Day 86: Gili Island

It took one entire day to travel from Padang Bai to the Gili Islands located on the north-west side of Lombok. The ferry crossing took almost five hours, and the drive from Lembar (jetty on Lombok) to Bangsal (jetty to Gili islands) took another two hours. We had to take another boat to the Gili (45 minutes). After all the waiting between connections, we finally arrived at our hotel in the dark at 7pm.

Gili Trawangan (the big island) was the first time Katy and I were in the water. We did not stay long in Kuta, and did not like the beach in Lovena or Padang Bai. The water and sand in Gili Trawangan were very good, but the waves were bigger than Perhentian Island in Malaysia. Nevertheless we still had good snorkeling. It was the first time we saw big sea turtles feeding on the corals. One turtle about 3 meters away saw me and decided to come up for some fresh air. It was funny to see the turtle slowly coming up with its big shell while keeping an eye on me.

katy busy working on her blog - another day in the office

The cost of accomodation in Bali/Lombok is cheaper than Malaysia. We could get a basic double room with breakfast for two for only US$8 (one time we spent $3 for a room with aircon and ensuite toilet/shower). Since we were saving on accomodation, we decided to splurge a bit on meals. A good seafood BBQ dinner with unlimited organic salad on the beach for two costs us about US$12 - equivalent to one McDonald's Happy Meal in Switzerland. :)

me walking on coral beach at sunset

sunset on Gili Trawangan

the seafood dinner at Beach House

boy fishing on a surfboard

check out the size of that coral

Day 83: Padang Bai - the gateway to Lombok island

Most people come to Padang Bai to take the ferry crossing to Lombok island without spending the night. We read from somewhere on the Internet that Padang Bai was a nice, small fishing village, so we decided to spend a few nights instead of immediately hopping on the ferry to Lombok.

blue lagoon

boy playing on the beach

After we checked into our room, the hotel owner told us about a festival starting the next day. The festival takes place once every six months and lasts for three days. Pilgrims from all over Bali would come with their offerings. At 6am the next day, we heard chanting and footsteps outside our door. There was already a line of pilgrims with baskets of offerings on top of their heads on the way to the temples on the mountain. The line of pilgrims was still going strong when we went to bed at 11pm, and continued for two more days.

pilgrims walking to the temple

We also rented a scooter to visit south-eastern Bali. The drive from Kamasan to Tirtirganga via Sideman was nice – Balinese countryside with terraced rice fields. Although the rice fields in Sideman are not the grandest we have seen (e.g. Longji in China), these rice fields had a particular charm with coconut trees and religious stones scattered on them.

katy relaxing on the beach

our free breakfast served at our beach-front bungalow - only US$7 one night

One evening we checked out a restaurant serving chickens (recommendation from a local). The place was packed with about 20 police officers from out of town who were in Padang Bai for security reason during the festival. We had dinner with them. It was interesting. One guy sitting with us was funny and chatty. It was the first time we ate without any utensils in Bali – just bare hands and water. The chicken was OK, but we wished the portion were bigger (spoiled by the seafood meals). The police officers seemed content with their meal. Maybe the Balinese have big lunch and small dinner.

dinner with the police officersKaty and a local girl admiring the magnificent waves

temple by the cliff

Day 80: Lovena - the infamous dolphin tour

“Expect to be asked by the locals about a dolphin tour every minute” was a warning from wikitravel's Lovena page. And it was no exaggeration. Everyone from our guesthouse staff to locals on the street to waiters in the restaurants asked us about a dolphin tour. Coincidentally it was always his or her uncle who owned a tour company and would give us discounts. The first and last dolphin tour I ever did was with Hide and my brother in Yilan, Taiwan. Half an hour out to the sea, most people on the boat vomited and were pale white. Of course, there were no dolphins in sight.

We met our guesthouse neighbor, Bill, who was a documentary film editor from California. His most well-known work was Hoop Dreams, which won an Oscar for best documentary. He had a driver with him, so we got ourselves a free one-day tour of Lovena the next day. We visited a Buddhist monastery and the Banjar hot spring. At the hot spring, Bill forgot to bring his swim trunk, so he went looking to buy one. After some bargaining, he got one Batik style trunk for 65,000 rupiah. Ten seconds after he left the shop another vendor offered him the same trunk for 20,000 rupiah. Ouch. The hot spring was nice, but a bit dirty in my opinion. Bill enjoyed it very much, and he moved to the only hotel next to the hot spring the next day. I guess natural hot spring is hard to find in California.





