Sunday 3/9/2008- Thursday 3/13/2008:
We arrived in Bali around 9:30 p.m. and got in a series of lines… one for our $20 visas, one to get our visa processed and passports stamped, another for x-raying our bags, and the last one to collect our bags. We cleared customs in about 30 minutes, escorted by an airport security man (which of course later expected a tip…we have suckers written on our face?!). We then met our hotel shuttle driver with a sign stating: “Mr. Dermot Stratton.” We hopped into the SUV, with the steering wheel on the ‘other’ side of the car (like Oz) and headed for Ubud. After a one hour drive up windy hills, we arrived in the small town of Ubud and were showed to our Supreme Suite (around $50/per night…incredible!). Our hotel and room was great and we were in bed and dream world 15 minutes after arriving.
The next morning we had jaffa waffles and fried rice for breakfast with fresh squeezed juice. The juices in Bali were incredible….avocado juice, watermelon, pretty much any fruit you could ever want! After breakfast, we went for a dip in the pool, and then wandered into town. We stopped for lunch at Bumi Bali café, and we were pleased to see that good food like everything else in Bali was very cheap. After eating we browsed around the market and started planning activities for the rest of our stay in Bali. We had many things to do in our short three days: ethnic dances to see, waves to surf, temples to explore among other fun things to do. For the rest of today, though, we decided to explore the temples of Ubud before heading back to the hotel for dinner. Katie was able to sneak in a 60 minute Balinese massage…for 75,000 Rb ($8US), just heavenly.
We ate dinner at a restaurant next door, Warung Enak, to basically take advantage of their free Internet. At 8:00 p.m. we were the only people in the entire restaurant. We think the waitresses were excited to have company and provided thorough service—they literally watched our table the entire meal to see if we needed ANYTHING. Despite the lack of diners, the food was great. We then made the short 100 yard walk back to our hotel room and went to bed.
We decided to dedicate Tuesday to Kuta Beach. This is the very tourist (think Cancun-esque) part of Bali. A one hour bus ride (only $2.50) took us there from right outside our hotel. We got to see a great amount of Bali’s culture on our drive, as we grabbed shotgun next to the driver. The bus was definitely built before we were born, with the column stick shift and seriously lack of ‘air con’. We passed through several villages, each with their own specialty: statues, painting, fruits, and so on. It was just like driving through different parts of New York where all of your competition was right next to each other. Getting to see the views of the local life on the way home were worth the price of the bus ticket in itself.
Upon arriving to Kuta, Dermot had one thing on his mind and found the nearest surf shop to rent a board. He picked up an 8’4” mini mau board, said goodbye to Katie and dove into the Indonesian ocean. Katie attempted to sit on the beach to watch, but couldn’t stand the harassment from the locals. So, Katie explored the beach and found a great little place called the Tree house for lunch.
Back in the Ocean, this was by far Dermot’s best surfing experience of the trip. He got up on tons of waves and had a solid ride (even having to dodge other surfers) all then way into the shore at one point. Meanwhile Katie spent the remainder of her time at the Hard Rock Café pool, because the local massage therapists on the beach would not stop harassing her. (She never thought this could be a problem!).
We met back up, enjoyed some time at the pool together, looked at all the memorabilia in the restaurant and then headed back to the bus stop. Dermot bought some Aussie flag board shorts for $6 off the street, and we had a hard time not picking up the local rip off of Billabong= Balibong…. At 4:30pm, we hopped on the bus back to Ubud. Back at the hotel Dermot grabbed a quick snack for lunch/dinner since he was too busy surfing to eat. We then headed back to the room watched 3:10 to Yuma (thanks again Bob!) and fell asleep. We were tired from our long day in the sun.
For our last full day in Bali, we decided to spurge and rent a car with an English speaking driver for $45 for 8 hours. Our driver and tour guide for the day was the seventh child in his family, which means that his first name is the same as the third child in his family. Basically the Balinese only have four first names. Basically the Balinese only have four first names. The first child is Wayan or Putu, the second child is Made or Kadek, the third is Nyoman or Komang and the fourth is Ketut. The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth will be another Wayan, Made, Nyoman, Ketut and Wayan again. They are mainly called by their surnames, or last names in school or social outings. He also told us about the education system, as each village has their own school and uniforms. The school used to be free with the previous president (well, covered by taxes), and now parents have to pay ‘a lot’ for children’s schooling.
