The first thing you need to know about Hungary is that they have the most beautiful building in Europe (The Budapest House of Parliament). The second is that they have a note in forints that is worth 73 Euros and is a real pain in the arse to change lol. We were here for Sziget festival, but also to look around the country as I had been here before and really liked it.
Szeged: End of the train line and a pretty little town, but as every Hungarian town seems to have this Austro-Hungarian empire architecture, there is nothing to mark this town out.
Pecs: We had the most amazing duck dinner in Pecs in a restaurant from the LP. It's a restaurant that specialises in duck. You should definitely go as it's amazing stuff. The town is pleasant to walk around but there is not much to do. We found ourselves a little bored outside of Budapest.
Lake Balaton: Wow this place is so overprices and so overrated though we were in Siofok. It just seems like a holiday resort for Germans where you are even charged to go to the lake side 'beaches'. The place we stayed in was run by a Hungarian couple but they spoke only German so I had to stretch my German. I could understand what they were saying, but my German was too rusty to speak or order anything. Everywhere is privately owned and charges a lot. The only public part of the lake you can't swim in and they have police to patrol it and also to stop you from sleeping on the grass. Its a resort place with all the unpleasantness that involves. Eventually we took a train to Budapest, underwhelmed by a country we had been really excited to visit.
Kekskemet: We took the train down to see the famous horse riding performers. You need to stay down here as its impossible to get there early enough to see the show or at least it was because we missed the point to jump off. We met an English couple and went with them for the day and didn't have to pay as we had missed the start of the show. We walked down the track and saw the last 20 minutes or so for free. Its an impressive show and its worth the trip if you have a day or two to kill or want to get outside of the city,
Budapest/Sziget: Ah thank God for Budapest. I love this city. We were in Sziget for 7 nights and it was going to be a good festival. We pitched our tent next to the 'Peace and Love' tent which was a serious mistake because they were playing ear breaking music until about 5am. I think both my ear drums were blown from the battering they took in the festival. We should have pitched it near the blues tent. Mattheus was coming to Budapest so we would meet up with him, while Peter was heading to Prague so we were likely yo see him there. This was the halfway point of our trip. We decided to visit the city over the first two days then afterwards mix up the spas and the festival. They were doing 2 day passes for 8 euros with unlimited spa use and transport in Budapest, which was great as its normally 16 euros just to enter one spa. We took two of them and never had to use the showers at the festival as we just went to the spa every day.
We saw Prince when we got back on the first night which was really good, apart from him putting most of his famous songs in a medley (shame), expecting the crowd to know all his songs (its a festival not an individual gig) and his 5 million encores (got tiring after the second one). The next day we went to visit the city. We went to the spa with the wave machine. Really stunning. Citadella now costs some money but we visited the old town and fort area. Still very beautiful. We went through Buda castle and to see the stunning Houses of Parliament. This city straddling the Danube is a beautiful place and might be my favourite city in Eastern Europe. 'El Crapo' (our tent) broke completely so we had to prop him up with bags so he could last the festival. This was going to be the end of his trip though. In the afternoon we saw Broken Beats, Rise Against, Ojos de Brujo, Ana Moura and Pulp. Most were underwhelming but Pulp are amazing live and Cannelle loved the show. Jarvis has great crowd interaction.
The next day we went to see Parliament and the cathedral as well as Attila the Hun park. I got a job in Paris which would sort me out when I arrived there. The Shezegi baths were full so we went to one of the smaller ones and realised we would have to come back another day to see them. We saw Kasabian and Chemical Brothers which were both really good and then went clubbing in the Medusa tent until around 4am. Was nice to party in the middle of the festival as we weren't planning on going anywhere the next day. Mattheus came in but we missed him. He slept on the banks somewhere and got kicked out. We met him outside the next day to have a quick catch up.
