Back to the Northern Hemisphere

 In the morning, I tried to fit all my belongings into my backpack.

 Then, Faye dropped me near Perth Underground where I cached the airport shuttle bus again. Goodbye Australia!

15:35, 18th | Perth - Changi (Singapore) - Heathrow (London) - Zurich | 12:45, 19th

At Heathrow, I had to kill 5 hours. Not enough time to go London city. It was boring and I was sleepy. At least, I could see the sun rising.

In Zurich, I got picked up by my father and after a good old Swiss beer, we were sitting in a train heading home.

Back to Australia

After a short flight, I arrived at Perth airport. It was about 7 a.m. when the shuttle bus dropped me at Perth underground train station. At 8 a.m. I was back at Faye's. After a welcoming tea I went to bed. It felt a bit like coming home!

The following day, I showed a newly arrived guy from Brazil around. We visited all the places I haven't seen in 2 months. It felt, of course, a lot longer.
The 15th: The Aussie woman I met on my first day in Bali invited me to dinner, so I got to meet her lovely family and we watched a movie together.

The 16th: I met Terry again, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant.

On the 17th, I took Faye out for dinner. Mhmmmm... Dinner...

Only 4 days left in Indonesia

 I had 4 and Diego only 2 days left. We decided to go to Kuta together. In the morning of the 9th, we took a speedboat back to Padangbai. Immediately after arrival, we continued to Ubud where we checked into my previous hotel. Of course, the staff remembered me. Then, we got ourselves motorbikes and went to the monkey forest.

 Again, they were more aggressive than I had in my mind. Must have been mating season or something... ^^

 A squirrel. Or maybe it's a Luwak-coffee-weasel? ;)

Anyways. On the 10th, we went to the Ubud market to bargain about some presents for our families. It was quite funny. Then, we took a driver to Kuta where my companion continued to the airport. I checked in at Ayu Lili Garden, a place Jean-Pierre Sallat recommended about two weeks ago. It was very good indeed, I just loved the pool!

Until the evening of the 12th, when my plane would take off, I did some random things. I went shopping, answered my mails, got a haircut, some massages, visited Wayan and my old hotel... There is only one thing I'd like to single out: I got my watch repaired.

In the morning of the 10th, I somehow managed to shift it off my bed table. The glass broke. I exercised myself in blasphemy and thought it would coast at least 100 CHF to get it repaired back home. I knew that there were many watch-salesmen in Kuta, but I thought they weren't able to repair. Anyways, I asked a few guys and got lucky: One guy wanted only 5 CHF! I told him I'd give him 10 if he'd deliver the fixed watch to my room on the next day. No sooner said than done.

Padangbai and the Gilis

On the 3rd of May, I had seen enough of Jatiluwih, it was getting kind of lonely. So I decided to go to the Gili Islands, as many who have been there recommended. So, Wayan and I drove to Padangbai where the boats heading to the Gilis departed.

Here a metaphoric picture of how driving through Bali is.

I had to spend a night in Padangbai. It was very nice, I found a good reggae bar with live music...

In the next morning, I boarded a crammed speedboat with 4 (!) outboard engines.

About 2 hours later, I could see the shape of Gili Trawangan (or: Gili T) , the biggest of the 3 Gilis.

I got myself a cheap room on Gili T. But apparently, they don't have the same standards as in Bali - the bed was creepy, there was only a half-broken fan, only one window and a salt-water-shower (ugly!). It was very humid and I could barely sleep. So, I decided to watch the Champions League semi-final (ManU - Schalke) in a bar with a Swiss guy I just met. Later, we decided to share a more expensive room together, so that, for about the same price, we got fresh water and air-con!

The next day, we surrounded the island on rented bikes. That's everything notable we did except lying on the beach and drinking juice or beer.

The 6th of May was horrible: It rained like cats and dogs. We gamed and watched movies all day long in our nice, air-conned room.

The 7th was a beach&beer day for me. My roommate went diving.

