Shadowing Practice: INDONESIA 🇮🇩 What you NEED to know before you go - Learn English Speaking with Video
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We just spent two weeks traveling around Indonesia, and in this video we're going to tell you all the things we wish we knew before we traveled there.
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Unbelievable, yes, it's worth the hike.
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We're going to break down the costs of transport, accommodation and activities, and give you loads of tips and advice for the different places that we visited.
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Doing this when it's busy will be a nightmare because it's pretty single file.
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Now, both Luke and I had been to Indonesia before, but we only visited Bali and Gili T, and so this trip focused on going to mostly new places for us.
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Lombok.
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Yeah.
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You're sick.
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So, our route began with one day in Jakarta, and then we flew to Milan and had a few days travelling around East Java.
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This is our lodge right here.
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And this is the view.
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That's unbelievable.
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We then just had one night in Bali before making our
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way towards Gili T to have a couple of nostalgic nights there.
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This is really cool actually being back.
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From here we spent four days traveling around Lombok on bikes
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and then we flew to Laobo and Bajo to do a two day one night boat trip around Komodo National Park.
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That was genuinely one of the best things I've ever seen.
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Normally when I do like a travel tips video I kind of break it down by like money
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and accommodation and transport and other things like that
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but for this one we're going to break it down by location because it's like different advice for different parts of Indonesia.
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We started in Jakarta and we're not going to have much advice for Jakarta at all
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because Because we had one full day there
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and we were there on a Monday and on Mondays everything in Jakarta is shut.
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So the first tip is don't go to Jakarta on a Monday.
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I think we might have picked the worst day of the week to come to Jakarta.
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It was the most random, random day in Jakarta.
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Yeah.
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We stayed at Wunderloft Hostel in the old town of Jakarta.
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The guys in the hostel were amazing.
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And the hostel itself was kind of a perfect little setting for us to catch up as well.
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Because it had the little bar downstairs, the pool table.
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Jakarta is obviously a huge city
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and we were trying to use the buses to get around
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and at the hostel they lent us like one of those travel cards, be like an oyster card and we just topped it up ourselves
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so that was pretty easy but other than that yeah just just just don't go on a Monday.
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Moving over to East Java we were gonna get the train to Malang, overnight train but it sold out months in advance
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because of the holidays that were on which is why we flew to Malang.
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Now lots Lots of other people when they go into East Java fly to Surabaya, use the airport there, but it's like Malang and Surabaya like the same distance to Bromo,
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same time and because we had our sort of mines fixed to Malang that's why we went through there.
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And I think Malang is actually a town worth checking out.
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An earlier version of the itinerary we're going to have a bit of time there to see it, but then we only had two weeks and there was
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so much to see so I was just like sorry
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that one had to go yeah from getting from malang airport
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to our accommodation in bromo the guy who worked at the
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accommodation just whatsapp me saying do you need a transport
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and we just booked it straight through him and
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that cost us 850 000 rupee which works out 35 quid
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or 47 us dollars which
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when you divide it by the two of us was pretty cheap
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and a lot of the places in east java
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if you're traveling it solo the cost will mount up for the transport
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but because we had the two of us like it made it all still very cheap
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and not still not extortionate money 35 quid for a three
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-hour drive you know as a you know a bargain that's
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that's an uber that's an uber central london yeah exactly yeah
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so um we did meet a few people uh in java didn't really who were traveling on their own
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and they were asking us you know do you know anyone going here
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because it's actually fighting my budget a lot yeah you pay taxes on my own
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and obviously in east java it's pretty much the only way to get around.
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But what a lot of people do East Java is they'll just do it on like a mini group tour.
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They'll book like a three or four day thing.
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There might be like solo backpacking around Bali or whatever
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or doing like a Southeast Asia solo backpacking trip
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or even with friends or whatever
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but then just to get East Java sword they'll just book a tour just to make it simple.
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I'll put a link up to one of those tours here in case anyone wants to book that.
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It's very it's so easy to do by yourself you definitely do not need a tour but
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if you just want someone to take care of all the
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transport probably bring down some of the costs in terms of transport
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and also if you want just people to share the experience with it can be worth looking at
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because there wasn't much of a scene in East Java like there was a couple of hostels here
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and there but there was it wasn't like lots of people hanging out
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and stuff so it's worth looking at
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if you want to have like guarantee people to share the experience with
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but in terms of money and ease it's so easy to do by yourself.
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Yeah, obviously it's a lot quieter
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but it still is the same as going pretty much anywhere in Southeast Asia where you get to the hostel.
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and they will ask you, you know, have you got on with travel?
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Have you booked somewhere next?
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And they'll know somebody who can take you.
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So it doesn't feel like you're quite in the midst of the backpacking.
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So even the actual side of people helping you out and organizing things can be exactly the same.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Speaking of having people to share the experience with, obviously Luke and I were having such a great time together on this trip, but there were certain moments where we were really missing our better halves.
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Jamie, Holly, we wish you were here.
