Stop-over in Bangkok

Hi everyone! :)

After our short stay in Kuala Lumpur, we are now in Bangkok for two days.
We flew here with Malaysia Airlines (a really good airline by the way!) on Tuesday. Luckily, we could take a train straight to our hostel, the Bed Station Hostel. It was already getting dark and we were tired from the flight, so we didn't do much on our first evening here.
 After we found a cook shop (?) on the street that actually offered a vegetarian dish (fried rice with veggies, yay! :D), we walked around the streets near our hostel. A lot of locals had set up little booths or counters with grilled meat, fish balls, fresh fruit, etc. It was so cool! Although 90 percent of the food they offered included meat... (Finding vegetarian food is gonna be a huge challenge, especially in the countryside. Plain rice, here we come! XD)

On Wednesday, we decided to go to Chinatown and Little India. To get there, we took a bus. The bus was pretty fun because it didn't actually stop, it just drove a little slower at the bus stations and you almost had to jump in and out. :D
After our adventurous bus ride, we had to walk quite a bit to get to Chinatown. When we finally got there, we were amazed by all the different impressions. We walked along a tiny street with little shops and booths packed on both sides. They offered clothes, bags, food, cosmetics, ... I was overwhelmed by the different smells, sounds, by everything actually. It was a lot to take in! And there were so many people, tourists and locals.
After fighting our way through the narrow street, we walked to a flower market. It is supposed to be the most beautiful market here in Bangkok with all the different kinds of flowers, their vibrant colors and different smells. However, it was already past noon, so a lot of vendors had already sold many of their flowers, so it was not as colorful as we had expected.
Our next stop was in Little India, which was very similar to the narrow streets of Chinatown, just with lots of Indian goods. We found a little restaurant where we ate something and took a little break from everything. Bangkok is so full of life, it's just overwhelming! :)
We were so tired, that we decided to go back to our hostel. In the evening, we went to the same cook shop as the day before where we tried papaya salad. We had read online that it was a special dish here, so we wanted to try it. What we got was very different from what we had expected, though. The papaya was green and mixed with peanuts and tomatoes. Along with that, we got a second plate filled with raw beans, a piece of Chinese cabbage, and some weird-looking greens....We were confused, it tasted good though. :D

On Thursday, we got up early to visit some temples and the Grand Palace. We took a boat along a canal (same system as with the bus: hop on or off as quickly as you can and try not to fall in the water), and walked the rest of the way to the Wat Pho temple. The temple consisted of multiple little monuments that were decorated with colorful tiles and gold, various temple buildings, and many statues of different animals, buddhas, or traditional Thai dancers and warriors. It was gorgeous!! The temple's main attraction was a giant lying buddha in one of the temple buildings. We had to take off our shoes and wear green robes (to cover our shoulders and knees) to get inside. The buddha was golden and just huge! It filled the entire room!!
 After we finished walking around the whole area, we went to the Grand Palace which was right next to Wat Pho. As we got closer to the entrance, we came across masses of Thai people, dressed entirely in black clothes. We already knew that the Thai king had died a few weeks previously, and that the entire country is now grieving for about a year. What we didn't know, was that they had put his body in the Grand Palace, and that thousands of Thais come here every day to see and pray for him. It was crazy how many people were there and waited in the seemingly endless line to see their king for one last time. They had set up booths with free drinks and food, and even one that said "Mental Health" (for the people that couldn't handle all the grief, I guess). It is so impressive how united the whole nation seems to be!

