Matthew and Robin took their PADI advanced open water diving course on Lembongan island.
Together we went to Manta Bay and were diving with manta rays, there must have been 8 or 9.
Mantas are harmless but they are huge, at least 2.5 x 2.5 meters. One side is white and the other side is black. Gliding by in pairs of 2, they seemed to be a big wall.
Their mouth looks like a big open hole. Incredible!!!
Here are some pictures:
Robin took a surf lessons and manages to stand up on his board and surf quite nicely now!
We went snorkeling on various occasions and felt quite sorry for ourselves when we were riding ‘our’ bikes around the island. Bicycles are called Push-Bikes here… and we now know why. Hill up, hill down in the cooking heat!
But ... Robin has a lot of power :-)
We stayed in a guesthouse right at the beach, very basic rooms, but it had a much needed pool. It can get really hot and humid in Indonesia. There was a pretty good internet connection and on walking distance we found loads of small local restaurants with great food.
Next to water sports, there is not much to do on the island, but those who speak with everyone, have the time of their life. Locals and tourists have so many interesting stories to tell, there was no dull moment!
And here in Bali, the kids filmed Matthew’s application video and came up with AcTV.
Have a look: http://pangaea-yep.com/m/videos/view/YEP-Canada-Application
Small food “markets” are formed once a boat from the main land arrives. Ladies sell their goods right there at the boat landing.
The way people transport their shopping home is a bit different than it is at home.
As we often do, before leaving we did a beach clean-up.
We had 'difficulties' leaving this nice little island but we wanted to see a bit more of Bali's mainland and took a boat back to Sanur. After the usual chores, being homework, shopping, laundry and such, we took a taxi to Ubud. A nice, less touristy city than Sanur.
We visited the botanical gardens, which have some really serene places - all to do with the highly religious people in Bali.
The monkey sanctuary
And we went on a cooking course, which, unfortunately was more of a cooking demonstration...
Anyway, here some of the results:
The hostel we found in Ubud was really marvelous. The picture below shows the walkway, the apartments with nice verandas are on both sides of the path.
From Ubud we took a taxi to Den Pasar:
We astonished to see a local fuel station in Den Pasar.
(Den Pasar is the capital of Bali, but it is more like a village that grew very fast and does not know what to do with the increased traffic…)
We visited the turtle conservation center near Den Pasar, and realized that turtle conservation is not an easy task. Turtles are now protected by law, but people were used to eat them AND turtles are used as important offers during religious ceremonies. This center seems a really great initiative!!
A small turtle born at the center
An injured turtle, hit by a motorboat was brought to the center to recover.
On the way back we visited the mangroves, are an important habitat – and with help from, yet another foreign initiative, a huge piece of land / water has been transformed into a mangrove.
Here one of its inhabitants
Just 3 weeks later, we flew back to Kuala Lumpur. We liked Bali very much.
It ‘mysterious’ culture, the extreme nice and generous people and the overall atmosphere just fitted so good together. Just that HUMIDITY LEVEL… crazy…
Together we went to Manta Bay and were diving with manta rays, there must have been 8 or 9.
Mantas are harmless but they are huge, at least 2.5 x 2.5 meters. One side is white and the other side is black. Gliding by in pairs of 2, they seemed to be a big wall.
Their mouth looks like a big open hole. Incredible!!!
Here are some pictures:
Robin took a surf lessons and manages to stand up on his board and surf quite nicely now!
We went snorkeling on various occasions and felt quite sorry for ourselves when we were riding ‘our’ bikes around the island. Bicycles are called Push-Bikes here… and we now know why. Hill up, hill down in the cooking heat!
We stayed in a guesthouse right at the beach, very basic rooms, but it had a much needed pool. It can get really hot and humid in Indonesia. There was a pretty good internet connection and on walking distance we found loads of small local restaurants with great food.
Next to water sports, there is not much to do on the island, but those who speak with everyone, have the time of their life. Locals and tourists have so many interesting stories to tell, there was no dull moment!
And here in Bali, the kids filmed Matthew’s application video and came up with AcTV.
Have a look: http://pangaea-yep.com/m/videos/view/YEP-Canada-Application
Lembongan depends on the small boats bringing food and hardware items to the island.
As we often do, before leaving we did a beach clean-up.
We had 'difficulties' leaving this nice little island but we wanted to see a bit more of Bali's mainland and took a boat back to Sanur. After the usual chores, being homework, shopping, laundry and such, we took a taxi to Ubud. A nice, less touristy city than Sanur.
And we went on a cooking course, which, unfortunately was more of a cooking demonstration...
Anyway, here some of the results:
The hostel we found in Ubud was really marvelous. The picture below shows the walkway, the apartments with nice verandas are on both sides of the path.
From Ubud we took a taxi to Den Pasar:
We astonished to see a local fuel station in Den Pasar.
(Den Pasar is the capital of Bali, but it is more like a village that grew very fast and does not know what to do with the increased traffic…)
We visited the turtle conservation center near Den Pasar, and realized that turtle conservation is not an easy task. Turtles are now protected by law, but people were used to eat them AND turtles are used as important offers during religious ceremonies. This center seems a really great initiative!!
A small turtle born at the center
An injured turtle, hit by a motorboat was brought to the center to recover.
On the way back we visited the mangroves, are an important habitat – and with help from, yet another foreign initiative, a huge piece of land / water has been transformed into a mangrove.
Here one of its inhabitants
Just 3 weeks later, we flew back to Kuala Lumpur. We liked Bali very much.
It ‘mysterious’ culture, the extreme nice and generous people and the overall atmosphere just fitted so good together. Just that HUMIDITY LEVEL… crazy…
