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Featuring:

the Whitsundays

Cook

Sydney

Gunung Batur

Ubuds Rice Fields

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan

Lovina Sunset

All you need is the Java-Plugin!

Lovina & dolpins. Lots of dolphins!

 At 6:00 a.m., we went to the beach for a dolphin trip.

 There were lots of other boats doing the same thing. The sunrise was beautiful.

 We could see lots of dolphins.

 They were interacting with us - sometimes they would do tricks like jump or swim upside down.

 However, the boats were kind of chasing the dolphins to give the passengers a good photo opportunity. That was a little annoying.

 In the evening, we went to a exceptionally great restaurant - it was amazing. Wonderful food and afterwards: Balinese dances.

What they can do with their fingers is absolutely astonishing.

Trip with Wayan, Yves and Estela

22nd of April: Yves (France/Peru) and his wife Estela (Brasil) decided to join me on a two-days-trip with Wayan from Kuta through the whole island to Singaraja/Lovina and back.

We met Wayan and his Suzuki APV after breakfast and went in direction Ubud, the cultural center of Bali. First stop: a Balinese dance. It was kinda strange and not worth the money. 80'000Rp - that could be an expensive 1h massage...

Then, we visited a nice temple.

With nice flowers.

This woman kindly let me take a picture. Then, she asked for money. -.-

Yves and Estela in a local Warung (tiny, cheap local restaurant) in Ubud.

Next, we went to some rice fields.

The place where they make the most expensive coffee (5$) in the world: Kopi Luwak. It's made from weasel poo. ^^

That's the poo: Before washing, roasting and crushing. (And drinking...)

From left to right: Bali coffee, lemon tee (awesome!), ginger tee, ginseng coffee and Bali cocoa.

Driving in Bali is a very interesting experience - one can see up to 5 people on one motorbike. People usually honk to announce themselves.

After the coffee place, we went to Gunung Batur (volcano). The visibility wasn't that good and the people were disagreeable.

We slept in Lovina - a very quiet place. I loved it. We decided just to make a round trip the next day and stay longer in Lovina rather than going back to Kuta/Ubud.

(23th)

The roads are full of pedestrians, motorbikes and cars.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan - a beautiful temple on the water. That's a scene of a ceremony.

Myself in front of the temple.

A nice monkey we fed on the way.

The Git-Git waterfalls.

Balinese children (near Git-Git).

At 2:00 p.m., Wayan left us in Lovina. We had a nice, lazy day in the sea/at the pool.

Pura Luhur Uluwatu

The 19th, I hired a driver (Wayan) for half a day to go to „Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park” and the famous Uluwatu temple.

 A nice fountain at the cultural park.

 A huge 23m-statue of Vishnu.

 Uluwatu: View towards the airport and Kuta/Denpasar.

 Uluwatu is (in) a forest. A lovely place. When I entered, a guy said he was my personal monkey protector. I saw through his clever disguise: At the end, he would have charged me 50'000Rp... I told him that I could do that my myself, he laughed and I bought some bananas to be ready for the monkeys.

 They're everywhere. Playing around and always looking out for food.

 The classic Uluwatu picture. The temple is built on a pretty steep cliff.

 I love monkeys!

 ...

 If you keep a banana in your hand and don't give it away, it takes about 20 seconds and you're covered in monkeys!

 Then, Wayan took me to a very luxurious restaurant - also quite expensive (in Bali-terms of course). The view was awesome and the food delicious.

The food was absolutely awesome. And I love fruit juice!

Bali - Getting used to it...

2nd day in this alien continent. Thanks to the woman from the airport, also known as Kym, I had a rough idea what to do. So I went to explore Bali a bit. I had a few first tries at bargaining and enjoyed the glorious Balinese food.

 And it's so cheap!!!

There are temples everywhere - A thing I really appreciate since I haven't seen any old monuments this year.

I also had massages. They are great, and it coasts only 50'000Rp per hour - 5CHF.

Bali - First Day

At 17:25, on the 15th, I arrived at the Ngurah Rai Airport. (Also known as Denpasar or Bali.) I didn’t have any accommodation. When I left the airport, I was a little bit confused. Luckily, an Aussie woman approached me. She had a room at the Bakung Sari Hotel. We decided to share a taxi. Now that was a bit of a cultural shock: There didn’t seem to be much room for rules on the road. Motorbikes everywhere, loud background noise because of honking and partly bumpy roads. I really enjoyed it! Once at the hotel, I got a room with bathroom, aircon, TV and a gecko for 30USD! We had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and a short walk to Kuta Beach. Then, I went to sleep.

 The hotel is a very cheap one - but the only thing it doesn't have is WLAN. There is a pool and a garden in the inner courtyard. Everything is decorated - and shrines are everywhere.

That's something you can see everywhere in Bali: On shrines, in front of shrines and houses. In the morning, there are burning incense sticks inside. It makes Bali smell so special!

 That's my Internet place: for 9000Rp, you get a great Nasi Goreng and for 5000Rp, you get 2 hours of wireless Internet. (in total: about 1.5 CHF)

My travel (almost) around Australia

Indian Pacific (Perth - Sydney): 4'352km

Greyhound (Sydney - Cairns): about 2'626km (according to Google)

The flight doesn't count - that'd be cheating... :)

Litchfield National Park

On the 13th I went to Litchfield National Park.

First stop: the termite fields. Interesting, hard-working creatures.

 This swamp was covered with them.

 In Litchfield, you can find lots of beautiful waterfalls.

We could swim in a few, not in every one though. There are crocs everywhere in the Northern Territory.

 These are Green Ants. The green part is edible - I tried it. It tastes like nothing.

 In the evening, we went on a jumping crocodile tour. We saw a 5m croc, an albino-croc and a very aggressive female croc that jumped really high.

Most of them came very close to our small boat: Up to 30cm.

 Yes, they can jump!

 You don't wanna be in there!

 Not only crocs can kill you in the NT: That's a swimming tree-snake. One of the most dangerous snakes of Australia/the world.

He is about 80-100 years old and more than 5 meters long!