discounts, and inside there was loads of shops, but barely any people. We really wanted some proper tasty Thai street food for our last meal of the trip, but were really struggling to find anything so had something from the food hall on the top floor.
After this we decided we better get back to the hotel (we needed to checkout at midnight to catch our flight), so took the BTS (a monorail) back out of the city to the stop just before the airport. Back at the hotel we had some time to chill out and get our bags packed before checking out. Lisa had a little nap, but I was too worried about missing the flight so stayed up until we left. Bangkok did feel different this time around, it felt much quieter than before, although I’m not sure if it actually was, or we were now just used to the pace of Asia.
We got to the airport super early, which was lucky as the queues through immigration were ridiculous! We arrive about 3 hours before take off (as it had been delayed slightly), and had no time at all spare before we boarded the flight. We had a layover in Abu Dhabi before our final flight home to London. I was actually pretty sick of planes by now so was really looking forward to getting home!
This is the last of the blogs now (I’m not going to miss writing them, they took way longer than I expected, although I know we’ll love looking back on them in years to come).
We traveled 30,590 miles in all. Slept in hotels, hostels, homestay, guest houses, trains, buses, boats & not forgetting that night camping in the jungle. We’ve traveled by boats, planes, tuk tuks, bikes, horse & cart, cars and a lot of walking. Crossed borders by land, sea, river and sky. Visited a lot of temples and climbed a lot of mountains. Saw beautiful sunrises, sunsets, nature and animals. Eaten the best food of our lives and some of the worst and met some incredible people. We’ve had the best six months ever, I’m so glad we did this and would recommend it to anyone! We’ve learnt so much about the world and seen/experienced some incredible things. But for now, back to reality…
We arrived back into Melbourne in the evening and headed straight to Nick’s place. Nick was so kind to let us stay again for a couple of nights whilst we were back in the city. Nick was out at an event when we arrived, so we went to an Ethiopian restaurant up the road he had recommended to us. We ordered the platter of the day which came with a lamb, chicken and fish curry, as well as a couple of vegetable dals. With the curries came some flat bread which had a spongy texture kind of like a thin crumpet before its toasted. To eat you tore off some of the bread and used it to scoop up the curry; the curries were spicy and has much flavour it was such a great place and not badly priced too. We then headed back to Nick’s local for a quick schooner and then back to his place (after visiting the bottle shop for supplies). Nick was having some people back over and we enjoyed an evening of drinking and playing ‘lives’, a new card game they introduced to us (which I’ve since played with some of the family and it’s gone down very well!).
The next day we went to Queen Victoria Market with Nick to get the hot jam donuts we had tried to get before. They were tasty but could have done with a little more jam for my liking, however, I did notice later in the day Chris had jam splashed all over him, so maybe he got all the jam. Chris has another friend that lives in Melbourne, James, who he hasn’t seen for 8 years. James came to meet us for a coffee (thanks again for the coffee James and so lovely to meet you). It was such a lovely day, so bright and sunny so we headed to the botanical gardens where you get a great view of the city. After a mulled cider in a local bar we headed to meet Kath at the Marvel Stadium to see our first footy game. Kath is a St Kilda supporter who are known as the Saints and they were playing the Bulldogs. AFL – Aussie rules is so much fun to watch and so fast paced. I was shocked at all the little scraps that started when they didn’t even have the ball, but it all added to the excitement. We had a pie (covered in tomato sauce Aussie style) and beer whilst watching the match, which is novel as you can’t drink in the view of the pitch in football games at home. St Kilda won which topped off the great experience.
In the evening Nick took us to a great sky bar which had a gorgeous view of the sky line and then on to a cheap bar which did $4 pizza. We arrived and it was drag night which I loved as Ru Pauls Drag race has been my go to show on Netflix for the trip so it was like getting a live show! Thank you so much to Nick for sharing his city with us and his favourite spots, it is nice having a local showing you around.
We enjoyed a much needed lay in and then some delicious brunch before heading to Melbourne Cricket Ground to do the stadium tour. The stadium is used for cricket in the summer and then AFL in the winter. The changing rooms were so odd as they are just a empty room for the AFL games, I can imagine a kit bag being put on the floor when they are getting ready and then just doing drills in the space, not like a Premier League changing room room We then decided to try a kangaroo burger for lunch and fries with chicken salt. The Kangaroo burger tasted just like beef really but was still good, it was bit pricy so we had to share one. We then met Kath and took the train to Lilydale where her sister Debbie met us and took us to her farm.
Yarra Valley
It was so nice to be able to see so many different parts of Australia, we were so lucky Debbie allowed us to stay over. We arrived about 8pm and shared some Tasmanian sparkling wine, and Debbie put on the most incredible spread of cheeses, meats and breads. It was a clear night and the stars were so bright it was incredible, even better then the boat in Indonesia, the milky way was so clear.
The next day Kath took us on a vineyard tour through the Yarra Valley. There is a stretch of road with wineries on both sides of the road we picked 3 to visit. Most offer tasting for $5 (£2.50) and you get to try between 5 and 10 wines. If you purchased the wine you then didn’t get charged for the tasting. However, we didn’t have any spare luggage space which was lucky as the more we drank the more we decided we needed to buy some wine. We did pick up a lovely red from the Dominic winery, who is actually the son of the master wine maker for Rothschild. The views from some of the wineries over the vineyards were spectacular, we could have spent days here. We were getting a bit tipsy and needed something to soak up the wine, so we headed to a dairy farm where there was a little farm shop and free tasting of the cheeses they have on offer. We then headed back to the farm and we were introduced to more of Kath’s family and her little great nephew it was so strange hearing a child speak with an Aussie accent! Debbie took us all for a ride around the farm in her buggy, it was like a mix between a golf cart and a jeep! The land is massive and when we got towards the bottom we saw a family of kangaroos and rode along side them for a while. It was so amazing to see them in the wild in the day light bouncing away. For dinner we had lamb racks with creamy potatoes and salad and Debbie had decorated her dining room with Australian flags and koalas for our last night in Australia, such a lovely touch and dinner was delicious.
Travel Day
The next morning we got up super early to start our travel day, first was a 45 minute car ride to the train station (thank you Debbie!) then a train to Melbourne, because we were arriving into the centre prior to 7.15am it was free – result! Then an hour taxi ride to the airport, then 7 hour flight to Singapore, 2 hour lay over then a 2 hour flight to Bangkok, then 15 minute taxi to the hotel. Door-to-door our travel day was 19 hour long, the biggest one yet!
We have a full day to enjoy Bangkok then will be heading home. Australia has been amazing, we packed a lot into our 2 weeks, it was so nice to be able to see so many different sides of it and we have really loved it here you can see why people settle here, the pay is higher and the cost of living is less then the UK. I can confirm Sydney won the argument for the best city in our minds, but that’s just from a tourist point of view.
The reason for our trip to Tasmania was to catch up with a friend who I haven’t seen for 5 years. Kath actually lives in a town about half an hour out of Hobart called Huonville. When she found out we were heading to South East Asia she offered to host us, show us around Tasmania and then take us to her sister’s farm in the Yarra Valley. Our flight came in at 4pm, Kath picked us up from the airport and presented us with our itinerary for the next few days. First stop was the casino in Hobart who offered a carvery, so we enjoyed our first roast dinner in 5 and half months which went down very well. Tasmania has a lot of wildlife and just up the road from Kath’s house we spotted our first kangaroo. We then went for a little drive down the back roads and spotted wallabies and paddy melons too, it’s so exciting to see them hopping about. Tasmania does unfortunately have a big problem with road kill, with wallabies and kangaroos getting knocked over and then the carnivorous animals getting hit when they feed on them. It was crazy how many dead animals there were on the roads as we drove from Hobart to Kath’s house. Kath’s mum (Joan) had asked Kath in preparation for our arrival with us being British, if we drank tea and would we expect to drink it out of a cup and saucer haha, thinking she might need to get the china out. When we arrived and were offered a drink we asked for tea, Kath’s dad (Alan) just said typical pommies. It’s been pretty chilli since we arrived in Australia it was so lovely to be greeted with a roaring log burner and such a cosy house, and of course a cuppa.
