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Bali 🇮🇩

July - August 2023
Time to get surfing! Read more
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  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    Day 19

    18. Canggu

    July 31, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Today we headed to the local stores and markets to look for a few small pressies for family. We found majority of what we were looking for and then headed back to our hotel.
    We were going to surf at Canggu it was the main reason we went there, but the beach was filthy and the waves were packed with people and it looked as if it was a reef break so beyond our level currently. This was a shame so instead we headed to our lovely pool at our hotel instead. We had a swim for an hour or so and packed our stuff as tomorrow as we are travelling back to Thailand.
    We thought as it was our last night in Bali we were going to treat ourselves to a nice dinner, we went for a candle lit Italian and felt very underdressed as it was super posh. The meal was beautiful and came to a total of £28 (extremely expensive for Bali, resonable for the UK) this is the most we have spent on food in 1 meal since we have began travelling and it was a treat. The quality of the food was amazing with great service, we had bread, calamari, carbonara, pesto pasta. Yum yum.
    We are beyond excited to head back to Thailand! We have enjoyed our time in Bali but won't be returning until the surfing gets better, it doesn't touch Thailand at all, we are both happy we went there whilst flights were £400 return for us both rather than paying to go from the UK. Indonesia is a great country and has 18,000 islands to explore we will be back but to 1 of the other 17,999 islands 😂    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    1
    Day 18

    17. Canggu

    July 30, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Had a bit of a lie in this morning, both feeling a bit weird and achey after yesterday's boat ride .
    We were just in time for our free breakfast of boiled eggs and toast with some coffee . Afterwards , we walked down to Canggu beach just a 15 min walk away from our hotel . The beach was really disappointing, it was very grubby with too many people there . We really wanted to go surfing again , but the waves were all reef breaks so decided to give that a miss as we didn't want to have any casualties before heading to Thailand.
    There was a nice looking bar and cafe on the beachside called "Old Mans" which is quite well known in Bali, there were cosy couches to lounge on, so we sat and had cappuccinos and chatted for a while .
    Once refreshed we decided to brave the little market stalls to look for some gifts to take home. We didn't really have enough money with us , but we managed to make a list of what to get when we went back the next day.
    There were loads of nice clothes shops along the main street in Canggu , but were completely out of our price range , it was nice to look anyway !
    Along the way , we found a really cheap warung to have some drinks, we managed to have ice coffees that were the equivalent of 40p ! Lots of locals and tourists were stopping there for food , so we decided to stay there for our evening meal too . All in all we had spent a grand total of £5 for evening food and drinks !
    We slowly walked back to our hotel afterwards and sorted out our washing etc. We watched some dragons den and went to bed at around midnight .    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    Day 17

    16. Gilli Air to Canggu

    July 29, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    We headed down to the pier at Gilli Air to head off back to Bali. We stopped for an amazing ice-cream and spotter a turtle whilst waiting. Our boat was supposed to leave at midday and didn't arrive until 2pm. Once aboard we headed across the bay, the boat was packed and about 20 mins in we hit the waves. It must have been 4 or 5mtr swells and the boat was being flung about like no tomorrow, it felt like the captain was going full thrust into the waves and at stages you could feel the whole boat leave the water before coming crashing back down. We both have never had motion sickness before, but this boat ride was a harsh introduction, we had to really concentrate on not being sick. This was made really difficult by the amount of people around us being sick also. We both concentrated purely on our breathing and managed to complete the journey without being sick, result! 2 1/2 hours felt like eternity.
    Upon arrival at Padangbai Pier we were swamped with people attempting to take our bus tickets before we even got of the boat, it was chaos and really not what we needed after the boat ride. We knew we were having a bus to Canggu but almost ended up falling for one of the scams where they take your bus ticket and then try and usher you into a taxi (claiming it's 5 hours and we are last stop and no aircon etc) at ridiculous cost, 1.2million rupiah about £70 to be precise! I must admit I lost the plot with the guy and managed to get our tickets back and finally found the bus... We were lucky as many people fall for this scam, we were close but no chance we were paying that. After 2 hours in the bus, our driver who was supposed to take us to Cannggu central randomly dropped us about 30 mins away, everyone on the minibus was not impressed but we booked a 6 seater taxi and split the costs between us thankfully.
    We got to our hotel which is lovely, and settled in. We ordered some pizzas to the hotel and had a chill as we were predicted to arrive at Canggu by 3pm and arrived about 7.30pm.. We are knackered, what an eventful day! Grace was still wobbling all over the place from the boat ride 😂    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    Day 16

