It's been ages since I've last posted anything in here and there's so much to update! My last few weeks in Australia were absolutely amazing; I spent a few days in the Outback, sleeping on the dirt, under the stars, trekking around Uluru and King's Canyons, hanging around Alice Springs. Then I went to Cairns, managing to get there right after massive rain storms, and right before the roads became flooded and no one could get in or out, which was really lucky. Headed to Magnetic Island, did a scuba diving course... after that came back to Melbourne where the heat became INSANE. One week was about 40 degrees everyday, the weekend calmed down a bit, then the next week hit 47, apparently making it the hottest place on the planet that day. It was crazy! Luckily, after being in the Outback, I was a bit more prepared for the heat, unlike Dad who came for a visit from minus 30 and had a really tough time with it.
My last week in Melbourne was nice and relaxing; I met up lots with the friends I'd made there and started preparing for my trip to Asia. I'll really miss Melbourne, and I can't wait to go back! My friend and I have started making plans for our big move there.. someday.
Which leads me to here, in Bali. I flew in Monday evening, and stayed overnight in crazy, chaotic Kuta. The next day I ventured out, but after about an hour of walking and being chased down the road by people trying to sell motorbikes, taxi rides, sunglasses, jewellry.. I retreated back to the hotel to try and figure out what to do, a bit overwhelmed to say the least. Ubud was a town not too far away that had been reccommended to me by a friend; it seemed a lot quieter and so I hopped on the next bus there.
The bus dropped us off way outside of the town, naturally, so a few other backpackers and I got together to split a cab into the market area. I ended up looking for a room with a really nice British couple, and before we knew it we were sharing a room for the next few nights at about $2 a night after some bargaining, which started to feel expensive when the rain came and our bathroom leaked everywhere, we discovered there was a resident cockroach, and geckos crawling all over the walls all day, as well as a neighbour who speaks to himself really loudly, allll the time! The family that owns it is so sweet though, and makes us banana pancakes every morning.
I ended up spending the entire week with the couple; we went to a traditional Balinese dance, shopped around the markets, spent a day motorbiking all over the town and countryside, past rice paddies and into tiny villages where all the children would wave and yell HELLLOOO at us as we went past, which was so cute. After a few near-death experiences on the busier roads, we got back safely and spent the night relaxing in our guesthouse. We've gone to restaurants for every meal, mainly because it's cheaper than cooking our own - usually you can get a whole meal for less than $2. A nice change from my other backpacking experiences, where I ate at a restaurant all of 3 times I think.
Tomorrow I'm off to Jakarta for a day, and the next day on to Bangkok! Both are obviously huge and overwhelming cities, but luckily I've found people who are willing to let me couchsurf with them in both, which should help immensely. And that's about it for now!