We stood in front of the entrance and ate some delicious spring rolls as we came across two fellow German travelers from our hostel. We went into the palace together. First, we had to put on long skirts (again to cover up our knees), and then we could enter. The campus around the palace was amazing!! Even more colorful buildings, more statues, and a lot more gold than in Wat Pho! We walked around and took lots of pictures. Then we went into a textile museum that was located right in front of the palace. It had an exhibition about the outfits of the traditional Thai Khon dancers that was pretty interesting. Furthermore, it featured an exhibition of the Thai queen's favorite dresses (as an honor to her).
We were pretty exhausted from all the walking and the masses of tourists, so we decided to go back to our hostel.
In the evening, we went to a night food market with our German friends. Unfortunately, it started to rain, so we went inside a little Thai restaurant. After the rain had stopped, we walked through the streets and admired all the different foods. We tried little pancake-balls filled with coconut milk, pretty good! :)

Despite many negative experiences we had heard from others, we had an amazing time here in Bangkok! Yes, it was noisy and pretty dirty, but the people were really friendly, the markets were great, the palaces and temples were absolutely gorgeous, and the food was good. We will come back here at the end of our trip through Southeast Asia (because our flight to New Zealand will depart from here) and stay for some more days. :D

Tomorrow, we will fly to Hanoi, Vietnam. I'm so excited! :)

Thanks for reading my blog!
Annette <3

Chinatown

Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Wat Pho

The lying Buddha

The Grand Palace

The Grand Palace

The Grand Palace

Kuala Lumpur

Hello guys! :D

We arrived in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, two days ago. We drove here from Singapore with a sleeping bus. The bus left Singapore at 11:50pm and took us to the border were we had to depart Singapore and enter Malaysia. Everything at the border went very well, and we could enjoy our amazing bus and sleep during the rest of the drive. It was so comfortable!!! :) 

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 4:30am, earlier than expected, and took a cab to our hostel, the Reagge Mansion. We couldn't check in yet, so we slept on some couches in the common area of the hostel for the rest of the night. At 9am in the morning, we were finally able to check in and go to our room. The hostel is very nice! Our room (we had a 4-bed-dorm for ourselves) was clean, the hostel offered free dinner, laundry services, and even had its own cinema! 

After unpacking our stuff, we found out that there was a big demonstration here in the city centre today. (The opponents of the Malaysian government demonstrated for more democracy as the leading party is known to be very corrupt here.) All the streets around our hostel were closed, so we couldn't really go anywhere. We decided to give it a try and go visit our German friend Marc, who is currently working for a volunteer program here. The organisation was based in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, so we had to take the train (which was still in service) and the bus to get there. After fighting our way through the crowded streets to the train station, we didn't have any problems on our way there. 

Marc showed us around the suburb, we went to an amazing local restaurant with a big buffet, and walked to a viewpoint afterwards, from where we could overlook the whole city. It was great! On the way back to our hostel, we found ourselves surrounded by yellow t-shirts (the protestors) at the train station.
We had to wait in line for over half an hour to get our tickets! However, the trains were so overfilled that we had to wait even longer. After 2.5 hours, we arrived soaked (it had started to rain) and tired at our hostel.

On our second day here, we had planned to visit the Batu caves (batu = rock). On our way out of the hostel, we met a really nice other German traveller, Joshi, who wanted to go there as well.  After finding a really cute market hall with lots of different shops where we ate delicious Crepes for breakfast, we went to the train station to catch the train to the caves. They were located just outside of the city inside a little mountain. A big golden statue was standing right before the entrance, it was so impressive! Behind it, a set of really steep and long stairs led up the mountain to the entrance of the caves. After fighting our way to the top, accompanied by lots of wild monkeys :), a we were astonished by the huge cavern of the Batu cave. The cave was gigantic and a Hindu temple was located at the back of it. It looked so cool in there! We spend some time walking around the cave and taking pictures.

Then, we went to the Dark Caves which were

right beside the Batu Cave. That one, you

could only visit with a tour guide. Along with

a few other tourists, we followed our guide, a

young girl named Shah, inside the caves. Shah

told us a lot about the history of the caves, its

eco system, and its inhabitants. What was

really interesting, was the fact that the whole

life inside the cave is based on bat poop. Yup,

bat poop! ;)

There are so many bats in the cave that fly

outside to get food. They are the only animals

that actually leave the cave. All the others

including various insects, spiders, and snakes,

live of the nutrients in the bat’s droppings. Our

guide had lots of fun explaining that to us in a

very sarcastic way, so hilarious! :)

After we finished our tour, we went back to

Kuala Lumpur’s city centre where we went

straight to the market hall to get some food.