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Fortunately, it was super easy to keep in touch with them
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because we'd signed up to a holoflight plan Which wouldn't you know just
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so happens to be the sponsor of this week's video
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So on this trip I did in March I spent two
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weeks in Japan with Jamie two weeks in Indonesia with Luke
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And then I had a stop off in Singapore on the way home
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and even had a few hours in Beijing Airport on my flight back
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And rather than signing up for a different eSIM for each
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country I went to I signed up to a holoflight plan
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which gave me one eSIM that were to cross 160 plus destinations.
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This made my life so much easier especially
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when traveling from one country to another with different people that I had to be in touch with.
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It just gave me peace of mind knowing that I was connected all of the time.
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The Holoflide plan is a monthly subscription that renews every 30 days and can be cancelled at any time.
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They have the Lite plan which gives you 25 gigabytes of data a month
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or the Unlimited plan which gives you unlimited data and unlimited hotspot.
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And my normal phone number stays the same for calls and for WhatsApp whilst I'm using Holofly for data.
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Installing it was super easy.
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I just downloaded the Holofly app, picked the plan I want and then followed the installation instructions.
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Another great feature they have is Always On which is one gigabyte of backup data that comes with every Holofly eSIM.
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What that means is even if your plan comes to an end, as long as you keep the eSIM installed on your phone,
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you will continue to get one gigabyte for free every month as emergency data which is pretty sweet.
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So if you click the link link in the description and use the promo code KarlWatsonDogs.
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That'll get you 10 % off Holofly plans and 5 % off all other Holofly eSims.
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And now let's head back to Mount Bromo for some more Indonesia travel tips.
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Where we stayed at in Bromo there's like a little village right by the crater of the volcano
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and we stayed at Kayo Homestay
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and this place like you know it's a basic room just beds
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and a like trickle for a shower but it's all you need
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because you're not really spending much time in the room anyway
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you're kind of arriving enjoying being outside in the evening
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and then you're up in the crack of dawn to go see the sunrise
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but it was as we showed in the film it was
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right by the edge you just walked literally 30 seconds from your room and you've got the viewpoint right there.
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Yeah we didn't touch the room as soon as we put our stop in the room we were straight out
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and we stayed there until we went to bed.
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Yeah that's exactly what you need.
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Yeah and like the little village had everything from like they were selling like warm clothes
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and drinks and had an ATM so if you'd forgotten anything
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if you mostly packed clothes for warm weather for Indonesia
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and then you suddenly higher up
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because it's about 2 ,000 meters up I think then you can quickly grab some extra layers
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but it wasn't
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that cold like I'd I'd read stuff online about it being like people been freezing cold
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and so I packed all these like thick layers
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and I didn't need any of them like it was you
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know I was quite nervous I was quite nervous for that
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because I had not prepared any cold and I'm not very good with it.
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But no issue, absolutely fine.
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That up there behind the trees is where we're hiking.
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Yeah.
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That's King Kong Hill up there.
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It doesn't look that hard, to be honest.
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I would say about that hike, if you're doing it, I wouldn't do it by yourself.
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There's a potential you could lose the path in the pitch black, potentially fall off something and potentially roll your ankle
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and you're not going to get any help for a good couple of hours until the sun comes up
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and people can see you.
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You know, it's only a 45 minute hike, but I would only do it if you're traveling with someone else.
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Yeah, because we did actually get lost.
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Yeah.
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About halfway through doing we.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Because it really, really didn't look like a path.
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Because it starts out very clear, you're following a road, and then you're following some steps in a path, and then you get to a place, and then suddenly you're just following this tiny little, like, it's about literally this wide kind of thing.
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Yeah, on the left it was trees, and then on the right it was just that massive pipe.
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I don't know if you remember.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So it was very confusing, but...
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Hey, you saw we got that?
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Yeah, yeah.
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Let's stand out alright.
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Good hold.
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We made it, let's go.
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The bikes can take you straight to the top.
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You don't need to do the hike.
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We just chose to do it.
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And in terms of booking the bikes and the Jeeps, it was just when you get to the Bromo Park entrance in your transfer, like the day before, and you're paying the entrance,
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there's already guys coming up to the window saying, do you need a Jeep?
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Do you need a bike?
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So it's like, if you get to Bromo and can't book a Jeep or a bike, you've done something very, very wrong
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because it's you're in i think you're in the wrong place yeah yeah you're not in bromo
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as we said in the video as well like bikes would be it is so much better than jeeps in every way.
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It made our day so much quicker.
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Yeah.
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And that traffic coming down was pretty horrific, actually.
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And then the rest of it, the little stroll up to the volcano was fine.
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It was a lot more impressive than we thought.
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But then walking back across the Sea of Sands, I really enjoyed, actually.
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Yeah, that was great.
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I really liked that.
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It was only like a half hour walk or something, so it's not like anything strenuous, but just felt like you kind of got to experience the land a little more rather than just, you know, sit on the back of the bike all the way.
