So after the three weeks in the beaches of Thailand I'll go to Bali from Singapore. I don't actually know much about Bali. For me it's famous for great surfing and various bombing incidents, but that's it. I have seeked for all the web pages about Bali in the past few days and managed to get some scraps of information to help my planning. I also came up with an idea of travelling to Lombok which is an island just east(50km?) from Bali.
So here comes: After I arrive to Denpasar in Bali I'll try to find my way to Padangbai where ferries to Lombok depart. A public 4-hour ferry to Lombok should cost around 2 euros. I think I can afford it. Plane to Lombok would cost as much as around 20 euros.
The main thing that interests me in Lombok is the Gunung Rinjani. It's the second highest mountain in Indonesia and also an active volcano. Trekking up to the summit(3726m) and down to the crater lake without any rush would probably take 3 days from my journey. Guides should be quite cheap to acquire. 3-day trek with guides, porters(yes porters!), and all the equipments including meals costs around 50 euros, not bad. I'm sure porters aren't for somebody like me,who has been in the famous finnish army and walked 60km in a single winter day totally naked only carrying my clothes and mines in a 40kg backpack when it has been raining water and temperature was below -30c...if I remember right the wind speed was around 30knots and all we ate was lichen.
EDIT: it seems that they close the Gunung Rinjani national park during the last months of the rainy season (Jan-Mar), because of the slippery trails, so it might be that I'll drop Lombok from my travel plan.
After the Gunung Rinjani I'll probably return to Bali and go around the island. There should be beautiful scenery with rice terraces all around the inner Bali and that's what I want to see. After I seeked some web-pages I noticed that Bali is famous for the balinese dance which is usually performed by cute balinese women. I couldn't miss a show like that! I have became much more interested in cultures, after we incidentally went seeing the flamenco show performed by very talented dancers(women) with my friends in Spain.
Of course I want to go surfing also but considering that I've just been 3 weeks crawling in Thailand's beaches I probably want to see something else than sand and water. Besides Bali has enormous waves(atleast I think) and mostly reef and stone bottom so it's not place for beginners. I think the only beach break(beach bottom) is in the Kuta beach which is famous of being very crowded place even though two bombings there have made a mark to the tourism. I'll have plenty of time to surf in Newcastle anyways.