    15. Gilli Air

    July 28, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Today we were woken up at 4.35am to a lady screaming prayers on a speaker phone at the Mosque about 300 mtrs away. They read prayers for 10 minutes just before sunrise and this repeats 7 or 8 times a day. We don't mind the daytime ones but must admit it wasn't the best wake up call as it really does sound like they are screaming. Once we got up and had the most amazing smoothie bowl from our hotel. We both felt a little out of sorts today so spent a few hour relaxing in our aircon room. It was nice to have a chill, although we love backpacking, it does seem to make you exhausted.
    We spent some time planning our onwards journey as we are leaving the Gilli islands tomorrow. We have booked to move onto Canngu for 2 days/3 nights so we can surf abit more before we fly back to Phuket. After a while we headed down to the Harbour to book our ferry and transfer to Canggu which we managed to negotiate to £17 each which is really good value and we will be travelling on 'luxury' boat. Afterwards we walked all the way around the island to stop at sunset side for a couple of drinks in the sun. We found a really cool bar full of beans bags and a live Reggae/rock band, 1 drink turned into a few and we ended up sitting here for about 4 hours as music was so good. We walked back to our apartment and found a really cool house decorated in loads of lights and funky decor. We also found some cows on our way home, first cow we had seen in ages. 🐄 Maybe we are missing Hereford...🤔.. Maybe not.
    We had some more food at our apartment which ran a warung which is so far, the cheapest and best quality food we have found in Indonesia. Approx £5/6 for us both to have full meals, drinks and Calamari to start. We had a shower and went to bed as we need to be up and packed for the ferry back to mainland tomorrow.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    2
    Day 15

    14. Gilli Air

    July 27, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We didn't realise that we had to check out at 1000, so had a bit of a rush to get ready when we woke up ( we stayed up late watching a really scary film ) . Luckily no one noticed and we got checked out with no issues .
    The harbour was only a short walk away from our bungalow, we got speaking to some of the locals and arranged a private glass bottom boat ride to Gili air , only costing us a pound more than getting a busy speedboat ride . We stopped off at a nearby warung to get some banana pancakes and a coffee before our boat ride.
    The sea was really choppy , so the boat ride was great fun - getting splashed along the way . James even managed to spot a large white tip shark too , which apparently are quite rare to see.
    The boat actually dropped us off on the beach in Gili air , so we managed to avoid the harbour tax ( so actually the private boat only cost us 50 pence more ). We walked to our lovely little guesthouse just 15 mins away .
    We sat and chatted for a while whilst our room was being cleaned . There is a lovely man called Abi working there , who was really chatty and kind to us.
    Our room was spacious with good aircon , but it was missing a few essentials - like a sink 😂, but we managed to work around that.
    We decided to take a walk around the island after getting sorted . James has a nasty wound on the top of his foot as a result of itching an insect bite, so we made the decision that he shouldn't go in the sea for a couple days . It was quite sloughy and weepy , so needed to be dressed before going anywhere.
    We walked around the south side of the island and stopped off for a smoothie along the way. We chatted with the locals there for a while and slowly made our way back to our accommodation.
    Once back at our room, we had a cold water shower each and poor James slipped over on the slippery tiles - landing on his right knee. I had ran out of pain kilkers but luckily had some ibuprofen gel and a knee support that helped . We asked to the staff for some ice too .
    After all that excitement , we needed some food ! We had chicken enchiladas for supper from our guesthouse and to our suprise they were actually really nice . We then watched the sequel to the film we had watched the night before and went to bed shortly afterwards .    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    Day 14

    13. Gilli Meno

    July 26, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Today we got up and rented 2 bikes to explore the island. We headed to a restaurant for some breakfast to fuel us for the day. We ended up buying some handmade bracelets which were made with pearls/stones from the island which were cool.
    We headed around the island as today we were snorkling and attempting to find the shipwreck just off shore. There are also some underwater lifesized human statues which sounded amazing. We headed into the sea in a rough vacinty of where we thought they were, we were greeted with amazing coloured coral and many different types of fish - you can tell why this is the snorkling island of the 3 Gilli islands. It was amazing and very similar to Thailand with fish all shapes and sizes. We saw many puffer fish which are now my favourite aswell (@mum) 😂🐟. We also came across 2 giant trigger fish but kept our distance as we don't want to have a close encounter like we did in Thailand 😬😬. The current was really strong again today and very choppy, think this is common for Indonesia. We loved seeing the blue coral which isnt found many places around the world.
    After an hour of exploring and no shipwreck we headed to shore to move further along the island. There was a hive of activity in one area so headed out about 100 mtrs from shore to investigate. We came across the statues which were approx 5 mtrs deep, they were in a circle and it was super cool to see. We had a swim about here fighting through the hoards of people and managed to get some good videos ,but sadly no shipwreck.
    Afterwards we carried on around the island and stopped for a drink, we ended up speaking to a man called Arbi who was selling sweetcorn from a cart for an hour and he was super chatty, we loved his sweetcorn, he told us he is known on the island as the corn man 🌽🤣.
    We carried on and did a full lap of the island before heading back to our cabin. I had a phonecall with dad which was nice and we played with the family of cats who came down to visit us, dad, mum and 2 kittens who were super fun. We headed to an Italian Warung (cheap food place) and ended up eating 2 portions of their pasta, not that it was nice, as it really wasn't but we were super hungry. Afterwards we headed back to our bungalow to watch a film, Grace is choosing a horror as we speak... (suprise, suprise haha). Moving to Gilli Air tomorrow, we could easily get used to this Island hopping malarky 🏝️🏝️🏝️.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    Day 13

