Island of touts

Indonesia has been Ben's travel favourite for a long time. He has always wanted to go back since spending a month in Sulawesi a few years ago. We debated for a long time whether or not visit Bali, the most famous of all the islands in Indonesia. Over 80 per cent of travellers going to Indonesia visit only Bali. What we experienced so far with most of the famous places is that we understand why they originally got famous, but they are now ruined by too much tourism. That's how we felt about almost the whole south of Thailand, especially Ao Nang and Ko Phi Phi, and some parts of Vietnam, for example. We read in many places how Bali is now drowning in rubbish, loud dance music playing into the early morning hours in Kuta beach and the cheap poison booze killing travellers even in the 5-star resorts. Didn't sound too good. But then again, in a way we were curious to see what all the fuss was about.

What really decided it for us was the flights. Most of the cheaper flights obviously go to Bali. And it is a good place to start exploring the islands to the east. Lombok, Komodo and Flores were all waiting in a reasonable distance. Two days after Ben's sister and brother had left Vietnam we were already off to Bali. Obviously, the cheap flight comes with a cost: it includes a long stop in Kuala Lumpur airport, once again.

Our first experiences in Bali were indeed not the best ones. We arrived in Bali just after midnight, which was okay for us, meaning that we get an extra day to do a visa extension, which should be done one week before the 30-day visa on arrival expires. We had read many different things on the internet about extending the visa, so on arrival Ben wanted to check with the immigration officer stamping his passport that it is for sure possible to extend this visa. Instantly, the officer wanted to help him do it, wanting to give him his phone number and listed all the friends he had in different offices, who could offer him help with the extension, probably for a special fee or something... That was funny, but we got our passports stamped and got out. And then we got to meet the taxi mafia.

Midnight is not really the best time to haggle for cheaper prices. They know you've just flown in, queued for a while, you're tired, and you just want to go to bed. They have all the power unless you happen to feel like walking. We had come to the conclusion that we'd head to Denpasar, where also the airport was located, for a few nights and then keep going north instead of the usual destination of Kuta beach in the south. We really didn't have to see that. We had booked a guesthouse, and on the website they had said that we shouldn't pay more than 90,000 rupiahs for the taxi. We talked a while with the taxi drivers, whose set price of 20-25 dollars (a set price, is it?) was way over two times more than that. We tried to haggle and only got laughed at, all taxi drivers working together and agreeing to the prices in Indonesian right in front of us. Then we walked to the other side of the terminal, and the same thing followed, until Ben said to me "okay, we go back to the guy who agreed on 150 then". We started to leave, and that's when the price started to drop. We ended up paying still too much, but at least we had done our best now. Finally, a 20-minute drive later we got to our guesthouse, Nakula Familiar Inn, happy that we had decided to stay there and not Kuta. Not because of Denpasar being that nice, but because we now knew that Kuta would probably be a place full of similar attitudes and rip-offs and it wouldn't offer that much for us anyway.

After few days of recovering from the long flight we took a bemo, which is a local way of public transport, basically a minivan, to a bus terminal, where we switched to another bemo, which took us to a place in central highlands of Bali, Candikuning. Candikuning is famous for fruit production, flowers and cool mountain climate. We checked into a guesthouse and met a guy called Amin, who works as a tour guide. He's the one who helped us find our guesthouse. Normally we would be a bit wary of these guys. Amin however seemed to be a genuinely likable guy, he spoke great English and his little book of recommendations was full of good reviews in many languages. He made us a good offer for a motorbike-hiking-sightseeing day tour, which would end in Lovina (or wherever we wanted) on the north coast. That was good, because then we wouldn't have to worry about transport to the next destination. We signed up for the next day. Candikuning itself is nothing special, it has nice botanical gardens and a nice little temple on a lake, but mostly it's the surroundings that people come there for. We thought we might as well do a tour and see a little bit of central Bali.

 

The tour started early as Amin woke us up before sunrise. We took the motorbikes up a mountain, where we spent a while watching the sunrise. Then on schedule was seeing the temple on the lake, which is also pictured on the 50,000 bank note. After that we went back to the guesthouse for western style breakfast, and after finishing that Amin came back with a local breakfast! A day that starts with two breakfasts can't be a bad one, can it? We spent the day with Amin and as the hours went by we realised we made a good decision with hiring this guy. He was funny, full of information of local plants and foods, we tasted many fruits, hiked past two waterfalls and rice fields, learned a lot about culture and we even saw a little chameleon! We finished the day with swimming in thermal pools, a good way to relax after a long day, if nothing special otherwise. After that it was a short ride to Lovina, where we checked into a hotel that Amin recommended.

