When I updated my blog in Malaysia six weeks ago, I was just about to cross the border into Singapore. I left Johor Bahru by foot and walked right over the border. It did take me a while, and I was a little bit confused – I ended up exiting Malaysia twice in a 10 minute period; I cant help but feel that things should be better signposted!! Anyway I only allowed myself a couple of days to check out Singapore and I made them count. I stayed in Little India which was pretty lively and a good location, but it didn’t differ that much from walking the streets of where I used to live in Middlesex, London. The first thing I did was check out the Singapore Flyer (just like the London Eye) just to see how clean and efficient Singapore is from above ground; and it really was well structured and organised from high up! I did a few other things like stroll around China Town and Clarke Quay which were pleasant enough. On my last day, I took the famous Cable Car to Mount Faber and then over to Sentosa Island – If Disney made islands then Sentosa is it, quite extraordinary and worth checking out if anyone goes to Singapore. Of course my trip to Singapore would not have been complete without a trip to Raffles Hotel, home of the Singapore Sling cocktail. The cocktail was great, but I liked the bar better. It was really smokey with live jazz music, and thousands of shells of monkey nuts littering the floor – the place certainly had character!!
From Singapore I flew into Denpasar, Bali. As I hadn’t really made any plans at this point I decided to head to Kuta first…! For those who have been to Kuta you’ll know why I exclaimed that statement. For those who have not; Kuta is to Australians what Magaluf is to Europeans!
Something very strange happened on Kuta beach one afternoon. I was happily reading my book when this crazy looking guy walked up to me enquiring about my leg injury! I played dumb and asked him what he was talking about. He said he knew I had an issue due to the colour of my foot! This was all very trivial for about 10 minutes but he proclaimed he could fix my leg within 3 days. I guess a few weeks of being pretty immobile had made me desperate.. I told him to go for it! Anyway, he started playing with the muscles in my right foot and out of nowhere I had this surge of energy which I cannot describe flow through my leg… I bizarrely was then able to bend my knee up towards my chest (I had been struggling with stairs 1 hour prior to this). Feeling pretty encouraged by this I saw the witchdoctor an hour later for an Indonesian style massage which nearly made me cry. Accupressure plus a grown man walking all over my injured knee was horrible but my knee seemed to respond to it. I went to find this guy the next day but he disappeared! I stayed in Kuta for a few days and then decided to take a fast boat to Gili Trawangan, Lombok. “Gili T” is one of 3 islands that make up the Gili Islands which sit North East of mainland Lombok. The island is completely lush with amazing turquoise water with even better marine life just swimming around. Again, much like the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia; Reef Sharks and Turtles can be seen simply by jumping in the ocean and putting your head under the water. What I saw in just 3 days on “Gili T” was better than anything I saw in Bali! I could have probably stayed on this island for the rest of my trip which is why I knew it was time to leave… I was also spending an extortionate amount of money with obviously nothing to show for it! I booked a 4 night Boat trip through Nusa Tenggara, stopping off at some tiny little islands to swim/snorkel/trek, where eventually we would get to Komodo Island, Rinca Island and then finally Flores; home of the Komodo Dragon!
I knew the boat trip was going to be interesting when I saw 2 live chickens being passed from the coach onto the boat, when I heard that all 16 of us would be sleeping on the deck and finally when we realised we would not be washing for 5 days as there was no shower on board. I was very lucky that 90% of those on board Boat 3 were cool! Had so much fun despite a lack of sleep, poor hygiene and really really terrible tasting chicken. Saw some pretty spectacular stuff in the form of beautiful sunrises (yes I naturally woke up before 6am every single day), sunsets, dolphins cruising alongside our boat, sea eagles, flying foxes, Komodo dragons and sporadic dots of baron Indonesian islands scattered amongst the Flores Sea. As with all good things, the boat trip had to come to and end. I stayed on Flores island for one night before taking an epic 32 hour journey back to Bali. A journey that saw us take a ferry, small public bus, coach, ferry, taxi, fast boat and a minibus all impeccably timed; dropping us to Ubud, Bali.
I had no plans for Ubud except to take it easy and to start planning my arrival in Australia, and this was the place to do just that! A combination of swimming, snorkelling, climbing, hiking, jumping off boats and the 32 hour journey back to “civilisation” did not have a good effect on my knee. I spent my first 2 days back in Bali in Hospital. Finally got some good news so was looking forward to the rest of my trip. The very next day we went to see a traditional Balinese dance (Barong Dance), a temple surrounded by rice terraces, a Coffee plantation where I sampled the famous Luwak Coffee (animal poo), Mount Batur Volcano and Tegallalang Rice Terraces. At last I got to see the “real” Bali. The very next day was the cremation of a member of the Royal Family. It was the talk of the whole island and I’d been looking forward to it all week; the ceremony was taking place in Ubud. Unfortunately luck wasn’t on my side and I had picked up a bug or something… can’t help but think it was the animal poo I drank the day before but whatever.. I saw 10 minutes of the ceremony before I went back to my room. With the peer pressure from two Dutch girls I had been on the boat trip with, I made the decision to leave Ubud the next day and head back to Kuta for the last few days of my trip.
Before we left we went to see a Spiritual Healer. We had heard that some of the Healers in Ubud were quite enlightening so figured “when in Rome..” After two failed attempts with one particular Healer we went to see the infamous Ketut Liyer, the Spiritual Healer from the movie Eat Pray Love…
Ketut Liyer – Medicine Man, Healer, Palm Reader, Balinese Astrologer, Painter, Woodcarver, Bullshitter. Address: Pengosekan – Mas – Ubud – Bali, Phone: 0361 974092.
All I have to say is this man is full of shit. Coincidence that I’m living the same life as Julia Roberts (without all the money)? I’m going to live until I’m 100, my lips are sweet like sugar, I’m very lucky bla bla bla. I didn’t feel very “Healed” nor enlightened. I’d like to enlighten anyone planning on visiting Ketut Liyer… Don’t give this man your money… I’ll tell you that you’ll live until you’re 100 years old, going to stay with one person until the day you die, and that your lips are sweet like sugar… I went back to Kuta and spent my last few days on the beach (Tanning Club) and partying in Kuta’s Sky Bar, where drinks between 10-11pm were free, and where everything after that was so cheap it was basically free! Quite a fitting way to end my travels through South East Asia.
After backpacking a distance of 23,788 KM / 14,781 Miles; crossing 9 different border crossings, I am now in Melbourne starting the next chapter of my life!