    12. Gilli Meno

    July 25, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We caught the speed boat to Gili Meno at about lunchtime , we were feeling slightly hungover from the night before but it was so worth it .
    The boat ride was only about 15 mins long , and we were so pleased to see that the harbour was so quiet . Our little hut (which is only costing us 6 quid a night!) was only a short walk away . We got settled in and washed our clothes before heading out for a walk along the very small island .
    We decided to walk along the beachfront, collecting pretty shells and paddling in the sea along the way .
    After about 20 minutes , we came across a lovely looking resort and restaurant . The lovely man at the front of the restaurant was so charming that we just had to stop for an iced coffee.
    We chatted for ages and before we knew it the sun was setting . There was a bbq at the restaurant which had loads of freshly caught snappers and corn on the cob.
    Instead of looking for other places to eat we decided to have a snapper for supper . James had a white snapper and I had a red snapper which were cooked to perfection !
    The fish just flaked away from the bones and we really enjoyed it ( which is really good for James who has never been that keen on fish) .
    On the way home we came across a turtle sanctuary, we stopped there for a while taking pictures of the really cute baby turtles , we made a small donation before leaving . James also spotted a shell on the floor moving on the way back - turns out it was a cute little hermit crab!
    When we got back to our little hut we watched a film called " The Impossible " which is based on a true story about the 2004 Tsunami in Thailand and Indonesia .
    We have been very interested in the science behind tsunamis and have discovered that we are sat right on a tectonic plate called the "ring of fire" , it is scary to think that Indonesia is overdue an earthquake . The next earthquake is predicted to be a mega quake, which could result in a Tsunami up to 50 metres high.
    We went to bed shortly after the film , both feeling a little anxious after our discovery 😅.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    Day 12

    11. Gilli T

    July 24, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today we made our onwards plans over breakfast and have news that we are returning home on 16th August . We are returning to Thailand for 2.1/2 weeks enroute home as to be honest, Bali is great but we really are missing the quietness and chilled way of Thailand and it's extremely busy here. We weren't able to see everything we wanted to in Thailand and we both thought its pointless staying in Bali if we would rather be somewhere else, we are finding it far to commercial and seems like everything is set up for social media pictures which is definitely result of all the influencers who live on the island. We would come back to Bali but only if we got really good at surfing, the island simply cannot cope with the influx of tourists.
    After breakfast we walked around the island to the town to hire 2 bicycles for 24 hours. The island has no vehicles on so you either have to travel by horse cart or bike, it's so nice being somewhere with no vehicles polluting with emissions and noise. Today we were going to explore the whole island and stop at the snorkeling spots along the way. We made it to turtle cove and stopped here, the beach despite being busy was absolutely stunning with the clearest blue water and white sand. It was so cool seeing completely different fish despite seeing less than in Thailand (we saw 2 Puffer fish mum, I know you love these!). The current here was so strong pushing you a few feet every second. We had to keep our wits about us. After a tiring couple of hours fighting the current we headed back to shore, as I was about to get out of the water I saw a gorgeous sea turtle in the shallows eating the sea grass. We followed him around for a while and got some cool shots on the go pro. After chilling on the beach for an hour we carried on our tour. There were Magic Mushroom shops everywhere which we found strange as Indonesia has severe penalties even for soft drugs (including being shot) so this confused us abit. We biked the whole island and found many Tsunami evacuation routes which was slightly daunting, especially reading they predict a mega earthquake in the next 10 years with a Tsunami wave of upto 50 mtrs, as the islands are 2 mtrs above sea level this is slightly worrying!
    We got back to our cabin about 5 o'clock and had beers watching the sunset, we met some really cool Indonesians here and I quizzed them on the legality of Mushrooms and we were told that the islands are all run by Mafia so mainland rules don't apply here. 1 guy even disappeared to show us his mushrooms which looked absolutely horrid 🤣🍄🍄🍄.
    Tonight was an all night beach party with live drummers (from our hotel) they were so cool and really got everyone into it. 'Welcome to Exile, where good vibes fly and fun is had' .The night flew by and we treated ourselves from the skimping to many beers around the fire sat on Bean bags, it really did feel like a big family and we had a great evening. We went on a drunken bike ride to the shops which was fun and then called it a night, the music stopped shortly after and we both slept amazing. We are off to Island 2 tomorrow, Gilli Meno which is known for feeling like a deserted island a big change from Gilli T which is at full capacity.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    Day 11