Back in our hostel, we just relaxed after the

exhausting day.

Today, our third day in Malaysia, we went to

the central market (again) and sat in a little

café. We had breakfast there and made plans

for our next stop: Bangkok. Afterwards, we

stopped at one of the food stalls outside of the

market hall and bought some spring rolls,

samosas, and other fried delicacies. Then, we

went to Chinatown where we walked through

the streets filled with different booths selling

clothes, fresh fruit, souvenirs, etc. We ended

up buying more food and went back to our

hostel where we had a little picnic in our

room. :D

In the evening, we went to visit the city centre

and Petronas towers and watched a little

lightshow of the fountain in front of them.

Tomorrow, we will leave Kuala Lumpur to go

to Bangkok where we will stay three days

before we fly to Hanoi, Vietnam. 

Talk to you soon,

Annette <3

 Entrance of the Batu caves

 

Inside the cave 

 

 

Our friend Joshi :) 

Monkeys :D

 

 Kuala Lumpur 

 

Chinatown

 

The petronas towers

In love with Singapore

Hey y’all!  :)

After an exhausting flight in the middle of the night, we arrived safely in Singapore. Luckily, we had arranged the transport from the airport to our hostel previously, and didn’t have to pick up the battle with a horde of taxi drivers like at our arrival on Bali.

Arriving at the Sleepy Kiwi hostel, we fell into our beds without even changing our clothes because we were so tired (it was about 3:30am). On the next morning, we enjoyed a nice breakfast with amazing coffee at the hostel (which was included in the price). It was a buffet with toast, fruit, different kinds of jams, peanut butter, etc. Following the backpacker rule no.1 (free food = all you can eat) we ate as much as we could. Afterwards, we got our backpacks and walked to the Green Kiwi Hostel where we stayed for the rest of our time in Singapore.

After getting settles, we met a Singaporean, Shah, in the lobby who offered to show us some of the city. We were really excited! A free tour with a local is probably the best way to get around in a foreign city. :)

Together with three other German girls from our hostel, we took a bus to the downtown area of Singapore. On the way, Shah told us a little about his life and about the people here. There are 4 official languages in Singapore, Malay, Indian, Chinese, and English, so every sign is translated in each language. Furthermore, a lot of different ethnicities live here side by side. All over the city, we could see Mosques, Hindu temples, and different kinds of churches, really cool!

Shah showed us around the finance district and the Singapore river and showed us awesome places to eat (We tried Prata, a kind of thin salty pancake with a delicious vegetable sauce, and a special ice cream that was served in a piece of rainbow toast :D). Unfortunately, it started raining in the afternoon, so we went back to our hostel. In the evening, we decided to visit a mall nearby and to get something to eat in the district called “Little India”. The mall was, like everything in Singapore, super modern and it was decorated with lots of Christmas lights (we realized that that was probably be the most christmasy atmosphere we would get since we will be somewhere in Cambodia or Laos around Christmas). After strolling through it, we went to a vegetarian Indian restaurant with delicious authentic Indian food. 

On the next day, we went to Little India again. We walked through its decorated streets (there had been some kind of festival) and were amazed by the totally different atmosphere there. We also went to a kind of mall called “Mustafa Centre”. But it was not like any of the other malls here. It reminded me more of a gigantic souk. You could literally buy anything in the multiple-story building from electronics to clothes to toys to food from all over the world (we even found German Marzipanstollen!!). We were so excited about the place and stayed in there for a long time.

Then, we went by MRT (Mass Rapid Transportation, the subway of Singapore) to Chinatown where we were again in a whole different world. Now everything was no longer Indian, but Chinese. The restaurants, the shops, the signs, the people,… We found a street with food where we tried another typical Singaporean dish called Murtabak, delicious!

After we ate, we went by bus to a park called Southern Gardens, where you could walk on a high steel path between the tops of the trees. It was amazing! We felt like in the middle of a rainforest rather than in a big city, and ended up on a hill with a fantastic view over the harbour and other parts of the city.

