Bali was always that part
of my trip that was hanging about far off in the distant future, so you can
imagine how excited I was when it finally came around! For anyone who doesn’t
know, I tacked a Bali trip onto my adventure
so I could attend the wedding of my dear friends Scott and Jo. For any of our
friends who couldn’t make the trip let me just say…. You missed out chumps
because it was amazing!!!
So I left for the airport in Phnom Penh
at 5am, had a big layover in Kuala Lumpur and
finally arrived in Bali at about 10pm at
night. Considering all that I was in a pretty cheery mood and made it safely to
my hostel and reveled in the upmarket swanky style of Bali vs Cambodia. For the record I would like to say that The
Island Hotel in Legian was great value and very very nice… not quite the same
standard as all my mates were staying in… but for a backpacker 4 months into
her travels it was spectacular. By the time I was settled and ready to go find
some dinner it was about 11:30pm, which I quickly discovered is the witching
hour in Legian where all the drunk Aussie bogan guys rip off their shirts and
wander about the streets screaming at moto drivers. Aaaaaaaaaaah Bali… where
the drunk Aussie bogan can live out their dreams of being a billionaire.
The very next day I took myself off to The Padma Resort to
meet my old boss Tessa for breakfast and a good strong dose of hotel envy. We
ate fancy and expensive salads by the pool and swapped stories from the last
few months. I also behaved myself and tried not to get noticed in case they
threw the scummy backpacker out of the hotel pool ;) Then we shared a cab up to
Ubud in the afternoon so her hubby Carlos could play about on his scooter and
we could shop and eat amazing banana splits!
Let me just say the shopping in Ubud is dangerous. Tessa headed back to
Legian ( to my dismay) and I hung around Ubud for another few days lazing by
the pool and buying more shoes, clothes and bags than I could fit into my bag.
I soon found myself back in Legian where I quickly found the
soon-to-be-weds drinking by the pool. Suffice to say beers were drunk, hugs
were plentiful, Jo was veeeeeeeeeeeery excited/ nervous, gossip was swapped and
a drunken indian in a head dress presented Scott and Jo with commemorative ‘marriage
necklaces’. Scott’s was made of cows teeth… which I found a lot funnier than he
did. Jo had had enough low fat vodka lime and soda’s to think that it was
important ( no mandatory) for them to wear the necklaces… which I also found a
lot funnier than Scott did.
I left them to make this decision without me and wandered
over to Bec and Pizzeys hotel room. The wonderful Pizzey family had obliged to
let me sleep on the couch for the night, seeing as how I am Bec’s favorite
scummy backpacker/ best friend. They weren’t home, but they had kindly left the
door open for me… or so I thought. When they returned from dinner it became
apparent that they were surprised to find me stretched out on the couch reading
Woman’s Day. There was some short lived finger pointing between Pizzey and Bec’s
dad about who had left the door unlocked, but Bec and I ignored them and
enjoyed our reunion. Michael ( the new baby) was asleep as per usual, but James
( the old baby ;) was wide awake and just kept looking at me saying, ‘Noooooooooooooooooo
nooooooooooooooo nooooooooooooo.’ I won him over with a monkey puppet I bought
him in Cambodia
and all was well.
Bright and early the next morning I met Cal and Eri at the
ferry and we headed off for a few days to the island of Gili Trawangan to
do some diving. More hugs, more catch up and the formation of a street gang of
divers called The Zany Divers ( possibly inspired by the Tough Brett’s)
followed. There are no cars on Gili T, so the three of us piled into the back
of a horse and cart buggy for a short, cramped and uncomfortable ride to our
guest house, Marta’s. I am pleased to say the horse survived the trip… but
there were times when we all doubted it’s strength and felt embarrassed by the
fact that the back of the buggy was dragging along the street.
