Gili Trewangan

Aaaah Gili...
I wanted to stay 4 days in order to fly to Flores and from there to Komodo as well as the Southern beaches of Lombok locals told me about and while making my way back visit Borobudyr temple and stop over in Jakarta.
Didn't happen!
I did my Advanced Open Water certificate, dived 6 times enjoyed a peaceful but amazing Gili full moon party and went all in on the last night with dive master Mike.
I didn't even make it over to Gili Meno or Gili Air - considering there's not really a lot to do on Gili T but surf, dive, snorkel or rent a bike during the day, it's rather fascinating how time flew by!
I love that Gili T gave me the same vibe as Koh Tao - just with more oceanic diversity and less dead coral which is the tragic fate of Thai reefs :(


Like Koh Tao one gets to the Gili's from Sanur, Padang Bai or even Amed (sporadic services).
I stopped at Lembongan on the way there and did a dive but the island was completely dead otherwise I'd have done some exploration but after Ubud I was dying for some party and meeting fun backpackers.
According to my dive master the Lembongan dive center should have not let me dive at Toyapakeh slope as the currents there claim around 15 lives each year so hearing that afterwards, my heart jumped a teeny bit but I wanted to high five making it out of there :)


I was a bit too busy enjoying Gili T so not much filming was done but here a glimpse of my so far favorite spot on earth! :)

JOSS!!! I had NEVER heard about this before and was intrigued I had to try it before leaving. Seems it is most commonly consumed with vodka. According to my dive instructor (in the video) it enhances the effect of alcohol without you feeling bad and it instantly wakes you up. I did 2 vodka joss shots but as I heard the hangover was horrid, I didn't continue. I had a third joss shot to stay awake and as great as the effect was I woke up the next morning with slight heart palpitations...wish i would have brought some home. This stuff would do miracles for students or working late :D Anyway, here's a video of Mike taking my Joss virginity :)

Ubud - not in a nutshell

I've been in Ubud for 5 days and I love the atmosphere.
It's so relaxed and you realize there's no reason to stress - apart from maybe the Balinese men asking you if you need a motorbike taxi every 20m (even if you're on one yourself) and the shop owners saying hello and trying to get you to buy something - it's really relaxed :P


I have to admit I have slacked on cultural activities.
I preferred watching the monkeys in monkey forest from afar and being in Asia for so long means I have had my share of temples.


Bali in general consists of temples. Home stays and hotels are built around temples and I did not do any of the tours to any cultural sights.
I did want to see the volcano and rice fields but driving to beaches I saw so many beautiful rice fields and the volcano I think I enjoyed these in my own way.
People are relaxed but there's quite a few elitist yoga/hippie and health freaks - I've avoided that entire cult.


Have just enjoyed the beaches, Juan and James company and am re energized and ready to leave and party and taint this healthy temple of a body :)


I'm heading to the islands and reason for this is that everything in Ubud closes around midnight and CP Lounge seems to be the only place open late. So if you want to go out, choices are limited as people here like to get up early for freakishly early yoga sessions it seems :)


As for the Balinese, I learned quite a bit from the expats living here.
Tourists like James got pulled over onthe scooter and told that his international drivers license is not international at all - just to get a bribe of 2 million Rupiah. If not he'd have had to appear in court in 8 days.
The only other solution is driving past and hoping the police don't follow you according to Juan but we realized being in a car they don't pull you over.


If you rent a car make sure to mention this as the rental agency will offer to help you deal with this by having the police call them.


There are quite a lot of other examples, most common that Balinese nearly ever give you the correct change back in try to slip some in their pocket.
Out of principal I always demand the correct change back and in several cases the Balinese get really pissed off because you bring it up.
Had an argument with a cab driver cause he didn't give me the correct change back and then he told me he thought it was tip.


Being in Eat Pray Love spirit and constantly getting ripped off ruins is just some what but just head into a rice field and you'll forget these small sorrows again ;)


As for places to check out:
I enjoyed Laughing Buddha, CP Lounge, Bar Luna (Tuesdays & Thursdays).
On the same street as Bar Luna there's really good and cheap Indonesian food - worth checking out!


Cafes & restaurants: Cafe Clear, Kafe, Taco Casa & Grill (Mexican), Bridge's (French), Sari Organic

Random temple...one of many beautiful sights in Ubud

Driving to Amed

Stopping by Vincents's for dinner

Ubud Monkey temple. Refused to go in. I know monkeys from Kenya and they're evil lil bastards!!