Cannelle got a nose bleed the next day as she was having problems with a nasty cold. We went to see Skunk Anansie, Dizzee Rascal and the Prodigy. They were fun bands though Cannelle didn't like the Prodigy that much. After we went out in the blues bar for a an hour or so and came back to find weird cigarette burns on El Crapo.
The next day we went early enough to finally get to Shezenji Baths. I got water trapped in my ear which may also be the reason my ear drums got burst. We went to the world's largest laundry and were late getting back to the festival. We saw Kate Nash who got a proposal from some random dude who was crowd surfed up to her on the stage. We watched a little bit of 30 seconds to mars and baraka sound systema which was a little like notting hill carnival, but we mainly just wandered around the festival. We found some naked people, girls in balls and chilling out with the fire people. Can't say I know exactly what I am talking about here lol.
We went back to the Gellert Spa for the final day, which is probably the best of them. We got 4 amazing cakes for around 10 euros. We found out they do the boat trip up the Danube towards Slovakia on every day except Mondays when we would be leaving the festival. Shit. Bad luck. We hung around the Hungarian village and got some goulash. The final day was a great line up as we saw Gogol Bordello, The National, Marina and the Diamonds and Selah Sue. All the Dutch headed to Trentemoller to finish the festival and carried tents, bits of trees and whatever wasn't pinned down until the security guards gave them a battering. Was a fun and chaotic end to the festival. In the morning we killed 'El Crapo' and left the city. We decided to head up the Danube but by train to the border town. Esztergom Basilica is nice and then we walked across the border into Slovakia.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Serbia
When we crossed the border we had to walk 6km to the nearest town with full rucksack. Here we found that there were almost no buses to the next town of Kosturica. Our guidebook had no information for this part of Serbia. Ok pioneering travel it would be. We had no money and there were no ATMs. We found a Serbian who spoke Italian (noone spoke English), so I spoke to him in Spanish and he replied in Italian and we changed some money for an ok rate and set off for the next town of Negotin. The wonders of modern travel. We then got picked up again (These Balkan countries are amazingly friendly as we got picked up in every one of them except Macedonia without even trying. I think hitchhiking would be easy here) by a guy with one hand and he drove us to the Negotin where we were able to get some money and a bus to Belgrade. Even had another chat about food with another local in German this time. The scenery in this part of Serbia was beautiful with fields of flowers in bloom and even what looked like a crater lake on the bus ride, but I have no idea where it was or what it was called as I was drifting in and out of sleep.
Belgrade: It's a grey city and we stayed in Habitat hostel. We went to Kalemagdan fortress to look around and have a coffee. Nice place, but not amazing. Picked up a new sleeping bag to replace the one Cannelle had left on a bus in Albania. We couldn't find Tito's grave and got pinned down an alley by a horde of football fans. That was a little intimidating. We went to see the giant incomplete church which was quite impressive. Nice place to visit, but not worth going out of your way for, though we didn't try the famous nighlife.
Novi Sad: The second best looking women in Eastern Europe after Zagreb. Cool little city. I ended up chatting in the evening with a Russian girl in the hostel. She had been warned not to travel to Bosnia or Albania as the locals would rape her. I told her that in my opinion they are two of the nicest countries I have been to for the people. Both amazing places. We went to the fortress where Exit festival is usually held. We also went to Sremski Karlovci to see the monasteries. It's very pretty but you only need about 30 minutes to get around, so we decided to go and visit some of the famous monasteries around the city. We chose Novo Harpovo monastery as it was the easiest to get to without a car and it was very cute. There they had photos of all the other monasteries and I think it would make a pleasant day trip or two if you hired a car and drove around the area. It's a cute little city with a few things to do, but nothing outstanding. We chatted with the owner and with the Russian again as we compared salaries in Serbia.
Subotica: This is a very pretty little town on the border with Hungary. We had a look around for an hour or so before taking the most ridiculous tin can train to Hungary. They told us to wait for it and when it arrived it was one glass carriage that rolled over the grass covered tracks at about 3km an hour. Interesting experience. The Hungarian side is better maintained and much faster.
