South East Asia: Indonesia

My final stop of my first ever travelling adventure was Indonesia and I’m so happy my trip ended on such a high. 

My favourite boy from back home came to join me for my first 12 days. You might recognise Matthew from my Facebook page or my Instagram in pictures from Vienna and Paris- now we’re conquering country number 3!

Since we were treating this as more of a holiday than a travelling destination we spent a tad bit more money than I have been doing for the rest of my trip. Bali is also notably more expensive than any other place I had been anyway so it limited me to a seriously small budget once Matthew had left. Our first stop was Gili Trawangan, an island off the coast of Lombok. I accidentally spent far too much on the ferry as I wasn’t quite used to the currency... there are so many digits!! (A latte costs you 38,000idn!) STA travel recommended and booked our hotel for us on Gili T, and we hit the absolute jackpot. The rooms were gorgeous, individual huts across a village-like resort with 2 pools, a spa and a restaurant. It was right on the beach at a quieter part of the island but because Gili T is so small it only took us 20 minutes to walk to the more lively area. Once we were all sorted we made our way to the beach for paddle boarding, fruit shake sipping and vitamin D lovin’. Unfortunately for us we weren’t so lucky with the weather for the rest of the week. There were a good few thunder storms, one of which lasted the whole duration of a boat party we attended on our final day. Once we got over the fact that we probably weren’t going to be dry until we got back to the hotel that night we embraced the rain and had such a great day. We danced for hours on end, drank Sex on the Beach and met loads of fun people. Thankfully, the sky decided to clear up just in time for a beautiful sunset, which we had a perfect view of from the boat. 

Before this, I was confined to a 5 metre radius of the toilet for a couple of days. Google informed me that I had ‘Bali Belly’ which seemed rather fitting as we were staying on an island right next to Bali. You catch it from the water that’s not been filtered (any water that’s not bottled, basically), which I consumed via 2 salads which I had eaten on 2 consecutive evenings. For once trying to be healthy backfired! When I decided I was well enough, we got right back to activities. We booked a snorkelling tour of the 3 Gili Islands. I thought I’d be brave and attempt without a life jacket, but it didn’t go so well... The waters were so much choppier than those I snorkelled in in Koh Tao. Once I finished panicking and I was snug in my jacket I had a blast, even though we only saw one turtle at Turtle Point. The last stop was a circle of beautiful, underwater statues, where we also spotted a pretty big jellyfish which freaked me out a bit!

Every day was filled with activity when we arrived in Bali. We stayed in Ubud, in the middle of the island.

We decided to book a tour for our first day. It was more like having a private driver though as it was just the two of us and him, to our surprise. It meant we could spend as long as we wanted at each of the many stops, the first of which was a traditional Balinese dance show called the Barong Dance. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a ‘dance’, it turned into more of a pantomime. I was confused for the most part but I was very entertained to say the least. After, we went to Tenenungan waterfall. This was the first biiiiig waterfall I have visited since being out here. It was clearly a popular tourist site as it was pretty busy but it was still spectacular. I even decided to waste £2 getting my picture taken with it on a huge swing! Then we were taken to a place where we tasted some coffee that wasn’t produced how you expect coffee to be produced. In Indonesia there is an animal called a Luwak. It looks like a cross between a cat, a ferret and a small bear. This animal poos coffee beans. No lie! EditThe fermentation process occurs in it’s stomach, meaning that after it’s pooed all that needs to be done is the roasting and BOOM- coffee beans, ready for grinding and drinking! It was quite an odd concept, drinking coffee that came from a rodent’s behind, but it’s definitely one for the books! For lunch, we were taken to a restaurant at a slightly higher altitude with a breathtaking view of the volcano at the north of the island. We had a Balinese buffet mixed with a few western favourites (like fried chicken). Matthew was convinced we would never eat anywhere with a nicer view. 

EditThen we went to the holy water temple where we were dressed in sarongs and sashes to hide our knees. I must say, I thought Matthew looked rather fetching in a skirt (not)! People bathed there because the water is said to be holy. The whole temple was stunning to walk through. My favourite part of the day was the rice terraces. They are HUGE. There were miles of tiers of rice paddies to explore. We wandered for ages, and made friends with one of the workers who let us try carrying his crop and wear his traditional hat. Once we were escorted home we crashed for the evening. 

