Bali: the Cancun of Indonesia

First of all, Bali was a much needed break, and I would call it a successful vacation.  Here are some of the highlights that I wrote about in my journal while there. 

1. We saw the stars every single night. That may not seem like a big deal to most people back home, especially if you’ve been spoiled like me at my dad’s farm and have grown up seeing the Big Dipper all of the time in the night sky. Anyways, in Jakarta, there is too much smog and light pollution, so there is no chance of seeing the stars.  The best part was that no one recognized any of the constellations of the southern hemisphere. 

2.  We played in the waves of the Indian Ocean. We headed to the beach on our first full day in Bali, and I was not expecting the waves. I did know that most of the beaches are considered ‘surfer’ beaches, so I should’ve put two and two together, but I have not had much experience swimming in the ocean.  The highlight of the ocean was walking out away from the shore, where the water was waist-high, at most, and watching the waves build up higher than my head.  For the most part, I could jump up and catch the wave before it broke, but there were a few that were bigger and took me out. The only bad part about those times was that my swimsuit bottoms also got taken away, and kept almost falling off…not to mention getting full of sand. Yuck! Needless to say, I was sure to rinse off in the pool at our hotel before I took a shower at the end of that day. I didn’t try to surf, but it was fun to watch the people who were surfing. Some of the guys even used the waves to body surf, which was just as entertaining to watch. 

3.  We hiked up the Mt. Batur volcano in the dark, so we could get to the top in time for the sunrise at 6:30 a.m.  It was worth waking up at 1:00 a.m., riding in a van for 2 hours, then following a guide with a flashlight to the top of the volcano (don’t worry, we each had our own flashlight as well).  The climb was intense, but the view from the top was spectacular!  We could also see the island of Lombok in the distance; just another place I would like to visit since it’s near the Gili Islands, which are supposed to be absolutely beautiful.  Our guides fed us a breakfast of a fried banana sandwich and hardboiled eggs, which were all cooked using the steam from the volcano.  The trek back down the volcano was even more terrifying than the way up.  I was afraid that Ben and Josh would run us over (or fall on top of us) as they jumped from rock to rock, mimicking our guides’ expert descending skills (who, by the way, take that trip at least once each day, sometimes twice). 

4.  The hotel where we stayed was tucked next to a rice paddy that stretched back a long ways, where we saw workers doing their thing during a few of the days we were there.  There were a bunch of villas, a pool, a small fitness room, as well as a buffet breakfast provided each morning.   On days we weren’t out and about exploring nearby volcanoes or going scuba diving, we could spend the morning next to the pool, taking a dip whenever we got too hot in the sun.  Then, we could either move ourselves to the beach (just a 10-15 minute walk away from the hotel, or they provided a shuttle at 10 and then again at 1) or we could venture to the nearby restaurants and shops.  I don’t know how we lucked out with such a great place.  I’ll give Josh the credit, because he is the one who booked the guys’ room at the hotel first, and then we followed suit.

5.  We hiked around Ulu Watu Beach for part of the day on Sunday, and then ended up at the Ulu Watu temple just before sunset.  Impressively enough, this actually was part of our plan from the beginning, because the temple is built on the edge of an ocean-front cliff where we heard there is traditional Balinese dancing at sundown.  The beginning of our beach adventure was originally going to be relaxing and swimming at a different beach than the beach that is closer to our hotel (Ulu Watu was about a 45-minute taxi ride away).  Well, we got to Ulu Watu and realized there was a bunch of coral where we wanted to swim, so we decided, instead, to hike along the beach filled with huge stones.  We figured we could venture further down and meet up with the other beaches we had seen signs for on our way.  It was definitely an enjoyable adventure, and we had a beach walk that was mostly devoid of other tourists and people (granted, we were hiking over a bunch of rocks).  When we finally made it to where we assume was Padang Padang Beach, we found stairs leading up the side of the cliff. We took these, walked to the main road (which just happened to be named Pentai, which means ‘beach’) and were lucky to catch a cab to take us to the temple.  The tickets to the dance were sold out, but it was an amazing view of the ocean, yet again. 

6.  We traveled to Ubud, a city about one hour north of where we were staying in Seminyak.  We walked around the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, which was cool, however, it was creepy to realize how many monkeys were around.  Our driver then took us to the downtown area where we ate at a delicious pork restaurant that we read about in our Indonesia guidebook.  Then, we explored a temple and walked around in some shops for awhile.  Next, per our driver’s suggestion, we went to the Elephant Cave and explored again.  Nicole and I ventured away from the beaten path, following a sign that directed us to the second temple.  We just happened to run into Kristina, who was exploring a cave she found, and by the time we got halfway to the second temple, we realized we didn’t have time to continue walking if we wanted to get back to the rest of the group in time, so we turned around.  It was a great addition to our trip (the Elephant Cave), which just goes to show that we should always ask the driver for suggestions of where to go (not that we always have to go to said places) because they're the locals and know what is cool to visit.  

7.  There was a small group of us who wanted to try to scuba dive, so we took a day to try it out.  We took a taxi to Nusa Dua (away from Seminyak for about 45 minutes) and met up with the diver who would take us.  I wore the whole shebang: a wet suit, goggles, air tank and even a weighted belt to keep me from floating to the top.  It was very strange to only breath in and out of my mouth, but I got used to it (because there was no other choice).  The pressure wasn’t too bad, especially after I finally got my ears to pop.  There were two divers in the water with the four of us, and one-by-one, they led us down about ten meters to the ocean floor.  At the bottom, there was a railing where I hung on, to keep myself from floating up and away.  I hung out there, and enjoyed watching the fish swimming by.  We each had a plastic baggie of bread that we could use to feed the fish and lure them closer.  One of the divers had an underwater camera, so I’m excited to see the picture c.d. we bought of our underwater adventure.   

All in all, the trip was amazing, and I will be very tempted to return to Bali (especially after one of my co-workers told me that normal plane tickets to Bali are only around $100. Ours were way more than that because of the peak tourist season and the Lebaron Holiday).  There is quite a nightlife in Bali, as well.  It was full of tourists, many of whom were Australian, and we went out dancing two of the nights we were there.  Even though it was weird to see so many white people, the locals knew English really well, which made it a bit easier to bargain while I was shopping.  Although, I am at the point where I want to be able to use the words and phrases of Indonesian that I have learned, and they were very impressed/confused when I could speak a little bit of their language, which made me feel good. Of course they followed it with "You speak Indonesian?", which I could reply, "a little".  

 So, moral of the story…anyone who wants to visit me will go to Bali at some point during their trip here.  Any objections? Good.