On Thursday, our third day here, we had booked a free walking tour through the civic and colonial district.  Along with a group of other tourist from all over the world, we followed our guide, Wei, along the Singapore river and into various buildings which had been governmental institutions previously. He told us all about Singapore’s interesting history and we learned about the different colonial times, wars, and its way to become an independent state in 1965. At the end of the tour, we went to the Esplanade, the performing art centre, which was in a really cool building made of glass. From the front steps, we had an amazing view on Singapore’s main attraction, the Marina Bay Sands.

After the tour was over, we went to a restaurant called “Guac and go” which was totally amazing because you could create your own wraps and salads. We had planned to go on a rooftop bar afterwards, but it started raining, so we went back to the hostel. When the rain stopped eventually, Taddi and I went to our favourite place again: the Mustafa Centre. :D We stayed in there for what seemed like hours.

Back in our hostel, we decided to go see the laser show at the Marina Bay Sands. It was not very spectacular, and we were a little disappointed… It was worth it though because we got to see all the skyscrapers by night, really cool! 

On Friday, our last day here in Singapore, we went to the Marina Bay Sands and the Gardens by the Bay. First, we walked through the big gardens which offered a multitude of different plants, arranged in various areas, for example the Chinese garden, the Indian garden, the Malay garden, ... it was so beautiful! Especially the colorful flowers! The area I liked the most was the one with the so-called "supertrees". These trees are artificial and each contain a water reservoir and solar panels. On the outside, they are decorated with plants and lights, so they glow in the dark. They were so awesome!! :) 

After we finished walking through the gardens, we went inside the Marina Bay Sands, the biggest and most famous hotel in Singapore. It contains a mall with lots of expensive designer stores and an ice rink. We relaxed for some time on a bank in front of the building and enjoyed the gorgeous view on the skyline of the city. When we got hungry, we went to the food hawker (that's what the cheap and local food courts are called here) beside the Esplanade Centre. Once again we had some delicious singaporean food. :) 

At 7:15pm we went into the Esplanade Centre because there was a free Indian fashion show. It was small, but so cool to watch! After that, we went to the Gardens by the Bay again to see the glowing supertrees by night. They looked even better!!! :) 

On the way back to our hostel, we made a (not so quick...) stop at our favorite shopping mall: the Mustafa Centre. XD 

Back at the hostel, we collected our backpacks and went to the bus station where our sleeping bus to Kuala Lumpur departed. 

After spending four wonderful days here in Singapore, I can only say that I absolutely love this city!!! The people are extremely helpful and friendly, the whole population seems so tolerant with all the different religions and cultures living side by side, the streets and buildings are super clean, there are lots of beautiful parks and gardens, the food is good, etc. I love it!!! :D 

Right now we are already at our next destination: Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, but I will write about that in my next post.

Stay tuned, 

Annette <3 

 

Little India 

 

The treetop walk

 

The Esplanade Centre 

 

Marina Bay Sands by night 

 

Gardens by the Bay

 

The supertrees

The group from the free walking tour  

Nusa Lembongan, Kuta, and Balangan

Hello guys! :)

This will be my last post about Indonesia, as we will be traveling to our next destination, Singapore, on Monday .

So after our trip to Lombok, we went to the island called Nusa Lembongan.The ride on the boat took about 3 hours and was pretty exciting because the waves were really big. We were glad when we arrived at our destination without getting seasick...

We hadn't booked an accommodation for our time there  yet, so Samu and Taddi went on to find something suitable, while Sofie and I stayed with our luggage. We decided to go with a small hotel at the beach with an infinity pool. It was called "A One House" and literally consisted of only one small building with four rooms.
On the next day, we didn't do much. Just relaxed at the pool  and enjoyed the amazing weather. (It didn't rain the whole day!) In the evening, we went out to eat at a rstaurant calleed "Green Garden Warung". It was  amazing because it had so many vegetarian and vegan options! I had a tempeh burger that was absolutely delicious and a nice change from the standars here, fried rice or fried noodles.