Initially we wanted to spend a few days in Munduk because we read a few blogs raving about that village. After some research and talking to the locals, we learned that the accommodation in Munduk was on the expensive side (US$20+). So we rented a scooter to go around northern Bali. The scenery from Bedugul to Munduk was breathtaking – riding on top of a ridge overlooking three lakes. After riding for most of the day, we were tired and decided to treat ourselves to a nice seafood dinner at Maluka. It was a very good meal. The sunset view from the 3rd floor was equally great.

temple by the lake in Bedugul

view from the ridge to Munduk

Day 77: Ubud & the legendary suckling pig (Ibu Oka)

An hour away from Kuta lies Ubud. And it was a different world. This is what welcomed us when we got off the bus: a group of ducks blocking the one-way main street. We also saw people flying kites on the recently harvested farms. First impression was good.

the ducks blocking the traffic

Before our arrival in Bali, Jesse already informed us about the suckling pig in Ubud (even lent me a DVD about the restaurant). It did not take us very long to find the place because everyone we asked knew where it was. “Go there early.” our hotel owner warned us. Indeed the restaurant was packed for the lunch service (closed after 3pm). The suckling pig, slowly roasted over coconut shells, was amazing – tender, juicy meat with crispy skin. We liked it so much that we went back again the next day.

Sigh, Ibu Oka

One day we rented a scooter to reach the Elephant Cave and the Monkey Forest. Boy oh boy, the monkeys were not nice at all. If they saw you with food, they would block your way and grab you until you relinquish the food. There were the so-called “monkey experts” (locals in green sarong) who would intervene if the monkeys misbehaved too much.

entrance to the Elephant cave

In Ubud, we took a room on the top floor of Bali Spring. It had a great view of Ubud landscape. We also had breakfast served on our balcony. Just to spoil ourselves (or to make up for Rongjiang in China), I took Katy to Bali Healing for a soothing massage and pedicure/manicure treatment. Forgive me, Katy?

view from our room at Bali Spring

another hard day at work in Ubud

Katy getting pampered

Our next destination is Lovena, north of Bali. We will come back to Ubud in a couple weeks after visiting Lombok island.

me admiring the sign warning pedestrians about the missing sidewalk

Day 74: Bali - start of our Indonesia journey

When planning the itinerary for Bali, we were concerned about staying near Kuta due to the terrorist bombings. We weren't interested in the club and pub scenes anyway, so we opted to stay in the quieter neighborhood of Legian. To ease our late arrival (10pm), we chose a nice hotel (Kusnadi) with airport pickup service. It all worked out smoothly.

Kusnadi was a pleasant hotel. At US$35, it was the most we ever spent on accommodation in our trip. Katy and I enjoyed our stay very much – good pool, beautiful garden, decent breakfast – except our chubby, middle-aged Australian neighbour who decided to watch CNBC at 2am. It was all about the AIG crisis and it was very loud. After an hour, I called the hotel staff about the noise disturbance. The security guard knocked on the door, but the guy was either sleeping or simply refused to answer. We tried to put up with the noise for another hour with ear plugs, but it was just too loud. After calling the hotel staff again (he was soundly asleep at the counter), the security guard knocked on the door again – more forcefully this time, and the neighbour turned off the TV immediately. The next morning the TV was on again at 8:30am – CNBC and the AIG crisis. Thank God, we were checking out that day.

living it large at Kusnadi hotel

strange design concept - the table is too far out, so had to bend my head

At the heart of Kuta, it was chaos with hundreds of vendors asking you to buy souvenirs while countless cars and scooters (some with surf boards) negotiating their way on a one-lane street. The so-called sidewalk was a 50cm wide uneven pavement filled with the same souvenir vendors – some napping with their legs fully extended, taking up most of the precious sidewalk.

One day we stopped by the memorial where the first bombing took place. We saw two Canadians and one Taiwanese on the memorial. It was such a tragic event. The next day a local funeral procession (for cremation) took place at the exact same spot. Judging by the number of people in the procession, the deceased must be a wealthy man (according to our taxi driver). Strangely not a single tear was shed during the procession. Perhaps it's the Balinese way to bid farewell.

local funeral procession

memorial

Can you believe it's Jalan Legian? Actually traffic was blocked off due to the funeral.

the real Jalan Legian!

One word of caution. Kuta and Legian are the tourist mecca for Bali. Naturally petty crimes tend to happen here. An elderly Dutch woman who stayed in Kusnadi was robbed one evening while walking back to the hotel from the beach. She was knocked down from behind by two boys on a bicycle. Fortunately she was OK and the only thing in her purse was 100,000 rupiah (US$10).

sunset at Kuta beach

Day 72: Penang - foodies' paradise

We arrived at Butterworth, the jetty for the ferry to Penang island, at 4am. Another night bus without much sleep. The first ferry was at 6am, so we stayed at a restaurant near the bus terminal. There were several locals eating already. Their eyes were glued to the only TV set showing a cheesy Bollywood film. At 5:30am, we walked to the jetty. There were about 50 people waiting, including a few kids in school uniform. Poor kids.

