Bali

There were many areas of Bali we could have stayed in but we selected Sanur not far south-east of the capital city of Denpasar. In Sanur we found a relatively cheap hotel with a decent amount of restaurants around it where we could spend a week doing very little and relishing not having to think about all the regular things: where to stay next? how to get there? does it have bedbugs?



Packing to leave singapore



Passing through the airport was pretty easy except for the surprise fee you have to pay at immigration. We accepted this as some sort of visa as we had had to pay at previous border crossing and moved on. Although this wasn’t a quick process as the entire plane of people seemed to be caught unawares and had to queue at the one and only ATM.

The taxis service from the airport was unusual in that tickets were pre-paid from a booth at the station, but it was all easy to understand and soon enough we reached Sanur and checked into the Ari Putri Hotel. We would stay here for the whole week so were pretty happy to find the room was very spacious, had a balcony and even a TV which let us watch CSI. All the rooms were built round a swimming pool in the middle where I could even enjoy a plate of spring rolls sitting in the water at the pool bar. The hotel seemed to have a huge number of rooms but amazingly we barley saw more than twenty people the entire time we were there.

Utilising the room

We came to Bali with absolutely no plans as we just wanted to relax so rather than go through a few pages of sunbathing based rambling I’ll just pick out a few highlights from the week. The first night we went for a wander along the main road outside the hotel and ended up having dinner in Flapjack’s sports bar. The place was fairly empty but it’s karaoke stage managed to maintain a steady flow of singers, however the best performance came from an American kid who took the guitar from one of the band members and nailed Johny B. Good, guitar solo and all. We came to Flapjacks for a few of our dinners as it was easy and just a few doors down from the hotel. As I said, this was to be a lazy week.

A few nights into our stay I returned to Flapjacks alone at 2.30am for the Champions League Final to find our quiet dinner spot had suddenly sprouted bouncers, velvet rope and a £5 entry fee. I wasn’t happy but wasn’t about to return to the room having got pretty excited about it all day so begrudgingly paid and found a seat. I was amazed at how many locals had showed up to watch it but gutted to see the majority supporting the Spanish team over the English. Come 5am I was leaving Flapjacks having watched Manchester United be torn apart by a team so much better than them in the form of Barcelona.

This is as close to the TV I could get despite turning up pretty early

All the way through Asia we have found shops on the side of the road selling assorted touristy junk, all kinds of food, fake goods and a range of other services but in Bali the most common street stall seemed to be offering currency conversion. I understand people at the airport offering this service but tourists coming out of their hotel having been there a week are unlikely to suddenly realise they need Indonesian Rupiah and rush over the road to a man with a cardboard sign offering a so-called good price. In addition to this street annoyance, taxis slow to walking pace and beep at you to try and get your attention and all vendors would refer to me as “Sir” but Linz as “lady” which is so irritating.  Despite quite a few tourist shops selling various locally made goods, including penis shaped bottle openers, I never came across a Balinese shot glass to add to the collection.

We had a bit of rain during our week but we did get a few good days around the pool, providing we beat the super-keen Spaniards to the few sun loungers that were available round the pool. When it was raining we tended to venture little from the room entertaining ourselves with the free wifi and Aussie rules football on the Australian TV channel. One evening we went to explore the beach with the idea of spending the day there tomorrow only to find it was a working beach in that it was covered with boats, ropes, nets and an assortment of unwanted fishing supplies. We decided to skip it and make saw we beat the Spaniards the next day.

At the bar

I formed an odd relationship with the man from the bar as he seemed to jump between two quite different personalities although this might have been expected given that I'm not sure he ever left. He would be there longer than everyone at night but still be up in time to watch the Spaniards destroy everyone else’s chances of a day in the sun. I’m coming across like not being in  the sun is the worst thing that could happen but I really wasn’t that bothered, it was more for Linz as she had been fighting against strap lines since Mui Ne and was starting to panic that they were now permanent editions to her back.

Other than watch Sebastian Vettel claim yet another F1 victory, this time at Monaco, we did very little until we left a week after arriving. We had the choice of getting one of the unmarked cars constantly parked outside the hotel but instead decided a genuine taxi would be better. Rather than give one of the incredibly irritating beeping taxi drivers the satisfaction of think he had successfully won over a fare, we booked one through the hotel. I took great enjoyment in packing my bag into the taxi in full view of various questionable taxi drivers on the corner.

We reached the airport where we had to pass through security checks before we could even enter the terminal. To my amazement I found a shot glass at a shop right by the check in desks meaning I have somehow managed to come through communist China, less developed Cambodia and now even Indonesia, having barely left the hotel, without failing to add to the collection.

Incredibly the same lady who stamped us into Indonesia also stamped us out a week later. Apparently we aren’t very memorable as she barely looked up at me as I passed, however I remember her well as just a week ago I clearly remember questioning Linz on why they would let a fourteen year old boy work on the immigration desk.

However, before we could even reach the boy-like immigration lady we were turned away for not arriving with the exit fee. It all kicked off. Having been charged to enter the country we were now being charged to leave as well and had no choice, as we had no cash on us, but to exit the entire airport to reach the only cash point available and then re-enter through the security checks to pay.  Little else happened in the airport except having to sit at the gate due to an almost complete lack of chairs. Apparently neither entry nor exit fees are spent on seating.

