Hi All,
I meant to do this earlier, but wow, I've been so tired since we got home, like dude, I'm talking catatonic tired, like slapping my face to wake up tired. I'm sure it's just the time change thing, but wow it's knocking me on my ass. So we just did barrel tasting weekend last week, as always it was lots of fun and we had alot of people come by the winery for the usual fun and frivolity.
We had an interesting trip home, we sort of broke it up into 4 parts. We went back to Manado and had some good food and a hot fresh water shower, we looked for some vodka, but apparently there is no vodka in town at this time. Speaking of that, because of the restrictions on liquids on your carry on luggage going to the states, you cannot buy duty free liquor, totally lame.
OK back to leaving, so we flew out of Manado the next afternoon, more weirdness or fun, whichever way you want to look at it. The bellman that drove us to the airport in Manado worked on a tuna boat for 2 years off the coast of Nova Scotia, the boat was owned by japanese people....so he spoke more japanese than me. We stayed at the Jakarta airport hotel that night, it was pretty nice. Ok so a little tangent here...pretty much everywhere we stayed included breakfast, and I've had this problem? or situation before in Asia. They have "american breakfast " and local breakfast....you know you want to experience all the local culture blah blah blah, but you know what? I'm not all that skippy with fried rice and sambal at 6 in the morning.And by the way , I mean we buy , you know organic , free range, blah blah eggs, but the eggs in Indonesia!!! DUDE!! OK for dinner ...nasi goreng with a soft yolk egg, OMG! heaven.
Allright, so from Jakarta we flew to Hong Kong and stayed at the airport hotel there, this time cause the airline screwed up.....so they payed for most things, but Hong Kong being what it is still cost us a fair or unfair amount of money. From there we flew to San Francisco and then to home. Of course, the flight from Hong Kong was an hour early, when does that ever happen? then we had 8 hrs in San Francisco and then of course our flight to Pasco was an hour late.
All in all, we would go back to Indonesia in a heartbeat, the people are wonderful and friendly, the country is beautiful, and well.... it's cheap once you get there. AND the diving is GREAT!!!!!
I'm not sure how much more we're going to write on this blog , but I did want to share short stories with you as I remenber things , you know how it is, something triggers your memory, about something you had forgotten. Like the woman harvesting rice in the rice paddie out the back of our hotel in Ubud, clothed head to toe, working her ass off in the midday sun, and then TADDUH...... pulling her pants down and peeing, love culture.
love you all
carrie and glen
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Pringles
As you may know or not know, Pringles are pretty much everywhere and for the most part , we have decided that the sour cream and onion flavour, is probably the best you can do. They do however have a couple of flavours we have never seen before. Seaweed and soft shell crab flavours, nope , haven't had the guts to try them, so we can't tell you if they're good. To be honest, the only really dissappointing thing about Indonesia has been their junk food, it either tastes different from the stuff we're used to, or if really doesn't taste all that good.
love to all from
glen and carrie
love to all from
glen and carrie
Bunaken Village Resort
Helllo to All,
We are back to Manado on Sulawesi after a week on Bunaken Island and no Internet, there was internet WIFI at the resort, but we aren't travelling with our own computer, so we were 'INCOMMUNICADO' as the Jimmy Buffett song goes!
Bunaken Island was absolutely beautiful, at least the parts we saw. The village and the homes are kept with pride, and the people, as everywhere in Indonesia, very friendly.
Most people go to Bunaken to dive, so the resorts there are mostly 'inclusive' with lodgings and three meals. We stayed at Bunaken Village Resort, in a lovely cottage with a big deck and hammock. Meals were served in an open dining area, where all the guests sat down to eat at a table together. The resort had a nice little pool, with saltwater, as fresh water is a precious commodity on Bunaken. The inn is run by Jochem and his wife Angelina. Jochem is originally from Holland, and Angelina is from Java. They are expecting there first baby, and poor tiny Angelina is only 7 months pregnant along with an uncomfortably HUGE belly! We hope for the very best for them with the new baby!
We also met Vim & Corry, a couple from Holland, who are frequent travellers, and had some great stories to share. They are retired now, so they travel as much as they can, as the list of places still to visit is long!!! We wish them long lives, good health, and happy travels. I hope that our paths will meet again!
