Two Weeks in Bali!!!

Meg in Pool

We flew into Bali from Darwin around nine at night on Saturday (Nov 13th), so we booked a room for the first two nights so we wouldn't have to wander around with our packs. The hotel shuttle picked us up from the airport and took us to Kuta, the main tourist/resort area of Bali. The room they had reserved for us was the most expensive at the resort (they say that's all they have left) which was still only about $26 a night each! This got us a huge air-conditioned room with our own bathroom, sitting area, tv and fridge. The hotel was beautiful, just off the main street and had a courtyard and pool. We settled in quickly then decided to check out the action that we had seen driving in.

Dev on Legian Street

The streets were crazy! The main street (Legian Street) is a narrow, one-way street filled with cars and motorbikes and lined with shops (both souvenir and surf shops) as well as street hawkers selling massages, motorbike rentals and all sorts of crap. We wove our way in and out of traffic until we found a cool open-air bar with a live band. We grabbed a couple of local beers (Bintangs, really good!) and sat down to watch the street action. The beers come in small and large bottles and range from about $1.50 to $2.50, we're in heaven! :) The place is swarming with Aussies on vacation, so we chatted up an Aussie couple next to us, then headed back to the hotel. On the way back, a monsoon type rainfall started and we ducked into a store front to wait out the storm. I had been somewhat mentally prepared for the rats in Asia, but still freaked out a little when waiting on the steps, a small rat ran across my foot

My first of many banana smoothies

The next morning, we woke up in time for the hotel's free breakfast but decided to keep it simple with scrambled eggs and toast. Other options for breakfast included fried noodle and fried rice with eggs of course, seeing as its breakfast! :) We spent the morning exploring the streets by daylight and some of the smaller gangs (alleys). We found Kuta Beach and we walked along the beach (past all the beach vendors and food stalls) all the way to Seminyak, one of the neighbouring villages, a quieter version of Kuta. After exploring, we were pretty hungry, so we tried our first restaurant, one beside our hotel that had been recommended in the book. The food was sooo good and really cheap and the restaurants are really beautiful, in shaded gardens and tiki huts just off the main street. We headed back to the hotel to lounge around the pool then wandered around the smaller streets looking for a cheaper hotel.

We found a great hotel on a nearby smaller street set off in its own compound with a great pool and small cottage rooms. We settled for no air-conditioning and got a room with its own bathroom for $30 a night (which we now know is expensive in Bali terms), we love this place!! After making the reservation, we grabbed beers and waited out the rain at a great hotel bar where we met some more Aussies that were here for a wedding. We tried to find a night market we had heard about but gave up and found a small restaurant for dinner and drinks. I think we'll be drinking a lot of beer on this trip!! The next morning after hanging out by the pool a bit more, we grabbed our packs and headed to the other hotel, it was super hot and as we were crossing the street, I wasn't looking and I stepped on a dead rat!! If this place doesn't cure me of my rat phobia, nothing will!!! Devin had seen the rat, walked around it and chose to watch me step on it instead of alerting me!

Meg in Pool II :)

After checking in, we did some shopping, grabbed lunch and then hit the pool - after being here for two weeks we've found its an outrage to pay more than $3.00 for a meal. It's about 35 degrees here and without air-conditioning, frequent pool dips are a must! Then we decided to try out the Balinese massage!! To make this place even better, spa treatments are crazy cheap! Manicures are about $4 and 1 hour massages about $6! After massages, we headed out for more beers, Pad Thai and teppanyaki. (We found our favourite restaurant and have been there many times since, Gemini Star :)) We went for a midnight dip and booked a day tour to surrounding sites for the next day.

Beach Restaurant - Jimbaran

We hired a driver and a van for $45 for the day to drive us around the Bekit Peninsula (southern Bali). Our first stop was Nusa Dua, an expensive resort destination and home of Club Med, Intercontinental etc. We were kind of surprised because the beach was pretty trashy and just filled with locals selling water sports and crap. We've never seen so much going on on a beach before! Activities offered included snorkeling, para sailing, jet skiing and that flying sting ray thing that is super illegal in Canada. We were only there for an hour so we grabbed beers and watched the action. The next stop was Jimbaran, a really pretty beach filled with colourful fishing boats and tons of touristy seafood restaurants. We got a table at a warung (cheaper cafe) on the beach and got pretty sun burnt. :)

Ulu Watu - Matching Outfits!

