Day Trip - Bali Wonders 1 - Indonesia 6/9

We have been getting up at 4:00am these past few days because of jet lag, but today was the first day that I could've used a little more sleep. Our tour guide was supposed to meet us at 8:00 in the morning, not too early, but I found it quite difficult to get ready and finish my breakfast. Breakfast, however, was superb as usual!

Our guide, Gusti, showed up in traditional clothing shortly past 8 and immediately we were off. I was more than excited to leave Kuta as the novelty of the high tourist density/surfer town was starting to wear off. I think Keith felt the same way, and I just can't wait to see what else Bali has to offer.

Canangs

We booked the Bedugul Day Tour through Bali Traditional Tours, and that means we get to go to the mountains today. Gusti brought us to a traditional market first. However, because this is an early morning market, many of the vendors were already starting to close up. Nevertheless, we were able to see how the Canang offerings were made. These Canangs are seen throughout Bali, in front of every door, on the streets, in corners, and on statues. They are offering that the locals put out at least once a day. They are made of young coconut leaves and consists of, usually, a coin, a cookie, a cigarette, and some flowers. They represent what the gods gave to them, and in turn, they are offering some back to the gods. Personally I love these Canangs, I think they are beautiful and represent an extremely thoughtful gesture.

Taman Ayun

The next stop was Taman Ayun, a temple situated on a beautiful garden surrounded by what seemed to be a moat. The sun was bright and the garden grounds looked perfect under it. The main temple area is blocked off from tourists but we could see over the walls. This temple is still being used by villagers on a regular basis but during times when it's not being used, only priests and other temple keepers gets to go in.

Taman Ayun

We didn't stay long, and left for Jatiluwih directly after. Jatiluwih is a Unesco heritage site as well. It's not a historical building but instead an entire area of rice fields. These rice patties are different than most others as they are situated on hills. The villagers are diligent in trimming these rice patties so they look like clean cut tiers. I've seen plenty of rice patties in my life time as well as pictures of Jatiluwih, but nothing is comparable to the real thing. The area of these rice fields are much bigger than what I thought they would be, and the hills look a lot steeper in real life. The magnitude of this rice field is unbelievable, I honestly don't know if I'll ever have an opportunity to see something like this again.

Jatiluwih

We had lunch right beside the rice patties, our table directly across from them. The weather was amazing, much cooler than Kuta. We went on a short trek around the rice patties after lunch, then headed towards Lake Bratan.

Ulun Danu Bratan

In addition to Jatiluwih, this was the place I came to see. I saw pictures of the Ulun Danu Bratan temple on the internet and was mesmerized by how beautiful it is. It's situated on the Lake and looked like it was floating in the picture. But there was a really bad drought in Bali for the past few months and the Lake had receded back, exposing the foundation of the temple. What's worse was, there were some major construction going on and totally shattered my fantasy of how this temple would've looked like in real life.

The upside though, was the tons of flowers grew on the sides of the temple and it accented the temple really nicely. We took some pictures and headed on back towards Ubud.

We had requested to see ceremonies or private residents if we could, long and behold, just as we were heading out from Ulun Danu Bratan, we saw a long parade of people carrying a giant Ganesh statue. Our guide explained that ceremonies of this magnitude happens almost monthly.

Family Temple

On the way to our guide's home, we stopped by some random people's house. They seem to be very wealthy, and after our guide explained why we are here, they were kind enough to let us in. Housing quarters are always the same: North quarters for the elderly, Kitchen in the South, West is the bedroom for the rest of the family members, and the temple in the East. It was surprising to us to find out that there is a family temple in every Balinese housing compound. The one we stopped by was very fancy, bright colours and hand carved wooden doors/pillars. They even offered us to stay for food, but we kindly declined. Their hospitality definitely left an impression on us though.

Gusti's Village Temple

Our guide's home is much more modest than the other one we saw. But it feel more real. We met his father, wife, and son. And in the back, we saw his pig too! After visiting his home, we went to visit his village temple. There was a huge Bodhi tree behind the temple. It made me want to just be beside it, maybe build a home next to the tree. It made me feel like it would protect me.

It was shortly past 6pm when we arrived at our villa in Ubud. The Umae Villa, tucked away in a curvy drive way, had a beautiful entrance. We were very tired from our day of wondering around the island, and were eager to turn in. But the receptionist was hassling us to book tours through them, we quickly turned them down and went to our villa.

Umae Villa

The villa was exactly as shown in the pictures. It's gated, has a plunge pool with very cold water. There was a small kitchenette and a dining table, some lounge chairs, and an outdoor bathroom. We had never stayed anywhere this fancy and absolutely loved it. It was an amazing feeling resting in a bed surrounded by glass windows so we could see the sky and trees around us. There were black out curtains all around and we fell asleep feeling like royalty.

To be continued...

