Bye, Bali. You're Super

Apologies for lack of posting in the last week, it's passed by in a blur of tending to my trekking wounds, sunning, diving, partying, getting new ailments, a lot of laughing (finding sophie throwing shapes on her own in the street stands out) and generally getting sucked into the island way of life.

The day after the trek was mostly spent hobbling about cursing Sophie and trying to keep the flies away from open wounds. We signed up to do some more diving (having first tried on the fins with our delicate pieds (socks+two sizes bigger)) and enjoyed not having to walk on inclines. We also gave in and ate sandwiches over local cuisine but we had had our fill of fried rice and noodles by then. I'm also really starting to miss marmite.

I love Gili Trawangan. The locals increasingly less so (I do wish they'd stop singing at us) but I still love it and we spent about 5 days chilling out and enjoying our last week. The next diving course was ace too. I won't go on too much as noone likes a diving bore but we did a night dive (amazing - pitch black with only torches. You see lobsters, crabs, hunting octopi, sleeping turtles and phosphorescent stuff. It was very cool indeed) and I did my deep speciality...and finally saw sharks! My lovely instructor promised to find them and he didn't disappoint, we saw about 10 in 5 minutes. Amazing. I didn't get narced but I was extremely trusting 40m below the surface answering every question they asked in the narcosis test...including disclosing my PIN number much to their amusement (i have always hated trick questions!). So a few more ticks in the diving boxes that I now can't use thanks to the mother of all ear infections. It had been a bit pesky for a couple of days but i was taking various pain pills for my broken feet so didn't pay too much attention. I eventually gave in and went to the clinic where the local doctor told me it was the worst infection he'd seen on the island, threw a lot of pills and drops at me and wished me luck. Oh, and made me part with a fair lump of cash. This was the same day I discovered I was missing my debit card, my camera no longer works and we were leaving the island. An excellent last day! We said our goodbyes and prepared to head back to Bali for our last night.

Our transfer back to Kuta seemed to last forever but we met some really nice girls on the bus, all went to the same hostel and then headed out for the night. Kuta is horrendous and tacky but it's also an awful lot of fun! Since surfing was out we spent our last day down in Padang Padang on a beautiful beach watching the pros show us how it's done instead.

My next stop is overnight in Kuala Lumpar before heading to Tioman for a few days to visit my friend Rosie. Unfortunately I won't be able to dive so I'll have to work on my tan ahead of meeting the girls up in Laos.

A few people have had the joy of tracking the progress of my feet over the week (you're welcome) and I'm pleased to report that it may only be the one toenail I lose. Plus my various antibiotics seem to be clearing up the coral cut infection so every cloud and all that. I have a feeling that I'm going to find a post office and send my trekking shoes home. It'll be flip flops for me and my 9 nails for the next few months.

I have absolutely loved Indonesia and will have to come back to see the things we missed. It was sad to say goodbye to Sophie but my 30days are up and it's time to move on to the next chapter of my travels. After I've bought a new camera. Hurrah for barclaycards, hey.

P.s I spent my last remaining rupiah on a Starbucks at the airport. You can take the girl out of London...