Second month Bali
Door: Charlotte Knol
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Charlotte
30 Oktober 2016 | Indonesië, Denpasar
Dear readers,
Time to give you a new update about my adventures on Bali! A lot has happened since we climbed the Mount Batur at the end of September.
The weekend of 8 October we went to Gili Trawangan, a small island next to Bali which is known for the big parties. It took 3 hours to come there but the view was amazing! White beaches and blue seas, just how you see it in all the holiday brochures. 3 of us were having their birthday on the Gili’s so we called it the birthdayweekend. It was a privilege to celebrate my birthday on the other side of the world, especially on an island as beautiful as this one. We went out the evening of October 7th and on 00.00 I became 21 years old. My friends arranged that the dj played a birthday song in the club, it gave me a very special feeling! When I came home (in the hotel) my friends had decorated my room with balloons and garlands. On the day itself we hired bikes to cross the island. We went to the beach, we had lunch in a beachclub restaurant and I treated everyone with a piece of pie. Gili Trawangan is also well known for their swings in the sea, so we all made pictures standing on those swings. After me, my friend Nelianne was having her birthday so we went out again! On her birthday we did a snorkeling tour. We swam with turtles and lots of Nemo’s and Dory’s. The sea was very impetuous so I became a bit sick during the tour. That evening we ate together in a restaurant and we went out again, because at 00.00 Sanne became 20 years old! During that day we chilled on the beach and that afternoon we went back to Bali, Denpasar, because the next day we had to go to school again.
Unfortunately, Vera felt sick during the whole weekend so when we got home in Denpasar I went to the hospital with Vera. They tested her blood and it turned out that she was Dengue positive, which means that she was having a high fever with muscle pain and a headache. The communication within the hospital was not really good. We had to ask for updates the whole time because they didn’t tell us themselves, which was very annoying. After a few days, Vera was feeling better and in our ‘’study week’’ we went to Java, which is next to Bali.
We flew from Denpasar (Bali) to Jakarta (Java) and we had a huge delay of 3 hours, again no communication at the airport so we had to figure it out ourselves! I think I should start my own travel agency when I come home in Holland.
Java is really different from Bali. The landscape is similar but the predominant religion on Java is Islam while Hinduism is the most common religion on Bali. So every time you wanted to relax, the mosque started whining again, which is a very weird sound if you are not used to it. Next to that all women wear headscarves which is not the case on Bali, where I can walk around in the shortest pants I have
Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia situated on the west- side. A very big and beautiful city in my opinion! It has a lot of high towers and buildings and in the evening you see a lot of lights which gives a cozy atmosphere. We went to a big shopping mall in the centre of Jakarta, I mean REALLY big, by tuc-tuc which was a great experience. The next day we visited the Batavia Museum where we could see the Dutch influences on Java from the VOC era. That evening we went to a rooftop bar on one of the highest buildings of Jakarta. The first question the staff asked when entering the rooftop was if we wanted to sit down or if we wanted to stand. So I thought, sitting is more comfortable but the woman directly said that we should spend at least 6 million rupiah if we wanted to have a seat (which is around 400 euros). I waved at the woman and decided to keep standing. Of course I wanted to have a drink and for 2 Bintang Beers I paid 177.000 rupiah, which is around 12 euro’s. So we could say that the rooftop bar was very expensive but the view was worth it. It gave us an overview of the whole city with all the large building and busy traffic, amazing! This was definitely the most delicious beer I’ve ever drunk.
The next day we travelled to Bandung by train (a bit more to the South of Java), which took us around 3 hours. I had the feeling I arrived in Iraq. It was such an ugly city with destroyed buildings. I didn’t feel safe walking alone on the streets. In Bandung we went to Kawah Putih, which is a sulfur lake on top of a volcano. The sulfur water was extremely blue but we were warned not to touch it because of the PH- value and we had to wear a facemask. After that we visited a natural hotspring, which was not that impressive because we had seen a more impressive one on Bali.
The next day we travelled to Pangandaran, which is in the South of Java, again by train. Pangandaran is the most beautiful place I’ve been on Java. Our hotel was situated near the beach and we went on a tour with guide Harry! We hired scooters, of course I did not drive it myself but I sat behind a friend. Harry showed us the traditional homes and the activities the local people do every day. After that we went to the Green Canyon, one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen so far. We went by boat and the water was really green from all the leaves and plants that grow next to the river. We sailed through the caves and at the end we were allowed to swim with the locals, which was quite hard due to the current in the water.