Road Trip Day 1
Kath had us up before the crack of dawn as she wanted us to make the most of our Tasmania road trip. We prepared a flask of tea and took crumpets topped with Promite and honey for breakfast. Promite is an extract like Bovril and Marmite, but without the harshness and the honey on top was a great addition. First stop was Cockle Creek which is the furthest point south you can drive in Australia, we spotted a few more animals along the way. I’m such a big kid and got pretty excited, which reminded me when I was a kid on the way to Alton Towers shouting out ‘theres one’ when we spotted a sign. We arrived just as the sun was rising over such a stunning landscape. The beaches down there were perfect, white sand and blue ocean. It was strange to be looking out to sea knowing the next landmass is actually Antarctica. There are some lovely walks you can do to get even further south and if we had the time would have been great to have done some of the beautiful nature walks on offer, maybe if you fancy a visit to Tasmania though aim for the summer. We then headed back via the coastal road to the house, where her mum had prepared a BBQ picnic for us ready for lunch.
The next stop on our road trip was Bonarong Animal Sanctuary, where Kath had reserved a BBQ area for us. We cooked up our BBQ bits for lunch in the ‘bush tucker hut’, luckily it was just burgers and sausages and no widgety grubs or kangaroo testicles. This was our first ever Australian BBQ, we didn’t have any shrimp to chuck on the barbie though, and Kath actually told us they don’t even call them shrimp, they call them prawns and it was actually a marketing campaign to encourage Americans to visit Australia – we couldn’t find any cork brimmed hats either! Chris has some Aussie work colleagues and they had told him about snag and bread which is a BBQ sausage in a slice of bread, which I thought was strange at first but actually who needs different shaped rolls anyway, just get the loaf of bread out!
After our BBQ we then went to an introductory talk about the animals. The lady told us all about wombats, Tasmanian devils and koalas as well as the work they do at the sanctuary. Most of the native animals are marsupials which means they birth their young premature and then nurse them in pouches on the outside of their body. Animals are taken in if they are orphaned if mum gets knocked over by a car and someone finds a baby in the pouch people are able to contact the sanctuary (which Kath actually did last year) or if they are sick/ injured. They will then nurse them and release them into the wild, the only exception to this is the Tasmanian devil due to them being endangered. The Tasmanian devil (which looks nothing like the cartoon by the way!) eats everything and crunches through the bones so I’m glad we didn’t get to stroke that one. Apparently it was actually the British settlers that named the animal because of the noise they make and also in the dark the blood filled ears look like devil horns, nowadays they are sadly suffering with a facial cancer which is being spread through contaminated blood whilst feeding so numbers are declining and its very rare to see them in the wild. After our little introduction we were then free to wander around and see the other animals, such as the Kookaburras, Eastern Quolls and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos.
Then we headed into kangaroo land, as soon as we walked through the gate we were greeted by so many kangaroos recognising the brown feed bags we had been given. It was such an amazing experience some of them were massive, but they were so friendly and loved a good neck scratch, and happily posed for a selfie. We even saw mums carrying joeys in their pouches – some just with a leg poking out, some with the head popping out. They also have a veterinary surgery on-site with observation glass and we saw a tiger snake in for a check-up.
To top it all Kath then surprised us with an engagement gift – an experience with sugar gliders. These tiny little fluff balls have skin flaps between their legs so they can glide when they jump. We got to feed them in their cage, it was such a lovely gift as we wouldn’t have got to see them otherwise as they hide in their little holes and are usually only active at night.
Next we headed to Nubeena where we would be spending the night in a little holiday home kindly given to us by a friend of the family. On the way we popped to a Woolworths which is the Tesco of Australia and picked up all the Aussie classic snacks (we haven’t stopped eating and must have put on all the weight we lost in Asia). We had a couple of games of cards by the fire then headed to bed. There is a big debate across Australia if barbeque or pizza flavour Shapes (a savoury cracker snack) are better, Kath is on the barbeque and was upset when we preferred the pizza, however, the vegemite cheese ones totally won the contest for us.
Road Trip Day 2
The next day we headed to the local park which over looked the beach and cooked our breakfast on the BBQ. It was pretty surprising to us that the Aussie BBQ is gas and usually a flat grill, what is awesome though is that they just have these in parks for public use, it was super clean too, I can’t imagine what it would have looked like if it was in the UK. After our eggs and bacon the first stop of the day was Port Arthur. Port Arthur was a male prison for the convicts who committed crimes for a second time, that’s after they had committed the crimes in the UK and sent to the convict colony in the first place. This prison was the first of its kind with a punishment and rehabilitation programs. It closed in 1880 as convicts were being sent to the Isle of White instead, clearly a cheaper option. As well as all the history the site holds from the time as a prison more recently in 1996 a mass shooting took place, where 35 guests and staff were murdered and 23 wounded by a lone gunman.
Next, we headed to Devils Kitchen, the Blow Hole and the Tessellated Pavements. I spotted what I first thought was a dolphin in the sea but turned out to be a seal, still pretty cool as I’d not seen one of those in the wild. Chris attempted to put the drone up at the Tessellated Pavements but it was so windy it was just getting blown about and we thought it might end up in the sea so didn’t want to risk it. We love to try the local foods so picked up some wallabie steaks to try, both the kangaroos and wallabies are culled to control numbers and these meats are a delicacy over here, however, Kath wasn’t up for going anywhere near it, after a quick google we worked out how it should be cooked (just like steak) and had it with some salad. It was delicious just like a fillet steak and so lean too, not as gamey as I had expected it to be, apparently kangaroo is more so. We then headed up the road to the local cider house for their famous apple pie and of course cider. Tasmania grows a lot of apples so cider is a popular drink here, this cider house, Willies, brewed its own onsite. It felt like we had stepped into the wild west, there was a live band playing when we arrived and if there had been a barn dance going I wouldn’t have been surprised. We enjoyed some great cider and the apple pies, a fab way to spend our last evening in Tassy. I did want to buy a T-shirt which I just thought had the outline of Tasmania (which is heart shaped) and the cider house name on it but when Chris saw it and pointed out it actually said ‘I love willies’, he didn’t think it would be appropriate. Joan & Alan got us a gift of all the Aussie classics as well as a chopping board Alan made from Huan pine, a wood that can only be found in Tasmania (and can only be taken from trees naturally felled), they had already been so generous hosting us and that was such a thoughtful gift.
Hobart
On Saturdays in Hobart there is a big market on called the Salamanca Market with all local products for sale and for sample. We headed there for about 9am and by 9.30am we were sampling shots of gin, vodka and wine; we were really struggling for luggage space on the flight which meant we couldn’t actually buy anything but we still ensured we tried everything going and actually got a little tipsy. The highlights for me was this sweet warm honey mead and a vodka made from sheep’s whey which was so smooth. For lunch we had a loaded jacket potato which soaked up the alcohol ready for our flight back to Melbourne.
Next up is the last leg of our Aussie trip with a couple of days in Melbourne and then the Yarra Valley. I don’t want to believe yet that we will be home in less than a week, the time has just gone so quickly!
We arrived in Melbourne late in the evening and after the bus ride into the city met Chris’ friend Nick who is kindly letting us stay with him. Nick travelled South East Asia for a few months and has been working/living in Melbourne since Christmas. Nick was so kind to give us his room, we were greeted to a card and bottle of bubbly as an engagement gift. He helped us plan our day giving us hints and tips of what we should visit.
