7. Anyone want a puppy?

The final two days of diving comprised mostly of hunting, unsuccessfully, for the mola mola. We went to the places they are known to frequent but we’re not lucky enough this time to see them … this just means that I will have to return to Bali again for another go sometime in the future. It’ll be quite the hardship! On the final day, in amongst the huge amount of dive boats full of divers and snorkelers trying to get a look at the manta rays and mola, there was also quite a significant swell to add to the chaos. I can understand why the big fish stay away; it got a little crazy at times. The surface is never my favourite place to be (because when you’re down there in the sea and  keeping an eye out, it’s all safe & good but once on the surface and oblivious to the underneath, that’s when the sea monsters know you’re more vulnerable and will come and eat you all up). In the big swell, surrounded by boats all trying to avoid surfacing divers while finding the ones they’re due to pick up, it was slightly stressful!

Aside from the distinct lack of mola, we otherwise saw some lovely things, including some huge manta ray, although the visibility there was a bit cloudy due to the swell  so the camera struggled to focus through the sediment. The manta swam by really close though! The water at the sites we were at looking for mola was also a few degrees colder than other places we’d been earlier in the week. 28°C and above and I’m generally ok diving just in a rash vest and leggings. Earlier in the week, I’d had my 5mm wetsuit on and thought I was doing ever so well at coping with the cold and begun to think perhaps my tolerance for cold water has really increased and I felt terribly proud. However, a quick check of my computer told me the water was actually only 27° on the north side so really no achievement at all. At the manta and mola site, the water was around 25°, sometimes dropping to 24° and with thermoclines sweeping through that dropped to 22°. At these times, I realised my tolerance for cold has absolutely not improved, I had to do some kicking about to try and stay warm, my feet went numb so I wasn’t entirely sure how well I was actually doing my kicking and I considered wee-ing for warmth in my wet suit! Nonetheless, the diving and reefs in Nusa Penida have been really pretty and very healthy, with lots of lovely things to see!

After a final dinner - where I treated myself to a pudding too because you use more calories when diving in colder water as your body works harder to keep warm - and night on Nusa Penida, it was time to pack up again and head back to Bali. I waved goodbye to Scuba Junkie and the 5 dogs they have here - Tina (seems remarkably normal), White Lab (it’s definitely a mongrel but perhaps has the tiniest bit of labrador in their somewhere), Colin (a girl), Puppy (no one is sure of its age but it’s always been quite small) and Cher (who is stinky & also is easily as wide and she is tall and prefers to live almost exclusively under the coffee table).

My fast boat back to Bali all went smoothly and thanks for a minimal swell, was able to dock in a closer harbour to my final destination. Once you’ve all piled off the boat, jostled your way down a narrow jetty with over a hundred other people, which the bags are all being hurled down onto, you do a little internal celebration that you managed to avoid being pushed into the harbour and off you go! Since my gear was still slightly damp, I’d packed into into my gear bag but not my main case so by this point in my travels, I was dragging my wheelie case, wearing my massive rucksack full of valuables including all my collected souvenirs on my back and my dive gear bag on my front. Joyously, the only vehicles allowed down the road to the harbour are the taxi companies who have managed to form a monopoly. They are ready to jump the tourists and offer hugely inflated prices to wherever you’d like to. I was offered the equivalent of a £25 ride to my hotel. As you walk away, they’ll bring it down to around £18 but then let you keep going. The further away from the port you get, the lower the prices get. They’ve managed to ban the ride share taxi app similar to Uber, called Grab, from getting anywhere near the port. They’ve also had the audacity to put up totally unofficial signs that say ‘support local, use taxis’. It’s an absolute con, particularly since the Grab drivers are also all locals, they’re just not ones who are trying to scam tourists!

By the time I’d wound myself up about this, I’d stomped quite far up the road and decided to keep going until I got up to the Grab pick up zone - still carting my own weight in various bags and looking like a sweaty mess. The drivers still being quite annoying and hassling you and offering over-priced taxis. Then you get:

Driver - good price, where are you going?

Me - Kuta. How much?

Driver - ooh Kuta. Good price. [equivalent of] £20

Me - no thank you, that’s too expensive [start walking away and continue to walk on throughout the rest of the conversation with him trotting along behind me]

Driver - not expensive, good price. Won’t get cheaper.

Me - show him my Grab app quote. Grab are £7

Driver - fine. I do for £15

Me - erm, no thank you!

Driver - fine, what you want to pay?