Our first stop was to Gunung Kawi, a beautiful temple down about 500 stairs into the valley. We had to ‘rent’ sarongs at all of the temples, but it was only about a $0.30 donation. Our next stop through the windy roads was to the holy water temples named Tirta Empul in Tempaksiring, directly North of Ubud. This must be the most beautiful, well-respected temple, because the president decided to build his house on the huge hill above the temple. There are 12 sacred fountains that each Balinese Hindu must be cleansed by during their lifetime…. And if Dermot and I were to marry in Bali, we would have to be individually cleansed before marriage. The water comes from a hot spring, which we were able to see bubbling up at a different lake in the temple.
We were lucky enough to be at the temple during a cremation ceremony, where each of the villages carry the remains of the deceased, as well as offerings of flowers (most beautiful thing on earth), crackers (good harvest) and a few other things to wish the deceased well. It was also interesting to note that everyone wears white at the funeral processions.
Our next stop was to the Coffee Plantation, owned by one individual family. They had anything and everything you could ever want growing on their land- from ‘snack’ fruit, to chili peppers, herbs, seasonings, cocoa and of course, coffee. We tried all of the varieties of ‘coffee’ and decided that hot cocoa was the best. They even had their own tobacco with rolling papers that you could also sample for free. We decided to buy a few trinkets at their store, since they gave us so many free samples.
We took a very turny road (without lunch in our stomachs) to the next stop in Kintamani, at the base of Mt Batur (1.717M). Our $10 admission to the “hot springs” which included hot water in swimming pools (tourist rip off), towel & lockers, lunch and swarming flies that kept you in the water the whole time. Needless to say, we only stayed about 30-40 minutes, and then onto our next stop, the largest, most holy temple in all of Bali in Besakih. This temple is at the base of Bali’s tallest mountain, Mt Agung(3.142 M). People will trek from all over the Island to worship here, so we felt honored to be visiting…minus the ‘rain gods’ showering unexpectedly on us….without umbrellas.
Our last stop was to visit the King’s court house and one of his ceremonial grounds in Gianyar, just east of Ubud. We got to see where locals would be tried for their crimes in olden times, as well as see royal paintings, such as wedding processions and other ceremonial events.
Back at the hotel, we rested and ate dinner in a little Balinese hut before heading off to see Jegog Bamboo/Dance show. There were about 15 gentlemen playing the ‘bamboo’ xylophones and then several different dances ranging from women to men and children. All were wearing make-up, elaborate costumes and did a large amount of dancing with their eyes. It was incredible to see how their eyes would open wide and move quickly from one side to another, displaying much of the expression and feeling of the dance.
Unfortunately, our Internet connection was still not working, so we weren’t able to get in touch with Katie’s old co-worker from Google who lives just outside of Ubud. So we decided to pack up and get ready for our next adventure- taking the low cost carrier ‘Air Asia’ to Thailand tomorrow!
We were up pretty early so we could explore the Sacred Monkey Sanctuary. We didn’t realize that we didn’t even have to pay for entry to the park, as the monkeys were EVERYWHERE. We saw many mommas with new babies clinging for their lives, as well as big daddy monkeys. There were two species of monkeys: Kera and Machques, not that we could tell any difference. We enjoyed our hour in the park before catching our bus at 10:30am to the airport!
Our flight from Bali to Jakarta was rather ‘routine,’ minus the flight attendant stating “And may God bless this flight…’ at the end of her safety procedure. Dermot and I were slightly alarmed, but appreciated any extra assistance in arriving safely. We had a fairly easy flight into Jakarta, where we had to collect our luggage and grab the packed ‘International’ shuttle bus to our next connection to Bangkok. We ended up meeting another person who did not ‘blend,’ named Laurel from Michigan. We befriended her instantly, and she gave us insider information on Thailand and their language, as she has been living and teaching English in Chiang Mai for the past 5 months. We exchanged information with Laurel, hoping that we’ll be able to meet in Chiang Mai for dinner.