Belgrade: It's a grey city and we stayed in Habitat hostel. We went to Kalemagdan fortress to look around and have a coffee. Nice place, but not amazing. Picked up a new sleeping bag to replace the one Cannelle had left on a bus in Albania. We couldn't find Tito's grave and got pinned down an alley by a horde of football fans. That was a little intimidating. We went to see the giant incomplete church which was quite impressive. Nice place to visit, but not worth going out of your way for, though we didn't try the famous nighlife.
Novi Sad: The second best looking women in Eastern Europe after Zagreb. Cool little city. I ended up chatting in the evening with a Russian girl in the hostel. She had been warned not to travel to Bosnia or Albania as the locals would rape her. I told her that in my opinion they are two of the nicest countries I have been to for the people. Both amazing places. We went to the fortress where Exit festival is usually held. We also went to Sremski Karlovci to see the monasteries. It's very pretty but you only need about 30 minutes to get around, so we decided to go and visit some of the famous monasteries around the city. We chose Novo Harpovo monastery as it was the easiest to get to without a car and it was very cute. There they had photos of all the other monasteries and I think it would make a pleasant day trip or two if you hired a car and drove around the area. It's a cute little city with a few things to do, but nothing outstanding. We chatted with the owner and with the Russian again as we compared salaries in Serbia.
Subotica: This is a very pretty little town on the border with Hungary. We had a look around for an hour or so before taking the most ridiculous tin can train to Hungary. They told us to wait for it and when it arrived it was one glass carriage that rolled over the grass covered tracks at about 3km an hour. Interesting experience. The Hungarian side is better maintained and much faster.
Bulgaria
We only stopped in Bulgaria for a couple of days as we had intended to visit it further later on. Our small taster left us wanting a lot more as what we saw was amazing and the people were super friendly. Also gave us our first chance to operate with the cyrillic alphabet on the trip.
Sofia: There was free beer and pasta in the hostel. Sofia is a very pretty city. The cathedral is beautiful, but it's not the only thing. Cannelle had a good feeling for the city and it was one of her favourites initially. We did some shopping, visited the city and hung out with some Colombian students. We had problems working out our route here as we weren't sure how we were going to get to Budapest in time for Sziget.
Belogradchik/Vidin: Wow this place was really worth the detour. Cannelle hadn't wanted to come all the way up here, but it ended up being our second favourite natural wonder after the incomparable Plitvice. We had taken the train to Orashets, but be aware that there is no bus from there anymore and you would be better off visiting from Vidin. We got chatting with a local girl who was surprised we had come up there. Shared a taxi with some Japanese/Taiwanese tourists who were obviously also unaware that there was no bus anymore. Our driver told us how he was involved in forestry and wanted to go to the States and work illegally as it was far more money than in Bulgaria. There is a little fort/monastery on a hill and behind it are the most amazing rock outcrops you will see. Its UNESCO but noone comes here. We met an old Japanese guy who was visiting all of the world's UNESCO places. We would visit this great place together and then share the bus to Vidin where we had a fish dinner in one of their famous floating restaurants. He would end up coming to my wedding with his wife a year later. Funny things these travel meetings. You should definitely come here if you are anywhere in the area.
We weren't sure how to get away from here as it was the bridge to Romania and round or the bus to the Serbian border and risk it. We took the risk. We arrived and there was no onward transport so we had to walk across the border for 10km to the nearest town on the other side. The border guards angrily erased our Kosovo stamps. I thought it was because they were angry at us for visiting Kosovo, but later we found out that if you enter Serbia through Kosovo your entrance stamp is not recognised and yu will be sent back the way you came. So in hindsight maybe they were just doing us a favour.