Kuta - Bali - Indonesia 5/9

Immediately you could feel the difference, even the air smelled of money. The Ngurah Rai International Airport was beautifully renovated. It hadn't been the last time I was here. A very modern white was used, along with more modern looking wood panels.

Was this no longer the culture-rich island of the gods?

There was a herd of taxi drivers outside the gates last time when I came. At least 500 people were right beside the gates and the entire scene felt like what I imagine a market in Mumbai would feel like, and this time, I was determined to find a Blue Bird (Taxi).

But shockingly, as we stepped out, the lobby was completely empty. Perhaps there weren't a lot of flights arriving at the time that we did, but not only was there only a hand full of passengers leaving the lobby, there were no taxis waiting around at all. Instead, there was only this one airport transfer company to the right of the exit. They quote you a flat rate, which seemed arbitrary, hand write it on a piece of scrap paper, and expect you to pay nothing less. The rate was expensive but not outrageous. I guessed the Balinese government is trying to change its image by organizing everything ever so neatly, but there was something about the herd of taxi drivers panhandling that feels more authentic then this uniformed and unfamiliarly named airport transport company.

The young man was a very safe driver actually, but I squinted as I look suspiciously at his embroidered collar. "Who took away my right to fight for myself and bargain for a reasonably priced fare?" My brain yelled as an image of the Balinese government killing the free market with their bare hands popped into my head. Keith, on the other hand, really enjoyed this level of sophistication. I could literally hear his thoughts singing and skipping along as we rode comfortably into the heart of party central - Jl. Legian.

The streets started looking familiar as we got close, and my heart started pounding heavier. This is where I was 2 years ago; this is where I was hurt; and these are the people who helped me.

Harper by Aston Kuta, Bali

We had booked the Harper Hotel on Jl. Legian between Poppies I & II. I wanted to show Keith the different sides of Bali and this was the touristy, party, filled with drunk Aussie one. Because we still had an hour before check in, we dropped off our luggage and headed south on foot. We found Made's Warung on Pantai and gobbled up $20 worth of lunch. It was magnificent! Since we hadn't have any vegetables in a few days, the 2 glasses of fruit juices and the plate of stir fry veggies came and gone like the wind.

Beach gates by Pantai

We walked around Pantai a little more until we reached the gates by the beach. It was gorgeous, and we would've really loved to stay longer except our feet were burning in the sand. So we head back after quickly taking a picture of the 36.6 degrees at 1:00pm in the sun.

Our Room with Glass Doors to Pool

The hotel was beautifully designed. There was a restaurant and a pool on the first floor, and we had gotten the first floor suites that connects directly to the pool via glass doors. It was as if we had our own balcony, such a good value for our money.

That afternoon we walked on the South side some more and tried to find a cap for me. We ate at Pronto Pizza, and started really feeling the fatigue. It had been a long 3-4 days and we haven't had any chance to rest. But I didn't want to give up yet. There was a day spa close to our hotel and I persuaded Keith to muster our last drop of energy to go there.



Smart Day Spa

The Smart Day Spa looks inconspicuous from the outside. There's a hair salon and a nail parlor at the front, and massage chairs at the back. We took the $6 hour long foot massages and it was the best decision we've taken all day. Not sure if it was because of the 14 hour tour we had the day before, or that we were too tired from our travels, this seemed like the best foot massage I have ever had! We both fell asleep half way through the massage, and ended our first day with a relaxing note.



Bali Bombing Ground Zero Memorial

The second day we were pumped to go. The breakfast buffet, included in the amazingly cheap price, was awesome. Both Eastern and Western styles were available, and the congee buffet was to die for. As we normally would, we headed out for our walk at 10:00am, which was idiotic here as this is the start of the chunk of time perfect for getting heat stroke. We walked to the bombing memorial first, then went up Jl Legian until we couldn't take the heat anymore (like 100 meters later), stopped at a Taiwanese bubble tea shop for a drink, then continued. We turned on Jl. Melasti and headed towards the ocean. This was where I walked last time I was here, and Keith was keen to hear about where I've walked last time I've been. The beach was beautiful, white sand, blue sky, just like how one would imagine in a perfect vacation. And surprisingly, although you're directly in the sun, walking on the beach with water to your ankles was much cooler. I could feel myself literally enjoying time, as we watched the surfers and listened to the waves. We eventually came out the other side, and ended up right by the Beach Walk Mall.



Kuta Beach

We ate some lunch at the mall, then headed back towards our hotel via Poppies II. Although there were many many good looking t-shirts and bags, we were pretty turned off by how aggressive these vendors can be. It took us quite a while to find a cap for me, and by then, we didn't want to shop anymore. We were both hot and exhausted, by now we had been walking for over 4 hours, and are desperately hoping to get home. Although our main event the next day was a massage, we wanted to take advantage of  having Smart Day Spa close to us, so we decided to go there again. This time, we got the full body massage for $12, which was relaxing, but didn't have the same wow affect as the foot massage. Afterwards, we went to the near by Un's for dinner. The restaurant had perfect ambience, but the food was slightly too salty. Still, this marked a great end to our longest and hottest day in Kuta.



