Here's part 2. A little less terrifying.
We were driven by Mudik back to Lumbung Damuh at Candi Dasa to collect our stuff. There we limped out of the vehicle, down the sandy paths into view of the dutch lady's local husband. Hearing what we went thru all he could respond was "oh shit". graciously he let us do whatever we wanted in the former girls' toilet. QZ n I related to him what happened in some detail and shared with Mudik what could hv been done better. Then still in my boots (i hadn't dared to take out my feet - it felt like 6 blisters and 5 loose toe nails) we limped back to the vehicle with our bags for more sleep.
I woke up just in time to see us getting pulled over by a traffic cop. Mudik explained tt now bali was like jakarta, had traffic police. He got out and spoke to the cop, who was a little surprised to see 6 comatose tourists at the back. after some discussion, Mudik handed the guy some rupiah, which is casually slipped into his knee high boot. "just like jakarta!" i quipped when Mudik came back in. he agreed.
At Sanur i noticed we were going round in circles, passing a power grid for a 3rd time before i told Mudik which road the Agung & Sue Watering Hole I was on. we passed by a dunkin' donuts before getting there. yay.
Mira, the girl who responded to my emails welcomed us and intially offered us rooms on the 3rd n 4th floors, which wld hv been nice except that we cld hardly walk. i asked and no, there were no elevators. we were then given ground floor rooms instead.
We took our time to shower, unpack, and for some of us, set up a washing line. We had arrived at abt 11am, and told Mudik we wld eat lunch at noon (as the package included our lunch), but only at 12.30 when Mudik n Mira came to ask us abt lunch did we prepare for payment and slowly limp out. We spent the longest time counting out 6mil rupiah, and so did Mudik. I had fun waving the 6mil ard though. it's only abt S$1.2k, but it still feels damn shiok waving 6mil of anything in ur hand.
After ordering lunch (1st wave), Mudik shook our hands, paid, and left. The food was understandably considered good, and after the 2nd wave of drinks, it was time to knock out. strangely, qz, yb, dw & hp went exploring the town. I finally collapsed in airconditioned comfort on a damn hard pillow at 2pm.
Awoke at 5pm with a VERY BAD migraine. popped 2 painkillers and knocked out again.
Awoke at 6pm to hp trying to wake chel from next door. turns out she went out on her own. All of us went for dinner at 7pm - 1st stopping by at Dunkin' Donuts. Dinner proper was the oily-est maggie mee I had ever eaten topped with a hot-oil-fried egg. SHIOK. still think abt tt meal then. with some meat n vege it was abt S$1+ per person. SHIOK. Cheap n good food = happiness.
Didn't stay awake too long after dinner.
Next day we packed and checked out in a hurry to catch the 10.30 ferry to Nusa Lembongan - Prices seemed to hv risen. had breakfast at a stall by the beach and prices quickly rose there too. but we didn't care - we had a ferry to catch.
The ride was mostly boring - upon reaching the other side we were welcomed by friendly local guys who showed us where Pondok Baruna was. nice sleepy place, but the ppl running it (they also run world-diving.com) had the good sense to discourage DW n me from diving. After lunch we went snorkelling instead.
Which wasn't spectacular. Cloudy skies (been that way since we reached Sanur) = low visibility, not a awful lot of fish nor variety of coral, and strong currents. Boatman didn't really bother abt us, except to offer us another snorkel site for more money. This milk-the-tourist campaign was getting on my nerves. we headed back.
The plan was to ride ard the island on motorbikes for a day - meaning we'd have time to practise. QZ was rather enthu abt tt, being the only one who has a license. I was still eager, but hesitant on 2 things - lack of practise n this trip having too much risk involved already. chel, sensible for once, said no to the idea of pillioning with me, so qz n yb rode off while the rest of us ate jaffles and watched the sun set, which was fun and brain numbing. we were joined by a frenly local dog n an unknown number of mosquitoes.
they came back n we set off for dinner - at a nice place (i forgot the name) at the bend between Jungutbatu and Mushroom bays. i had chicken satay w rice n bailey's coffee, and finally a chance to use my tripod. i'm never bringing it overseas again. unnecessary weight n space - i could use any nearby chair or table anyway. back from dinner we tokked cock while i fed our new fren the local dog by hand, but didn't stay awake long - another ferry to catch back tml morning.
I woke at 6.15 and was all packed at abt 7. had breakfast w balinese coffee n we said goodbye to the nice ppl at Pondok Baruna - I wld want to come back again. except for the boat ride we wld encounter - the ticket guy snatched money out of dw's hands and pointed us to an overcrowded boat - locals were already clambering onto the roof. reluctantly, knowing that the indon safety record in transportation isn't exactly award-winning (hey a boat sank during an investigation of how it caught fire. u really can't beat that.), i climbed in and we made our way right to the front.
the ride, once again, was boring. but it was spiced up by a pregnant lady who was constantly throwing up, and who induced her daughter to do the same; a teenage girl on the roof doing the same; the regular pitching n rolling of the boat; and me ready to rush for the windows if the boat actually did flip.
It didn't, but i did get wet anyway. it was high tide when we reached the bali side, and the boat cldn't go near coz of the rocks. once again local men came to welcome us, carrying ppl and bags to the shore. i didn't fancy getting carried away, but i didn't read the black water correctly - i thot the wave receeded but actually it was the boat pulling away - and i landed waist deep in salt water. gross.
we clambered over the rock breakwater and dripped back to Agung & Sue Watering Hole, damn glad i left them some clothes for washing. had a quick shower in the toilet n i felt much better. but after all our exertions, the planned and much anticipated massage was not to be. we took a van to Kuta and there we lugged around our fricking monsters round for... shopping. i can't complain, i bought cheap chocolates for colleagues n a t-shirt for myself (i just had to, after the trek, the tourist traps and the dripping wet backpack). but i still need that massage.
our last dinner in bali wasn't anything to shout abt - i wasn't hungry anyway. we managed to bargain dirt cheap taxis to the airport (much to the cabbies' ire) and joined long queues to get to our plane. valuair surprised me by serving nasi goreng, which wasn't tt nice either. at least their coffee was ok.
so ends another adventure.
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