Bali

From Mt. Bromo we took a big tour bus to Bali. The ride was about 12 hours to Denpasar, luckily we planned to get off half way between the ferry and Denpasar reducing our trip time to 10ish hours. So we got off and stayed at a little surfing spot.

See Laurel’s take on our Bali trip at http://beyondboulder.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/golden-week-part-3-bali/.

This is Medewi beach. Our first Indian ocean beach, but you can see why this is a surfing beach and not a lounging beach.

From the surf hotel we were heading to Ubud. To get around we used the bemo services. Bemos are mini buses that guys rent for the day and drive around picking up people on their route. It’s a very cheap and local way to get around. On one ride an old lady got on with a bucket full of fish parts that smelled terrible. Local flavor, mmmm.

Anyway, on our way to Ubud we stopped at an out of the way temple called Pura Rambut Siwi. This picture is actually from another temple on the way to Pura Rambut Siwi.

At the temple we got an almost private tour in English. There was no one around and the temple grounds were very nice. Above they are preparing for a ceremony that will take place in the evening. The next couple of pictures are from the temple grounds.

This is from the walk from the temple back to the main road. Bali is covered in rice fields. Since it is warm all year they can grow rice constantly so all the fields are in different stages.

Next we went to a very popular temple closer to Denpasar called Pura Tanah Lot. It was super touristy, crowded and expensive. All and all not much of an experience.

After Tanah Lot we hired a ride to our hotel in Ubud. On the way we passed this group. In Bali there are temples everywhere and each temple has many ceremonies and festivals. So there is always something going on.

The next few pictures are from our hotel in Ubud. It was a small family run place one street off of the main street in Ubud. They had eight rooms and we rented their best room for an amazingly cheap price.

The hotel from the breakfast deck.

Our room was very large with huge windows offering this view.

One drawback was our cute, but noisy neighbors.

This is the coolest room I’ve ever stayed in.

After our hectic few days in Java we really wanted to relax in Bali. Laurel was feeling so relaxed she forgot that she doesn’t like bananas.

Our room came with a nice breakfast, the star of which was these pancakes. They are green because they are made with a green leaf called pandan. There is banana, fresh coconut and honey inside. So good!

One morning we took a Balinese cooking class at Bumbu Bali. The class started by going to the local market to talk about the ingredients. The guy in the coat is the chef. The guy on the left was the other student, a Scottish guy who seems to just be hanging out in South Asia.

The chef made seven dishes for us and everything was amazing! The class also came with a little cookbook, but some of the important ingredients are impossible to get in Japan. Maybe we can make some of the stuff once we get back to the US.

There is also a Monkey Forest in Ubud well worth walking through.

On our way out of the monkey forest we were stopped by a lady selling sarongs. She was a nasty haggler and we didn’t like her very much so we were quite amused when this monkey stole her water and drank it.

It was really relaxing.

That night we had a reservation for Mozaic. It is rated by the Miele guide as the fifth best restaurant in Asia and it was pretty amazing. It was also very dark so the pictures didn’t come out, but Laurel will probably post some of them on her blog.

The next day we went for a rice field walk. It was really hot and much of the rice was currently in it’s most ugly stage having been recently harvested. It was still pretty though.

The black things are kites. We saw lots of kites. Our guess was that there isn’t really internet, TV, or video games available for the kids so they fly kites. It was yet another example of the charm of Bali.

That night we went to a Kecak performance (also called the monkey dance). The dance is performed to the sound of the men chanting “cak cak cak…”

After the Kecak there was a fire trance dance. This guy would kick around and run though a pile of burning coconut husks as a type of exorcism.

You see these offering everywhere. In fact it is hard not to step on them.

Our last stop in Bali was Jimbaran for a sea side seafood BBQ.

Fresh caught sea food grilled with sambal. So good!

Nice view too.

Bye Bali. We will miss you.