We had heard from diving friends that Sulawesi was a great Diving destination, and I must say, it is without a doubt the most incredible diving that we have ever done! Not a lot of BIG stuff in the places we dove, although we did see a few sharks and some HUGE sea turtles. The sheer volume & variety of corals, anenomes, fish, and strange 'critters' was astounding.
And David, here is one for you, we saw a bright yellow frog fish actually moving!!! We watched him sort of waddle along the wall for a few feet by sort of gripping the wall with his stubby little fins and moving himself along. It was a very exciting find. When OPOS, our dive master told the guys back at the shop, they didn't believe him! For those of you who have never seen a frog fish (or angler fish as they are sometimes called) they pretty much just sit like a bump on a log in the same place, blending in with background, and are very difficult to see. Often, they will stay right there in the same place for weeks or months, so seeing one actually moving from one place to another is indeed rare! (I know, we divers are a bit weird, the things we get excited about!)
For both friends and strangers who may have found this post, we highly recommended BUNAKEN VILLAGE RESORT for both diving and relaxing, if you happen to be heading to Sulawesi, Indonesia. Beautiful, clean, relaxing, & the greatest staff ever!
Cheery Wave,
Carrie
We are back to Manado on Sulawesi after a week on Bunaken Island and no Internet, there was internet WIFI at the resort, but we aren't travelling with our own computer, so we were 'INCOMMUNICADO' as the Jimmy Buffett song goes!
Bunaken Island was absolutely beautiful, at least the parts we saw. The village and the homes are kept with pride, and the people, as everywhere in Indonesia, very friendly.
Most people go to Bunaken to dive, so the resorts there are mostly 'inclusive' with lodgings and three meals. We stayed at Bunaken Village Resort, in a lovely cottage with a big deck and hammock. Meals were served in an open dining area, where all the guests sat down to eat at a table together. The resort had a nice little pool, with saltwater, as fresh water is a precious commodity on Bunaken. The inn is run by Jochem and his wife Angelina. Jochem is originally from Holland, and Angelina is from Java. They are expecting there first baby, and poor tiny Angelina is only 7 months pregnant along with an uncomfortably HUGE belly! We hope for the very best for them with the new baby!
We also met Vim & Corry, a couple from Holland, who are frequent travellers, and had some great stories to share. They are retired now, so they travel as much as they can, as the list of places still to visit is long!!! We wish them long lives, good health, and happy travels. I hope that our paths will meet again!
We had heard from diving friends that Sulawesi was a great Diving destination, and I must say, it is without a doubt the most incredible diving that we have ever done! Not a lot of BIG stuff in the places we dove, although we did see a few sharks and some HUGE sea turtles. The sheer volume & variety of corals, anenomes, fish, and strange 'critters' was astounding.
And David, here is one for you, we saw a bright yellow frog fish actually moving!!! We watched him sort of waddle along the wall for a few feet by sort of gripping the wall with his stubby little fins and moving himself along. It was a very exciting find. When OPOS, our dive master told the guys back at the shop, they didn't believe him! For those of you who have never seen a frog fish (or angler fish as they are sometimes called) they pretty much just sit like a bump on a log in the same place, blending in with background, and are very difficult to see. Often, they will stay right there in the same place for weeks or months, so seeing one actually moving from one place to another is indeed rare! (I know, we divers are a bit weird, the things we get excited about!)
For both friends and strangers who may have found this post, we highly recommended BUNAKEN VILLAGE RESORT for both diving and relaxing, if you happen to be heading to Sulawesi, Indonesia. Beautiful, clean, relaxing, & the greatest staff ever!
Cheery Wave,
Carrie
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Random Too
OK , so we're in a mall at the internet place with a zillion kids playing games on the computers, must be a hundred computers here. But they charge like $2 /HR so we ain't complaining. Manado is kind of growing on us, it seems quite nice, pretty clean (lots of garbage as always, but that's every where.) and surprise, lots of crosses, we're guessing it's fairly christian here and the dress!!... first time we've seen short skirts anywhere, no cleavage still but lots of leg. We are going to make another move tomorrow over to Palau Bunaken for a week of diving before.....insert lots of crying and over dramatic wailing here (wailing, does anybody use wailing anymore, or for that matter, does anybody really still wail) we have to come home. Not sure on the reliability of the internet over there, so this may be one our last posts for a while.