We were super hot by this point so we made our way to Padang Padang beach, a small white sand beach surrounded by cliffs where we could take a dip. Finally, our driver took us to Ulu Watu, one of the more famous temples on the island that is located on a huge cliff. We both had to wear sarongs and we unknowingly hired a guide for the walk but the temple was really beautiful. The monkeys there are famous for stealing anything that you have on you, one made at me for my purse but our guide shooed him away with a stick. While we were there we saw a monkey steal a woman's eyeglasses right off her face and one jump onto a woman's stomach to grab her chocolate bar! Evil monkeys!



Dev At Monkey Sanctuary



The next morning our driver picked us up again to take us to Ubud, the second largest tourist destination on the island. We spent the day visiting the monkey temple (more monkeys), swimming in the pool and a little while seeing who could beat the computer solitaire first (Devin - which was the obvious conclusion from the start). We had a great dinner and movie night (we've managed to get movies from other friendly travellers to watch on our computer).



Dev with our Driver at Gutang Batur

The next day, our driver picked us up again (its been great having a personal driver - more fitting to our privileged lifestyles) to take us to Gutang Batur, an active volcano that has amazing views. Along the way he took us to walk along the rice paddies and to the rice terraces (towers of rice paddies) which were crazy nice, then to a beautiful temple in the fields. He also took us to a Bali Kopi (coffee) plantation where we sampled their Bali Kopi, Ginger Coffee (really good), Lemon Tea, Ginger Tea and finally, Luwak Coffee. The latter coffee is made from the coffee beans that the luwak (an animal that looks kind of like a weasel) eats, then poops out. Apparently, a Bali specialty! (The Luwak only picks the best coffee beans to eat - therefore his poop has all the best beans!).

Meg at Rice Terraces

In Front of Gutang Batur

We made it to the volcano and had lunch in a restaurant with a view of the entire crater. Super cool! Then headed back to the hotel for beers and a swim. Our last day in Ubud, we pretty much relaxed until dinner at a restaurant overlooking the rice paddies and then Dev's favourite, a traditional Balinese dance performance. Since then, he's wanted to go back every night! :) Megan was being sarcastic here, as it was actually quite boring. Half an hour of it would have done the trick but it lasted almost 2 hours!

At Restaurant on Rice Paddies

We headed back to Kuta the next day (our favourite) and got pedicures (I think Dev won for how much stuff they scraped off his feet! :)) and went out for more live music and beers. The next day, we got two kids to drive us on the back of their motorbikes (scooters) to Seminyak and walked back, just because we wanted the ride. The locals drive crazy around here and we wanted the full experience without braving the drive ourselves. We lazed around the pool, then met a Canadian who gave us a ton of new movies, so got dinner and had to watch one.

Scooting On the Island

The next morning, we caught a shuttle to Sanur, catching the local boat to Nusa Lembongan (a small island nearby that is much quieter than the rest of Bali). After checking into our beachfront hotel with infinity pool overlooking the ocean!! we found a small cafe behind the hotel for lunch. The old man running the place chatted us up and played a game of jenga with us (which I guess I lost :)). We met a Swedish guy we had met on the boat over at the hotel bar at happy hour then went for dinner on the beach. The next day, we hired a motorbike (from jenga man) and drove all over the island (there are no cars on the island, so much safer although no helmets). We ran into the Swedish guy and his girlfriend so had lunch at a cafe on the ocean with them and checked out a beach on the nearby island reached by the scariest bridge we've ever seen, a suspension bridge with old wooden planks across it, with huge spaces where boards are missing! Made my heart stop a couple of times.

At Dream Beach Resort

Then Dev and I checked out Dream Beach, the nicest beach we've seen so far on the island and caught the sunset for dinner at the Sunset Beach Warung. We had a quiet day the next day, went swimming and watched Salt (Amy, that is not a good movie!) and for our last day on the island, we rented our motorbike again and drove back to Dream Beach. There is a beautiful resort just above the beach that charged only $5 each to use their facilities for the day, so we swam all day in their double decker infinity pool (again overlooking the ocean), had lunch and lazed around in their beach hut beds all day. We both agreed it was the best pool we've ever been in. We returned the bike and explored the rest of Jungut Batu (our beach) and found a cute little restaurant for dinner.

And back to Kuta for two more nights before flying to Thailand on Sunday. Will probably go for dinner and drinks tonight and go for more massages tomorrow. Bali is so far my favourite place I've ever been for vacation! Great hotels and restaurants, cheap and delicious food and beer, beautiful scenery, friendly people, interesting culture and $20 can get you almost anywhere or anything. Hope to be back someday!!