Wednesday 15 April 2015

We've heard so much about Bali as a prime holiday destination for Aussies but we'd deliberately booked accommodation in the North away from the rowdy Kuta and southern resorts.  This meant a three hour transfer on arrival at Denpesar which, as our flight was delayed, which meant we wouldn't arrive at Tejakula until early evening.


I was so pleased we had the transfer journey through the mountains, it was absolutely beautiful.  The island is so green and full of vibrant colour due to a two week religious festival.



Apparently there were one million temples on Bali with a Balinese population of five million so no surprise that there was a temple at pretty much every turn.  Due to the festival our journey was further delayed, the narrow and windy roads clogged with people and parked vehicles leaving little room for anything to pass.  It was lovely to see all the locals in their national dress, many laden with food for the festival or treating children to delicacies at the local food stalls.  


We finally arrived at 7pm (9pm in Melbourne) and were pretty pooped having had a late night the previous day in farewell mode with Andy and Jacqui.  Although we attempted dinner we were really too tired to eat so hurried through the meal and were in bed by 8.30pm and asleep by 8.31pm!

No surprise that Matt was awake early, being as quiet as a mouse (bloomin' big mouse with concrete paws) so we hit breakfast early.  It was a beautiful day...


The first couple of days turned out to be perfect, blazing sun, pool pretty much to ourselves and just the arduous walk to the bar or restaurant when we needed refreshments.  Life was tough...




Day three saw a definite shift in the weather and, being positioned at the base of a mountain, the local micro-climate kicked in alternating between heavy and oppressive heat, incredible electrical storms and uber amounts of rain.  Mornings were usually the clearest weatherwise so we filled the afternoons with the odd excursion.  No trip to Bali would be complete without a visit to a Balinese temple.


We signed up for a dolphin spotting trip starting at 5.30am only managing to see one jumping out the water before we were spotted and they sped off.  This actually turned into a hilarious trip as the weather turned bad whilst we were way, way out at sea.  The sea erupted in massive waves, looking even more ominous given the reflection of the black sky and sand.  As we headed back to the island in our little boat we could see the curtain of rain we knew we had to cross.  I was at the front and every wave pushed the boat up and then dropped it throwing sea water over me and what missed its target hit Matt.  The sea temperature was like a very warm bath (incredible) but very very salty and as the wind whipped in, for the first time in a while, I felt really cold and very sticky!  As the boat neared the island we hit the rain curtain and salt water met fresh.  Finally making it to shore, bedraggled and giggling we hopped out of the boat and squelched back to our room for a shower.  Atleast we saw one dolphin.


For those of you who have been following our blog regularly you will have read about my near death experience with Don Logan whilst in New Zealand.  On our last day he finally tracked me down and Matt took this undercover photo in case anything happened to me overnight.  


To mark the last night we'd pre-ordered Baba Guling, suckling pig stuffed with lemongrass, garlic, turmeric and other goodies.  It was outstanding, so feeling like a couple of stuffed pigs we headed for Bedfordshire before our onward journey to Kuta.


Our flight to Bangkok on 23rd April was an early morning jobby so rather than leave Tejakula at 2am we'd arranged an overnight stay in Kuta the day before.  Everyone we spoke to about Bali had advised stay clear of Kuta as a holiday destination and on arrival it was crystal clear as to why.  Kuta was crammed with massive hotels, hawkers, rubbish and seedy looking massage parlours.  We actually found ourselves looking forward to the flight to Bangkok!

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