On our second day at Nusa Lembongan, we had booked a snorkeling trip. We were picked up at 8am and went onto  small boat with a couple other tourists. We received fins, mask, and a snorkel, and drove around the island to the first snorkeling spot: Mangrove Point. We had about 40min to snorkel aroound the area. It was absolutely awesome! The corals and all the differnet kinds of fish had a  broad variety of colours and shapes, and I was totally amazed. What really bothered me though, was the fact that there were tons of plastic bags, bottles, and other trash in the water... Additionally, you could see the coral degradation.. Many pieces of coral broke off, lost all of their beautiful colours, and lay on the ground. I knew that that was a huge problem, but seeing it in person  made me even angrier... Angrier at us humans for destroying this fantastic underwater world with our reckless consumption...
 After we explored the first stop,we got back on the boat and drove to the second spot. That one was even more beautiful than the first one! A  lot more different colours and shapes! And a lot less trash! :) Our third stop was in a little bay called Crystal Bay. It was a bit more difficult to snorkel there because the waves were really big, but it was worh it! At the end of the tour, we were supposed to visit Manta Bay. We were promised that we would be able to see lots of Manta rays there, I was really excited! Unfortunately, the waves there were even bigger, making it too dangerous to snorkel... :( But even without seeing the Mantas, the snorkel trip was just great! :D Even though it also made me really sad because of the pollution of the water...
After we returned to our hotel, we went out for lunch and relaxed for the reminder of the day.

The next morning, we decided to rent scooters and explore some more of the small island. First, we drove to Sunset Point. (We didn't find it,but instead we went to a cliff and watched the waves break which was really nice as well.) After that, we went on to the socalled "Dream Beach". That is a small beach surrounded by the cliffs, which is supposed to be exceptionally beautiful. I had expected a lot, but it was actually not that "dreamy". Sure it was beautiful, but not more beautiful than other beaches we have seen so far...What was really cool about it though, was that you could walk along the cliffs and get to a point called "Devil's Tear". At that spot, the waves have created like a round carving into the rocks and every time a new wave crashes onto the rocks there, it looks like the carving releases a big breath, very cool! :) Samu and Sofie decided to go back to the hotel afterwards, and Taddi and I drove to the other side of the island, to the Mangrove forest. That was my fvourite spot on the whole island! It was so quiet and the Mangrove trees were so pretty. (It also reminded me of Florida <3)  We went to a small, very cute Café called "Nano Nano Warung". After eating the most delicious nasi goreng (fried rice) there, we stayed on a cozy couch for some more time, read and relaxed.
What I really liked about the whole island of Nusa Lembongan, was the calm atmosphere and the diversity of the nature, even though the island is so small. If you ever find yourself on Bali, it is definetly worth spending a few days  there!! :)

After having spent four nights on Nusa Lembongan, we took a fast boat back to Bali. There we stayed ne night in Kuta. Kuta is known as the party and surf center of Bali (also called the "Mallorca for Australians" XD). As we are neither party people or surfers, I was afraid that we wouldn't like it there, but apart from being really touristy, it had a cool atmosphere and lots of stores and street shops where we could shop. That's what we did on our first day there. We went into several surf shops and explored the narrow streets with all of the local shops. It is crazy how different they are: the big and clean surf shops with their fixed and expensive (comparable to Europe) prices next to the tiny street shops with their colorful shirts, sarongs, and all the other random souvenirs where  you have to bargain about the price with the locals. I ended up buying a short jumpsuit and a new pair of flip flops in the street shops. :)
In the afternoon, we decided to go to the beach. Apart from all the other tourists and the annoying vendors, the beach was gorgeous! Samu rented a surf board and tried his luck again, while Sofie, Taddi and I sat on the beach and watched him. Afterwards wewent to a tradiotional Indonesian place for dinner. It was amazing because it had a ccounter with many different fried vegetable cakes, tempeh, tofu, spring rolls, meat, fish, vegetables, etc. and you could pick which ones you wanted. And my god it was absolutely delicious! the best Indonesian food we've had so far in my opinion. :)