First stop was breakfast just round the corner from his apartment, which was so fancy, Chris had a banoffee porridge and I had a pastrami hash, it was so tasty, a perfect start to the day. Our stomachs are already getting used to the western diet but our waist lines are not. After breakfast we decided to do a walking tour to get a feel for the city, I really enjoy learning about places in this way. We were in a park and our guide told us that the council put plastic wrapping around some of the trees to stop the possums climbing them and destroying them, however, it’s clearly not that effective as above the wrapping was a sleeping possum. Also as we passed the old jail he told us about a famous prisoner, Ned Kelly, who just prior to getting hung said “such is life”, which has become one of the famous sayings over here in Australia. We also walked through some of the lovely lane ways around the city and then walked though Chinatown. The Chinatown here is the oldest Chinatown in the world, but only because the original buildings in San Francisco burnt down. One thing we have noticed is after the obsession of the weather in Australia, the next thing is they love to brag about things being the best or the tallest or the first in the southern hemisphere, and bearing in mind only 2% of the worlds population live in the southern hemisphere not really sure how impressive it really is lol.
After the walking tour we went to a great little coffee shop, here in Melbourne coffee is a serious business and to be fair we haven’t had a bad cup over here yet – it’s lovely and strong! Next we headed to Queen Victoria Market on one of the free inner city trams for some of the famous hot jam doughnuts, but unfortunately they were sold out by the time we got there and a lot of the stalls were closing up. We will try to get them next time.
It’s a bit colder in Melbourne than it was in Sydney, so I was really fancying some comfort food and found a cute little soup stall down one of the lanes. We then just wandered around the city until we meet Nick for the evening. Nick took us to a bar on the south bank and we had happy hour drinks, the boys had the local beer Furphy and I had a mulled wine, this Christmas in July thing is really awesome! We know a few other people that are working in Melbourne at the moment too and had arrange to meet up. Jordon wasn’t well, but Sam came along to meet us for a drink after work. It was great all catching up and sharing stories of our travels. After drinks we said goodbye to Sam and headed to Chinatown for dinner. Nick took us to a great place and the food was fantastic, a lot of the places offer a bring your own drinks service so we brought along the Prosecco Nick had got for us and toasted our engagement again. We then headed back to the apartment and stopped at Nick’s local along the way. The boys and a pint and I had a schooner which is a 3/4 pint, which is the perfect size for me as a pint is a little to big and a half is too small, I’m sounding like Goldilocks now!
The next morning we met with Nick at the University of Melbourne where he works and had a little tour around. It’s been dubbed the Hogwarts of Melbourne and you can see why, some of the original buildings are stunning. After some breakie we got an Uber to the airport where we are heading to Tasmania and staying with my friend Kath who I haven’t seen for 5 years!
I think it’s unfair to judge the Melbourne v Sydney comparison at such an early stage, we are back in Melbourne again after Tassy before heading to the Yarra Valley, so will let you know our full thoughts after the next visit.
We landed in a chilly Sydney at around 7am and took a short train ride into the city centre. We couldn’t check into our hostel until the afternoon, so found a little cafe across a small park from the station to have a coffee and breakfast. As we walked across the park it was cool to see some birds we’ve never seen before, they had such long beaks and are called ibis birds (although we found out later that the locals call them bin chickens!).
We then took a stroll down through Paddy’s Market and chinatown to Darling Harbour. This was a lovely little harbour surrounded by cafes and restaurants so we sat in the sun for a while near the water, and then popped in to a cafe for another coffee. There was also a stand promoting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and we managed to get a free dip in their chocolate fountain. To save a bit of money we decided to walk to our hostel which was tiring with a 20kg backpack (for flights I put a lot of Lisa’s stuff into my bag so we only have to pay to check in one bag)! We stayed near Kings Cross which is about a 20 min walk from the city, so a pretty decent location for the price. It was also the most stereotypical backpacker place we’ve stayed at so far – although we were in a private room and mainly kept ourselves to ourselves. The odd announcement about cleaning and returning frying pans over a hostel wide speaker system did crack us up.
In the afternoon we went on a walking tour around the city, then stopped at a Christmas market in the evening for mulled wine and bratwurst. Yes you read that right, a Christmas market! It’s winter in Australia so I guess it makes sense they would do this – they even had fake snow! We also saw the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge for the first time; they are so iconic it was very cool seeing them!
Bondi beach
The next morning we headed straight to Bondi (train to Bondi Junction and then bus the rest of the way) as we had a surf lesson booked. I was so impressed with Bondi Beach, I’d (unfairly) presumed it wouldn’t be that great as a city beach and the standard place all backpackers go, but I have to say it’s one of the best beaches I’ve seen on the whole of my travels! We had some brekkie nearby and then went for our lesson. Our instructor was called Ilias and he first took us through the technique on the beach so we could get some muscle memory before we went into the sea. It’s actually quite hard to catch a wave, you have to be paddling really fast otherwise it just sweeps under you, so at first we’d start by lying on the board and he’d give us a big push as the wave comes. It was fairly tricky to start with, but by the end of the 2 hour session we’d manage to stand up and ride a few waves – it does feel so good when you get it right. I think if I lived there I’d definitely take up surfing as a hobby, we both enjoyed it so much. 2 hours was enough though as by the end I was getting a bit cold and had swallowed enough sea water for one day.
After the lesson we had some fish (barramundi) and chips over looking the beach and then walked around the coastal path to another beach called Bronte (and past Tamarama Beach). Bronte was lovely too, although we didn’t spend too much time here and took the bus back to Bondi Junction and the city.
In the evening we went for a lovely meal in Cafe Sydney which is a fancy restaurant overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I had steak and Lisa had some lamb followed by some delicious rich chocolate desserts, it was so nice having some fancy western food for the first time in ages! Obviously this was way above backpacker budget, but my parents had given us some money for dinner, so thank you to them for that!
Manly beach
We were intended to go to the Blue Mountains this morning and Manly the following day, but we woke up a bit late and also realised we’d got confused about the day we were leaving so had an extra day, so decided to go to Manly. It’s about a 30 minute ferry crossing from Central Quay, has a nice little town and another lovely beach.We didn’t do too much while we were here, just bought a few souvenirs, had a few coffees and enjoyed the views across the beach. Apparently this was named ‘Manly’ Beach by the British as when they ‘discovered’ Australia they thought the aboriginal people from this area were very muscly. The aboriginals had a plan to stop the British here – the local women seduced the British while the men hid in bushes with spears. Unfortunately for them the Brits had guns, so their plan wasn’t very successful!
It was so windy and cold on the boat back into Sydney harbour but we really wanted to see the iconic views of the opera house and bridge, so stayed on the outside deck for the journey. Australians like to discuss the weather just as much as us brits, however, they are much better with the facts by giving us details on the wind direction and the reason behind the cold weather.
Blue Mountains
On Sunday in Sydney, all travel is limited to $2.70 if you use an Opal card (similar to our Oyster card). This meant our 2 hour train journey to the Blue Mountains and back cost about £1.50 each – such a bargain! London has a lot to learn from this! We also could have used all the local buses in the blue mountains and as much of the underground in the city as we wanted and it would have cost no more.
We arrived in a town called Katoomba and walked to the main viewing area of the three sisters, which is the most iconic view/photo of the Blue Mountains. It was so cold and we don’t have many warm clothes so we stopped at an Aldi on the way and picked up a few mid-aisle bargains to keep us cosy. From this (very crowded) viewpoint we walked one of the trails through to the next town called Leura. There were some amazing vast views on the way and a lovely waterfall too. They are called the Blue Mountains as all the eucalyptus trees emit oils into the air which gives a blue haze, you can see this as you look into the distance and the tinge gets darker the further you look.