I just wanted to comment on a few things that happened a while back. So on Gilli Air , there were a ton of cats , but it seemed like only one dog, who followed tourists around, I'm guessing, hoping to get a meal and yes, he knew which people were tourists. Speaking of dogs, apparently they serve dog here in the local market, apparently a local delicacy. I keep saying apparently, because we're not going anywhere near that.
OK this is stupid glen stuff, but I'm sure the Jimm's crew can relate. We're at a restaurant in Ubud, relatively speaking, the restaurants there are a little more expensive, but really, still quite cheap. So I order a salad to start and the whole snapper as an entree. After taking our order the waitress comes back and PRESETS my cutlery, FROM THE OUTSIDE IN!! ( I wish I could get bigger capitals right now) AND SHE BRINGS!!!!....A FISH KNIFE!!! whens the last time you even saw a fish knife. I started tearing up right there, and this is in flippin Indonesia, in the middle of nowhere Bali. By the way, the waitress at the restaurant where we ate last night, preset our cutlery as well. on the other hand if they're flirting with boys, or talking to someone else, you pretty much have to throw rocks at them to get some service.
I can't think of what else I wanted to write about......Oh wait , ok one more for dad.
Just cause I know dad might get a kick out of this , ( carrie didn't really think it was that cool) on the way to Manado we flew on a MD80, I remember these planes from my childhood ( of course indicating how old this plane must be!!!) MD stands for Mcdonell Douglas, which of course no longer exists.I was thinking more of childhood memories rather than the age of the plane, Carrie the other way round.
That's all I got for know, hope everyone's well
love to all
carrie and glen
I just wanted to comment on a few things that happened a while back. So on Gilli Air , there were a ton of cats , but it seemed like only one dog, who followed tourists around, I'm guessing, hoping to get a meal and yes, he knew which people were tourists. Speaking of dogs, apparently they serve dog here in the local market, apparently a local delicacy. I keep saying apparently, because we're not going anywhere near that.
OK this is stupid glen stuff, but I'm sure the Jimm's crew can relate. We're at a restaurant in Ubud, relatively speaking, the restaurants there are a little more expensive, but really, still quite cheap. So I order a salad to start and the whole snapper as an entree. After taking our order the waitress comes back and PRESETS my cutlery, FROM THE OUTSIDE IN!! ( I wish I could get bigger capitals right now) AND SHE BRINGS!!!!....A FISH KNIFE!!! whens the last time you even saw a fish knife. I started tearing up right there, and this is in flippin Indonesia, in the middle of nowhere Bali. By the way, the waitress at the restaurant where we ate last night, preset our cutlery as well. on the other hand if they're flirting with boys, or talking to someone else, you pretty much have to throw rocks at them to get some service.
I can't think of what else I wanted to write about......Oh wait , ok one more for dad.
Just cause I know dad might get a kick out of this , ( carrie didn't really think it was that cool) on the way to Manado we flew on a MD80, I remember these planes from my childhood ( of course indicating how old this plane must be!!!) MD stands for Mcdonell Douglas, which of course no longer exists.I was thinking more of childhood memories rather than the age of the plane, Carrie the other way round.
That's all I got for know, hope everyone's well
love to all
carrie and glen
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
VISA Extension ~ Indonesian Government in Action!
Glen and I are currently in Manado, on the Island of Sulawesi. We are staying in a ridiculously expensive (for here) Five Star Hotel in a corner suite with floor to ceiling picture windows, a small living room, a huge marble tiled bathroom, and a great bed. We ended up here, because we tried to get our Visa extended in Mataram, before flying here, only to find out the process took three days, and we had already booked our flight to Manado, the jump off spot for what is supposed to be some really great diving.
