Silver Surfers in Bali

We moved from Melbourne over to Indonesia for a flying visit (by our standards, we seem to find ourselves staying in places for longer and longer). It was fantastic to be back in Asia again. Our time in Indonesia was such good fun, we are definately going back, but we don't yet know when. We have since moved on to Thailand to take part in two sailing regattas. You might have heard about the red shirt protesters and the disruption they caused, - not a problem for us, in fact we had a great time in Bangkok and the only problem we had was (another) long slow journey to Pattaya. Anyway, back to Indonesia and enjoy the pictures below.

Our first stop off was Bali where we took the opportunity to show the locals how to surf, as above.

Alison, after she had just come out of a tube! ("Yeah, right" for any kiwis reading this)

We went to a seaside fish restaurant, where we had to catch our own. Garry got very wet and Alison ran away.

The food was very good and particularly fresh!

We hired a car and took a drive North to Ubud. On the way we passed lots of furniture designers. This was a particularly fab bath which is one piece carved out of stone.

Hot stuff this pic! Chillies in the foreground and a volcano in the background.

We stopped for coffee at another Starbucks, conveniently sited next to the volcano.
On our little journey, we had to drive up a very steep hill and failed miserably the first time, much to the amusement of the locals. So we reversed down for a second attempt. This time we made it and received a big cheer from the audience.

These local kids have made a dragon out of bits and bobs and wanted their picture taken.

This is the North of Bali, the lake and volcano Batur, where we stayed overnight.

Two more volcanoes and tomatoes growing at the side of the lake.

On the way back, in Ubud, we visited the Antonio Blanco Museum and Gallery. A bit weird but worth a visit. On the way in you pass through a bird sanctuary and can be decorated in them if you wish.

Tucan play at this game!

Monkey business in the temple. We learnt from someone else's experience not to carry bananas or they will wip them off you.

This is a statue in the Monkey Temple of a very attractive lady (we think her name is Randang). Legend has it that she has a one metre long tongue, funny eyes and pendulous breasts.

After Bali, we went to Lombok by ferry.

In Lombok, we found a locals "warung", no electricity, no toilets, no water, no english and great food. On the second night we went, Garry tried something a little more adventurous - a whole fried chicken, including feet and head.

To get to the warung above, you have to take a Lombok Ferrarri, pictured above. One horse power.

By chance, we came across this lovely beach with the locals enjoying a public holiday
We tried the fried tapioca - Yum!

Gilli Islands - we found paradise. We hired push bikes as our preferred option to shanks' pony or a ferrarri. There are no cars or motorbikes. We then tootled off round the island snorkelling. We saw loads of great colourful fish and the highlight was seeing turtles. Really big but not frightening.

From Gilli, we took a very long bus and ferry ride to Jogjakarta. Worth the trip though. Above is the Prambanang temple, built in 800 a.d.

This guy looks after the entrance to a smaller temple. We think it may be the Heineken temple.

If you drink too much Heineken, you have to go to rehab. Check out the sign.

We were a bit surprised to find this, as we only ever see chicken on the menu.

Anyone interested in old scooters? Indonesia is the place to track one down. There are stacks of these.

We stopped in a little town for another coffee from Starbucks! We have seen loads of this kind of stuff, but we still love the way they cram unbelievable amounts of stuff on a motorbike.

This guy was patrolling the car park. Car crime is not a problem in Indonesia.

We will spell this wrong, but this is a Buddhist temple, called Borobudor. The largest buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere. Also dates from 800 ish. It has had several renovations, the most recent in 1983. If you walk around all the levels, (as we did), it is only 5 kms to reach Nirvana, at the top. Of course, we did it at midday!

Great carvings showing Buddhist beliefs. See the notice for interesting information

Nearly at Nirvana, each stupor has a buddha carved inside it.

It is considered lucky if you touch the buddhas hands, but as you can see, it was a bit of a stretch.

Any ideas what this is?

It is egg shells over the tips of the plant leaves. Allegedly, it makes the flowers grow faster. Can you try this at home and let us know if it works?

Another Starbucks. This time at the old harbour in Jakarta.

The harbour wall is lined with these wooden boats all being loaded and unloaded by hand.

Proper hard work, loading bags of cement by hand, in temperatures of about 30 degrees C. And check out the gang plank!

Public disorders are not common here either.

We could have done with this truck for our arrival in Thailand, but more of that later!

Our last night in Jakarta, we did something we really enjoy doing - eating street food - you meet great people, the food is really good and cooked straight under your nose (literally).

Bye for now

Alison and Garry