Hello/Hej (Eng/Swe). This blog might be a bit longer than previous ones ;) After a lot of different adventures I am now finally back in "civilization" and that’s Bali, Kuta Beach to be precise :) So many "happenings" during the last weeks but here are a few stories for all of you out there...
Mr Larsson (yep, that’s me) got off the flight in Denpasar airport (Bali) and met Jessica (USA) and Abi (INDIA) and the 3 of us shared a taxi down to Kuta town. 3 days and a lot of beer, tequila and frozen margaritas later I had to leave the "marathon" and moved on (a full day trip) to the famous Gili Islands.
Gili is the place for all of you who like mushrooms and I am not talking about "Karl Johans". Since there is no police (coppers, for you Australians) on the Islands, drugs are all sort off sold right in the bars and that’s pretty crazy (if you’d ask me). Nevertheless there are other things to do (Diving is big here). On a snorkelling trip I met the "the Gothenburg gang" (y'all now how you are ;) and together we partied away the Gili Full Moon Party until 4 AM (got a full day hangover from that for sure :) *worth it though*
Gili is fun for a day or three (my opinion) and after a few days I bought a ticket for a 4day/4night boat trip to go all the way from Lombok Island to Flores including stops for snorkelling and visit to Komodo and Rinca Islands - that’s where the famous Komodo Dragons hides out (actually this is the only places in the world where you can find them). On the boat we where 8 TOURISTAS (that’s a "funny" movie for travellers) and 5 crew men and together we had a great journey. There were only two "bad" things and the first was me getting ripped of buying Malaria Tablets from a Pharmacy. I paid 85.000 (about 10 USD) but the price should be about 3000 - fu**ing annoying. Second thing was the rocky ride second night on the boat - not for the ones with a weak heart or tendency for sea sickness ;) (I was okay though)
After beautiful sunsets from the boat, snorkelling and Dragons we arrived in Laubuanbajo (Flores) and I singed up with Reef seekers (divecenter) for a full day diving and what an amazing day/dive that was. We did two dives in Komodo National Park with beautiful sites (Crystal Rock) and so much to see; Bump heads, Octopus, Napoleons, Baby sharks, Biggest Trigger I ever saw, Giant Grouper, and 3 manta rays where one of the stayed with us for 20 (yapp: 20) minutes - I am truly blessed to get to experience that. Surfaced with 20 bar left and 74 minutes dive time according to my computer. Em and Maddie, its a shame you girls couldn’t make it - you so missed out, that dives are right on the top list together with Sipadan/Borneo (read more about that in 08-Borneo)
Met Sam(uel) - an Ozzy, from Darwin - on the 4d/4n boat and we decided to travel together as far east as Possible and then take a flight back to Denpasar around 20:th. So there we are the next morning 5:30AM waiting for the local 11 hours bus ride with Rico and Jules (two German brothers who lived in Sydney for the last 2 years). The four off us together made an 8 days journey I would never do again, but never the less don’t regret doing and here is the short story:
11 hours on a local overloaded (cramped) bus ride with half of the bus puking there guts out. Next day private car with driver and visit to local village and hot springs (!). Next day the driver never showed up (we didn’t loose any money, but time). Arranged a new car with driver, struggled with airline tickets (couldn’t get any) and then Kelimutu "the three coloured lakes" was to cloudy to see.. continued all the way to Maumere town. Found out the next day that all domestic flights are sold out two weeks ahead, so there is only one option left: BACKTRACK :( all the way back to Bali (for the same money an 2 hours airline ticket would cost) and that took us 5 days = about 64 hours in cars, busses and on boats *exhausting*
So after 8 days (3 + 5 back to Bali) of constant travelling in busses and cars here we are in Bali and I got to say that it feels nice to take a shower. It’s been 3 weeks of only salt water showers and one stop at the hot springs (which was very nice). Might be some volcanoes, scooter-touring and surfing these last days :)
Ahead of me is now Australia and New Zealand, actually I made an amazing deal on flight tickets! How about: Kuala Lumpur - Bali * Bali - Kuala Lumpur * Singapore - Perth * Sydney - Christchurch * Auckland - Brisbane * Darwin - Singapore, all of them International flights and together less than 700 USD.
