Islands visited, Bali, Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan, Nusa Penida.
Actually departed on the 18th due to a flight stuff up.
Thanks; to all of our friends who assisted us with this tour, you know who you are & you are all GREAT !
Cost: This type of Bali trip including flights, eating out for all meals, ferry's, scooters, etc, will cost you approximately $850 each. That's for 5 to 7 days.
Look after yourself: Please watch out for big waves along the cliffs & keep the speed under 30km/h while riding the scooters with no safety equipment. Be cautious with all food & water.
Fun & Adventure factor 3.8 out of 5.
Jesper & Thomas (The Danish Dudes) were keen to visit "Bali", so Jenny & I said we would go along with them on a 5 day trip. About a week earlier I booked our air tickets with Air Asia.....or so I thought.
Saturday the day before our much anticipated departure for Bali we all caught a train up to Perth to watch a 20/20 game of cricket between Perth Scorchers & Melbourne Stars. The Scorchers were expected to win, but the Stars had a different idea. They ended up bowling the Scorchers all out at 96, about 50 runs short of a win. You could say that Perth was flogged on this occasion.
The Danish Dudes didn't seem to appreciate the cricket that much even though there was a crowd of 20000 plus spectators at the WACA. Never mind we head for Bali late tomorrow they will enjoy that !
Come Sunday we are all ready for our trip to Indonesia, about 3.5 hours before the flight departs, Jenny decides to do a pre check in with Air Asia.
Uh Oh there is a problem, end result was that for some reason our credit card payment had been rejected. Even though we had a booking number our flights had been cancelled. How deflating.
Like all good travellers we went into recovery mode and rebooked flights for the next day, Monday. It cost us all an extra $100AUD each but still pretty inexpensive at $440 return. It was a night flight & we eventually arrived into Denpasar, Bali at 11.30pm. I felt a little rorted by the taxi driver but by midnight we were at our budget hotel.
The next day (Tuesday) after a complimentary breakfast of oats & cookies, which the Danish Dudes wouldn't touch we were picked up by "our trusted driver" Nyoman, who Jenny & I have used several times in the past. Some of our friends use his driving services frequently as well.
Nyoman was at Uno Inn Hotel at 9.30am and skilfully negotiated the heavy traffic over to Sanur. Along the way we stopped at a money changer, Thomas & Jesper asked how much Aussie Dollars they should convert into Rupiah. I said "think of an amount & double it".
Next stop was the booking office for Glory Boat, which would take us all over to Lembongan, about 40kms away. The boat ticket was 550000IR each for a return trip (about $55AUD). So I handed over a bundle of "Monopoly Money" for Jen & I. Thomas & Jesper sorted out their own tickets then our driver took us down to the beach where you have to wade thigh deep through the warm tropical ocean to board a 10 metre power boat sporting 5 x 250HP outboard engines. By now we were all feeling the heat & high humidity.
Waiting to get on the Fast Boat at Sanur, Bali. Usually takes 45 minutes to get across to Lembongan.
The water was calm on the straight between Sanur & Lembongan, so it only took about 40 minutes to get across. It has been about 18 months since Jen & I last visited and we were quite surprised by the amount of building construction that has occurred since our last visit. We all caught a small open truck to the Bungalow that was to be our home for the next 4 days.
The Bungalow belongs to a friend of ours and while simple it is nicely appointed, there is even a small pool that proved to be to irresistible for us all. Next up with the help of our other friends Kaye, Derek & Nat, who all live on Lembongan most of the year we organised 3 x 125cc scooters, beer & cokes.
The rest of our stay was spent catching up with our friends, eating out for all meals, exploring the island on the scooters, swimming & resting. There was one dangerous close call I'll relate to you all that could of resulted in one of the Danish Dudes going home in a "Coconut Husk".
We were also lucky enough to catch up with friends Richard, Eva & Ron who were all around at the time. Poor Ron was getting over Dengue Fever, so wasn't going to flash. All the expats & us had a great feast at the Bali Hai Resort on the Wednesday, the Dudes were MIA ?
Will & Jenny at the Bungalow, just after a nice swim in the pool.
It's all tiring for the Dudes.
Ron & Jenny enjoying the ride to Bali Hai, Lembongan.
Another great night with our friends, but the Dudes are MIA. Scooter riding around.
The 4 of us all went on a big scooter ride on Thursday to explore the small island of Nusa Ceningan & parts of Nusa Lembongan. While over at Ceningan we went over to the "Blue Hole" which is a cliff jump area. The "Danish Dudes" we're keen to do the 12 meter jump off the cliff into the sea. There was a local there called Wayan, he very strongly advised they not jump as the seas were extra rough on this day. I said there would be no chance of me doing the jump even on a good day. So between Wayan, Jen & I it was reasonably easy to talk them out of it....many people have been quite badly injured at this spot in the past.
The Ceningan Blue Hole, "Don't Jump, Danish Dudes !" Says Wayan, sitting next to them. "To dangerous ".
