LlamaBlog

A couple of weekends ago we went to Southwold in Suffolk, a small town where my Mum lived before the war. Vic and I both went there on holiday when we were kids so it was a return to old haunts in some ways.

We drove down to the Harbour Campsite on the Friday evening, arriving at about 9pm and putting the tent up as the night drew in. We then popped down the road to the Casa Mia bar for some food as we didn’t fancy heating anything up on the gas stove. After a good pizza and a beer (possibly the only drinking establishment in the area that doesn’t have Adnams!) we returned for the tent to sleep.

The next morning we were woken by the sound of rain falling on the tent. Not what we wanted to hear really, but we got up and cooked some bacon for breakfast.

Once we were fed we decided to walk into Southwold along the beach. That proved to be, well, not a mistake, more of a challenge. The wind was howling down the beach, blowing the rain horizontally into us. By the time we got to the beach huts marking the start of the the town, we were drenched, cold and red in the face from the wind. We retired to a coffee shop for a hot drink and to dry out a bit.

Having had a breather we wandered around Southwold, visited a few shops and popped into the Kings Head for lunch by which time the weather had improved, at least to the stage where the rain had stopped even if it was still overcast and a bit windy. We walked back along the edge of the common to the campsite and stopped to take a few photos along the way.

After a bit of time back at the tent reading the paper, we walked down the harbour to the Harbour Inn for some dinner and a couple of pints of Adnams beer. Back at the tent it was going to be a cold night so we wrapped up warm and went to bed.

Sunday was much brighter, though there was still a biting wind. We packed the tent up and went for a walk on the beach before popping into town for some fish and chips.

We then headed back home, having enjoyed the weekend, though better weather would have made it more fun.

We’ve been back for more than a week now.

Singapore was fun in a “how many shopping malls” kind of way. Bought a few bits and pieces; new camera lens, bag, trainers etc.

Vic had an allergic reaction to the anti-malarial antibiotics we were taking, so we had to visit the Raffles Hospital. As with our visits to hospital in Malaysia, the level of service, speed and cost really put the UK health service to shame.

Watched loads of films on the flight back home and stayed awake through the entire twelve and a half hour flight.

Sunday was London Marathon Day so we left town and drove down to Rye in Sussex, and then on to Camber Sands for a walk along the beach.

It was a bit fresh but it was nice to sit by the car and eat fish and chips.

Photos can be found in the usual place on my Flickr photostream.

We decided against going to the Glastonbury Festival this year, after the mudscape that was last years festival. Instead we’re going back to Bestival on the Isle of Wight in September, which we attended in 2006.

We’ve been away for two weeks now and I’ve not been able to update the blog yet. I’ve got a bunch of photos to upload to my Bali and Lombok Flickr set which should appear about the same time as this blog entry.

I’m writing this offline as we’ve been unable to find a decent internet connection. We did get online for half an hour on a shared dial-up connection in an internet cafe on Lombok but that’s been it. I brought the Macbook with me but none of the places we’ve stayed have had WiFi connections easily available.

We flew out from Heathrow around 6pm on 14th March. Fortunately the flight wasn’t delayed by the person running onto the runway that day. Changed at Singapore and flew on to Bali, arriving on the evening of the 15th.

Picked up from the airport by a driver from our hotel, the Bali Niksoma in Legian, which was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. We had a couple of nights in Kuta, picking up a few supplies and enjoying the warmth.

It was then on to the Tegal Sari cottages near Ubud in-land. The cottages were great, two storeys with plenty of lounging space and views over paddy fields. Three nights there, giving us plenty of time to look round Ubud and visit the sacred Monkey Forest there.

Next stop was Candi Dasa, on the East coast for just a single night. Didn’t like Candi Dasa much, there was no beach to speak of, the place we stayed (Kubu Bali) was a bit of a hole and the town seemed pretty empty. Had a couple of good meals at Vincent’s and Toke but I wouldn’t recommend Candi Dasa to anyone.

Early start next day for a short taxi ride to Padang Bai to catch the GiliCat fast boat to Lombok, which is about 35km from Bali. This takes two hours rather than the 4 hours by normal ferry, but costs much more.

We were picked up at Teluk Kode and driven the half-hour journey to Windy Beach Resort at Mengsit where we had a lovely bungalow on the seafront. Stayed there for 6 nights and really relaxed.

We’re currently back on Bali, staying near Tanah Lot.

More when I get a chance….