We stayed in Legian for 2 nights and spent our time there shopping (you can't avoid it - the streets are literally paved with back-to-back shops), trying out Indonesian cuisine and watching the sun set on the beach with a Bintang (Bintang is the local beer and is literally everywhere. I don't even drink beer but it felt compulsory to have one!).
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| The beautiful sunset in Bali |
I read about watching the sunset in my Lonely Planet travel guide - South East Asia on a Shoestring - which Ed bought for me before our trip (thank you!). I had originally thought that it would be useful for pre-planning our trip but I have actually found that it is far more useful once you have turned up in a place, to read about what you can do there. Lonely Planet books are the king of all travel guides and I would recommend checking them out for any country you plan on visiting.
After our quick stop in Legian - where thankfully we somehow didn't get run over by the thousands of mopeds hurtling down the narrow streets - we took a taxi up to Padang Bai, where we then took a fast boat over to the Gili islands. There are 3 Gili islands: Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan, which is the largest of the 3 and is where we stayed. The Gili islands, whilst still popular tourist destinations, are remarkably different to Bali, with the main difference being the non-existance of motorised transport on the islands. Hiring a bicycle or taking a horse and cart are the only 2 options other than walking!
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| A horse & cart on Gili Trawangan |
On our first night on Gili Trawangan, we found out another difference between Bali & the Gili islands: Bali is the only Indonesian country that is Hindu, whilst the rest of Indonesia is Muslim, therefore, we had a very early wake up call (we're talking sunrise early, so about 5am) from the island's mosque!
We stayed on Gili Trawangan for 4 days, with our stay involving as much sunbathing as we could bare in the boiling heat, a bike ride round the island/taking our bikes for a walk along sand tracks that were largely uncyclable, a big night out (Gili T is known as the party island of the 3) and a snorkelling trip round the islands!
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| Gili Trawangan Harbour |
From Gili Trawangan we took the boat back to Bali, where we went to Ubud for a couple of days. Ubud is known as the cultural centre of Bali and was made famous by the 2006 book, Eat, Pray, Love, which was later made into a film. In Ubud we visited the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, home to over 500 Balinese macaques who certainly weren't afraid to interact with humans - 2 leapt on Laura and another stole Alex's water bottle right out of her hands! An intimidating experience but definitely worth the visit. We also went to see a traditional Balinese dance at Ubud palace (thanks to Lonely Planet), which was amazing! If we had had more time in Ubud, I would have liked to have been to see the famous rice-terrace covered volcano as well - maybe another time!
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| Traditional Balinese dance |
From Bali we flew to Singapore, where we stayed for only one night before continuing on to Thailand. Singapore is like an Asian version of England - I can see why so many ex-pats live there. In the short time we were there we wandered to the famous Raffles Hotel, where we looked around, spent ages browsing in the gift shop, then had a cup of tea! I definitely want to return to Singapore when I have a bigger budget!
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| Raffles, Singapore |
Next stop... Thailand!
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