Bali - (Pemuteran, Kuta Beach) and Singapore

It was time for a new adventure as we are on our way to Pemuteran, a small city on the northwest side of Bali to spend a week of diving. The trip took about 2 1/2 hour on windy roads through small villages doted along the coast and through Bali's second larges city Singaraja before arriving at our destination the Adi Assari Resort.



We arrived at the hotel and were met by sunshine, which we had been waiting for after all the rain and thunder showers, and best of all a sandy beach (the Tulamben beach area was just rocks)! After an afternoon in the sun it was time to dive, at the resort we found the dive centre Sea Rovers.



I was met with big smiles and laughter and this is how it was every day! I would be diving without Jorunn the first two days as she was out with a cold, we had some very good dives and my dive guide Made was great at finding things and we had lot's of laughs. Dive sites we visited were: Deep reef, Napoleon reef, Pos1, Pos2, the Temple (the last three were at Menjangan island), and Secret bay.



One place we dived was Secret bay which is a 40 minute drive to the town of Gilimanuk, this is where people catch the ferry to Java and when you look west you see the three towering volcanic peaks on the other side. Secret bay is a typical muck dive where there is lot's of garbage lying around. Now this dive was not very deep, only 8 meters, mainly sand, some garbage and some coral here and there. Most people would not want to dive here but they would have missed a lot of interesting stuff.



What you can see here: Frogfish, seahorses, sea snakes, snake eels, moray eels, devil scorpion fish, cockatoo waspfish, crocodilefish, banggai cardinal fish, anemone shrimp and thousands of small fish under the pier. You know this is a shallow dive when you're trying to take a picture and the kids jumping off the pier start pulling on your fins to have some fun!



When not diving we spent our time lying in the sun and working on getting a tan and walking on the beach as we knew at some we would have to go back to the Norwegian winter. Also the resort was really nice and relaxing, with good food. There were two places down the beach that were interesting: one was the turtle sanctuary where they helped injured turtles and had a hatchery for turtle eggs so that they have a better chance to survive.



The second place was out in the water for the most part and this had to do with coral growth, this was where they set up metal structures with a small electric charge going through it and adding small pieces of coral around it to start a new coral reef or help with damaged areas (the electric current stimulates the coral to grow faster).





After a week of diving and enjoying the sunshine it was time to move as we wanted to spend some time on a white sandy beach instead of the volcanic black sandy beaches of the north. Our drive south became more of a guided tour instead of driving directly to Legian, just north of Kuta Beach. We drove along the coast past the Monkey Temple (we did not stop to monkey around) before we started up the steep green volcanic sloops. The higher we went, the more we could see of the steep valleys covered in tropical green forest speckled with rice fields, we passed through many small villages as the road got windyer and windyer with lot's of hair pin turns.



At our first stop we walked through the tropical forest for 500 meters to reach a towering water fall (Munduk waterfall) that fell through trees thundering into a stream below throwing up a fine mist into the surrounding area. As we continued our ride up and over the volcanic slopes we reached the top where there is a drop in temperature as we drive into the clouds.



Suddenly there were a lot of old Volkswagen Beetles (boble in Norwegian), apparently a veteran car run, not what we would have expected in the mountain areas of Bali. When the fog breaks we can see the valley floor with two large lakes, we also had traffic that we later found was due to a holiday. On the way down we saw people by the road feeding groups of monkeys before we reached the valley floor. We decided not to stop at the temple by the lake because of the crowds, we met more and more traffic as we neared our destination.



The check-in in at Legian was very frustrating as we arrived at one, tired and sweaty after a long drive, but check-in time was two so we had some lunch and waited, while Jorunn used the computer to kill some time I sat in reception, after two I noticed that new people had arrived and received welcome drinks and not long after were taken to their rooms. After this had happened three times and it was two thirty, I went to reception to ask and soon realised that they had forgotten us and the room had been ready for some time :-( )



We took a long walk on the beach and later had a a very filling dinner at a place call Blossom. One of the people working there had worked on a cruise ship just like me so we had long enjoyable chat about life after working on a cruise ship and life on Bali. After dinner we wobbled around a bit to digest our food before heading back to our hotel room.



The next day we headed right to the beach after breakfast as time was getting short and we wanted to get as much sun as possible before we headed home. In the late afternoon we went to do some shopping at Rip Curl, Billabong, Quicksilver, Roxy as things are sooo much cheaper here (Jorunn found three tops that cost just as much as one in Norway, and there's a lot of variety). The taxi ride took forever due to traffic, as always, but saved a very sweaty walk, but we did walk back as the sun was going down and it wasn't as hot and sticky.