So, to back up a bit, back in January, when we booked our airline tickets for our trip, we didn't know that a tourist VISA here is for only 30 days. A bit silly, when you consider the size of Indonesia. Really, it would be like trying to see America in only 30 days. The VISA situation here in Indonesia seems to change with the wind, and after much research we heard that, starting in 2010, you could extend your visa for an additional 30 days, or you could apply before traveling for a 60 day VISA, which required mailing off passports, lots of paperwork, and paying about $200.00 each. So we decided, to just apply for an extension once here. We figured we could always just book a quick flight to Malaysia or Singapore, and back again to get a new VISA ON ARRIVAL if we had to.
So anyway, when we left Gili Air (Perfectly wonderful!), we thought we would just go to the immigration office in Mataram, apply for a visa extension, pay some money, and be on our way. We went to the the Immigration Office, where there was very little english spoken, they kept pointing us in one direction than another, they helped us fill our our paperwork, took our passports, and said come back in 3 days. We said we had to leave the next day because we had already paid for plane tickets. We retrieved our passports, and he said no problem, just take the paperwork to the immigration office when we got to Manado.
Forward to Manado~
We flew to Manado on Wednesday morning, checked into our hotel, and got a cab to the immigration office. We hoped that we could turn our paper work in, and that it would get processed by Friday, so we could move on with our travels. Luckily we asked our cab driver to wait. We went in, found out we needed to fill out entirely different paperwork, and then the guy said come back tomorrow. I asked HOW long until we had our VISA, he said, after we turned it in, it would be 3 days. I insisted that we needed to finish the paperwork that day, so we could get the VISA on Friday, otherwise we would have to wait until Monday. At least I assume, I tried to find out if they were open on Saturday, but the language barrier wasn't to helpful. Then, the immigration officer asked who our sponsor was! We said we didn't know we needed one. He suggested the manager at our Hotel. Well, we are staying in a five star hotel, so I presume the manager had better things to do than spend several hours at the immigration office with us. Glen went out and asked the waiting Cab Driver if he would do it. He said he would, so he came in, there was much discussion between the cab driver and immigration officer in Bahasa Indonesian. Glen went outside with the driver, who ended up taking Glen on a short drive to find a couple other guys, much discussion ensued among them about whether they should help us. (All of this of course is going on in a language we don't understand, and of course we don't know whether to trust them, and they aren't really sure whether to trust us.) Legally as a sponsor, they are responsible if we decide to engage in drug trafficking (punishable by death ~ although we have been offered a lot of marijuana since our arrival, but I digress). In the end, one of the guys signed all the paperwork to be our sponsor, even though we didn't even know his name, and actually never found out what it was. After a couple hours of this, we had the paper work filled out and the immigration officer told us 'come back tomorrow at 10:00am. I was extremely happy that we weren't asked to relinquish our passports at this juncture.
So we went outside, and paid the two guys the cab driver had picked up 100,000 rupiah (~$11.00). The driver took us back to our hotel, where we paid him the cab fee plus an additional 100,000 rupiah, which he looked shocked to receive, and arranged for him to pick us back up this morning.
At 9:45 am on the dot, we walked out the door of our hotel as Frangky Kalalo, our cab driver, arrived. We went back to the immigration office, and Frangky went and got the guy who was our sponser (Still don't know his name!) After much waiting around, we went to the office of one of the immigration guys who spoke again to our sponsor about his responsibility (AT THIS POINT OF COURSE, EVERYONE IN THE IMMIGRATION OFFICE KNOWS THAT WE DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW HIM, AND HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY CLUE ABOUT US EITHER). We go through a rather mild, but still nerve racking 'interrogation' about what we are doing in Indonesia, are we on holiday or business, are we married? The 'nice' immigration man says many people who come to Indonesia turn out to be criminals. I tell him we are good, not criminals, after a while he seems to be satisfied, says it is OK to get an extension and sort of waves us away. We pay another 200,000 rupiah, (about $22.00) which I guess is an 'Administration Fee' they wrote it down in a notebook, but I think perhaps this money is actually going to the official.
They take our passports and send us downstairs to wait some more. So we sit, and wait, and wait and wait, all the while not really having any idea where in the process we are.
Finally, after they have made us wait for what seemed like an appropriate amount of time, they give us our passports, with a new 'stamp', collect some more money from us, tell us to go across the street to get a photo copy (which our cab driver does for us) and then say OK, GOODBYE!
