Hey All! We are back from our two week tour around Bali, and we live to tell the tale...barely...just kidding...kind of...
Our $4/day scooter showed up at our guesthouse in Ubud, we condensed our things into one bag, leaving the other behind, and we were off! We didn't really know where to...but we were off!
Our first night we ended up in the beach town of Padang Bai on the SE Coast. The town was not too exciting, so we only stayed one night. The next day we just wanted to ride, baby, ride! We read that the Sideman Road was beautiful. ...Hills, mountains, rice terraces, ahhh... It was. Then we wanted to see the Water Palace in Tirta Gangga, but from where we were, we had to take some very back roads to get there. The woods had voices while we were driving through those back mountains roads. Faceless hello's were being excitedly shouted out to us the whole way down the mountain.
Have we said how friendly the Balinese are? Especially the little kids. As soon as you're in their sight, they start yelling "hello" to you, and they continue yelling "hello", even after you're out of sight. It's great. The Balinese are also insatiably curious- constant questions...Where are you from? How long are you in Bali? Where are you staying? What are you doing? Where have you been? Where are you going? Do you need transport???????
We finally found our way to Tirta Gangga and our tail bones could go no further on that scooter. We also were anxious to get off the scooter because we got pulled over by a police officer, who was threatening to bring us into the station because Shawn didn't have an International Driver's License. We were warned about this from our friend Dharma. He told us that if we came across the police to just apologize and hand him 30,000 rupiah. We wanted to be extra safe, so we gave the officer 50,000 ($5.85) and thankfully he let us go on our way.
In Tirta Gangga we walked around the beautiful water palace and then pretended we were one of the wealthy hotel residents and got the only thing we could afford on the menu (a milkshake) at the fancy restaurant there. We walked outside and found the closest, cheap guesthouse with a great view of the palace. That night at a restaurant, in town, we got to talking to the owner about how we wanted to buy land in Bali. He turned out to be the right person to express our interest to. He knew of some land for sale in the area and we made an appointment with him to check it out. We went to see the approximate acre of land the next morning, and although it was nice, it's probably a little over our price range, at $20,000. We're still keeping our eyes open. We fell in love with the Sideman area on our way to Tirta Gangga, so we decided to go back there. We were there for three nights. We didn't do much besides relax and enjoy the cool climate. After Sideman it was time for more beach.
Amed, on the East Coast, is a collection of villages stretching 8 km and is lined with everything from very basic budget guesthouses to extravagant hotels. We lucked out and found a very nice hotel that had a cheap bungalow across the street that we could stay in. It included all the amenities of the hotel- a swimming pool, breakfast, and wifi at the restaurant. We filled our time in Amed relaxing, swimming in the pool, going to see some really good cover bands, and snorkeling in the Bali Sea. We also had a bonfire on the beach one night with the group of teenage boys that worked at the hotel. Only one of them could speak a little English. Even though we couldn't really talk to each other much, music saved the night. They put on American music and we all sang the night away. They knew every word of every song.
While we were in Amed, Shawn got in a minor accident with the scooter. Thankfully no one else was involved. Besides getting pretty scraped up and some sore ribs- he is fine. As far as the scooter goes, we're glad there's a MAX of $250 that we might have to pay.
After almost a week we finally moved on. We got on the scooter and set off towards Lovina which is on the North Coast. About an hour into our trip we got a flat tire. Within one minute of the flat, we had the bike hoisted up into the back of a truck and were on our way to a mechanic. It was amazing! It was almost as if the stranger was just waiting for us to get the flat so he could help us. A few miles down the road the driver dropped us off. Ten minutes at the shop and our tire was "fixed". The mechanic wanted a whopping 7000 rupiah for his work. 7000 rupiah is 82 cents.... We gave him a bit more than that! On our way again, and fifteen minutes later- BAM- the same flat tire. This time there was no angel to give us and our scooter a lift, but we just walked the bike up the road for awhile until we found another mechanic. This time we got a whole new tube for the tire, costing around $5.
