29/1/2012 - Welcome to my Paradise

So, the Gili Islands were possibly the most beautiful place I've seen so far, the only contenders being some places in New Zealand. One thing the place was lacking though, was varity in music. Oh I sound so pretentious but there really is only so many times I can listen to Wild World or an island song that goes along the lines of "Welcome to my paradise...". I can't really say we did too much in Gili, because there wasn't much to do, but that's just fine. Waking up and going for food, laying around on the beach, drinking lots etc etc. We did go snorkelling one day, which was actually really cool once I got the hang of it. I'm not the strongest swimmer in the world (understatement of the year) but it turns out that with flippers I swim pretty well. Queue the Norfolk webbed feet jokes, some British guys we met have already beat you to it though! I never thought I could get so much stick for being from Norfolk when I'm halfway around the world! Snorkelling though was awesome, I saw lots of coral, fish and even a big turtle, this was all after I'd figured out how to breath through the tube properly, swallowed a good amount of salt water and lost my bikini top jumping over the edge of the boat. All in all a success!

Been Friends quizzing with Atte the last few days (Lucy you would be proud) and we've all been quoitng Lief of Brian at various points ("Are you the Judean People's Front?" "Fuck off! We're the People's Front of Judea!") and just been generally hanging out. April, who the guys met before, joined us a couple of days ago and it was nice to hang out with another girl so we had a wander around the shops and stuff. She's coming here to BIG Pineapple today actually which will be awesome. Went to a couple of parties and got absolutely wasted, to the extent that on the last night I decided it was the best idea in the world to go in the sea in my underwear. Not a complete failure, but when I got undressed back at the bungalow I was soaked and stones literally fell out of my bra. Another tick on the bucket list though! I managed to avoid getting sunburnt quite well for most of the time, but ended up peeling (ew) yesterday and today. And I know you British lot won't believe me but I have a teeny tiny bit of a tan!

The actual biggest problem we had in Gili was that the boats back stopped running for a few days because of the weather and a really big wave between Lombak and Bali, apparently a ferry had sunk already. It wasn't such an issue for me to be stuck on a beautiful island, but Taneli and Atte have a flight today so needed to get back. Even more frustrating was that the boat company's office always seemed closed so we couldn't even get any information. As I may have mentioned however, I am back at BIG Pineapple so let me tell you The Treacherous Tale of a Long Return to Bali. We had finally caught the OceanStar office open on the 27th and the woman in there told us a slow boat, that took 3 and a half hours instead of 1 and a half was going on the 28th and to come to the office in the early morning. Something you should all understand about Indonesia is that things will get done, but they generally won't be done the way you expected them to be. It will probably involve what seems like a bit of dodgy dealing but what is actually just the norm here.

We waited around outside the, still closed, OceanStar office for a while when a guy who told us he'd been on the phone to the OceanStar woman told us we had to get the public boat to Lombak and go from there and that OceanStar would refund us. We weren't on our own, there was an American couple and a British couple too, making seven of us. We hung around for a bit longer, went down to the public harbour, then this guy returned and told us a speedboat was coming for us from Lombak, where we would then get a shuttle to the ferry terminal and get the ferry back to Bali. The seven of us ended up on this little speed boat, but to be fair it was really fast, and I can't say I felt great. Hangover + lots of waves does not equal anything good. I'd don't know what's happening with my backpack, but I swear it's got heavier since leaving Australia. But I haven't bought anything new or heavy so I have no idea, but I pretty much struggled all day. Or maybe I've just got weaker. So we tried to get in our car shuttle thing at Lombak, but the guy drove off. Excellent start. By now I was so tired that I was giggly, but the driver came back and life was all good again. I had thought we'd be in the car for maybe 20 minutes, but it was two hours. Two hours of rolling hills and lots of little corners. This did not bode well for me feeling ill. Turns out the traffic was terrible, as it often is in Indonesia, but this time there was a reason; everyone wanted the ferry. Our driver however, decided we wouldn't be waiting in traffic, so he turned around (mid flow) and squeezed his way back between all the trucks. Hilarious/dangerous/skilful driving all in one. We ended up taking the back streets through a little village that got us there in time though! You've got to hand it to these guys, they know where they're going. The ferry was old, that's a given, and we made our way right up to the top deck which was pretty much green metal and was scorching hot since it was so burning in Lombak, hotter than both Gili and Bali. We pretty much set up our seats for the whole trip by leaning against our backpacks and sitting on various items of clothing so we didn't burn our bums. Loads of different Indonesian guys were gesturing to how big the waves were and how much the boat would rock, so I decided that eating something may possibly settle my stomach. It helped a bit and for 5000rp I got some Nasi Goreng (which I've really taken a liking for) in a little brown paper parcel.

The next 5 hours, yes 5 not 3 and a half, were spent laying in the sun pretty much. I only got a little burnt on the back on my hands (because who even remembers to put sunscreen there?!), had a little sleep and laughed at the guys walking around on the swaying boat, which made them look pretty drunk! The trip dragged quite a lot, and we got into Bali at 7pm after having left Gili at around 8am. It had been a long day on a boat which may or may not fall apart at any second. But as I keep saying, it's a story! Luckily, our shuttle had arrived to take us back to the hostel, but there was a bit of confusion over who had paid and who hadn't since the lady on the island took our tickets from us. About an hour and some Bali traffic, which still frustrates me, later we got back to BIG Pineapple and I was so pleased to find that Megan and Anna are still here, especially since the guys left. But BIG Pineapple was full. Shit. Mia told us about this place down the road, so we made our way there in the rain. I did have a spark of genius though and decided to leave my horribly heavy backpack at BIG Pineapple ready for today. So on the way my handbag broke. It really had been one of those days. We got to the new place and it was full, where on earth were we going to sleep? We resolved to head back to BIG Pineapple and possibly sleep on the sofa but on the way we found some bungalows. I'm not going to lie to you or mince my words, the place was a shithole. The cieling fan looked as if it could fall off, the door had no outside lock and it had a squatter toilet. We were all going to share like before, but when we decided we wanted two rooms I had the task of explaining to the non-English speaking staff/residents. To which they actually kicked two people out of the room next door, who I think were their friends who were using the room for there own enjoyment. We just left them to it in the end and went to get food with the others at the Cat and Fiddle. After a mushroom, cheese and tomato toastie (which was much needed) and making sure I used the bars bathroom (no way was I using the one at the bungalows) we headed back to our hellhole. I actually slept pretty well all in all, but it wasn't without cars coming and going, hearing people right outside our room and some weird bangs and crashes. It was all a bit shady to be honest.

Never. Never ever.

But today is a new day. Taneli and Atte have just left for the airport to go to Thailand and I'm going to go shower because it's been a rough few days. Plus I'm going to clean up my feet because I've got a couple ofcuts that I left for too long with sand in them. Am I a real traveller yet? Ha! Hopefully I'll see the guys in April when they have a 30 hour stop over in London so I plan to give them a whistle-stop tour of Norwich and all it's glories; the puppet man is a must! Anyhow, I'm looking forward to getting over to Vietnam because apparently Dom's got all these surprises planned? I dunno. What I do know is that I'm home in 19 days! Who is excited about that, cos I sure am! I mean, the novelty will probably wear off pretty quickly though. I also get to Skype with Mum today and since it's been a while that's exciting. Possibly wandering into Ubud with Megan and awaiting Anna's arrival. That's my day!