After 3 flights I made it to Bali. It was pouring down rain. I cleared customs quickly and walked out to see a million people holding signs. I found the guy from Bali Tour Magic with mine, then had to walk through a shop to get to him, like at Disney World. They drive on the other side of the road and in the middle and sometimes on the wrong side. Scooters go wherever they want and some of the cars do too. The driver and I talked about the Hindu religion and he explained the Penjo lining the street. It is a bamboo and palm leaf creation that represents a dragon or sky and earth, it is a sign of welcome. They are currently in one of their biannual ceremonies called Galungan. During this time their dead relatives come visit. It took just over an hour to get to Marissa’s Villa in rush hour traffic. I settled in and toured her beautiful villa. I was warned about cockroaches and her surprise guest, a Luwok (looks like a cat and a dog mixed). The villa is three bedrooms and has open air kitchen/living room. She also has her own pool. We then went to dinner down the street at a western place (Old Man’s), in the rain by scooter. Marissa is an ok driver, but I was still afraid for my life. We tried to find a local sim card for my phone, but they didn’t have one. The scenery is beautiful even in the dark. There a temples all over. Each village is required to have at least three temples. We went back to the house and chilled while trying to stay awake as long as I could. I only made it to 10:30.
Day 2 - After Marissa’s delicious homemade banana pancakes, we started the morning with a surf lesson. We had to walk all the way to the surf spot without shoes. It was not pleasant on my sensitive feet. Things became worse when we had to get out in the water. The waves were really bad and the shore break was not easy to navigate. It was not fun at all attached to a surf board. Then it was a workout to move around to get to where the good waves were. The first few waves I caught I took them on my belly and did some knee boarding. Then I became more comfortable and I was able to stand up. Marissa took some pictures while she was on her board. It was a lot of work, I knew I was going to be sore and have multiple bruises. After my two hour lesson I was ready for a nap. The way to shore was not as hard because Nova took my board for me. We then had the long bare foot walk back to surf school. From there we rinsed off and headed to a local place for lunch. At this restaurant you tell them how many people and what you want to drink, from there they bring everyone out the same thing. It is whatever the meal of the day is. I didn’t ask and just ate it. I thought it was mostly chicken, however it turned out to be all pork. It was good except one part was really spicy. With just one bite, my mouth was on fire and my cheeks turned red. We had asked for less spice on mine, but it still was too much for me. Then we hopped back on the scooters and went back to Marissa’s villa to rest and shower. Her shower is the whole bathroom so everything on the floor becomes wet when you shower. After my shower when I opened the bedroom door a humongous bee/hornet flew right into my room. Nova said it was poisonous, but he also says the frogs here are poisonous too. I have to do some research.
Next we headed out to Tanah Lot Temple (Pura Tanah Lot). The temple is located on a rock off the shore and cannot be accessed at high tide. It is a popular tourist destination, people were everywhere. It was really cloudy so we didn’t not see the beautiful sunset behind the temple. We stayed till dark and saw the spirt snake (extremely poisonous), that is said to protect the temple. I received a blessing in the holy spring under the temple. In the dark, by a lite path we walked the coast to a place where Marissa and Nova go to surf. From the cliff we were on, tons of tourist watch and cheer for the surfers daily. It is really a dangers place, people have fallen from the cliffs, straight down into the rocky surf and are killed from the waves hitting them against the rocks. There were signs everywhere to stay back. We then headed to buy dinner from local street carts. We went to three different carts and each one gave us the food in plastic bags. Even the soup was put in a plastic bag. This is really convenient because you can hook the plastic bag on the scooter without having to carry it. Everything was good except the chilies. Then Marissa’s had a friend came over, we relaxed and drank at the villa as we watched a thunderstorm pass over. The geckos are also fun to watch, but the flies here are kind of annoying.