We tried to give our cab driver and additional 100,000 rupiah for his help when he dropped us off, but he refused, saying 'NEXTIME'.
SO in the end, we got out Visa extension in two (somewhat stressful) days. (Did I mention the detention cell we passed on the way to our interrogation?)
As the saying goes "All's Well that Ends Well"
Cheery Wave,
Carrie
So, to back up a bit, back in January, when we booked our airline tickets for our trip, we didn't know that a tourist VISA here is for only 30 days. A bit silly, when you consider the size of Indonesia. Really, it would be like trying to see America in only 30 days. The VISA situation here in Indonesia seems to change with the wind, and after much research we heard that, starting in 2010, you could extend your visa for an additional 30 days, or you could apply before traveling for a 60 day VISA, which required mailing off passports, lots of paperwork, and paying about $200.00 each. So we decided, to just apply for an extension once here. We figured we could always just book a quick flight to Malaysia or Singapore, and back again to get a new VISA ON ARRIVAL if we had to.
So anyway, when we left Gili Air (Perfectly wonderful!), we thought we would just go to the immigration office in Mataram, apply for a visa extension, pay some money, and be on our way. We went to the the Immigration Office, where there was very little english spoken, they kept pointing us in one direction than another, they helped us fill our our paperwork, took our passports, and said come back in 3 days. We said we had to leave the next day because we had already paid for plane tickets. We retrieved our passports, and he said no problem, just take the paperwork to the immigration office when we got to Manado.
Forward to Manado~
We flew to Manado on Wednesday morning, checked into our hotel, and got a cab to the immigration office. We hoped that we could turn our paper work in, and that it would get processed by Friday, so we could move on with our travels. Luckily we asked our cab driver to wait. We went in, found out we needed to fill out entirely different paperwork, and then the guy said come back tomorrow. I asked HOW long until we had our VISA, he said, after we turned it in, it would be 3 days. I insisted that we needed to finish the paperwork that day, so we could get the VISA on Friday, otherwise we would have to wait until Monday. At least I assume, I tried to find out if they were open on Saturday, but the language barrier wasn't to helpful. Then, the immigration officer asked who our sponsor was! We said we didn't know we needed one. He suggested the manager at our Hotel. Well, we are staying in a five star hotel, so I presume the manager had better things to do than spend several hours at the immigration office with us. Glen went out and asked the waiting Cab Driver if he would do it. He said he would, so he came in, there was much discussion between the cab driver and immigration officer in Bahasa Indonesian. Glen went outside with the driver, who ended up taking Glen on a short drive to find a couple other guys, much discussion ensued among them about whether they should help us. (All of this of course is going on in a language we don't understand, and of course we don't know whether to trust them, and they aren't really sure whether to trust us.) Legally as a sponsor, they are responsible if we decide to engage in drug trafficking (punishable by death ~ although we have been offered a lot of marijuana since our arrival, but I digress). In the end, one of the guys signed all the paperwork to be our sponsor, even though we didn't even know his name, and actually never found out what it was. After a couple hours of this, we had the paper work filled out and the immigration officer told us 'come back tomorrow at 10:00am. I was extremely happy that we weren't asked to relinquish our passports at this juncture.
So we went outside, and paid the two guys the cab driver had picked up 100,000 rupiah (~$11.00). The driver took us back to our hotel, where we paid him the cab fee plus an additional 100,000 rupiah, which he looked shocked to receive, and arranged for him to pick us back up this morning.
At 9:45 am on the dot, we walked out the door of our hotel as Frangky Kalalo, our cab driver, arrived. We went back to the immigration office, and Frangky went and got the guy who was our sponser (Still don't know his name!) After much waiting around, we went to the office of one of the immigration guys who spoke again to our sponsor about his responsibility (AT THIS POINT OF COURSE, EVERYONE IN THE IMMIGRATION OFFICE KNOWS THAT WE DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW HIM, AND HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY CLUE ABOUT US EITHER). We go through a rather mild, but still nerve racking 'interrogation' about what we are doing in Indonesia, are we on holiday or business, are we married? The 'nice' immigration man says many people who come to Indonesia turn out to be criminals. I tell him we are good, not criminals, after a while he seems to be satisfied, says it is OK to get an extension and sort of waves us away. We pay another 200,000 rupiah, (about $22.00) which I guess is an 'Administration Fee' they wrote it down in a notebook, but I think perhaps this money is actually going to the official.