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The worst part was actually that road at the end.
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Yeah.
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Like the last 10 minutes.
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Yeah, yeah, because you've got to get that final bit out.
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It's quite steep and there's lots of horses going past, so it stinks.
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And it's like the jeeps zooming past.
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Yeah, so that wasn't pleasant.
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After Brahma, we went round to Tumpak Sewu.
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It's weird because I was trying to look up, like Tumpak Sewu was the name of the waterfall, but I was trying to look up the name of the little village we're in.
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I just couldn't find it like it was around like on the sides
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but i can't remember it but even looking on google maps
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or look at the address of the place we were staying
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it kind of said what kind of county it's in
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or whatever but it was no like like this village is called an obvious thing like that
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but again the transport we booked it from our bromo accommodation
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it was just the same guide it was the same price
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so again anywhere you go if you need transport you speak to reception
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and they're just like get it sorted for you
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and then the place we stayed at was Indar Damae Cottages
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which was 24 pounds or 33 dollars
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and again that's between the two of us he split
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that in two and that was lovely
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that was a really really really nice place I reckon if
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that wasn't Bali they'd be charged about four times the amount
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because it's very kind of Instagram friendly very picturesque
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that afternoon we went to see Kabat Palangi Falls
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which was just like a 20 minute walk from our place
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there are lots of other waterfalls in the area as well like
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if we were doing a more leisurely pace on this trip
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it would have been great to stay there another night
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and then just go and see
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because Tumpaxebo is the famous one everyone goes to see
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but it would have been fun to go for like a random explore
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and just see what else was in the area
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but Tumpaxebo itself it cost a hundred thousand rupees to get in
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which is like four quid or six dollars and the waterfalls itself spectacular
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but getting down to it is like these super steep steps
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yeah it's you got it's one of those you've got to kind of look down
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or up most of the way yeah just to make sure where you've got your foot in right yeah yeah
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and obviously because it's next to a waterfall slash river it is very snippy like most of the way
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so moving on to eijin so it was a seven hour transfer from Tumpak Seyo,
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again just booked through our accommodation.
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That cost us 1300 rupees which is like 53 quid, 73 dollars but again divide that by two because there's two of us.
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Everything there is super easy.
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We were staying at it's it's it's ZZZ EGIM hostel it's like the sleeping hostel which is ironic
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I don't know if anyone actually sleeps there it's more like luggage storage with a bed.
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Yeah, a lovely hostel.
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No dispatched hostel was made.
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People working there were really nice and stuff.
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And yeah, you can just book the whole volcano experience through them.
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So it was like all super reaching, super simple.
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Why the fuck are we doing this?
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Honestly, I can't stress enough how miserable this man was before that high.
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It was hilarious, but also not because I was also a part of this.
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We didn't do ourselves any favors because we did like we were tired
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and then we had Pizza Hut and beer Which is not exactly energy inducing kind of a...
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What we're saying in the video is like the blue flame It's funny
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when I've shown the video to people they see the blue flame they go like oh, that's really cool I'm like It's it's fine, but it's like if you've been on like when you were younger
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when you're like a sort of lads holiday somewhere in Europe
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and they kind of pour like Sambuco over the bar
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and light it on flame it just looks yeah
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that like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean it's a cool experience I'm glad we did it
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and the view for the Sunrise is great but
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if you can find a company
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that just takes you up there to do for the Sunrise
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so you can get you get a bit of sleep I would try
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and seek that out but i don't know if those companies exist i think everyone just says i'm not sure
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going down when it was really dark all of it was wrong there was no steps
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or anything like that you're just constantly looking down you can't see anything yeah
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and some people even miss the sunrise because they stayed down there too long
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or couldn't see the flame because It's only like at sunrise where you suddenly go like, Oh, that's what we were walking through because you had no idea.
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On the way up here, maybe in five minutes after we started, how many Bintangs did you say that we had in the fridge?
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Four or five?
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Wrong.
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We had three or four.
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Nice.
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I love you, Luke.
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The reason why I snuck that Bintang into my bag before the hike as well is
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because I knew that that would lift you.
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It did?
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Oh, you know me so well.
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Oh mate, you're welcome mate.
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Oh, I'm so glad you did.
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Oh, it's good though.
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It's always good mate.
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No, but like really good.
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After all that pain, not even physical pain, just pain of being tired and just like why?
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So no, I felt good.
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And then moving on to Bali, because we were on such a tight schedule, I was like, I don't want us to get to the pier
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and the ferry be sold out we have to wait around
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so I pre booked our ferry tickets on a website called 12 go Asia
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which I've used a lot before they're great for using like booking buses
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and things like that around Southeast Asia but we got there
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and we're getting out the ferry and I showed the guy the booking
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and went well that's your booking confirmation it's not your actual tickets
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and also get the tickets you have to text this number
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and then they'll authorize the tickets so I WhatsApp this number
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and they just never replied and
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so we ended up just buying new tickets Now the tickets cost like a dollar
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so it's like not like it wasn't a problem
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But I'd only just booked them just like to guarantee our spot
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But it it turned out
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because it was a day after the holidays like everyone was traveling across So rather just being one ferry an hour.