The last day we had a walk around the Royal Botanical Gardens and went back to Darling Harbour to chill out with a coffee enjoying the ambience before we had to go to the airport. We have both absolutely loved Sydney, it is such a green, clean, beautiful city with some amazing landmarks. Then it has incredible beaches and amazing landscapes a short journey away – I can see why so many people who visit this place end up staying, I think I’d be tempted if I was a bit younger and it wasn’t so far away from friends and family!
Next up is Melbourne, which I have also only heard amazing things about. There is a lot of rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney as to which is the best city, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what Melbs has to offer. We also learnt that when all the states decided to join as a single country these two cities were arguing as to which should be the capital – to settle it they built a small new city between them and called it Canberra.
We had 3 days in Bali before we fly to Sydney and wanted to experience the cultural side of the island, so picked the inland hotspot of Ubud. Our boat ticket included a transfer to our hotel in Ubud, which to be honest we didn’t really believe. When we arrived at the harbour in Bali loads of people boarded the boat shouting destinations and taking tickets. We had heard loads about the taxi mafia of Bali so decided to keep quiet and wait until we were off the boat to work out how the transfer worked. An Australian lady behind us (who had clearly been here before) said to her son ‘don’t talk to these men, they are pretending to be taxi drivers, we will go to the office’. We got our bags and headed to the offices; our tickets were taken out of our hands a couple of times with people telling us they were out driver. We went to the office and they just pointed to the crowd and said there, that’s your driver. Eventually we found what we hopped was the company’s driver but we couldn’t tell. Chris showed them our hotel and the driver said they only make drop offs in the town, so why they lie about that when they sell the tickets I don’t know. Also we were told it would only be 2 hours but it was a good 4 by the time we got off the bus. but we have come to expect this in Asia. In Ubud they (the taxi mafia, which call themselves the taxi council) have actually banned online taxis and hiked up the prices for the area. I’m all for ensuring local people get the work, but don’t increase the prices unfairly and rip off tourist. We were dropped off near the centre of Ubud and had expected to have to wrestle for our bags off a taxi driver, however, we weren’t hassled at all. We got some lunch at a restaurant with wifi so we could get to the hotel cheaply. When the lady at the restaurant realised we was waiting for a online taxi, she looked so panicked and said it’s better to wait outside. From what we have heard, if the taxi mafia spot an online taxi, they will ask for their ID and if they don’t belong to the council they get angry and aggressive. When we were picked up we asked the Go Jek driver (Go Jek is similar to Uber in Indonesia) and he said it was pretty risky for him to accept the job, and he was lucky no one had noticed. We arrived at our hotel where we would be staying the next three nights and so pleased we had booked to stay out of the town. The front of the hotel overlooked rice terraces and had a great sunset. With the view from our room facing the other way it had a great view of the jungle from a lovely balcony, it was just perfect. Just across the road, actually in the rice field was a cute little warung (local eatery) called Raditya Café, we headed straight there for a couple of drinks to watch the sunset.
Day 1: Exploring Ubud
We decided to hire a driver for the day and explore the cultural side of Ubud and the popular sites; Maureen who we had met on the Flores boat trip recommended Gusti to us. It cost 500,000 (about £28) to hire Gusti for the day and we asked him to take us to local points of interest. Bali is the island most people visit when they come to Indonesia and is more westernised because of that. You could really tell this when we arrived at our first stop, the Tegalalang rice terraces, as it was so commercialised. It was as if they only still grew rice there because it brought in tourists and the main focus was the swings, shops and overpriced cafes with views. We did a bit of a hike up and around the terraces and soon realised if we followed any of the signs it was actually leading us to a café or swing, so we soon ignored them and had a little explore. It was lovely to see, but a little disappointing to see so much commercialisation, when you just want to see the beautiful nature. Next we went to do some coffee sampling in a coffee plantation, this was basically just a café with one coffee tree, a staged coffee roasting method and the lemaks in big cages (the lemak poo coffee in Bali is the most expensive coffee in the world). First thing we were asked is if we wanted to go on the swing, we were soon told that we couldn’t take a picture in the birds nest if we didn’t pay for the swing (a human sized birds nest, whatever next!). We had our coffee samples and again we were expecting to taste the coffee at different roasting stages and different types of local coffee, but it was actually just powered flavoured coffee and different teas. We did try the lemak coffee which was ok but we have had better. We visited a couple of lovely temples the Goa Gajah (known as the elephant cave) and also the Pura Desa Batuan. It was lovely walking around these temples, I feel like we have seen all the temples in Asia on our trip but Bali temples are so unique as they are puri hindu, something we hadn’t seen anywhere else. You have to wear sarongs in the temples (which Chris is more than happy to wear), a popular photo is to stand in the middle of the gates. Something we have seen online and actually saw whilst we were at the elephant cave, is people using the black shiny surface on a phone just under the camera to give the illusion of water and reflection. We also saw dress rental for that perfect Instagram photo on the many swings, as well as full on Instagram tours! Now I’m all for a good photo, but to travel to perfect spots and not experience them… this fake’stagram is really scary.
We also visited the powerful waterfall of Air Terjun Tegununagan and for lunch tried the local dish of babi guling which is suckling pig. Don’t get me wrong we had a really lovely day but it is such a shame that these beautiful places are actually being adapted for the Instagram crowd and losing their natural charm.
We had dinner in our new little local on the rice field and watched the sunset again, back to our happy place, and the true country side of Ubud.
Day 2: Jewellery making Workshop & Proposal
I’d seen a jewellery making workshop advertised on Gili Air and thought it would be a lovely thing to do but we were on the wrong island, but found out we could do it in Ubud and got Chris to organise. Chris didn’t really fancy making any jewellery for himself, but was still up for doing the class, which was clearly awesome for me as I get two pieces of handmade jewellery. I had a little look on Pinterest at ideas and set on making a ring. A lot of people by the look of reviews make rings so I didn’t think anything of it when Chris decided to make a ring too.
First I’ll tell you all about the ring I made, I decided on a vine style ring, and was given a piece of paper to draw the leaves on. I needed 10 for my design, drawing 10 tiny leaves is a lot harder then it sounds. These were then glued to a piece of silver and I was given a hacksaw to cut them out, I went through 3 blades it was a long process. I then realised they were too big really so had to file them down it took me a good 2 hours to get to this point! Next I was given a silver rod which was fired to strengthen and then hammered to make straight. I had to taper both the ends… aghhh more filing! My shoulders were killing me! I then used a machine to sand off the rough edges and then polish it up. Next Harris the super helper soldered all of the leaves on for me. Next I had to sand it all down on the machine again and polish it, I knocked off one of the leaves so back to the solder and again the sander. Finally, I bent it into position and polished it all up. I’m so happy with the finished design. Chris had finished ages before me and had popped the ring in a little bag. We were both so chuffed with our work and had a great time at the workshop I would totally recommend it to anyone.
After the workshop we went to a cute little coffee shop Victoria & Andrea had recommended to us (our friends we met in Sapa, Vietnam), we had some amazing local coffee and delicious cakes. I hadn’t actually tried on the ring Chris made me or really seen it finished so I asked for it and just kept it on after (on the right hand index finger the one he had measured up in the workshop). We had a little explore around Ubud town and then took the ridge walk (a 4km scenic walk) back to our hotel. We decided to get some drinks at our rice field local ready to watch the sunset again. When Chris asked to look at the rings we had made and took them both off.