They take our passports and send us downstairs to wait some more. So we sit, and wait, and wait and wait, all the while not really having any idea where in the process we are.
Finally, after they have made us wait for what seemed like an appropriate amount of time, they give us our passports, with a new 'stamp', collect some more money from us, tell us to go across the street to get a photo copy (which our cab driver does for us) and then say OK, GOODBYE!
We tried to give our cab driver and additional 100,000 rupiah for his help when he dropped us off, but he refused, saying 'NEXTIME'.
SO in the end, we got out Visa extension in two (somewhat stressful) days. (Did I mention the detention cell we passed on the way to our interrogation?)
As the saying goes "All's Well that Ends Well"
Cheery Wave,
Carrie
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
no water
We're planning a move on monday , so we will probably update you a little more then. There's a big party here tonight, people are coming in from Lombok and Bali to attend. It doesn't start until 10 though, so we're going to try and stay up for a little bit of it anyways . Not that we will probably get much sleep.
I just wanted to share a small story, when we rented the place where we're staying now, we found out that the sink in the bathroom had no running water. so I found Jar and told him that we had no water in the bathroom, and he said ..yes broken, no water, shower work though. Ahh yup he was right the shower did work. Oh well. you really don't need the sink anyways.
love to all
carrie and glen
I just wanted to share a small story, when we rented the place where we're staying now, we found out that the sink in the bathroom had no running water. so I found Jar and told him that we had no water in the bathroom, and he said ..yes broken, no water, shower work though. Ahh yup he was right the shower did work. Oh well. you really don't need the sink anyways.
love to all
carrie and glen
Friday, April 2, 2010
Hi David ...Me again
Yup, we're still here , we like it here and well our bags are all unpacked, so it seemed easier to stay than move on. We we're told that the diving here was not very good.....We think we got wrong information. For one thing the water is ridiculuously warm, 89/90 degrees, ok so the reef is not great, the book says from dynamite and cyanide fishing, but really it's still pretty nice. WARNING...it gets kind of dive centric from now on, so you might want to skip down to Carrie's more user friendly blogpost. By the way, we're at a different internet place with lights and no bugs so far, yeah for the small things that give you pleasure. Ok I know none of this stuff sounds as cool as I think it is, but try to imagine being underwater, not being able to communicate except with hand signals, how excited you are about what you just saw and having to keep it in until the end of the dive. And then seeing another really cool thing and totally forgetting what you were just excited about, but knowing your just as excited about seeing this new thing...and again not being able to tell anyone... until you see the next thing. Ok so in my mind, in order of the OH MY GOD , ARE YOU FLIPPIN SEEING THIS, I THINK MY BRAIN IS GONE ,SCALE. ( remember google pictures dad, it might help you visualize) WE SAW PYGMY SEAHORSES, yes plural, they couldn't have been more than an inch long, there was 4 of them on a fan coral and I think one was pregnant. Next were ribbon eels, again plural, they were beautiful, blue and yellow, again pretty small. Napoleanfish, a herd of about 10 or 12 of them, these fish are massive, over 100 lbs , about the size of a 42" flat screen. A juvenile lionfish, black and white and only about 2 inches long, a blacktip reef shark, lots of mature lionfish, scads of frogfish,stonefish. Just oodles of stuff we have never seen before on every dive.Ok one more thing mantis shrimp, very cool too. Ok boring myself , so going to go.
Love to all
carrie and glen
Love to all
carrie and glen
Gili Air continued
I know Glen regaled you with tales of how to get to Gili Air, and a brief introduction to the Island, so I will share a bit of my impressions of this place ~ which we may never leave!!!
