Hello!
I write this as I am waiting to leave our last stop, jimbaran, for the airport to fly home :( and what an amazing three months it has been. I have got a lot to come home to and lots of new and exciting things happening but still a bit emotional about leaving! But before I blabber on let me tell you about our last few days in gili meno and jimbaran.
We left beautiful kuta in Lombok on Wednesday morning nice and early at 6am! One benefit of being up so early was that we caught the sunset which was pretty. Our transport took us to sengiggi which is a town where the speed boats leave from. We arrived here around 7.30am ready for the speedboat at 8. Now when I say speed boat- take that with a pinch of salt. 8 of us squished in, one guy was going to gili trawangan (another island) , us two were off to gili meno, and the other five were doing a snorkelling day around all three islands. We were a little squished in as it was more of a fishing boat with a motor to be honest! It was fine though, quite speedy and got us there in about 90minutes. I had taken my magical travel pills and so had john so we were fine. After all this travel I am getting quite good at spotting the sickly looking folk and wasn't too pleased at one sat opposite me in such a small boat. The boat wasn't even choppy really not compared to some weve been on, yet poor french girl proceeded to be quite sea sick. I waited for a pause in her throwing up before I rummaged for my travel arm bands and tried to explain how she wears them. She seemed quite grateful and wasnt sick afterwards so hopefully they helped. Poor John was right next to her. I was a lot better though because at the start of this trip I would genuinely rather swim to gili meno than be on a small boat with a sickly person but I managed to stay calm just covering my head and listening to music. So anyway, after the drama of sickly french girl we arrived on gili meno where the boat just dropped us at the beach. There is a small population of 300 and no motorised vehicles at all so we took a small pony and cart to the hotel with our bags. I couldnt belive how well trained the ponies are with all the driving done through voice commands. The hotel was lovely, right on the beach and traditional Lombok style a-frame bungalows for bedrooms and outdoor showers. We spent the first day just relaxing on the beach and a stroll around the island in the evening. It took around an hour so really quite a small island! We had been told there are many turtles in the sea around gili meno so we headed out snorkelling the next morning. We unfortunately didn't see any turtles even after a few tries but lots of pretty tropical fish and some more parrot fish which are cool but no turtles. I did get stung by jellyfish which was a bit exciting. Luckily only little ones so just felt like a few nettle stings. The rest of our time on meno was spent mostly relaxing and enjoying our last few days of Indonesian food. They do a delicious thing which is unique to Indonesia called 'tempeh' which is a sort of cake made from soya beans and they fry it. Tastes a bit nutty and really good! So we mostly ate tempeh and swam and relaxed. The sunsets were stunning over the water and just blissful to sit and watch in such a quiet place. We walked around the island a couple more times and visited the turtle sanctuary. It is run by a guy who just loves turtles and doesn't want them to become extinct so he gathers their eggs from beaches and then raises them until they are old enough to release (8months). They had olive ridley turtles as well as hawk bill turtles but they weren't ready for release yet. I hope they manage to survive the changes in climate and rubbish and all the other things that threaten them in the wild. But yes, gili meno was beautiful. Not quite as much character as kuta but definitely a beach goers dream! Not so great for busy folk as not an awful lot to do but for a couple of days relaxing it was lovely.
On saturday it was time for us to move on to our final destination, jimbaran which is back on Bali. My dad had kindly spoken to a friend who has a few hotels in Bali and arranged for us to stay there so we could get to the airport easily and things. The boat from meno to Bali was the one I was dreading the most but it was actually the best! This one was a super speed boat with 5 motors and could take 60 people. It just powered through the waves! There were a few big ones but it was quite fun and the journey flew by. We then took a minibus to jimbaran which should have only take about 2 hours but actually took 4 because the driver decided to drop everyone else off before us (even though our town was on the way!) And then he got quite lost. But never mind we made it here! The hotel is gorgeous but we couldn't help feel a little out of place having stayed in some real basic places and real small homely places to suddenly turn up with our shabby back packs to this swanky hotel! Especially when someone came to the room at 7pm to fold back out duvet! We've been lucky to get a blanket at some hostels! Yesterday we had a full day so thought we should go and see what jimbaran was like. We read in the guidebook it is where all the posh hotels are , four seasons, intercontinental etc. And to be honest its a bit of a shame because that is really all there is. We wandered up the road and there was a small local market which was cool. The beach we thought was quite average but I think we may have been a bit spoilt! There are some great seafood warungs on the beach too but apart from that the place didn't seem to have much. I guess its a small ish local town and and the big hotels set up camp here drawing the tourists in. At dinner an older Aussie guest came and chatted to us and we gathered he and his wife come to this town of Bali each year. They didn't seem to leave the hotel except to go on the hotel arranged day trips. We both agreed why would you come all the way to a beautiful place like bali and sit in a hotel?! I guess its not as far from Australia and that is some peoples idea of a perfect holiday but it made me so glad that our trip has been full of adventures and exploring and not sat by a hotel pool.
