Salt water showers

Typing this post from a very hot internet cafe to the sound of some traditional balinese music on a keyboard where some of the keys are pushed in, making typing slightly challenging.

This is the first entry from our week long holiday and so far quite a lot has happened. We left Seminyak at 7am and headed off to Padangbai with 5 of us in a taxi, the trip was longer than expected and after a while we all started to doze off, including our taxi driver but thankfully we got to te harbour safely, narrowly escaping death once again. We got on a ferry that would take us to Lombok, we knew the trip would take a few hours but it was painfully slow,adding up to 5 hours. with no comfortable places to sit we ended up sleeping on the floor using beach towels as matresses and our very full backpacks as pillows. There was also nothing to eat on the ferry. We did buy some snacks for the trip but our newest addition to the crew was not impressed at all and eventually decided that everything here tastes like dog, cat or ass. Slightly worried about how he knows what these things taste like.

After arriving in Lombok we got in a taxi that added an additional 2 hours to our journey. At this point we were all starving and very keen to just get to the islands, but we did enjoy the drive as we got to see some new scenery, we even got to stop to see some monkeys, not that we havnt seen them before, but these ones were surprisingly chilled, none of them tried to attack us or steal our food, but we were not willing to risk it and closed all the windows in the car. The driver then took us to a restaurant where we had the worst food ever, validating Brandons " shitty food" theory.

in the taxi on the way to the boat

Next was a fast boat to Gili Trawangan, the final stretch, at this point I started to feel sea sick, brandon and stefan found this hilarious and thought they would show their support by making throwing up sounds. This had a more serious effect on the boy sitting next to lindsay. We almost tipped the boat trying to get away from him after seeing the sweat dripping off of his ghostly white face. Luckily for us he didnt end up getting sick. and neither did I. Success. We all bolted off the boat as soon as we could trying to get away from the boy who we were sure couldnt hold it in anymore. Next order of business was to find accomodation, we ended up in 2 rooms.1 for the boys and 1 for us. The guy that hooked us up with the rooms developed man crushes on both stefan and brandon and insisted on always asking what their plans for the night were.

That night we ended up having dinner on the beach at a place called Scallywags, and after that proceeded to go to every bar with a hint of a vibe. It was the night before stefans 25th birthday and we were planning on going big. At one of the bars we had a drink at, a man hawking bottles of oil came to us and ended up giving Lindsay a free massage. Not too sure if he was desperate to make a sale or just liked the fact that Lindsay didnt tell him to stop rubbing her arms and shoulders but he enjoyed it more than her. Stefan and lindsay both bought a bottle of this oil. Stefans went into the pocket of his boardies and were forgotten about for the rest of the night, he woke up with a severe hangover and a broken bottle in his pants with no memory as to how it happened. Happy Birthday Bugger!!

us at a beach bar for Stefs birthday

Myself, Sam and Lindsay went to ly on the beach as the boys nursed their hangovers. Gili Trawangan is a really beautiful place with stunning beaches and toursits everywhere. That night we ate at the night market. We finally had prawns, and they were so delicious. We then did what we do best and club hopped until we found an Irish pub where we drank far too many half prices cocktails, made with alchohol that is probably brewed under a cocnut tree somewhere on the island. While having some very chilled drinks and just chatting about our plans we found 750 000 ruphiah. We spent it on drinks obviously. Later on in the night we realized that one of our cameras had gone missing. Karma is a bitch is all we were thinking. But before the dissapearance of the camera could dampen the mood, it was found, 2 of the waiters had it. If we were home it would have been gone. I am going to say it again, I love Indonesia.

We went to the next club where for some unkown reason they had a gutter running through the dancefloor, unaware we were all jamming and all of a sudden poor sami was on the floor. We all had a little chuckle and called it a night. The rest of the night was spent talking about how the money would help pay for our snorkeling trip the following day. Chuffed with life we went to bed. In the morning we all woke up unhappy and hungover.

The homestay man was borderline distraught when he found out that we would be leaving the Island to go to Gili Air. I think he would be less upset if he had known that one of the shower heads were broken after it fell off mid-shower on brandons head.

On our snorkeling trip we stopped at 3 different places, the first place would have been so awesome if the current wasnt so strong, it was almost impossible to see anything. We were extremely lucky when Stefan pointed out a big sea turtle at the bottom of the ocean, he then did what any naughty child with a huge lung capacity would do and swam to it and touched it. It was so cool to see one as we have all been dying to see one, it was even more cool when it came up for air and was so close we all could have touched it, but we didnt, we just took pictures instead.