On our second day in Kuta, we hung out with Greta and Fanny, our friends from Sweden whom we had met previously in Seminyak. We went to a mall next to the beach that easily could have been in any western country. Shops like H&M, Zara, Adidas, etc. and a food court that was relatively expensive, it seemed like a whole different world in there. After strolling through the shops, we decided to take our Swedish friends to the amazing warung from the previous night. We enjoyed a delicious and traditional Indonesian lunch and then went for some more shopping in the local street shops. At around 2pm we went back to our hostel to get our backpacks and organize a transport to Balangan where we had booked a hotel for the last four nights on Bali. 

When we arrived at the Lajoya Biubiu Hotel, we were greeted with a welcome drink and coupons for a 15min welcome massage, what a service! The campus of the hotel was absolutely amazing!! It was right on the edge of a cliff and consisted of multiple bungalows, a restaurant overlooking the ocean, two infinity pools (one even had three levels), access to a private beach, and a Jacuzzi (which unfortunately, you had to pay for…). Our room had two stories, a big bathroom, and two kingsized beds. It was like a dream!! :D After having explored everything, we went into the pools and relaxed for the whole afternoon. As the prices for food were pretty high in the hotel restaurant, we walked down the street and found “Pedro’s Warung”. A really cute little restaurant with amazing and really cheap food, perfect for us! J

After sleeping like babies in our very comfortable beds, wwe got up and had breakfast (which luckily was included). A platter of fresh tropical fruit, homemade toast, croissants, and pain au chocolats, fresh pressed juice, and Balinese coffee. We were in food heaven!! XD Unfortunately, the weather on that day wasn’t as nice. For the first time during our stay in Indonesia, it rained for a couple hours straight. We used the day to stay in our room and watch movies, read, and listen to music. In the afternoon, it stopped raining and we decided to walk to a vegan restaurant that Taddi had found online. The food was really good and the restaurant was super cute!

On our second full day here, we stayed in our hotel and enjoyed the pools. J In the evening we went to good old Pedro’s for dinner. Nothing much to talk about. ;)

On Sunday, we rented two scooters for the day and drove to Dreamland beach. Like the Dream beach on Nusa Lembongan, it was actually not as dreamy as we had expected… In general, we liked the beaches on the Gili islands and Lombok a lot more than the ones here on Bali.

Our next stop was Uluwatu temple, however we decided not to go inside because there were so many tourists. After that we originally planned to visit another beach, but couldn’t find it, so we drove back to our hotel and spent some time at the pool. We went to a restaurant called “Café La Pasion” which offered live music, excellent food, and a really cool atmosphere. It was our last night in Bali, so we decided to treat ourselves with huge pieces of chocolate cake, yummy! 

On Monday, our last day here in Indonesia, we got up and enjoyed the heavenly breakfast for one last time. 

Now we are in the process of packing our backpacks which we will store at the reception while we enjoy the last day here at the pool and leave for the airport at 7:30pm.

My résumé for our time in Indonesia is that it is a truly amazing country to travel through with lots of variety, friendly people, and many awesome things to do!! We really enjoyed our time here, but are now excited to go on and visit some other countries! :)

I will report from Singapore soon! 

Love, 

Anne <3

Nusa Lembongan

Dream Beach

Devil's Tear

Mangrove forest

view from our eco-resort

 

Greta from Sweden :) 

The infinity pool at Lajoya BiuBiu 

 

 :D 

 

Mie Goreng, our best friend :)

Gili islands and Lombok

Hello everyone! 

I‘m currently writing from Lombok, the island next to Bali. But before I tell you about that, I should tell you about our stop on the Gili islands.