Going out to eat at night is an experience as the streest are narrow and with cars and scooters parked in one lane there was even less room. To make things worse there were stalls everywhere with people trying to get you attention to get you to buy something (t-shirts, handbags, watches, sunglasses and lot's of other stuff) or have a massage. Now this was fun enough dodging car and hawks, now come the fun part, when you first find a nice quiet sidewalk beware as I found out that the scooters use the sidewalks to sneak past the traffic (when the scooters came Jorunn would move out of the way while I just kept on walking, had three scooters behind me once).




This is Asia at it's best, chaos, fun, challenging, frightening, frustrating, OH what a life! Time to leave Bali so we packed our gear and headed down to the beach for a little more sun before we fly back to Singapore.



Back in Singapore we stayed at a small hotel, South East Asia Hotel in Bugis where we had stayed on another trip, and after a short rest headed out to Raffles for a good Chinese meal (great food in Singapore) and to walk around a bit. Our last day in Singapore (our fight was leaving at 23:50) was spent on Sentosa Island, which is great way to spend the day as they have beaches, restaurants, shops and lot's of activities.



In the end it was time to leave so we had quick meal in the Raffles area before heading back to the hotel to pick up our baggage and later to the airport. On this flight we got lucky and we each had two seats and slept fairly well and after a stop in Istanbul we arrived home to minus 18 degrees the next morning. As it was 32 degress in Singapore that made for a 50 degree difference. I was really tempted to jump on the Thai Airways plane parked next us leaving for Thailand that evening.

Bali - Tulamben

We arrived in sunny Bali and were soon on our way. The drive to Tulamben is a bit of a wild ride as the roads are chaotic with scooters weaving in and out of traffic and our driver also weaving in and out of traffic even faster. We made it out of the city traffic in one piece but now it was time for the small roads winding along through lush green volcanic hills and small villages. It was a very nerve-racking ride as the roads were very winding, it was getting dark, there were people walking by the roadside and worst of all our driver passing at high speed. After a short stop for dinner we finally arrived in Tulamben Wreck Divers Resort close to the wreck of the Liberty.




The next day it was time to dive, but not for me as I was still having problems with my sinuses, so Jorunn decided she would dive without me as she had not dived here before and I have. The Liberty wreck lays pretty shallow and starts at about 8 meters and down to 30 and bit more. There is always stuff to see on this wreck and it usually takes several dives to see it all, another good thing about the wreck is that is so shallow that mostly you can snorkle and see quite a bit of the wreck. Some of the things that you can find are; Pygmy seahorses, large schools of jackfish (up to 300), humphead parrotfish, leaf fish, lot's of nudibranch and much, much more. For the rest of the week we spent a lot of time diving places like Coral Garden, the Wall, Seraya Secret (This is were you find the small and strange things like boxer crabs, harlequin shrimps, Coleman shrimps, tiger shrimps, pygmy seahorse, ghostpipefish). Just a quick note: for the dive industry to help more of the locals the dive tanks are transported by the locals and they are being paid for this to help the local economy, at one time it was only women, now it's men and women, some carry two to three tanks, two on their heads.




Tulamben was very wet and more than once there were large streams running down the main street, but probably the worst part were the thunder storms late at night. The worst night was when awoke by a very loud bang and all the windows were shaking, after the first boom there was a bright light that lit up the whole room and then a load bang that shook the room. What an exciting half hour, the rest of the stay was spent mostly eating, diving and sleeping (for Jorunn it was mostly eating that was important). We had decided earlier that we would see more of Bali so it was time for a road trip.




We took off the in the same direction that we came (nice to see the road during the day light) and now we could see the Gunung Agung volcano (over 3124 meters high and active) that towers over the countryside, as we passed through the lush green countryside there were many small villages and hills covered in rice fields. Our first stop was the Tirta Gangga water temple. When we arrived we decided not to have a guide and entered through the front gate and gazed upon the beautiful pools, fountains and statues. On our right we saw a large pool where you can walk on stepping stones around the pool around fountains as if you were walking on water. This was a very pretty and well-kept temple and you felt a quiet peacefulness here but it was time to move on as we had a long drive and lot's to see.




