Bali

We arrived in Kuta late at night and having not booked any accommodation in advance, spent an interesting evening in a rather decrepit room whose bathroom was inhabited by some sort of animal. Needless to say, we left early the next morning, moving onwards and upwards to Kedin’s Inn - a lovely hostel slash hotel on Poppies Line 1, minutes away from beaches, bars, shops, and most importantly Boost. (Boost - the most amazing smoothie bar ever.)

We were decidedly more adventurous in Bali: surfing, diving (HT, not me), cultural explorations and such. The surfing was epic, even though we definitely spent more time in the sea as opposed to on the boards, but it was insane fun nonetheless. We also decided to try Bali’s version of Go Ape (Bali Treetop Adventure Park); however, made a massive schoolboy error by attempting it after a night of Jägerbombs and Red Bull induced insomnia. It involved climbing, swinging, zip lines, and generally lots of throwing ourselves around. Fun but definitely too overwhelming! At one point, when facing an obstacle that required jumping off a very high platform, dropping and then swinging into a net, we were having serious doubts. So much so we attempted to go back the way we had come. It was only at that point we realised that that was in fact impossible, apparently the obstacle course was designed ‘one-way’ only! So we hung out on the platform for a while as little kids passed us, pointing and laughing at our general uselessness, which was entirely fair enough. Eventually an instructor had to physically come up and coax us down. Most definitely not one of my finest hours.

Surfing, Kuta

Gili Trawangan, Indonesia

Gili Trawangan, Indonesia

With time quickly running out in Indonesia, we decided on a fleeting visit to the Gili islands, Gili Trawangan to be exact. An absolutely stunning, picture post card beautiful beach! Due to boat timings, we ended up having to spend one more day in Bali. On the last day in Kuta, we were walking along Poppies 1 where we were subjected to the usual hawkers. Nothing particularly special until one more adventurous woman tried another tact: insults. As we passed, she spotted me and in a loud shriek commented on my chin, or as she put it, my 'special' bum chin. Prior to writing this post, I had recently watched a Glee episode whereby Mr Shue had drawn attention to his bum chin and stated how self-conscience he had been growing up. I can now relate. 

Next stop: Australia!