Snorkelling = Sunburn: Sumatra out Bali in !

Last Thursday and Friday I decided anyway to fill in the ‘diving gap’ with underwater-fish-sightseeing.   Actually this was far beyond what I expected it to be !  Amazing this under-water-life in this Andaman Sea.  I saw loads of different colorful and sometimes scary fish, starfish a sea turtle (size of an overweight 6 year old) and all this in beautiful ‘living’ coral.  All this in Pulauh Weh Marine Park, in front of Freddie’s and on other parts of Sumurtiga.  It all ended with this giant … read a 50cm diameter … Medusa. !  Haha, quickly swum away because a little bit scary there :p.  Only painful experience that all this snorkeling brought was a massive frontal body sunburn hehe … so I hear you thinking ‘when snorkeling you don’t burn your front but your back … as you are floating on your tummy’ … and CORRECT … I burned my chest, tummy and upperlegs during the ‘resting time … without sunscreen sorry Mama.  Because I lost my after sun (no actually I didn’t bring any’ wonderful Freddie gave me a bottle of coconut oil.  As I’m learning through this journey … coconut can be used for EVERYTHING !  Friday afternoon I stayed inside, watching series with some cold Bintang and my frontal body completely covered in coconut oil … aaaah what a relieve ! Meanwhile I can already sleep again covered with a sheet … and this burning red color transformed into Indonesian ‘brown’.

Friday evening I was writing for my recipe book when Freddie shared the best recipes of the dishes we had during ‘dinner at Freddies’. After that I hooked up with some American and Dutch NGO workers in Banda Aceh for that last dinner.  This Freddie really cooked the most amazing food … not Indonesian, not South African … but just ‘Freddie’s’. 

Iboih Snorkeling Place

Dinner (not the buffet) at Freddie's

Last morning at Freddie's

On Saturday morning unfortunately I had to leave this relaxing and beautiful piece of Mother Earth.  At 7 AM a ketjak driver drove me to Sabang port … where I took the 8 AM ferry back to Uleh-leh.  Another friendly ketjak driver brought me to the airport of Banda Aceh.  After some food I took a flight to Jakarta (the place where I landed upon arrival from Doha ‘Qatar’ waited for 3 hours and took another flight to Denpasar (Bali island).  Because I was still in pain (didn’t sleep due to the sunburn), I decided not to go to Bukit Lawang but planned f­or Balinese cooking, etc.   Yesterday evening at 9 PM I arrived in Denpasar Bali.  A quiet taxi driver drove me to Ubud (Sanggingan Villa).  Somewhere during my stay at Freddies I decided that this luxurious way of sleeping is perfectly affordable in Indonesia.  At 11 PM I arrived in this little oasis of calmness.  The best bed in the world was waiting for me … doors look like a temple … STRANGE !  In the morning they woke me up serving breakfast in front of my room … jummy !  Whole day long I get free Balinese coffee … which I’m enjoying as I write.  This is to good to be true !

Entrance of my room in Ubud

The room

After breakfast I decided to go for the Ubud walking tour.  First I went to book a cooking class for this Tuesday at Casa Luna.  Wonderful place … hopefully this cooking class is comparable!  I started my walk wondering around Monkey Forest Road.  

Art stuff in there

Think it’s low season … because I don’t see why they describe this place as touristy.  Monkey Forest Road ended in Monkey Forest where I had a walk to see the temples … but main point of intrest: the long tailed and greybearded Balinese Macaques!  ‘Do you want banana for monkey?’ ‘No I don’t want these freaking animals near to me!’.  Intresting creatures though !  

Temple in Monkey Forest

Statue in Monkey Forest

Monkeyssss

More monkeys

After the visit to the forest I started my tour through art villages and endless rice paddies around Ubud.  Nyukhuning, Dangin Lebak, Katik Lantan, Penestanan and finally back to Ubud (about a 18 km walk).  Balinese people are so friendly !  En route I met a lot of dogs and children who followed me for a little while and practiced their best English with me (the dogs, not the children …  euhm the other way around !).  In the marvelouAs rice paddies a local cut a young coconut from the tree and offered it to me to drink the juice … very refreshing!  After this wonderful walk I had some grilled duck for lunch and headed back to my guest-villa-house-whatever.  I took a little swim and now I’m writing to you guys, drinking a nice pot of Balinese coffee. 

Crazy Festival Creature

Rice Paddie

Rice paddie where I got the coconut juice

Another Rice paddie ... BEAUTIFUL !

Katik Lantang

Ubud Monkey Forest Road

Incense (wierook) against les moustiques (muggen)

The Villa Where I'm wraiting this post

Write to you soon !

BaHt … (they can’t pronounce my name here !)