That night we went to Yogjakarta by train. It was a very tough trip so we were glad we made it to the hotel. Unfortunately, we had to wait at the front office desk for a very long time because the staff did not understand how to put the data of the hotel room on the room key. It was already 3.30 am so we wanted to go to our room. After half an hour the moment was finally there, we could go upstairs to go to sleep. We wanted to open de hotel room door and guess….. the keycard didn’t work!! So we had to go downstairs to the front desk again to repair it. Finally we could enter the room so we put on our pyjamas and brushed our teeth and wished each other good night. I wanted to switch off the lights and guess….. the light switch didn’t work!! So I had to call the front desk again to ask if someone could please come to our room to repair it. A few minutes later maintenance knocked on our door to check the light switch. He removed everything from the wall and all I could see were electric cables. Luckily it was done after 10 minutes. We laid in bed, switched off the lights, whished each other a pleasant night and a few minutes later someone knocked on our door again….. I jumped out of bed, opened the door and it was the maintenance man again…. he forgot his screwdriver
It was 4.30 and we could finally go to sleep. In Yogjakarta we went to the Borobudur which is a Buddhistic temple, dating from the 8th and 9th centuries. A very impressive building with a great view from the top.
At the end of our ‘’study week’’ we flew back from Yogjakarta to Denpasar because on Monday we had a rafting fieldtrip which was awesome. Unfortunately I went out on Saturday and Sunday evening to Sky Garden, one of the biggest clubs on Bali, so I did not have a lot of energy that day…
Later that week, we went to one of the biggest waterparks of the world, Waterbom, which was a great experience. We went down from a lot of slides and we had sunny weather!!
That week we finished our sessions at school and at the end of the week everyone received his/ her grades for the module. My grades were good so I’m happy so far. In the beginning of November we will have our test so I’m striving for passing that one as well!
I hope you enjoyed reading this report of my adventures on Bali and you will hear more from me at the end of November!!
Lots of love,
Charlotte
Time to give you a new update about my adventures on Bali! A lot has happened since we climbed the Mount Batur at the end of September.
The weekend of 8 October we went to Gili Trawangan, a small island next to Bali which is known for the big parties. It took 3 hours to come there but the view was amazing! White beaches and blue seas, just how you see it in all the holiday brochures. 3 of us were having their birthday on the Gili’s so we called it the birthdayweekend. It was a privilege to celebrate my birthday on the other side of the world, especially on an island as beautiful as this one. We went out the evening of October 7th and on 00.00 I became 21 years old. My friends arranged that the dj played a birthday song in the club, it gave me a very special feeling! When I came home (in the hotel) my friends had decorated my room with balloons and garlands. On the day itself we hired bikes to cross the island. We went to the beach, we had lunch in a beachclub restaurant and I treated everyone with a piece of pie. Gili Trawangan is also well known for their swings in the sea, so we all made pictures standing on those swings. After me, my friend Nelianne was having her birthday so we went out again! On her birthday we did a snorkeling tour. We swam with turtles and lots of Nemo’s and Dory’s. The sea was very impetuous so I became a bit sick during the tour. That evening we ate together in a restaurant and we went out again, because at 00.00 Sanne became 20 years old! During that day we chilled on the beach and that afternoon we went back to Bali, Denpasar, because the next day we had to go to school again.
Unfortunately, Vera felt sick during the whole weekend so when we got home in Denpasar I went to the hospital with Vera. They tested her blood and it turned out that she was Dengue positive, which means that she was having a high fever with muscle pain and a headache. The communication within the hospital was not really good. We had to ask for updates the whole time because they didn’t tell us themselves, which was very annoying. After a few days, Vera was feeling better and in our ‘’study week’’ we went to Java, which is next to Bali.
We flew from Denpasar (Bali) to Jakarta (Java) and we had a huge delay of 3 hours, again no communication at the airport so we had to figure it out ourselves! I think I should start my own travel agency when I come home in Holland.
