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Elizabeth Ward
Elizabeth Ward

Elizabeth Ward

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Gili T day 1

    30 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We woke up at 3am when the call go prayer was played across the island and tried to get a few more hours of sleep. We had some breakfast in our hostel- undercooked pancakes and garlic egg fried rice- not what we wanted at all!
    We rented two of the most battered bikes we’ve ever seen from the hostel. Both of them had flat tyres and Sam’s handles totally spun as he was riding. We still rode down to the beach on them anyway.
    We headed down to the beach to do some paddle boarding. Despite the water looking very flat it was actually really difficult. There was a really strong current and every time a boat went past we were hit with huge waves. Sam fell off quite a few times and lost his sunglasses in the sea.
    We then cycled further round the island to Turtle point. We hired snorkels and flippers and went turtle spotting. As we were getting into the sea the heavens opened! We were hit with monsoon level rain and by the time we got to the reef couldn’t see the beach. We carried on, besides we were already in the water so what did it matter. We saw 4 turtles, some cool fish and a shear drop off the edge of the reef into the deep sea. After struggling against the current we decided to return to the beach. We totally misjudged our landing spot and the waves dumped us on some seriously sharp rocks. After cutting the bottom of our feet and our bums we made it out only to realised that the guys that hired us the snorkels had really enjoyed the show.
    At this point it was still raining and the road our bikes were on had flooded. We shoved all our stuff in the dry bag and tried to cycle in the brown water to somewhere for lunch.
    We sat on at a table on the beach while it rained! A Sun umbrella trying to keep us dry. Had chicken sandwiches and waited until the rain stopped.
    We then cycled round to the top of the island to investigate more snorkelling spots for tomorrow.
    We decided to go play mini golf, Sam won by 2 shots and the worst part was the water hadn’t drained from the holes! We then played some pool before heading back to the hostel to shower and change for dinner!
    We cycled to dinner, Sam had butter chicken and I had Thai peanut curry! Both very very nice. We then headed to the beach front cinema and watched challenges with some cocktails before heading for some ice cream and looking at the stars.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Travel ftom uluwatu to Gili

    29 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    A 6 am wake up and our taxi man picked us up at 6:30 and we drove 2 hours to the ferry port. We grabbed some toast and coffee before boarding our fast boat to Gili and had all our bags carried for us.
    We travelled 2 hours on what was actually an okay journey across the Bali sea, I slept the whole car journey and the whole ferry journey. Sam didn’t, I think it’s starting to annoy him. We got to Gili and headed straight to our hostel - our most expensive accommodation yet! We arrived and were shown out under ground hole of a room which smells like damp rotting wood and has the hardest mattress in the world.
    We headed to find some lunch on the front, ate terrible nasi goreng and Mie goreng and then got charged twice for it. We had another mulch in the surf shops and then tried to find a spot to go in the sea.
    We ended up on the windiest stretch of beach which also had a the sharpest coral sand ever! Do we gave up on our sea swim even tho the water was the warmest we have ever experienced and headed back to the hostel for a swim in the pool.
    We got then got ready for tea and headed out for some dinner, Sam had pizza and I had spaghetti bolonaise.
    We then went to beach bar that was showing some of the olympics and watched the mountain bike race. Then we headed to a reggae bar to listen to some reggae before heading back to get some sleep.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Day 2 uluwatu

    28 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Sam picked breakfast this morning seeing as I did a terrible job. I had scrambled eggs on toast and Sam had pancakes. We then headed to the Sunday markets. Filled with lots of tiny stalls selling handmade items, we stopped by in loads of the surf shops too. I got a hat and a t shirt where they printed the design in front of us and Sam got a T-shirt and a handmade shirt.
    We continued mulching around the shops and the market stalls before heading for a quick beer and then headed home to get ready for the evening.
    We had a quick dip in the pool and then headed to the temple fire dance. We watched the sunset over the sea and then queued for 2 hours for the fire dance. We watched the fire dance made up of 50 men and 4 women tell an ancient story about a prince and princess. All the sound was from the men themselves and it was quite similar to a panto.
    We then headed for dinner at a burger bar before heading home and getting an early night in bed before our 6 am wake up!    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Day 1 Uluwatu

