Bali - The Next Bit

So, I've been back in Palembang for a week now. Sorry about that, I'll try to make whatever I write now interesting for you.

On Boxing Day I made my way to my next destination, Sanur. This is a town on the coast. I arrived at my hostel, Cafe Locca at about ten in the morning, checked in and checked out the bed! I was in a dorm with eight beds and it was pretty comfy. After a nap I went for a walk and to find some lunch, which I decided to have in one of the beachside restaurants. On the way I stopped in a shop, just to have a look. All shopkeepers in Bali are very chatty and I discovered that this lady had a similar name to me - Mega. And her husband was a driver did I need a driver? Because I had nothing to do tomorrow I thought I would find out about prices. After a quick phonecall to her husband we arranged for Wayan to take me around the next day. As I walked along the seafront I discovered that there are a lot of very VERY expensive hotels in this town. As I walked many Indonesian men tried to talk to me, so when I felt like it I would reply and try to practise my Indonesian skillz. I met Wayan in the restaurant, Miko, who gave me a free bracelet for taking part in a lucky dip, and a security man who told me the hotel he worked for cost 8 million a night to stay there. That's about £400. Wow. I found a nice place to sit on the beach and admire the view under a big tree for shade.

Jimbaran Beach, in an amazing fish restaurant.

Delicious food from the night market!

That evening I went for some cheap food at a local place, then went to the hostel common area by the kitchen and pool. There I met Calvin from England and Hungarian Robert, also Parima, an Iranian now living in Sweden, amazing lady. We chatted and drank a beer, and I invited them to join me on my tour with Wayan in the morning. Calvin was free and we had a good day driving around.

The rest of the time was mainly spent relaxing on the beach and visiting the night market to live like the locals and eat good, cheap food. On my last day Parima, Robert and I were all headed for Kuta so we all shared a taxi together.

Kuta is the crazy busy town where most of the tourists from Australia and other parts of Indonesia gather. The beach was very dirty with rubbish in big piles all over the beach. I am told that this is as a result of the rainy season. If it wasn't for this the beach would be really beautiful, so you can see why the tourism has built up here. And the sunset was beauuuuuutiful!

Holding the Sun on Kuta Beach

Funny things that happened to me in Kuta - having my photo taken by Indonesians (a common occurence in Palembang where there are hardly any Western people) on Kuta Beach where there are white people everywhere. This family was from Sulawesi, and again I tried to practise my Bahasa which was fun. Also on the beach, I was approached by a guy with a microphone and his friend and they interviewed me for his Youtube channel (flowluxia if you're interested!). After this we chatted for a while and I gave them my phone number as I think it's cool to have local friends. On my last night I met up with Jazz for a beer and we talked about Bali and England and that, very nice.

For New Years Eve the Sanur crew came together again: Me, Parima, Calvin, Chris (Chinese-Italian) and Swiss Nadja. We went to a club called Sky Garden, renowned for its high frequency of spiked drinks. Nonetheless we had a nice evening, which started with a buffet dinner with lots of delicious food and two free drinks. After this we explored the many different rooms and the rooftop bar with a view over Kuta. We danced around and prepared ourselves for the New Year countdown. A very nice night spent with good friends. I was the hardcore last one to be back in my dorm, which surprised me because my roommates were all very loud and seemed like typical party animals.

NYE: Parima, Nadja, Chris, Me and Calvin

So that's Bali, next stop Java Island, Yogyakarta aka. Jogja!