Kuta in Lombok

Got distracted playing Texas Holdem poker each time I grabbed my BBerry and didn't get to write anything. I love easy distraction.
Kuta, Lombok. Why we headed there I had no idea as it wasn't in our plans. We were at Gilli T trying to decide what to do next. Our options were either boat trip to Flores or volcano in Lombok. We could not make up our minds, as it usually happens when you have too much time and no travel plans whatsoever. So while reading lonely planet I read something about Kuta being great for surfing and we decided it was about time we took it up, since we where in the capital of surf.
So we headed for Kuta. Arrived at Bangsal with our public boat from Gilli and took a taxi ( bargained to 220k rupees, which was amazingly cheap considering we would do 3 hours and cross the whole island) and found quite nice accommodation at the Royal Spa Bungalows (125k rp) that sounds quite fancy but mmmmh...no. Nice and normal bungalows, which I would definitely recommend them, and amazing neighbours. Only problem is the karaoke bar just around the corner which plays awful tunes to deaf Indonesians. But all the rest, good for the price.
We met a great couple from Vail on their honeymoon and two very good looking Germans. And in Kuta we also met our now good friend Zissou. Kuta was all about relationships and interesting conversations with people. And surf as well, which we enjoyed inmensely. Plus the beaches surrounding it are amazingly beautiful with white sand and turquoise water. Bali beaches look shitty in comparison. There is much less tourism in Lombok, and everything is less crowded, and wildlife is more impressive.
We liked it so much we stayed there five days.

BEACHES AND SURF: to surf its good to go to Gerupuk and take one of the boats to Inside wave. We were beginners and this was perfect wave for us. You can share boat with 4. Tommy, our boat driver was the best and helped us catch many waves too. There are many other waves around Kuta too, and surf camps to go to.
Best beaches around Kuta...just ask around. Mawi or towards Gerupuk, there is an amazing beach (see image below). The beaches in Kuta are far better than the ones in Bali in terms of wider, whiter sand, better to swim. Surf wise I am not sure, even though we did learn how to surf there in Gerupuk.

Surf class: 350Rp.

Gilli islands / Islas Gilli

Hay tres Gillis.

Gilli Trabagawan, Gilli Air y Gilli Meno.
La primera (Gilli T) es la mas turistica, donde hay mas joda, miles de restaurantes. El encanto de estas islas es que no hay autos, ni motos. Lo unico en lo que se puede recorrer la isla es a pie, en bicicleta o a en carreta ( y en lancha por mar).

Nosotras nos quedamos en Gilli T.

DIVING: Acuadiction. Great teacher, Dani, and a great first dive. 70 usd.

HOTEL: Not worth mentioning ours as it is a basic room, though it was quite clean, and had TV and a nice toilet all for 250K rupias.

FAST BOAT: we recommend Blue Beach Express. It cost us 750K return ticket but after asking around we discovered it was one of the best services in the islands. It picked us up in Sanur and took as on a bus to Padangbai and from there to Gilli T or to any of the islands. We came back from Lombok and it worked out amazingly well at the end.

DO snorkel as much as possible as you will see turtles and amazing sea life.

We arrived at Gilli in the afternoon and searched for hotels all around till we found a ver nice room on with aircon, TV, dvd and nice bathroom ( no hot water ).

That same day we rented bicycles to go around the island. We were so excited, we just kept on saying "this is amazing, this is amazing". The water was incredibly torquoise, sand was white and it all had such a relaxing vibe. The restaurants were all trendy yellowish lighted set on the beach. We did notice the islands population was slighly young, on their twenties side, but we didn't mind much at that point.

"We are staying long" Agus decided.
"Mmm..okay. Why not?" I said.

Every night there is a different party celebrated in the island. So if you want to go out you might as well ask around.

All kind of drugs on this islands, and it gets incredibly irritating the way they try to sell them around. "Marihuana, marihuana..." you'll hear that word a thousand times per day, but don't let it get into your nerves. Maybe take a mushroom shake just for kicks, which is legal in the island and have a nice colourful trip.

