Bali is a small island with a large appetite. If you're not careful it can swallow you whole before spitting out a financially poorer, but experience richer you. This place seems to have everything: isolated bays to built up towns, hawkers to whores, temples to terrorism and white surf waters to golden sandy beaches.
After nearly 12 hours of travelling and an unexpected clock change I'm relieved to arrive, but not so happy for it to be Denpasar, a traffic clogged yuk of a town. I'm in the unfortunate position of thinking I've booked a flight to Sydney but not having received the confirmation. I can't fly (easily) without a printout, I'm not positive I've booked and the company refuses to send be confirmation by email due to security reasons! I'd hoped the capital of Bali would be the place to sort it in person. Many hours later...I'm in no luck. I take a Bemo (sort of minivan) to the airport, surely there is an office there. An hour later...I'm in no luck. I give up, go to Kuta the main beach area and decide to send a daily begging email to the airline and not give it much more thought.
Kuta is a cross between Phuket and Koh Tao. It's perfect for backpackers and can be completely full on. The beach is huge, good, and full of surfers, including the infamous Kuta boys. Muscle bound, gravity defying shorts wearing, local surf dudes - don't let your girlfriend near them. The town is full of bars, restaurants, hotels, shops, Internet cafes and people wanting to give you everything: massages, transport, watches, t-shirts...and give it to you again and again...You need a holiday after spending a few days in this place. I must be in a good mood - even after 100 times of being asked I'm still smiling and giving a little shake of my head rather than giving them the middle finger. 2 days of this and i need to chill. I'm told a metered taxi will cost me 25,000 Rupiah to get to Sanur - it costs me 63,000 R. I exchange money before i go - they try and rip me off the first time and the second time they succeed. I have no idea how that angel faced demon of a girl did it - i was very careful. Saying no and being ripped off typifies my experience so far. So why do i love Bali?
Nusa Lembongan is a little island of the little island of Bali. I've heard that the diving is good and that it would be a nice place to get away from Kuta. I really want a few days of doing very little before i go to Australia. I miss the local boat to the island so i charter one with 2 English girls. It costs us twice the local boat rate and takes us twice as long, drops us off at the wrong bay and drops us off in the middle of the sea. It's with smiles on our faces and rucksacks on our heads that we wade to the beach. It takes yet another boat to get where we want.
I don't dive as much as I'd like because of a mix-up, but I'm sort of glad. At manta point i dive for 50 minutes while wearing 2 wetsuits and i freeze my arse off in the 21C water. I see no manta rays. I dive with Ed a divemaster i met in Sipadan and two girls I've dived with before in the Perhentians. I tell you it's a small world.
All is not lost, on getting out of the boat we see about 10 manta rays. We all dive back in, and in my excitement i forget to take my camera. We snorkeled amongst them for about 15 minutes and it was scarily exhilarating. Having a 5m open-mawed giant of a fish coming straight towards you is scary! Too busy watching the one swimming a meter or so by my side, i almost swim into the one right in front of me...it was about 15cm away and it was HUGE. This is one of the best 'diving' experiences i have ever had....
Our next dive was at crystal bay and we hoped to see the rare mola mola (ocean sunfish) - the worlds largest bony fish. I was still cold and yet the water was a warmer 25C. 5 minutes into the dive and at 30m depth our divemaster spots one in the distance. We rush over to take a closer look and so does what we call a Hong Kong diver - it sounds terrible, but if you dive here you would know what i mean. An Asian diver with all the equipment and none of the skills. They have to wear gloves because they are always touching things. They are always taking pictures, and this time it's of a mola mola from 1m away and the poor fish gets totally freaked out. I was lucky that i saw a glimpse of it for 10 seconds at a respectable distance i might add., but only 10 seconds...grrrr. That one diver spoilt it for many others and i don't think he was even aware of what he did.
Still i got to swim with manta rays and i got to see a mola mola. I got to spend 4 days on a little island, enjoying my time with the locals, exploring the island and reading some amazing books. I loved this little island. Yes it's still touristy and it has a rubbish problem. It also has cold water, saline showers, cockerels that drive you batty as they never shut-up, and what i call a cold sea...but i loved it. I don't get to see a lot of places in Bali, but i've heard and read good things about them...maybe next time.
My last day is spent with Ed trying to kill time before our night flights, 2 games of 10-pin bowling (we both score 1 on our first go), two begging emails later, and finally a flight confirmation - 6 hours before my flight.