I’ll let Chris tell you about his ring…
I decided on a fairly simple design, as I wanted it to be suitable for an engagement ring and not too tricky to make. I sized it up on Lisa’s right hand which I thought might be a giveaway, but she didn’t seem to think much of it. First I made the heart; this involved twisting a loop of silver wire together using a hand-drill and a vice. I then had to twist it into a heart-shape I’d traced using some small pliers. Our teacher soldered it for me, I then had to file it down so it was nice and smooth. For the ring itself I had a strip of silver which I’d cut to the length needed for Lisa’s finger. I then had to bend it around a tapered rod, hammering it into a perfect circle and closing the gap. He then soldered it together for me, and I spent some time filing, sanding and polishing until it was nice and smooth. Once the heart had been soldered on I then rubbed it with a wire brush, and then more polishing until it was super shiny. I was actually quite impressed with the finished product, it was way better than anything I thought I’d have been able to make!
My plan was to propose in front of the rice terraces, but when we stopped for a coffee on the way she asked to take a look at it. I was hoping she’d give me it back, but no, she just plonked it straight on her finger! From town we took the ridge walk back to the hotel which is where I’d planned on proposing, but it wasn’t really what I expected and there was loads of people so I thought I’d wait until the rice fields near our hotel. When we got close I saw the cafe garden was totally empty, and it was the perfect location surrounded by rice fields. We sat down and I asked to look at both rings (just so she didn’t get suspicious), and then inspected them for am extremely long time while I built up the courage to ask. I said I’d actually made the ring for her other hand and asked her to marry me, Lisa then made me get down on one knee to put the ring on haha.
Back to Lisa again…I was so excited to call my Mum and Dad, but because of the time difference had to wait over an hour for Mum to finish work, of course they already knew as Chris had been in contact to ask permission. I had thought this would be a great proposal opportunity for Chris, but I have been thinking that on a regular bases for a good 3 years now haha. So when he asked, of course I said yes. Its just such a romantic way to get engaged and love the fact Chris made the ring. This is already a trip of a lifetime and it has just been made even more special.
We told the rest of our families and friends the good news most of which just thought we were winding them up! We celebrated in true backpacker style with a beer on the balcony, then went out for a lovely candle-lit dinner as a treat from my parents.
Batik workshop
On our last day we decided to have a leisurely breakfast back out our favourite spot on the rice field and then try our hand at Batik painting. All we knew was it is a traditional painting technique they used in Bali but other than that no idea. Now both me and Chris aren’t exactly artists so when we were given the option to trace a design or draw our own, we both opted to trace. The first step was to trace the designs onto thin cloth using pencil. Next we were both given sarongs to wear to protect our clothes as the next stage was to cover the pencil lines with bees wax, we had to use a special tool to draw the wax lines onto the cloth. Next we used paint brushes to paint thicker lines onto our drawing to create shading. The English of the teachers was very basic and a lot of the times I had no idea what they were saying to me, so just tried to go with the flow meaning half the time I didn’t know what I was doing or why haha. After the wax had set, next was to start to colour, they only had primary colours so layering was used to create the different colours, however, it was a little more complex as you had to cover the colours you were already happy with in wax to protect them. It was really hard to see what was happening and what colour things were, but I just said I want this flower to be pink and leaves green and they gave me a pot and brush and I went ahead. After all of this colouring and layering, the material was washed and then boiled to remove the wax to leave white lines underneath. It was good fun but a bit complex and I had no idea what was going on half the time. We grabbed a coffee whilst we waited for these to dry and then headed to the airport, where we are taking an overnight flight to Sydney.
People have honeymoons, minimoons and babymoons, so I figured I would start a trend with engagementmoons. I have declared Australia officially as our engagementmoon.
We arrived via boat mid-afternoon and took a short walk to our hotel. There are no roads or motorised vehicles here (apart from the occasional e-bike), but there are plenty of horse and carts waiting at the harbour if you don’t fancy the walk. The island is only 1 mile square, so nothing is ever too far away. We hadn’t decided how long we’d stay on the island so had just booked 2 nights in the old village, which was pretty cool as away from most of the resorts and right next to where all the locals live. First thing we decided to do was find a spa and have a traditional massage (we felt like we needed it after our time sleeping on the thin mattress on the boat). We both really loved the Balinese massage and one of the best we have had and thankfully no crazy stretches. We walked to the west side of the island and found a nice bar on the seafront to watch the sunset, listening to the live band from the more expensive bar next door. Our friend Kaitlin (who we met on the boat trip) joined us for a few drinks.
We woke up quite early the next morning as the mosque in the village starts broadcasting some very loud chants at about 4.3oam. It does this 5 times a day to remind the locals when to pray. Breakfast was either rice or Japanese pancake, so obviously we chose the pancake. As much as we love eating the local food, we do prefer western food for breakfast. They brought the pancakes up to our balcony – they looked like American pancakes but even thicker. At first we thought they were a bit thick and disappointing, but when we cut into the middle loads of chocolate oozed out – Japanese pancakes are alright!
After the second night we decided to move to a slightly nicer resort with a pool. We found a few potential places on booking.com and had a walk to visit them. It can work well doing this, as enables you to negotiate on price. The second place we looked at was a nice mini resort about a 30 second walk from the coast, they wanted 600k Rupiah per night (similar to booking.com), but when we said it was too expensive for us and went to leave, he asked what our budget was. We said 400k per night, and he immediately dropped the price to 450k for us – this saved us nearly £40 over the 4 nights! The hotel had a lovely restaurant on the sea edge, which was such a lovely spot for breakfast. We also tried their seafood BBQ one night. We picked a squid and a couple of jumbo prawns from the display and the chef cooked them on the BBQ for us. It was one of the more expensive meals we’ve had on our travels (still under £11 each though), but was so good! It was served with a hot buffet and we were so excited to see it included baked potatoes! Most of our time on the island we spent relaxing around the beach or the pool, but we did do a couple of activities which I’ll tell you about below.
Cooking class
We love trying the different foods in each country and learning about how to cook them, it’s such a good way to learn a bit more about local culture. The food in Indonesia has been so nice, so we booked onto a cooking class we’d spotted near the harbour. First we made some klepon. These are little balls made with rice flour, pandan leaf colouring and coconut milk, filled with palm sugar and then boiled. Once boiled we rolled them in freshly grated coconut. We both liked these and can make them at home with other fillings – our chef told us Nutella or jam both work well. He also told us in Indonesia they never eat dessert, they’d have these as a snack when having guests over. He also thought that in England we have dessert every single day!
We then made some peanut sauce with fried tempeh. We were both expecting to learn how to make tempeh, but it was just a block we cut up. We’d never heard of tempeh before we came to indonesia, and we both really like it. It’s a fermented soya bean product, I guess an alternative to tofu. But it has solid soya beans in it so has more texture than tofu, and a million times nicer in my opinion! The peanut sauce was very simple, with garlic, chilli and fried peanuts blended and some water added. We will also make this at home to use with another dish we’ve enjoyed called gadu gadu (literally translates to ‘mix mix’). Gado gado is a big pile of vegetables covered with the peanut sauce (watered down a bit more than for the previous dish), often served with some fried tempeh and a boiled egg.
Finally we made an Indonesian curry and some noodles, which again were so simple and very tasty – we’ll definitely be making these at home. The great thing about this cooking class is it was very personal. It was just me and Lisa (although that was luck) and as we went through the chef told us how we could adapt to make in England with the ingredients we have available. He also told us all the recipes are on their website and to contact him if we ever have any questions on making the recipes when back home, which I thought was a nice touch.