So as I sit here waiting to leave for my flight this evening I have been thinking and reflecting on the trip and just how much I will miss Asia and especially Indonesia. Johns flight is 6 hour earlier than mine as we booked flights at different times so he has gone off to the airport. For the first time in three months I'm going to be on my own for more than a couple of hours. How strange. I hope I don't get lost or anything! But yes, as I reflected I thought the trip has been one of many 'firsts' and I have learnt so much. I also have a very many amount of thankyous. The first goes to Chrissie and John who between them have put up with me for a whole three months. I dont know how I haven't been murdered by one of them! They have put up with me dragging them to endless restaurants until I found some thing I like, navigating for me as my navigation is beyond hopeless, helping me get my huge bag on my back, looking after me when I felt unwell, giving hugs and laughs when we missed home, putting up with my wimpy moments mostly sea/ boat/ spider related and just being the most incredible travel partners I could have chosen. We've got some fantastic photos (especially the day Chrissie and I got soaked in Phnom Penh) some even better memories and I love these two to pieces! Second thanks will have to go to the wonderful mother I have. She has listened to my endless stories of what we've been up to as well as made quite a few diagnoses of what has been wrong with me via the internet ha ha! Pretty sure she must be almost a qualified specialist in tropical diseases or something now. On top of that she reassured me when I was a little low and missing home and just made me laugh and smile most days. I owe a big thanks to both my mum and lovely step mum too for encouraging me to go and out and see the world and being supportive in what ever I choose to do in life. Thank you to all of you lot for reading my ramblings and coming on our adventures with us. Thank you to Cambodia for having such yummy food and saving me from three months of fried rice (I was panicking in Vietnam that this would be all I would live on). Thanks to all the crazy Vietnamese drivers who didn't crash the night buses even though you did the best to convince us otherwise. Thanks to Hoi An for providing me with some of the best subjects I have had to photograph to date. Thanks to the Cambodian people for being so friendly and giving us a warm welcome. Thanks to Vietnam and Cambodia for reminding us that although we have some problems in the UK our problems and suffering doesnt even come close to those in some countries. Thanks to Thailand for allowing Me to experience some of the most beautiful walks I have ever been on. Thanks to koh tao for it not being box jellyfish season when we were there. Thanks to Kang, our little beach seller friend in Vietnam for our afternoon of football even if he did mostly just laugh at my poor attempts. Thank you to Cameron highlands for the strawberries and tea and for satisfying my well overdue cake cravings. Thanks to Hindus of Georgetown for the best curries I ever had. Thanks to the smiling homeless guys of kuala Lumpur who reminded me no matter how bad your day is there is always something to smile for and someone much worse off. Thank you to ubud for the immense ceremonies
Thank you to Ketut for showing us how to be silversmiths! Thanks to sidemen for your lush rice paddies. Thank you to padangbai for making us appreciate rat free accommodation (!). Thanks to kuta for being absolutely immense. Thanks to rony for not letting me get eaten by waves and teaching me to stand on a surf board. Thanks to the indonesian people for being the friendliest i have encountered. Thanks to bali for your arts. and thanks to jimbaran for a relaxing send off. And thats not even close to half.
As I said a trip of many firsts; first time in a canoe, first time in Asia, first time away from home for so long, first time eating real Asian food , first time on a proper ferry that's longer than 3 minutes (torpoint ferry doesn't count!) First time speaking Vietnamese, Khmer, Thai, Malay and bahasa Indonesian, first jellyfish sting, first time on a motorbike, first time seeing an Indonesian ceremony, first time surfing, first time eating tempeh, first over night bus.I could go on forever! Doing all these things for the first time and having so many experiences in all of these countries which have been incredible has taught me that even if you are nervous or think you won't like something you might. This brings me to one last thanks. Thanks to Phil who we cycled Angkor wat with. He was cycling Asia for 18 weeks and when I asked him why he replied 'why not?' . That's how I tried to think when there was an opportunity to try something' why not what's the worst that can happen' and it has lead to some of the best things and times I have ever had. Another thing I have learnt is to be truly grateful for what we have. And what we don't have (giant spiders) so next time one is on the carpet I will think of the ones in the trees of Asia and hopefully keep my squeals to a minimum! Asia has been a real beauty and I hope that one day I will be back and maybe even live out here. Its a really special place with every country having its own uniqueness and character all so different from one another. So many great places and great experiences but to finish I will leave you with my top five:
1- surfing on the stunning beaches of kuta with the legend that is Rony.
2- sitting for ages chatting to monks in the spiritual home Ounalom.
3- seeing a proper Balinese ceremony.
4- watching the lanterns of the full moon festival in Hoi An.
5- cycling around Angkor temples on a sunny day.
So thats it from me for a while. I leave here in a few hours to start the 26 hour journey back home. Luckily johns lovely parents will be waiting to collect us and welcome us home :) on to new starts and exciting things. So until the next adventure ..
Terima kasih and selamat tinggal (thank you and goodbye) xxx
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