Motorbikes

Nusa Lembongan is a rather small place with no cars. However, there are plenty of motorbikes to help you get around. Mostly I walk 15 minutes down the beach to get to the dive shop every day. But last week I encountered a snake along my travels. That, combined with very volitile and rapidly changing tides makes it very hard to walk the beach at some times during the day. The divemasters at the shop very kindly give me rides to and from "work."

I negotiated an exchange of motorbike lessons for English lessons with Made M. Yesterday was my first go at driving a motorbike. He took me to a field where the locals play volleyball. He showed me how to work the pedals and the gears. He had me prctice in the field. I was pretty confident in my skills and wanted to drive on the road. So Made got on and we headed for the road. Well, with him screaming in my ear and pulling my shoulders where he thought I should be steering, the attempt did not end so well..... especially for the short tree I ran over. Everyone on the vololeyball court heard the "accident" and I was completely mortified. We went back and practiced A LOT more. I did manage to drive us back to the dive shop on the road.

Well now the divemasters are quite amused and make fun of me oh so often. They ride their bikes into me and pretend to crash into things while walking next to me. I am not sure when I will give this another go.... maybe in a few days.

Divermaster: Day 1

I began my first day of my Divemaster training this morning. It was a good day and I began by learning about the equipent in the shop and how to help divers get their equipment ready for a dive. Also, more importantly, which equipment "belongs" to which divemasters/instructors.... VERY important. Then I went on two dives, on called Blue Corner is a very tricky site here in Lembongan. We did not see much, except another sea snake, but it was an amazing experience. The other gruop of fun divers saw the Mola Mola (giant sun fish) from aboout 2 meters. I was really happy though because when I first came here I could not have dove at Blue Corner: my experience was just too limited. Now I am feeling more confident and my skills are much better. During the next few weeks, it will seem like I am back in school. Lots of reading, preparting, stamina tests, skill performances, diving........
So, I am off to try and finish chapter 2 tonight before I fall asleeep.

PS: I have been reading peoples comments on the blog page not very frequently. However, I am not getting very much email :-( Plus, I cannot always check the blog page... but I can check my email. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink ;-)

New Visas

Last week I returned to Nusa Lembongan after diving in Tulamben and Amed for 8 days. I quickly decided that I wanted to stay on Lembongan for my last month of Vaca. However, when I entered Indonesia 31 days ago, I was given a tourset visa on arrival for 30 days. It is not extendable... for the most part. Well, I couldn't figure out how to extend it. So, if I wanted to stay here in Bali, I would have to make a "visa run." This entails, leaving the country and returning to buy a new visa on arrival. Or, going to a forign Indo embassy and applying for a 60 day tourist visa.... a process which takes 3 days. So, I choose to fly to Kuala Lumpur in Mylasia and take the next flight back to Bali.

I began this trip yesterday afternoon with a little bit of a hassle finind a boat to take me from Lembongan to mainland Bale. Usually, this is a simple matter of ringing the boat office and telling them you will go on the boat. But it did not work that easily yesterday, and after 30+ phone calls from the owners of my bungalows, I got a "rip off" price of $25 US... but in actuallity they charged me 250,000 rupiahs which is about $26 US. This is the going fare for a round trip fast boat to and from the mainland.

I then, spent a few hours in Bali at some dive shops looking for equipent, picking up books, and having a wetsuit custom made in a new wetsuit factory in Kuta. My driver, Wayan, whom had driven me up to Tulamben, was great at making sure I got to do all the in town errands I needed.

then I went to the airport to find that my flight was delayed. I tried to negotiate with immagration to let me enter in the arrivals section so I would not have to fly to KL, just to return 10 hours later. No good. So I flew to KL on Air Asia... which is the Southwest airlines of southeast asia at the moment. I was able to find a row with no one in it and sleep for 3 hours for the duration of the flight.

Well, much to my surprise, we did not fly into the international airport in Mylasia. In fact, we flew into the domestic/low cost airline arport which had nothing but a 24 hour McDonalds and a closed Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I tried to sleep in the terminal, but the AC was on super full blast. I had to go outside to get warm. People were sleeping on the ground, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had been chatting with a dutch student who had found a little seat. we sat and people wateched from 4 am until 7. Then an English couped who had been sleeping on Newsapapers on the ground next to us woke up and gave me some fruit.... I can't remember the name, but it was like plums on a stick with large prickles/hairs that needed to be peeled. Very cool.

I finally got on my pland at 10:45 am and headed back to Bali. I picked up a $13 bottle of Absolut peach at Duty Free on my way in. Wayan picked me up, I made some phone calls to check on my wet suit, my boat ride back, and my motorbike pick up in Lembongan. Walking on the beach to the boat, I almost stepped on a sea snake in the sand. The locals on the pier just laughed at me... ALLL OF THEM. it was the 2nd snake I almost stepped on in 2 days, and the 4th one I had seen. SCARRY At 4:30 I landed back on the island and took the bike back to Linda's where I am staying for the next month while I complete my Dive Master's course. It feels good to be "home."

Tulamben

I have been diving on the eastern coast of Bali in a town called Tulaben. Each day I get picked up by 2-3 locals and driven to the next town/ group of villages to the south called Amed. I have been taking my Rescue Diver course there and fun diving with that dive shop on the dive sites around both towns. I really enjoy speaking with as many Balanise people as possible as I learn their culture and their value systems. I will stay here 1-3 more days before I head back south, and then back to Nusa Lembongan. The diving is good and I see new things everyday. I also have begus to recognize and name things that I see each day with more familiarity and confidence.