Today (18:th) I have been travelling for 5 month and right now we (Sam, Jules, Rico and me) are in this chill-out cafe down the beach with free WiFi, looking at the surfers riding the waves, playing cards, enjoying life... ;)
Mr Larsson (yep, that’s me) got off the flight in Denpasar airport (Bali) and met Jessica (USA) and Abi (INDIA) and the 3 of us shared a taxi down to Kuta town. 3 days and a lot of beer, tequila and frozen margaritas later I had to leave the "marathon" and moved on (a full day trip) to the famous Gili Islands.
Gili is the place for all of you who like mushrooms and I am not talking about "Karl Johans". Since there is no police (coppers, for you Australians) on the Islands, drugs are all sort off sold right in the bars and that’s pretty crazy (if you’d ask me). Nevertheless there are other things to do (Diving is big here). On a snorkelling trip I met the "the Gothenburg gang" (y'all now how you are ;) and together we partied away the Gili Full Moon Party until 4 AM (got a full day hangover from that for sure :) *worth it though*Gili is fun for a day or three (my opinion) and after a few days I bought a ticket for a 4day/4night boat trip to go all the way from Lombok Island to Flores including stops for snorkelling and visit to Komodo and Rinca Islands - that’s where the famous Komodo Dragons hides out (actually this is the only places in the world where you can find them). On the boat we where 8 TOURISTAS (that’s a "funny" movie for travellers) and 5 crew men and together we had a great journey. There were only two "bad" things and the first was me getting ripped of buying Malaria Tablets from a Pharmacy. I paid 85.000 (about 10 USD) but the price should be about 3000 - fu**ing annoying. Second thing was the rocky ride second night on the boat - not for the ones with a weak heart or tendency for sea sickness ;) (I was okay though)
After beautiful sunsets from the boat, snorkelling and Dragons we arrived in Laubuanbajo (Flores) and I singed up with Reef seekers (divecenter) for a full day diving and what an amazing day/dive that was. We did two dives in Komodo National Park with beautiful sites (Crystal Rock) and so much to see; Bump heads, Octopus, Napoleons, Baby sharks, Biggest Trigger I ever saw, Giant Grouper, and 3 manta rays where one of the stayed with us for 20 (yapp: 20) minutes - I am truly blessed to get to experience that. Surfaced with 20 bar left and 74 minutes dive time according to my computer. Em and Maddie, its a shame you girls couldn’t make it - you so missed out, that dives are right on the top list together with Sipadan/Borneo (read more about that in 08-Borneo)Met Sam(uel) - an Ozzy, from Darwin - on the 4d/4n boat and we decided to travel together as far east as Possible and then take a flight back to Denpasar around 20:th. So there we are the next morning 5:30AM waiting for the local 11 hours bus ride with Rico and Jules (two German brothers who lived in Sydney for the last 2 years). The four off us together made an 8 days journey I would never do again, but never the less don’t regret doing and here is the short story:
11 hours on a local overloaded (cramped) bus ride with half of the bus puking there guts out. Next day private car with driver and visit to local village and hot springs (!). Next day the driver never showed up (we didn’t loose any money, but time). Arranged a new car with driver, struggled with airline tickets (couldn’t get any) and then Kelimutu "the three coloured lakes" was to cloudy to see.. continued all the way to Maumere town. Found out the next day that all domestic flights are sold out two weeks ahead, so there is only one option left: BACKTRACK :( all the way back to Bali (for the same money an 2 hours airline ticket would cost) and that took us 5 days = about 64 hours in cars, busses and on boats *exhausting*So after 8 days (3 + 5 back to Bali) of constant travelling in busses and cars here we are in Bali and I got to say that it feels nice to take a shower. It’s been 3 weeks of only salt water showers and one stop at the hot springs (which was very nice). Might be some volcanoes, scooter-touring and surfing these last days :)
Ahead of me is now Australia and New Zealand, actually I made an amazing deal on flight tickets! How about: Kuala Lumpur - Bali * Bali - Kuala Lumpur * Singapore - Perth * Sydney - Christchurch * Auckland - Brisbane * Darwin - Singapore, all of them International flights and together less than 700 USD.
Today (18:th) I have been travelling for 5 month and right now we (Sam, Jules, Rico and me) are in this chill-out cafe down the beach with free WiFi, looking at the surfers riding the waves, playing cards, enjoying life... ;)
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Kristian
