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Published: October 28th 2006
Hey everybody!!!
Yes that's right...we are back in Kuta...we just couldn't stay away for very long with the beach, massages at Jennifer Salon, our fav restaurant 'Treehouse', and of course the fact that there are things to do here at night! Our last blog left us with our last night in Kuta...That day when we were shopping we ran into Brittany Decker and her friend-I know the chances of running into my boss in Bali on Poppies 1...slim... what a small world! She was over from her job on Sumatra (another indonesian island) because it was Ramadan and everything was pretty much closed over there. We all went to Treehouse for dinner and caught up on what we had been doing since I last saw here in Aug...then I went out with some people we met that week cause it was there last night on Bali-Ash decided to stay in...the next day we headed to Sanur.
Let's just say that walking around to find a hotel while carrying our bags and now all of our shopping purchases is UGLY!!! We found our place with a pool (mandatory in all bali hotel choices!) and then began the walk into central
Sanur. Very quickly we learnt why it's nickname is 'snore'! A resort town where if you're not older you are with your 'other' for a laidback vacation...Immed we were both like I want to go back to Kuta!?...on the way back to our hotel we decided together that we did not want to have to do that walk numerous times a day and that it would be a safe place to rent a scooter, or as we like to call it the 'scoot scoot'. (Sorry Bev!...)Our deal was not to leave the smaller main road for fear of the crazy Baliense drivers and the polisi!
Sanur has all their beach resaurants on the beach which was really nice however we were on the east coast of the island now and there was no sunset to watch just a reddening of the sky?! While in Sanur we settled into a more relaxed nighttime routine...restaurant with live band, dessert and tea and some card games. Ash's famous last words when we decide to cruise the road and check out the not so great shopping -"I'm not going to buy anything, I'm just going to look!" The ladies here were much more aggressive
Balinese Dancers
can you tell which is the man and which is the woman??!!at the selling they would actually walk with you and try to convice you to buy there stuff- we decided becuase there were so few ppl around. All of our scooter rides involved a constant motivational and safety commentary as we navigated down the roads...STAY ON THE LEFT! move to the right, youre being passed, STAY ON THE LEFT!, signal, move over, watch out dog/car/scoot...and of course a lot of laughter! We survived and only almost got in two accidents...hahahha...it was just one close call...Day two we visited the Orchid gardens and took about 5000 pictures, all of the flowers were amazing, so many sizes colours and looks! Headed to the beach for some sun and a massage and then off to the reg routine (see above). By day three we had done all that there was to offer so we decided to fork over the whole $3 to use the pool and loungers at a nice resort on the beach..."Ash, I think im losing my tan I need to bump up my brown level!"
While in Sanur we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a couple cremation ceremonies-there are three parts to their ceremony: burning of the
body, releasing of the ashes and bringing the spirit to the temple to let it go. We saw the second part as well as the beginning of the third the next day....they move so fast its hard to get any good photos 😞
Next off to Ubud...the artsy area of Bali! We both think that our cabbie not only screwed us on the price but was wearing my aviator sunglasses that i think i left around our pool the day before??.... Passes about a million stone carving workshops on the way and was simply left speechless at the talent! There were tons of different statues and so much detail!!! Ubud is a tiny city but is really cool because of all the art and culture and the slightly more low key atmosphere... Again the hotel search with the backpack sooooooo HOT and sweaty! We wandered the city and the market and eventually made it down monkey forest road to the monkey forest! yep they wander free around the area and temples... For fear of getting attacked we did not purchase any bananas to give them but did take tons of pictures. The temples were beautiful..but im not going to