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There was just a constant They were just like just the next one you just get on
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and there's this whole fleet going.
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Yeah It's a bit of an armada wasn't it?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and it just it's supposed to be a half -hour journey
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But it took us an hour and a half just
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because we were waiting in a queue to actually get to the dock
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and stuff like that But it all worked out
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and then jumped in a taxi to that hotel and we were staying at the
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Tamansari Bali Resort and Spa in Pemmuteran Beach and
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that cost us between us was 82 pounds or $111
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Which was a reduced rate because it was just before the main season started
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So we did get a deal that way but like
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that place was spectacular I mean even
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if you paid the full rate it's still a bargain to other places in the world for a hotel
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that nice in that kind of setting.
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That was an evening that gave us everything we needed in a sense of just chilling out.
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Even when the weather's just up we just still sat in that hut and had a few drinks.
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Yeah.
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It was great because we were so exhausted from the first few days of the trip, especially the last night of climbing the volcano.
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It was just a nice time to wind down, relax.
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And then I remember we got back to our rooms.
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We had like separate rooms.
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I know what's coming.
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Yeah.
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I know what's coming.
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I mean, I think I might have, I can't remember if I'd fallen asleep or not, but I went out to the balcony and I just saw Luke, and obviously just lay down on the couch on his balcony,
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he was just passed out like dead to the world.
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He had to have flies.
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Yeah.
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He had to have flies, mouth wide open, bin tagged next to me.
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Yeah, sleep had finally caught up with us and just those beds were comfy so that was...
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Well, I actually didn't enjoy the bed to my maximum potential because I just sat on the balcony half the night.
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Oh yeah.
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Yeah.
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You just paid for one room and you could have just slept on the balcony.
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And then we're moving on to Gilly Tea.
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So the transfer was 900 ,000 rupees, so 37 pounds, 50 dollars.
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And again, that was like four or five hour drive.
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The ferry was 300 ,000 rupees.
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So again, 12 quid, 17 dollars.
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So not much and yeah yeah go sit upstairs
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when you're on it like you know get the amount of I can't can't sex it up
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that was all you to be fair because you're the one
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that realised that there was a deck up there I saw the seats upstairs
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and saw no one was there because we got on
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and all the seats inside were full and so we went up there
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and had our own we started out a private party
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and then gradually people came up
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and then they were serving beers up there they had like I put They had the big old speaker.
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It was great.
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Yeah, that did really turn into the Gilly Free game, didn't it?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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That whole trip.
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Gilly Tea!
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We were staying at the Tipsy Turtle Hostel.
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For the twin room, it was 25 quid a night or $34.
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Great hostel.
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Really good hostel.
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Location's not too far off the main street.
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One thing I would say for Gilly Tea, a general bit of advice, is that some of the hostels are a bit further away
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and like you can easily hire out bicycles or scooters
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because the islands you think the islands tiny
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but it's deceptively a bit bigger than you think and
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if your hostel is a bit further away
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but you want to be able to quickly nip to the beach
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or to the shops then it might be worth getting a bike for your days
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and then i'm sure they're dirt cheap i didn't see the prices
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but nice one yeah we went a bit hard yeah and that was that was
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well it's the only night we actually really got drunk like we had plenty of beers on this trip
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but the only time we really got drunk was
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that big kind of gilly tea that was the only time that we He woke up quite dusty.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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There's no other tips or advice for ghillie tea.
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You just go there and have a good time.
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Then you'll figure it all out.
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It's not like...
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Yeah, and if you don't have a good time in ghillie tea, then...
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Then go to one of the other ghillies.
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Go to Gillie Air.
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Yeah.
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The boat across the Lombok was 150 ,000 rupees, which is like six quid or eight dollars.
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We booked it a day before, but you can probably just buy it on the day and just walk onto these things.
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Even though it was busy, there's so many of them going.
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And then we got to Ryan's motorbike rental.
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I literally just zoomed into Google Maps just looking up bike rental and this one came up.
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And then I saw the reviews of it and they're all fantastic.
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And they were correct.
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The guy was, Ryan was so good.
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The bikes were great.
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I could store my big bag there for the few days and stuff like that.
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Yeah, that was your main worry, wasn't it?
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Because you didn't know for a fact before we got there whether you could store your big bag or not.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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As soon as we got there, he was like, yeah, leave it here.
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Yeah, because he was about to tie it onto the back of my bike and sort of be riding around with that, which would have made it gone even slower.
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Imagine you going up that mountain pass.
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I don't know if I would have made another mountain pass with that bag on.
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Not a chance.
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Yeah.