The next day we got the 9am shuttle bus into Ubud centre from our hotel and took on Campuhan Ridge walk. However, as we walked and walked until we reached what seemed to be the middle of nowhere I lost all hope that we would see the views I was expecting from the pictures I had seen of the trek. What we didn’t realise until we turned around was that the views were right behind us the whole time, all we had to do was turn around. The walk back was much more pleasant! After cooling down in a cafe we went to Monkey Forest, the highlight of my time in Bali. The residents seemed to like me an awful lot! I had a good handful of cheeky monkeys jump on my shoulders. We had to be quite savvy with our belongings so they didn’t steal anything. We watched one lady have her Robinson’s water flavouring taken right from an open pocket in her bag! They were semi-wild, meaning they could wander freely, including in the streets outside the forest, but they tended to stay close because of the constant source of bananas and sweet potato that was delivered to the forest every day. I thoroughly loved spending time there. After a bit of shopping in the more upmarket side of town we called it a day and headed back.

On our final full day in Ubud we went to Ayung River. From the small jungle walk to the river I came to the conclusion that Asian nature walks are not for me. I was far too nervous about snakes, spiders and other creepy crawlies to enjoy the surroundings. But once we got to the river and had a splash about I was perfectly content. We were kind of disappointed we didn’t go white water rafting because we had heard good things about it but didn’t get round to booking it. I’ll take this chance to refer to something I’ve said previously: do everything or you’ll regret it!

Once Matthew had flown home I went to Kuta where I spent most of my time getting over a cold. In some ways it was the best place to be ill as it was more of a beachy location rather than somewhere that’s rich in culture or offers lots to do, so I could chill all day, every day and let my body recover. Ironically, I didn’t actually like the beach in Kuta. Although it was beautiful it was always so busy and you would always be harassed by people trying to sell you things, but my hostel had a really nice pool to chill at instead. One evening, a small group of us from the hostel walked for 30 minutes up the beach to Seminyak. Every beach bar had live music playing- it was a lot livelier. It was still busy but it was busy for good reason. I even managed to get up on a stage and sing! The drive behind the courage came from knowing I was probably never going to see any of the people there that night again, so what did I have to lose! I made a few mistakes but who cares! That is a good way to think when you’re travelling- don’t be afraid of trying something because you’re worried you’ll embarrass yourself because when you’re half way across the world does it really matter? 

Another spontaneous change of plan lead me to booking a flight to another Indonesian island. Instead of spending an unreasonable amount travelling to the north of Bali I decided to tag along with a friend I had made to Labuan Bajo. We spent only one full day here so we went on a day tour. Ignoring the fact that our boat ran out of gas on the way back leaving us stranded in the ocean in a storm, it was one of my favourite days of my entire trip. After a 5am start we sailed for 3 hours to a small island called Padar, where we hiked up hundreds of steps to the nicest viewpoint I have been to in my time abroad. At the top of one mountain we could see the peak of the mountains opposite and long bays either side of the land that joined them. If I wasn’t so desperate for shade by the time I reached the top I could have stayed there forever! Next, we visited Komodo Island, where we saw, surprise surprise, Komodo Dragons! This was the prime reason we flew to this part of Indonesia. They’re called Komodo Dragons because when man first discovered them they thought they were actual dragons because they were so huge, and they definitely lived up to their reputation (despite actually being incredibly lazy). They are treated with kindness in response to an old folks tale the Indonesians believe in, and they can wander freely around the island. Then, we visited Pink Beach, which wasn’t really that pink, to be honest, before heading to Manta Point. This is a snorkelling area where you can see Manta Rays. Unfortunately for me, Mantas like waters with a strong current so that they can swim along with it and not do lots of work, which meant the waters were rather choppy and whisks you off quite quickly. As nervous as I was, I knew it would have been stupid to pass the opportunity, so, equipped with my trusty life jacket, I went in anyway. Normally, people are lucky to glimpse even one when they come here, but we saw MULTIPLE, majestic Manta Rays of up to 4 metres long. I wasn’t even bothered by the waves as I was so engrossed in watching these creatures and I came back on the boat absolutely buzzing.