Internet here is VERY slow (15 minutes to get my mail). So, I am off to have some lunch and "just relaxing" as they say here.

Labuan Bajo, Flores

I have been in a small Muslim Fishing village called Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores. It is just east of the Komodo National Park. There are only 1.5 internet shops in town and all week they have either been closed or have no connection. So today, with no diving, I have been able to track down a working computer!!!

I have been diving in and around the park for the past four days. It is sooo beautiful and the diving is some of the bast I have done. Turtles on almost every dive, sharks at least once a day, no other boats or divers, thousands of reefish and beautiful corals that make it impossible to determine where you should focus, sea snakes, and of course wonderful fellow travellers and divers.

I am staying in Goaloh hilltop which has a beautiful vew westward and is a twenty minute walk into town. Each morning I walk down the winding road into the village where I am greeted by friendly children. The locals ask me if I am diving today. I meet the boat at the pier and we go out to the sea for a 2-3 hour boat journey through the park to the dive cite. We complte two 70 min. dives with lunch in between. We return just before sunset when I sit with my fellow divers, drink a large Bintang (the indo brew), and what the sun go down.

We then wait hours for dinner, as there is no need for the locals to be timely with anything involved in the kitchen. I then flag down a motorbike, and take a 5 minute ride back into the hills to my quiet hotel. the ride costs about 3-5 thousand Rup.... which is about 45 cents. Not bad for a little rollercoaster ride!!

Today I am suposed to go back to Bali, but I may change my plans and go further eastward to the tiny village of Mino to see three different colored lakes atop of a volcano. They are suposed to be amazing and apparently change colors often for no explained reason. If I make this trek, it will be hard to find internet for a few days... I think. Hope all is well in your part of the world. Here is beautiful and filled with amzing people.

Kuta

I took the boat back to the mainland of Bali this morning. I had to stop at the domestic air terminal to get a ticket to fly to Flores tomorrow. This is right next to the Komodo Dragon island. I will be there during the upcoming week to dive and visit the park to see the dragons.

Kuta is the first beach town that sprang up as a surfer hang-out in the late 70s. It is also where the Bali bomings were in 2002. The town is made up to many many alleys/streets called gangs that cars can't really fit down.... just people and lots of motorbikes. I somehow found the hotel I had called from the airport after the taxi had dropped me off as close as possible. My hotel is beautiful with 2 gorgeous pools. Today is a pool day and a "try to figure out this place" day.

After sitting at the pool for a bit, I decided to venture out into the maze of surfers and backpackers. As you walk down the gang you hear "yes, you come into my shop now, lady", "yes, yes." It canbe quite overwhelming. I tried to find a shop for a dive center that I want to visit next week. I managed to find the hotel it is next to and then walk around in circles for about 20min until I felt extreamly stupid and tired of asking people for direcions. So i sat down for lunch and watch a few episodes of Friends that were playing on the TV in the Warung I(small restaurant/cafe) was eating in.

Later I continued to stroll thorugh the alleys and I made my way to the beach. Hawker Central. "you go surfing today, miss" or "you like tattoo" or "you thirsty, dink cola"..... I did have a nice chat with a balanise man about surfing and his "job"--- teaching surfing each day at the beach. For these people it is a constant struggle to make a buck from any tourist that walks by.

I am going back to the pool and resting for my trip tomorrow. I am tired just thinking about finding my way back to the hotel!!!!

Diving in Nusa Lembongan

I have been diving the past four days and really learing a lot. Some dives went really well, others not so great. On Wednesday I did see 3 Mola Mola- the giant sunfish, which come up from the deep Indian Ocean this time of year. They were amazing. The reefs around the island are littered with various reeffish and colorful corals. I always see 1-9 annenomes filled with the currious and playful clownfish. I could spend my entire dive just interacting with the clownfish if it wern't for the strong current.

Sue and John have been so helpful at World Diving and really made sure I was able to do all the things I needed to. I even finished my EFR class last night with John. Plus all the divemasters are so knowledgable and fill the time on the boat with jokes and laughter.

I took a motorbike tour around the island with one of the Divemasters: Wyoen(spelled sooo wrong). SOOOO cool. I saw the various secuded beaches around the island, a suspension bridge to a smaller ajoining island, and some seeweed farming and the smaller villages that live on that industry. I even got to meet his aunt, uncle, and cousin when we stopped for petrol.

Today I am taking the day off before I travel to my next destination, which actually requires a bit of planning. So I will hit the internet, try to make a few phone calls, talk to the boat people, stop infor a manicure and massage, and maybe rent a bike to ride around the island and snorkel at another beach. Tonight World Diving celebrates their 1 year anneversary since Sue and John bought it so there will be a big party!!!!

Nusa Lembongan

I took a boat to the islands off the southeast shore of Bali on Sunday. This is a very quiet island with only 5% tourism.... mostly diving and surfing. Most of the island make a living by farming seaweed. The sand/soil around the beaches is very rich in nutirents and seaweed is harvestable every 45 days. This is a working beach so there are boats everywhere. At about 8 o'clock the locals take their flashligts to the beach andhurnt for shrimp.

I am diving with World Dive and staying in a little room that faces the ocean looking towards the Indean ocean. Diving was great yeasterday. I did my first drift dive which was very fast. My second in "Crystal Bay" was more relaxing but colder. I did not get to go deep enough to see the giant sun fish (the Mola Mola-as they say here) like the other groups did, but today I am hopeful that I will. I did see some cool purple giant starfish, georgeous angel and butterfly fish, a flute mouth fish, and loads of other beaudiful things.

It is the 4th of July here... so I hope everyone has good picnicing and BBQing and fireworking and drinking....