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And I would say for Lombok in general, a scooter is 100 % the best way to get around because, again, you can book transports,
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but I think they might have been more pricey than they were in Java
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because I remember when we're at the Tedibatu bungalow
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and the German girl who was on the did the tour with us she was traveling by herself
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and she was booking transports and she was trying to see
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if anyone else was going the same direction as her to
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sort of save money on these long drives whilst for us riding the scooters was just it was
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so cheap I mean the bikes were 100 000 rupees per day
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so that's four pounds or six dollars per day for the bike
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and then petrol was fifteen thousand rupees for one bottle
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which is less than a dollar and you might take two bottles to fill up
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but it's just it's so cheap like ignoring how fun it is
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and all all the rest of it it's just so
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so cheap um i don't think we ever stopped twice for
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fuel on the journey yeah i don't think every single time
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one refill yeah just usually one refill per day yeah
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and it was i mean it was so much fun driving
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and didn't feel even the places where it was busier didn't
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feel like unsafe like it wasn't like i remember some of the stretches i did in vietnam on a scooter
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and like this like giant lorries coming past and all that
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and you like feels a bit sketchy
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but lombok just felt fine yeah we had a couple of
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like busier traffic areas again nothing yeah busy you're going
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so slow you're almost just like pushing the bike through the crowds
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so it sort of you know takes a bit to navigate
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but it didn't feel didn't feel dangerous
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or anything no i think out of a whole like four days in lombok
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that was maybe 10 minutes yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah the rest of time is pretty pretty empty
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and stuff so if you've got a driving license um i mean
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if you're going from gilly t to lombok
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and you're not used to riding a scooter
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and maybe hire out a scooter in Gilly T just to get used to it.
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So you're just going up and down the beach
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and just get used to handling it and then by the time you get to Lombok you'll be good to go.
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Yeah, to be fair you'll probably get better practice in Gilly.
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Yeah.
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Because you've got horses coming both ways as well.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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And drunk backpackers. So...
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Which is more dangerous than that.
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If you can do it and you feel comfortable doing it, it's the best way to get around otherwise you're gonna be you know paying for transfers
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which again if there's a group of you it's fine but
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if it's your solo hey Rosie you got any input for this bit from riding scooters
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anyway
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so first night we got down to Cuda Beach we were
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staying at lost in Cuda capsule hostel The dorm room was 11 quid or 15 dollars.
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The private room was 19 quid or 26 dollars.
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It wasn't right on the beach.
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It was like a few minute drive from it.
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So again, if you've got a scooter, it's fine.
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It seemed like a really nice place again because we were on such a tight schedule.
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Like a lot of these places in the evenings, we weren't there to hang around and like so.
434
We didn't get to see what the vibe was like at this place because we checked in, hung out for a little bit, then just went to the beach and went for the sunset
435
and food and then came back and slept
436
so yeah it was the type of hostel that
437
if you were there with a big group of mates you
438
wouldn't leave yeah yeah yeah the beach we went to was tajung on beach
439
and uh the hill right beside it's called marisa hill
440
and the beach speech was nice
441
and then lots of stuff going on there um i did have it's
442
so funny i had someone comment on the video like going
443
like oh my god you're drinking beers all the time i could tell this person was not from Indonesia
444
because they were like and the fact you can round beers
445
and Lombok where it's like majority Muslim
446
so disrespectful you could see how uncomfortable everyone was around you like maybe a body can do
447
that but not in Lombok and I'm like I didn't bother applying
448
but it's like if you were there at
449
that beach you would have seen that every single hut
450
and every single food store we walk past low at sunset every single one of them was selling beer
451
If you want more beers we know where they are The fact we stood there at sunset
452
And drank two light beers
453
No one gave a shit Everyone was just saying We were
454
chatting to people This guy next to me had the same
455
drone as me We were just chatting away about shots and stuff like that So there's this whole perception That people
456
Oh it's Muslim therefore they hate alcohol We were in Pakistan
457
Where alcohol is illegal for Muslims And off camera All the Muslims were asking us
458
if they could have one of our beers you know
459
so um they were shot in whiskey yeah yeah yeah yeah
460
they were like this is what i've brewed in my basement you know
461
so yeah i just saw i just thought i'd bring
462
that one up because it's so funny um people people get it's like this recreational
463
outrage where they get offended on behalf of someone else
464
and it's like well actually
465
if you were there no one gave a other people were drinking beers everywhere i was selling them
466
And we were good that night, we only bought one beer.
467
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
468
We weren't, again, sort of, I think people see you with a beer in their hand and immediately think you're getting drunk.
469
It's like, no, we're just having a beer at sunset.
470
We're not, you know, if we're there with a bottle of tequila and doing shots and all that kind of stuff, then yeah, maybe calm it down.
471
That was just off camera.
472
Yeah, that was off camera.
473
Oh, that'll get them going.
474
See?
475
So then we moved on to Tetibatu, where there's a whole bunch of waterfalls and monkey forests and stuff.
476
Oh, look at this.
477
I just want to hang out here all afternoon.
478
This will do.
479
Okay.
480
Enjoy your stay, huh?
481
Thank you.