    27 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We headed out of our horrible room to find some breakfast. We arrived at what we thought was a nice little breakfast place ordered 2 coffees some avocado on toast and banana pancakes. We waited over an hour for the food to arrive and had finished the coffees by the time the food arrived. It arrived in a horrific form eggs undercooked, wet avocado and stone cold pancakes.
    We then headed to the beach which was being used as Indonesia’s surf competition location. We decided that surfing probably wasn’t the best idea so just did some swimming in front of the waves while trying to avoid being flooded by the incoming tide. Sam got incredibly sunburnt and I got a slight line of burn on my chest but that was it. We had some nasi goreng and mie goreng on the beach while watching the surfers, then headed up to have a mulch round some shops.
    Looked in one shop before Bali belly took hold and we had to very quickly zoom home on the scooters.
    After dealing with the issue we went for a quick dip in the pool.
    We then began to get ready to go out, I dosed up on imodiums and we headed out for pizza. We then went to the bar round the corner played a game of pool and some cards before heading home.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Travel from Ubud to Uluwatu

    26 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    A long and boring day.
    We got up had green pancakes for breakfast and then went for a quick swim. We got packed up and ready for our taxi to uluwatu.
    The taxi should have taken 2 hours.
    An hour after getting into the taxi we were still a 20 minute walk from the villa!
    4 hours later we arrived in Uluwatu! An alright journey that I just slept through and Sam watched a million episodes of the office.
    We arrived at our home stay which is under construction and the photos make it look a lot better than it is.
    We decided to go find some lunch at 4pm and got attacked by fly’s in a cafe down the road.
    We then headed on the really steep walk down to the beach. Did some rock pooling, found crabs, starfish and centipedes. Sam did not like the sand crabs.
    We watched the sunset and then embarked on the steep hike back up the hill. We had a quick dip in the pool and then got ready to go find some dinner.
    We decided on mexican, i had fish tacos and sam had a wet burrito.
    We then stopped off at the pharmacy to get more insect repellent. Took some money out and remembered to pick up the card this time. Then headed home for an early night.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Ubud day 3

    25 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    An early start after we got too scared to rent a scooter so had to book an organised tour to see some waterfalls. Turns out this tour though was a private tour!
    We were picked up by our driver and set off to our first waterfall. We arrived at what was obviously just an Instagram spot, our driver was very keen on taking the best Instagram photos of us but quickly realised the subjects of the photos were useless at posing. So instead we stood on some rocks and watched everyone else have their Instagram worthy photos.
    We then headed to the next waterfall which was definitely the coolest. A huge tower of water that plummeted into a large pool at the bottom. We swam around but made sure not to swim under the water incase we got hit by falling coconuts. We were the only ones bothered about swimming and everyone else just wanted to take insta pics.
    We then headed to the water temple. The temple is where local Hindus complete a purification ritual, they wash themselves in the water with each fountain washing away specific sins.
    We then headed to the coffee plantation, we saw a Luwak (looks like a mongoose) which eats the coffee beans and then poos them out and then the coffee is used for roasting. We tried 17 different types of tea and coffee and tried the male luwak poo coffee - the most expensive coffee in the world.
    We then headed for a lovely lunch with a great view and we had a club sandwich and Gado Gado.
    Our guide decide we had a enough time for another waterfall and made sure to take us to one we could swim at. We walked down 90 steps to get to the waterfall, posed on a rock for some photos and then swam for a bit until Sam was too cold. We then walked through the jungle to find another waterfall, then waded across the river to get to a cave and a sacred rock.
    Then we headed to the rice terraces where the best thing was the ice cream we got at the shop. It was filled with people wanting to do the classic Bali swing pictures and there wasn’t even any rice because they had just harvested it.
    We then headed back, went for a swim in the pool and then headed out for dinner.
    We decided that this was the perfect opportunity for Sam to try sushi because everything is so cheap. Terrible idea- some of the worst sushi ever eaten, a tuna roll made with tinned tuna not good. We then headed to a bar for drinks with Zoe and her friend where there was a live reggae band on. Super fun and was given shots of margarita from the table next to us. Said our final goodbyes to Zoe and then headed to bed for our final sleep in Ubud!    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Ubud day 2

