Bali Bliss

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This marks the end of a week long exploration of Bali, one of, if not the most, famous islands in Indonesia. Unlike the rest of Indonesia, Balinese are Hindus rather than Muslims, thus managing to retain a distinctive culture of its own. That is but only the beginning of its charm though. With beaches after beaches surrounded by gorgeous clear waters and great surf breaks, Bali is a mecca for the sun-worshippers. Despite living just 2 hours away by flight, I'm ashamed to say this is only my first time here.


Tue 5th Sept 2006 - KUTA
Arrived late in the evening at Denpasar and hired a cab into Kuta (To do this, you have to purchase a ticket at the ticket office before you are led away to the waiting cab). The narrow streets were flanked on both sides with endless rows of shops, restaurants and people. We passed enough stalls filled with sunglasses and all manner of summer wear. Colourful and definitely vibrant! Our driver, a 25-yr-old who looked all of 15, got lost on our way to New Arena Hotel, where we'd booked a night and explained in limited english that he was new to the job. We found it in the end, after circling Kuta Central thrice, in a small alley. Grabbed some prawn curry at the hotel restaurant to keep from starving and learnt from Wayan, the manager, that his was the most popular/common name in Bali. It was very peaceful as we sat in our terrace overlooking a pretty pool, attempting to smoke the tiny bag of tea leaves that J had unwittingly bought in mistaken identlty from a friendly local.


Wed 6th Sept 2006 - SEMINYAK
Today's the day. After punching the numbers in the calculator more than many times, I'd finally persuaded J to indulge in a day of luxury living in honour of my birthday and today is the designated day. Spent the morning checking out surf schools but before we could settle on anything, it was noon and time to get going. Our chauffeur was waiting to take us to Seminyak, where we were booked into Sesari Villa for the day. I am very pleased to say that the villa looked just as lovely as it did on the website and quite took our breaths away. Having flown 20 hours in from London just two days before, J was inwardly happy with Project Recovery - our plan to vegetate today. After we'd been welcomed by a team of staff, J and I alternated our lazing between our very own private pool and the massive four-poster bed. The outdoor bathroom was super cool too!

Stepped out for lunch and a walk to the beach, passing many other luxury villas and hotels along the way, some of them for sale. Seminyak is lined with posh resorts but the town itself is nothing to look at. Lots of construction work going on, so it was actually rather dusty and since most of the resorts are self-sufficient, there is very little life on the streets, so we found it slightly dull to be honest. The beach was of ash-sand so had an interesting blackish quality to it, but was also very quiet.

Sometime in the evening, we ventured to a massage parlour for some scrubbing and rubbing. Was a bit disappointed when I discovered that they didn't have the facilities to offer a proper mandi lulur, but nonetheless, a massage was better than nothing. J wasn't impressed though - apparently his tender skin didn't agree with manipulation by the strong fingers of the masseuse. Maybe if the masseuse had been prettier, the discomfort wouldn't have seemed as much?

Doused in aromatic oils, we proceeded for dinner. Seminyak is an up and rising town known for its trendy eateries like KuDeTa but we decided on Widi's Warung instead, a dimly lit eatery with red walls hung with funky paintings. The steak was a tad salty but the Bintang beer kept J mighty happy. The highlight though, was when we started talking to this long-haired guest, a friend of the boss, who turned out to be the artist of the paintings that we'd been admiring! Salem revealed that he was rather famous in Bali, but I've not successfully googled any results on that yet, so don't have any background info to offer on him.

Salon Jegeg: cheap massage at RP49,000. Jl. Laksmana No 4B Oberoi, Seminyak. 081337017309
Widi's Warung: Friendly service, nice ambience. Jl. Laksmana No 54A, Oberoi, Seminyak.


