Amed, East Coast Bali

Traveller's warning: There are no ATM's in Amed :o) Which of course we found out when we got here. After paying our driver for his services we were left with 37k (less than 4 euro) haha. Luckily our guest-house gave us some lee-way and we were able to have lunch. Afterwards, we flicked an imaginary coin, Kev lost, so he had to take the 1.5 hour return journey by mo-ped to the ATM's. Funnily enough they don't accept Visa. After some stressing we found a solution later that night. A hotel kindly gave us an advance (5% commission charge) but if we had dinner in their restaurant (3% charge). Sweet! We took all the money they had haha.

Amed should be called Arid or some deserty word like that cos it's hot as hell and it's dead. If your not in the water there's not alot to do. It's amazing how under developed the east coast is from the west. After our trek and trip we were pretty tired so our first day here was relatively chilled. The next day, we went to Coral View hotel and used their swimming pool, loungers (although if you lie on them for more than 5 minutes you get scalded), restaurant and snorkelling equipment (40K each including life-jacket). The snorkelling was very good!

Amed - If your not in the water there's not alot to do..

The next morning we got up around 7, had breakfast and went to EuroDive for 8am. We got fitted the night before so we just had to sign some forms and pay before heading to Tulamben (20 minutes away) to the famous Liberty wreck divesite. We did 2 dives. The first one started a bit cagey for me as we haven't dived since picking up our PADI's (3 months ago to the day). The second one went alot smoother and longer as had better control over our air-supply and in short was really enjoyable. Afterwards, we had lunch before hitting the road (1.5hours) to Padang Bai - the port to Lombok. The ferry (21-25k) to Lombok takes approximately 4-5 hours so its a bit of a pisser. We arrived into Lembar and negotiated a lift (with a German couple Catherine & Daniel we got chatting to) to Senggigi; Lombok's equivalent to Kuta. Right now it's quiet. The best time to visit is July, August and December. [Aside: There are loads of ATM's here which accept Visa]. We arrived around 11pm. So, it was a long day and we were definitely feeling it. We had a late-night dinner before falling to bed..