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Published: March 14th 2007
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Ubud It was mid-afternoon when I arrived in Bali. Partly by taxi and partly on the back of a motorbike, I headed straight to Ubud, the "cultural capital" of Bali.
I was dropped off at a pleasant, family-run guesthouse near the town centre. It served as my home base for the next 5 or so days.
Cultural capital though it may be, my first impression of Ubud was that it was all about shopping. Endless long blocks of basic to elegant stores selling everything from wooden masks and silver jewelry to sarongs and suits. There is also a busy market in the centre of town that sells fruits and veggies until about 9 am; switching over to a sarong/clothing/art market for the rest of the day.
Ubud is chock full of temples and offerings are the order of the day. Nearly every household and place of business has some kind of temple or altar where offerings are placed up to several times per day. Offerings are little trays made of stapled-together bamboo leaves with some combination of flower petals, cooked rice and/or a cracker often with a burning stick of incense. Offerings are also placed at entrances to
stores and homes on the sidewalk, thus having a way of getting trampled, ridden over by motorcycles or eaten by wandering chickens. It is not uncommon to find old offerings littering the gutters of Ubud and other Balinese towns.
A couple of days in to my trip, I ran into a fellow I graduated from high school with. We met for meals and took jaunts by foot and bicycle to the picturesque rice fields and temples in and around town. We also watched a traditional Balinese dance/theatre event. The show and music were quite different from anything I'd seen before.
During the last day or so in Ubud, I started to feel a touch of that mysterious aliment know as "Bali belly." Not bad enough to slow me down much, just enough to feel a bit uncomfortable.
Candikuning From Ubud, we took a bus up to the cooler mountain town of Candikuning in the north central part of Bali. It is in this more temperate area that much of Bali's vegetable supply is grown. There are also three lakes. One of which is a popular recreation spot with jetskis and canoes available for rent.
Candikuning was a
lake temple
Candikuning lovely, low-key place after the bustle and commercialism of Ubud.
Ambitious Canadians that we are, we decided to hike up Gunung (Mount) Catur the next day. It was a pleasant enough hike that rivaled the Grouse Grind for the last 1/2 hour or so. There is a temple and a family of monkeys at the top complete with a variety of weathered and monkey-munched old offerings. Unfortunately, the top was shrouded in fog when we got there. And then the rain started. I thought I knew rain (grew up in North Van after all), but this was something else! After shivering under a shelter, waiting in vain for the rain to pass, we decided we had better head down or risk getting caught on the trail in the dark.
What followed was an epic series of 20-minute or so dashes through sheets of rain from shelter to shelter. Upon arrival at each shelter, we would claw at the leeches avidly climbing up our boots and pants, seeking the blood beneath. Ick! Trust me, these slippery little things are not easy to grab on to.
The experience left us soaked to the skin and cold like we hadn't
mountain top monkeys
Gunung Catur, Candikuning felt for awhile.
It was around this time (and likely partly because I wasn't feeling that well) that I started to notice how monotonous our diet was becoming. Breakfast was usually some kind of well-fried omelette with white toast and tea or coffee. Lunch might be the classic nasi goreng or mie goreng (fried rice or noodles with a bit of chicken/egg and scraps of veg thrown in). Dinner was usually some kind of stir-fried veggies with chicken or tofu and steamed rice or broth with noodles, some vegetables and meat. We would pick up fruit here and there at markets and stalls. I started dreaming about yoghurt, salads and dark chocolate.
Candikuning to Lovina The next morning, we were picked up at our hotel by our guide for the day who would take us from Candikuning to Lovina. First, we were driven to a viewpoint above the Candikuning lakes. Next, we were dropped off for a walk through several kilometers of fruit plantations. The plantations are zigzagged with a series of walkways. It's nearly impossible to tell where one family's property ends and the next begins.
We saw bananas, macadamia nuts, rambuttans, coffee, vanilla, snake fruit,
various varieties of avocado, many types of bamboo, soap fruit (good for a wash at the waterfalls) and many others. Rather than having all one type of fruit in one area, the various trees and plants are strategically planted amongst eachother so that the coffee has enough shade and there is the right amount of slope for drainage, etc.
We stopped for coffee at one woman's house (shack) where she was weaving bamboo mats and baskets that she would later take to the market. We also enjoyed 3 beautiful waterfalls along the way.
Several kilometers down the road, the van picked us up and took us to a lunch spot with a beautiful (if rainy) view. Next we dropped into a sulfery hot spring. Our last stop was at a Buddhist monastery perched on a hill with a view of the ocean to the north.
We arrived back at steamy sea level in Lovina after dark.
Lovina Lovina is a quiet place with rather unappealing dark, volcanic sand beaches. Being the slow season, we were set upon by locals selling everything under the sun whenever we left the hotel. We were convinced (much to our surprise)
to purchase two days of diving the very evening we arrived.
Indonesia is all about high-pressure sales. The sellers know their best bet is to walk away with your money on-the-spot. There is always some horribly compelling reason why you need to book/buy now!
Despite the epic sales-pitch, the diving was very good. Day one had two cliff dives where we swam along a wall of beautiful coral and fish at Pulau Menjangan (an island off the north-west corner of Bali). Also, my Bali belly was clearing up thanks to a dose of antibiotics that I had brought with me.
Day two involved two wreck dives of an American ship sunk by the Japanese during WWII at Tulamben (north-east coast of Bali). Lots of fantastic sea life and it was a kick to float around inside the ship.
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zeddie/jim
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hello!
if you are not receiving my e-mails at least you are hopefully receiving the comments! enjoying your narratives, feel like I am there, also especially enjoy the photos with you in them!! Take care!