The 8th was my best day on the Gilis: I took a boat to Gili Meno, the smallest and most quiet island. It was absolutely amazing, an island à la Robinson Crusoe. Compared to Gili T, the party and alcohol island filled with scammers, busy people and magic mushrooms, Gili Meno was pure paradise. No loud sounds, few people, nature, beach, a warungish restaurant with "normal" prices, friendlier people... That's what I call an island-of-your-dreams.

Everything was decorated and in a good condition.

I could see many romantic spots like these and I made 10 times more pictures than on my 4 days on Trawangan.

I just felt peaceful and I wish I could have spent at least a night there.

Gili Meno is the smallest of the Gilis and I was able to surround it by foot in a few hours.

This spot was occupied. Dammit. I didn't see many tourists on Meno... But it's probably better that way. I don't want it to be like Trawangan.

That's where I had the first western food since Australia: a pizza! From a stone oven! Delightful.

I always wanted to see one of these amazing 3rd-world-country garbage trucks. So, I was quite happy when I saw this boat in the evening on my way back to Gili T.

By the way: Gili means island. The western name "the Gili Islands" is very kuite stupit.

Jatiluwih

 So I was in Kuta again, alone. I had something like a day off, so I got myself a haircut (for 2 CHF, btw), did some shopping, answered my mails and had lunch. At 12:30 I took off with Wayan again, to a place I read about in my LonelyPlanet: Jatiluwih.

 Jatiluwih is somewhere in nowhere: Even Wayan with his 13 years of experience as a driver had to ask for directions. It took us 4 hours on bumpy roads. But it was worth it. (Not just because of the food!)

 To really get the greenness of Jatiluwih, one has to go there. The second best way is to visit http://www.panorama.ch.vu/!

 It's like a vast, green valley out of rice terraces and tiny villages. I just loved walking through these fields, every step is rewarding.

 Keep in mind that the pictures don't even come close to reality!

 Gorgeous.

 Mhm... Bintang beer...

 Being the only guest at the hotel, the clumsy and very friendly innkeeper treated me like a king. And that's just the breakfast! It included 14 bananas, fried bananas, some kind of rice dish (~ Nasi Goreng) and an undefined appetizer. Additionally, of course, a 3dl cup of tea and a pot of coffee!

 On the 2nd day, the 2nd of May, I rented a bike. I drove through the rice fields and visited the highest temple of Bali. It was the smelliest temple I've ever seen.

 That's my first manual gear bike. 5 CHF/day.

Then, I went to one of the biggest temples of Bali: Pura Luhur Bhujangga, where I could witness to a ceremony.

Driving through villages can be an incredible pleasure!

Ubud Palace → Tana Lot → Uluwatu → back to Kuta

 Yves and Estela were planning to go to Malaysia and Jean-Paul had to go back home. We had one day left and it had to end in Kuta (because of the airport).

 We got ourselves a driver and visited Ubud palace.

 And the Tana Lot temple: One of the greatest tourist attractions(/traps?) EVER. To get there, one has to walk trough half a kilometer of souvenir shops. It was crowded. The temple itself wasn't bad though.

 Then, we went to the Uluwatu temple. I expected it to be the same as last time but there were more tourists and, strangely, the monkeys were a lot more aggressive. Still funny though, of course!

They were fighting a lot.
After Uluwatu, we drove back to Kuta. We took two rooms in the Bakung Sari Hotel again. Yves and Estela had to go to the airport at 3 a.m. in the morning. Jean-Paul and I could sleep longer since his plane would depart at about midday.

Ubud: the spa & rice fields

The 28th was our spa-day. We had our appointment in the afternoon, so we decided to explore the rice fields once again.

A pink chicken... Apparently they get ridden over from time to time so somebody decided to paint them!

This is how the streets in the countryside near Ubud look like. It never gets boring!

In the middle of Ubud, we discovered a great warung-place.

After a delicious lunch, it was spa-time. For 25$, we got: a massage, a body scrub, a yogurt lotion and a flower bath. (I didn't quite get the point of the flower bath.) Then, we could use the facilities (sauna, Turkish bath, jacuzzi) for a few hours.