Ubud, Bali

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.

Lisa & Chris xx

Gili Air, Lombok

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.

Next stop, Bali (again!).

Chris and Lisa x

Flores to Lombok

Labuan Bajo

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.

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.

Lisa & Chris x

P.S. Check out the highlights from our journey.

Sanur, Bali

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.

Chris and Lisa x

Mt Bromo & Mt Ijen, Java

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.

Chris and Lisa x

Bukit Lawang, Sumatra

We arrived in Medan airport at 11.30am, we had decided to save some money and take the local transport to Bukit Lawang as a private car would have been 600,000 Indonesian Rupiah but the bus’ were only 170,000 IDR (£9.38). We walked to the bus station at the airport and everyone was so helpful giving us information and guiding us to the right place. We needed to get the bus from the airport to a town called Binjai and then change for another bus to Bukit Lawang. The traffic through the towns was so busy, we realised this must have been due to the end of Ramadan celebrations, Eid Mubarak. After a few hours we finally arrived in Binjai and needed to find the next bus outside the shopping centre. These were little minivans and operated in the same way like the collectivos in Mexico do, where there isn’t actual bus stops you just need to flag one down. We were bit stuck as to which one we needed to get and a policeman ended up helping us. The first few that went past were full with a lot of people traveling because of the celebrations. Eventually one that wasn’t full stopped for us. The door opened and there was a seat with a little stool placed in the passageway next to it. So our bags went on the roof and we squeezed inside. After a little while even more people piled in to what we thought was a full bus! During the journey a lady in front of us started to talk to us and gave us a local fruit (snake fruit, it was sweet, sour and a little bitter), she passed it to me and I asked how I should eat it. It must be really funny for her, it’s like us giving an apple to someone and them not knowing what to do with it. We arrived in Bukit Lawang at 6.30pm – such a long journey in a very full bus. Our guesthouse had said someone would be waiting at the bus station for us, and as soon as we stepped off the bus Jojo was there waiting for us. He told us the guest house was 2km away and that he would take us on his motorbike. Chris jumped on the back of Jojo’s and I jumped on the back of his friend’s and we rode to the guest house through the village. The reason for coming to Bukit Lawang is to trek in the Gunung Leuser National Park, this national park is one of only two places in the world where you can see orangutans in the wild (the other is on the island of Borneo). Jojo told us all about what to expect from the 2 day trek the following day. We then had some dinner (an amazing chicken rendang – a local aromatic spicy peanut curry), then went to bed for an early night. We didn’t quite manage to get the early night as the bar next door was having a Eid Mubarak celebration until about 2am.

Trekking

In the morning we met our group – a French guy called Remi, a German couple called Jessi & Michael and then our guide Jojo and his assistant guide Ijal. The entrance to the national park is just a short walk from the guest house, through the village, over the bridge to cross the big river and then through a rubber tree plantation. Jojo explained how they ‘bleed’ the trees to get the rubber sap from the trees and then take to the market to sell to the factories. The locals call them condom plantations. Jojo explained to us that lot of the rubber plantations have been cut down and replaced with palm trees, as palm oil fetches a higher price, and although palm is good for the economy it’s really bad for the nature. Whilst we were in the rubber plantation we saw a moon snake high up in the trees (second most poisonous snake in Indonesia) and also a thomas leaf monkey, so off to a great start.

We reached the entrance to the national park and there was a lot of other groups around this area too. It wasn’t long at all until we spotted our first orangutan – it was so exiting to see him up high. Jojo explained that there was a rehabilitation centre in Bukit Lawang, but over 9 years ago they released them all back into the wild because the protective measures in the national park meant the orangutan numbers were on the up. Although the orangutans are not territorial, he explained that they like to stay in the shallow parts of the jungle. We then continued and came across another, this time a female and her baby. The baby was under 1 years old and didn’t let go of her mother the whole time. Jojo then explained the borneo orangutans are much bigger and usually travel on the ground, which is different to those of Sumatra as they travel high in the trees he explained this was because there was tigers in Sumatra – errr cheers for giving us this information whilst we were already in the jungle Jojo haha! He did say they stay deep in the jungle and he actually had to go on a 35 day trek to support research on the tigers and saw one. He also told us he saw a black panther whilst he was with a guest once, and when they trek for longer than 3 days and go deeper into the jungle he actually carries a gun for protection. Thankfully the crowds started to disappear the deeper we got into the jungle. Next Jojo spotted the big male in the distance and we start to walk towards him. We all spot him too, he was massive, he then started to walk to us so Jojo tells us quickly to go back and keep a safe distance. Jojo actually told us a story how one of his guests didn’t listen to him and got too close and the orangutan didn’t like it, Jojo jumped in between them and pushed his guest out the way and before he could run himself, the orangutan grabbed and bit him, breaking his leg.

