Balinese family carving a fishing boat in AMED
So we have ARRIVED! and so far SURVIVED! well, Bali that is anyway!
After some mysterious crazy stomach pain Robyn developed the second she stepped off the 4 hour delayed flight, and the entire 2 days in Kuta in bed, we escaped to UBUD. UBUD was absolutely beautiful! For some reason there were like a million Japanese expats there which was a little surreal but the city was great. very chill and funky with lots of awesome local artists and painters and sculptors. Heaps of really cheap and great food too! We stayed in a funky little room in some familys back yard, that was actually part of a temple! Very cool!
After 3 days in UBUD, we decided we needed the beach so we headed for AMED. AMED was very interesting.. its the kind of place that you either instantly love and never leave, or hate and run away from, but you never really know why.
Well, after 4 days there we still dont know if we loved it or hated it.. it had a very strange energy, very captivating but unsettling at the same time. The locals were a very open and beautiful bunch of people though and we spent every night jamming or chatting away to them at some closed bar. Robyn also learnt to dive!! yeah!! We both did a couple of really good wreck dives with 25m + visability!! (pics to come as soon as we find a computer built later than 1970...)
We said good bye to AMED and to BALI a couple of days ago and after a very long but equally uneventful bus and ferry journey are now in BANYUWANGI, on the island of JAVA. As soon as we left the ferry terminal, we realised that BANYUWANGI is not even mentioned in the ever trusty but usually unhelpful Lonely planet, and whilst wandering aimlessly, looking for hints as to what direction to head in, the universe sent us a lovely man called SAPI, and his delightful family. So here we are, 4 days later, still living with them!! They have been wonderful and sapi has taken us all over banyuwangi to climb live volcanoes and safari through national parks looking for wild water buffalo!! His 2 little boys are by far THE cutest children we have ever seen!! (again, pics to come!)
So the plan is to leave here tomorrow and head for the ancient Javanese capital, SOLO. From there, who knows!
After some mysterious crazy stomach pain Robyn developed the second she stepped off the 4 hour delayed flight, and the entire 2 days in Kuta in bed, we escaped to UBUD. UBUD was absolutely beautiful! For some reason there were like a million Japanese expats there which was a little surreal but the city was great. very chill and funky with lots of awesome local artists and painters and sculptors. Heaps of really cheap and great food too! We stayed in a funky little room in some familys back yard, that was actually part of a temple! Very cool!
After 3 days in UBUD, we decided we needed the beach so we headed for AMED. AMED was very interesting.. its the kind of place that you either instantly love and never leave, or hate and run away from, but you never really know why.
Well, after 4 days there we still dont know if we loved it or hated it.. it had a very strange energy, very captivating but unsettling at the same time. The locals were a very open and beautiful bunch of people though and we spent every night jamming or chatting away to them at some closed bar. Robyn also learnt to dive!! yeah!! We both did a couple of really good wreck dives with 25m + visability!! (pics to come as soon as we find a computer built later than 1970...)
We said good bye to AMED and to BALI a couple of days ago and after a very long but equally uneventful bus and ferry journey are now in BANYUWANGI, on the island of JAVA. As soon as we left the ferry terminal, we realised that BANYUWANGI is not even mentioned in the ever trusty but usually unhelpful Lonely planet, and whilst wandering aimlessly, looking for hints as to what direction to head in, the universe sent us a lovely man called SAPI, and his delightful family. So here we are, 4 days later, still living with them!! They have been wonderful and sapi has taken us all over banyuwangi to climb live volcanoes and safari through national parks looking for wild water buffalo!! His 2 little boys are by far THE cutest children we have ever seen!! (again, pics to come!)
So the plan is to leave here tomorrow and head for the ancient Javanese capital, SOLO. From there, who knows!