    25 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    A bright and early start watching the Sun appear over the trees while we ate green pancakes and a jaffle for breakfast. We then jumped in our transport and headed to an Indonesian food market. We were shown all the fresh meat, vegetables and spices that we were going to use in our cooking later.
    We then headed to the cooking class, we were given ice tea and shown round the family temple before being shown all the ingredients laid out for us.
    We began by preparing all the ingredients, we used a massive passel and mortar (might be spelt wrong) and mashed up fresh peanuts to make peanut sauce. Sam got to use a huge knife to chop all the ingredients for Bali yellow sauce.
    We made Kare Aram (Yellow Coconut Cream Chicken Curry), Sate Lilit (Chicken Sate), Gado- Gado (Peanut tofu salad), Jukut urab ( Bali Salad), Tempe Manis ( Deep fried tempe in soy sauce), pépés ikan (steamed tuna in banana leaves) and boiled bananas with palm sugar and coconut cream.
    We then had a huge feast on the gorgeous food and headed back to the villa.
    We decided we needed a break after all the cooking and spent the afternoon chilling by the pool before heading on a sunset walk through the rice fields. We grabbed and ice cream and tried to decide what to have for dinner.
    We ordered some pizza to our villa and sat on the terrace playing cards. We then headed for an early night and we’re both asleep for 10 pm.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Ubud day 1

    23 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    We started with breakfast in our villa, I had an omelette and Sam had French toast with banana. It was lovely and even better cause it was free. We then walked through Ubud to the monkey forest.
    We saw all the different monkey clans and lots of temples within the sacred forest. We even saw rescued blind monkeys that had lost their sight to snake venom and one that had have 1 arm + 1 leg amputated. One monkey tried to undo Sam’s shoes and another attacked the back of his leg but I guess that makes the rabies vaccine worth it.
    We then stopped off in a cafe for a quick coffee before bartering with the sellers in the market. I got a dress and a skirt, some souvenirs and Sam’s got some trousers he didn’t want but was tricked into buying.
    We then we headed for some Mie Goreng before heading for silver making.
    After we have selected our designed we helped to melt down the silver, wound it a machine to lengthen, bashed it, engraved it and polished it and to end up with two rings. Overall a very fun experience, got to do a lot more than I thought we would be able too and ended up very happy with the end product.

    We headed to the rice fields to watch the Sun set and had a nice walk. We then went for a quick swim before heading out for dinner. We had burgers and beer before we went to a live music bar to meet Zoe for some cocktails.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante
    1

    Travel from Java to Bali!

    22 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    A relatively uneventful day. We had breakfast at the hostel which was weird but lovely while watching some sheep free roam around the road. We then got on the ferry from Ketapang to Gilimanuk. From the ferry port you could see Bali and our hostel said it would take 45 minutes. We got on a pretty grimey ferry and were the only foot passengers on there.
    Our ferry however decided to drift sideways the whole way into the port meaning that we were floating for an hour and half.
    We got off and our private driver was holding a photo of us on his phone. We jumped into his lovely comfy car and started travelling across the west of Bali.
    We saw monkeys on the road, lots of rice fields and huge Hindu temples. This was remarkably the first public transport Sam has been able to fall asleep on, even if he did keep hitting his head on the window.

    We arrived in Ubud to our lovely villa and jumped straight in the quite cold pool.
    We then had some crisps and beers on our terrace before heading out for tacos for dinner.
    We picked up an ice cream, more beers and played some monopoly deal on the terrace before an early night.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante
    1