Katy watching a Bollywood film at 4:30am

We came to Penang with one goal in mind – to taste even more Malaysian delicacies. Since I was here one year ago, I knew roughly where the good eats were. The hawker food for lunch was simply delicious (loh mee, chicken rice, hokkien mee). For dinner, we went to Gurney drive to check out the largest hawker center in Penang. While strolling at Gurney Plaza to kill time (hawker food starts at 7pm), something caught our eyes. It was a Korean BBQ restaurant. How can you say no to kimchi and bulgogi? After the Korean BBQ dinner, we were so full and vowed to go on a vegetarian diet the next day. When we woke up the next day, we went back to the hawker stalls near our hotel for lunch. Then we had hawker food again at another place for dinner (oyster omelete, lamb chop, fruit rojak). The food was simply too good to resist.


At Penang, I also got a much needed haircut and for only 9 ringgit (US$2.7). This beats my previous record in Vietnam (US$3). I was very happy with the cut. The “hair stylist” had been working in the same shop for more than 30 years. Unbelievable.

coconut-man at work in Little India

Katy posing with a mascot (she was happy with the free balloon)

Day 68: Taman Negara & the leeches

Taman Negara National Park is the oldest rain forest in the world (130 million years) and has the longest canopy walkway. We checked into Durian Chalet at 25 ringgit a night. The wooden chalet, or “worker's hut” as we called it, was basic with cold water for shower. The mattress was on the thin side because we could feel the layout of the metal bars from the bed frame. On my bed, there was one bar sticking out a bit right at my lower back. It was not a particularly comfortable rest. But for 25 ringgit, we were still happy with it and stayed for three nights.

When reading other people's blogs about Taman Negara for tips, we always came across one topic – leeches. Sure enough we saw those little bloodsuckers in all our outings to the jungle. At Jerantut, when we inquired about leeches at the park, a local guy suggested using Baygon. We thought we misunderstood because Baygon was a very strong pesticide in Taiwan. When we picked up a bottle, it was exactly what we thought. There was a skeleton head symbol with warnings “avoid contact with skin”. So we opted for a less powerful solution, i.e. insect repellent.

On our first trekking to the canopy walkway (very interesting) and Teresek hill (very tiring – 800 meter straight up and full of leeches), we sprayed the repellent on our legs, socks and shoes. But it was a futile effort as the leeches kept on crawling up our shoes. At the end of the trek, I got two leech bites on my legs. That night Katy had nightmares about hundreds of leeches crawling up our feet and was yelling out loud while dreaming. The next day we signed up for a night jungle walk, so we asked the guide about leech repellent. “Baygon,” he said. “And must be the green bottle one.” he emphasized. So out went the health concerns - we were spraying the green bottle Baygon on our socks and shoes like there is no tomorrow. Leech bite was a more urgent matter. Guess what? It really worked. We did not have any more leech bite on our 2nd and 3rd day of trekking.

made it to Teresek hill

canopy walk

stick insect from the night jungle walk

On the last day, we decided to check out a bat cave (Gua Telinga). It was a 3-km hike (one way). The trail was in good condition (with leeches, of course). After 90 minutes, we were at the cave entrance. Oh my, you could smell the bat pooh before entering the cave. We braced ourselves and entered the cave. The stench was pungent. Bats were flying above our heads. There were hundreds of bats hanging on the wall. Things (bat pooh?) were dropping on my head and shirt. Some parts of the cave were so small, we were on all fours – front and back touching the walls. Truth be told, I was quite freaked out but did not show it inside the cave. At the end, we managed to follow the rope and exit the cave in one piece. We both smelled like bat pooh afterwards and were quite looking forward to the cold shower back at the worker's hut. BTW, Katy's nickname at Yahoo is BraveKaty and it fits her perfectly. She is a really brave girl.

Katy with a smile in the bat cave

me without a smile in the bat cave

full frontal

gap so small even Katy had problems getting through

The food at Taman Negara was something to be desired for. Not only was the selection limited, most of the restaurants were on the river (floating restaurants). The whole restaurant moved when there was a boat passing by. After every below-than-average meal, we needed about half an hour to recover from the motion sickness. After three days of starvation at the park, we decided to head to Penang – the island known for the great food.

floating restaurants

amazing tree branch

check out the size of this tree

an aboriginal village in the jungle

a random sign post ... how true