Nia and I were professionals when we got off the bus in Bangkok. Tuk-tuk drivers fought for us to get in their tuk-tuk. When we got off we just said ‘cheapest price to get us to Khao San Road’. It was like an auction. Seriously, try it, it works like a charm.
We checked into the same simple hostel we had done before. It’s not even worth a review, but we knew what we were expecting and the location, so it was fine. It was a place to crash when we got in. We slept until noon the next day and it was off to find me a new GoPro case. I won’t go into the story in full detail, it’s pretty self-explanatory: it was waterproof, it broke, then no longer waterproof. You see my predicament when we were about to be flying to an Indonesian ISLAND in twenty-four hours.
We headed into a mall right in the centre of the city and while we were there some friends invited us to a Sky Bar. Remember the two South American girls? Yeah, them! They happened to be in Bangkok at the same time, so we all meet up for drinks, food and city skyline views. Nia and I slipped off for an eleven pm finish on this one, we had to be up and ready for our pre-booked taxi to take us to the airport for two am. Lovely.
The early starts are definitely worth it though when you have somewhere fun at the other end of the tunnel. For us it was Bali. As soon as we boarded the plane at six am our eyes both shut. We didn’t wake back up until the seat belt signs were turning off at eleven am Indonesia time.
We had no expectations of Bali but from what everyone we had spoken to had said, Bali was amazing. There was a list we had devised of the locations we wanted to see or had been recommended: Seminyak, Kuta, The Gili Islands, Ubud and Lovina. After a relaxing time in Pai, two early nights in Bangkok it was quite enough of this ridiculous behaviour, time to find a party hostel. Funky Monkey seemed like a good one, pool in the middle, open plan, good reviews, right in the middle of the busiest nightlife street in Bali. Yeah, that one will do. Full review can be found on my other page.
When our bags were unpacked, the bikinis where on and a beer was in hand. The sun was out and hot, clear blue skies, it was glorious. We ended up spending a few nights at this hostel, the pool was just so convenient, so social, it was the perfect set up of relaxing in the daytime and going out for long nights. To make up for lost time we stayed out until five-thirty am on the first night, yes, it was a good one. The next day we were there, we were of course not to our full healthy selves and we just needed that one hangover meal to cure all. Like when we had the Bahn Mi in Laos, something like that.
As we were lounging around the sacred hostel pool there was chatter of a bar called ‘Sky Garden Bar’, seven-dollar entry. Quite a lot for a bar, but you get unlimited buffet food and a few drinks included. This evening just so happened to be a Sunday, so what was the buffet: ROAST. Yes my amigos, a roast, in Indonesia, and a good one at that. This bar had it all. After you had finished your dinner you just continued the night. Enjoy the live DJ’s and keep the drinks flowing cause it then turns into one of the best nightclubs on that street. Seven dollars isn’t looking like such a rip off now is it? Especially when you are out until god knows what time that night was.
On one of our full days we went to the Bali waterpark, had an Indonesian massage, and booked our next destination. We thought we should leave the mainland of Bali until the end of our stay, just so we didn’t have to organise any Asian ferries to tie in with any international flights. Ok, well, this was the sensible idea and it did cross our minds. There was also a very unpleasant, male character at the Funky Monkey, who seemed to have take an attachment to myself and Nia. So we decided to change our plans last minute, from Seminyak, and hoped to never saw his face again. We didn’t thank goodness. It was worth the change of plans, trust me. He was our only unwanted friend at the hostel though, everyone else was pretty pleasant.
The six am start sure helped us to escape this human and we were swiftly off on the road towards the ferry port. I do love a ferry ride don’t you? Just chilled, relax, listen to your music, go up on the top deck if you want some sun or just to get a bit of fresh air. If you have ever been on the Bali to Gili Islands ferry before, you are wildly mistaken if you think this is the experience in mind. I would have got a flight to Lombok had we have known that the sea was, what I would imagine, as if you were crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a storm. It may be a bit dramatic but it’s not a fun experience. There is no top deck experience; unless you are able to hang on for dear life. It was a couple of hours journey but as soon as our feet hit the shores of Gili T it was one of those giving birth moments all mothers say about. As soon as the baby is born you forget all about the birthing experience. That was what it was like as after we had finished with the Gili’s we decided to do it all over again. But first let’s enjoy the late nights, loud noises and heavy drinking to make the noise more bearable.
LEAH HANCOX 