Thurs 19th - Mon 23rd June (Week 39-40)

Thurs 19th - Up at 6, checked out of our lovely hotel at 7 and got a free transfer back to the airport. Everyone was on edge that our plane was going to be delayed again, and despite assurances yesterday that they were putting on an extra flight just for us, the 9am passengers seemed to be bumped off their flight in favour of us ! Felt bad, and wonder how long they will have to wait ! Our flight did actually arrive at 9:15, and we were off by 9:30. Just a small little propeller plane, that only flew at 15,000ft so had great views all over Komodo NP, all the little islands, coral, turquoise seas etc. Landed back in Bali at 11am and got a taxi to Sanur. Can't believe a month has already gone by since we were last in Bali - where has that time gone ?! Decided to try a different place on Bali for our final few days, but didn't fancy Kuta as not heard many good things about it - far too busy, touristy and big party scene. Spent the afternoon checking out the town, the beach and finally collected our passports (dropped them off to renew our visas a month ago in Ubud) and felt good to have them back, safe and sound in our possession ! Did some shopping, then met up with Tanja from our Komodo cruise for dinner as she also flew into Bali today and is staying 2 doors down !

Fri 20th - Lovely lie-in until 9am - first in what seems like a very long time ! Spent the morning catching up on blog, photos, wifi etc and headed out at 12:30. Explored the rest of the town and did a bit more shopping for some clothes and souvenirs (not that we have any room or weight allowance left !) Lovely final meal in Indonesia at a nice restaurant with a Bintang beer and satay.

Sat 21st - Lazy morning using the wifi, checked out at 12, a final nice bakery lunch, and got a taxi to the airport at 1pm. Lovely new toll road to the airport - only 2 months old, really wide multi-laned roads with virtually no traffic. Likewise the airport is really new, clean and modern, and we were impressed ! Boarded our 4pm flight, and landed in KL at 7pm. KL airport is so big it takes ages to navigate around it, and finally got the bus to KL Sentral at 8:30pm. Checked into our nice hotel and had a late Indian dinner at 10pm.

Sun 22nd - Now we've been in KL 7 times in the last year, we don't really need to go sightseeing any more, so just used our nice a/c room with a desk for boring housekeeping jobs for the next month and for our return to the UK.

Mon 23rd - Pretty similar to yesterday, but did pop out for a few hours to buy a nice new suitcase to store any items we're not going to need for the next few weeks before we come back to KL again. I ended up being a bit too ruthless, filled the suitcase and now have an empty rucksack ! Oh well, easier to carry, just hope nothing goes missing in the meantime !


Summary:
I can't believe we were in Indonesia for 7 weeks ! Our original itinerary was only for the normal 30-day visa, but very glad we extended, and still could have spent a lot more time there. We squeezed in a lot (as usual) - going to Java, Bali, Lombok, Gili Islands, Komodo cruise and Flores. Java was nice for the temples and volcanoes, but we didn't really take it to as much as the other islands. Bali was beautiful for all the traditional temples in all houses, all the decorations for the festival, and the daily offerings outside every house and along footpaths etc. Lombok had wonderful waterfalls in the north and beaches in the south with the ever-present Mt Rinjani in the centre. The diving in Flores was spectacular, our best yet and not sure how anywhere else is going to be able to compete, and we might have to retire now ! Some locals have been really nice, genuine and friendly, but we have also had a lot of frustrations from the constant touts in Ubud, Sanur, and Senggigi, as well as what seems like an inability to tell you anything negative, and would rather make something up, even if they don't know the answer. Also the constant bartering and negotiating for everything gets a bit annoying after a while and you just want fixed price items ! As a lot of places are still developing and quite rural, you get a lot of dogs barking, roosters crowing and mosque calls to prayer that can be a little annoying at 5am every morning ! But having said all that, we wouldn't hesitate to come back again though and have very happy memories of our 7 weeks.