Sunsets, coconuts and Bintangs

I woke up and used the outdoor shower to refresh me before the next stop and wandered to Lokal Warung and Coffee to get my banana pancakes and coffee breakfast set; only this time, I had the Balinese coffee which was really strong!

I grabbed all my bags and called myself an Uber to take me to the M Boutique Hostel. As I was checking out and waiting for the taxi to arrive, I got chatting to a Texan guy at reception who had been traveling around Bali for a few weeks but had returned to Rumah Samba for some downtime before going to the next place as it was the best hostel he had stayed in.

In the meantime, I missed a call from the Uber guy so Uber cancelled my trip and charged me; brilliant. The guy however came down to the hotel and found me and said he would still take me so I negotiated a cash price as he wanted to charge me a fortune!

I was starting to get really apprehensive on the journey there as the Rumah Samba was a small hostel and the M Boutique Hostel was huge in comparison and so it meant having to get conversations started; it's always tough to begin with.

The journey only took about half and hour and I realised in that time that Ubers are seriously frowned upon as there are signs saying Grab and Uber aren't welcome there so I think it's illegal. The Uber driver also warned me about using local taxis and said they weren't as safe which was even more unnerving.

By the time I arrived, I had got myself into a bit of a state with anxiety and felt sick! I walked through the entrance and said hello to the first person I saw (always best to get it out the way as soon as possible!) and went to speak to reception who informed me that the large dorm I'd booked was full and they'd put me in the all-girl 6-bed dorm instead which is a higher cost (I did mention that I hadn't selected that option though so shouldn't have to pay and they were really cool about it and didn't charge me more!) I felt quite relieved as it looked like it might end up being a bit quieter than being in a 43-bed dorm.

I put my bags in the room and decided the best way to calm the nerves would be to go and do some exploring of the town.

So many people had absolutely raved about Seminyak and from the wandering I'd done, I had to say I wasn't on par with all the hype. It was really busy, less authentic and although there were loads of great bars and restaurants, it was just like a lot of other Asian towns and was nothing too special, although it was great for relaxing. I navigated my way towards the beach using my map print out from the hostel and found one which appeared to be a sort of building site as there was a lot going on around it.

By this point, it was so hot and I was absolutely dripping in sweat so stopped at one of the first cafes I came across; the Sea Circus Restaurant. I had the Mary Poppins juice which was strawberry, watermelon and mint and ordered chicken tacos to tide me over until later in the day; it was just what the doctor ordered!

I managed to get on the wifi and chatted to mum and the girls who gave me some reassurance where I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and it was great to cool down after being so hot!

When I'd finished there, I just carried on walking aimlessly to see what I could find! I stopped at a mini mart and got some water and they sent me back the way I'd come to get to one of the main beach areas; Ku Da Ta. Again, it was a nice beach but I'd been spoilt with previous travels and thought the sand would be much whiter! It was still quite picturesque though and would have been perfect if it wasn't overcast!

It was late afternoon by this point so I made the sweaty trek back to the hostel via a market selling lots of touristy bits and grabbed my phone and iPad to do some blogging in the communal areas to be around people.

Fortunately there were was a guy from Pakistan in a similar predicament to me who had arrived that afternoon so I had a chat with him which was a good start. Izzy and I had been talking and she knew I'd got myself in a panic so she FaceTimed me and calmed me down immensely; seeing a friendly face and having her tell me I was actually doing ok was just what I needed!

A couple of girls from London came in and sat down so I got chatting to them about places they had been and they gave me some good recommendations which I wrote down for reference. It transpired that one of the girl's dads lived in Sevenoaks; talk about a small world!

More people came in and out so I got to chat to a few people as well as catching up on the blog - I'm forever catching up and behind schedule where I've been busy!

Later in the evening, I wandered back into town in search of some dinner and the girls from London had mentioned that the Saigon Street Food was worth going to so I looked at their menu and took a seat on the street where I could watch everyone! Seminyak was noticeably far more expensive where it was such a big tourist hit. I tried not to break the bank and ordered some duck pancakes which sounded mouth-watering. When they turned up, I couldn't have been more disappointed and had to check that they weren't on the menu as a starter because the portion was depressingly tiny but it was so good and incredibly moreish!

I went back to the hostel in the hope that a few more people would be around now that it was later in the evening. Luckily for me, I struck gold and met two girls the minute I walked through the door to my room; Rachel from Chester and Tanya from London. They'd been at Potato Head Beach Club and told me what else they'd been up to; Tanya had only arrived from London that afternoon so her timings were all over the place!

We bought some beers from reception and went to sit outside on the benches where a bit of a crowd had formed. A couple of Kiwi lads (Josh and Max) came to sit with us and I chatted to them for ages about where they were from and things to do whilst I'm there; they'd surprisingly not even heard of the Kiwi Experience bus! We were later joined by another Kiwi (Cameron) who told us about more places to go and a French Canadian lady.

