Back on the boat I went and straight off I met 3 americans, Mike, Elliot & Kristen and an english couple, James and Sarah. We hung out for most of the trip and they were good fun. This time the boat didn’t have a hole in it so things were looking up 🙂

We went to Rinca the next morning to see dragons, and this time we saw loads of them. They were just plonked all over the place warming themselves up in the sun. Only one of them was doing any work – digging to lay eggs. Nuts that I didn’t have a camera but kind Nicole said she will upload some of her photos to my flickr account when she gets home in a month’s time. So watch this space….

Afterwards we sailed to Gili Laba to do a little snorkelling. The following day we hit Moyo, a lovely little island where we strolled through the village went to see a waterfall. I think pretty much everyone but me jumped in, and bearing in mind I’d no fear in Laos, I suddenly got an attack of the nerves and just couldn’t do it. Aaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhhh nothing worse than losing your nerve!!!! Boo to me!

I mentioned before that I had a chance to sail to Kalimantan with Louise and Tom and I have to say I made the right decision. It would have been a fantastic trip but I’ve discovered that I kinda get sea sick, not in the usual queasy way but just uncontrollably tired. I think the Americans and English must have thought I was on valium because I just wasn’t functioning at all.

Anyhoo we headed back to Lombok, said our goodbyes and I was reunited with my bank cards and phone – yippeeeeeee!!!! No matter how cheap things are here, it’s just nice to to know you have your credit card.

I headed to Bali the following day and had to stay in Sanur (or snore as the lonely planet calls it and rightly so) for a night before I headed off to Nusa Lembongan early the next morning.

I had expected NL to be quite like the Gilli Islands and it is in ways but a lot bigger and you have to travel to see the nice beaches. I headed off on the back of a motorbike to Mushroom Bay which is really pretty. The next day I met a german lady called Susan and we went snorkelling together and then headed off on bikes to sunbake on (aptly named) dream beach for the afternoon.

Anyone like to stay here??

Nusa Lembongan is a nice place which has two traditional villages. Seaweed is harvested here and exported to Japan for food and cosmetic products. The other main source of income is tourism and big attraction is diving as the underwater life is really something to see. Mola mola or sunfish (because of the huge fins like rays) fish hang out here in August/September and I was dying to see one as there are quite unique and almost ancient looking and to me seem like what Dan Brown was describing in his book……Artic something or point something?! A little bit scary too I think??

Unfortunately the dates were all out of whack with my plans and I didn’t get do do my open water diving course so it will be Oz now but I can’t wait.

Back to Bali and I headed for Seminyak which is a quieter version of Kuta/Legion – the real tourist hub in South Bali. I think I maybe should have hit Bali at the beginning of the month, as it was a shock to the system after the likes of the Gilli Islands and Flores. It is a shoppers (so glad I didn’t have more time there) and surfers paradise but really, really busy and has a million hawkers on the beach. *Sigh* I met up with some of the Flores “tour” group, Nicole and Malin and we headed out to celebrate Malin’s birthday. Had a great night, scored a couple of free cocktails and hit the nightclubs in Kuta.

This is the side of Bali or Indonesia that most people will see but really you could be pretty much in any big tacky holiday resort in the world so save your money and head for Santa Ponza if that floats your boat. However, even though I only had a day there I think uBud is well worth a visit, loads of art shops and just a really nice mellow feel to the place. Of course there’s lots of other places around Bali to see but I just ran out of time.

More photos as always on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157606621413848/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157606621494692/