When we finally made it to Lovina we once again found a very nice hotel that had one cheap room to rent to us. I'm sure it was pretty confusing to the older, wealthy, vacationers at these two hotels how these grungy backpackers were able to afford staying at the same hotel as them! There isn't much to do in Lovina other than relax, read, and go dolphin watching, so that's what we did. We were there for two days. In one day I finished one book, read a second, and started a third... The next day we went dolphin watching out on a boat and saw HUNDREDS of dolphins! It was amazing. While we gawked at the dolphins our Captain fished. He caught a huge tuna and was glad to have Shawn on the boat to help reel it in.
From Lovina we went south into the mountains to Munduk which is surrounded by waterfalls and is great for hiking. One day on our way back to town from a hike, we heard hundreds of people shouting, sounding very excited in the woods. We asked someone what was going on, although we had a sneaking suspicion of what the answer would be... a cockfight. We couldn't resist taking a peek.
Hundreds of men were surrounding the cockpit where roosters were being prepped to fight. The animals were being sized up and bets were being made. When it was time for the fight, my view was blocked (which was fine by me) by the intensely anxious men who were practically trampling each other to get a better view. Before I knew it, a rooster was being carried out of the arena and was plopped down on the ground right next to us. When the handler got out his knife and started chopping off the rooster's claws, Shawn and I quickly got out of there. I haven't eaten meat since about a month into our trip, so I wasn't at all comfortable with the situation. We have to admit, though, that it was kind of fun to stumble across an illegal cockfight.
After Munduk, we planned to go and stay near Lake Bratan which wasn't far from where we were, but once we got there we both felt a little creeped out by the zombie-like people and the rundown, icky hotels that seemed to be out of a horror movie. Strange. We kept going and accidentally ended up back in Ubud. It was a few days before we planned, but it's nice to just BE and not be "on the go".
On the 22nd we'll be off to Malaysia where we're planning on popping down to Singapore, then going up overland through Malaysia hopefully into Burma, then Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam! Can't WAIT for Thai food!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you all are enjoying your summers!!
Our $4/day scooter showed up at our guesthouse in Ubud, we condensed our things into one bag, leaving the other behind, and we were off! We didn't really know where to...but we were off!
Our first night we ended up in the beach town of Padang Bai on the SE Coast. The town was not too exciting, so we only stayed one night. The next day we just wanted to ride, baby, ride! We read that the Sideman Road was beautiful. ...Hills, mountains, rice terraces, ahhh... It was. Then we wanted to see the Water Palace in Tirta Gangga, but from where we were, we had to take some very back roads to get there. The woods had voices while we were driving through those back mountains roads. Faceless hello's were being excitedly shouted out to us the whole way down the mountain.
Have we said how friendly the Balinese are? Especially the little kids. As soon as you're in their sight, they start yelling "hello" to you, and they continue yelling "hello", even after you're out of sight. It's great. The Balinese are also insatiably curious- constant questions...Where are you from? How long are you in Bali? Where are you staying? What are you doing? Where have you been? Where are you going? Do you need transport???????
We finally found our way to Tirta Gangga and our tail bones could go no further on that scooter. We also were anxious to get off the scooter because we got pulled over by a police officer, who was threatening to bring us into the station because Shawn didn't have an International Driver's License. We were warned about this from our friend Dharma. He told us that if we came across the police to just apologize and hand him 30,000 rupiah. We wanted to be extra safe, so we gave the officer 50,000 ($5.85) and thankfully he let us go on our way.
In Tirta Gangga we walked around the beautiful water palace and then pretended we were one of the wealthy hotel residents and got the only thing we could afford on the menu (a milkshake) at the fancy restaurant there. We walked outside and found the closest, cheap guesthouse with a great view of the palace. That night at a restaurant, in town, we got to talking to the owner about how we wanted to buy land in Bali. He turned out to be the right person to express our interest to. He knew of some land for sale in the area and we made an appointment with him to check it out. We went to see the approximate acre of land the next morning, and although it was nice, it's probably a little over our price range, at $20,000. We're still keeping our eyes open. We fell in love with the Sideman area on our way to Tirta Gangga, so we decided to go back there. We were there for three nights. We didn't do much besides relax and enjoy the cool climate. After Sideman it was time for more beach.
