Christmas in Bali

That might sound like a dream... Well, actually we wondered for a while why this island was so crowded with tourists. After the quiet north west, we came to the hell of Kuta to meet again Marcin and David from Malang and got stuck in terrible traffic between the boutiques for "buleh" (the White). In Ubud however, we found more nice places, lots of artists, and we came accross a very unique Singaporean/French family which reminded Augusta of her origins. Then Paula and Piotr, Polish couple met in Saigon, joined us for the VW meeting, which was not such a big event but had hired a chamane to stop the rain over the week end! Around a few beers we met Pulu, the organizer of VW safari tours in Bali: there are about 150 tinks or 181 on the island and many are used to transport tourists. Pulu invited us to his palace near Ubud and that's where we spent Christmas eve, with a few home made pancakes with indonesian cheddar cheese. Next days we visited cocoa and banana plantations, drove thru small roads to a volcanic lake, tried a little bit of snorkelling and attended a show of Kecak Dance. We were very lucky that a friend of ours from Augusta's home town came to Bali just then and he brought us many presents from the family, especially Christmas foods and a real organic bread from Augusta's brother: that was so delicious and good for the soul too!

We spent the last days of the year on Lombok island, still with Paula and Piotr who happened to be very good partners for travelling, good as barmen, babysitters, photographs and company. We found a quiet and cheap bungalow in the South peninsula, admired the turquoise sea, relaxed for a while as Augusta needed some rest and the place was good for it. We came into the new year 7 hours ahead of Europe, watching fireworks after a good self made dinner and always with the expensive Bintang beers. Then we left the Polish couple and drove to our French friends again, we celebrated 2012 with a glass of wine and sheep cheese, we were dreaming of it for few months!

After that we headed back to Java, because we want to pick another Polish couple from Jakarta airport on Jan.9. We keep a good pace and stop in nice spots on beaches, in the jungle, near a lake, on playgrounds outdoors or indoors. One night in a hotel was needed for a better rest after 3 days, then we reached Semarang and Yumo's shop. The visit of his hand made conversion of Brasilian buses into special splits was amazing, and our bus got fixed, because the brakes needed revision. In the meanwhile Elios could play with a cute 4 yearold named Keno. Next stop was in Pekalongan with a visit of the batik museum. And then the North coast until Jakarta.