The Redundancy Tour

Yet another start at 'someones taking the piss' o'clock to head to the airport. My Bali adventure was over and apparently with excellent timing because I woke up to pouring rain, glad I was missing out on that one!

I also must say I was pretty happy to be leaving Bali's airport and it's mice and cockroaches behind. Spent most of the time fighting them off, I can feel them on me, they're on me!!!!

So on to Singapore and oh look, it's raining here as well, awesome! But on the plus side there are plenty of indoor activities to be had here. The rain can prove to be expensive in Singapore! Also, Singapore appears to be one big giant air conditioning unit. It's great, especially after Bali's severe lack of it!

Day two and three were much more successful weather wise and I was able to get out sightseeing.

I made the mistake of thinking the botanic gardens weren't too far, wrong, pretty sure I walked about 23 miles to get there.

So I made use of the public transport after that and headed down to the marina bay area and probably walked another 23 miles exploring around there. The highlight of that was waiting till after sunset to see the city all lit up, it really was impressive! And it helped you forget about those overcast skies!

I also got time to explore the other districts, Little India, Chinatown, Arab district and the civic district. Weirdly, as much as I thought I was missing some home comforts, as soon as I got them I felt a bit out of sorts and was much happier wondering around and eating in the likes of Little India, Chinatown etc.

And before I knew it was time to head to the airport to start my journey back home.... (i'll be rocking up to Belfast in shorts and t-shirt!)

Sad face

Pxx

Another sunrise start in Lovina ( honestly this has to stop, Asia needs to learn to do more in the evenings!). This time I was setting off in an outrigger boat in search of some dolphins! Well me and the other 20 odd boats! But we were rewarded none the less. This is pretty much what Lovina is famous for and there's not much else to do here (the snorkeling we did was an hours drive away). Anyway, there seemed to be a couple of pods hanging about. Photos were difficult in a moving boat but I did my best!

After that we were setting off again to our next stop with a few visits along the way, including a market, a waterfall (more flippin climbing) and a famous temple.

We also made a stop at the Botanical Gardens in Bedugul. The story behind the next photo will only hold meaning for my immediate family, but it had lots of these....

I still hate them. It felt like they were mocking me. Wee spikey bastards!

But the highlight of this day was arriving at our hotel in the mountains of bedugul. Not only is the hotel one of the nicest yet but it's cool! As in we don't feel like we're in a sauna! Words cannot describe how nice it feels. And they have chips, not rice, not noodles, chips! CHIPS!! Annnnnnnddddddd relax. I never want to leave here. Whats that, we have to go? dam you Bali!

So the next day we headed back to Ubud and here I am. The Bali tour will be coming to an end for me tonight and it'll be time to say my goodbyes once again! I've an extra night here and then its the start of the journey home with a couple of nights in Singapore.

Steve, now would be a good time to start cleaning the house and replenishing it with food. Tell Chloe to clean up her mess as well!

Pxx

Internet in Bali isn't really readily available so i'll update with what i've done so far

Here's how I would sum Bali up...

Hot. Beautiful. But hot, very very hot. Did I mention it's hot?

Air conditioning is a rare luxury. On the bus, the air conditioning is turned on by opening the window.

So new group, again! I've been outnumbered by aussies this time. 12 of us altogether and 11 are from Oz. A family of 5, a mother and daughter, a couple and two female solos.

Bali has been pretty energetic so far. On our first day we were taken on a guided walk through Ubud which was really beautiful but it was just silly hot! Took a little trip to a monkey forest as well, monkeys everywhere, big ones, small ones and little teeny tiny baby ones.

We were taken to a traditional Balinese dance one of the evenings which I really enjoyed. Usual but in a good way! There was walking through fire at one point!

We also went on an 18km bike ride. However I like to refer to this as a 3hr ride in an outdoor oven. We amazed ourselves when we made it to the end. I have no photos to share as I was too busy concentrating on staying alive.

The next day, we headed up into the mountains where we were told it would be colder. It was not. But it was the most beautiful scenery. Our hotel had an outdoor pool (which we lived in) with views of endless rice paddies, mountains and volcano's. We were the only people staying there.

We went on a 3hr trek through the rice fields and the little villages. It was out of this world.

In the evening, some locals came to where we were staying to entertain us with some local music and dancing. Perfect opportunity to make fools of ourselves. I say make fools of ourselves, I of course tore up the dancefloor! Great craic!

We then moved on for our next outdoor activity. Climbing this volcano...

It involved getting up and being ready for 3.30am. I'm pretty use to the crazy early starts by now and I was determined to see one decent sunrise! And it also meant it would be cool!!! So with my head torch on, we headed up the (still active) volcano, Mt Batur. It was a tough climbing that only got tougher as we went further up. Loose stones or sand most of the way so not much footing. We reached the 'top' where there is a viewing point. There was an option to continue to the peak which takes another 30mins. Did I take on the challenge, hell to the yeah! So 4 of us continued on, which was basically just climbing sand/dust/I don't know! But I showed those young uns what for! And the reward at the top was well worth it. Cue sweaty photo after a 2hr hike...

