Bali

Our first stop in Indonesia was Bali. We landed in the evening and found ourselves in one of the most overcrowded and pointlessly bureaucratic airports of our trip so far. We had to line up in no fewer than four separate long, and infuriatingly slow, queues to get a visa, go through immigration, hand in a customs form and get our luggage scanned. We were lucky and avoided the baggage collection queue as we had flown with just hand luggage.

We then found a taxi, but apparently our driver had hopes of being the next Lewis Hamilton. We had decided to stay in Kuta, a town close to the airport, due to it already being quite late. After flying down some tiny back-streets we eventually arrived. Our accommodation was very nice, although rather like staying in a temple!

The next day we decided to head to the beach. After wondering along the main street of Kuta a couple of times, and being harassed to go into every shop we passed and go on every tour imaginable, we eventually found that the path to the beach was through a shopping mall. The beach was nominally white sand but the black sand from further around the island had washed up, leaving the beach looking dirty. The waves were ferocious, which meant it was a great surfing spot but not at all suitable for swimming. We watched the surfers for a few hours and then decided to get out of Bali and head to the Gili islands the next day. I’m sure other parts of Bali are amazing, but Kuta wasn’t the place for us!

That evening we went into town and made the most of the three-for-two beer offers to toast my favourite little brothers 21st birthday.

Gili Islands

Bright and early the next morning, we got a minibus and boat transfer to Gili T, an island which turned out to be everything we were hoping for in Bali. The three Gili islands are tiny but beautiful.

We spent two nights on Gili Trawangan, and stayed at Up To You hostel, a very odd set up with a combination of bunk beds and double beds in the dorm rooms. The owner was pretty confident that he had sussed out all there was to running a hostel, proclaiming ‘its not rocket science’. Hmmm….

None of the Gili islands have any motorised vehicles on them, and horse and cart is the main method of transport. We hired some bikes and some snorkels and cycled around the island. The full circumference takes less than an hour, and we passed some amazing resort accommodation. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling on the beach.

Feeling relaxed, we then took the ten minute boat trip over to Gili Meno for a three night stay. Gili Meno is an even smaller and much quieter island. We spent a couple of days on the beach. It wasn’t possible to snorkel here as the currents were so strong. We saw a group who had decided to brave the sea being swept along at an alarming speed, until they were thankfully rescued by a boat. Our hotel owner told us about an Italian group who were recently snorkelling and now ‘they are gone’. I didn’t need any more warnings!

The sunsets from these islands can be beautiful, especially if you find a nice little bar to watch them from.

For the final day on Meno we decided to go to a luxury resort and make use of their facilities: beautiful pool, beautiful location and very comfortable sun loungers. The Seri Yoga Retreat has only recently opened and it is very nice! In fact I think it might be Grahams favourite ‘office’ to date. To finish off the day we had cocktails on the beach. Bliss!

Our final two nights were spent on Gili Air. This island is a blend of the previous two. We once again took a short boat trip and then started hunting for our accommodation. The location on their website is nowhere near the actual location, but after a while we arrived. When we got there we were told there was an administration error and they had overbooked their four rooms. In truth, I’m surprsied this hasn’t happened many more times. Apparently the error had worked in our favour though, and we were being transferred to superior accommodation, with a better location, nicer rooms and a swimming pool. Win!

Our smugness lasted all day, while we swam in the pool and explored the town. When we returned to the room in the evening though, we found out that the owners had forgotten to mention the two day wedding which was just getting underway. Even better, the speakers seemed to be about 5m from the bed and the live band were just getting started. The party was in full swing until 02:30, when they took a short break before commencing the second day of festivities at 06:00. Yikes!! Several of us ended up having a late night swim and beers around the pool. If you can’t beat them, join them!!

The rest of our time was spent on the beach and swimming in the sea. On our final evening we had some cocktails by the sea and chatted with some hilarious local bar staff. When I spotted Pimms on the menu I asked one of the Indonesian guys if he had tried it, to which he replied, ‘No I don’t drink alcohol, I only drink beer.’ This suddenly explained why beer is always listed in the Soft Drink section of the menu – the locals conveniently don’t class it as alcohol!!

On our final morning we managed to fit in one more swim in the pool before making our transfer back to Bali (more about that later) and getting ready to travel through Java.

• Gili Islands