First afternoon we headed to Big Bubble and met our dive instructor (
name escapes me… and I was never actually sure what he was saying). At 2pm we
suited up and headed out under the waves. For the next two days dived around
the island sites and saw Hawksbill Turtles, Green Turtles, millions of fish,
crayfish, sting rays, octopus and much much more. Cal and Eri have an amazing
underwater casing for their camera so eventually I will load some pictures. Cal saw a shark on his
way up, Eri was bitten by a vicious rouge trigger fish and I had my first
experience of drift diving. An experience to say the least! The Trigger fish
comment is not a joke, it bit her, scared the crap out of her and left a nasty
set of fang marks around her ankle. The Zany Divers now have a score to settle
biyatch!!!!
The three of us also hired bikes one afternoon to ride around the
island and watch the sunset. We made a game of it and stopped at every beach
bar we passed to have a beer, a delightful game which I think we should
re-enact when I get home. Small problem, large sections of the road were huge
sand traps and we actually ended up walking our bikes for about 60% of the
ride. On the plus side we saw the beautiful sunset and had an adventure
together… but the walking the bikes part did suck. Gili T has plenty of sea
food BBQ restaurants, which we sampled, and beachside bars, which we sampled,
and massage shops, which we sampled. Comment of the trip would have to go to
Callum who asked us, ‘ This isn’t a hell girly drink is it?’ as he sipped on a
Scallywag’s Illusion. Callum, Erica and I lied… it was pretty girly but we love
you anyway and thanks’ for the Travelcalm and antihistamines ;) Awesome trip
with great company xox
Back in Legian we met up with the rest of the wedding crew who were
propping up the bar at The Legian Pub ( seriously did the woodvale boys even
leave that place???). Caught up with more buddies from home and then handed
Scott over to the boys while the ladies headed over to the Niksoma to have a
drink with Jo. Word to the wise, don’t buy a jug of juice at the Niksoma… it is
laughably expensive. Ladies went to bed early to prepare and the gentlemen… did
not.
So the main event, the wedding of Scott Haliburton and Joanne Palmer,
was perfect. The setting was tropical and lovely, the groom looked handsome and
the bride was so so very beautiful. Frangipani’s, lanterns, white linen tablecloth’s,
banana leaf place settings, sunset and the BEST WEDDING PLAYLIST EVER!!! Jo I
always knew you had great taste in music… but babe that was a masterpiece xox
All up it was a great night of dancing, laughs and great friends. On the
record, Tom Passey I did not only ask you to dance because you were the last
one sitting down ;) Also… who broke my fan??? Was it Smithy or Gus????
The next morning I was feeling ‘tired and emotional’, but I still
dragged myself out of bed and headed to the Safari Park with the Pizzey family.
I won’t say what happened on the drive there, but lets just say I re-enacted the 2005 elephant trek incident. Still, I
pulled through and had a great day with Bec, Pizzey and the kids… and an
elephant sprayed me with water which James ( and more so Bec) found hilarious.
Safari park was great fun, but even better for watching the look on James face
every time he saw an new animal! Finished the day with dinner at a German
restaurant ??? ( Tom suggested it… he’s so weird ;) Some drunk random at the
bar found out that Scott and Jo had just gotten married and bought them cake,
which I thought was sweet but others thought was creepy.
Next day I joined the Pizzeys again to take the boys to Waterbomb Park. Took Michael ( the most chilled
baby ever) swimming while Bec and Piz took James on slides, only to find out
after the fact that he usually screams a lot when you take him in the water.
Cheers for that Bec. Did some slides with James, floated in the river, ate some
corn, surrendered my lunch to James and chilled out with Bec. All up lovely day
with lovely family, cheers Bec and Pizzey for adopting me for a few days xoxo After
the park I met up with the others for one final drink before we all scattered
again to the four corners of the globe. Missing lots of you already xox Some of
you not at all ;)
And then it was over… my last day in Bali
involved the beach, a good book, a massage and a goodbye mexican dinner with
the lovely newlyweds. Cheers to Scotty and Shabs for putting on an awesome
wedding and I know you will have an amazing honeymoon xox