    Mt Bromo

    21 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    After about two hours sleep the alarm went off at 11:45pm and we got ready to set off for Mt Bromo.
    We jumped in our jeep with our driver and headed to pick up 3 Spanish guys from another hostel.
    4 of us crammed sideways into the back of the jeep we set off on our very bumpy ride to Mt Bromo.
    After 2 and half hours we arrived at the top of a very steep road. We’d driven up and down steep cliff paths of a once massive volcano crater and traveled across the ‘sea of sands’ the old lake bed in the crater. Our driver along with around 1000 others raced to get the best parking spot and the best sunrise stop. This included some mad max esc overtaking on the sea of sands.
    We waited in a small cafe, met up with my friend Zoe from uni and had a cup of black coffee and a deep fried battered banana- actually really nice and I don’t like bananas. We then set off to the view point and managed to force our way to front barrier for the best view. We then waited for 2 hours for the sun to come up.
    We took photos of the stars, the moon and the dark smoking volcano in the distance. We were wrapped up in multiple layers but as the sun began to rise the wind started and it became quite chilly.
    But the early start and the cold was 100% worth the view. We could see the smoking crater of Mt Bromo, the dormant Mt Batok and the huge Mt Semeru which was puffing out clouds of smoke for our entertainment.
    We then headed for Mt Bromo itself but not before getting stuck in lots of traffic. stopping off at more view points and eating our brioche + cheese and brioche + chocolate. We also saw a group of monkeys along the side of the road!
    We arrived in the middle of the sea of sands and started the hike up the crater of Mt Bromo. We climbed up the steps to the crater edge, protected only by a crumbling concrete wall, to look down into the smoking crater. You could see the sulfur coming through weak points in the crust of the crater while others threw offerings into the volcano. Taking care of our footings and always choosing the most stable looking barriers we took some photos before heading back down the jeep.
    Our driver then took us for a 45 minute photo shoot with the jeep and the volcanoes- he’d obviously done this before, sam and I were not great models. We then headed back on our bumpy 2 and half hour journey back to the hostel, all of us slightly snoozing but hitting our heads every two seconds.
    I had my eyes shut for a large portion but Sam reported beautiful jungle scenery and a road only just wide enough for 2 cars to path along a shard ridge for miles and miles.
    We finally got back to the hostel had a shower, said bye to Zoe even tho we are seeing her tomorrow in Ubud and headed out to find some food. Sam had Mie Goreng- Fried Chicken noodles- and I had Chicken sate and rice.
    We then thought we would explore Malang and head to the Rainbow village however quickly gave up on that because we couldn’t get across the busy road and needed food for our train journey later.
    After sorting out our snacks, we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport style train station.
    We got on our train which is super uncomfortable but does have a windows. Seeing as it only cost us £3.27 each for the 7 and half hour journey I’d say it’s pretty good- Sam disagrees. The seats are like church pews and you are touching knees with the people across from you. I think we were just spoilt on our bus and on our last train. We got a weird pot noodle thing from the train shop which had beef meatballs in it, looked strange but tasted okay.
    Luckily the people across from us have gotten off and we have stretched out slightly. We have 3hrs left, wish us luck!

    Edit never mind people have just sat across from us    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante
    Our viewA gentleman

    Travel from Yogykarta to Malang

    20 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    A pretty standard travel day. Headed for a coffee and donut and then grabbed some snacks for the train. Was the busiest train station ever and our train was basically just filled with back packers.
    We got on and realised we had the worst seats on the entire train, with no window and right next to the door. We settled down for our 7 hour train journey. Sam watched 12 episodes of the office and I finished my book and had a little nap.
    We arrived in Malang and headed to our really cool hostel. Had a shower and headed for Indian food. We stopped off for an Oreo ice cream sundae and had our photos taken again.
    Now back at the hostel about to go to bed ready for our 12:30 am wake up for the volcanos!    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Yogykarta day 2