Java is really different from Bali. The landscape is similar but the predominant religion on Java is Islam while Hinduism is the most common religion on Bali. So every time you wanted to relax, the mosque started whining again, which is a very weird sound if you are not used to it. Next to that all women wear headscarves which is not the case on Bali, where I can walk around in the shortest pants I have
Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia situated on the west- side. A very big and beautiful city in my opinion! It has a lot of high towers and buildings and in the evening you see a lot of lights which gives a cozy atmosphere. We went to a big shopping mall in the centre of Jakarta, I mean REALLY big, by tuc-tuc which was a great experience. The next day we visited the Batavia Museum where we could see the Dutch influences on Java from the VOC era. That evening we went to a rooftop bar on one of the highest buildings of Jakarta. The first question the staff asked when entering the rooftop was if we wanted to sit down or if we wanted to stand. So I thought, sitting is more comfortable but the woman directly said that we should spend at least 6 million rupiah if we wanted to have a seat (which is around 400 euros). I waved at the woman and decided to keep standing. Of course I wanted to have a drink and for 2 Bintang Beers I paid 177.000 rupiah, which is around 12 euro’s. So we could say that the rooftop bar was very expensive but the view was worth it. It gave us an overview of the whole city with all the large building and busy traffic, amazing! This was definitely the most delicious beer I’ve ever drunk.
The next day we travelled to Bandung by train (a bit more to the South of Java), which took us around 3 hours. I had the feeling I arrived in Iraq. It was such an ugly city with destroyed buildings. I didn’t feel safe walking alone on the streets. In Bandung we went to Kawah Putih, which is a sulfur lake on top of a volcano. The sulfur water was extremely blue but we were warned not to touch it because of the PH- value and we had to wear a facemask. After that we visited a natural hotspring, which was not that impressive because we had seen a more impressive one on Bali.
The next day we travelled to Pangandaran, which is in the South of Java, again by train. Pangandaran is the most beautiful place I’ve been on Java. Our hotel was situated near the beach and we went on a tour with guide Harry! We hired scooters, of course I did not drive it myself but I sat behind a friend. Harry showed us the traditional homes and the activities the local people do every day. After that we went to the Green Canyon, one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen so far. We went by boat and the water was really green from all the leaves and plants that grow next to the river. We sailed through the caves and at the end we were allowed to swim with the locals, which was quite hard due to the current in the water.
That night we went to Yogjakarta by train. It was a very tough trip so we were glad we made it to the hotel. Unfortunately, we had to wait at the front office desk for a very long time because the staff did not understand how to put the data of the hotel room on the room key. It was already 3.30 am so we wanted to go to our room. After half an hour the moment was finally there, we could go upstairs to go to sleep. We wanted to open de hotel room door and guess….. the keycard didn’t work!! So we had to go downstairs to the front desk again to repair it. Finally we could enter the room so we put on our pyjamas and brushed our teeth and wished each other good night. I wanted to switch off the lights and guess….. the light switch didn’t work!! So I had to call the front desk again to ask if someone could please come to our room to repair it. A few minutes later maintenance knocked on our door to check the light switch. He removed everything from the wall and all I could see were electric cables. Luckily it was done after 10 minutes. We laid in bed, switched off the lights, whished each other a pleasant night and a few minutes later someone knocked on our door again….. I jumped out of bed, opened the door and it was the maintenance man again…. he forgot his screwdriver
It was 4.30 and we could finally go to sleep. In Yogjakarta we went to the Borobudur which is a Buddhistic temple, dating from the 8th and 9th centuries. A very impressive building with a great view from the top.
At the end of our ‘’study week’’ we flew back from Yogjakarta to Denpasar because on Monday we had a rafting fieldtrip which was awesome. Unfortunately I went out on Saturday and Sunday evening to Sky Garden, one of the biggest clubs on Bali, so I did not have a lot of energy that day…
Later that week, we went to one of the biggest waterparks of the world, Waterbom, which was a great experience. We went down from a lot of slides and we had sunny weather!!
That week we finished our sessions at school and at the end of the week everyone received his/ her grades for the module. My grades were good so I’m happy so far. In the beginning of November we will have our test so I’m striving for passing that one as well!
I hope you enjoyed reading this report of my adventures on Bali and you will hear more from me at the end of November!!
Lots of love,
Charlotte
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