Only possible mean of transportation:

Nusa Lembongan

Esta islita que esta frente a Bali, esta buenisima para ir por unos dias a relajar, y hacer snorkeling y por la tarde disfrutar de la nada misma. Por eso es basico un buen hotel barato con pileta en lo posible porque en la tarde se acaba la playa porque baja la marea y te quedas en pelotas.

We arrived with Agus at 1 pm to Mushroom bay, and some local guy told us he would take us to a good hotel in Jimbaran the area where most budget hostels are. So we hopped in his bike and we arrived to a little hotel with a small pool 100 meters away from the beach.
"200 k per night. Only room left" said the owner Made.

Agus who was usually on a bargaining mood was quite tired that day, so she just followed the small lady into the room.

"You've got to see this M. Its a big big bathroom".

And it certainly looked like one. "Okay, we'll stay in the big toilet, its only one night" and we didn't have any energy to look elsewhere. The pool was right in front of our doorstep.

That afternoon we rented a bike and went around the island to discover the paradise of Nusa. "Dissapointed". Tide was low and the torquoise beaches were not showing their true colours. They were only showing seaweed plantations.

But on the second day our dissapointment dissapeared. We went snorkelling to Mangrove point and Crystal Bay and were surrounded by amazing sea life. We found nice hotels worth staying, just few steps from the beach, and made some friends.

We still wanted to run away and get to Gilli as soon as possible. So we left Nusa Lembongan in the morning of our second night, and took the public boat back to Sanur.

BATHROOM HOTEL: Wayhu.

NICE HOTELS: walk around and ask...some amazing hotels ( cabana wood style) for 200 rupias.

Ulu Watu y la Peninsula

I think each one has to have their own experience of this part of the islands. There are five main places in it, and you can choose your own.

We chose Bingin because we fell in love with the place. It's hidden away, acommodation is cheap - 10 USD with ana amazing sea view - and it's full of very good looking surfers.

Further south you can find Padang-padang which is tinier but has also amazing places to stay. We walked along the beach and could see all the hotels that were set on the cliffs and all the monkeys on the beach, waiting for walker to throw them food, and searching for left overs in the rocks.

Ulu Watu is right at the very bottom of the Peninsula. To get to the beach you go in between massive rocks and all the town is set on top of it. There is a terraced bar that holds parties every Sunday in The Single Fin. The best night out in the Bukit, so it seems. We were too late to go on the day we arrived to Bingin, and were not used to driving by night by then. But we did go later on, when we came back for my birthday. No regrets.

Kuta y Seminyak

Everything I'd heard about those two places was: Too touristy, too crowded, you won't like it. My expectations where very low.
But as it always happens when you have been deflated on expectations, you end up having very pleasant surprises.

Kuta was crowded, full of people, not relaxing at all. A big nightlife, long beaches ( a bit on the dirty crowded side). Yo diria que un Mar del Plata balines. La playa llena de balineses. Lots of surf lessons going on there. The best part of it though, to be honest...was the nightlife. We had our girly nights out there. The bars where full of surfing australians, not the nicest aussies, but the scruffy low budget people from Oz. We had a great time though. Everytime going out to the six floor club, Sky Garden.