    19 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    An early start with two chocolate filled croissants. We got in a mini bus and headed to the temples. We arrived at the Borobudur temple- the largest Buddhist temple in the world- and argued with our guide as tickets were now sold up to climb to the very top and it was meant to be included in our booking but they messaged us at 1 am to say we needed to book our tickets??
    Either way we settled with the cheaper student price and explored the temple grounds on our own. Got asked for our photo to be taken with lots of tourist and then researched why this was happening only to be told that a ginger person is like seeing a brightly coloured bird so a photo must be taken. And no these pictures weren’t all with the background of the beautiful temple but solely of myself and Sam with the tourists (or some with just solely me).
    We went into a pretty bad museum and then just sat in the gardens of the temple until it was time to meet up with our guide.
    We then headed for lunch in quite a dodgy looking restaurant before heading to the second temple ground. We had nasi goreng which was pretty rubbish really.
    We then wandered round 4 temples in the Prambawan tempo grounds before heading back to the bus.
    We then headed back to the hostel and had a quick shower and then headed out for some dinner. We arrived on what was Yogyakarta’s westerners street and decided on pizza. Sam has chicken and pineapple and I had olives and peppers. We then stopped further down the road in a tiny bar which smelt really funny and didn’t feel very welcoming. We then went to another bar, people watched from their balcony and Sam got chatted up by some middle aged American lady. We then headed back to the hostel, stopped off in the super market for some ice cream and headed to bed.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Yogykarta day 1

    18 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We arrived in Yogyakarta at 5am with about 1 hrs sleep because of a snoring man that even my industrial strength earplugs couldn’t cut out.
    We went straight to our hostel got changed, brushed teeth and chilled on the sofas for 2 hours before heading out to find some breakfast at the first place that opened. We had French toast and coffee for breakfast before heading to the water castle. Taman Sari or the water castle turned out to be the Indonesian Instagram spot and basically nothing else. We then walked over to the Sultans Palace where there was a school trip for at least 1000 school kids. We watched a puppet show with cool music in the main square of the palace before learning about the history of Yogyakarta. The school kids made this extra entertaining due to their pointing and laughing at me specifically.
    We then headed out for a snack and realised that it was only half 10 and we still had a lot of the day to fill despite feeling very very tired. We stopped at a juice hut where Sam had a mango juice and I and avocado, played some cards, wrote some kind words in the review book of the hut and the lady wanted to take our photo for we think their Instagram.
    We continued walking and were told by multiple men that there was an art show to visit (anyone that has read these before may be able to predict where this is going). We then headed for a light lunch in another coffee shop, some chips, mini spring rolls, and mini fried potatoes covered in garlic aoli. We then walked back towards the hostel down the main market street and encountered more men offering us the art show. Eventually one got us talking and informed us it was the last day of the installation and luckily it was right near our hostel and he would take us there! Despite all the other guys telling us it was near them a 20 minute walk away. We eventually got rid of the man and checked into our room, had showers and realised it was still only 4pm, gosh we were tired.
    We decided to head to a roof top bar to watch the sun set. There was no sun set, too much smog. We did have some very nice beers and nuts but decided that 4 beers for £12 was way out of our price range and headed to find dinner.
    We went to a ramen restaurant that was huge and super busy. We ordered on an app and went up to the desk to pay. The cashier double checked we wanted mild ramen rather than no spice. We said yes of course and our gyozas and ramen arrived. Stunning but very very spicey. We then headed to get some snacks for our day trip tomorrow and a fish shaped ice cream sandwich before ending the day with some cards on the balcony. We then headed to bed at 9pm and was asleep before 9:30 oops.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Jakarta!

