Wednesday 22nd of September BALIIIIIIIIIIII !

A 2 hour flight, hot steaming Bali! Taxi corruption, but I know how to handle this :-) Staying in Seminyak for tonight, guesthouses? Full, full, full. Ozzie Spring break, not the best time to start travelling without bookings in Bali. One guesthouse with a comfy double room for 150.000Rp, bargaining impossible. Some local food in 'expensive' restaurants, be aware of possible extra tax fees! Many bars, many Balinese girls and gays try to seduce you, many times 'No not interested' :-)

Thursday 23rd of September LOCAL LIFE AS USUAL, FREAKING WEIRD EXPERIENCES IN PADANG BAI

A long walk...nobody seems to walk that much here in Seminyak, I'm sweating and I'm soaking wet in a sec. Shops and bars, that's the only thing in Seminyak. I found the beach and the surfers...is this it? Unimpressed about the Seminyak beach life. I walk on and on in cloudy but hot weather. Many couples and families, not a good place to stay for a single backpacker :-) I didn't know anything about the public transport options to Padang Bai so I took a taxi. Hard bargaining and I Kelut thought he could change my mind in the taxi. It was a long drive to Padang Bai, more than 60km and 1.5 hour on some busy roads full with construction work. All these stories about money problems, it doesn't work with me. Fuck man, this guy can't handle the heat...the aircon was freezing. Thanks to this aircon tripping cab driver I became sick in tropical 'paradise'. Halfway a stop at a local place for some food, 15.000 Rp for a great meal...this is much better than the touristy western food places on the coast. A short temple visit with a Sarong. I Kelut put some flowers and rice on his face for some luck today, well buddy it was not your lucky day ;-) Padang Bai at last, the police pulled us off the road and we had to pay some fee for getting into Padang Bai. I thought it was stupid so jumped out of the cab and walked further on. The police officer started some arguments and the situation got a little bit rowdy. Padang Bai is different, lots of backpackers, laidback cafe's and it's all about diving here. My pit stop for today, Topi Inn, a Dutch owned guesthouse at the end of the road on the beach. I didn't know they had dorms in Bali. Well dorm, it's just a row of thin mattresses on the floor at a view deck. Diving seems to be so popular (evn more opular then all the local ceremonies), that almost every dive shop is fully booked for the next couple of days. But, one of the Dive Master (Karin) discussed all the opportunities with me to become a dive master or instructor in Asian countries, interesting chances over here! Next a short stroll up and down hill to the 'beautiful' beach were everyone talks about...whahaaa. The way to the beach looks more like a way to a garbage dump :-) Some bamboo sort of bars between the palm trees on a small strip of sand. It looks fine with me if you don't look at the concrete construction work for the resort that they never gonna finish. WIndy today and a lot of rain coming. a few dips in the sea make it more refreshing. Nice people here, and pancakes. My meeting with Josi was one to remember :-) It doesn't happen that many times that you are feeding a gorgeous funny girl while she is having a massage on the kitchen floor LOL. And this was the start of a long strange evening. We spend the rest of the day together, talking a lot! Good food and cocktails at Alola. But the conversations freaked both of us. Like talking to a mirror. Our lives and experiences were exactly the same! No matter where we talked about, it was identical, fuckin weird and scary sometimes. A day with someone special I will never forget.

Friday 24th of September DON'T DIVE WHEN YOU'RE SICK!

Wake up with a delicious Muesli together with Josi and more freaking identical feelings and experiences, does it ever stop? Yeah, sad that she had to go back home. Josi left me a book with some sweet messages inside. I went for a last-minute day of diving with Dutch owned Q Dive. Sunny start, rainy later on. First dive was ok, bad visibility, but a wreck dive was something new for me. At the end I got strong pain and pressure in my head and sinuses. A long break on the bumpy waves in the Blue Lagoon. Funny to see boats with Japanese tourists vomiting simultaneous. The second dive...problems already started after just jumping in. Strong pressure and pain. Stupid as I am, I went further down. The pain became less. DIving the walls of the Blue Lagoon. Using a lot of air, I got out early. And shit, I lost a lot of blood. I was bleeding for a while out of my nose and heaving an extremely strong headache. Yeah, it was because of the sickness after 24 hours of aircon.My advice; don't dive when you're sick! A lunch at the dive shop and a chat with the owner; Menno. He gave me some handy tips about starting my own business, especially in Malaysia. Back at Topi it was time to make new friends; Myrte, a funny Dutch girl who sleeps next to me on the floor. I love Bali now, so many laidback backpackers. It was a good day and night after all. Forget about the diving incident and remember the bars and drinking Arak at Babylon. Myrte is going to be my new travel buddy for the next week...Gili and Lombok here we come! And we leave the rain here on BALI!