Now Seminyak was a bit different. Bali's Beverly Hills. Expensive as well. Relaxing beaches, with amazing bars overlooking the sea (mainly on Camplung Street), great shops and galleries all around. Lots of trendy cafes, which of course we had to try.
We eat in great places, breakfast, lunch and sushi. :) Our policy was, sleep in dodgy pleaces as long as we had money to eat and drink on the best restaurants and bars.
"Nos damos un poco algunos gustitos aca?"
"Y si. Gastemos! Despues ratoneamos un poco".
Cuando entramos a Seminyak con el auto, yo estaba copada. Parecia Manantiales en Punta del Este y lleno de barcitos, y todo con un disenio increible, con maderas patinadas, bares con lamparas de mimbre y lucecitas. Me siento que me quedo sin adjetivos para describir lo que veia. Desearia ser como Sil y poder explicar cada objeto que veo con el nombre de su diseniador. Sil diria, las lamparas balinesas estilo xxxx, las sillas diseniadas por tal xxxx, mmmm. Yo solo puedo decir, increible y lindisimo. Maderas patinadas, lamparas colgantes estilo balines?...ni idea. Increibles. Hay una callecita, entre de la calle Double Six y otra mas (Camplung) que descubri de casualidad y con todos bares sobre la playa onda "No me olvides" en Manantiales (Punta del Este). Me instale en uno que se llama La Plancha, un bar de tapas pintado de colores. Inspiring. Y afortunadamente esa noche arrancaba el festival de cine de surf ahi mismo, asi que hasta el atardecer nos tiramos en los tipicos pufs en la playa a tomarnos unos tragos y esperar que lleguen los surfers y arranquen las pelis. De paso tambien me hice una sesion de pedicuria (4 USD) Lo mas! Lo mas cache tambien (vean fotos).
Los hombres que defilaban por ahi no se podian creer. No entiendo porque los surfers son todos lindos. Que onda? Sera que hacen tanto deporte y tienen tan buen fisico que no recatamos mucho en la cara? Y estan todos negros del sol y peludos. Wow.

El segundo dia aprovechamos a recorrer un poco mas Seminyak, recorrer galerias y hacer un poco de shopping (Agus sobre todo) Gastamos mas presupuesto del permitido. Precios al estilo Miami, y la onda de los bares tambien. Con mucha onda. Pero bueno...tambien vinimos a pasarla bien, no?

En Seminyak:
Restaurants:
- Lunch: Corner Store y The Junction.

- Playa: Sobre el Camplung: La Plancha y para algo mas barato siempre se puede ir a uno que esta al lado y comer un Mie Goreng por 4usd. Sino mas o menos el presupuesto por comida va a ser unos 10 usd con algo para tomar.

- Desayuno (Breakfast): Revolver, que es relativamente nuevo y es donde ahora frecuenta los locales expats. Esta en frente de Cafe Bali y tiene alta onda.

GALERIAS hay tres sobre Drupadi (la calle que sale desde el Corner Store Cafe) y hacia el lado de Sunset Road hay una en una esquina que nos encanto.

Bingin - The most beautiful beach & surfers paradise

A girls paradise too.

We rented a couple of motorcycles, left our bags behind and there we were on our exploring adventure of the island. Motorcycle diaries I would say. Our little scooters could go fast and we cycled the roads as expert Harley Davidson pros. But we forgot our map so easiest thing was getting to Dreamland, although was a bit tricky, specially since balinese as I mention, are shit on directions.

We got to Dreamland late on the afternoon just to see its amazing sunset. Balinese were on holidays so the beach was crowded and the beach was filling up with buses bringing more and more balinese tourist wearing the same t-shirts. Like some kind of high school trip.

"What the fuck is this? This can't be Dreamland. This is a balinese nightmare."

However, the beach was beautiful, and the sea was way more blueish than the one in Kuta. Transparent water and white-ish sand made all the difference. And the cliff hanging behind it all created a perfect sunset atmospehere.

We stayed a couple of hours there. I was finishing one of my chick lit summer books, those that one can't put down. And this one was about finding true friendship and love, and letting go of the superficial crap and enjoying the fullness of deep relations. Made me think a lot about how I worry about so much stupidity sometimes and how less is more when it's full of meaning and sincerity and love.

Then it was time to head to Bingin where we would have to find a place to spend the night.
We met a couple of Finnish girls that were a bit scared of heading to Bingin by themselves. They hardly new their way, but we got there in the end. Really tricky so see below to understand how to get there as there are no signs - and the road is a dirt road which is not the easiest for the bikes.

That first night we slept in Romeo hotel - a typical balinese bungalow hotel -  up in the cliffs, as most of the hotels at the beach front were full. We woke up and headed to see the view from the top of the cliff. Breath-taking.

And when we hiked down to the beach we found the amazing little village full of cheap hotels with amazing views. For just 15 usd you could get a double room with toilet in and a deck with sea view.

"We are staying".