The funny thing about meeting Tanya was that we were both in Bali and also going to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia but her route was the opposite direction to mine!

At about 11pm, the heavens opened and we all moved inside because we were getting soaked by the benches, even though it was under cover. We played a couple of rounds of jenga and then a bunch of people made their way to town to go out but it was still chucking it down so the girls and I did a swerve and went to bed!

The hostel was still buzzing with noise at about 3am so it was difficult to sleep and where the roller blinds go on the end of the bed for privacy, it was also really hot!

I woke up just after 8ish and got up to shower and get ready for the day. Having been hoping for a scorcher as I wanted to go to Potato Head, I was gutted that it was overcast.

I went downstairs to check out the free breakfast which was two slices of toast and tea/coffee. Nothing too extravagant to get excited about and was all a bit dry and bland but a freebie is a freebie at the end of the day so I wasn't going to complain!

Tanya and I saw a tiny patch of blue sky and grabbed our stuff to head to Potato Head Beach Club which was about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. Where it was half 10 on a Sunday morning, it was pretty empty where people had obviously gone a bit too hard the night before. I'd been expecting it to be a crazy mad party after what other people had told me but this was completely chilled and had a relaxed vibe. The weather was still overcast so we didn't pay for the sun beds as it was a minimum spend of 500,000 Rupiah and it looked like it would rain. We sat on the sofa seats by the bar instead and ordered coconut mocktails which were great!

After a couple of hours, it was starting to get a bit busier but the sun still hadn't come out so we decided to take a wander down to Woo Bar at the W Hotel and see what that was like! The girls from London had told me about the Café Organic Garden Gangstas opposite the W Hotel and said it was great food so we stopped there for lunch which was amazing! I had the Byron Breakfast Burrito in a coriander wrap which was filled with red onion, sweet corn, salsa, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, watercress, gruyere cheese, avocado, pesto, olive oil and mayonnaise; I was absolutely stuffed!

When we finished there, I got some more money out where I'd already run out and we made our way through to the W Hotel which had the prettiest green archway leading into the grounds, water features and lots of big trees and black flower pots; this looked more like how I'd envisioned Bali would be!

We walked to the Woo Bar and were told the nice chairs had a minimum spend so we just sat on the bar stools next to the pool with a beer and the toffee popcorn they gave us. The barman also gave us a wristband so we could use the pool too and it was absolutely glorious as the sun had finally come out so we could enjoy a dip in the water!

Later in the afternoon, we went back to the hostel to pay the lady at reception for our return boat journey to Gili Trawangan the following day.

Rachel had told us the day before that La Plancha was worth a visit to watch the sunset on the beach so we showered and got ready and cheekily ordered an Uber to keep the costs down. It was only about 15 minutes drive but it had a great atmosphere when we got there. Restaurants and bars lined the beach and they had music, umbrellas and bean bags so people could sit, eat and drink whilst listening to the music and watching the sun set.

I ordered myself a bottle of Bintang and some spring rolls and settled into my bean bag. It was beyond chilled and could only have been made better if the sky was less cloudy for the sunset. There was a singer playing guitar and Tanya and I laughed as he considered himself a bit of a Bruno Mars and sang a selection of romantic love songs that Magic FM would have been proud of! We also couldn't help but giggle when he was singing "I tiiiiiiiiiiing I wanna marry you."

When it had got dark, we made our way back to find a taxi as there wasn't any wifi to call an Uber. Our biggest issue was that none of the taxi drivers would put their meters on and wanted to charge us a fortune to get back ranging from 40,000 to 100,000. You definitely feel like they're just after your money in Bali! Finally after asking about 5 taxi drivers who refused, we found a guy who said he used a meter when driving; he was actually quite entertaining and had blaring music he was bopping along to. He told us we should have dinner at a good place by the beach but we'd just come from there so asked to be dropped into town so we could grab some food. It only cost us 29,000 so we were relieved to have not agreed to the other drivers!

Tanya and I were still quite full after our snacks (I'd also had a couple of her potato wedges that she couldn't finish along with my spring rolls!) so we didn't stop for dinner. We did however see a lovely bakery that we stopped at to buy some breakfast for the bus journey the next morning; I chose a big pastry with chocolate!

Once back at the hostel, I packed up my stuff and set my alarm for 5.30am as we were being collected at some point between 6 and 7am but they couldn't tell us when! After that, I popped downstairs for a bit to finish my blog, upload all the photos and then use the computer to change the formatting as I can't do that on the app where the text bunches together which makes it hard to read! I also got to catch up with my good pal Pete on FaceTime which was great :)

(Another of the daily selfies for Izzy!)

When I crawled into my top bunk, I decided to whack in the ear plugs where it had been noisy the night before but I was scared I wouldn't hear my alarm!

Today's quote to finish on..."Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody."

Until next time! xxx