To me, Indonesia only seems to get better the further out east we get. Coming from Java, Bali feels like a gasp of fresh air. Our first stop on this island (apart from a night spent in the capital Denpasar) is beautiful Ubud.
 |
| Temple door of Ubud. |
Ubud is, apart from where Julia Roberts snogs Javier Bardem in Eat Pray Love, full of galleries of local art, hosts some magnificent food (like the Tempeh Satay at Mama's Warung!) and is, unfortunately, also home of the so-called Monkey Forest. Remembering my last encounter with a schimpanzee, I wouldn't say I was too keen to enter this place. But as the entry fee was about 10 kronor I figured why wouldn't I come along if the other girls were doing it. And for a moment or so, I was almost enjoying myself. I was just about to feel relaxed when a monkey suddenly jumps Elme. He sits on top her head for a while and Heidi laughingly tries to take a photo, when the monkey decides to jump her instead. Yeah, it's all fun and games until you've got a monkey on your head, as the Romans used to say...
 |
| Two young boys playing at the Lovina shores. |
After a few days in Ubud, we took a long taxi ride to the north and Lovina Beach. After promises from Resha and Shariff that there'd be epic dolphin watching to be done. Now who does not wish to be in a boat surrounded by jumping dolhpins? That's right, that's probably how half the tourist population of Bali was to be seen entering one spider-shaped boat after another.
Of course the dolphins were scared senseless, and time and time again, the drivers tried to chase them to force them out of the water so the paying audince could go "oooh" and point their cameras in that direction. After a while, I honestly just wished it would be over so the animals could be left in peace. Furthermore, I was relieved that neither of my companions fell overboard as their heavy hungover heads (after spending the previous night drinking and open-micing with some of the locals) seemed to force them into micronaps. Dolphin watchin gets 0 out of 5 toasters. It felt kind of like at our snorkeling trip at the Perhentians when Asian tourists who couldnt swim kept stepping on the coral reefs (!!!!!) and a man forced a giant turtle up to the surface so that we could take photos. No thanks, I'll swim the other direction, thank you.
 |
| There aren't many photos from Kuta. So this is of me and H, stolen from Elme's instagram feed. |
Finally we ended up at Kuta Beach. Where Heidi lost her phone at SkyGarden and we all lost each other after too many energy drinks at Alleycats. Trying to find my way home through the many poppies lane (had a photo of our hostel sign saved in my phone - "hey, have you seen this place?") as the sun was rising at 7am, I stumbled upon a bunch of strangers sat outside 7-eleven. They invited me to have a seat as I explained that I was lost and then this Irish fellow created a chunky kitkat for me after I complained they only sold the "regular one". (How to create a chunky kitkat: break the regular one in half and place them atop eachother, work wonders. Or maybe that's the arak speaking.)
This is also where I had my first trip to the moon and the sky turned batique and I held Heidis hand as we walked home through the sparkling neonlights.