We forgot all our plans to head to Nusa Lembongan and decided to find a place. We first returned to Seminyak for our bags and to see the last day of the film festival and the next day we would try and find something in Bingin.

We arrived very late with our heavy backpacks and sweated our way down to see if there was one room on the beach. Nothing.

"We'll have to hike back up!"
"No. There has to be something"
Eventually after talking to half the village a man appeared.

"Room. I have. Wayan. Up. Come."

Agus looked at me. An old lady had offered before some horrible fish smelly room with some dirty and slimy sheets, and she has already said we would take it.

"Let's just check out Wayan's"

She agreed so we hiked a bit up to see the room and suddenly we found our spot. Paradise. And only for 5 USD each. We even had a fridge. The toilet was awful and it looked dirty. But it had potential. And the bed was good.

"We are staying"

Hotels on the beach - Call Wayan: 081337235555 - he hardly talks in english - ask for a room, any room. He has a place right on the beach which is a bit more expensive (£15 per person).

Hotels on top of cliff: The Temple Lodge - Balinese luxury place with never ending pool and beautiful sunset. Amazing for a romantic holiday. There is another hotel very close to the Temple that has a swimming pool, and the best best sunset and is not expensive but unfortunately can't remember the name!
Leggies Bungalows - It's an option. We stayed there one night before we left. It has a pool.

Getting there: Took this info from http://www.balibackpacking.com/bingin/ - Bingin is located in the bell-shaped bit at the bottom of the island on the western coast of the Bukit Peninsula. It is situated between Dreamland and Impossibles.  Presuming you’re coming from the north, if you’re on the bypass heading out of Kuta towards Jimbaran and Nusa Dua you will eventually see a sign near the McDonalds directing you to turn right towards Uluwatu. Keep heading towards Uluwatu and follow the road up and over the hill. There is no actual sign for Bingin but you will eventually turn right at the village of Pecatu. Keep following this road and you will see Star Deli on your right. Turn right here at Star Deli and follow the dirt track until you get to a gate. There is usually a Balinese lady or man who will open the gate once you pay her 5,000 Rupiah and you can park your car or bike in the car park.

Munduk

A nice stop. But not entirely what I was looking for. I thought it was going to be full of amazing rice fields, and starw and wooden bungalows in the middle of small villages...none of that. Munduk was just a small town set on one main road with just a few attractions. One was a nice trek to three waterfalls, and a motorcycle trip to the rice fields just to get to see the giant tree from afar.
Just that...
While trekking I thought I might prove my powers of self orientation and told the guys to walk down the wrong path, partly due to the fact that the other cross road took us uphill, on a steep little path, and my lazy senses started interfering.
Something I learned here: never ask balinese people for directions. They will cheekily point you to the wrong direction just to have a laugh about it. None of us did laugh though when we found we had to hike up, not only the long walk we had hiked down, but also the steep little path (which had always been the correct lane). Everyone blamed me. There goes my reputation as a GPS.
Either than that, which was fun all in all, all the rest of our attempts for the rice fields and the Giant Tree ( a giant tree you could see from everywhere and aparently was...giant) were a bit dissapointing because we never ever got there! We rented three motorbikes, and got lost during sunset.
The second day was spent on the lakes ( 1 hour drive) and the botanical gardens. For me, and this is just my humble opinion, not very impressive. The scenery was fine, but if I came back to Bali, I would skip it all.
On the third we left. Ah, almost forgot, our room did have an amazing view and sunset was quite impressive (although the best view for sunset was from a hotel on the other side of the road a few meters down).
HOTEL: Puri Alam Bali (10 USD each).
RESTAURANTS: I wish I'd remember the names...
NOTE: By that point our little threesome was stepping on wobbly disagreements caused by lots of heated up ver different points of view and we all agreed that we would separate the next day. Lucio was going to head to his diving adventure islands and we were going to go to have some girly fun on our own.

Ubud

The land of Eat, Pray, Love, if you have read this book, or watched the movie. Quite an inspiring place.