Hoping my last week would live up to that, I travelled to Nusa Lembongan, an island off the coast of Bali. After a very shouty encounter with a rip-off taxi driver and a stressful boat ticket mishap I made it to my hostel. Although I intended on staying longer, I was persuaded to go to Nusa Penida as well but I still got a lot done in the time I was there. Firstly, I visited Dream Beach expecting to chill in the sun for a while but the tide was high and vicious and I couldn’t even step down onto the sand without the risk of being swept away. So I headed to ‘Devil’s Tear’, a small cove where the waves crashed viciously. Incredible rainbows formed every time there was spray from the cliffs we were stood on. I sat there for a good hour watching the phenomenon. Then, I trekked to Mushroom Bay where I had an insane smoothie bowl from ‘B’fresh juice bar’. That evening, I suggested to a few friends I had made that we go to a music event I had seen advertised. Unfortunately, it was simply a rather terrible DJ at an overpriced bar but we played pool and had a good laugh so at least it wasn’t a wasted evening. 

When we got back we attended to a disturbing situation involving a girl who was really uncomfortable with how she was being treated by a man in her dorm. He was in her bed in his underwear and she found condoms under her pillow. She was so distraught so she went to the first people she found (us- reception wasn’t open at that time of night) and explained. We suggested she moved into our room and the guys grabbed her things whilst I assured her she wasn’t overreacting and, yes, it was damn creepy. When you’re travelling alone, especially for girls, you’re so vulnerable and it’s scary to think that this kind of thing (and worse) actually happens. At least matters didn’t go any further.

The day after I sailed to Nusa Penida, the neighbouring island. I needed a taxi bike to get to my hostel and it was a really lovely ride. The island felt a bit run down but at the same time it was bursting with nature and it has kind of quirky vibes to it, especially where the locals live. The roads were either really good or they felt like they hadn’t been paved since dinosaurs roamed the earth. Speaking of which, one of the places I went to was nicknamed T-Rex Bay, it’s real name being Klinking Beach. There was a ‘path’ (generous way of putting it) along a thin ridge I walked along before climbing down almost vertically to get to the stunning white sand beach at the bottom.The waves were strong- I learnt this by being swept off my feet by one then deciding I wasn’t going to go for a swim. Getting back up to the top was the most physically challenging thing I have done out here. To say I was aching the morning after is an understatement. Also that day I went to Angel Billabong. I arrived a good half an hour before all the tourists started rolling in which was super lucky. It’s a weird rock formation that’s filled with still, glistening sea water that you can swim in. From there I walked to Broken Beach, simply a lovely arch in the rocks over a beach. 

Once I’d got back to mainland Bali I made my way to the west coast. Ever since I’ve had my heart set on going to Bali I always wanted to see a sunset over the Tanah Lot temple. What I didn’t realise is that Tanah Lot isn’t just a temple, it’s a village where there happened to be an arts festival going on the weekend I visited. There was music and weird sculptures and dancing and crazy costumes. I ate a really strange combination of fruits and spices I couldn’t name and some kind of doughy coconut ball which were so yummy. However, transportation was really difficult to get coming in and out of the village and the sunset definitely wasn’t the best due to the clouds that had blown over, but the next day, my final day of my trip, totally made up for it. I spent my last few hours in Bali doing my favourite activity... eating! I went to a cafe in Canggu, the Instagram page of which is constantly making me drool. The Loft, Bali. I ordered 3 dishes, and I savoured every single last bite. I had the vegan brekkEditie, a dragon fruit smoothie bowl and a plate of blueberry cheesecake. Afterwards I had my first ever matcha latte and decided matcha definitely isn’t my cup of tea (pardon the pun). I sat in there for hours before I headed to the airport wearing the giant, triangular, traditional farmers’ hat I had bought for my brother, which didn’t fit in my bag.

And there you have it! My very first 3 months of travelling, complete! And what an amazing 3 months it was. South East Asia will always hold a giant piece of my heart. I really hope you’ve enjoyed my blog posts of this adventure- there will be plenty more to come, trust me. But for now, keep updated by following me on Instagram (@_theworldwithlizzy) and Facebook (@theworldwithlizzy)(links on the homepage).

Bye for now!

Lizzy x