Climbing the volcano Batur

Two days ago we spent a night in a guesthouse on the foot of the volcano Batur. The next day we planned to climb the volcano. Our travel guide book  said that there was no need to take some real guide to take us to the top of the volcano. And even though the guys from the guesthouse said we must have one guide per 4 people (so we would actually need two of them), we decided not to take them (it was really expensive - they required us to pay them around 600 000 Rupiah per a guide) and to go on our own. We woke up at 4 o clock in the morning.  We drived to the village called Selatan. From here the hike was supposed to be just 1 hour. We started hiking and realized there was a motorbike  following us. Two local guys came and told us we need two guides otherwise we cannot hike. They offered themselves to accompany us (and of course wanted lot of money for that). We tried to ignore them, however we could not find the right way leading to the start of the hike so finally we gave one of them little money (50 000 Rupiah) to show us the right way. He took us to the path.  He looked quite unhappy with such a little amount and started to act a bit stupid, but we ignored him and finally he gave up and we got rid of him.

We were so stupid and took no water with us. Luckily, at the peak there was a guy running a little stand with drinks. Miso says this guy was one of the few large-minded people he met in Inodonesia. He even knew where Slovakia is and he wrote down how to says thank you in Sovak. To me the guy seemed to be like some clever "mountain guru".

Moneky on the top of Batur

...by Miso

 

Papa Jero

During last days I had only a few chances to use internet and was super tired, so now be ready for many pics. After Ubud we (me Lula, Dominika her cousin and brother and Miso)rent a car and travelled through the island. We went to a beautiful temple on the lake Bratan called Ulun Danu.
Afterwards we spent a night at Dominika s friend s guest house near village Wonogiri. It is a dreamy place. The guesthouse is run by the family of Papa Jero (Dominika s friend - he is supposed to have some special healing power), they welcomed us with a dinner and really nice, family and friendly atmosphere. The guesthouse is placed near two lakes and there are many possibilities for nice hike.
In the evening, before dark, me Lula and Miso took walk to one lake and went for a swim. Though afterwards we found out that there is a risk of leeches but fortunately I got none of them.

Ulun Danu

...around Ulun Danu

 

Ubud

Well, we met with our friends Dominika and Miso (and Dominika s brother and cousin) in Ubud. Ubud is a little city in the middle of Bali. Ubud is the cultural center of Bali, it is the centre for fine arts, dance and music.Ubud focuses on culture, yoga and nature. We even met a famous yoga teachaer in one restaurant -).
In Ubud we found lot of lil shops with traditional art, textiles etc.
Dominika and Miso took us for a trip on scooters - was so nice. The traffic on Bali is extremely crazy and I would not dare to drive here anything. We visited some nearby villages famous for wood carving (village Mas), jewellery (Celuk - village), and stone carving .). We were driving through the land - it was exactly like my imagination about Bali - I loved it....

BALI - Finally

We came to Bali late at night, cause our flight was delayed. A bunch of taxi drivers were waiting for customers in front of the main entrance.  They were trying to persuade people to give them a ride, offering the best price, being quite annoying. People here try to make money on every occasion. We were two girls, I was a bit scared, because we had no plan where to sleep, or what to, it was late in the night... Scaryyyyy ....
In our guide we read something about a place "Poppies 2" (should be a street with accommodation, bars etc.  near the famous party "place" Kuta, which is close to the airport). We just decided to go there. We found a nice guesthouse and stayed over night. We could not wait to see the beach so the next morning ... actually it was midday, we for a swim and a sunbath. The Kuta beach was a big disappointment - it was dirty and crowded, the sea was full of rubbish (I eve saw some sneakers swimming next to me) - simply an opposite of the "Bali dream" (We heard that the sea pollution is due to the rubbish coming from Java).

Of course, the first day we got a sun-stroke. In the evening we started to feel really bad. We were walking through the streets in our surrounding and started to feel dizzy and really sick. It was a nightmare -  all the street sellers were asking something (no idea what), everything was smelly and .... just like a bad dream.
We came home and felt immediately asleep . The next day was not any better, but we knew we had to leave the place otherwise it would drive us crazy. We came to place called Sanur. There, we were sleeping all day long. Today we felt finally better and spent few hours on the beach. We were scared not to get sun-stroke again, so we were cowered with our scarves, sunglasses and hats - we looked just ridiculous (especially Lula with her white Crocks shoes - sorry for that -). Locals were shouting at us: Salam aleikum !!!  LOL :D

feelin better again

finding a sea-star after the ebb tide

A bit more than 24 hours in Singapore

15th of April we arrived to Singapore. My friend Vivien picked us up from the airport. Firstly, we placed our stuff at a couchsurfers (Bob) place. His family welcomed us very warmly. Then, we started our tour through Singapore. We met lot of my exchange friends, one friend of Vivien Reia and the couchsurfer Bob. It was really nice evening. We ate a lot, walked a lot and had a lot of fun:

 

 

 

with Vivien and Bob

The Wong Tai Sin Temple

Lamma Island

Last day in HK

The very last day in HK, we decided to go to the Lamma Island .
Lamma Island is the third largest island in HK. Lamma was named after the shape of the island which looks like the limb of a tree peaceful and tranquil, with relatively natural scenery. Buildings higher than three storeys are prohibited and there are no automobiles. On the island there are penty of little gardens, or few fising villaes. The whole island is a nice oposite to the hectic spirit of HK.
We took a ferry from Central (Pier number 4) and arrived to Yung Sue Wan (village in the northern part). In the village we found number of tiny, cute shops with home-made products (like f.e. shrimp paste), fruits, jewellery and furtermore. After passing the village, we hiked trough the island and passed gardens planting fruits and different strange-looking plants. We came to a beach. I was really sleepy, coz the day was quite warm, so I took a little nap under a tree and Lula went for a swim (oh lazy meee). After that we "picknicked" and continued hiking to anoter village (southern one), where we took a ferry home.
Sorry for not bringin any photos (just one from google), but my camera ran out of battery .(and I forgot to check it even tough Lula reminded me to do so.
In the evening we met up with Tanya to say Goodbye and a drink (oh I ll miss her so muuch).
 

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