Thu 7th Sept 2006 - SANUR
The resort staff cook breakfast right in your villa kitchen, just tick against a form the items you fancied eating. After some reluctantly final dips in the pool, we left for Sanur, our departure point to Nusa Lembongan where we were looking forward to diving with (hopefully) the Mola Mola . I'd selected from the Lonely Planet guidebook this dive operator to enquire at, only to find out after some extensive driving that it had already closed down. And all the ferry services had stopped operating for the day. We hunted for a cheap lodge and stumbled upon Yulia's Homestay. Spacious room with an ensuite linked by a quirky passage. The guesthouse's restaurant, Billy's Cafe, serves a filling seafood mee goreng and nasi campur. Headed to the pier where after a short walk, we hired 2 bicycles and explored the far reaches of Sanur Beach thus. The long straight stretch of beach with the occasional Balinese family splashing about in the waters makes for easy and very scenic cycling. Attempted to visit the stone pillar behind Pura Belangjong, which is Bali's oldest dated artefact with ancient Sanskrit inscriptions. Sadly, dusk fell and without lights on our bikes, we chickened out of scouring the unlit roads. Heading back in the dark was challenging and slow affair (where I was concerned anyway) for I was paranoid about swerving off the bends of the pavement into the rising tide. Dinner at Guya Santrian however, was relaxing with a seaview table. J had swordfish with roast almonds while I couldn't resist trying the exotic-sounding Mahi-mahi and Arak Mystery cocktail. The Mahi-Mahi, which apparently means dolphin fish in Hawaii (?) was a bit dry in texture but it did come with a roti prata, shaped rather interestingly like a Yorkshire pudding.
J murdered two huge cockroaches that night in our bathroom, the second feeding on the injured first alive - we couldn't take the sight. But guess who had the enviable task of cleaning up after?

Yulia 2 Homestay & Billy's Cafe: Convenient location. Jl. Danau Tamblingan 57, Sanur. [phone]/ [e-mail]


Fri 8th Sept 2006 - NUSA LEMBONGAN
We sat on a local bemo for the first time to get to the pier where we took the Perama tourist boat over to Nusa Lembongan. This boat departs once a day at 10.30am and is recommended over the earlier one at 7.45am which ferries the locals and their livestock. Even the one we took, the boat was maximised with loads of stuff for the locals on the destination island, literally. The boatmen piled on a motorbike and a water tank (they needed three men to move this along), amidst other miscellaneous items. Another option would have been the 9.30am Scoot Speedboat, which takes about half the time as the public boats, but costs much more, just like the Bounty Cruises. Anyhow the hour and half long ride wasn't too bad, albeit a bit wet. We alighted at Jungutbatu Beach and following a bit of accommodation shopping and thanks to low season, we bargained a deal at Ketut's beachfront Losmen. Our room overlooked the sea and had hot water - very good value for its price. Ate yummy pizza in the neighbouring Sukanusa, booked our dive trip for tomorrow with World Diving that's run by a British couple, hired a motorbike and went off to see the rest of the island. N.L. is a base for divers heading for the bigger sister island Nusa Penida, as well as for surfers looking for more advanced practice. The main economy on the island however, is not tourism but rather seaweed farming and this can be seen from the various peaks on the island, especially at low tide. The true charm of N.L to me though, lies in the secluded little alcoves of white sand around the island. We sought out Mushroom Bay and Dream Beach where I tanned and J snorkelled. Poor J, his slippers, placed on a reef, got swept out by the rising tide and he had to perform some acrobatics around the craggy seabed to retrieve them. Rounded up the day with a sumptuous dinner at Bungalow Agung with their Catch of the Day, fresh tuna.


Sat 9th Sept 2006
Dive time! Ever since I'd found out that one of the best times in 2006 for spotting the elusive Mola-Mola aka Sunfish is the first week of September, I'd hardly been able to contain my excitement and have been planning my Bali trip around this, in the hope that I'd get to be one of the privileged. I worried though that we might already be too late in the week for such a chance. Besides, we had only today (more specifically 2 dives) to encounter one. First dive was at Pura Red, which offered the usual fare, according to the more experienced divers onboard anyway. Me, having just completed my course 2 weeks ago, was naturally still quite awed by the colourful reefs and fishes darting all around. But as the morning wore on, there was lesser hope of seeing a Mola-Mola, for the second site, Crystal Bay, was already packed with hordes of divers. But lo and behold, within minutes of entering the water, we saw it! The sunfish rose from deep within the waters and hovered at about 24m, eyeing us curiously. It was just a few metres from me and it was so big! Easily 2m across, this is one round disc of a fish! Good thing we were one of the first to see the fish as shortly after the other divers saw it too and swarmed around, scaring the fish back into the deep again. Shame though, for it's been spotted at 7m before and visibility at that level would have been so much better! Nonetheless, we'd accomplished the mission of the dive so J & I were two very happy people. In addition, we spotted a very long banded seasnake after that, though I was rather nervous about being just a couple of metres directly above it, given what happened to Steve Irwin. Thankfully the snake had its head buried in a hole in the reef.