Sofia: There was free beer and pasta in the hostel. Sofia is a very pretty city. The cathedral is beautiful, but it's not the only thing. Cannelle had a good feeling for the city and it was one of her favourites initially. We did some shopping, visited the city and hung out with some Colombian students. We had problems working out our route here as we weren't sure how we were going to get to Budapest in time for Sziget.
Belogradchik/Vidin: Wow this place was really worth the detour. Cannelle hadn't wanted to come all the way up here, but it ended up being our second favourite natural wonder after the incomparable Plitvice. We had taken the train to Orashets, but be aware that there is no bus from there anymore and you would be better off visiting from Vidin. We got chatting with a local girl who was surprised we had come up there. Shared a taxi with some Japanese/Taiwanese tourists who were obviously also unaware that there was no bus anymore. Our driver told us how he was involved in forestry and wanted to go to the States and work illegally as it was far more money than in Bulgaria. There is a little fort/monastery on a hill and behind it are the most amazing rock outcrops you will see. Its UNESCO but noone comes here. We met an old Japanese guy who was visiting all of the world's UNESCO places. We would visit this great place together and then share the bus to Vidin where we had a fish dinner in one of their famous floating restaurants. He would end up coming to my wedding with his wife a year later. Funny things these travel meetings. You should definitely come here if you are anywhere in the area.
We weren't sure how to get away from here as it was the bridge to Romania and round or the bus to the Serbian border and risk it. We took the risk. We arrived and there was no onward transport so we had to walk across the border for 10km to the nearest town on the other side. The border guards angrily erased our Kosovo stamps. I thought it was because they were angry at us for visiting Kosovo, but later we found out that if you enter Serbia through Kosovo your entrance stamp is not recognised and yu will be sent back the way you came. So in hindsight maybe they were just doing us a favour.
Macedonia and Kosovo
This is me attempting to catch my own tail by writing about a trip I did 2.5 years ago but never wrote up. Obviously my memory won't be perfect on this, but I figured I should at least add my thoughts on these countries for completion sake.
The last thing I had written about was breaking down in our bus outside Korca or at least I think I did. We got stuck there, the bus driver almost killed himself by reversing off the cliff and we eventually walked across the border into Macedonia where we were lectured for not getting an entry stamp into Albania. Damn bus driver. Oh well. We met a couple of Argentinean guys at the border and grabbed the bus together to Lake Ohrid.
Lake Ohrid: It's a beautiful place. Really pretty. We kicked back here for a couple of days and enjoyed wandering around the old town. The castle was pretty and some tourists took a taxi to the old town. I can understand. I mean its a long 200m walk. How can they cope. There is an ampitheatre, as well as chuches and a stunning view across the lake. Lots of stuff in my notes that I don't recognise but we found an amazing Russian restaurant overlooking the lake. Really good food. Just look for the signs only in Russian. This place is well worth a visit.
Skopje: This place on the other hand isn't really. We had hassles finding our place to stay but the guy eventually picked us up and we got our own studio apartment for 9 euros each. Mentally good value. You could sleep 4 or 5 people there easily and you get an apartment smack in the centre of the city. My notes say 'city a shithole' but they are trying hard to improve it. We watched Priest in the cinema, broke the washing machine and saw a classical concert. Not much to do here.
Kosovo: I forgot to write my diary for the day we went to Kosovo (You can day trip from Skopje). That should tell you all you need to know about the place. It wasn't a highlight, but the people were super nice and we had amazing banana ice cream.
Other than Lake Ohrid (which was a highlight) I would just skip the rest.
The last thing I had written about was breaking down in our bus outside Korca or at least I think I did. We got stuck there, the bus driver almost killed himself by reversing off the cliff and we eventually walked across the border into Macedonia where we were lectured for not getting an entry stamp into Albania. Damn bus driver. Oh well. We met a couple of Argentinean guys at the border and grabbed the bus together to Lake Ohrid.
