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| What can you even say about Bali? It is an amazing place, full of contrast. It is hot, crowded, stunningly beautiful, crumbling, and a place we absolutely loved. Our first glimpse of Bali came from the parking lot we passed on the way to our hotel- jam packed with motor cycles and drivers. Of course, each person we passed smiled and said, "welcome to Bali"; we were enchanted. |
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| Bali is like two separate places... the resort, and then Indonesia. The resort area where we stayed was gated, and with security, and guards, but we were free to wander wherever we wanted, and again, each person was friendly and welcoming. Bali is big on tourism, and tourism supports the economy of the island. The guards and security are a result of the 2002 and 2005 bombings, but most Balinese are very kind and welcoming, and make security seem unnecessary. |
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| After a long day we settle in for some Bali-Hai, some satay, and of course some tropical pizza. |
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| The sky on our first night. |
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| Our resort was so perfect. It was like the Disney version of a Bali hotel, with tiki huts, dancing girls, stone statues, and lots and lots of fruity drinks. |
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| It also had the perfect cove to swim in for us. We could go out swimming at any time of day or night and the water was calm and cool. It was also home to some friendly hawkers willing to sell you a bead necklace, some prada sunglasses, or a Rolex for WAY under market value. |
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| On the first full day, Gary and I decided to walk out of the hotel area and go into town to get some snacks, and goodies. It is about a 30 minute walk through town to go to a store named Hardy's. Here, the Disneyesque water fountain. |
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| These stone statues were all over the island. |
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| This is the security gate to enter and leave the resort area. |
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| Once you get outside it is a whole different thing. Again, it still feels safe, but it is no Disney... here you can see a guy putting together a Ferris wheel. |
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| and when you walk on the sidewalk you probably shouldn't step on the sidewalk covers... well, you really couldn't step on them because they have all fallen into the ditch underneath. |
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| ouch... that would hurt... |
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| As you are walking, the scenery is mostly beautiful, except for the sewage ditch flowing along side the road. Well, actually that is still pretty, but the smell, not so much. |
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| Love the Hindu feel of this sign. You are here now. |
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| These three guys are shoveling cement into a bucket to pour down that little trough and fill in a culvert. They were "cheesing" so big for the camera :) |
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| Each morning I got up and went running on the path that ran along the beach. The first day I didn't bring my camera (why would I, right?) but I did bring it each day after that. If you want to see some more pictures of a Bali sunrise please let me know because I have about 30 pictures that I would LOVE to share! |
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| Isn't this just what you imagined it would be like? |
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| After another beautiful day spent lounging around in the shade we decided to have dinner and were treated to this show of girls. The girls learn traditional Balinese dance as part of their schooling, and when they are ready they perform. The dances are amazingly complicated and involve finger wiggling and eye gestures that are beyond me. |
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| Finally our friends are here, so we all head out to dinner and, of course, Bali Hai... |
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| Finally we have had enough lounging and decide to take a tour. Our first stop is an hour of traditional dance with lots of sword fighting and stabbing, along with some inappropriate tail gestures. |
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| Women tend to dance in this squatty position, with their hands up, doing the finger wiggling and eye gesturing you can see here. |
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| We then drove for about 4 hours, stopping at a silver jewelry workshop, a woodworking workshop, a batik workshop, and an art shop. Again, if you want more detailed pictures of any of these, please let me know... :) for now I will just include pictures of scenery along the way. |
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| An orchid farm. |
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| Rice and corn fields. |
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| Each home in Bali (or the Hindu homes, of which Bali is 95%) have a family temple, and the Balinese design is very ornate and sculpted. Many include statues of monsters and deities. |
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| This is Mt. Agung, and active volcano that last erupted in 1964. They say you can still see smoke and steam coming out of the top, but we didn't see any on the day we were there. |
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| We did, however, have to pay 2,000 rupiah to use this bathroom.... |
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| ... you know what they say about real estate... location, location, location. We were definitely paying for the view. |
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| Next stop of the day was a coffee place, where you can try the world famous luwak coffee. If you have never hear of luwak coffee, I can now tell you all about it. And I will. |
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| It all starts with this furry little thing... a civet cat. This little cat, and some of it's furry friends eat the red, ripe berries from a coffee plant. Well, it is kind of like us eating corn... they eat the berries, they poop out the coffee bean, which is then dried, roasted, ground, and sold for $160 per pound. Or 50,000 rupiah per cup... |
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| and sold to tourists from around the world who drink it. Maybe you remember the scene from The Bucket List where Carter tells Edward about coffee luwac, his favorite drink? No? Here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVJqwCdzZnw |
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| Other than drinking poop coffee, there were some traditional instruments that we had fun playing. Here R-man is getting a quick lesson from Sada, our driver and friend. |
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| You can't really see it in the picture, but below the flowers are the coffee beans. |
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| Another interesting thing about Bali is this. It is an offering to a spirit which is made daily and has things like fruits and veggies, incense, water and whatever else the spirit liked in life. The thing is, these are everywhere! They are on the street, on steps, in the middle of the floor, everywhere! You have to be really careful where you step or you might accidentally kick one and send it flying.... I'm just saying... not naming any names.... just saying... |
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| This sign was outside a temple we went to see. |
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| Luckily they provided sarongs for those dressed inappropriately in shorts. |
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| On the way out you must pass through the gauntlet of hawkers and charlatans... luckily it was about 4:30 by this point and most of them had lost their enthusiasm. |
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| Our guy, Sada, is on the right, and he was so fabulous. I would highly recommend him to anyone going to Bali. Not only is he a fantastic driver, but he is a great singer. |
It was like being in the car with the reincarnation of my mom, who loved this song, loved to sing, and would love to drive us around for 10 hours for only $50.
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| As we were driving we passed a procession of people heading to their temple. |
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| Next stop was the rice terraces. This is an amazing example of people adapting the landscape and the culture to the environment. The rice terraces irrigate themselves with only gravity helping. |
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| For our last stop of the day we headed to Mandala Wisata monkey sanctuary, but these monkeys were not cute, they were MEAN. We saw two separate ladies get bitten, so we high-tailed it out of there, and settled in for the long ride home. Along the way we passed this troupe of performers all squished into the back of a pick-up... nine in total, and three in the front seat. |
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| Being beat from the tour day we had a day of nothing, followed by a night of swimming |
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| Last night in Bali, we head over to a sunset restaurant, where Gary had to look the fish in the eye before we ate it. The kids loved playing on the beach |
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| We also bought butter and spicy corn from these two guys... roasted over hot coals, under the sunset... cold Bali-hai... no wonder we were still enchanted... |
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| Luckily we did not need this, even though we did have a slight scare with a tsunami watch... but that is a story for another day. |
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| On our last day in Bali... we are flying out at 9PM... still time for one more splash in the Indian Ocean... at least for now... we'll definitely be back to Bali... |