Our first night we didn't arrive until about 6:30pm, as it was getting dark. It is a small Island, so we didn't expect to get accosted by the usual throng of people trying to get you to use their transport or stay at their homestay, but we were wrong! We waded on shore (No dock) and were immediately met by a crowd! We succumbed to the offer of a horse drawn cart to our intended bungalows, which ended up being a good idea, as many places were full, and we had to make a few stops. I am relieved I wasn't hiking all the way with my backpack on. We ended up just taking the first available place, which was not that great, but a large room, with a fan. When, we put down our backpacks and I went to wash my face, I found that there was only brackish salt water running through the tap! Our first night was not so great. We wandered down the road, found the dive shop which was still open, and arranged to go diving the next morning, which was Glen's birthday.
When morning dawned (And believe me, you do wake up with the sun around here) we packed up our stuff and set off toward breakfast and the dive shop. On the way, we passed Corner Bungalows, which was one of the recommended places in Lonely Planet, the rooms turned out to be quite nice (with FRESH WATER), so we took a room, went back to our other place and grabbed our backpacks, and had everything taken care of before we had to be at the dive shop. Our room is a bamboo bungalow with a thatched roof, sarongs for curtains, lace mosquito nets over the bed (Which we haven't used as there are no mosquitos), and a fan. Also a large hardwood deck with bamboo chaise and a hammock. All for 150,00rupiah (about $17.00US).
Since then we have been diving everyday, meeting great people from all over, and eating our meals in the beach front restaurants. The restaurants all have little bamboo huts with floors raised off the sand, and thatched roofs, where you lounge on pillows, and eat from a low table while seated on the floor. Great for relaxing and watching the moon rise, or the evening lightning storms which have been lighting up the skies since our arrival! Service is terribly slow, but who cares!!!
The islands is flat, but very green, with beautiful cows & goats grazing by the 'roadside' (SAND PATH), and chickens everywhere.
Electricity is fairly iffy here, there isn't really enough to power the entire island at once, so there are rolling 'brown outs'. Luckily, we have been fortunate to have electricity in our room at night, so we have had a fan!
Most of the restaurants have a back-up generator. Cooking is largely on propane burners anyway, but refrigeration can be a bit sketchy!
Well, off to dinner!
Salamet Malam,
Carrie
Our first night we didn't arrive until about 6:30pm, as it was getting dark. It is a small Island, so we didn't expect to get accosted by the usual throng of people trying to get you to use their transport or stay at their homestay, but we were wrong! We waded on shore (No dock) and were immediately met by a crowd! We succumbed to the offer of a horse drawn cart to our intended bungalows, which ended up being a good idea, as many places were full, and we had to make a few stops. I am relieved I wasn't hiking all the way with my backpack on. We ended up just taking the first available place, which was not that great, but a large room, with a fan. When, we put down our backpacks and I went to wash my face, I found that there was only brackish salt water running through the tap! Our first night was not so great. We wandered down the road, found the dive shop which was still open, and arranged to go diving the next morning, which was Glen's birthday.
When morning dawned (And believe me, you do wake up with the sun around here) we packed up our stuff and set off toward breakfast and the dive shop. On the way, we passed Corner Bungalows, which was one of the recommended places in Lonely Planet, the rooms turned out to be quite nice (with FRESH WATER), so we took a room, went back to our other place and grabbed our backpacks, and had everything taken care of before we had to be at the dive shop. Our room is a bamboo bungalow with a thatched roof, sarongs for curtains, lace mosquito nets over the bed (Which we haven't used as there are no mosquitos), and a fan. Also a large hardwood deck with bamboo chaise and a hammock. All for 150,00rupiah (about $17.00US).
Since then we have been diving everyday, meeting great people from all over, and eating our meals in the beach front restaurants. The restaurants all have little bamboo huts with floors raised off the sand, and thatched roofs, where you lounge on pillows, and eat from a low table while seated on the floor. Great for relaxing and watching the moon rise, or the evening lightning storms which have been lighting up the skies since our arrival! Service is terribly slow, but who cares!!!
The islands is flat, but very green, with beautiful cows & goats grazing by the 'roadside' (SAND PATH), and chickens everywhere.
Electricity is fairly iffy here, there isn't really enough to power the entire island at once, so there are rolling 'brown outs'. Luckily, we have been fortunate to have electricity in our room at night, so we have had a fan!
Most of the restaurants have a back-up generator. Cooking is largely on propane burners anyway, but refrigeration can be a bit sketchy!
Well, off to dinner!
Salamet Malam,
Carrie
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