Day 3 - We woke
up to rain, ate breakfast and then were pick up by our driver to go to Ubud. The first stop was the Ubud Sacred Monkey
Forest. It was very amazing to see. It is an actual forest with temples and lots
of wild monkeys throughout. Where we
first walked in there was a bunch of momma monkeys with little babies. They were so cute. The monkeys here are well feed so they don’t
bother the people too much unless they think you have something for them to
eat. We strolled through the trails and
walked down to a stream. It was like a
jungle with all kinds of vines and trees.
Very peaceful except for the occasional monkey fights or unexpected
tourist yells after monkey encounters. From there we went on to the center of Ubud where
we picked up a Starbucks on the way to the market. The sun started to come out at this time
which made shopping the market really warm.
Marissa was able to pick up lots of gifts for her family, some things
for her villa and I found a few things to bring home as well. The market was all about negotiation which
was good however the random smells and heat were not very pleasant at
times. We grabbed lunch at a local
restaurant where I had a chicken salad sandwich that I ate with a knife and
fork. From there we headed to see the
medicine man. I went first after putting
on a sarong. The original man is still
alive, but he was not there. His son
gave the readings. He said that I was
beautiful and healthy, that I was very intelligent, charismatic and had good
karma (right now). I should keep doing the
right things to keep my good karma. He
said that I am fit and that if I get fat I will be unhappy, so I should keep
exercising. He asked if I do yoga or
meditation and said that I need to do more to exercise my thoughts for balance
and to keep looking young. He said that
I am popular and very well liked. When
he read my palm he started off with my life line and that I would live till I
am 90. For work, he said I am successful
now and make more then I need. He said
that if I choose to do something different then marketing I will be successful,
but only when I make the choice for myself.
He said I need to take at least one big holiday each year to keep me
happy. For love, he said I will only be
married once and that I need to be patient.
He said “the boy” I marry will be handsome and successful. When I get married I will honeymoon in Bali. I will have up to three children, the first a ,
then girl and the third will be whatever I want. I found the whole thing interesting. It was a lot like my physic reading a few
years ago. Marissa’s reading was a
little more detailed. This was her third
reading from the same guy, however he didn’t remember her. From there we headed back to the villa. Traffic was a little worse than in the morning,
but we were able to see a beautiful view of the volcano. The colors of this place pop in the sun
light. We also saw some Hindu religious
parades through the street. All of the
people were wearing white tops and white head pieces, some had drums and then a
few people were in a dragon costume. We
also passed the police running in the road like you would see at boot camp.
After a
quick break it was time for a valentine’s hour long massage. It’s funny how the closer you are to the beach
the higher the price is, but Marissa knows the best places. After that we went to a local restaurant
where they have a case of food and you simply point at what you want and they
add it to your plate. It is really
cheap, however nothing is labeled. Marissa
had to explain what it all was. She and
I shared one plate of about 7 different things.
It was mostly good. The flavors and
textures are different from what I am used to, but still delicious. After dinner we stopped at the “super market”
to pick up a few things I could eat during the week while Marissa was at
work. There was a lot of junk food and
lots of knock off brands. We then went
back to the villa and relaxed for the night while face timing friends. I am not a fan of seeing all the bats at
night. You can see them fly over her
pool.Monday – I woke up too early again, my body has not adjusted completely to the time difference. I saw Marissa off to work and wasted some time while her house keeper came to clean up. I wish I had someone to clean up after me all the time. I then got ready and walked down the road to the vendor to try to find a local sim card for my phone. I was unsuccessful again. It was already hot out with no clouds and I was sweating in the shade. I took the 20 minute walk to Echo beach. On the way I passed lots of temples, rice fields, and cows. Echo beach is where I had my surf lesson, but instead of going to the left I went to the right which is where the real experienced surfers catch waves. The sand this way was darker and sparkles in the sun. The waves were really big. When the surfers caught them they would try and do tricks. Nova said the water is really not that deep and you can get hurt easy in that area. I walked along the beach and sat in the shade to rest. I went to a beachfront restaurant and had a strawberry daiquiri while still watching the surfers and using the free wifi. I took one more walk down the beach then went to the surf school to meet up with Nova. We went on his motorcycle to Marissa’s store in Seminyak. It was really big with a ton of high end different handmade/designer things. We all walked to the dive shop (http://www.adventure-scuba-diving.com) and booked my scuba trip for Tuesday. Then it was time for shopping. There was a wide mix of higher end stores, knockoffs and souvenir shops. Apparently pornographic statues and male part statues are not banned in Bali, but porn is. I was able to find some orchids to take home for my dad. I am not sure if it even is a native Bail plant, but the bottle says Bali. We grabbed some dinner on the way out of Seminyak then headed home to have a good night sleep since we had to be up early to be transferred to the dive spot.