Wayan, who said he is 45yo offered to show us some other sights on Ceningan instead (at a price of course). It turned out ok & we were shown some nice beaches & cliffs that would have been difficult to locate by ourselves. The last thing Wayan took us to was the underground house on Lembongan, which was a bit over priced to view, but we had a quick look.
Wayan takes us to Secret Beach on Ceningan, Dudes go for a swim.
Gala Gala underground house, Lembongan, 500m2 it took one old man 15yrs to dig.
Jesper takes a moment to feel the Chi in the underground house, I'm starting to feel claustrophobic !
Wayan next offered to take us to a Cock Fighting Match (Roosters killing each other, while people bet on the outcome), Jesper & I were interested, but Jenny & Thomas weren't up for the spectacle (& cruelty ?). So we said goodbye & headed to a Resort/Restaurant at Sandy Beach. After lunch we took the scooters, Danish Dudes riding one each, Jenny & I were 2 up, over to Dream Beach. We then went over to the nearby cliffs & watched the big ocean swell crashing into the cliffs. The Danish Dudes kept disappearing on us & after a quick search, we guessed they must have returned to Dream Beach !
Lunch at Sandy Beach.
And a quick swim in the pool to cool off at Sandy Beach, Lembongan.
Jenny & I decided we'd had enough for one day & rode back to the Bungalow located on the North/East side of Lembongan. About an hour after we had returned Jesper & Thomas arrived. Jesper's hands & feet were all cut up from being smashed onto the reef by a large wave.
We asked what had happened & Thomas showed us some video he had taken on his iPhone. Now they had been warned earlier in the day by Wayan, Jenny & I not to get to close to the edge of the cliffs, especially today as the waves were so big. But they thought they could get a good photo & badly underestimated the power of the waves. Check out the short video, I have no doubt that if Jesper had been swept into the ocean he would have most likely died before any of the locals could have gotten a boat around there to rescue him ! I hope it was a wake up call for both of them & we are seriously glad it ended so well in their favour...
For our last full day, we all took a small fishing boat across to Nusa Penida. It took about 25 minutes & cost us 350000IR each way. Once over there we spent another 600000IR on 3 scooters & a guide "Hamid". So that's about $130AUD, not the cheapest day but ok for 4 people.
Headed for Nusa Penida, Friday the 22nd of January...it is very hot & humid.
Fuelling up the Scooter, Indonesian Style.
Will squeezes through a narrow gap to enter the underground Hindu Temple.
Hot & Humid down here as well.
Hamid showed us the underground Hindu Temple (100000IR for 4 people). A massive cave that the locals hid in from the Japanese during World War 2. He then lead us to Broken Beach & Crystal Beach. I'm guessing we rode about 80kms (my speedo didn't work) & spent about 6 hours checking out the sights. The tropical monsoon hit at the end of the day so everything was saturated.
Hamid has us all riding on some pretty rough roads on Nusa Penida. Keep in mind Jenny & I are riding 2 up & our suspension & motor is just about shot. The little 125cc Honda wouldn't even carry us both up some of the hills, meaning lots of walking for Jen.
There goes our guide Hamid, negotiating the road, he couldn't speak much English!
Will & Thomas crossing the natural bridge at Broken Beach, Nusa Penida.
Cutting out lime stone bricks, along the side of the road. Looks like dangerous work to me. Nusa Penida.
We returned to the pick up point at 4.30pm where "Captain Good" was waiting for us in the small fishing boat. He skilfully took us back to Lembongan.
Heading back to Lembongan in the rain, Nusa Penida turned out to be well off the usual tourist trail, not many tourists. A lot like Bali in the 1970's.
Captain Good.
Saturday the 23rd was our return home day. It's quite a big trip. We said our goodbyes to our Aussie expat friends, finalise payments for scooters etc. The small open truck picks us up at 9am, the Glory Fast Boat takes us back to Bali, where we land at 10.45am. Nyoman our driver was there waiting for us. I had texted him the day before. He drove us over to Kuta for some shopping & lunch. Kuta's an awful place these days, but I wanted the "Dudes" to experience it briefly. You quickly get sick of the annoying touts. "Boss you want scooter", "Friend I know you", "Here's a taxi for you Boss", "Boss, massage, girl ?", etc, etc....
Headed back to Bali on the Fast Boat.
Checking out Kuta with the Dudes.
The Dudes got sucked into responding to them, which creates extra hassles, Jenny & I just totally ignore them or say a sharp "TIDAK" (NO). Lunch was good, but Jenny had a savage headache so didn't eat. We were over charged for 3 servings of spare ribs & drinks....650000ID, but I was beyond complaining by now. We located our driver Nyoman & he took us to the airport. We finally walked in our door at home at 9.30pm.
This was Jenny & my fifth trip to Bali/Indonesia. The food & hygiene seems to have improved, there is still rubbish everywhere, it's as busy as ever & not as "cheap" as it once was. Still a good holiday option & for the first time ever I didn't come home as sick as a dog !
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