Tata bali xx

We have been disgusting with regards to updating the blog. We are currently sitting on the floor in Bali airport just chilling, you know, in true African style. Myself and Lindsay are now officially the biggest freaks in the place because we have not only set up camp outside a duty free shop where there is a hamster offering massages to every passer by but we are now the proud owners of neck pillows. I think mine will get used more as an accessory than for its actual purpose. I am not joking, an Australian just came past with a small suitcase attached to a leash, and his son was riding on it. They never fail to entertain.

Now lets rewind to Gili Air. The most amazing place in the world, Linds and myself are seriously considering running away, buying a plot of land and opening a little bar on the beachfront. Our time on the island was spent lounging about on the beach, riding bicycles and soaking up all the sunshine. We also went diving, definitely a highlight for all of us. Lindsay’s friend Nick is a diving instructor working on the island and he took us. Had such a great time hanging out with him and hearing all his stories about the Island and diving in general. So we went for our intro dive, we watched 2 videos that we are pretty sure scares people into never wanting to go ankle deep into the sea, let alone go for a dive. We then had some paper work to fill out and after that the fun began. In between Brandon not fitting his bintang beer boep into his wetsuit and Stephan putting his on the wrong way round TWICE we were kept entertained. We were taught how to flush our masks, how to adjust our buoyancy and what to do incase our regulator came out. After lunch our new skills were put to the test. I was extremely nervous and Nicks friend who came with to assist him on the dive needed to calm me down and help me slow my breathing. After getting over the claustrophobic feeling of the tank being strapped to my back, I had time to just take in everything I was seeing. It was such an amazing sight and we were all extremely chuffed when we saw 3 massive turtles sleeping on a reef. We were able to get so close to the fish and coral reefs, It was just breathtaking. We also saw lion fish and all sorts of other things down there. The boys ran out of oxygen before us so we got a little more dive time than they did.

Linds and Nick before the dive

Our last full day on the island was such a typical holiday sun, sand and a lot of laughs. We also managed to ride our bikes around the island, it sounds very chilled and laid back, but hiring them was actually very difficult, we all had to hire bikes from different places as the island was very busy. Lindsay definitely had the coolest bike, baby seat on the back included. Unfortunately there were no small children wondering the streets for us to “surprise babysit” so Lindsays bag got shotgun instead.

Linds and Sam 

After our little bike ride round the island we found an awesome restaurant on the beach where we just chilled out and enjoyed each other’s company. One thing we found extremely entertaining throughout the duration of our stay on both Islands was watching real chinas snorkeling in the shallows with lifejackets, you know, incase they drown in the 30cm water without any waves, but im pretty sure I got more laughs from the others when I decided to rent a mask and snorkel and go on my own underwater adventure. I was overjoyed when Linds decided to join me after I kept saying how many fish there were. We actually had such a stunning time and even saw our first stingray. During all the excitement we managed to develop our own language by speaking and screaming into the snorkel. This language was accompanied by violent pointing and splashing, as our new language was not effective at all.

After this we went to find Legend Bar, as we were told it was the best place to see the sunset from. We found it and quickly got onto the beach and in the water to take pictures and drink our bintangs. We decided we were going to go back to our room, which all 5 of us were living in, to get ready, go out for dinner and then return for a little bit of a party. After dinner we were all just so buggered that we called it a night, Stephan had other ideas and ended up storming into the room at about 2:30 am. As we were all awake he told us about his night saying, “The music was shit, but it was cool because that guy was there, and the other guy, there was another guy there, a whole bunch of girls and some more guys”. After this extremely detailed description of his night out he went to bed, and so did we.

We woke up the following morning feeling as fresh as you can when you are sleeping on crappy mattresses in a room as hot as a fiery pit of doom, ready to scoff breakfast and rush to catch a boat to Lombok. Lindsay and Stephan left the hotel first as Linds wanted to say cheers to Nick, and Stephan needed to check us in. Brandon had his sights set on the many horse pulled carts that is used as a form of transportation on both of the islands we visited and decided he was not going to carry his bags all the way to the port. So Sammy and myself jumped onto the cart, Brandon unfortunately did not take his bike back and had hatched a plan to just leave it at the hotel, without taking it back. This plan was not executed successfully as the bartender that worked at the bar situated about 15 steps away from our front door, called him out and told him to take it back. He reluctantly took it back. It was only next-door so he still got a chance to get in the cart.

When we got to Lombok we got into a taxi that took us to go see the waterfalls. By far one of the most awesome things we have done during our time on Bali. The water was cold and very refreshing and we all had a great time standing under the waterfall admiring the beauty of the area we were so blessed to be in.

The trip back to Bali can be described the following word. Frustrating. We had booked an open return ticket with a company that we couldn’t find. Making it impossible for us to get back on a boat. We had to buy new tickets, which ended up making the trip flippen expensive, which put us in a testing situation. To make the vibe in the group worse, we all ended up becoming aggravated with each other and the boat drivers when we were originally told that the boat would be leaving in the next 15 minutes, when in reality it ended up being 2 hours later.

The boat trip back was quick but painfull as Linz almost got to experience what it is like to hootch over the side of a boat. The boat was a lot more stable than any boat we had previously been on, other than the ferry of course. We also met up with 7 or 8 other students who had been on the other island. A bus ride back to Seminyak was included in the price of our boat ticket. Thank goodness, because by the time we got to Bali none of us were in a state to organize a taxi. We were all a lot happier when we finally got back to Taman Rosani and were able to have hot showers and nice clean and comfy beds to sleep in.

The following weeks mainly consisted of a lot of school work with us being expected to hand in assignments, go to classes, write an exam and do our final defense. Speaking about this is boring. So we fill focus on the highlights of our last 2 weeks on Bali. First one being Sam Peckhams 21^st birthday.

We went out to Alleycats for dinner, which was really great. Sammys birthday falls on Halloween so there were plenty crazy Australians all dressed up. I kind of wish we had done something like that, but we didn’t have money for that so we just made it a typical 21^st, lots of drinking, laughing, dancing and club hopping. Oh and all the dutchies sang about 100 birthday songs to Sammy in Alleycats. Those buggers had gees for days. We ended up in good old SkyGarden, which would later be described as “Satans Palace” by the one and only Brandon Roux.

Next was my birthday, 4 days later. We were writing an exam the day after so we moved it forward a day to let us go out for the Saturday, I wasn’t complaining. We went for dinner, just us South Africans, which I really liked because it was one of the rare moments we had to just enjoy each others company. Not hating on anyone, so no bleak vibes please. I am sure everyone can guess we then went to Alleycats, where we met Stephan and his sister. Double doubles were bought, a deck of cards came out. I got on a bus. I had my third and final birthday party on Bali. And man it was a blowout of epic proportions.

Our final days on Bali were spent with all the people we had learnt to love while studying, jolling and living with them. We all had an amazing time and met so many awesome people. We experienced a completely different culture to our own and learnt that it is good to be in new environments. It is safe to say that we all fell in love with Bali and in the end did leave with mixed emotions as we were going to have to say goodbye to our home and family that had grown on us over the past few months, but at the same time we were looking forward to our next chapter in Thailand.

Thanks to everyone who made this rollercoaster ride an unforgettable experience, we will always have the memories.

Until next time. xx