Lake Ohrid: It's a beautiful place. Really pretty. We kicked back here for a couple of days and enjoyed wandering around the old town. The castle was pretty and some tourists took a taxi to the old town. I can understand. I mean its a long 200m walk. How can they cope. There is an ampitheatre, as well as chuches and a stunning view across the lake. Lots of stuff in my notes that I don't recognise but we found an amazing Russian restaurant overlooking the lake. Really good food. Just look for the signs only in Russian. This place is well worth a visit.
Skopje: This place on the other hand isn't really. We had hassles finding our place to stay but the guy eventually picked us up and we got our own studio apartment for 9 euros each. Mentally good value. You could sleep 4 or 5 people there easily and you get an apartment smack in the centre of the city. My notes say 'city a shithole' but they are trying hard to improve it. We watched Priest in the cinema, broke the washing machine and saw a classical concert. Not much to do here.
Kosovo: I forgot to write my diary for the day we went to Kosovo (You can day trip from Skopje). That should tell you all you need to know about the place. It wasn't a highlight, but the people were super nice and we had amazing banana ice cream.
Other than Lake Ohrid (which was a highlight) I would just skip the rest.
Indonesia (Bali and Lombok)
Left this way to long to write, but I am just going to give my general impressions on these two places. Will give an overview and then some random thoughts on individual places. When we start up travelling again next year I will go back to writing a proper blog.
Bali: Much better than expected, but then we had low expectations. From what I had read and heard I was expecting a Disneyland Indonesia with nothing really authentically Indonesian. While that is kind of true, I would say that it's actually enjoyable, especially if you have been fighting through Java for a few weeks. There are a lot of short term tourists on these two islands with a lot of money, but this has unexpected benefits. You don't have to fight much for prices here, as they will overquote you, but you can haggle down quickly, especially if you speak some Bahasa. They have bigger fish to fry and won't waste their time on tourists who obviously aren't going to pay well over the top. The people are also quite chatty here, even if the majority of conversations often transform into a sales pitch some way down the line. There is nothing 'stunning' on Bali as the rice terraces were better in the Philippines, as was the diving and the landscape was more stunning in Sumatra. What it does have is a bit of everything concentrated into one place. Its like a microcosm of South East Asia rolled into one easily manageable place. You won't see the best of anything, but you will see a bit of everything and this is the obvious appeal to those on a short holiday. Long term travellers may skip it, but I think its worth a week or so of time, especially if you are missing some home comforts.
Padangbai: We spent a good deal of time in Padangbai diving. The cafe at the end of the beach strip does really good food and we had a great time hanging out here. Even met a Swiss couple who let us stay the night in their amazing 5 star hotel for free. We bought them dinner as a thankyou. The diving around Nusa Pernida is nothing special. We had hoped to see a sunfish, but we weren't lucky enough. We met quite a few divers who had seen them though, so they were around. Some people had said that the dive masters were deliberately getting divers to swim against the current and it felt like that sometimes. Its ok but does not compare to the Philippines. The diving with the manta rays was awesome though. What a majestic creature. Amazing. Like diving with ghostly Gods. Only problem was the water temperature. At 25C it was absolutely freezing for me and I was shivering after about 15 minutes or so under water. You can see the contrast with a French couple, who usually dive in the Med and came up saying how wonderfully warm it was. We also took the opportunity to dive the USS Liberty wreck from Padangbai and that was a nice dive. Our first real wreck dive and it was beautiful. Plenty of schools of fish and I even got to see the giant grouper there, though the others missed it as I was ahead of everyone on the dive. Well worth it. I would highly recommend Padangbai as a base for all your island diving as it will probably end up being cheaper and you have some really nice restaurants in town. We also took a day trip from here to the water gardens in the East of the island, which make for a pleasant day trip.