Saturday the 25th of September A LONG SLOWLY TRIP TO PARTYING GILI TRAWANGAN

Bargaining for some tickets to the Gili Islands and leave Padang Bai slowly. Still sick unfortunately. First a 4 our trip on an old ferry, getting pain in your as after all these hours on a wooden bench. Easy to forget with good company. Locals that want to be on a picture with 2 tall Dutchies is something common here. Transport from one harbour to another at Lombok. A lot of changing tickets on our way and they try to sell you expensive trips and tickets everywhere, we're not stupid :-) At one place we booked our 3/4 day trekking to the volcano...well we know how to bargain hard hahaaa. They were surprised we stayed with our 1st price constantly. A last small boat trip to Gili Trawangan, the beautiful party island. 'In 10 minutes we leave...' Yeah right, we heard that for an hour. Gili Trawangan, guesthouses are used to hard bargainers and our game didn't work. Also because almost everything was full. But with someone to share it's not that bad, 200.000 Rp for a double with some red lights outside LOL. Time for some party! Bir Bintang for many times, heaps of reggae bars, free brem and arak shots for crazy drinking Dutchies, damn spicy and cheap food and the island's Pasar Malam and 12 diffent shots of Arak...always fun to drink with young Dutch student for some competition. 'Atten met die handel!' A long stay in one of the bars with live reggae bands. And Myrte convinced me of changing my girly curly hair into something different; RASTA!

Sunday the 26th of September THE DAY IN THE CHAIR FOR SOME RASTA

Spend 5 hours in a chair to get my hair done and it's still not finished because of a missing tool :-( Relax, its chill out time here. More enormous tasty Indonesian meals. A walk to the other side of the island for some sunset with my favorite electronic lounge music. Inviting new friends, a night in the big lounge pillows next to our new bungalow. It's more a penthouse than a bungalow. Showering outside in a huge shower where you can have a big private party. Cocktails not to be missed.

Monday the 27th of September GILI CHILL OUT - GILI PARTY TILL YOU DROP

Hot hot hot and time for a good long morning run around the island. Since yesterday everybody calls me rastaman and strangely enough more drugs is offered to me :-) After an intensive run a nice dip in the turquoise blue water, drifting away on the strong current. You can actually swim for a long time and you are still at the same place. Today it's party time on Gili Trawangan! First try out the Mushroom shakes that that you to the moon. Well according to all the signs on the island. 120.000 Rp for a mix with banana, a taste of mushroom but nothing happened... At least, not after this. On e of the bars where we crashed was Tir Na Nog, our famous Irish pub for shots. A group of Dutchies was already there. Myrte and I met Fernanda, a Brasilian beauty and she was wasted like a turtle on mushrooms! LOL A hilarious person crazy on tequila (and ofcourse we joined her). She couldn't stop talking about how cute and gorgeous I was and her moves made her boyfriend a little bit jealous I guess. After loads of shots she could hardly walk and Myrte and I followed our search to party party. Crashing with some Birtangs on the beach, demolishing chairs and watching the fireworks. The sheesha places were closed already so wait till the big party starts at Blue Marlin. And after 12 the party started here, big dance floor on the 1st level, a pool and a loud sound system, a mixture of locals and travelers. What a night, many many Birtangs, sweating and getting rid of your clothes, a piece of tooth is missing, dirty dance moves all over the place, ending up in some ones expensive resort, a part back to the penthouse I can't remember, ending up on the floor of our big outdoor shower (where you can have a huge party under the stars). Yeah, it sounds more like a few scenes for a 'Hangover'-movie :-) Thanks to Inge, Neeltje, all the other Dutchies and some other peepz. Illy Gili!

Tuesday the 28th of September RELAX, SNORKLING WITH SEA TURTLES, COLORFUL SUNSET AND SOME MINDBLOWING CHOCOLATE SHEESHA

Hangover?! Well it feels like having a good party last nite :-) Chill out on the beaches. Check out some snorkeling with Myrte, she warned me after spotting a giant sea turtle. Get ready for a long painful walk on the coral to deeper water and shiiiiit! A giant sea turtle having an afternoon meal on the coral. Floating on the back of the turtle. And some big fish I've never seen before, some with a big spear above his eyes. The best snorkeling is definitely on the North part of the island. The sunset was the next episode of this wonderful world, those pink and orange colors, changing clouds, the big volcano with behind the burning yellow/red sun. Too lazy to walk? No it's just fun to jump on the wooden wagon behind a tiny horse, making funny sounds when you don't have a horn. It was a big treat for ourselves today; delicious Gilato at Egoiste (25.000 Rp for to scoops is a lot for this country but who cares). And Myrte needed a cool down after a very hot and spicy dinner :-) 'Sheesha Myrte?' 'Ja Zekers!' Chocolate taste, we're both addictive to that. Chill out on the big mattresses of Egoiste for some sheesha under the stars (51.000 Rp). Chill chill chill in the orange moonlight.

Wednesday the 29th of September ISLAND HOPPING TO GILI MENO

Another day in paradise, we changed plans. A return to Gili Meno (40.000 Rp), the smallest island of the Gili's. Very quiet and relaxed. Beautiful beaches, hot temperatures, the first not spicy dish and more sea turtles! YEah, I can't dive for a while after that last incident but snorkeling on the surface is not a problem. The water is hot on the Western and North part of Gili Meno. An inland walk through the local villages, palm forest and along the lake. The boat trip back was bumpy, wind catching up and looks like a storm is coming. Lucky it wasn't. It's party day on Gili Trawangan again, what should we do? :-) But we need cash! ATM's are not working most of the time and the machine likes eating cards. Free cinema 2nite with a huge box of popcorn and some heavy brownies with strawberries at Blue Cottages. No big party before the intensive trekking on the volcano :-)