2v013 Indonesia, Gili - Bali - Yogjakarta

I managed to spot a dolphin briefly as we approched Padangbai from Gili islands, and a turtle lazing on the surface. We quickly got our bags at Padangbai and found our shuttle bus to Kuta central. It was a bit of a squeeze to get everyone and their luggage into it, and because the A/C wasn't very strong we were soon all dripping with sweat. The driver moved quickly in and out of the traffic, which particularly on the dual carrageway section is totally clueless with slow-vehicles in the fast lane and barely room in the other lane as it was full of bikes. A lot of the time people just straddled both lanes for no obvious reason. Still, he managed good time until we were on the approaches to Kuta where one lane was out to lay new pipes, and the resultant traffic jam probably added at least 30 minutes to the journey. We were half tempted to be dropped off at the Ibis we'd stayed at before just to escape from the sweat box van. 

Not long after that though it improved and we were dropped off in Central Kuta by the 2002 Bali bombing memorial. We headed down Poppy 2 road and after a quick refreshing cup of ice slush from the A/C'd Circle K we tried a few hotels, settling on Losman Chepsaka 3 which was 225 K per night including a meagre breakfast and has a pool to keep the kids happy. We settled in for a while before the kids hit the pool and stayed there until we managed to pursuade them to come about an hour later and go and get some dinner.

We went down Poppy 2 road and came across a huge new looking plaza with all the usual suspect shops like Starbucks, Topman, Gucci, Dominos etc, to name a few. The kids were entertained briefly by a fountain but they couldn't really play in it as the place was bristling with security guards and scanners. I suppose a legacy of the bombing in 2002. We just walked through to the other side and crossed the road and through the gate in the big wall that separates the beach. We wandered a little way along the beach where a few couples cuddled and a table of very drunk local boys were singing away. We made our way back onto Poppy 2 road and had some pizza and bintangs, entertained briefly by a rat scuttling about. We wandered back, sharing the footpath with motorcycles and tourist because the road was blocked. We bought some more little skirt-shorts for girls, similar to ones I'd bought them on Gili, and Eunmi bought a pair of the lightweight genie style pants. 

We all had a fairly good sleep on the comfortable beds with the fan on full blast and curtains and windows open. I think the boys that patrolled the hotel emptying bins and sweeping the floors may have had a bit of an eyeful as Eunmi and I lay there starkers trying to stay cool. Never mind!

Next morning we were all up by 7.30 am and waiting for breakfast at 8. It wasn't much, a few bits of toast and butter, some banana, with tea and coffee. The kids immediately wanted to get into the pool, so I went and did all the washing and hung it out.
I went out a bit later, dragging myself past the massage girls trying to get me into their parlours and bought some chicken noodle soup for the girls which had no MSG thankfully. It was very good and they quickly scoffed that and went back to the pool.

While I'd been away a bloke had come to the hotel hawking some bone carvings and Eunmi had bought two for £60. They were cow bones and incredibly elaborately carved. Apparently it took about 2 weeks or more to carve each one. They'll be a nice addition to our shelf of travel things.

While Eunmi was out getting massage, I looked after the girls and got them some ice cream and chocolate to keep their energy up because they'd never left the pool! After about 3 hrs Eunmi was back, looking glowing after a massage, facial  and nail and pedicure, where the'd also painted her nails a bright orange with little flowers on the finger nails.
I was keen to hear if the massage was any good to decide if I should go for one. Sounded OK, an oil massage, but not as good as a Thai massage.



We had a fairly early meal that evening, at a warung I found. It was pretty good food and back at the hotel we managed to get the girls to bed and asleep earlier than usual because we had the prospect of waking up at 4 am to catch the 5.50 flight to Jogyakarta.

We were woken by 3 alarms we'd set to ensure we'd wake up and were soon packed ready to go. We managed to wake the girls and got ourselves and our luggage outside just as the taxi we'd booked had arrived at 4.30.