482
Thank you, man.
483
We hadn't planned to do any kind of walking tour there.
484
The guy running the hostel offered it, and I'd heard good reviews about the one in our hostel.
485
It ended up being an absolute highlight.
486
Absolute highlight of the trip.
487
100 % agree.
488
Yeah.
489
Juicy was the guy who works at the hostel was amazing.
490
It didn't feel like you had a tour, it felt like we had a local friend just showing us around.
491
The stuff we got to experience today we would never have experienced if we did it by ourselves.
492
That just exceeded every single expectation of the night we had.
493
Yeah, and it's weird the place is technically not a hostel because it only does private rooms.
494
It felt like a hostel, there was other backpackers there and stuff.
495
Yeah, and then again all the locals turned up that night to play pool
496
and that was again that was a bit of an underrated highlight which is hard to get on camera obviously
497
but we were there for hours yeah we were just chatting away with the locals
498
and hanging out and having a good time
499
and um they'll put music on and stuff like that
500
so it felt like it felt like a local experience even though we're technically at a hostel -ish in place
501
but um but that was great
502
and then we moved on to senaru
503
and this is where we treated ourselves to a nicer hotel
504
and it was It's funny because I was just looking up like, I think it might have been when we were in Gilly Tea and just having some children.
505
I think it was on the way to Gilly, like in the car, if I remember rightly.
506
That was it, yeah.
507
So one of the long car journeys, I was just kind of looking up like, because at this point we knew we were going to have four days in Lombok, but we didn't really know what we were going to see.
508
I was like, oh, we should probably start figuring out some ideas.
509
And then I was just Googling some of the main places to go.
510
Then I saw a little guide to Senaru, someone had written a blog like, oh, this is the waterfall, this is what you want to see.
511
And they said, oh, a nice place to stay if you want to treat yourself is Rinjani Lodge.
512
And I saw pictures of it, and I was like, oh, God, that looks amazing.
513
That would be so cool.
514
I was like, well, I'm just going to click on booking .com just to see.
515
It's probably going to be like a few hundred pounds, and it's like, no, we'll just find a hostel.
516
But when it was 79 pounds between the two of us,
517
I was like, oh, we're getting this like this would just be our treat in the trip
518
and again not breaking the bank at all
519
everywhere we went on this trip the food was tasty the
520
only bad meal i think we had was the breakfast at the front yeah
521
and it was such a shame because the dinner was
522
so nice dinner was phenomenal yeah yeah yeah and then we had like what tasteless, hard bread.
523
Yeah.
524
Do you remember that?
525
I think they served like two baked beans in that little bowl.
526
Do you remember?
527
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
528
Not exaggeration.
529
It was two baked beans in a little pot.
530
And then like some cold scrambled eggs and stuff like that.
531
We're hiking down to the waterfalls.
532
It's funny.
533
I've had someone comment in the video saying they made the exact same mistake at the waterfalls.
534
Like when we went the wrong way up the river.
535
So it was still not as stupid as we thought because he did say follow the river.
536
I realized afterwards the reason we made a mistake is because
537
when you're walking down the steps and you're nearly at the first waterfall,
538
the path to the second one kind of goes off that way but there's no signpost saying the waterfall that way.
539
So when you're walking down you don't notice
540
that back sort of back you almost go back on yourself as the other path.
541
Yeah.
542
When you go back up, you can clearly see it fork off, but walking the other way, you don't see it at all.
543
Couldn't really be any more obvious, could it?
544
Yeah, oh well.
545
Oh well.
546
We'd been chatting to people at our hotel the day before, and they were talking about how much they had to wade through the river to get to the waterfall.
547
And the guy said follow the river, so we were like, putting all that together, I was like, well, I guess we just follow the river, and we were completely wrong.
548
We were.
549
But, as we said, it was very fun.
550
It was so much fun.
551
It was an adventure.
552
Yeah.
553
One thing I didn't mention in the video is once you get to the other waterfall, you can pay for tubing to come back.
554
I think you have to arrange it beforehand because I didn't see anyone there offering to sell it.
555
We saw some tubes by the side.
556
Yeah.
557
But I looked it up afterwards because we were walking on
558
that path and there's that water going through the bridge underneath us.
559
You actually tube down in that tunnel.
560
That's what you do.
561
So you kind of go on it with a helmet
562
and a torch with a guide and you're kind of going through all that.
563
Which could have been a very claustrophobic but kind of fun experience.
564
So it might be worth checking out if you want something different to do.
565
But we were happy to see.
566
Still dodgy.
567
I know it's a thing but after seeing that.
568
Yeah.
569
How many deaths are they covering up?
570
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
571
And then we just had to hit the road like I
572
talked about the video how we had to drive back Then get the taxi to the airport
573
and then fly to Komodo the airport transfer we booked through Ryan
574
That was three hundred fifty thousand and then the flights both this flight
575
and the other flight early in the trip were about
576
80 pounds
577
or a hundred ten dollars sort of not yeah again not
578
not expensive flights for these journeys We were staying at the siesta Komodo hotel and hostel so I love that place.