lie to you we spent most of the time with the monkeys...Ash wanted a pic with one, that only took three tries because I was too slow the first time, her expression was too close to deathly fear the second (but i did manage to be fast enough to catch 2 monkeys doin it!! hahahah)...I also tried to get a pic but apparently scared it somehow and it showed its teeth to me... stand up and walk away slowly! Day 2 was decidly the BIG shopping day! All went well until i realized i left my visa in the bank machine and spent at least a couple hours phoning the bank and organizing the meeting to pick up my card! But i got it back! and we both still managed spend a pretty penny and get some good stuff -dont worry it wasnt all for us just mostly- That night we headed to the Ubud palace to see the Lebong and Barong dance...they have a way of moving their eyes and heads and shoulders thats really just interesting! There was also some difficulty differentiating between male and female characters?! It was a beautiful performace and although tough to follow at times we both totally enjoyed the time! Based on conversation with friends we ran into from Kuta we decided not to head to the north of the island...boring, beach wasnt great... day 3 -we rented our cabbie IMade for the day and began our tour of the temples and mountains and other... It turned out to be an 8 1/2 day where we saw a wood carving and silver and gold workshop, Besikah (the largest temple on Bali), Gunung Kawi, a waterfall, breathtaking rice terraces, smaller villages, the volcano mountains, and Goa Gajah (the elephant cave)...I wont go into everydetail because it took up like 6 pages in my journal but ill cover some of the hightlights: ash managed to put her foot in the mud at the waterfall (not again), we got scamed by the people at Besikah..you need to wear a sash/pay to go in and parking/pay a guide...but the temple was amazing! many different temples for the different classes of people, royal families, the central one and more! the view from the temple took your eyes right out to the coastline! From there we decided not to see another temple that would look exactly alike... Gunung Kawi was our fav because it was surrounded by rice terraces, a beautiful river and the shrines carved into the rock face were a unique sight! Our driver stopped at a fruit stand for us to try some new fruit and yes we ended up buying some- 'snake skin' fruit that tastes like a sweet apple but is dry?!, a little red guy that is very tasty but i have no idea what it is, some lychee nuts, and of course some mangos for ash (let's just say the noises she was making while eating it sounded nothing like eating! the best shes ever had she said) At the elephant cave we were both about to keel over with heat, hunger and the pain of walking more stairs (EVERY temple has like a billion stairs!) We chilled out for a long time in the room and then went to a local restaurant to catch a movie!
Yesterday we caught a ride back into Kuta and felt the joy of being somewhere that kinda feels familiar! "I am being punished for my consumerism" Ash said as we struggled to walk the 3 minutes to the cab with all of our bags! Our shared box to ship home has quickly become whats the largest and heaviest we can ship in one box! Ran into Britt and Bonnie again and have made plans to go out dancing tonight! I got absolutely worked over by the massage lady. Lesson learnt the hard way: the tinier the lady the stronger her hands! i agreed to strong and WOW! she was literally standing on the bed and pushing into my back!
One last thing that needs to be included...we had a bit of an insect/rodent scare over the past couple of days that i think all of you would enjoy hearing a bit about.... Rememer how Ash is afraid of bats?! well lets just say we had close encounters with about half a dozen and ash quickly grabs me to shield her body and then squeels...I think she is in denial that bats are everywhere, even in Vic! then then when we were in Ubud there was gecko that would sit outside our room calling out all night, or the 'really big' gecko that we heard climbing in the ceiling (or at least that was what we told ourselves while sweating profusely cuckoned in our sheet with the worst fan ever, or the large cockroach that we found in our shower last night! YEP sounds like fun doesnt it....Ash is considering not leaving the room after dark, but i reminded her that that may not even be safe??!!
Anyways Halloween is close and I have no idea what we will dress up like but I hope all of you have fun and are safe! Take pics of all the cute kids I will want to see all dressed up -spence, riley, brett, bryden and courtney!
Sorry there haven't been many phone calls but it costs about $1 a minute here to make the international phone call but internet is cheap! Keep the messages coming we love to hear from all of you! love you and miss you xoxoxoxox
Jen and Ashley
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De
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missing you :)
Hey Ladies, Hope you are enjoying the HOT weather as it's starting to get awfully cold back home!! I am living vicariously through you as I attempt to finish my final practicum. Can't wait to party when you get back!! Love you lots, xoxoxo De