Kuta: Totally panned by travellers, I had expected a shithole. Ok, so we had really low expectations but I was actually pleasantly surprised by Kuta. The beach is the best we saw in Bali (though that's not saying much as the beaches there are not great). Not sure why Australians go there, when the beaches in Sydney are better than Bali's. There is a pleasant shopping centre and a few things to do. Its not going to rock your world, but it won't be the end of it either.
Denpasar: Another pleasant surprise. We got the best Padang food we had had outside of Sumatra here. Well maybe Yogya was better. The centre is quite pretty and pleasant to wander around in. The museum is ok and there are some nice hotels. Decent place.
Ubud: Traveller's favourite and for a reason. Its a very pretty, if spectacularly touristy little town. So many good restaurants and cafes, you can tell its been set up by the hippy chic set of travellers. Its their kind of town. The temples are quite pretty and the rice terraces are beautiful, if not spectacular. The town is kind of consuming itself under its own popularity. What I did love about Bali was the architecture of the buildings though. Its truly spectacular with the intricacy of detail and variety of styles. Makes walking down random streets a pleasant undertaking. Can't say we did much there. Just chilled out with Ash and Reli and enjoyed the food on the final part of our holiday before we flew to Australia. We spent the last night in Ubud Hanging Gardens hotel for Cannelle's birthday and that place is stunning. Truly something else, even if the monkeys tried to steal our food lol. Thoroughly recommended. We enjoyed everywhere we went in Bali, even if nothing really blew us away.
Lombok: Was not overly impressed with the new Bali. Lacks much to do. Rinjani is stunning, but the rest is overrated in my opinion. Don't think I would be in a rush to go back there. The locals have a weird attitude to tourists here as one guy told us not to take local buses as we would have to sit next to smelling locals with their fish and here was I thinking that travelling was about getting to know the local people. Mind you even the locals argue about prices with bus drivers, just pay them what they think and ignore their hurled insults. We had to get our visa extended for a second time in Lombok and that was an expensive procedure that took too long, but we were happy to avoid the hassle of dealing with it ourselves. See Rinjani and leave would be my advice.
Mataram: We spent so many nights in Mataram waiting for our damn passports. Was also during Ramadan so everything was shut. To be fair I didn't mind the city but it has nothing to lend itself to tourists for.
Sengiggi: Dump. Would rather stay in Mataram. More authentic.
Gili Islands: We had to fight for prices to get around by public transport and its not as easy to get the real prices as it is in Bali. These islands are super overrated. The beaches are nothing special, though they are probably better than Balis. Its just a tourist hang out. Like the South of Thailand. I saw nothing snorkelling to suggest the diving is anything special. Having said that we are a couple. The islands are not for us. They are just a hook up party place. Think Koh Phi Phi, but far less attractive. If you are single and looking for a hook up then this place is probably a perfect destination for you. Some will love it, some will hate it, but it depends what you are looking for, but it is certainly no paradise. I am a bit concerned that after the Philippines no other beach place will ever be appealing. Its like a beach crocodile dundee. 'That's not a beach, THIS is a beach' kinda thing.
Rinjani: The jewel in the island and truth be told the only reason to come here. Another bus driver had decided to be a cock and drop us off short of the town to climb the mountain so we would use his motorcycle buddies, but we just walked as always. Lucky decision as despite being followed by a motorcycle guy we got picked up by the former mayor of the town. He let us stay at his place for 100,000 a night and he found us a guide for 300,000 for the night. We had no interest in doing the summit as the view didn't look that amazing and I had climbed much higher mountains. We did want to see the crater lake though. The 3 day/2 night tours are around 1,000,000 each. That's nuts when we paid that between us for Kerinci. We also figured we didn't need that much time. We wanted to do it in a night. We set off at midnight and climbed the 2,100m in altitude and 10km trail in time for sunrise. It was tough, but we were in excellent shape at this point. Also as we left early we didn't have to pay the 150,000 visitor fee so we effectively climbed for free. We saw the stunning lake (Can't decide which was better of Kerinci, Ijen, Bromo and Rinjani). All 4 of them were amazing and so different. Such a beautiful country. So we went up and down in 12 hours. We were ok, but our guide was exhausted as it was the first time he had done it in one night. Not bad to do a 20km round trip with a 2,100m height change and having about 2 hours at the top to enjoy the view, all for 150,000 each. So cheap for such a beautiful experience but I would recommend doing it this way for anyone with good fitness and a lack of money. Our friends even attempted to climb it by themselves and noone said anything to them. We did end up having to eat Mie Goreng for 9 consecutive meals here though. That's rough. Maybe it's the reason we liked Bali so much. Looking forward to coming back to Indonesia next year to do the rest of the country.
