Bali: around the island in a day

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Bali Continued...

After getting a bit burned on the first Bali day, we needed a second day activity that would keep us out of the sun some of the time. The villa manager arranged a car for us and we set off at 8:30am to see some sights. In hindsight I wish we had been more directive in our planning because we ended up on a somewhat preplanned touristy tour which means lots of stops at shopping areas and the like. We are not into that. To be honest, I’m more into it than Mark and so again I say “we” are not into that. Truly, though, we wanted to see things, learn about the island and its people, and avoid large tourist crowds fighting for photos.

We went to many temples. They were interesting with ornate stone carvings throughout the grounds. Lots of greenery and lush natural backdrops with water flowing through the grounds to add nice background music to the scene.

At our first temple stop, Mark and I were given sarongs to wear and the kids were given sashes to wear before entering the temple. There was no charge, but a donation was welcomed which we gladly gave. Mark was not a fan of wearing the skirts, but we had fun taking pictures of him. Nathan never tired of taking "pictures of the girls" and Mark played along and showed some leg.

But inevitably we would turn a corner and there would be a row of people selling stuff. Carved stuff, batik stuff, clothes, toys, the works. Oddly, there were rows and rows of carved wooden penises. You read that right. All shapes and sizes. Standalone and some with bottle openers attached. It made us laugh at first but then it was so constant and there were so many of them it just blended together with the other carved wooden things. Nathan and Emily never commented.

On a few occasions, we did buy some clothes and souvenirs for the kids. The prices were crazy low. I bought Emily a dress for $2 and myself 2 skirts for $4 each. So again, I could have shopped more. Just had to resist the urge and remember the trip was the gift.

It started to rain during our drive up to see the famous island volcano. I asked to stop for lunch, but the driver basically insisted we go up to eat at a place he knew. We've been through this before, but somehow we still found ourselves at a tourist place. Long rows of tables. Soggy veggies and skewers of meat with tubs of rice. Instead of being at the volcano, we were looking at the views of the volcano, after having a pretty bad buffet meal the driver forced upon us (one of those deals where he clearly gets free lunch for making us stop there). We went outside to breath some air again after being stuck in a lower level restaurant with giggling teenage tourists from around Asia begging to take pictures of the kids. Finally, after snapping a few quick pics outside, we dashed back to the car to escape the crowds.

We stopped several times for photo opps of terraced rice fields which were really beautiful. However, we would still be getting out of the car and the hawking would begin. All sorts of cheap stuff being shoved at us for good luck prices. I literally had no money--an unintentional (or perhaps intentional by Mark) strategy. So I could quite truthfully say "I have no money" and walk on by. One girl grabbed my attention with her sweet face and offer of very inexpensive bracelets. She was Emily's age, and she was selling bracelets. I had to buy some, and of course that started a parade of people following us around until we jumped back in the car.

One of our favorite stops on the tour was at a coffee and fruit grove. There were all sorts of types of fruit trees as well as vanilla and coffee trees. We saw a coffee roasting and grinding demo and then tasted some local coffee. Of course, there was an opportunity to buy local goods, and after the free coffee and cocoa samples, we felt compelled to buy something. Iit was okay though. We had fun seeing the area and chatting with our driver.

With the exception of that one bad buffet, the food was great. Fortunately, we found most restaurants had dual menus. Western dishes for the kids, local dishes for the adults. We wish Shanghai had more of these types of menus. Emily and Nathan each tried a few bites of the local stuff, but they were pretty content to eat pizza and pasta and an occasional club sandwich during the trip.

Mark and I loved digging into the local food. There were many vegetarian dishes and I had fun trying those. Many of the dishes are like tasting plates with a variety of salads, proteins like seafood, duck, chicken, pork and tofu with rice in the middle. The sauces were all interesting and flavorful and fresh grated coconut topped a few of the veggie dishes.

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Photos

the remains of another temple
after a big earthquake in the 70s

Comments

[Geeze]

Bali in a day..
Ahhh breathtaking..great pics! You are such troopers. I can almost see Johnny Depp in the backround. Love ya's!