Tuesday –
Woke up bright and early and watch the sun rise from my bathroom. Marissa dropped me off at the scuba
shop. It took us about an hour and a
half to get to Padang Bay. The drive was
beautiful when we were close, you could see the lush green mountains to the
left and the beach to the right. There
were 5 of us diving and 2 instructors. I
went with one Swedish boy and Fredrick was our dive instructor. Fredrick was very nice and patient. Our first dive was at Blue Lagoon. It was my first time falling backwards out of
a boat. I had 4kg of weights and was
having a hard time staying down at the bottom.
The dive was still good we saw lots of fish and little ells. Fredrick was pointing at a few thing, but
some I didn’t know what they were. Then he
pointed out an octopus mostly in a hole and a colorful snail. We took a 36 minute dive and then stayed 48
minutes at the surface before changing locations. We then took a 39 minute dive. We saw a lot more coral on this dive and a
lot more fish. The best part was the two
different turtles. One was chilling at
the bottom, it took me a minute to see it.
We watched it swim away. The
second one was on its way up to the surface for air. I saw lots of puffer fish, angelfish and lots
of little brightly colored fish. We
didn’t see any sharks which I was happy about.
I had some trouble with my right ear, but other than that the day was
really fun. They gave us lunch which was
traditional Indonesian food. I didn’t
like the fish or the spice vegetables.
After that we headed back to the dive shop and it became really cloudy
but didn’t rain. It was a little early
for Marissa to leave work so I killed some time. On the way back to the villa I did some GoPro
video of the crazy driving here. Marissa
made a great chicken dinner and we went to the beach at night. We went to the local bar then walked back out
to the beach. The ocean is so calming
and the sky was clear. You could see all
the stars.Wednesday – Between last night and this morning the food hit me hard. I had a rough morning and just relaxed at the villa. I rested by the pool and took a few dips when the heat became too much. I got caught up on my journaling while listening to music. Marissa made brats for dinner. was able to eat half of one which was basically all I ate all day. We hung out and watched Eat Pray Love for a relaxing night.
Thursday – Woke up still not 100%, but went surfing anyway. The ocean was much more calm which made me feel better about them saying I did so well for my first time and that the waves were really bad last Saturday. I did really well again. I didn’t receive any more bruises, but I did get tossed around and the ankle strap gave me a rug burn on one fall. I road one wave a really long time. The sun was out at full strength so the back of my legs and tops of my hands got sun burn even with sun screen on. It was a hot one. After 2 hours of surfing I ate lunch at Echo beach overlooking the ocean, then Nova took me back to the villa. I am pretty sure I saw locals clean the intestines of an animal they just killed on the ground next to the street. I showered then headed in an Uber to Uluwatu Temple. It was an hour and 15 min drive. I bought my ticket and put on a sarong. There was absolutely no directions or maps so I just wandered around. The temple is called Uluwatu or Pura Luhur Uluwatu. It is one of six key temples in Bali. It is built on a steep cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean. Like some of the other temples, this one had monkeys too. Monkeys are believed to guard the temple from bad influences. As, I was leaving, later one hugged my leg. I am not sure what he was trying to do, but it scared me and I screamed. I went up to the main temple and walked the cliff before having to return to see the Kecak Ramayana & Fire dance at 6pm. It was really hot, I did my best to stay in the shade but was sweating the majority of the time. Siting waiting for the dance we were overlooking the ocean. It was beautiful. The dance itself was more like a play with chanting men. It’s a story about a husband and wife where the wife is kidnaped and he has to enlist monkeys to help save her. There were many comical parts of the dance and very elaborate costumes. The sunset in the background during the performance which was beautiful. After the dance you could take pictures with the performers and then they kicked everyone out. I had some problems getting a taxi. I was helped by some locals. It was a little shady, I paid too much, but I made it Potato Head Bar to meet Marissa. I was starving. This was a really trendy place with an endless pool. The food and drinks were a little fancy but good. The service however was not that great. It rained for a little bit while we ate. Thankfully it stopped raining by the time we headed home on the scooter.