Still charged with adrenaline after lunch, we headed for the beaches again. Tim, a fellow diver from Scotland, joined us. We took a different and longer route today which turned out not so great for Tim, whose bicycle gear failed to work and he had to struggle very hard uphill. The two boys snorkelled at Mushroom Bay as I resumed baking in the sun. They came back an hour later trilling about the lionfish they'd nearly stepped on but spotted just in time. Lonely Planet recommended watching the sunset from cafe Ware-Ware but we saw nothing as we quenched our thirst there, waiting in vain. Yet another missed sunset, darn. We did have fun chatting though. It was bbq-ed red snapper for us three that night.


Sun 10th Sept 2006 - UBUD
Leaving behind the sea, we crossed back to Sanur and carried on inland to the mountains. We stopped at Ubud, our base for our next major activity - climbing the active volcano Mount Batur. The 40min long bus journey to Ubud led us past plenty of shops selling handicrafts and artworks in all forms and sizes. In the town centre too, the boutiques displayed the best range of clothing that I've seen thus far in Bali - very exquisitely designed and pretty handiworks. Ubud lives up to its reputation as the cultural hub of Bali indeed. At the bus depot, we were approached by a mild mannered man offering to carry our backpack if we would just have a look at his guesthouse. We agreed after some hesitation and weren't disappointed. Tunjung Bungalows was a family compound with lush gardens. We had the newest room and though the hot water didn't work as consistently, it was still ok. We arranged for the next day's hike through the landlord, Tuk, at a significantly lower price than what had been quoted at the bus depot and tourist information before searching for lunch. We had some amazing nasi kuning at Warung Laba-laba, a three-month old restaurant then cakes that looked better than they tasted at Cafe Kedai, then explored the Monkey Forest Sanctuary. The sanctuary had some towering willow trees and lovely streams winding along, sparkling prettily where the rays of sunshine piercing through the dense foliage hit the water. Strangely they had a deer enclosure and when J got too close to the females, a protective male stepped up forth to challenge him. Sure gave us a laugh. Together with Tuk and his 3 yr old son Kadek, we also visited Petulu, a village half an hour from Ubud central and where flocks of white herrons were known to swarm back for roosting in the evenings, creating a fairly pretty sight. Think we were greeted with more mosquitoes than herrons actually... Dinner at WR Artini was a letdown, after which we decided to order in advance our dinner for tomorrow night with Tuk's wife. Yes, it takes a whole day to prepare the Balinese smoked duck. And Ubud, being the centre of creativity and arts, is also renowned for its excellent cuisine. We went to bed at 8pm to recharge.

Tunjung Bungalows: Jl. Sugriwa Padang Tegal, Ubud
WR Laba-laba: Jl. Hanoman 49 Padang Tegal Kelod, Ubud

Mon 11th Sept
We rose at 2.30am, had a light snack and headed for the volcano. What a long day this was to be. Tuk drove us for an hour along winding roads up and down steep hills before we reached the base of Mt Batur. An alternative to such an early journey is staying at Danau Batur, which is much nearer than Ubud, but we'd wanted to maximise our time in Ubud. This was my first mountain climb ever, so maybe it was nerves but I hadn't slept a wink and the lack of sleep triggered a cold, so it wasn't the best start for me. So, in the darkness, we trotted off to conquer the 1717m peak, accompanied by a schoolboy who climbed the mountain everyday with a bag of soft drinks and water to sell along the way. I really admired his spirit. And oh, did it serve me right for my usually sedate lifestyle! My unfitness started showing in no time and throughout the rest of the ascent, the only other person I saw huffing and puffing like me was this girl from the group just ahead of us and guess what, she's Singaporean too. That sure says an embarrassing lot about the state of us. You can imagine how sweet a victory it was when we finally arrived at the summit. There was a shack offering hot drinks and we got a hot chocolate to stave off the biting cold. We also bought a bottle of mineral water at cut-throat price from the boy, who promptly backed down the mountain to attend school.

The sunrise was well worth the arduous climb. It first peeked from behind a curtain of clouds and mist but soon rose high and powerful in the sky. The pink and orange hues gently lit the lake up and with the imposing Mt Agung in the backdrop, created a surreal aura. Our guide tried to get us to fork out more money to cross the crater rim over to the active side of the volcano, but we clarified that we had indeed already paid for the full package. He shrugged it off and proceeded to show the rest of the way. During the ascent, he had been most attentive and very helpful, but following this exchange, his attitude clearly changed. He strode off quickly and on many occasions we actually lost sight of him, only to spot him sitting in the far distance waiting for us to catch up. It took other guides to ask if we were alright and to give us tips on maneouvering the terrain more smoothly. That spoilt the experience by quite a fair bit, but on the whole the trek was cool as we got to see the steaming craters and even the entrance of a meditation cave where the locals make an annual pilgrimage up to. We also spotted a long-tailed macaque with a plastic band around his body and learnt that it had probably escaped from his captors to return to the wild up on the mountains. We didn't cook our breakfast with the fission vents though.