STYLE: Jungle surrounded with Rice Fields, five roads with tourist shops, and a monkey forest yes, full of monkey banana thieves. Some temples worth seeing. Lots of bars, restaurants and cafes. Lots of art galleries, live music and typical indonesian dances to see at night.
HOTELS WE STAYED IN: Agung Bungalows, sobre Monkey Forest Road. (10 usd per person) y Mumbul Inn, sobre Ubud road, mucho mas lindo (much nicer) por el mismo precio para 3 personas. Balcony to the jungles.
Massages: 10-5 usd
RESTAURANTS WE VISITED:
Art Cafe, arty style, nice decor, interesting fusion of asian and mexican. Expensive and kitchen was not that great. But it's a great place to go for a Juice in the afternoon. There is one with Mango and honey worth trying.
Another one I can't remember the name, over on the Monkey Forest Road, just 200 meters from Ubud road, had many lamps shaped like hearts outside, with fairy lights around them. It's a bit on the expensive side (10 USD) but the food was amazing.
And a very cheap option, on Ubud road, is the Riverside terrace. We had amazing lunch there for only 3 dollars.
HOTELS WE WISHED WE COULD HAVE STAYED IN: Suara Alam Villas & Spa a bit outside of town (200 usd a double honeymooner style suite). There is plenty of amazing hotels, ideal for couples. If you plan a longer stay its always good to rent a house. But this is definitelty a place to come on a honeymoon and spend a bit more money.

Me enamore de este lugar. Se recorre en tres dias, y hasta se puede hacer en dos, aunque si queres ver todo lo que hay y todo lo que Ubud ofrece: baile, negocios, galerias, paisajes, retiros, es un lugar para quedarse tres semanas. Quizas por eso Elizabeth Gilbert lo eligio como destino en su gran anio sabatico.
Muchos de los negocios de decoracion venden artesanias autoctonas del lugar combinadas con un toque de arte occidental. Miles de negocios de ropa buenos, y un gran mercado de puestitos que venden sedas, vestidos, pantalones balis, y todo a muy buen precio, hacen que uno se quiera llevar todo! Si! Muy shopaholic! Yo me compre una bata de seda por 16 USD, cosa que venia buscando hace rato.
Me encanto que en cada calle se descubren lugares originales: un restaurant decorado con sillas de madera patinadas de colores y las paredes de vidrios repartidos en diferentes colores y texturas, un cafecito con toda la onda, o una galeria de arte con cuadros increibles. Las calles que no son las principales, todas de piedritas y baldosas decoradas. Y caminar por los arrozales que estan a dos cuadras del centro, sobre todos los que estan al norte de Ubud Road te transporta a un paraiso de ensuenio. El verde tan intenso...inexplicable. Y la arquitectura balinesa que adorna el lugar hace que toda la experiencia sea perfecta.
Los balineses son super amigables, y muy prolijos. Es cuasi envidiables como hacen que todo sea lindo. Por la maniana ponen sus ofrendas en canastitas llenas de flores para que los dioses les traigan suerte. Las casitas ordenadas, en la medida de lo posible, dado que son muy humildes.
Lo mejor que uno puede hacer es alquilarse una moto y salir a dar vueltas por el lugar. La Lonely Planet recomienda algunos buenos lugares pero la verdad que hay muchos otros mejores. Y uno tiene que ir viendo a ojo cuales son las mejore opciones.
Definitivamente, un lugar para volver y retirarse y perderse por unos dias.

On the Road to Ubud

PIT STOP on the road: Teba Sari, Luwak Coffe fields.
Budget: 5 USD if you want to try the Luwak Coffe. If not it's a free tour.

Dejamos atras Tulamben donde pasamos dos dias de relax y masajes, para encarar ruta a Ubud. De camino, en un semaforo, empieza a hablarnos un balines en moto. "Where from? Argentina! Maradona!". De semadoro en semaforo nos cuenta que trabajaba en un lugar cerca de Ubud donde cultivaban Luwak Coffe, un cafe que segun la Lonely Planet Lucio nos cuenta, es el mejor cafe del mundo. Se lo comen unos animales, los Mangoos, y los cagan (perdon la terminologia) y despues se cocina y se prepara y queda el "mejor" cafe.

