Ubud and Lembongan

After Gili we headed to the cultural capital of Bali, Ubud, where we did some suitably cultural things. On our first night we went to see some traditional Balinese dancing which consisted of about 15 men on xylophones accompanying women wrapped in tightly fitting fabric and seemingly trying to escape their behinds while waving their arms and looking rather alarmed:

There was something quite entrancing about the show though, from the eerie, repetitive music to the bright costumes and wild expressions... My highlight was definitely this thing though:

That, apparently, is Barong - a mythical beast representative of good... After he faffs around with a man in a gorilla suit for awhile some men come on stage and stab themselves... It's all quite bizarre and I've been having nightmares ever since!

The next day we took a cycling tour from the top of one of the volcanoes... 

Sadly the weather was terrible so the view from the top looked something like this:

Which is a shame as apparently it's beautiful at the top... On the way down we were shown around a typical Balinese house. These typically have a kitchen, 3 living spaces for 3 generations of the family (the youngest inherits the house and the responsibility of care for his elders - girls move in with their husbands family) and a family temple. The house we visited had a farm behind it which was great for cooing at pigs but apparently no gauge for the wealth of the family. If you want to keep up with the Joneses out here the key is to check out the fanciness of their temple - gold decorations and intricate carvings are indicators of a wealthy family.

Normal temple:

Fancy temple:

Piggy!:

There was a religious festival on whilst we were there and the household had prepared a religious 'offering' which apparently gets eaten at the end of the day... Cake with fruit, flowers and a chicken anyone? Make of it what you will...

Finally we took a silver making 'class' where we got given 5g of silver to play with and turned a plain slab of metal into slightly twisted slabs of metal that we could hang off our ears and our fingers.

OK - so it may not be the most beautiful jewellery you've ever seen but it's definitely one of a kind and it was good fun too!

After Ubud we headed back to the beach on the island of Lembongan where I got to scuba dive with manta rays which really was as awesome as it sounds! We also met some Californians who kindly shared their freshly caught fish with us before heading to the worst bar in Asia to listen to a guy shred his guitar to a pre-recorded backing track... Standard Indonesian night out methinks!

Kuta and Gili Trawangan

Before we got here we'd heard plenty of mixed reviews about Bali which made us a little apprehensive after the India saga. We'd been told that it was dirty and that people hassle you all the time and we weren't sure we were ready to jump back into that sort of environment... I'm not sure if it's because we avoided Kuta Beach and stayed in Legian, or because Bali just isn't actually that bad at all but we loved it. It definitely wasn't anywhere near the chaos of India! 

Our primary raison d'être in Legian was to take surfing lessons... We looked at the options at the big fancy surf schools but it was a little too expensive so we settled for just paying some of the local set ups on the beach and that worked out just fine. My conclusion is that surfing is the most tiring, least rewarding sport on the planet - As a beginner you spend 20 minutes trying to catch the smallest of waves and if you're really lucky you'll get to spend all of 4 seconds standing on a board clumsily, looking something like a hybrid between a drowned rat and a lame duck, then the next day every muscle in your body aches... However, it's SO much fun and as you don't actually have to see yourself looking totally awkward, for those four seconds, in your mind, you ARE Kelly Slater which makes it all completely worth it!  Here is a blurry photo of me looking more or less like I know what I'm doing:

(Disclaimer: Australian muscle man instructor not necessarily included.)

And one of me looking how I looked the rest of the time...

Other than surf, we ate lots of amazing sea food and fruit juices and checked out the funky bars and restaurants scattered about the area. The Seminyak area is Bali's answer to Mayfair with lots of upmarket boutiques and expensive looking cafes/lounge bars. The food/drink is relatively cheap everywhere but the shopping was a lot cheaper in India which meant we resisted spending our many millions of Rupiah.

After getting bashed about by waves we headed to the much talked about Gili islands - The largest island, Gili Trawangan, is the most popular and therefore busiest island. Although not quite as stunning as the Perhentian Islands it certainly couldn't invite any complaints - again blue skies and lovely beaches but the real highlights for me were all to be found under the water. As soon as we got there I headed straight for a dive shop and signed up for my Advanced Openwater Course after all of about 5 seconds of persuasion. Again I'll try and not to reel on about every single fish I saw but there were plenty of green sea turtles of all sizes (I saw 5 on my first dive alone) and I saw my first shark which also seemed to have seen me... Apparently I looked terrified which isn't surprising as this beautiful 1 metre long white-tip swam past me and then right around me with its beady eye checking me out... Don't sharks circle their prey?! Anyway I survived and in hindsight, from the comfort of my hotel room and with my heart beat back to normal it was bloody awesome! I also did my first night dive which was a strange experience... I'm not particularly keen on the dark above water so wasn't sure I'd particularly enjoy it under the water! It turned out to be good fun but I still think I will be sticking to the day time from now on! Anyway, I'll shut up now because I'm seriously addicted to scuba and I could probably go on and on for days.

Diving during the day (or night) was followed by partying in to the early hours and one of the many bars lined up along the main strip. On our last evening there we visited the turtle hatchery where tens of the tiniest baby turtles are kept until they are big enough to improve their chances of survival. Mini sea turtles?! How can you go wrong with that? Needless to say the cute-o-meter was off the scale... Here's another not very good photo to make your little hearts swell:

Leaving these paradises always proves to be difficult but with a whole continent to be seen and time slowly running away from us we just about managed to pull ourselves away.

Rainbow on the beach:

Us on the beach:

Diving, diving, diving!

On the boat back:

A very happy lady in her 1980s life jacket...

Mount Batur volcano:

Lombok:

Us again:

Key info - Bali:

Hostel - M Hostel, Legian. You have to walk through a pharmacy to get here which is odd, if not useful, but it's clean, comfy and in a good location for Legian Beach.

Key info - Gili T

Accommodation - Warna Bungalows. Nice, clean room - ideal location for the beach. Far enough from the action to be quiet and close enough to be convenient.

Dive school - Blue Marlin. Fun, sociable place and a great instructor able to deal with me at my slowest due to hangovers!

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur proved itself to be a fun, charismatic and modern city with the stars of the show clearly being the striking Petronas Twin Towers which look impressive from all angles as they pierce the city's skyline. As with Singapore, we were won over by the food with hawkers on every corner serving up tasty dishes of all descriptions. Culinary highlights included the satay, my first taste of durian (yes, I did quite like it believe it or not), beautiful roasted chestnuts, the juiciest clams ever and a typical Malaysian breakfast of nasi lemak (coconut rice with anchovies, egg and spicy sambal).

We were lucky enough to be shown around by a friend we met in Perhentian who took us to a beautiful waterfall on the Chiling river just outside of KL. After surviving a trek through the jungle and several clumsy river crossings we relaxed to the sounds of water crashing down the cliffside - I'm told that it's a popular Malaysian pastime to spend weekends trekking past rivers and swimming at waterfalls and having had an awesome day out I can easily see why.

With hundreds of air conditioned malls to choose from, we naturally indulged in more shopping and even stopped by an Indian palm reader who kindly  informed me that I'm going to meet my husband at 27, which gives me all of 2 weeks to find the poor unsuspecting sod... For some reason I'm a little dubious of the accuracy of this reading so relax all you eligible bachelors; I think you are safe for now! Cata and I are too busy protecting the Universe...

The Petronas Twin Towers:

New friends and awesome food:

Chiling river:

A roller coaster in a shopping mall? Well why the hell not...