Friday – Slow start today then took a Grab Taxi to Tegenungan Waterfall about an hour away by Uber. It was a hike through the jungle down to the waterfall. You could see a smaller waterfall to the left as you went down to the big one. There were a ton of tourist. On the walk down some English speaking girls were complaining about all the steps as they were walking back up. It really was not that far. The steps were all different sizes so you had to be careful. When I got down to the base of the waterfall I put my feet in. The water was cool and refreshing. The spray also felt good after the long walk. I sat and took a little rest before going in. There was a “lifeguard” there however basically everywhere you could stand up. It was really fun. The people watching was amazing too. Lots of people posing for pictures and going directly under the falls. The water was mostly clear. Since it is the rainy season they said the water can be muddy. After drying off a little I set out back up to the top to find a ride back to the villa. Taxis here are not easy to find. I ended up on a scooter for an hour ride back. It was a little cloudy so the sun was not as bad. When I arrived we had some dinner then went out to a reggae club. At first it was a little weird. The band was fun and there was a big crowed. We had a blast.
Saturday – We needed a relaxing morning after getting in at 4am. We set out for surfing at noon. The waves were not good at the surf school so we headed up the coast in search of waves. We tried two other beaches with no luck. When we got to Dannga we decided to try it. The waves were bad and it was a lot shallower then Echo beach. I didn’t do very well. The sun was extremely hot in the morning. When we started to surf some clouds rolled in then a big storm came by the time we were done. It was an extremely heavy rain which cooled everything down. From there we tried to go to a good salad place but it was closed. Today is the day before their celebration day. Most places are usual open on Saturdays because Bali has a 6 day work week. We decided to have Mexican instead. I had a really good taco salad. Then we had an issue with the surf van, the key broke. Another person brought the extra key that turned out to not be the right key to the van so we had to switch vans completely. By the time we got back to surf school it stopped raining. We went directly to an hour long messages and then back home to shower. Marissa and I had a chill night at the villa while a few more thunderstorms rolled past for my last full night in Bail.
Sunday – Last full day in Bali. Marissa and I grabbed a smoothie bowl before heading out to the Bali Safari & Marine Park. It was a mix of a safari tour, zoo and fresh water aquarium. They also have a water park and fun zone. There as an orangutan loose when we got there. It was really funny five people we trying to catch him. The security was nothing like in the USA. We saw an interesting elephant show then walk through the petting zoo before eating lunch with the lions. We ate at the Tsavo Lion Restaurants which was right next to the lioness den on the safari tour. There was a full length glass wall around the whole restaurant so you could see everything going on in the zoo. Then we saw the komodo dragons on our way to our safari. There was a lot to see. We went through habitats of Indonesia, India, and Africa. You could take the safari by elephant back if you signed up early enough. That would have been interesting. We didn’t get to see the piranha feeding, which was a little upsetting. They also have a night safari where they put you in a caged tram to see and feed the animals at night. After the zoo we went back to the villa to pack and eat dinner. Marissa is a great cook with all the limitations of groceries here. We took one more trip to the beach to soak it all in before my flight home. My taxi came at 10 and it was hard to leave. I only had two flights home with a stop in Korea. It was not as bad as I thought it would be.
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