 

We had planned to rest the next day, but we accidentally haggled ourselves into a doing a dive trip. As soon as we had sat down at the hotel restaurant, a guy approached us, wanting to sell us a dive trip. We said that we just got back from a long tour and wanted to sleep long the next day. However, we looked at the brochures just in case we wanted to go later and it sure looked nice. It was about Menjangan island, probably the most famous dive spot in Bali. We also knew it would be expensive. But this guy wanted us to go tomorrow, because they clearly needed a full boat. We could have considered it, but he asked 90 euros for two dives! That was way too much for us even if the diving was nice. We told him that. We told that we really weren't even planning to go and it was too much for us anyway, so we said that we don't have to dive, we are just happy to relax. But he kept asking, "well how much you want to pay?" again and again. So we said that 25 per dive was the maximum we pay for a dive and there was really no point having this conversation anyway because we wouldn't go up with the price, we didn't even want to dive in the first place. He tried with 75 for two dives, and we were already getting a little annoyed, we just wanted this dude to leave, but then he made a phone call to someone and went "okay", and we, a little bit surprised of what just happened, ended up booking the dives.

The diving was surprisingly good. We were looking for pygmy seahorses and managed to find some! We also saw massive schools of jackfish, huge scorpionfish, nudibranchs and lots of other interesting stuff. There was also a small cave that we got to swim into. The softcorals were beautiful and diving was in the end worth it. We were tired but happy it worked out in the end. In the evening Amin came to visit us and gave us a bottle or Arak, the famous local home made coconut booze. He assured that it was safe, because it was made by a family he knows. He said he is careful with arak and he even knows a guy who died on the cheap stuff. We had no reason to doubt him, so Ben tried a little bit. And he liked it.

Lovina itself wasn't that special, the beach was okay at most and the town itself was on the touristy side but pleasant enough, but what mattered to us was that the sea water wasn't clear so there was not much snorkelling at that moment. We stayed for a few days, since we had a nice place with a pool and wifi, so we did some planning, reading and relaxing. And soon we were off again, this time to Jemeluk.

When we travel in the tropics, we have mostly one thing in mind: the underwater world. Enthusiastic snorkellers and divers, we often choose our destinations based on how good the snorkelling or diving is. And that's why Jemeluk was next on the list. We had heard of Jemeluk Bay being a good snorkelling destination, so we hired a car for about 20 dollars to drive us the 2 hour journey to Amed. Jemeluk is actually a part of Amed, 500 metres away and often mentioned as the same place. And we weren't disappointed! The place kept us busy for a week! First we stayed on the Amed side, just snorkeling off the beach, which was already very nice with lots of fish and the occasional stingray hiding under the table corals. And then we decided to move on to the Jemeluk side and we were amazed! It is a very unusual place, the current sweeping through the protected bay, beautiful hard and soft corals on both sides of the bay and a steep sandy drop off in the middle. 15 metres off the beach the water gets so deep that you only see blue. And one of the best thing is that this brings in an unusual amount of big fishes, coming to clean and feed at the reefs. There is almost everything you might want to see while snorkeling. In fact snorkeling was so good that we decided to leave diving aside. Why pay, when you can just go off the beach with the basic gear and see about the same things? We saw stingrays, scorpionfish, stonefish, a mimic octopus, a bigger octopus of some kind, nemos, unicornfish, triggerfish, surgeonfish and so many things we can't even name them all here. Only thing missing was sharks. We were told they see them occasionally, but we were not lucky enough to see one. But we were extremely happy. This was what we had been hoping for.

But all good things come to an end. We had spent already over two weeks in Bali, and in a week we would have to to drop off our visa extension applications in an office in Lombok, the next island. So reluctantly we decided to move on to Padangbai, our last stop in Bali and the main port for ferries going on to Lombok.

