Ticket to the Moon...

I was just taking a sea water shower in our hotel when the electricity went dead and now the only light I have is the computer screen, so I thought it is a perfect time to write a story. (Picture: Sunset in Seminyak)

As the Hindu parties kept on delaying our departure from Kuta to Gili Islands, we decided to rent a scooter for couple of more days and risk our lives again by being part of the chaotic traffic. The first day we just drove to Seminyak, which is basically the same beach close to Kuta, but it is way more upscale. The coastline is filled with luxurious spas and resorts. We watch the sun to set on the beach and later went to a fancy cocktail lounge for drinks. (Picture: Seminyak)
When laying on the lounge, watching the stars filling the sky, warm breeze blowing from the sea ad hearing the sounds of chill house music mixed with the waves from the sea, I had to pinch myself again to understand that this is REAL.

On the second day we decided to visit Ubud, which is known to be the home of culture and arts. Another reason was also to see the big Hindu celebration, and we were told that Ubud was a good spot for that. The drive took a bit longer this time as we got lost few times (the road marks just doesn’t make any sense) and because of the occasional showers. The traffic was also super busy, when all the people were rushing into temples with their fancy Hindu clothes and turbans.
(Picture: Me surrounded by local souvenir vendors) The city or the village of Ubud turned out to be as we were told; the home of artists, galleries, carpenter- and painting shops next to one other, more than eye can comprehend. Would have been great explore the shops more, but as our aim for today was to find the Hindu party, we were advised to drive further all the way up to a mountain village called Kintamani and find a temple called Pura Ulun Danau Batur. The showers started again as we left Ubud and in some point the rain was so hard that we had to stop for a while as the road got too slippery. (Picture: Volcano and the lake, Kintamani) After 40km and many hours we arrived to Kintamani and the sight to volcano ‘Gunung Batur’ and lake Batur was stunning. We also managed to find the temple, but apparently the ceremonies were already finished. Driving back to Kuta was the worst part. After few kilometres it started to rain again, which lasted almost the whole trip. We were soaked wet and freezing our asses off cuz the temperature up on the mountain was way colder than down on the bottom. Our journey back to Kuta Beach must have taken 3-4 hours in dark and wet weather conditions… If only our mum’s would have seen how dangerous it was…
(Picture: Pura Ulun Danau Batur Temple) But made it in one piece, thanks to Petteri’s driving skills. I must say that a warm shower has never felt as good as after the trip. (Picture: me and rice field)

After 9 nights in Kuta Beach (Bali) we eventually managed to organise a transfer to Gili Islands. Our journey to Gili started at 6am when a shuttle bus came to pick us up from our hotel. After 2 hours drive and an hour waiting we took a ferry to Lombok Island, which was quite an experience. Just when we thought that there wouldn’t been any annoying souvenir vendors harassing us… well it seemed that they had been doubled in the ferry. Four and half hours seemed like eternity when sitting and killing time by watching some Indonesian karaoke videos which they played so loud that I thought that I would be deaf after the trip. From Lombok we continued to another harbour village where we got fooled to buy mosquito spray with a very expensive price by the locals and the funniest thing is that there are no mosquitoes here =) At last we arrived to Gili Trawangan after 12 hours travelling. Trawangan is the biggest island of the 3 Gilis and known as a party island. One nice thing about Gilis are that there is no motor traffic here and the local transport here is ‘Mercedes’ horse and bike.

After wondering around for a while we found a nice cheap hotel called Pondok Lita close to the beach. That night we had a long sleep as we were exhausted from the travels. The next day we decided to explore the island a bit more and found a nice spot to sunbath without anybody around. Later we discovered that we weren’t the only Finns around. So far we have met 9 Finns :) Have to watch out what we are talking! That night also happened to be the full moon party in the island. We hooked up with a Finnish couple and went for ‘magical’ dinner with them. The party was indescribable… Can’t say more, it’s better if you discover it yourself!

The island really is a paradise. Everywhere you look it looks like a postcard. Diving is really big here and I’m thinking of going tomorrow. Today we went for a snorkelling trip with 20 others around the Gili Islands with a glass bottom boat. The corals were pretty dead and I don’t think that anything can compete with the Great Barrier Reef, but we did see at least 6 turtles :)

We were supposed to swap the island and go to Gili Air for few nights, but as Petteri got a stomach bug we stayed in Gili Trawangan all the 6 days. Diving was great and I managed to see 2 sharks around 1,5 metres by a close distance.

6 days was just perfect length to stay in the ‘paradise’, just enough not to get bored and have a nice relaxing time. Our journey back to Bali started on Thursday morning, again with a small boat back to Lombok, a shuttle bus to Sengigi and again ferry to Bali. As I thought the ferry trip last time was terrible, this time it was worse and took 7 hours, because of an accident. Our flight to Singapore was departing at 10pm and we had to take a taxi straight away as the ferry arrived to the harbour. We told the driver to drive like mad , which he did and managed to get us to the airport in an hour time, when usually the trip takes 2 hours. So eventually it all went good, except I didn’t get to have my manicure, pedicure and massage that I was dreaming on the ferry… So now we are back in Singapore for one whole day before heading to Vietnam. But that’s another story :)