We then stopped for some lunch and as we were nearly finished and enjoying some fruit for dessert, a pig tail macaque monkey wanted to join us. Our guides soon spotted him and when he came to close scared him away, Jojo actually launched himself up a tree to keep him away. He did manage, however, to run in and grab some fruit. Jojo was actually born in the jungle; people used to live there but when the government started to protect it over 20 years ago they moved everyone out. We came across a few more orangutans and also a gibbon before we reached our camp just after 3pm.

We had trekked 10km up and down, it was a tough trek the hardest we have done so far. We then met Ahmed who looks after the camp and cooked up the feast for the evening whilst we enjoyed some tea and biscuits and a refreshing dip in the river. I say refreshing because it was bloody freezing! Jojo made us all some bracelets from some young rattan he found in the jungle and myself and Jessi also got rings too. Then Ijal gave us all a stone he had carved an orangutan onto – such nice gifts from the jungle. Then after dark we all had a romantic dinner by candle light in the middle of camp, Jojo shared some stories with us and also did some magic, we had such an amazing evening all together. The five of us were in a big tent the ground was so hard but other then having to get up in the night to wee, we slept very well.

The next day we had been told for breakfast we would be getting a jungle sandwich. It was a right treat – 4 slices of toast with salad, omelette, cheese and sauces between the slices, just what we needed for the tough up hill climb. After about an hour we came across our first orangutan of the day. Her name is Nina, Jojo told us how she is very defensive now with humans because she was attacked with a machete a few years ago, so they have to feed her to ensure she keeps her distance. Jojo explained it’s really bad to feed the orangutans as they need to sustain themselves in the wild. Some of the guides in the area do, but then it causes problems for the ones who don’t want to. We were told not to go into our bags whilst we were around the orangutans as if they see you go into your bag they think there is food and then they will come for it. Ijal protected us and led us away from Nina whilst Jojo stayed to allow us to get a safe distance away. It was really hard to move quickly as we were climbing down the side of the steep hills often having to use the roots and branches to almost abseil down.

We stopped after about 30 minutes and Jojo joined us again. He told us he had to run from Nina, but she made a ball with her body to roll down the hill and caught up with him a few times but he made it away unharmed. We had lunch by a lovely little waterfall and I decided to go for a little swim, that was until I saw a monitor lizard further up stream so I got out pretty sharp. After lunch we took a short little walk to the big river where we would raft on tubes through the rapids back to the village. This was so much fun, we had such a laugh and it was such a great way to end the experience.

Bukit Lawang

We had a few nights in the village following the trekking, we were so pleased we got to spend time there. As it was still end of ramadan celebrations a lot of local people had come to visit Bukit Lawang as we walked through the village we felt like celebrities so many people would shout “Hello Mister”, and give us both high fives and also ask us for selfies. It was quite fun, but also a bit overwhelming at times as so many people wanted photos while loads of people were just staring at us. As the big river has such powerful currents, a popular thing with the locals is to rent a tube and play on the river, it looked far too dangerous for us and the people at the guest house had told us actually a lot of locals die playing in the river. We also heard that in 2003 there was a massive flood that completely flattened Bukit Lawang and a lot of people died, it was because lots of rain had fallen in the mountains and illegal logging created a rush of water over 20 meters high into Bukit Lawang suddenly. It did rain really heavily whilst we were there actually and the river water level rose by about 3 feet and got super fast. All of the staff at the rainforest guest house were so friendly we actually felt sad to leave.