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Cheers!
Enjoying a drink in Ubud with our surprise visitors. (Catherine)
The first time I visited Bali, with my friend Georgie, we stayed in a five star hotel, went on expensive day trips and drank cocktails every night. Nine years on, I knew that the backpacker Bali Matt and I were about to explore was going to be very different!
We started in the travellers' Mecca of Kuta where we spent the first night drinking arrak (a very strong local spirit) and the next day recovering! We also watched lots of surfers, went to a water park and overdosed on all the Western food we'd missed in Sumatra.
From Kuta, we continued to Ubud, Bali's Arts capital. Ubud is a really interesting town but has the most annoying taxi drivers in the world! Apparently there are about 450 registered cabs so the competition is fierce. Walking down the main street attracts endless calls of "You want taxi?". If you say no they try, "Maybe tomorrow?" or "Motorbike?" instead! Walking on the other side of the road doesn't help as they simply mime driving a car if you're too far away to hear their shouts!
In between fending off taxi drivers, we visited some temples, wandered around pretty
Don
Matt feeding a monkey at the Sacred Monkey Forest. rice fields and went to the Sacred Monkey Forest which consists of three temples in a forest with lots of monkeys! The monkeys are used to people feeding them so the brave ones will jump up at you if you're carrying any food. The babies were cute but the big, old male monkeys were pretty scary!
While in Ubud, I received an email from my parents saying that they were coming out to Bali to join us for a few days! They had booked the trip last minute so were arriving five days later. It was a really nice surprise and gave me the chance to go into organisation overload, planning a packed itinerary for the time we'd be spending with them!
Before meeting Mum and Dad, we headed east to a small village called Tirtta Gangga where there is a lovely water palace. We checked into a basic homestay and went for a wander. A few minutes down the road we spotted some lovely bunglows high up on a ridge with a brilliant view of the surrounding rice fields. They were only two pounds more than our homestay and were much nicer so we decided to move.
The owner at our first guesthouse was a little surprised when we checked out after just an hour!
From Tirtta Gangga we travelled by local bus to Nusa Dua to meet my parents. They were booked into the Grand Bali Hyatt which is more like a city than a hotel - it has over 750 rooms so the complex is divided into different villages! Needless to say, it was pretty impressive compared to our five-pounds-a-night, cold-water-only guesthouse a few miles away!
Words can't describe how lovely it was to see Mum and Dad again. We were touched that they'd travelled so far to spend just a few days with us (although once we'd seen the Hyatt, we realised it was no hardship!). As soon as they'd checked into their room (which had a dressing area, a day bed and a terrace overlooking a lovely lily pond) we cracked open a bottle of Jack Daniels and caught up on the last six months.
In the four days we were together, we relaxed by the pool, visited lots of temples, went back to the Sacred Monkey Forest (where my Dad almost got attacked after touching a monkey on its
tail!), wandered around Bali's botanical gardens, watched a cultural dance show (which involved lots of men chanting and someone kicking burning coconut shells into the audience!) and ate lots of lovely Balinese food.
We also had another nice surprise when Mum and Dad booked us into the Hyatt for two nights! We made the most of our room in the 'West Village' by watching TV in bed, taking lots of hot showers and eating LOADS at the buffet breakfast!
We felt quite sad leaving Bali (especially as we knew we were heading for a budget hostel with shared bathroom in Singapore, whereas my parents still had six days left at the Hyatt!). Nusa Dua had felt like a proper holiday, but now it was time to get back into traveller mode... cold showers and all!
And now, for the first time on 'Where the hell are Catherine and Matt...?', I am very pleased to introduce some guest writers: (Indiana Geoff)
It was late evening and already dark when we finally arrived at Nusa Dua in the foothills of Bali, over the past few days we had suffered the
Stepping Stones
About 10 minutes after this was taken, we saw a boy slip off one of the stepping stones and fall in to the pond! Luckily it wasn't very deep! ravages of journeying across strange lands and continents, braving raging rivers, mountains, jungles, and airport baggage areas, we suffered unbelievable hardship to reach this, our final destination.
Leaving our packs with the native porters by the hugh bronze gong at the entrance to the settlement, we wearily picked our way through the deepening gloom, pierced only by the many camp fires. We stumbled along the edge of a great lake towards what we hoped was our final goal. As we neared the top of the lake, two sun blackened, travel hardened figures detached themselves from the darkness and flung themselves towards us. We stiffened in anticipation as they made an attempt to converse with us, "Hello Mum, hello Dad" burst from their lips, we then knew we had at last found Catherine and Matt, against all the odds, in that God forsaken place, the Grand Hyatt Bali.
Together we made our way to a small lake where we set up camp, constantly besieged by huge flying bats, monstrous lizards and ferocious flesh eating birds. There we spent the hours until daybreak, consumimg copious amounts of Arak and Jack Daniels, as we planned how best to rescue the pair
from their months of deprivation.
Little did we know that we would have to enter a forest of savage sacred monkeys, cross dangerous ravines on fragile bamboo bridges, raft across forbidding lakes, disguise ourselves in native dress and learn the language before the intrepid pair were finally on their way to even more primitive places and even greater hardships amongst the natives of Melbourne.
After their departure, we also had to suffer greatly for a further six days in the Hyatt before we were finally freed to return to the wonderful cool breezes and gentle rain of home. Suchsamore Catherine and Matt.
(My Mum)
On Wednesday night we decided we would like to meet up with Catherine and Matt, as they are now six months into their travels. We booked the holiday on Thursday, had injections the same day, and on Monday we were on our way to Bali via Singapore. Brian and Sue (Matt's parents) met us at Heathrow, with 8 replacement bank cards for Matt (hopefully he won't lose these) and several sachets of brown sauce from Steve (Matt's brother)!! I couldn't believe we were really on our way to see them.
Funny Coloured Breakfast!
We were given green toast for breakfast in our Nusa Dua guesthouse (it wasn't mouldy, it was just the colour of the bread!). We met up with Catherine and Matt at our hotel, it was wonderful to see them, they both look so well, happy, and relaxed - travelling seems to suit them! They had planned two days of sightseeing with us - tiring but extremey enjoyable, and we learnt a lot about the real Bali - fascinating and a world away from the five star Hotel, cocktails by the pool world.
Bali was everything I imagined - white sands, clear, warm turquoise sea, friendly people, atmospheric and beautiful temples, attractive rice terraces, enjoyable food, wonderful hotels and very hot and humid - what I wasn't prepared for was how relaxed we would feel there. After Catherine and Matt left for Singapore we were full of good intentions to continue to explore the island (Catherine had left a list of places to visit), but we ended up just "chilling out" on the beach, swimming in the sea and hotel pools (and water slide - Geoff) and strolling locally.
Altogether it was the best holiday ever, made even more special by being able to spend time with Catherine and Matt. They really are having a wonderful year!! (Thanks to Georgie and Craig
for recommending Miros in Ubud, it was my favourite restaurant of the holiday!!). Thanks Catherine and Matt for taking us around and teaching us how to barter with the locals!
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Miros Garden
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Thank you for visiting Miro's garden restaurant
Dear Sir/Madam, Greetings from Miro's Garden restaurant, Ubud, Bali. We would like to thank you for visiting our restaurant during your holiday in Bali. We do hope we will be able to serve you again in the near future. With best regards, Mira Novianti Sales & Marketing Miro's Garden restaurant, Ubud, Bali www.mirosgardenrestaurant.wordpress.com/