On the way back, we stopped by Tegalallang where they had some truly gorgeous rice terraces and at one point, a lady on the streets anointed both us with a good luck rice bindi on the forehead. Once back, we crashed till lunchtime, after which we embarked on a little excursion to explore further the area around Ubud. We paused at Goa Gajah aka Elephant Cave but was surprised to find that it was a really tiny hole with just a couple of the original relics remaining. The entrance carvings were magnificent though. Nearby was a path leading to Yeh Pulu, this 25m carved cliff face which we'd have love to visit, but the local said it would take an hour to reach it so we skipped it. We headed on instead to the outskirts of a small town called Tampaksiring. Here was the gateway to Gunung Kawi, a series of mammoth rock-cut memorial statues, one of Bali's most ancient monuments. There were some festivities going on so we had to put on a sarong and a red sash in particular to mark the occasion. To reach all these, we had to work our way down a long steep flight of steps and by the end of the outing I was completely knackered.

I convinced J to accompany me for yet another massage. Tuk recommended Verona Spa and this time I had the full mandi lulur treatment while J, unable to bear the thought of being kneaded for almost 2 hours, opted for the shorter traditional massage. The semi-open air room was facing a green field, visible just beyond the wall of lush tropical plants. I was massaged then exfoliated with a herbal grain concoction, followed by a moisturising layer of yoghurt. I was then invited to soak in a bath of exotic flowers while sipping on warm ginger tea to aid in circulation before finishing up with yet more soothing cream. Now that's what I call pampering... though I daresay I would have enjoyed it even more if not for my cold... We tucked into our feast of pre-ordered smoked Balinese duck or bebek and flopped right into bed.

Verona Spa: Jl. Monkey Forest, Ubud 0361970975
Ubud Body Treatment: Recommended by another traveller. Jl. Monkey Forest

Tue 12th Sept 2006 - KUTA
Managed to haggle a decent cab fare to take us into Kuta, where we would spend our last day of the trip. Driver informed us that the fares had gone up due to rising fuel costs and with rental of the car to pay, they were forced to charge higher rates. At 120,000RP (£7 or SGD$21) for a journey over an hour long however, it was still considerably cheap. Especially when you take into account that these drivers are forbidden to pick passengers up at the destination due to a local regulation that protects the business of each town's cabbies. This means an unprofitably empty trip back to Ubud for the driver. We couldn't be arsed to shop for a hotel again, so we went back to New Arena Hotel. Splashed around in the pool a little before heading off to Jimbaran in the evening. I'd been volunteered with the role of haggling biatch for the entire trip, but today, J secured for us a cheap metered fare cab ride and was very proud of his achievement. We strolled the long beach bathed in sunset and finally selected a seafood restaurant in the middle part of Jimbaran beach. Jimbaran has three sections of seafood restaurants, all similarly priced - it all depends on how far you are willing to walk to escape the crowd. It's a pleasant, romantic stroll in any case. We got a beachfront table and pigged out on the wide selection of very fresh seafood. From barracuda to crabs, we were treated to a surprising range of flavours even though everything was grilled. What a way to end the trip!


Wed 13th Sept 2006
Well, we left very sadly on a morning flight...


I liked the gentle manner of the Balinese and I rather enjoyed the relaxed pace of life. I've always thought of Bali as a relaxation by the beach kind of place and that a week was more than enough, but there's clearly so much more to do and see. Think I would love to return and attempt diving at P. Menjangan to spot manta rays as well as explore the Taman Nasional Bali Barat in West Bali, where I might just see the rare Bali Starling. If I could, I would also like to visit the original Balinese people, take up surfing and go around Lombok. More time in Ubud would be nice too, maybe pick up a cooking or dance class? Or how about a paddle in the lake at sunrise?...

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Photos

Bali - Kuta Beach
Surf Operators on Kuta Beach

Sesari Villa
Brand new private villa in Seminyak

Sanur Beach
Typical Balinese boat

Nusa Lembongan
Jungutbatu Beach

Nusa Lembongan
Locals transporting seaweed to their farms in the sea

Ubud
Dense tropical foliage in the Monkey Forest Sanctuary

Goa Gajah Cave
GrraaARR!!!

Gunung Kawi
Local women carry intricate offerings on their heads