Driving up steep and winding sloops we reach our next stop, The Mother Temple. This a very old temple and a bit tricky to visit but well worth it. The Tricky part: Our driver told us that to get into the temple you have to wear a sarong with a colour sash and men had to wear a traditional head wear, so we were taken to a shop to get these items (the driver probably has a deal so he gets commission and things were very overpriced). We were dressed to impress or be laughed at and we went to pay to get into the temple. They insisted that we need a guide (the Lonely Planet Guide and the driver also said we did not need a guide), so after a short discussion that was getting nowhere we just walked on in without a problem and started the walk uphill to the temple.

We walked up passing shops with lot's of souvenirs and of course sarongs, we finally made it to the temple entrance and were met by more guides and kids and grownups trying to sell us anything from postcards to large wooden carvings and continued all the steps up throughout the temple. The temple is built on a hillside with a fantastic view over the lowlands that look like green carpet. I will not spend too much time on the temple itself as it will take to long and we will post some pictures. Walking back we met a group of men, women and children on their way to some kind of ceremony and they were very happy and most of them smiled and greeted us as they went on their way and strangely enough after that no one bothered us.




Once back at the car we returned my hat (no refund) and set off through the hills and up to the ridge of the Gunung Batur crate . What a site, this was fantastic, when standing at the lookout to see a large crater with a large lake on the right side and on the left an active volcano that does erupt from time to time and see how the lava has flowed down the side. You can actually take tours and hike up the sides of the volcano and have a look but only in the quiet periods. As we drove further we were met by many buses(this a very popular place to visit) and large restaurants packed with visitors and once again where our driver tried to make some extra cash for stopping at the right place, so we joined the crowds and got a table overlooking the lake and volcano before heading back the windy mountain roads back to the hotel.




The following day we were thinking of diving the one last time but I was having sinus problems and Jorunn had caught a cold so we put our things out to dry as we would be leaving the next day. Sadly we found out afterwards that the group diving that morning had seen a sunfish or Mola Mola which are hard to find and usually live very deep in the ocean. This was a bit sad but that's life!

Singapore

On a sunny but cold day with -7 we wheeled our bags to the bus stop for a ride to the airport and the trip begins. After a short stop in Istanbul we finally reach Singapore in the late afternoon, with a quick and efficient breeze through passport control and customs. It was warm outside but raining which would last one and a half days.

After a good night's sleep we had breakfast, then headed out into the rain, we took a taxi to Orchard Road to shop as this was the best thing to do in the rain. The first shopping item was umbrellas as this is the rainy season and we might need them in Bali, our next stop. After a morning of shopping of course it was time for Jounn's favorite time, food (lunch), and she had been looking into places to eat. The place was crowded but we found a couple of seats at the bar and had a wonderful meal with chili crab, and fine old wines in the cellar behind us. Done shopping we head back to the room as all this air conditioning is gettting to my sinuses and will soon have some bad effects.

In the evening we once again braved the rain and headed to China Town for dinner and the sights. As it was close to Chinese New Year the streets were filled with tourists and Chinese, the tourists were looking for souvenires and the Chinese were buying things in prepartion for the year of the rabbit. After a good meal we once again headed out in the streets as there was a short letup in the rain, but by then there were even more people in the streets and the rain was back so we headed back to the hotel.

The rain got worse the next day so after beakfast we did a strange thing, we went to the exercise room for a nice little work-out (first time in a hotel), which felt good but my sinuses were getting worse and I had a little bit of a cough (shit).
That evening we met friends from Norway/Thailand (Svein and Tam) in Little India for dinner. We took the MRT and came to a very different world. It was like arriving in India with bustling streets with mostly small Indian shops and restaurants lining the streets and traffic racing in all directions, but still the order of Singapore. We walked for a while to see and hear the sights and sounds, when Svein and Tam arrived we went for dinner to a place called the Banana Leaf. This was fairly crowded, as we sat down we each received a banana leaf to eat on. Svein ordered several dishes and when our food was ready a man came out with several large pots and started spooning out rice and other Indian goodies. This was good fun and very tasty, there were steadily new arrivals in this place, the lively sound of people and a satisfied smile of well fed people. After dinner as we walked back to Svein and Tam's car we walked pass a few of the trendier places where we saw that banana leafs wree placed on a plate instead of on the table and we wondered if they had to pay more for that. We headed off to a wine bar in Changi where we had some good wine and caught up a bit on what has been happening before we departed as the next morning we were off to Bali. We didn't take any pictures in Singapore, mainly as it was just wet, wet, wet.