On the way to the next stop the sea was really choppy and this was not helping with the severe hangover I was suffering from. Second stop was awesome and we saw some really beautiful things, the current wasnt strong making it so nice to just swim around and enjoy ourselves. The boat trip to the third spot pushed me to breaking point and I ended up throwing up over the edge of the boat, but not before everyone made the sounds and Stefan pulled out his camera and said "im ready when you are". It was all very funny, so funny infact that mid hooch i was laughing so much I peed down my leg. Anyone who watches Goerdie shore will know that it was a real Charlotte moment. This is probably one of the most embarresing moments of my life, but what can I do other than laugh it off. Because that is all that anyone else on the boat was doing. One thing that will be learnt from this experience is never stand downwind from someone vomiting, Sam got a little on her arm but brandon got some in his mouth. thats what he gets for laughing.



We got to Gili Air and followed the same routine as always, find food, find a bed and explore.

You slet. Saus Tomat.

So we hav'nt posted for a while...this we blame on the ridiculous amounts of work we have had to do, Stenden Bali does not live up to Stenden South Africa's work ethic.

We woke up on Monday morning not overly keen for our field trips as being outside in the sun in 32 degree heat in formal uniform is no ones idea of fun. We visited the Westin Hotel in Nusa Dua where the international convention centre is situated. The hotel was beautiful along with it's private, white sandy beach and we left with heavy hearts as we knew we would be needing to find rich men to marry to be able to visit again.

 The second stop was the Garuda Wisnu Kencana cultural park. It is a park where huge events are held, the outdoor amphitheatre that is enclosed by huge limestone walls where many music concerts have been held was quite a sight to see. Sammy Peckham and myself were blessed by having 'holy water' and rice put on our foreheads, an interesting experience as well. The views of Kuta and Sanur were amazing but we were very happy to leave and get back to the hotel to swim.

Monday was followed by guest lectures for five hours on Tuesday, something that we are not at all used to is sitting in a room having to sit still and listen for so long. We managed though, with the help of free coffee and food and one of the guest lecturers who was very entertaining despite the fact we could hardly understand what he was saying.

Monday and tuesday were both spent preparing for our event pitches on Wednesday. The word that could be used to describe these pitches would be a bloodbath, as unlike Stenden South Africa where we go into presentations with the mindset that we do unto others as you would like done unto you, or in other words we do not critisise eachother or question eachother, and it is the complete opposite here! Something that we will have to get used to, keeping in mind it will probably be better for us in the long run.

The rest of Wednesday was spent trying to finish our Initiative reports so we could hand them in on Thursday and have a long weekend, we all made it after working into the night, some of us just by the skin of our teeth! Our last management skills lecture with the best lecturer in the world, Yoke, was just as good as all our other lectures with her as she made us laugh continuously, falling asleep in her classes is just not an option.

Some of the students organised a pool party for everyone at the hotel and the hotel staff 'braaid' for us as well. A braai here constitutes of using a fan to start the fire and pre-cooking the meat before actually braaing it, something which we found hilarious. After the party everyone headed out to sky garden, where extreme hangovers are made and a lot of money is spent on we dont know what. The taxi ride there, just like all of them was another experience. The taxi shook violently from side to side the entire way, we expected one of the wheels to fall off  at any moment. Fortunately for us the driver did not drive more than 40kmh the whole way there. We are still getting used to peoples reactions when we tell them that we are from South Africa and that we are in Bali for two and a half months, its getting to the point where questions like, "Isnt it really dangerous to live there?" and "Do you live in a forest?" are just answered with completely sarcastic remarks.

 

The whole of Friday was spent recovering, and it literally did take the whole day. We decided to not go out on Friday night and save ourselves for Saturday which was a good idea consisdering the crazy jol we had last night. We discovered Alley Cats, a bar down one of the Poppies Gang alley's of Legian. Double Doubles, which is the drink everyone talks about from Alley Cats, is going to be the cause of much debauchery in the coming weeks.

 

Last night was by far the best jol we have had in Bali so far, along with our ride home which was one crazy adventure, one which none of us will ever forget, except for Melvin, who was asleep the entire way home, how, we do not know. Lets just say it was one of those, "If we die now, we die happy" moments, techno/electro music and all.



Our latest mission is to learn to ride scooters as having to pay for taxi's is starting to become a financial burden on our drinking benefits.

Bosman finally decided to get her white body into the sun today after our friend Stefan commented, "Even im browner than you and im a foken ginger!" She is now as red as a tomato but it had to be done.