Bali: Much better than expected, but then we had low expectations. From what I had read and heard I was expecting a Disneyland Indonesia with nothing really authentically Indonesian. While that is kind of true, I would say that it's actually enjoyable, especially if you have been fighting through Java for a few weeks. There are a lot of short term tourists on these two islands with a lot of money, but this has unexpected benefits. You don't have to fight much for prices here, as they will overquote you, but you can haggle down quickly, especially if you speak some Bahasa. They have bigger fish to fry and won't waste their time on tourists who obviously aren't going to pay well over the top. The people are also quite chatty here, even if the majority of conversations often transform into a sales pitch some way down the line. There is nothing 'stunning' on Bali as the rice terraces were better in the Philippines, as was the diving and the landscape was more stunning in Sumatra. What it does have is a bit of everything concentrated into one place. Its like a microcosm of South East Asia rolled into one easily manageable place. You won't see the best of anything, but you will see a bit of everything and this is the obvious appeal to those on a short holiday. Long term travellers may skip it, but I think its worth a week or so of time, especially if you are missing some home comforts.
Padangbai: We spent a good deal of time in Padangbai diving. The cafe at the end of the beach strip does really good food and we had a great time hanging out here. Even met a Swiss couple who let us stay the night in their amazing 5 star hotel for free. We bought them dinner as a thankyou. The diving around Nusa Pernida is nothing special. We had hoped to see a sunfish, but we weren't lucky enough. We met quite a few divers who had seen them though, so they were around. Some people had said that the dive masters were deliberately getting divers to swim against the current and it felt like that sometimes. Its ok but does not compare to the Philippines. The diving with the manta rays was awesome though. What a majestic creature. Amazing. Like diving with ghostly Gods. Only problem was the water temperature. At 25C it was absolutely freezing for me and I was shivering after about 15 minutes or so under water. You can see the contrast with a French couple, who usually dive in the Med and came up saying how wonderfully warm it was. We also took the opportunity to dive the USS Liberty wreck from Padangbai and that was a nice dive. Our first real wreck dive and it was beautiful. Plenty of schools of fish and I even got to see the giant grouper there, though the others missed it as I was ahead of everyone on the dive. Well worth it. I would highly recommend Padangbai as a base for all your island diving as it will probably end up being cheaper and you have some really nice restaurants in town. We also took a day trip from here to the water gardens in the East of the island, which make for a pleasant day trip.
Kuta: Totally panned by travellers, I had expected a shithole. Ok, so we had really low expectations but I was actually pleasantly surprised by Kuta. The beach is the best we saw in Bali (though that's not saying much as the beaches there are not great). Not sure why Australians go there, when the beaches in Sydney are better than Bali's. There is a pleasant shopping centre and a few things to do. Its not going to rock your world, but it won't be the end of it either.
Denpasar: Another pleasant surprise. We got the best Padang food we had had outside of Sumatra here. Well maybe Yogya was better. The centre is quite pretty and pleasant to wander around in. The museum is ok and there are some nice hotels. Decent place.