579
This place was so good.
580
I mean, it had a mixture of private rooms, hotel rooms and dorm rooms.
581
The private rooms had sold out when we were booking it, so we just got the dorm.
582
And again, it was really nice rooms, really nice beds in the dorms and stuff like that.
583
Privacy curtains and things like that.
584
It was like a top -quality dorm room.
585
And that rooftop bar was just fantastic.
586
Mate, it was just...
587
It was so weird because, like, I'm pretty sure you said it in the video, it was such a big mix of, like, families, locals.
588
Backpackers.
589
Like you sort of pop into the the back like the shared bathroom facilities by the dorms
590
and you still see some of the western backpacker women Like full cakes up.
591
Yeah, getting ready for like a big night out and we're just there in our Bintang seats.
592
We're having a quiet one tonight.
593
We were very uncool.
594
Yeah.
595
But we were, because it was a gorgeous sunset, an amazing view and but we deliberately had a quiet one
596
because we wanted to be fresh for the boat trip and stuff.
597
I did feel quite ill that night as well.
598
You were feeling a bit rough.
599
I was feeling a bit burnt out and you were feeling a bit rough.
600
So we took it a bit easier. But also, because when I was looking at the footage
601
and I was trying to show the bar area and I could see all the backpacks were just there on the phones.
602
And I was like, if we were there a different night, it might have been like, all right, let's try and get everyone off their phones and get something going here.
603
But we're like, no, we'll keep our heads down
604
because we need a quiet one ourselves kind of yeah and
605
that was a great move as well
606
because the next morning we both felt pretty good yeah yeah
607
we felt very fresh next morning to start the boat trip
608
when i was doing research for the komodo boat trip everything i saw was either three days two nights
609
or just a one day trip where you're on like a speed boat just to take you the main stuff
610
and i was like surely there's got to be someone
611
that does a two -day one -night trip because
612
that would fit our schedule perfectly and it took me forever
613
but I eventually found it I do have a link for it
614
which I'll put up that boat trip costs 130 pounds
615
or 176 dollars for the two days which does include your food
616
and all like the entrance fees and all
617
that stuff the boat was great the thing was the bed
618
the bedding situation like i'd sort of tick the box saying yeah twin room
619
and then we got in
620
and it was a giant double bed with another pullout bed for us two
621
and tom so it was like three of us we didn't actually expect tom did we yeah yeah yeah
622
which was a blessing because he was amazing tom was very happy to have us on
623
that boat yeah i mean that's one thing to note about
624
these boat trips even though there's a lot of backpackers in
625
the area there's no like kind of backpacking boat by
626
that I don't necessarily mean budget I just mean like on
627
our we had people from loads of different countries on a boat
628
but like a lot of them were like even older than me you know and then
629
when you sort of start chatting to people at some of the stops from other boats like someone solo backpacking
630
and everyone else in the boats from like Korea or China
631
or whatever and sometimes you'd be the only one speaking English
632
so what are my advice for the Komodo trip but
633
if you're booking it solo is um you might get a great crowd
634
or you might get a crowd that's not what you expect
635
but you might still meet your submission people
636
but also it might just be a bit of quiet time like bring a good book
637
or something for yeah sort of the time in between the great stops
638
because it might not be you know i think for tom
639
if we weren't on
640
that boat he would have just been like you know reading some books by himself
641
or just having a little chat with a couple people
642
but it would have been a bit tame but
643
because there's three of us we had a really good time
644
together we had a great time tom was a very very
645
good addition for those two days yeah yeah um one thing i will add
646
and i don't want to make it all about beer again obviously yeah but on the boat
647
they didn't actually sell anything yeah yeah yeah
648
so they didn't have any beer
649
or soft drinks either they only had water to drink as
650
soon as we got on the boat we realized this
651
and we were not leaving for another half an hour
652
so we asked them
653
and they sent a guy off in a little speedboat in
654
town to get us a a crate of beer also on all the islands we stopped at they sold beer
655
and soft drinks so you could stock up on those
656
so it is possible to get it along the way on
657
the journey like they don't have any rules like you can bring stuff with you
658
so like just either stock up beforehand
659
or stock up a lot at the stops along the way
660
and the other thing i would say is you know it
661
was hard to find a two day one night thing certainly online
662
but I'm sure it'd be easy to find there because there's
663
so many boats going all the time
664
if you're on a tight schedule it's good to book ahead
665
but I think if you're not you could probably just show up
666
and find a boat to get on yeah I think it almost be worth
667
if you were a solo backpacker meeting people at a hostel finding out what's all there
668
and if they've got spots then you can jump on one of their events you make maybe Maybe.
669
By doing the two day, one night thing, I think it was the perfect amount of time.
670
I think if you're doing the one day thing, it'll be too rushed.
671
And also, you're not going to get that sunset with the flying foxes, which is one of the best things we've ever seen.