Enjoying Bali Airport's seatng options

The KLM plane journey back to Singapore went smoothly although it seemed I hadn’t learnt my lesson from our first flight as this time I chose to watch the King’s Speech and found the plane landed before the all important king’s speech. So, I had planned to be able to compare the two films which dominated the 2011 Oscars but in the end failed to finish either.

Our week in Bali had done just what we needed it to by letting us completely relax and recharge before the next stage of the journey begins covering Australia and New Zealand over two and a half months.

We landed in Singapore and checked our bags into the luggage room as we would be returning to the airport the next day for our flight to Cairns. We found the city shuttle bus and soon were back at the Prince of Wales where we were checking into the Brisbane room for our final night in Asia. The following day we spent by heading into town to watch the latest instalment of the X:Men series at one of Orchard Road’s cinema before returning to the airport.

We couldn’t enjoy the service the Dutch offered us on KLM this time as we had been booked onto Australia’s equivalent of a budget airline: Jetstar. There was little room and no films for me to miss the end of, so we just entertained ourselves until our 5am stopover in Darwin. After a quick breakfast and a highly enjoyable rest on a sofa, following the discomfort of the plane, we got back on the same plane and headed onto Cairns.

So three months after entering Asia I’ve finally moved on to a new continent and am now realising I'm nearer the end of the trip than the beginning. Unquestionably the aspect of this leg of the trip I will remember the most are the people who are easily the kindest and most cheerful people I have come across.

However, it all began in China where it took me just a day to realise how much I had thrown myself in at the deep end. From getting horrifically lost on the first day and struggling to get a rhythm going I was pleased that I sorted myself out quick enough to cover the 7,000km distance and see ten massively contrasting cities. I felt I gave a decent effort with the food for someone who rarely ventures far beyond chicken, however the greatest meal I had, in fact in the entire of Asia, was a mere pineapple bought from a vendor on day two as it massively lifted my dwindling spirits and the whole trip picked up from there. My month in China took in some wonders of the world, the amazing city of Hong Kong and some great modes of transport including my bamboo raft and various bikes of questionable safety, however I do regret not getting as involved with the locals as I could have. The highlight of the country was undoubtedly my time spent in Hong Kong which is unfaultable.

The highlight of Vietnam was easily having Linz to travel with as I had missed, other than the obvious, simple things like being able to turn to someone just to point something out and also now I could actually have photos taken of me from further than arms length. Other than Linz though it was the local people who stood out in what has been my favourite country so far. Life in Vietnam seems much more mellow than in the big polluted cities of China and the people are just so keen to make your days even better with honey tea or chilled water ready for you when you finish your day or even just a smile. Vietnam was also when the heat set in not letting up until we set down in Cairns. Dalat offered a brief rest but even then only by a few degrees where as the excruciating heat of Ho Chi Minh City will live long in my memory. I would have never contemplated that I would have hired a motorbike on this trip, let alone three of them, so our time in Mui Ne was an unexpected surprise. Vietnam will be missed.

Cambodia had to be the surprise of the trip but also resulted in the biggest disappointment in that we had to leave so soon. Everything from the cockney rhyming slang of Mr Kim in Battambang to the coconut curries first tasted in Kampot was perfect, the only reason I claim Vietnam to be my favourite country is because we had the time to really explore it. I'm sure with another week Cambodia could put up even more of a fight. The highlight here were the two days in Angkor Wat as Cambodia continued to surprise us as we had no idea of the scale of the temples and being able to cycle round them was amazing.

Thailand will be remembered for the incredible list of activities we managed including swimming in waterfalls, riding elephants, swinging through rain forests and, the best forty five minutes of our entire travels, playing with tigers. However, given its popularity around the world we never got the secluded feel of Vietnam or especially Cambodia, and perhaps given the countries exposure to the western world, we felt the talked up “Land of Smiles” wasn’t quite so happy as its neighbours.

Malaysia will have to be explored in full when time permits as we just couldn’t do it justice. What we saw we loved but, having not been able to venture to Borneo, have vowed to return. Kuala Lumpur was fun to wander round and it’s Petaling Street market was right up there with the best, but weirdly one of the things I’ll particularly remember are the country’s incredibly comfortable buses. Shame we barely had to use them. It would have been nice to explore some of Malaysia’s rainforests but time got the better of us so it was good that we had already delved into Khao Sok national park in Thailand.

Singapore was brilliant. It comes close to topping Hong Kong as my favourite place so far as we crammed so much stuff into just a few days in addition to the obvious aesthetic qualities. It wouldn’t be a hard city to live in however we could have done without leaving with such empty wallets, although my favourite attraction of walking the F1 track (twice) was a great bonus.

So that’s Asia done; thirty seven towns and cities. I can’t imagine Australia and New Zealand giving us such a challenge but that was a huge part of Asia’s draw and although I look forward to the easier life on our new continent I will miss many aspects of life here and it definitely won’t be long until I'm back.