Snorkelling trip
Snorkelling and scuba diving is super popular here, so we booked ourselves a trip to visit the best spots. The boat left at 10am and returned at 3pm, and was only about a fiver each so pretty good value! It also goes to spots around Gili Trawangan (which everyone just calls Gili T as can’t remember the name!) and Gili Meno, stopping for lunch at Gili Meno so a nice opportunity to visit that island. First we went to a couple of places to see turtles. I didn’t see any at the first spot, but at the second we saw 4! Usually the were hanging around on the sea bed, but I did swim alongside one as it came up for air which was great fun. Next we headed to an underwater sculpture just off the coast of Gili Meno. It was a cool spot with lots of fish, but also nearly as many people! It was even more crowded earlier in the day, but when our guide saw how many boats were there he said we’ll come back later. When we stopped at Gili Meno for lunch we found a little restaurant on our own and enjoyed the peace and quiet. After lunch we went to a lovely coral reef just off of Gili Air. I’d definitely recommend a snorkelling trip if you visit the Gili Islands, there’s loads to see and it’s so cheap. The only downside we found is that there’s quite a lot of people on the boat, so when everyone gets in the water at the same time there’s not much room with everyone kicking their flippers about.
We have both really loved Gili Air, it’s such a nice small island and has a lovely relaxed vibe to it. I’ve really felt we are on holiday here, it’s got the perfect mix of quiet and relaxation with atmosphere and things to do (for us anyway, I’m sure some would find it too quiet and prefer the party scene on Gili T). The only thing it’s missing is a really good beach, as we’ve walked the whole circumference of the island and not found a great one. They’re either rocky with broken coral, or the tide is so high it’s a tiny sliver of beach.
We flew from Bali over to the harbour town of Labuan Bajo in Flores. We got to see some impressive volcanos along the way; first was Mt Agung in the north of Bali (which actually erupted earlier this year), then Mt Rinjani in the north of Lombok and then the smoking Mt Sangeang Api, which was on an island north of West Nusa Tenggara. Labuan Bajo airport is tiny and when we landed our plane was the only one there, at least we didn’t need to get a silly bus to go 300 meters to the terminal. We flew with Nam Air – the Indonesian airlines have only recently received EU safety approval, so Chris was relived we arrived safely and hadn’t actually told me this until after. The main reason for coming to Flores was to do a 4 day boat trip to Lombok, through Komodo National Park with some snorkelling along the way. We had arrived early evening so popped straight out for dinner and got an early night. The following morning after having breakfast delivered to our balcony, we headed out towards the harbour to find out about the trip. We had a good idea on the company we wanted to book with but had heard that if you arrived on the day you would get a cheaper price, this wasn’t the case. It is peak season in Indonesia so maybe that has something to do with it. The boat trip was 2.3million IDR each which is £127, our first problem was to book it we needed to pay in cash. We spend most of the day trying to find cashpoints that worked, the first one we found that worked basically spat out the cash on the floor as it dispensed it, then took the rest of it back in and out again. When we counted it all, it had shorted us 100,000 Rupiah, which is about £6 – pretty annoying when you’re on a budget. We eventually found enough different machines to get the cash out we needed to book the boat trip with Wanua, which departed the next day. There wasn’t really an awful lot to do in Labuan Bajo that didn’t involve getting on a boat anyway (it a very popular dive area), and on the main street you couldn’t walk past a tour agency without getting asked if you wanted a trip. We visited the Starbucks mainly for the aircon and the wifi, but ordered the cheapest thing on the menu.
Later we headed to the harbour front to watch the sunset. Soon after we arrived I got a “hello miss, selfie?” clearly I love this, it’s so flattering but it was bit tedious when I had to stand for photos separately with each of the 6 ladies in the group, and basically missed the sunset. After the little photoshoot we headed to the evening BBQ fish market on the harbour front. We decided on some prawns and a fish which came with rice and vegetables and a spicy sauce. It seemed to take ages and the fish was actually cold when it arrived, which we couldn’t work out why as it had been BBQ’d fresh. Chris didn’t really enjoy it at all, I didn’t think it was too bad, but it didn’t live up to expectations and not a patch on the delicious grilled fish we had in Myanmar on Inle lake. On our way back to the hotel we noticed a vendor selling ‘roti bakar’ which was basically a small loaf of bread with a choice of fillings, fried in butter. We had peanut and chocolate and I can confirm it was delicious and totally unnecessary to have a full loaf, but hey we’re on holiday! (yes 5 months in and I’m still calling this a holiday).
Day 1
We needed to be at the boat for 7.30am, so ordered our breakfast for 7am and a car for 7.20am, well thats what we thought we had done anyway. Our breakfast didn’t arrive until 7.20am and then after inhaling that we asked them about our car, to their surprise! By this point it was 7.30am and I’m panicking that were going to miss the boat! A guy drove us into town but actually took the wrong turn, so we ended up doing a pacey walk to get to the meeting point. We were late and we thought we were the last ones on the boat, but ended up waiting in the harbour until 8.30am for a couple that didn’t even show up.
We could have chosen from deck class or cabin class, but the cabin class would have been an extra £77, which is a lot when we’re on a budget. We had also seen reviews that it gets hot (as it has no windows, just a fan) and it’s very noisy with it being on the same level as the engine. Although the privacy would have been nice, we thought we would go head first with the experience and slum it on the deck. We have been really lucky with our trip so far and haven’t had to slum it much or share rooms, we’re flash packers really. There was a total of 23 guests on board and about 7 crew, the boat could have held 43 guests, god knows where they would have slept! Chris has researched that the Flores to Lombok journey rather then the other way around was much less popular so usually not as busy.
After a few hours we arrived out our first stop, the Komodo National Park on Rinca island. We had two guides with long sticks with a v-shape end, one walked in front and the other at the back of the group. We had seen documentaries about the komodo dragons so knew that although they look like lazy sleepy animals, they jump into action without warning and can run as fast as 20km an hour. They can actually kill a human with one bite because of the amount of bacteria in their mouths (although more recent research is pointing towards it having venom) and can swallow an animal the size of a goat whole. So the v-shape stick was actually to use around their neck to prevent them from coming to close if they decided to move. This time of year is actually mating season so we didn’t actually get to see many as they were all busy. However we did have a lovely walk around and went to a great viewpoint.
Our second stop of the day was the pink beach on Komodo island, after bit of research we had discovered it’s not that pink but some people edit their images to make it more pink. Fake’stagram is just hilarious! It did have a slight pink tinge to it and the sand did look like it was spiked with pink glitter, which is actually tiny broken pieces of pink coral and shells. This was a snorkelling stop, so we headed out with our snorkels we had brought with us. Mine kept filling up with water and I ended up swallowing a bit and was struggling to clear it out whilst treading water. I panicked a bit and ended up just swimming back to the shore, which meant this first snorkelling stop was a bit of a fail for us.
Our last stop of the day was more of the Komodo National Park this time on Komodo island. The guides were a lot more informative on this island. Komodo dragons are only found on 4 islands, earlier this year 70 dragons were stolen from the park but without the full eco system which exists on these islands they can’t survive.
Between stops we relaxed, soaking up the sun on the top deck getting to know some of the other people on board. The boat docked up for the evening, we just shared a large beer and sat on the deck looking at the stars, the sky was incredible so many stars and we saw the Milky Way for the first time, which was just so mesmerising. We only have a compact camera with us and the boat was swaying but Chris managed to snap a pretty good picture.
Day 2
The engines turned on at 4am, at 5.30am our guide Sunny shouted to wake us up for the sunrise, the night before he had explained if we wanted to watch the sunrise he would wake us at 5.30am and when questioned if we would be seeing it from the boat or going on an island he replied boat. So at 5.30am we decided to snooze, as we had seen enough sunrises and sleep was more important (although Chris did get up to watch it for about 5 minutes before coming back to bed). However, a little later on Chris popped out and realised most the people had actually gone on the island, we were gutted we missed this stop as its has such an iconic view point and one of the things we were looking forward to. Communication throughout the trip wasn’t really that good to be honest, as we didn’t really know what the plan was from time to time however other then this missed stop it didn’t bother us much after that. I slept really well, however, Chris didn’t and actually felt a little sea sick in the morning, laying in bed whist the boat is moving was quite the tummy churner.