Padangbai was a nice enough place, with a weird beach with the craziest sand we've ever seen. Every step you took you sank very deep, and looking closely we realised why: the sand wasn't actually sand, it was small, perfectly round pebbles of some sort. We never found out why is it like this, but it was funny. We also tried snorkeling in the nearby Blue Lagoon, but it was disapponting. We happened to be there at low tide, and the waves crashing hard on the coral and sharp rocks half a metre below the surface made it kind of dangerous to go out, so we abandoned the plan and just chilled watching lizards for a few minutes before walking back to the guesthouse.

Bali is a beautiful island and what makes it special is the Hindu culture that you can't really find elsewhere. Bali is full of life, culture, temples, music and flowers. But it is also full of touts, rip-off prices, dishonest people and party places. We wanted to give Bali a chance, but it just isn't our kind of place. Don't get me wrong - it's a nice island. But somehow it doesn't feel like real Indonesia, whatever that means. When we think of Indonesia, we think of different things: Muslims, smoking volcanos, deep jungle, orangutans, big lizards, curious locals, beautiful coral reefs and only a few other tourists. So we felt like changing scenery and we booked tickets to Lombok.

 

A long expected visitor and an unexpected one

We got up earlier than usual and went for coffee next to our hotel in Saigon. Today my (Ben's) sister was supposed to arrive but we didn't know when. No e-mail, no text, nothing. So we waited. The whole day. Every couple of minutes we checked the phone but nothing from her. Then, in the evening, we got a message that she had missed the connection flight in Doha and therefore will be late a day or two. Damn! We had more or less figured out what to do with her in her barely two weeks of holiday but now time was already against us from the beginning. Then another message saying that she is in Bangkok now and will arrive the next morning. Good.

We waited at the airport, above the luggage carousels in a cafe. Late again. What happened? But then she came down the stairs and surprise! My brother was with her! No one ever told me that he will join us, but here he was! I was just happy to see a part of my family after 13 months of separation. We took them to our hotel and luckily had four beds in our three bed room. We went for breakfast and started to exchange stories. But then all they wanted to do is sleep, after their almost 40 hour journey. It came out that they didn't miss the flight but that Qatar Airways changed the gates minutes before the departure without notice. Several passengers missed the flight and got a flight to Bangkok instead, paid by the airline.

After a short nap they were more or less ready for food again. Good thing to start Vietnam in Saigon. It just takes your breath (literally) with the amount of motorbikes, people and noise. They took it well and we explored the city. Next morning we got picked up for a Mekong tour. We chose a day trip to save some time for the journey later, all the way to Hanoi. It wasn't really good. But for 10$, you can't complain too much. First three hours of the tour we sat in a bus towards south. We stopped at some temple which looked rather like a tourist attraction than a holy place. Then onto a boat whose speakers almost blew my head away with a guide that repeated everything at least three times, and then all in Vietnamese too. First stop on the Mekong was a sugar cane candy factory on an island. Ride with a horse cart up and down the main road (one horse hit a truck because they blindfolded the poor animal). A small lunch was included on another island where one can feed crocodiles with meat. Seemed to be a popular attraction amongst mostly Asian tourists. We also visited a bee farm and were given the option of holding a big python for photos, which we refused by sneaking to the back towards the numerous souvenir stalls. The usual traditional music shows followed, while we were provided "exotic fruit" to keep us interested long enough. The supposed highlight of the tour, a rowing boat ride on one of the smaller rivers, finally took place at the very end of the tour. What we had expected to be a relaxed and beautiful ride was actually a hurried journey for about five minutes. We sadly had to concentrate more on the beggars than landscapes, as every person on the returning boats was screaming "5 dollar tip! Tip! Tip! 5 dollars!" as they zoomed past us in a few seconds. So we are supposed to be ready with a pile of dollars to hand them out to everyone who wants or what? We couldn't even have possibly even handed out the "tips" as fast as they passed us. Oh well, can't blame for trying, can you? After the ride the tour was finished and we headed back to the bus. The ride back was long and hot and we got to see Saigons traffic for several hours. All in all it wasn't what we normally do and enjoy but my sister and brother didn't think it was too bad, we were quite spoilt already I guess...

