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January 10, 2006

There's no place like Bali...

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This post is very late - we've come back from Indonesia about a week ago (and managed to move meanwhile!!!), but as I was stressed out about packing and then shortly I didn't have Internet, this comes only now. We flew to Lombok for Christmas, but ended up going to Bali anyway...

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Its hard to remember now how it really felt to get back to Santai resort in Lombok, but I recall feeling very relaxed and relieved (no construction nearby! Days of lazing in the hammock ahead!!!)

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We've been to Santai almost 4 years ago and we were happy to see that the spirit of the place haven't changed too much. The beach sand is completely gone, but the owners are still the same - oldish British hippy lady/Indonesian husband couple that somehow manage to keep the place cheap, beautiful and relaxed.

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The sunsets over Gunung Agun in Bali are still as beautiful as they were.

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And the food is as amazingly delicious as we remembered. We had huge Christmas lunch (look at the fish!)

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And just like last time meat heaps of interesting people from Canada-US-Japan, Holand, Cyprus, etc.

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One of the reasons why we rushed to Bali was the weather - it kept raining every day (at the beginning it felt quite refreshing from Leijonakaupunki, then it got a bit depressing and damp). However we managed to walk in the forest by the river and swim in huge (Kaj says they were somee 3m) waves (no pictures.. :()

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All in all going back to the same places felt a bit like going to the mökki - familiar places and faces, - girls getting married filling out and having babies, men getting skinnier and starting to bald...

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Just like I said about a year ago when we visited Dreamlands beach, I think it is one of the most amazing places on Earth.. The colour and power of the ocean is impressive beyond any words..

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The house where we stayed was quite the same - plain amazing view from the terrace, extremely windy and salty inside..

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And the lights go off at 9pm. Its not bad - for a while its quite nice to go to sleep early and get up at 6am with the dawn..

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The waves were quite huge, but breaking too close to the beach. So we couldn't do much of bugi boarding. I've never been to Bali in the surfing season, but the pictures that I've seen look unbelievable.. We should try to come back sometime in June or July and maybe try to learn some proper surfing!

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Unfortunately, like so many amazing places, I think Dreamlands is going to be yet another private, overdepeveloped and overcrowded beach very soon. The horrible and huge Tommy Suharto's resort project (that owns the road to Dreamland) seems to be well underway and there were already hordes of rich Jakarta people flooding the beach every day.. :(

The smell of Kaj's pasta is calling me already. I think I'll continue with what happened in Ubud later. :)

Posted by gkligyte at January 10, 2006 06:38 PM
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