Our next stop was snorkelling at manta point with the hope of seeing manta rays. This time I requested to use a life jacket, at least then if I get water in my snorkel I could deal with it. The current was really strong here too and we jumped off the boat and just moved with the current. Our guide Sunny was on a little motorised boat ensuring we all stayed together and didn’t venture too far. We didn’t end up seeing any manta rays, but we did see a sting ray and some people saw a baby shark (I’m glad I didn’t!). When it came to swimming back to the boat it was tough as the current was really strong, I was very pleased with my life jacket decision, always the cool kid!
We then relaxed on the boat whilst we headed to our next snorkelling spot and had time for a quick game of ‘shit head’ with our new friends, Sarah & Kaitlin. After our final snorkelling spot we actually needed to cover a fair distance so we ended up sailing through the night. It wasn’t as rocky as the previous night but it was a lot colder (and louder), specially for Chris as he was right next to the open hatch to the lower deck which created a bit of a wind tunnel.
Day 3
In the morning we were delivered a scrambled egg sandwich and enjoyed breakfast in bed. The food on the whole trip was really tasty actually, with lunch and dinner being served buffet style, with a variety of vegetables, fish, tempeh (which I have come to love, its a fermented soya bean cake and tastes way better then it sounds!) with steamed rice. Each meal presented something different, which was different to what we had expected.
The first stop of the day was Moyo island, where we hiked into the jungle to a waterfall. People were climbing up it but it looked far too steep and dangerous to us. We just stayed put. After some more snorkelled we headed back on our way.
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Second stop of the day was the island of Bola and we snorkelled from the boat to the shore. Along the way we noticed big white starfish and when we got to the shore there were loads of them and sea urchins. Also there were baby pufferfish too, they were so cute. We saw some expand and deflate, which was pretty cool.
Just after sunset, we arrived at the small island of Kanawa. After an early dinner we went onto the beach and basically sat in a traveling cliche around a campfire singing songs. Sarah and Kaitlin called me over saying Lisa come there is bioluminescent plankton here, I rushed over to the shore and was so excited. They were being washed up and when we stood on the sand it disturbed them so they glow bright blue, it was just magical. Me and Chris had hoped we would see them on Koh Rong Samloem in Cambodia but it was a full moon and you need total darkness to see them, then we’d hoped in Thailand too again the conditions weren’t right, so when we finally got to see them I was so happy, like a little kid at Christmas. They were like bright blue stars dotted along the cost line, and when we got the mini boat back to the boat and put our hands in the water we could see them again, twinkling in the water.
Day 4
We had the best night’s sleep of the trip, the bay we were parked in for the night was really calm, either that or we were just used to the swaying by this point. The day started really early with another sunrise hike, again we decided against it so snoozed for a bit longer. We sailed for about 2 hours before we reached our last stop, the east coast of Lombok.
We then had a 4.5 hour bus ride to reach the harbour on the west coast, where we could get a public boat to Gili Air. The bus ride was pretty fun actually as some of the staff were on the bus and we ended up having a good old sing song, with ‘Sweet Carolina’ being the theme tune of the trip and us all shouting ‘so good, so good’. Also, we got to know our new friends even better. When we eventually arrived at the harbour we were given our tickets and told to wait for the boat. We were told 23 tickets had been sold and that they needed 35 before the boat would leave. Chris hates queuing/ hanging around so much, he was considering buying the extra tickets just so we could get going. We didn’t end up waiting that long at all and piled onto the boat for the short 20 minutes crossing.
We really enjoyed the trip and saw loads of new things and met some lovely people. Indonesia is such an amazing place, and we haven’t even scratched the surface as we have only explored 12 islands out of the 18,000 that make up the Indonesian archipelago.
After being dropped off at the harbour in Java, we took a bus directly to Mengwi in Bali (via a 1 hour ferry crossing), which was a 30 minute taxi ride from our hotel in Sanur. The bus was pretty old and uncomfortable, and it was another 4 hours of fast driving – even the buses are constantly overtaking here. I did feel a bit more at ease thinking nobody wants to have a head-on collision with a bus so we should be reasonably safe when hurtling down the wrong side of the road with a car approaching us. I know we always moan about health and safety in the UK, but I do miss it! We arrived at our hotel at about 5pm and were so tired – we’d been up since midnight. We strolled up the road to have a roti for dinner (actually we love roti so much we had two each – one savoury and one sweet), and some cinnamon Teh Tarik which was delicious, and then headed back to the room to watch some YouTube/Netflix and get an early night.
Day 1
We’re mainly using Bali as a few days of relaxation after our busy volcano treks, we don’t have anything planned here, but will be returning to Bali in a couple of weeks to see more of cultural side to the island. So on our first morning we had a nice lie in before getting up for breakfast. There is a table for two directly in front of our room overlooking the pool, which is where breakfast is served. It’s such a lovely little spot and we both enjoyed a banana pancake. We then strolled down to the beach (it’s about a 10-15 minute walk from where we’re staying), stopped for an iced coffee overlooking the sea and spent the afternoon relaxing on the sand. In the evening we went to a warung we found with good reviews and had an amazing meal. It was pretty spicy though, I did struggle a little bit and we both picked a yoghurt drink from the fridge to help. This warung was the same as before, we’re given a plate with rice and pick from the buffet what else we want. It does mean the food isn’t the warmest, but it’s popular with the locals, so tasty and super cheap (no tax or service charge added at the warungs too). For 2 meals and 4 drinks the total bill was £4.33.
Day 2
We were both still really tired, and I wasn’t feeling too good (not sure if it’s breathing in all that sulphur, or a cold, but I think it may be a bit of a cold) so we decided to have a chill out day in the hotel. We mainly sunbathed around the pool, did some planning for the next couple of weeks and updated the blog. We wanted to keep a blog so all our friends and family can see what we’re up to, and also for our own future memories, but I have to admit I hadn’t realised how long it actually takes to write a blog post. I thought it would be a quick 20 mins, but by the time we’ve picked pictures and resized etc, it’s usually a couple of hours. The hotel is really small, it only has 9 rooms and we had the pool to ourselves for the whole day. In the evening we popped back to our local warung for some more tasty grub.
Day 3
After our standard banana pancakes around the pool, we walked down to the beach as want to make the most of it while we are here. We found a spot of shade and chilled out for a couple of hours. On the way we’d spotted a beach front hotel offering afternoon teas for about £5 a head, so went there at 3pm (as soon as they started serving them. We had bitter ballen, smoked salmon on bread and a vegetable gyoza to start. Then of course scones with cream and jam (nowhere near on par with English scones with clotted cream, but what do you expect), followed by carrot cake, macaroon and creme brûlée. It was all so good – we love our afternoon teas and have missed them loads! We wanted to buy some snorkels on the way back to the hotel and had spotted a shop which seemed a bit cheaper than most. We’ve noticed the shop keepers will haggle here, as when we’ve asked the price of something and not interested, they always say they’ll give us a discount and ask how much we want to pay. The snorkels were 225k Rupiah each, and the lady said she’ll let us have them for 215k as we want two. We said we’d thinking about it and walked off. We were quite far away and I was just saying to Lisa I don’t think we’ll get her any lower as she’s let us walk off, and I suddenly hear her calling us back – she’ll go down to 200k each. Deal!
