kogatravel

Katja and Arne's travel stories


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10 best experiences in Indonesia

As we’re closing in our departure from Indonesia it may be a right time for wrapping up our “Top 10 Indonesian experiences”. The list is not rated.

Manta rays
One of the last things we did was snorkel and see Manta rays. The experience was amazing, and was spiced up with the fact that we found Lillian from Norway giving lectures about aquatic wildlife and Mantas in particular.

Manta ray feeding

Manta ray feeding

Rinjani
Our climb on Mt. Rinjani was tough, cold, rewarding and straight out awesome. We learned about ourselves and our limits answer enjoyed a sunrise from above 3700 meters.

Rinjani Summit 3726 meters

Rinjani Summit 3726 meters

Rice filed trekking
The color green has been given a new meaning to us after our day in the rice fields. The sunlight through the rice plants were among out absolute favorites here. The fact that we ended up in an empty field by the guidance of an Australian guy, out from the house in “Eat, Pray, Love” made it just a touch more spectacular.

Rice fields north of Ubud

Rice fields north of Ubud

Cooking class
The day we spent cooking and doing it at a farm with handpicked veggies was great. The whole experience was fun and educational. That we spent it with just one other guest also adds to it.

Choppedei chop

Choppedei chop

Yoga achievement

We’ve been writing a lot about yoga in our time in Ubud. And our achievements there are highlights. Acro yoga with our new found fun, and the poses we make in the ordinary yoga.

Impossible-to-me Asana

Impossible-to-me Asana

Food
We have been
Into a lot of local warungs and tried their cuisine. This has been a cool your of Indonesia as we have met the locals outside the touristic areas. Some of our best meals have been had here. But it is also worth mentioning La Ramona and our great eating experience there.

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Coffee
Four years ago we asked ourselves, in Bali, wether we were addicted to coffee. We did about 4 years on green tea alone until we again met Bali Kopi. The love in the reunite was instant, and we have now run away together, are planning our future and don’t care what anybody say about it.

Katja's collage from Anomali

Katja’s collage from Anomali

Driving and surviving
We did it! We conquered the Indonesian traffic and should be awarded medals. But alas, there is no rest for the wicked. I guess we’ll head into the Philippino traffic to prove our worth.

Selfie time

Selfie time

Ganesha
We have come to love Ganesha during these first two months. The fact that we now have one shipped back is just super cool. The way it happened with Karma showing the way ( read the post of you haven’t) just spice up the story.

Our Ganesha

Our Ganesha

Water
The beaches and Senggigi and the pool are just two of the places where the water have been a dream. To go into it and sink down into liquid heaven. The feel of coolness and just relaxing.

Us @ White sand beach

Us @ White sand beach


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Acro fun fun fun

No big plans today except the acro yoga at 2 pm. We had breakfast at 8 am and then spent some time in the room reading and looking into stuff on the web.  Although we are still Facebook absent, Arne discovered, through Twitter, that his sister and family just bought a house in Katy, Texas, where they are currently living. That is so cool! Congrats to them and we really hope to go visit them there! Brit has a blog about living in Texas as a Norwegian. It is in Norwegian, and can be found here: Solisinnet.bloggnorge.com

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Thai yoga body work, something new

After a superb late lunch at Bali Buda, great place, we were ready for our class of Thai yoga body work at Yoga Barn. We had read that this class would be massage and pair work so this was hopefully something to look forward to. The class was full with lots of excited faces. Then Carlos arrived, he definitely falls in to the yogi category described by Arne earlier. A handsome dude with a guitar under his arm and his long dreadlocks tucked into a sarong on his head. Arne and I looked at each other, my og my what are we in for…. Continue reading


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Roosters, hens, cats and dogs

It started with stray dogs and cats in Sanur. In Lombok the roosters and hens had the leading role, they were everywhere 🙂 Running freely around all over the place. Making rooster and hen sounds at all hours and “bobbing” around digging into everything they could find. In Jl. Hanoman today (the main street of Ubud) 3 hens on the loose made the traffic even more chaotic than it already is. All this makes me wonder:

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Good bye Puri Santrian

It’s Monday morning 0600 and we are ready for take off. Next stop Lombok, by ferry. The stay at Puri Santrian has be a pure pleasure! The compound is beautiful, the staff lovely, the walk along the beach good for walks at all hours and the surrounding area full of nice little restaurants. Off course you also have all the small sales stalls and massage places. The “vendors” always have a “good offer” when you pass by but they are not pushy or “touching” and accept a no thank you. The drivers and taksis are everywhere and honk every time they see a “prospect”. If you don’t go with Bluebird, which drive by meter (starting price 6000 IDR), we noticed that the running price for “everywhere” is 150 000 IDR that is if your going just down the street or going across the island 🙂
We took yoga classes at the hotel in the morning and the instructor felt a little like Ketut (from Eat, love, pray) and gave us a good start of the day.
When you are up early it’s amazing to see all the stuff that falls down and “stirs” up the pathways and grass. So from dusk to dawn you always hear the soothing sound off brooms, brooming the grounds so it always looks nice.
The hotel also offers 2 happy hours! The normal one in the bar from 1600 to 1900 and, the one I liked :-), buy one and get one for free in the SPA from 0900-1300! So I got myself a 2 hours tension release massage and the 1 hour “free” facial 🙂 The spa is a beautiful house with the nicest atmosphere and really makes you feel calm and relaxed.
We even “got” ourselves a dog while here. It was this black dog that showed up out of nowhere and followed us around everywhere. Lots of dogs all over the place but all friendly (but Nina, not a place for you :-)). There was also this one light colored dog that we found in one of the chair groups outside our room. He was there every evening and when we went by he didn’t move an inch sort of “if I don’t move they don’t see me and then I can stay”. This was obviously his “house” so we just greeted him a good night 🙂
We just said goodbye to the nice “oatmeal” lady that made us oatmeal for breakfast and are now waiting for the buss to take us to the ferry, so tudela, and “see” you in Lombok!

If the pictures are not showing, they will be uploaded later 🙂 so stay tuned!!!
Happy day 🙂

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3 days to go!!!

Enjoying some time in the park, after running around town in search of Indonesian rupiah, mosquito net, camel back and socks for trekking. This evening Arne is watching his beloved Vålerenga play and I am driving my brother and his family to Rygge airport and 2 weeks in Italy. Life is good 🙂

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