Amed, on the East Coast, is a collection of villages stretching 8 km and is lined with everything from very basic budget guesthouses to extravagant hotels. We lucked out and found a very nice hotel that had a cheap bungalow across the street that we could stay in. It included all the amenities of the hotel- a swimming pool, breakfast, and wifi at the restaurant. We filled our time in Amed relaxing, swimming in the pool, going to see some really good cover bands, and snorkeling in the Bali Sea. We also had a bonfire on the beach one night with the group of teenage boys that worked at the hotel. Only one of them could speak a little English. Even though we couldn't really talk to each other much, music saved the night. They put on American music and we all sang the night away. They knew every word of every song.
While we were in Amed, Shawn got in a minor accident with the scooter. Thankfully no one else was involved. Besides getting pretty scraped up and some sore ribs- he is fine. As far as the scooter goes, we're glad there's a MAX of $250 that we might have to pay.
After almost a week we finally moved on. We got on the scooter and set off towards Lovina which is on the North Coast. About an hour into our trip we got a flat tire. Within one minute of the flat, we had the bike hoisted up into the back of a truck and were on our way to a mechanic. It was amazing! It was almost as if the stranger was just waiting for us to get the flat so he could help us. A few miles down the road the driver dropped us off. Ten minutes at the shop and our tire was "fixed". The mechanic wanted a whopping 7000 rupiah for his work. 7000 rupiah is 82 cents.... We gave him a bit more than that! On our way again, and fifteen minutes later- BAM- the same flat tire. This time there was no angel to give us and our scooter a lift, but we just walked the bike up the road for awhile until we found another mechanic. This time we got a whole new tube for the tire, costing around $5.
When we finally made it to Lovina we once again found a very nice hotel that had one cheap room to rent to us. I'm sure it was pretty confusing to the older, wealthy, vacationers at these two hotels how these grungy backpackers were able to afford staying at the same hotel as them! There isn't much to do in Lovina other than relax, read, and go dolphin watching, so that's what we did. We were there for two days. In one day I finished one book, read a second, and started a third... The next day we went dolphin watching out on a boat and saw HUNDREDS of dolphins! It was amazing. While we gawked at the dolphins our Captain fished. He caught a huge tuna and was glad to have Shawn on the boat to help reel it in.
From Lovina we went south into the mountains to Munduk which is surrounded by waterfalls and is great for hiking. One day on our way back to town from a hike, we heard hundreds of people shouting, sounding very excited in the woods. We asked someone what was going on, although we had a sneaking suspicion of what the answer would be... a cockfight. We couldn't resist taking a peek.
Hundreds of men were surrounding the cockpit where roosters were being prepped to fight. The animals were being sized up and bets were being made. When it was time for the fight, my view was blocked (which was fine by me) by the intensely anxious men who were practically trampling each other to get a better view. Before I knew it, a rooster was being carried out of the arena and was plopped down on the ground right next to us. When the handler got out his knife and started chopping off the rooster's claws, Shawn and I quickly got out of there. I haven't eaten meat since about a month into our trip, so I wasn't at all comfortable with the situation. We have to admit, though, that it was kind of fun to stumble across an illegal cockfight.
After Munduk, we planned to go and stay near Lake Bratan which wasn't far from where we were, but once we got there we both felt a little creeped out by the zombie-like people and the rundown, icky hotels that seemed to be out of a horror movie. Strange. We kept going and accidentally ended up back in Ubud. It was a few days before we planned, but it's nice to just BE and not be "on the go".
On the 22nd we'll be off to Malaysia where we're planning on popping down to Singapore, then going up overland through Malaysia hopefully into Burma, then Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam! Can't WAIT for Thai food!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you all are enjoying your summers!!
Delayed posting.... thanks for the update! Sounds like you're having a fine, fine time. I love and miss you both! Be safe....
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I love the pictures! Shawn, you're turning into a WildMan!!! Keep those cards and letters comin'! LOVE YOU.
ReplyDeleteHey Shawn, I showed your blog to Maddy, and she thought you're looking like Moses! Looks like you are both having a great time. I love your pictures.
ReplyDelete