In the evening we went to a different restaurant. I had grilled chicken with rice and sambal (an indonesian spicy tomato salsa) and Lisa had gado gado. Gado gado literally means ‘mix mix’ and is an Indonesia salad with steamed vegetables, eggs, tofu, tempeh, crackers with a peanut sauce dressing. We both enjoyed our meals, but preferred the warung we’d previously visited.
Day 4 & 5
Lisa was feeling a bit poorly the next morning, so we had a very lazy morning and wandered down to the beach early afternoon. We stopped at the same beach-front cafe as the first day for drinks and a spot of lunch – chicken satay and calamari. After some time on the beach we walked up to a bar near our hotel for a beer and game of cards, before heading back to our local warung for dinner. We’re going to miss this warung, we’ve loved the food.
The fifth day is travel day, but by plane so a very short one. We had to be out of our room by 12, so had a lazy morning getting sorted. Then popped out for lunch and at around 2pm took a Grab to the airport (which is less than 30 mins away). We are flying to Labuan Bajo on Flores, which is less than an hour away. All of the Indonesian islands are so different, so I’m looking forward to seeing what Flores is like!
We haven’t really ‘loved’ Bali so far, it’s been nice, but a bit underwhelming. We will be back in a couple of weeks to see a different part of the island though, so will see what we think then.
We landed at Surabaya airport shortly after 4pm and upon collecting my luggage noticed a red zip tie on the handle. Sure enough, I was pulled to the side at customs and had to open my bags for the K9 department to look through. Their English wasn’t great, but I think my bag had been flagged up for drugs as they were asking if I was carrying any medicines. Lucky they didn’t find anything as in Indonesia they operate the death penalty for drug smuggling. However, it was funny explaining what the diarrhoea tablets were and also what a tampon was – after he had given it a good sniff and Lisa was struggling to hold in her laughter! Our guide, Irul, met us at the airport with a driver and we jumped in the car for a 4 hour journey to our first stop, Cemero Lawang. On the way it was interesting to see that at the busy road junctions, local people stand in the road directing the traffic for tips. If you want your queue to move faster – wave some money out the window! We do still find some of the driving in SE Asia quite scary, and this was no different. They drive so fast, constantly overtaking on the wrong side of the road whilst traffic is coming the other way. And if it’s a motorbike oncoming they are expected to squeeze to the side as you rocket past in the opposite direction. I did giggle though when Lisa was asleep our driver went over a bump at about 60mph and I’m pretty sure we took off – Lisa woke up as her head hit the roof with her bum in the air! We arrived at about 7pm, had some dinner and headed straight to bed – we had to meet Irul in reception at 3am, so a very early start!
Mount Bromo
At 3am we walked into reception to meet Irul and a local man who would be taking us out in his jeep. It was cold so we were wearing plenty of layers as we travelled across the ‘sea of sand’ (a big area of sand/ash surrounding the volcano and the reason a jeep was needed) and up to the viewpoint for sunrise. It was quite incredible to see a continuous row of jeep headlights in the pitch black traversing across the sea of sand! It was nearing 4am by the time we arrived at the view point and there were jeeps parked everywhere. There are 3 viewpoints in total and I think there was probably about 500 people waiting for the sunrise. We went to the top view point and stopped in a cafe for a coffee and some fried banana to keep us warm. We also bought a couple of Bromo wooly hats – only 75p each! I couldn’t believe how busy it was outside, there was even a big area of banked seating so people could view the sunrise. People were waiting outside in the cold saving their spots while we stayed warm in the cafe – Irul knows the secret spots so no rush for us! Shortly before sunrise Irul led us to a fence, sneaked us underneath and to a spot just in front and below of everyone, so we had the perfect view. The sunrise was actually incredible, words and photos cannot do it justice. I could have spent all day sat here looking over the sea of sand to the volcanos. Mount Bromo is active and is the one covered in ash to the left (nothing can grow on that), to the right is Mount Batok which is inactive, and in the background is Mount Semeru which is active and the largest volcano on the island – it erupts a plume of smoke fairly regularly which you can just about see in one of the photos.
After sunset we jumped back on the jeep (yes, on – we travelled on the roof which was great fun!) and travelled across the sea of sand to the base of Bromo. The trek up to the crater didn’t take too long, but it was very dusty! At the top it was just amazing to look straight down into the depths of a volcano and see the smoke coming out. We spent a bit of time up here, then walked back to the jeep and back to the hotel for breakfast.
From here we had about a 4 hour drive to Bondowoso which is where we’d spend the night. On arrival we stopped at a warung for lunch, and had rice with a mix of local foods. A warung is a small indonesian restuarant which commonly serves rice along with a buffet of foods. We then checked in to our hotel, did a bit of admin and then went to bed at about 6.30pm (we had to be checked out of our hotel by midnight!).
Kawah Ijen
We checked out of our hotel at midnight (it was like adjusting to a different timezone) and had a 2 hour car journey to the base of Kawah Ijen (Ijen Crater). At 2am we started our trek up to the crater ridge, it was dark, but the path was clear and we had head torches. It was quite a long trek up a very steep path, but at the half way point there is a cafe we stopped at for a short rest. The rest of the path was not quite as steep, but winded its way up to the top, it took about an hour and 20 mins in total to get up there. It was still pitch black, but there were plenty of people with head torches and we could see the blue lake at the bottom of the crater covered in smoke.
We then started our decent into the crater, which was very rocky and steep in places. At the bottom it was very smokey and we could smell the sulphur in the air, so put on the gas masks Irul had given us. The crater in Ijen is extremely toxic, lots of smoke with sulphur gas in the air and an acidic lake (nearly PH zero). The flames of the volcano lit up bright blue due to the sulphur, which I believe is one of only two places in the world with this phenomenon. There is a group of miners working in the volcano for a local company, the conditions are horrific for them. They don’t wear protective gear and stand right in the smoke/gasses chiselling sulphur from the outlet, then carrying it up to the crater edge and then down to the bottom on trolleys. They carry approx 80KG each time, in two baskets balanced on some bamboo across their backs. I understand they earn about $5 per load and have an average life expectancy of about 50 years. Again, it’s hard to put in to words how hard they work and how terrible the conditions are for them, but you can see for yourself in this clip from the BBC’s Human Planet. Even being down there a short time with gas marks, and not standing right in the thick of the smoke, our throats were still sore afterwards. The miners are all so friendly, which makes seeing the horrific environment they are working in even more heartbreaking.
We then climbed back up to the crater ridge for sunrise. The views were so impressive, with the bright turquoise lake in the crater bursting with smoke on one side, and amazing landscape with a beautiful sunrise on the other. It was so cool to see the lake in the crater, it reminded me of being a child in awe of Blofeld’s lair in You Only Live Twice! We spent some time on the ridge enjoying the view, after which we started the trek back down. We stopped back at the halfway point cafe and I popped to the toilets, for which you have to pay a man first. He looked at me and said ‘Number 2’, I thought that was a bit strange and replied ‘no, just a number 1’, to which he looked at me even more strangely. I then realised he was telling me to go to cubicle 2, and I’m not sure he understood why I then thought that was really funny!
At the bottom we had a coffee at a local cafe and breakfast which our hotel had boxed for us. Irul said we didn’t beat the record for the fastest trek, but that I had fallen over more times than anyone else he’s taken! We then had another couple of hours drive to the harbour where we’d say goodbye to Irul and our driver and catch a ferry to Bali for some relaxation after a busy few days in Java. This has been one of the highlights of the trip for both of us, the volcanos were both so different and just breathtaking to see up close. We’d seen a volcano from a distance before in Iceland, but to stand on the crater edge and climb right down to the pit was something else! The views were also amazing, and the whole experience was so much fun.
Crunks and Dunks on tour 