Ubud: Traveller's favourite and for a reason. Its a very pretty, if spectacularly touristy little town. So many good restaurants and cafes, you can tell its been set up by the hippy chic set of travellers. Its their kind of town. The temples are quite pretty and the rice terraces are beautiful, if not spectacular. The town is kind of consuming itself under its own popularity. What I did love about Bali was the architecture of the buildings though. Its truly spectacular with the intricacy of detail and variety of styles. Makes walking down random streets a pleasant undertaking. Can't say we did much there. Just chilled out with Ash and Reli and enjoyed the food on the final part of our holiday before we flew to Australia. We spent the last night in Ubud Hanging Gardens hotel for Cannelle's birthday and that place is stunning. Truly something else, even if the monkeys tried to steal our food lol. Thoroughly recommended. We enjoyed everywhere we went in Bali, even if nothing really blew us away.
Lombok: Was not overly impressed with the new Bali. Lacks much to do. Rinjani is stunning, but the rest is overrated in my opinion. Don't think I would be in a rush to go back there. The locals have a weird attitude to tourists here as one guy told us not to take local buses as we would have to sit next to smelling locals with their fish and here was I thinking that travelling was about getting to know the local people. Mind you even the locals argue about prices with bus drivers, just pay them what they think and ignore their hurled insults. We had to get our visa extended for a second time in Lombok and that was an expensive procedure that took too long, but we were happy to avoid the hassle of dealing with it ourselves. See Rinjani and leave would be my advice.
Mataram: We spent so many nights in Mataram waiting for our damn passports. Was also during Ramadan so everything was shut. To be fair I didn't mind the city but it has nothing to lend itself to tourists for.
Sengiggi: Dump. Would rather stay in Mataram. More authentic.
Gili Islands: We had to fight for prices to get around by public transport and its not as easy to get the real prices as it is in Bali. These islands are super overrated. The beaches are nothing special, though they are probably better than Balis. Its just a tourist hang out. Like the South of Thailand. I saw nothing snorkelling to suggest the diving is anything special. Having said that we are a couple. The islands are not for us. They are just a hook up party place. Think Koh Phi Phi, but far less attractive. If you are single and looking for a hook up then this place is probably a perfect destination for you. Some will love it, some will hate it, but it depends what you are looking for, but it is certainly no paradise. I am a bit concerned that after the Philippines no other beach place will ever be appealing. Its like a beach crocodile dundee. 'That's not a beach, THIS is a beach' kinda thing.
Rinjani: The jewel in the island and truth be told the only reason to come here. Another bus driver had decided to be a cock and drop us off short of the town to climb the mountain so we would use his motorcycle buddies, but we just walked as always. Lucky decision as despite being followed by a motorcycle guy we got picked up by the former mayor of the town. He let us stay at his place for 100,000 a night and he found us a guide for 300,000 for the night. We had no interest in doing the summit as the view didn't look that amazing and I had climbed much higher mountains. We did want to see the crater lake though. The 3 day/2 night tours are around 1,000,000 each. That's nuts when we paid that between us for Kerinci. We also figured we didn't need that much time. We wanted to do it in a night. We set off at midnight and climbed the 2,100m in altitude and 10km trail in time for sunrise. It was tough, but we were in excellent shape at this point. Also as we left early we didn't have to pay the 150,000 visitor fee so we effectively climbed for free. We saw the stunning lake (Can't decide which was better of Kerinci, Ijen, Bromo and Rinjani). All 4 of them were amazing and so different. Such a beautiful country. So we went up and down in 12 hours. We were ok, but our guide was exhausted as it was the first time he had done it in one night. Not bad to do a 20km round trip with a 2,100m height change and having about 2 hours at the top to enjoy the view, all for 150,000 each. So cheap for such a beautiful experience but I would recommend doing it this way for anyone with good fitness and a lack of money. Our friends even attempted to climb it by themselves and noone said anything to them. We did end up having to eat Mie Goreng for 9 consecutive meals here though. That's rough. Maybe it's the reason we liked Bali so much. Looking forward to coming back to Indonesia next year to do the rest of the country.
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