672
But three days, two nights, which is what a lot of them do, that would have felt too long.
673
Like, if we had to sleep another night on that boat, I would have been like.
674
I couldn't have done another night on that day.
675
Yeah.
676
No way.
677
That was where I slept.
678
Yeah.
679
I think two days is the perfect amount of time it's nice to have the amazing sunset
680
and great couple of days we saw everything we wanted to see
681
and then it didn't feel rough it didn't feel right no no not at all
682
so we have so much time to actually just chill
683
and have some down time yeah yeah it was really really nice
684
and then the Komodo dragon thing itself yeah it does seem crazy
685
when you get there and crazy busy
686
but the tour itself actually ended up being pretty good
687
and we got very very lucky because some people go there
688
and don't see the dragons because they're up in the hills
689
and then most people go there we'll see him
690
but they'll just be lying down and not moving the fact we got them
691
moving and fighting and all
692
that stuff we were very lucky yeah they put on a
693
bit of show for us yeah they knew the camera was there rolling
694
but yeah that
695
that was the end of the trip we got back to the hostel had a nice night there
696
and then we had to fly off
697
but like as I said at the end of the video we squeeze a lot into these two weeks
698
and a lot to go right in terms of the transport
699
and transfers and weather and it all just found the place
700
so Indonesia is very very easy to travel around like there's always ways you can book transfers
701
and transport and things like that like I mean most of Southeast Asia is like
702
that it's like whatever activity you want to do you can
703
book super easy whatever transport you need you can find something um people were ridiculously friendly they're like
704
so so nice like yeah
705
and weren't too pushy it wasn't people like trying to sell your stuff
706
and being annoying it's just everyone was just super friendly
707
so it's a really good sort of place for your first
708
map packing trip as well yeah not necessarily east java but Indonesia as a whole.
709
Yeah, part of the reason lots of people do Southeast Asia when they're young is because it's so cheap, but also there's just such a big scene there and it's very, very easy to travel.
710
And the backpacking scene varies in volume in different parts of Indonesia, but it's still very, very easy to get around.
711
And you're going to see just so many amazing things.
712
Like I said at the end of the video, I was like, oh God, if I'd known it would be this good, it would have come back way sooner because it's just each day we're seeing something mind -blowing, you know?
713
Yeah.
714
Every single day something very unexpected pops up.
715
Even the festival thing.
716
Even the festival?
717
Yeah, like a bit of the trip in the Philippines.
718
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
719
So I think that about wraps this up for our tips and advice for our trip in Indonesia.
720
If you've got any more questions, just leave it in the comments and then
721
and next week on the channel I'm gonna have a a little video about what cameras are using the trip
722
and give me if you want to film your trips What cameras you should use
723
and stuff like that and give you some tips and advice
724
So that'll be out next week
725
and then Mid -September will be my road trip from London to Lake Como in my buddy Adams Aston Martin
726
And I'm just starting to edit that now and the car looks so good So it's that trip, like I said, that trip's a very different budget to Indonesia, which is why it's a lot shorter trip.
727
He couldn't have done this trip with me.
728
No, no, no. Yeah, just like imagine that car you had in New Zealand driving with that.
729
I'd already been sleeping in the back of that as well.
730
Yeah, yeah.
731
No, no, no, no. Cool.
732
All right.
733
Well, thanks for watching, guys, and we'll see you next time.
734
See you soon.
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What You'll Learn
This video helps build practical English speaking practice skills, including describing travel experiences clearly and discussing logistics like costs and transportation. You’ll also learn to convey personal opinions (e.g., "that was genuinely one of the best things I've ever seen")—a key skill for IELTS speaking practice. Additionally, the dialogue models how to structure tips (e.g., "don't go to Jakarta on a Monday"), which is useful for organizing thoughts in casual or formal conversations.
Listen For These Sounds
The speakers use connected speech and reductions common in natural English. Notice how "we're going to" becomes "we're gonna" and "because" shortens to "’cause." Linking is also frequent: "flew to Malang" connects as "flewtoMalang," and "a couple of" sounds like "acoupla." These patterns are essential for understanding fast, conversational English and can be practiced with a shadowing site to mimic real-world listening.
Say It Like a Native
To mirror the speakers’ rhythm, stress key words in tips and opinions. For example, in "don't go to Jakarta on a Monday," stress "don't," "Jakarta," and "Monday" to emphasize the warning. In descriptive phrases like "unbelievable view," stress "unbelievable" to convey excitement. Practice shadow speak by repeating the dialogue aloud, matching the pace and intonation—this helps train your mouth to form natural speech patterns. Focus on pauses between ideas (e.g., after "we then just had one night in Bali") to create a conversational flow, a technique that improves clarity in both casual chats and IELTS speaking practice.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you're doing it, I wouldn't do · if I'd known it would be |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | guy who worked · somebody who can · data which is |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is shut · was connected · can be cancelled |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've ever seen · Have you booked · you've done |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.