"Come! Follow! Near Ubud..."

Nos intrigo conocer el lugar, y la verdad que como no veniamos con un itinerario muy armado, decidimos seguirlo hasta ese lugar:
Teba Sari.

Era un campito chico donde cultivaban, cafe, tes y aceites. Y habian varios balineses que trabajaban ahi y te llevaban a hacer un tour del lugar, haciendo oler diferentes plantas y arboles, y al final te daban para probar todos los tes y cafes. Excepto el Luwak que salia 5 Usd (50.000 rps), todo era gratis para probar. Y muyy rico. Al final del tour, obvio que estaba el shop del lugar, frenada obligatoria, donde comprar todo los que nos habian hecho probar. Y compramos. Bien de turistas.

Valio la pena. Todos nos trataron con tan buena onda, y tantas sonrisas entre conversaciones en las que no entendiamos nada, cigarrillos "Machos" y cafes, que valio la pena. Lindas fotos, by the way.

And finally, to Ubud.

Arriving to Bali

"Tumbalen! Very far away" every person said at the airport. Bollocks. So a taxi took me, for a bargain of 10usd, to an inexistent bus station in a place called Batubulan (1 hour away from the airport) where I was meant to catch "the only bus" to Tumbalen where my friends were waiting.
The international bus station was a desertic parking lot with two run down buses. One of them was going to a place called Amlapura where my taxi driver explained in his basic english I would be able to catch the bus to Tumbalen.
Agus, had told me Tumbalen was only two hours away from the airport. So I imagined I was only half way from Batubalan.
Five hours later, after driving through numerous places, surrounded by chickens, hens and cocks, and local indonesian, I started to grow a bit impatient. "How many more hours till Amlapura" I asked. "One haouahs mor". What? "Yes yes...far away, pay now!"
Yes. At that point I began to feel a little fear of never getting there and ending up like Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone. Where was Michael Douglas, to rescue me?, I wondered.
The views were amazing. Wildlife, palm beaches, green fields, rice fields, and once in a while, I could see glimpses of the sea, a bit pale blue and tourquoise.
At last, Amlapura. Freedom. What the hell was I doing with soo much weight on my shoulders? Amlapura was a small town, but meant to be a city. I was dropped on a street near a gas station. I needed to urgently find a bathroom, so my only hope of a bus to Tumbalen, was leaving as soon as I arrived and would not wait for me to go to the toilet.
Fuck them, let them go. I will get a taxi, I must not be that far away...after all, I had already spent 6 hours.
"No no lady. No taxi here. Tomorrow."
Me: "Hotel?"
Everyone stared at each other. No one understood a word I was saying. I made some signed to denote I meant a place to sleep. They laughed. "No hotel"
I was fucked. Someone offered me a motorcycle, but due to my lugguage circumstances, even though tempting, that was not a realistic option. Everyone was surrounding me, trying to get something out of me, but no one was really helping.
So I started walking. My indecisive nature, made me walk a few blocks, then back, then back again. I had no batteries on my phone so I couldn't call Agus. I needed to find a phone. But where?
Everyone in the street was staring at me, wondering what the hell I would do next. I was their only entertainment I guess. So I spotted a bank and went inside. "I need a phone, please, please" Phone? Hand gestures. The phone gesture is international. I showed them the phone number I had written in my agenda in Tumbalen. "Hotel, here, phone".
Magically a few of them handed over their blackberries and I convinced one of them to explain that I was looking for my friend. Argentina, friends. And someone picked up, at last.
Agus y Lucio, came to pick me up half an hour later. How they found me, I still can't understand. My only directions where "A red gas station, a bank across the street, in Amlapura". But they did find me.
And now, I am in Tumbalen. I just had a one hour massage for 6 pounds. Our bungalow is just across the beach. I can hear the waves crashing constantly. The Liberty, an old ship wreck, is sunk just in front of our hotel, so it's full of divers everyone.
London, home, work? What? Nothing sounds familiar.
I am not going back.