Me - well I’m going to pay £7 to Grab so that’s what I’m willing to pay

Driver - fine - £12

Me - no thank you

Driver - ok, fine, I take you for same price as Grab

Me - great, £7?

Driver - yes, grab price. I do for £10

Me - no, that’s not the same. No thank you

It continued for a while until I just stopped responding and he continued offering me inflated prices. It’s important to note that none of these drivers are registered or licensed in any way so there is no way they need to charge more. They’re just trying it on. I feel bad really as I know they’re also in need of the work and the money. The daft thing is, they’d get endless jobs and more fares if they offered a fair price in the first place. If they’d offered me £10 right off the bat, outside the harbour, I’d have probably gone for it to save myself the traipse up the road and hassle!

Anyway, the nice Grab driver, who waited at the pick up point, jumped out the car once he saw me making my way over, rushed over, took some of my bags and stopped the traffic so I could cross was lovely. It’s possible he’d taken one look at me and realised there was a high likelihood I would keel over before I reached him so he was protecting his fare more than looking out for my actual well being! He also used the Grab app so knew exactly where my hotel was and dropped me to the door without any drama! My hotel is one I only booked a few days ago after I changed my plans slightly and was a last minute deal …. And what a little bargain it was! There’s a mermaid queen with a boy slave statue to welcome me, which I think is excellent and in keeping with they way I think the world should go. Then it’s not so much a room as my own little villa in the garden grounds. I’ve got a huge room with a fancy bed and little extra dressing room and apparently by design, not just that they forgot to include it in the big villa, it’s got a private (fortunately) outside garden bathroom. The pool area is a little oasis hidden away and without the noise in the town and there are even stone lady statues constantly weeing into the pool to keep it fresh!

Outside of my little oasis hotel, Kuta itself is a part of Bali that is equivalent to the Costa Del Sol for Brits for the Australians. There’s really not much of original Bali left as they’ve built hotels, chain restaurants and shops everywhere. However, the beach is a massive stretch of sand where all the surfers gather on the horizon ready for the waves, which are pretty reliable on this side of the island. I did venture down there towards sunset to sit and watch it all for a while - and watch the hundreds of tourists up and down the sand while being offered a number of goods for sale. Things I was given the option to buy included: a range of local food, ice cream, a bracelet, ‘bloody cold beer’, a foot massage, a new tattoo, a bow and arrow set and a puppy. It’s ok though as the man with the puppy assured me he could also sell me a special certificate for customs so there would be no problems getting the puppy back to England without any bother! I think I shall call him ‘Bali’.

I’ve passed my final days here with much of the same, time at the pool enjoying the odd mango smoothie and appreciating the efforts of the housekeeping towel art in my room. Out and about, the over-touristing of this area was in evidence with ‘beer busses’ of drunk Aussies being driven around with varying pumping music and a total lack of class. What used to be the gateway to the beach has been included into the main tourist drag and is now surrounded by the road and traffic and and destruction of most of the beauty. What used to be a beachfront walkway has been totally encases and lined on both sides with the local ‘bars’ and seating that’s it’s difficult to see beyond. The surfers out on the break are nevertheless incredible to watch and are a fair mix of tourists and locals - mostly offering surf lessons to tourists in amongst also enjoying the waves! By the time you’ve seen the impact of unregulated tourism and development on this part of Bali, you can understand a little better why there have been protests in parts of Spain and Europe against mass tourism and its impact. What the Australians have done here is probably similar, or not as bad, as what some of the irresponsible Brits, are doing to parts of Spain! There are nice places in Kuta, they’re just well hidden and drowning a little in amongst the mass tourism and what seems to be total reliance and desperation for money in whatever way they can get it from the locals.

Mostly I’ve stayed by the pool and fairly close by for getting food and supplies. I did also treat myself to a deep conditioning treatment for my hair in the local salon. The lady has promised me that it will not only re-condition my hair but will actually totally fix my split ends! I have to presume that in addition to various chemicals and whatever oils are in the treatment, there must also be some actual magic in there. Or possibly, more worryingly, glue! Once it was massaged in then washed back out, I was treated to what they called a ‘two girl blow’ to finish it off!! I’ve included a photo so you can appreciate how terribly beautiful my hair is now!

So tomorrow, on the final day of my Indonesian tourist visa and after 30 days here, I will commence my mega journey home, flying first on a domestic flight to Jakarta and then after a few hours switching terminals and hanging around the airport, long haul with 18 hours of flying back to London. See you all again soon!