Coming back down was even more fun. Basically had to slide down in the sand. Minor injury account increasing again!

We are now in Lovina. The first day was spent snorkelling at Menjanan Island. Words can not describe how amazing it was. I'm just gutted I didn't have an underwater camera to show you what I was able to see. There were fishys everywhere. And it there were clouds. Now most people don't want clouds but my god they were a welcome relief!! The water was still warm mind you.

So relaxing it is not. And we aren't even finished in Bali yet!!!

Pxx

Back on the bus again to make the trip to Battambang, last stop in Cambodia. We've had the same bus driver for this trip but none of us asked his name and now its kinda too late so we just call him Mr Bus Driver, he seems ok with it. Kurt, here's another one for you, we made a stop at a road side BBQ selling rat. Now I would have given it a go, to be honest it looked fine, the meat looked like a hog roast essentially, but I had a bad tummy so experimenting with BBQ rat probably wouldn't have been advisable!

When we got to Battambang, we were straight out on the motorbikes again and headed for the countryside. Stopped at a few places along the way to see how they made rice paper, noodles etc. We then got on a bamboo train and took a trip down the track and watched the sunset. Awhhh.

On the way back my bike got a flat tyre. Seriously, what is it with me and punctures?! So I had to get on with one of the other girls. How they ride those things with 3 people on is beyond me!

That evening we were taken to a local family's house for dinner. They were so welcoming and great fun, given we had some extras tagging along (the trainees and Mr Bus Driver) and some potent snake wine, the craic was flowing with the Cambodians! Unfortunately the food also kept flowing, how much do these people eat!!

The next day was mostly spent travelling to Bangkok. We got a new driver at the border, but fear not, we weren't leaving Mr Bus Driver behind, we were bringing him with us for a night on the tiles in Bangkok! The change in scenery once you crossed the border from Cambodia to Thailand was shocking. Within the first 20mins we drove past 2 tescos! The countryside (if it could even be called that) wasn't all that nice to look at wereas every other bus trip so far had been great. Stops up to now had always been little local places filled with character (and sometimes toilets you just had to brave!) but our stop in thailand was a 7/11. Whilst it was great to get a fill of some western treats (we sat in silence for a bit while we stuffed our faces) it just disappointed me a bit. Bangkok wasn't much better when we arrived around dinner time.

The group, our leader, the two trainees and Mr Bus Driver headed over towards Khaosan Road area and some dins then we checked out the markets the street is famous for but they weren't all that great so we opted for some drinks instead. Everyone was in good spirits and given it was the last night we were ready for a good time! I was getting picked up from the hotel to be taken to the airport at 3am so we figured what better way to deal with this than just staying up. Which I did. I fell asleep in the car to the airport, I fell asleep in the aiport. I fell asleep on the plane before it was finished boarding everyone and woke up a couple of hours later...and then fell asleep again. Arrived in Bali, fell asleep in the car to the hotel. Fell asleep in the hotel. Ahhh, ready for the next adventure to start...

Pxx

So we arrived in Siem Reap to the sound of 'lady, you buy from me, one dollar'. The words 'one dollar' will forever play in my mind over and over and over and...! Apparently everything in Cambodia is one dollar.

So we've picked up a couple of trainee leaders as well, so we're kinda spoilt now. But it's great, cause now we've 3 leaders and they are really good fun.

First night in Siem Reap was spent drinking mostly, I think, the days are all starting to blur into one and Cambodians like a drink.

Siem reap is essentially known as the gateway to Angkor Wat and that was the main reason for our stay. We had 2 full days to explore the main temples! Got my money's worth outta that one anyway.

We had a local guide for the 3 days who was the nicest man you could meet, we all fell in love with him. His slight campness made it all the better. He's been working as a guide at the temples for 10 years but he had an unbelievable amount of enthusiasm as if it was his first day on the job. Certainly not how any of us would be after 10years in the same job! He didn't want us to miss a thing and was determined to get us away from other tourist and took us to all these little great photo spots.

I'll try and sum it all up...

Ballon ride for views. 

Elephant ride round one of the temples just for the craic and everyone loves elephants! And elephants live bananas apparently.

Angkor Wat is actually just the one main temple and surprisingly my least favourite. There were other much nicer ones. The smiling faces temple for one.

Temple, temple, temple, blah, blah, blah, dinner, foot massage, bar, day 1 - done.

Day 2 started at 4.45am. Happy days. We headed back to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. The sunrise that never happened! That's now the second sunrise I've got up for that hasn't happened. I've one more in Bali, I swear to god there better be one!!

Regardless of the lack of sunrise it was still, atmospheric, let's say. It was kinda cool going into the temple in pitch black with a head torch on and all you can see are loads of little lights of everyone else's torches. It was still beautiful to be there and soak up the atmosphere with everyone.

Anyway, after the anti sunrise, our guide rushed us off to the temple where tomb rider was filmed before the big tour buses came in. And it paid off, barely a sole about. It was pretty cool.

Back for breakfast, more temples, blah, blah, blah, dinner, bar,  too many drinks, day 2 - done!

All done in the blazing hot sun! Pooped!

Pxx