Dinner at Un's

Our last day in Kuta I booked us 4 hour spa treatments at Bali Green Spa. This is the number 1 ranking spa in the Kuta area on tripadvisor, and my expectations were high. The spa sent a driver to pick us up 15 minutes before our appointment, and we were taken out of Jl. Legian for the first time. The main road just outside the Jl. Legian area is Jl. Sunset, it was a much larger road and the stores on Sunset was much bigger as well.

The folks at the spa confirmed out treatment with us first and then led us to the back. They had a garden and private gazebos, I hadn't thought about how this, but I guess it made sense that they didn't have air conditioning. Unfortunately, it was 11:00am and I was starting to over heat again.

Bali Green Spa

Our massages were good but, maybe because we have had 3 massages back to back, or perhaps it's because we were well rested, it didn't give me the same affect as the Smart Day Spa massages. I had a traditional Balinese massage, an Shirodara medicinal oil treatment, a flower bath, and an ear candle treatment. The Shirodara medicinal oil treatment was interesting, an entire bottle of heated coconut oil was dipped onto my head and into my hair over the course of half an hour. The sensation was ok but I didn't really enjoy the smell of the oil. The ear candle was the other one that was "unique". Basically, a candle is wrapped in paper then stuck in your ear, they then light the candle up and wait for it to burn out. I thought my ears would at least pop or something, but I didn't actually feel much.

After the massage Keith went next door and bought some Luwak coffee for his friend. We then went back to the hotel and decided to stay out of the heat until dinner time. Honestly the 4 hour lunch time massage wore me out. We did some laundry in the hotel and went out back to grab some Nasi Goreng from Warung Pama. On the way back, I looked at the lights of Jl. Legian and was reminded of the starlit heaven I saw the last time I was here, and here I am again, but we're already about to leave. I never seem to have enough time to truly enjoy all the elements of this exciting place, but at least I saw a lot more this time around. We turned in early that night and got ready for our big day.



Harper Hotel: Our Room (left), Pool (centre), Restaurant (right)

To be continued...

Sultan Palace & Prambanan - Indonesia 4/9

After the awe inspiring tour at Borobudur we were off to see temples Pawon and Mundut which were part of the same compound as Borobudur. We arrived at Pawon, Jonny our driver asked if we'd like to try some Luwak Coffee and Joy and I happily obliged. Outside the tiny temple there was a Luwak coffee shop and a few people selling souvenirs out of their homes. Jonny recommended for us to try some Luwak coffee and we happily obliged. There was a Luwak chained to a post high up near the ceiling, who looked pretty comfortable. This Luwak coffee is apparently the most expensive type of coffee in the world, that is, if it's the real deal. It tasted strong and smooth, but not tasty enough for us to want to buy a bag home.

Luwak

Joy wanted to buy a Borobudur pagoda souvenir and consulted Jonny on how much we should pay. He thinks we shouldn't pay more than 50,000 IDR, and with that in mind, Joy set off on our first negotiation. The seller asked for 150,000 IDR initially, and Joy returned with 50,000, the seller than asked for 70,000, and we folded right after that. Johnny shook his head and laughed at how quickly we had given up, but we were pretty stoked with our souvenir and thought we got a good deal, that is, until we later met other sellers who were willing to sell to us for 25,000 IDR.

Bodhi Tree

We went to Mundut temple that was next to a gigantic bodhi tree, Joy seemed really interested in the tree. The next place we went to was the Sultan Palace, and there were free English tour guides there. Our guide was very thorough but the palace was no comparison to Borobudur.

Sultan Palace

I was starting to feel pretty hungry as we haven't eaten anything since 3:00 am (the deep fried bananas don't count much as a meal), but Johnny seems pretty enthusiastic about taking us to the water palace so we continued our tour.

Water Palace

The water palace was interesting, apparently it was the swimming pool for the Sultan and his family a long time ago, but now it's just a tourist attraction. We quickly took some pictures and hurried Jonny to take us to our lunch. Fortunately, it was only 5 minutes away and it was an Indonesia style buffet. I've never been happier to see food and gobbled down as much as I can fit in an hour.

Prambanan

The last place we went to visit was Prambanan, which was a beautiful site.  The sky was clear and sun was scorching, and we were excited to see the famous Hindu temples.  Prambanan is also a UNESCO heritage site and was undergoing major restoration.  There were over 200 temples that made up Prambanan, but many of the temples were in ruins as a result of centuries of looting.  So many of the temples looked like piles of rubble, waiting to be restored.  Jonny told us over the past decade UNESCO has only been able to restore less than ten temples, due to many missing stones.

We ended our day and headed back to the hotel.  What a wonderful day, absolutely amazing.

To be continued...