Bali

We arrived in Brisbane 2 days ago. We decided to get to Australia first and then go to New Zealand. Once we arrived in Brisbane we had to find place where to stay. Luckily, an affordable hostel right in the city was the first one we looked at and get the room for 2 of us only. We really needed some privacy cos sleeping in dorm room is not very nice experience. Today, we arranged to go to theme parks and have some fun overthere. As a matter of fact, noise from the city and lots of backpackers around you is not very good idea therefore we are leaving tomorrow to Gold Coast and then....I still do not know.

Klungkung (now Semarapura) is one of my favourites small towns in Bali. It’s clean, friendly, and has several interesting museums and attractions. There are also two Chinese restaurants–and you may notice that pretty much the entire commercial population is Chinese.
I have learnt in here that Chinese have been discriminated against in Indonesia. Therefore, if you speak any Mandarin, try it out–it’s no longer illegal))).
We are still having a wonderful time in Bali and soonish we are leaving to Australia or New Zealand. We have not decided yet.

After stepping off the plane we drove the two hours north of Denpasar to Tegallingah. Our destination was a small house in the Pakerisan River gorge. We found some sort of peace overhere.

The river was encased in cement. The villagers used it for bathing themselves, as a toilet, and for washing their clothes. Farmers piped off what they needed for their rice fields and prawn ponds.
The rives was wild and knocked against the boulders, spraying the foliage that hung overhead. You could hear it, see it, feel the mist, but it was difficult to reach; the sides of the gorge were steep and the forest grew impenetrable along it.
After our circular walk above the deep ravine, I followed a muddy, switch-back path, covered with leaves and coconuts from the overhanging trees, to reach the bottom of the gorge. At the end of the path and a few feet from the river was a small platform of old teak wood with a bamboo slat roof.
The rest of our day was spent walking along rice paddy banks to visit nearby temples.
Bali is the only Hindu island in the Indonesian archipelago of 17,000 islands.