My birthday weekend!

We flew to Singapore with Air Asia – it's quite easy to find cheap deals to fly there since it is one of the main hubs of East-Asia... We stayed at Fragrance Ruby Hotel in Geylang, the "red light district" - it was actually better than we expected. We met up for dinner with my friend Christos, who lives a few streets away from the hotel. Such a vibrant area, and the street food is amazing! 

We spent the following day visiting the city with the hop on/hop off bus tour. Definitely the best way to visit the city – it was SO hot and humid, we were exhausted!! Our fave spots were Orchard Road, Little India and China Town.

Thanks to Christos, we were able to join an improvised weekend trip to Malaysia which his group of friends had organised. We embarked on a hilarious 6-hour road trip, arrived in the jetty around 11pm and boarded a tiny motor boat to get to Pulau Sibu Island. It was the craziest thing ever - the sea was pitch-black, the sky full of stars and the water was being lit up by the fluorescent plancton as the boat was speeding through the waves... Awesomeness. Absolutely loved it. We arrived on the beach and were welcomed by the lovely Sea Gipsy Village crew. We spent the night on the sand watching the stars...I actually ended up seeing a shooting star a few minutes into my birthday - a bit of a “pinch me I’m dreaming” moment!

I think this was probably the best birthday I've ever had. We went on a snorkeling trip in the morning, they took us out to a tiny beautiful little island and I finally got to see my baby Nemos ;)

We just spent the afternoon lying on the beach, enjoying the sun and the lovely warm water, it was simply perfect for swimming!

We stayed at the bar all night, met a group of Irish girls who told us to swim all the way to a little fishing boat out in the sea to see the fluorescent plancton. We stripped off and swam out to the boat, spent about an hour in the darkness, truly magical! I was brave enough to wake up around 5.30 the next morning to watch the sunrise...

It was pouring with rain the next day so we weren't able to do much...Drove back to Singapore and went to the Gardens by the Bay by night with Christos. We then went up to the Ku De Ta bar on the last floor of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Kati has all the photos so unfortunately I can't put any up yet! 

I must mention the amazing 7/11 mashed potato I tasted at 2am. Thanks for the tip Christos!

Thanks to my wonderful Gambita for such a lovely, amazing and unforgettable girly trip...Can't wait for the next one!!!!!!!!!! 

Gambitas in Bali and Gili!

Kati and I stayed in a nice hotel for our first few nights, allowing us to relax and catch up - we had a LOT to talk about, since we hadn't seen each other for over a year and a half! We stayed at The Royal Eighteen Resort and Spa, very central, modern and convenient. 

We then went to Ubud, where we had booked a little apartment in Pengosekan Guesthouse. A 20-minute walk from the centre of Ubud, but easily accessible. Geckos everywhere though, which Kati didn't enjoy too much :P We went on the "Volcano Tour", organised by the tourism information centre. I really recommend this tour, you get so much done in one day!!

- Goa Gaja 

- Gunug Kawi Rocky Temple

- Tirta Empul Holy Spring temple

- Coffee plantation with the most expensive coffee in the world!

- Mount Batur

- Pura Ulun Danu Batur (second biggest temple in Bali) with the traditional celebrations

- Rice paddies

- Monkey Forest

- Tropical View Café

We then met with Doro who had just got back from the Gili Islands and was about to be reunited with her boyfriend Julien (check out Villa Kishi Kishi if you’re on a romantic vacation!). We stayed at the Puri Oka Hotel in Candidasa (300,000 IDR/night). The beaches there aren’t great but the sunset was stunning.

We woke up super early the next day for the pickup we had arranged to take us to Padang Bai to catch the ferry for the Gili Islands - we ended up having to take a taxi to the harbour, it was quite a big mess up. We had booked everything in Kuta to negotiate a group price for Angel/Doro/Kati and I; obviously the tour agent had not transmitted the information properly…No comment, they were not very reliable...I don't remember the name of the company though :s

We arrived in Gili Trawangan around lunchtime, where we had booked a few nights at the Trawangan Dive Centre – awesome place, apart from the prayers blasting out from the Mosque's loudspeaker every hour…Not cool! I would advise people to book their accommodation very early if they’re planning to go Gili during the high season; otherwise it can be very difficult to find a cheap place to stay there. We spent the first day just walking around the island. So funny seeing the horse-drawn carriages everywhere; and the beaches are gorgeous, it really is a little paradise. 

We went for a group snorkeling tour on Day 2 – they took us to three sites around Gili Meno and Gili Air, but I must say I was quite disappointed by the coral there (it obviously couldn't compare to the Great Barrier Reef!) Doro and Angel had told us that there had been lots of jellyfish – we were lucky that day, I think the current was probably not as strong. 

We rented a kayak for a few hours and crossed over from Trawangan to Meno on Day 2. We had also rented some snorkeling equipment but it was absolute rubbish – FYI on the island the diving centres can’t rent out any snorkeling equipment to tourists – the locals have the monopoly. We went to the South of the island to watch the sunset at Sunset Paradise Bar, followed by the Egoiste restaurant for dinner – the manager is French and the food is excellent!

We went straight to Sanur after the Gili Islands – stayed at Touring Sanur this time. We went on a cycling tour with a great bunch of people, which was also one of the highlights of my holiday. We rode through the countryside with a local guide, who explained the Balinese traditions and way of life. We also visited a family compound. A real eye-opener!

We then spent a night in Nusa Dua, which was a complete waste of time. We had read that it was a high-class destination with top luxury resorts in the South of the island, and really wanted to check it out. We decided to go have a nice meal at the beach for our last night in Bali – we walked for ages trying to find somewhere to eat but there was NOTHING apart from hotels surrounded by ugly construction sites. The beach wasn’t even that nice. Very disappointing. Don’t go there!!!