Ubud & Kuta Beach

Thursday 31st August - Monday 4th September

Thursday

So the boat ride from Gili T to Bali was horrific. I have never been so scared in my life, my life actually flashed before my eyes. I had visions of us sinking like the titanic every single time the boat rocked enough to make my heart plummet to my stomach. Thank god for my iPad... if I hadn't been watching greys anatomy I would've had to actively think about that for the whole journey... and fast boat my ass that took 3 hours and it sucked the whole time, I'd rather make a day of it on the slow boat... actually scrap that I'd rather fork out they extra dollar and fly! Never again I swear!! Although we had a better time than the family in front of us, one of their kids puked the whole way and the window started leaking on the dad! Their mum was sitting next to us though and she was pretty smug as the Dad had refused to swap seats with her! Next it was time for our long shuttle bus journey back to Kuta beach. It was so nice to get back to pop hotel and just chill out, all I had to eat for dinner was a pot noodle and Oreos we grabbed on the way to the hotel. We just crashed we were so tired!

Friday

Check out wasn't until 12, so we had a nice leisurely morning (even though I still woke up before 7) and grabbed breakfast at the same place we had breakfast on our first morning in Bali. Afterwards, we got a private car to go to Ubud. It took longer than first thought as the traffic was super bad! We got there at around lunch time, so, after checking in, we grabbed a bite to eat and did a bit of shopping before grabbing a taxi to the Teggalalang rice terraces. They are so cool! So much better in real life than in the photos, although it was super hot and there was a lot of walking so we got mega sweaty! It took us a while to realise there were no bluebird taxis allowed in this area, so we grabbed a drink and then got a private taxi back to ubud town. It was a classic pot noodle for dinner again today and we just had another night in to save money before the Contiki. 

Saturday

It was banana pancakes for breakfast again this morning, but this time we had watermelon on the side and chocolate sauce! Super delish! We then headed down to the monkey forest, Emma still pretty nervous after the monkeys attacked her in China! I reassured her and forced her into going... and it worked! She was a bit nervy at first... but to be fair so was I when they came a bit too close for comfort! We paid 10,000 rupiah extra to have a photo taken with one and afterwards Emma said she was so happy I made her do it as she feels a lot more at ease than before which is awesome! It was a pretty cool forest too, not as big as the one in GuiYang though. We were in and out within an hour so we then had the rest of the day to fill up. We dropped in at a cafe where they gave me a sour coconut and tried to fob me off saying they were supposed to be like that. There was no way they were gonna swap it so I just paid for it (ok it was all of £2 but it's the principal!) despite not really touching it... I feel like I'll stay away from coconuts as I never seem to get the tasty ones! We then shopped around a bit and I finally got some grey elephant pants!! I've been after some for so long and these cost me the equivalent of just under £4 so win win! After lunch we went back to the hostel and chilled out by the pool. The people who work here brought us out some traditional Indonesian snacks, and I pretty much liked all of them but the others weren't too keen on a few! 

Sunday

Had the delicious pancakes again this morning, and then emma and I headed to a cafe (Kafe)-for some chill out time before needing to check out from our hostel... I will miss this hostel it's been so good! It was hen time to part with Emma as her flight was a few hours after mine so I hopped in the taxi, went to the airport and got all checked in ready for my journey to Singapore! 

Back To Qian Ling Park.

Sunday 9th September 2012

Today was a chamily day. This morning we went to Qian Ling Park again. It is breathtakingly beautiful. We got a lift half way to the park with BD's, one of the boys, dad. Seven of us were crammed into is five person car. Really legit. I felt so safe...

 Sam and his mother met us outside the park, and then we paid, well Chum paid for me, the equivalent of 50p. It is definitely worth that! After being in the park for less than ten minutes, some random old man came up to me and started speaking to me in fluent English. I was bombarded with questions, and he presented me with a music sheet. He wanted me to sing in front of at least fifty people. This was not going to happen. Unfortunately he was not taking no for an answer, and he started getting a bit angry with me. I didn't know what to do! Luckily, at this point my chum saw my distress and told him where to stick it! Well she said something in Chinese that made him leave me alone!

From left to right:
Lory, BD, me, Sam, Linda

We then had another trauma; I stubbed my toe. Well, I didn't realise I stubbed my toe, I just happened to see it was bleeding! I asked Lory of her mum happened to bring any plasters with her it really wouldn't stop bleeding, to which everybody started acting like I needed my toe amputating! They bandaged me up with tissues, which did nothing, but it's the thought that counts right? I was just worried that the monkeys might be feral and the scent of my blood will trigger a group attack! I'm not even joking, that was a genuine concern of mine. 

We managed to find an area where they had a few rides, like in Hebin Park. We went on the bumper cars again. I was driving, and Lory was holding on for dear life. I don't think she could handle my extreme speed...

We carried on walking up the path and eventually we spotted some monkeys! It was so weird to see them in the wild, just like we see squirrels running around Bournemouth Gardens. Crazy! Loads of people were feeding them, you can buy little packets of nuts for about 10p from various stalls dotted about the park. One old lady had bought a bottle of water and fed a monkey like it was a baby!

We then continued up some steps where we found to casual camels just chilling at the top. China is very random. You could pay to sit on them and have a photo, but they looked flea ridden and just generally ill, so I didn't want to get close enough to touch!

Lory then asked me if I wanted to feed the birds. I thought why not and let him do it! I felt like the lady from Mary Poppins! The birds were landing on my hands and even my head! It was such a weird experience, but pretty cool! Loads of random people took photos of me, it was weird I felt like a celebrity! A couple of people even made me have photos with their children! Apparently it's good luck for a child to have a photo with a westerner or something... 

We then continued up the mountain to a temple, there were so many Buddhas, it was absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take any photos in the temple area, but I took some before and after I went in! At the back of the temple, there is a wall where you close your eyes and have to stick your hand out in front of you and try and touch the metal circle in the middle. If you manage it then apparently you have good luck for the rest of your life! After a few tries, I managed it! Yay!

That's the wall I was chatting about.

 

We then went to Dicos for lunch, before going home for a nice two hour rest. Not that I needed it! Lory set me up a 'QQ' account, which is China's equivalent of twitter and Facebook. It is all in Chinese, but it's retry similar to twitter, so I could just guess what I had to press!

We then went to the cinema to see Batman, obviously my chamily are fond of superhero movies! Lory bought popcorn, and it was genuinely the nicest tasting popcorn I have ever had in my life.

Chad then came and joined us I hadn't seen him since the welcome ceremony day!, and he took us down a really dodgy looking street, where Lory told us we were getting food. There were a lot of super dodgy looking street food stalls, that I felt like you could get food poisoning from just looking at them. Thankfully, we went into little restaurant, so tucked out of the way you would miss it unless you knew it was there! 

In this restaurant, you basically picked the meat and the vegetables you want, and they bring it all out in separate bowls. You then have a cooker in the middle of the table and use chopsticks to put in what you fancy and you cook it up yourself! It was a lot nicer than I've made it sound.