    17 de julho de 2024, Indonésia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    After 5 hours of sleep and a well needed shower, we decided to venture from our hostel onto the streets of Jakarta. We wandered up the Main Street past food stalls, markets and a guy welding some rail way tracks on the pavement in flip flops?
    We had decided to head towards the museums which should have been a 20 minute walk. However navigating the extremely busy roads, avoiding the mopeds which would just mount the pavement at any point and the sweltering heat we knew it was going to be a long walk.
    We walked through the China town of Jakarta and decided to try an courtyard with fountains and food stalls/ restaurants. We had mango iced teas and Lumpia (indonesian spring rolls) with a strange orangeish sauce. We continued our walk and was blown away by the shear amount of people and things on the skinny pavements and eventually made it to the museum.
    We decided on the history of Jakarta museum. It started promising and ended with us just looking at different types of wooden chairs. But it kept us out of the heat and I think I can say I learnt a little bit. We had an apples juice and an iced tea in the courtyard and will definitely not be having iced tea again.
    We then decided that we need more food. We found a cool cafe which served Indonesian food but was also a Tik ToK creator house? I had Nasi Goreng- fried rice- and Sam had noodles and added a ridiculous amount of chili sauce we he struggled with.
    In preparation for our over night bus we decided to get some snacks from the supermarket and of course and an ice cream sandwich and a mochi.
    Jakarta is a city of cats, specifically scabby and pregnant ones. Not a fan. Even more not a fan of a man with a python round his neck! It was huge and very scary but also very cruel.
    We went back to the hostel had some beers and played some cards. Then tried to get a taxi to the bus station but everyone kept cancelling on us. Luckily a couple from the hostel were going to the same place and I asked if we could jump in. Turns out they were running really short on time and after the hour journey arrived with only 10 minutes to spare. As they ran off we went to find our tickets at the office and then to our gate. Turns out their bus was late anyway so there was no need to panic. We then waited for our bus which was also 15 minutes late.
    WE ARE CURRENTLY ON THE BEST OVER NIGHT BUS EVER. We have seats that go basically the whole way back, blanket and pillows. We were given a snack bag as we got on and there’s a pot noodle station!
    We watched an episode of the office and then had a 2 hour nap before stopping at a restaurant for Katsura chicken curry and teriyaki beef bowl all included in our ticket price. Eating at strange times in the night seems to be our new thing.
    Now time for more sleep before we arrive in Yogyakarta at 5 am!    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardIndonesiaViajante

    Travel days

    15 de julho de 2024, Inglaterra ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    After two trains and the travelling the length of the Piccadilly line we arrived at Heathrow too early for bag drop 🙃 We eventually checked our bags in which had to go in oversized luggage and joined the enormous security queue. We then ventured into terminal 4 which has the smallest selection of restaurants in the world and decided that the only one in our price range was the Spoons. 2 pints of Guinness and 2 beers later we did some wandering only to discover we’d actually been ripped off and the £7 pint we could have gotten cheaper elsewhere.
    We boarded our first flight expecting the worst. We were given a row all to ourselves, lots of goodies, some cool plane socks and lots of films to watch. I was accidentally given fish pie for my meal at midnight when I asked for the vegetarian option and Sam enjoyed a chicken biryani, we were then fed a mozzarella and artichoke pasty about 3 hours later. Apart from some screaming children an all round pleasant experience.
    We arrived in Saudi Arabia ready for a short brew before our next flight. We went to our gate and boarded one of 5 buses which drove through a tunnel for 15 minutes before arriving at our plane. This plane was not as luxurious as the last and very very busy. Both extremely tired at this point we just wanted to get going, only to be told there was a technical issue. We waited and after already being an hour delayed we were told to go back to the gate. We got a free carton of orange juice tho. We returned to the gate now stressing that our luggage could get lost and waited for another hour before boarding another bus for not as long to our new plane.
    Just as busy and chaotic. We eventually departed 3 hours late and were starving. After what seemed like forever we were fed hash browns, scrambled eggs, a croissant and a cup of tea. We then discover we had significantly less films to choose from. 10 hours later and Sam had max an hour sleep whereas I had slept through every film I started. At 1am we were given our second meal- a pulled beef cob? We think? Eventually landed at 2am and had to wait another hour for our bags.
    We needed SIM cards for our phones and were persuaded by the two dancing guys in one of the stalls to go to them.
    Finally left the airport and was screamed at by 100 taxi men asking if we wanted a taxi. Even some wanting to cancel our one booked online. An hour later driving through the actual slums of Jakarta we arrived at our hostel. Jumped straight into bed, desperate for a good night sleep.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardMoroccoViajante

    Final day in marrakesh

    18 de junho de 2024, Marrocos ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Our first day without an alarm- but the rest of our roommates had other plans 😭 We took a leisurely stroll for some breakfast. Found a very fancy patisserie. We decided to get 3 “breakfasts” but the waiter wanted us to get 2, we said no we are hungry and the 3 small pastries detailed did not seem enough.
    Breakfast arrived and it was 3 large pastries- a pain au chocolat, a croissant and a pain au raisin, a coffee and orange juice. 3 very full girls.
    We walked through the centre to the saidian tombs but they tried to charge us €10 euros each so we decided it wasn’t worth it.
    We then walked to a garden which was closed and then walked through a pretty bit of the medina to a mosque and gate. On the way we saw sheep skins and sheep horns in carts from the sacrifices the day before ewww.
    We then walked to medresa ben Yousef- an old Islamic college. May have been one of the prettiest buildings ever. We watched how they renovated it over 5 years for apparently $30000.
    We then searched for some lunch while feeling very very queasy and decided the best bet would be returning to the hostel. A very quick walk back to the hostel and ordered some houmous and bread for lunch. They did forget to make Lilah’s lunch tho.
    Then decided to chill in the sun/shade for the rest of the afternoon. Made friends with some English people and then headed out for dinner.
    Had falafel pittas for dinner and ice cream for desert. Headed back to the hostel for some more card cames.
    Then the hostel cat decided to mark its territory on my bag by spraying it eww. Now it smells of plum hand soap and hoping it stays like that.
    Then we returned to the room got packed and went to bed nice and early ready for our flight back tomorrow.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardMoroccoViajante

    Marrakesh day 3

    17 de junho de 2024, Marrocos ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    It’s Eid! Everywhere is closed oops!
    Luckily one museum is open- Le jardin Majorelle. We stopped off in a bakery before for a tiny croissant and coffee and then was nearly late for our
    The old home I’ve Yves Saint Laurent. Lots of plants, cacti, blue vases and mini turtles. A very aesthetically pleasing place to see and take photos with quite an interesting history.
    We then wandered from there into the new town but nothing was open. We had emergency Pringles again to prevent any queasy ness.
    We then attempted to get into a garden which was closed and decided we have exhausted all options before returning to the hostel.
    We went to the roof for some games of cards and some lunch- which took 40 minutes urgh.
    We then decided it was time for the pool but then I got my results so got very distracted ringing everyone to tell them.
    After I found Fran and lilah sunning themselves on the roof and after taking another dip in the pool we spent some time reading.
    Then we got ready and went out for some celebratory food. We had salad bowls and zingy lemonade. Ended the night with ice cream in the main square and a card tournament which lilah won.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardMoroccoViajante

    Marrakesh

    16 de junho de 2024, Marrocos ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    A more graceful start to the day finding a patisserie for croissants that were less than 20p each.
    We then joined our free walking tour with our guide Youssef. He showed us the Koutobia- a mosque, the royal palace, the medina walls that have holes in for scaffolding, the Jewish quarter and the Bahia palace.
    We then had lunch at a pizzeria where our lunch cost all together less than £6!!! Followed by banana filled pastry- specifically penicillin flavour yuck!
    We had heard earlier in the day about the festival that was occurring on Monday, which we were told meant there was only one day left to see the leather tanneries. So we thought we would take ourselves for a wander to see them. On the way there we were told the square is in the opposite way to which we replied we know we are going to the tanneries. The kind man replied oh my friend works there he is about to walk there he will show you. This kind man taught us some Arabic and marched us to the tanneries. We arrived and were handed some mint by another man to block the smell. This is when lilah got involved and asked are you going to charge us for this and the man replied only donations!
    This man then rushed us round the tanneries in approximately 5 minutes and were pushed into the shop across the road and asked multiple times to buy a €900 rug. We declined and left the shop and were met by both our “guides”. They demanded €30 euros each!!! We responded with you said donations! And tried to give them 40 Dirhams- approximately €4. They were not happy. Then the man who marched us the same route as Google maps demanded more money to which we gave him €1. We quickly left and marched back to the hostel to rest.
    Had a quick dip in the pool and did some shade bathing.
    We then headed out to the market to find some vegetarian street food.
    We were bombarded with sale man after sale man. Eventually settled on one street food stall and argued with the man about vegetarian food. Sat there for at least 10 minutes and no one took our order- for reference there was only 5 other people at the stall and it was a fast paced environment. We got up and left.
    NEXT STALL- They said they had vegetarian we sat down and the chef then told us no vegetarian.
    NEXT STALL- we sat down said vegetarian and weren’t given a choice. We were given olives, barbecued aubergine, peppers, a weird orange potato and vegetarian couscous. All Scrummy but we were very hungry at this point. We thought this would be a cheap meal seeing as lilah was sat on a bin lid as her seat. BUT NO- more expensive than or rooftop dinners.
    We then got ‘ginger cake’- a mix of spices and flour.
    We then tried to return home via a shop we had seen before, Fran and I picked up some souvenirs and we tried to return to the hostel. At this point it is late. The medina is closing due to Eid tomorrow. Oh we got lost, we got stressed, we walked round in circles in the dark. We walked for about 30 minutes in the dark before eventually getting home. We won’t be doing that again.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardMoroccoViajante

