Advertisement
Published: August 11th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Kecak Dance
Balinese interpretive dancing. The last few days in Ubud we spent walking around the local villages and checking out a traditional Balinese Kecak Dance. The Kecak is a dramatization of an ancient hindu story and features fire walking and young women performing dances while in a trance. It was pretty interesting. While exploring the villages we walked through rice paddies and terraces while pondering who decided to bury grass in stagnant mud and then eat it in the first place. By the looks of the paddies I am not sure that would have crossed my mind. We also walked through the temple in Ubud where somebody let us go back into the royal family's courtyard. After 4 days inland we were thirsting for some waves but seeing some of the heavier breaks in the south we decided to head into Kuta for a warm-up. Our taxi driver, Made, took us to a local "restaurant" where we could sample some "real" local food. What we were told was that we would be eating suckling pig. Our plate arrived full of rice, cabbage, pig's heart, fried pig skin and other unknown body parts, a few of which we opted out on because there was still some
Rice Paddies
Wandering through the rice fields near Ubud... hair attached to the skin. Those "mystery pieces" we just slid under the table to the wild dogs laying at our feet...seriously. We posted up in a decent bungalow a block back from the beach. After a few days back in Kuta we figured out that dining in Indonesia was a bit like Russian Roulette. You'd think we would get food poisoning from the pig's heart we ate in a thatch shack, but oddly enough it was the pizza from a popular cafe that did the trick. IT SUCKED!!!! Let me tell you that food poisoning in a sweltering bungalow is not a memory that we will soon forget. After the first day of hell, we managed to muster the energy to catch some surf or just chill on the beach between "sessions." While out in Kuta one night we got a little taste of the East County when we enjoyed a local showing of Crusty Demons of Dirt over a Bintang. We thought about home, family and friends for a while, then discussed how crazy it was that we were watching footage of Glamis and Ocotillo on the other side of the world.
We decided to then head
Kuta Sunset
A local kid playing soccer at sunset to a tiny island off Bali called Nusa Lembongan to surf for a few days. While there we decided to rent mountain bikes to check everything out. This turned out to be somewhat of a mistake since most of the places we wanted to go were up a gigantic hill. Pretty much, we paid them $3 to push a bike up a hill. We really only got to ride it once or twice. We also surfed a few of the local reefs known as Shipwreck's and Playgrounds. We decided however to just sit and watch the third, Laceration's, since at the time there were some 15 ft. barrels rolling through....oh yeah and there is only about 5 ft of water over the reef so you better not fall in the middle of the section. On Lembongan we had the best food in Bali thus far which consisted of things like freshly caught Tuna and banana honey pancakes. The pancakes are made from scratch and more like a creppe, but hey we are fans and would definitely recommend them. Since this island just received electricity in 2005 (they still have thanks offerings to the gods for giving it to them) and
MTV Cribs
Our place on Lembongan was straight pimpin' doesn't exactly have ATMs, we ended up running short on money and surviving on the pancakes for a day.
The title of our blog came to us sitting by a pool in Sanur having a cocktail. Arak is a local alcohol that is made from the sap of palm trees. The best part is that most of the time when they make your drink they are not pouring it from an official bottle. That is because there isn't one. Usually, it is from a used plastic water bottle. Ahhh, I love Indo.
After leaving Sanur we moved down to Uluwatu. We wanted to get some photos of the temple and world-class surf spot. The first day we arrived we rented scooters. These machines are so fun, especially in the hellacious driving situation that is Bali. Not only do you have cars in your lane going the wrong way but you are forced to get used to close calls. The intersections have flashing yellow lights which we thought meant, "slow down it's gonna turn red." No, it actually stays yellow which we decided means, "you better watch your ass buddy." We braved the roads to Jimbaran Bay the first
Rock n' Roll!!!
Dressed like a German paratrooper from WWII Ryan gets psyched for some serious scooter action. night where we had a seafood feast. We picked our dinner from fresh tanks and dined on the beach with the waves literally feet from our feet. The following day we scooted to Dreamland and Belangan beach to snag some surf...we also had fun chasing the cows in the field on the way. We are also growing quite accustomed to European beach etiquette. With many of the women topless we are actually thinking that America got the short end of the stick with that one. However we appreciate the fact that "budgy smugglers" have not caught on with the American male population. That night we visited the temple at Uluwatu and snapped some pictures, avoiding the damn monkeys at all cost.
We are in Kuta now where we spend our final days in Bali. We plan on just hanging out on the beach before we head into Bangkok. We are still fixing our blogs and uploading photos but should have it up soon. We will post another blog in a few days wrapping up Bali. Later!
We are spending our last four days in Bali in Kuta so we can hang out and surf a little more before
MX Indonesia Style
Russ off roading to Belangan Beach. we head into Bangkok. We are still fixing our blogs after the crash but will update you guys in a few more days wrapping up Bali. Later!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.058s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0275s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb