LEGIAN - BALI - 'DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS' - 9 T0 12 OCTOBER 2019

LEGIAN

COSTS

Stay - Grand Kumala Hotel – Delux room –  1 414 549r for 3 nights

Car - Balian to Legian – 400 000R

Car – return International Airport – 300 000R

Car – Legian to domestic airport – 200 000r

9 OCTOBER

Picked up by Nyoman from Balian and driven to Legian. Checked into hotel and had lunch. We waited around for Jason, who I was meeting to order a new surfboard.

After the board sorting, we walked down the beach for sunset drinks and dinner and had a great night listening and dancing to The Beatles music.

A fun and productive day.

10 OCTOBER

I had an early morning walk along the beach, which quiet and pleasant.

After breakfast, we caught a taxi to Kuta where I needed to buy a new selfie stick for my go-pro camera at Digit3.

Back to Legian to cash money, have a haircut and buy supplies for Sumba.

We lazed around the hotel pool in the afternoon, and later, headed for the beach for sunset drinks and dinner.

11 OCTOBER

A bit of a sleep-in then breakfast.

Time to pack – Jacinta for Australia and me for West Sumba.

We lazed about pool. I had a bad massage, where I stopped it after 15 minutes and left. She didn’t know what she was doing!

Nyoman drove us to the International Airport and after our goodbyes Jacinta flew to Australia and I headed back to the hotel.

It was now the start of the solo trip.

12 OCTOBER

Nyoman picked me up at 8am for the domestic airport and my flight to Tambolaka, Sumba.

INDONESIA - BALI AND MANADO, SULAWESI - 31 JANUARY TO 3 FEBRUARY 2019

31 January 2019

A very hot day. I was picked up by the shuttle bus at 12:20pm and soon enough I was at Sydney International Airport. I checked in, proceeded through customs and after an hour delay due to strong winds I was on my way to Bali, Indonesia.

This was to be a 5 week trip in Indonesia with most of the time spent in Morotai. Morotai is an island in the far north of Indonesia in the Maluku Island group. Sometimes trips do not go according to plan. Not that things went wrong just that they don't go to plan.

I arrived at Bali, was picked up by Nyoman (200 000R) and driven to my hotel in Legian, the Grand Kumala. It was late when I checked in so a had a quick bite to eat and went to sleep.

1 February 2019

I woke and had a long morning walk along the beach towards Kuta and back. There was a lot of plastic and other crap on the beach but on the way back there were a number of people cleaning the beach and placing the rubbish in large plastic bags. I was later to learn that the rubbish is taken to a rubbish tip in Bali and there it sits. There is recycling of some materials. Rubbish not taken to the tips is dumped illegally behind villages and in the rivers.

Back at the hotel, I had a great breakfast and set off for my beginning of trip jobs. I cashed my Australian dollars, bought a Telekomsel sim card and a small amount of data which I needed to top up in Morotai and food supplies in the Bintang Supermarket. At the market, I caught up with Kirki, who was from Sangihe. She was very surprised and happy that I visited Sangihe last year.

I had a massage but the oil was too thick. It took me three showers to get it off.

I had a tasty lunch at a Greek restaurant in Jalan Double Six.

During the course of the day, I met Katherina from Greece who was 70 years old and Richard and Tina from New York City who were now living in Miami.

I finished the day with beers on the beach and watched the sun set.

2 February 2019

I was going to have a morning shower but there was no water. There was also no internet. I let them know at reception and went for a very long beach walk and sit. When I got back an 1 1/2 hour later, I walked into a flooded bathroom with hot water gushing out the tap … I had left the tap on … Opps!

I had breakfast, sat around the pool and had a good massage at Sicilian Spa.

It was time to leave for my domestic flight to Manado.

There were no dramas. My flight stopped a short while in Makassar. At Manado, I got a taxi to the Novotel, which was close to the airport. The hotel and the room were nice. I was upgraded to a better room.

3 February 2019

I had a restless sleep and a good breakfast, then caught a taxi to the airport for my flight to Morotai.

SULAWESI, MANADO - PLANES, RAIN AND WALK - 5 JULY 2017

Nyoman picked us up for drop off at the domestic airport at 4:45am - 150 000r.

The Lion Air flight was from Denpasar to Manado with a transit in Surabaya -  flight JT 929 at 07:00 to 11:45 with 20kg luggage.

At Manado there was a fixed taxi rate to hotel of 100 000 r. Once out of the terminal the taxi representative organized the taxi and away we went. The weather was very humid and shortly after we started the rain teemed down.

We checked into our hotel, Swiss Bel. The hotel looked excellent with a majestic looking foyer and a pleasant room with a view over part of the city. The area around the hotel looked a little run down but adventurous. We settled into our room, had lunch and decided on a walk and then the rains came down again in a deluge.

We waited and waited and towards dusk decided to walk anyway. Naturally, we got wet and spent a great deal of time avoiding puddles and traffic.

We finally, reached the Megamall and wandered around until we were dry. We had the worse cappuccino ever but the guy tried so hard to make it proper that we couldn't say anything except good. He smiled and at least someone was happy. :)

At the back of the Mega Mall was a taxi stand where we caught a taxi back to the hotel and slept.