    Returing from the Sahara

    15 de junho de 2024, Marrocos ⋅ 🌬 39 °C

    Told to wake up at 6:20 in time for the 6:30 sunrise but it was too cloudy to see. Very unamused. Had one slice of bread for breakfast. Then a bumpy 15 minute camel ride which was surprisingly hot for 7am.
    We then waited for what felt like an hour for our driver to arrive feeling very queasy in the Sun, we then set off on our monster of a journey back. All three of us forcing our eyes closed in the hope of getting more sleep. Our first stop for a much needed actual toilet, some ready salted Pringles and travel sickness tablets. Returned to the car for another 2 hours before stopping at a strange man’s house to look at carpets and more tea.
    At this point starving and nearly out of cash we then stopped for lunch. Had a lovely veggie couscous and threw half a bottle of sprite over Fran.
    Returned back to the hostel after what felt like a million hours in the van where we were decontaminated. This process involved being sent to a room without a door to take the clothes off that had been to the desert and have them tumble dried to destroy any trace of bed bugs. Humbling.
    We washed off 48 hours of sweat, suncream and sand before heading out to a funky rooftop bar to watch the sunset.
    After the sun sets the main square transforms into a food market with live music and entertainment even gambling games!. We listened to some of the Berber music we had seen in the mountains and had a look for what to try tomorrow! We have our eyes on some ginger cake and a patisserie for the morning.    Leia mais

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  • Elizabeth WardMoroccoViajante

    Sahara desert- kind of

    15 de junho de 2024, Marrocos ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    A very early start, ready for 7am in the main square with no breakfast and minimal items due to the bed bug fear. We then did not leave Marrakesh until 8 am and was traumatised by a man in suit climbing on top of Fran and shouting at the girls that made us late. Transferred to another van for an hour and a half nap until our first stop for coffee and Madeline’s. Then more queasy bus rides to another women’s cooperative which is basically the Moroccan version of Avon probably owned by Richard Branson.
    Carried on the winding bus journey through the high atlas to Ait Ben Haddou- the film place of gladiator, the mummy, Indiana Jones 3 and Lawrence of Arabia. We then were bullied into spending €8 each on pinkish scarfs which later turned out to be exactly the same colour as my face.
    We then stopped for lunch of pasta soup and crap margarita pizza. They then charged us extra drinks which we were told were included and then charged us for service while pretended not to speak English even though he spoke it earlier. Chaos.
    We then carried on in our bus for 2 more hours before stopping for ice cream. Then we carried on again to get water and were taught to count to 5 in Arabic.
    We then arrived at our camels. We rode for an hour to our campsite in the almost Sahara desert. Lilah has to go on the smallest camel and my camel was called Wayeed.
    We arrived at our desert camp and inspected for bed bugs. We socialised with our new German friends and had some Moroccan tea. We were asked if being vegetarian was a choice or prescribed by a doctor. We ate barley soup and chicken tagine- just soup for lilah, the small camel will be grateful. Our guide notified us that the door to our tent had been left open by our own Fran, I bravely battled the wind and the sand and the stray dogs to close the door before all ours beds were covered in sand. We then listened to some Berber music and lilah played the bongos. We had a fire in the desert and tried to sing we will rock you in Berber. We finally came to bed to find everything covered in sand and tried to brush our teeth outside but was surrounded by the stray dogs and their puppies. We are currently lying in bed too hot, covered in sand, suncream, sweat and deet because in the commotion we invited some mosquitos into our tent.    Leia mais

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