The Gilis are three little islands north of Lombok. Gili Trawangan is known to be the “party island”, Gili Meno is the “couple island”, and Gili Air is the “relaxing island”. On all three islands, there are no motorized vehicles. You can get around by bike or by horse carriage. As opposed to the busy streets of Bali, the Gilis are really quiet, perfect for relaxing. J

First, we went from Semyniak on Bali by bus and fast boat to Gili Trawangan. You could see the turquoise water and the white beaches from afar, and I was really excited! However, my first impression when we arrived was that the island was crowded with tourists and kind of dirty with piles of trash everywhere… We went to our hostel and then walked along the beach for some time. The beach was really beautiful! White, soft sand and many pieces of coral and shells, so we stayed and enjoyed the sun. In the evening, we went to a night food market. Some locals put up their booths with typical Indonesian food around a small market place, it was awesome! J

On the next day, we went to Gili Air because we didn’t like Gili Trawangan as much. A small boat brought us to the harbour and from there we walked around and looked for accommodations. (We could just walk up to the reception and the staff would show us the rooms and everything. That was really good because we could compare the different hotels and decide which one we liked best.) We picked out some bungalows with a pool right next to the beach. We decided to go with a better one which was a little more expensive because Taddi was sick and needed some time to lay down and relax. After that, we swam in the pool and at night, Sofie, samu, and I went to a really cool beach restaurant.

On our second day on Gili Air, Taddi was still not feeling better, so we called a local doctor. Despite our expectations of Indonesian medical care, the doctor was very competent! After giving Taddi the right medicine and telling her to relax, Sofie, Samu, and I went to explore the island. While the two of them rented a mask and fins and went snorkelling, I decided to walk around the island. It is very small, so I needed like 1-1.5 hours to do so. (Although I walked really fast because the sun was about to set and I was afraid to get robbed… We have heard some stories about that happening to other people who were outside by themselves when it was dark.) Luckily, nothing like that happened and I could enjoy the sunset from the beach of our hotel. J Later that night, we went to a restaurant by the harbour which was really good!

The next morning, Taddi was feeling a little better, so we decided to go on to Lombok. Again, a small wooden boat brought us to Bangsal, Lombok. From there we hired a driver to drive us to Kuta in the south of the island. We stayed at “Batu Bambu”, a little hotel with some rooms and a bungalow which is led by Elisa, a super nice girl from Germany. (if you ever plan on going to Lombok, stay there!) The hotel was located in the middle of the forest between some hills. The nature here on Lombok is even more beautiful than that on Bali! After getting settled, we recuperated from the long journey and decided to cook something in our bungalow, rather than going out to eat. (We’ve been doing that for literally every day now…) More or less successful, we managed to cook some pasta with vegetables (afterwards we decided that it’s just better to go out to eat :D). 

On our first full day on Lombok, we rented two scooters and drove to Mawi Beach. The drive there was absolutely gorgeous! J (except for the last part… it was like a muddy path with many holes and a real challenge for Taddi and Sofie!) The beach was worth it though! A little bay surrounded by rocks, white sand and clear water. We stayed there and just relaxed for the day.

We went to a beach called Tanjung Aan on the next day. It was a lot bigger than Mawi Beach, but equally beautiful. On the end of the day we walked on top of a hill next to it and could overlook the whole bay and some other beaches nearby. In the evening we had dinner with some other guests from “Batu Bambu” and Elisa. It was super cool because she studied at the university I wanna go to next year and told me a lot about it. :D

On Friday, we went to a beach called Selong Belanak. We were told that that beach is a good spot for surf lessons and beginners. We didn’t do lessons, but we rented two boards and tried surfing by ourselves. We were not very successful, but it was a lot of fun anyways. J So we have to do it again some time, maybe with an instructor. That was our last day on Lombok, so we went out to eat with Elisa one more time. We went to Kuta to a restaurant called “Nuggets Corner” with amazing Indonesia food.

The next morning, we were picked up by a driver we hired on the previous day and he brought us to the harbour in the North of Lombok. After waiting two hours for the Fast Boat, we are now on our way to the island Nusa Lembongan. 

Lots of love,

Anne :)

Gili Air

Gili Air, view on Lombok

Mawi Beach, Lombok

Tanjung Aan