Then the travelling really started. On the highway to the north. First stop was Mui Ne. Beach time, one night's sleep and a ride with rented motorbikes to the same sand dunes we already visited on our way down south. The bus away from Mui Ne was late and we started to worry. When it did show up the staff was really rude and almost kicked us inside. About half an hour later we stopped next to a broken down bus on the way to Saigon. People came in to our bus and we drove off. In the next town everyone heading north had to leave, this bus now was for the stranded passengers who went to Saigon. That was weird and now we sat in the dirt with no clue what was going on. One guy from the bus company stopped each passing bus, big or small that headed north but none wanted to take us, they were all full. After a couple of hours later they sent us a minivan which took the tourists further on. The local passengers were left behind, no clue how long they waited.

Nha Trang we wanted to bypass but my brother wasn't fan of a 20 hour bus ride straight to Hoi An so we used it as an overnight stop which ended up being a over two nights stop. Beach and shopping was on. An overnight bus brought us to our next destination, Hoi An. Hoi An was my personal highlight so far so I was happy to go there again. We arrived in the early morning and planned our getaway right away. We already decided to skip Hue and to Hanoi it was another 18 hours or so by bus. My brothers feelings were already well known so we voted for the train. Sadly there were no sleepers left and sitting for such a long time was no one's dream, that left only the plane then. We found flights for around 100$ each which we booked, not from Hoi An as there's no airport but from Danang about an hour away. The rest of the time we spent in cafes or in tailor shops, my sister and Anni got new dresses. We also rented bikes and headed to the beach, which was a short drive away and very beautiful!

Hanoi! We stayed in Stars hotel again, it was good the last time so why change? We had already booked a three day trip with Ethnic travel to Halong and Bai Tu Long bay which was due to start the next day. Equipped with all the things one might need on a cruise we left Hanoi, excited about what may come. The three hour bus ride to Halong city made us more tired than anything and we were just glad to be on the boat now. Finally! Since we set foot on Vietnam we dreamed about a trip to Halong bay and now it started! We booked a slightly more expensive one that goes to places others don't. Same areas but off the crowds. And it included Bai Tu Long bay to the north-east of Halong bay, almost no companies go there. The first day (or half by now) was quite misty and foggy, normal apparently on most days here. It was stunning to drive deeper and deeper into the maze of islands and rocks. A quick stop was made at a floating village where we were driven around in a rowing boat by a local woman. Then we already stopped at our overnight place where we went for a swim. Not everyone joined, some stayed on the sun deck as lookouts for the numerous jellyfish that swam around everywhere. At night we were kept awake by a neighbouring boat which had the probably shittiest disco in south east asia aboard. Not so off the beaten track after all.

After a very brief breakfast we were forced to go kayaking. I hate kayaks. But it was pleasant enough, at least we could see the jellyfish close up now. Also the weather was perfect, the sun already hot in the early morning and the view much more spectacular than so far.

After the kayaking we already had to head back to Halong city. There the boat picked up other tourists and we took a van east, to start the second part of our trip. This time the boat was smaller but pretty nice. The harbour where we left on Cai Rong island was already between some of these karst mountains and it got better every minute. After another kayaking stop, this one quite boring we drove away from the setting sun, everyone sat on the roof, admiring the surrounding landscape. By sunset we reached our overnight stop on an Quan Lan island. The advertised home stay was a massive house with rooms for all of the 12 passengers. Dinner started with a spring roll rolling course and ended up with way too much sea food than anyone could eat (as every meal so far!). The very brave ones got up at 5am to visit the fish market. We think a fish market is not better at 5am than any other time of the day. After breakfast we got bikes and rode them to a remote beach for a swim. Then further on we met our boat again for the way back to the mainland. This was probably the most beautiful stretch in these three days and we couldn't have imagined a better way to end the cruise.

This was already the second to last day for my siblings, the time passed so quick with all these activities and traveling. I wouldn't do it again in such short time, three weeks is probably the least to be able to enjoy more places with less stress. One highlight we didn't visit at all the Phong Nha- Ke Bang national park near Dong Hoi. Another was the tunnels used during the Vietnam war (or American war as it is called in Vietnam). The last of their days we spent in Hanoi, strolling through the old quarter and buying last souvenirs. The next day they left, a sad moment after such intense time but from now on we could take it easier again with no worries about other people that relied on us.

We left Vietnam two days later and were sure to come back in future, this country is big and busy and colourful, there's always something new to discover. And the next destination had the same spell on me when I was there the first time, three years ago. Indonesia.