    10. Gilli T

    July 23, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We met our taxi driver from day before at 0630 to get to Padang Bai ferry port . Our ferry wasn't until 0930 , but the journey can be unpredictable depending on traffic .... we ended up arriving 2 hours early , but better than 2 hours late !
    The ferry port was so busy , people everywhere with no order to it at all . Once we grabbed our tickets and paid the island tax we went and sat at a local warung for some breakfast . The two hours flew by and we were soon boarding our little speed boat to Gili T .
    The journey was about two hours long and the harbour at Gili T was also packed full of people. We pushed our way through and managed to get a horse and carriage to our little beach bungalow further up the island.
    There are no motor vehicles on the island , so transport is literally biking or horse riding . The island is so small anyway, you couldn't justify having a car !
    We loved our ten min horse and carriage ride , the rider was very chatty and funny . He explained that we had the biggest and strongest stalion on the island - therefore he named the horse Toyota . James and I were literally in hysterics.
    We soon arrived at our little bungalow resort , our bungalow was more like an elevated hut with the toilet and shower on ground level . It was basic but so cute and cosy.
    Once settled in , we went and sat by the beach for a good while . The sea bed is all coral and the water is very shallow , so we paddled about rather than swam. It was beautiful but again totally overcrowded with Instagram obsessed tourists . We found it very funny watching people pose vainly for the camera for that "perfect shot" 🤣.
    There were lots of people riding horses along the beach in front of the sunset . One thing we do love about Bali are the sunsets - just stunning .
    Gili T is famous for partying and magic shrooms , there was a Dutch man next to us that kept staring at rocks (and photographing them) and saying "what the ****" , turns out he was as high as a kite on shrooms 🤣.
    We had some food at a local restaurant and we were shocked at how expensive the food is over here . We knew it would be more pricey than the mainland but wasn't expecting it to be by so much !    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Bali 🇮🇩
    Day 10

    9. Ubud

    July 22, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Today we decided to visit the famous Tegallalang rice fields . We grabbed a taxi from our homestay and had a very scenic drive there . When we arrived , the place was extremely busy , luckily people seemed more interested with taking pictures of themselves on the Bali swings than the rice fields , so we managed to get out of the crowds quite quickly .
    The rice fields were beautiful , we walked a fair distance around them and the trekking path took us through some smallholdings - we saw lots of chickens and some cows too . We finally felt like we were experiencing authentic Bali culture , with locals wading through the rice fields wearing banana leaf hats.
    It took us about 90 mins to walk around the rice fields , we grabbed an iced brown sugar coffee ( tastes like creme brule!) afterwards and met our taxi driver .
    On the way back , he dropped us off at the Bali Pulina coffee plantation - home to the famous Kopi Luwak coffee. Kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee, is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. The cherries are fermented as they pass through a civet's intestines, and after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected, dried and roasted . The coffee tastes very strong , but actually contains much less caffeine than usual coffee. It's also the world's most expensive coffee due to the process.
    They had two tame Civets there , one of them was playing around in the garden and the lady that worked there picked it up and let us stroke him . They are so cute and comical , I think it's my new favourite animal !
    At the end of the tour , we had a coffee and tea tasting session . The coffee was just amazing , my personal fave was the avocado flavoured coffee. James' was the vanilla and coconut coffee. Of course we had to try the Kopi Luwak coffee too and it was actually really tasty yet very stong ! ( I know the concept is gross !)
    We went a different way back to Ubud , with rice fields either side of the road and lots of temples .
    We packed our bags back at the hotel and spent over an hour looking for somewhere to eat . It was so busy everywhere as there is a dance festival for the dead starting tomorrow in Ubud- which we are gutted to be missing .
    We went back to our homestay and went to bed quite soon afterwards , we are getting up at 6 to catch our ferry to Gili Trawangan- we are very excited!    Read more

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