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Published: October 26th 2010
Day 8, October 19th. The morning started with heavy showers. It was a perfect day for sleeping in. I did yoga on the covered porch overlooking the Gobleg gardens. When the rain cleared I walked to a café for lunch and Internet. Our motorbike was out of commission with a flat tire from a pothole the night before. John went to get it fixed in the late afternoon. He dropped me off at Uluwatu beach on the way. The waves were tiny so I went for a swim. Johnny traded in the bike for a sweet new pink one. We went to a nice dinner at YeYe Warung. We sat in the wedding bed… so appropriate.
Day 9, October, 20th, the waves were flat. John decided to sleep in. It was a nice sunny morning so I planned to go grab breakfast and get Internet access. I decided I would take the new pink motorbike out for a spin. Hmmm, first I could not get it started so I had to get John. He had to jump start it… not a good sign but I went anyway. I had a little challenge getting out of the driveway while getting used
to the gas and brake. I was swerving all over so John was a little nervous watching me drive away. He suggested maybe I should walk. But then I got the hang of it and slowly cruised down the road. When I arrived at the café it was closed. So I went to restart the bike and head to another café and it did not work. I noticed it was on E. A nice guy in the parking lot noticed I was having issues and offered his help. He tried to start it but couldn’t so he pushed it to the gas station for me. Lucky for me, while I was getting gas, the guy who rents the bikes happened to drive by and showed me how to start it properly by “holding in the brake”. Once I make it back to the hotel, John and I decided to go to Ubud for the day. We packed a bag in case we wanted to stay. Ubud is beautiful, surrounded by amazing lush tropical landscapes and terraced rice fields. The carvings and art everywhere are amazing. I wish I had a home here to decorate and furnish! First we visited, Pura
Taman Saraswati, the Ubud Water Palace. I was so amazing with the surrounding ponds with pink lotus flowers. It was fun to see local kids fishing in the ponds. Then we ventured to Warung Ibu Oko for their famous pig on a spit. We also enjoyed fresh coconut water. Next we went to the market where you can find every Balinese batik and trinket known to man. John had to get out of there pronto. There was a lot more to see so we decided to get a room and stay the night. After checking a few expensive places we go a recommendation for a place with the same view for fragment of the price about $30. It was a beautiful room overlooking the rice terrace valley complete with personal coy pond just outside the bathroom window. Johnny took a nap. I went exploring and found an amazing spa. Three hours and several treatments later, I picked up John and took him to back there to get a massage. We ended the night with a great dinner at Inda watching the pouring rain over the valley.
Day 10, October 21st, we woke up in Ubud to a beautiful sunrise
over the rice fields. I got up early to go try to find a yoga class. I heard the best place to go was Yoga Barn so I set out in search of the place. I took the pink motorbike. This was my first attempt to ride through the busy town center. I thought it would be easy to find the place since Ubud is a relatively small place but I ended up on a wild goose chase getting directions from many people that really did not know where it was. I finally found it just in time for the morning Hatha class. It was a perfect setting for yoga; an open-air room with a beautiful view on the rice fields and a stream. Ubud is filled with artisans selling beautiful clothes and hand crafted art. I had passed many lovely boutiques finding my way to yoga. After class I took a quick look in a few shops on the way back to my bike. Then Johnny and I headed to the Sacred Monkey Forest. There were monkey’s everywhere. They go crazy and mob the tourist that feed them bananas. We decided not to buy the bananas. Most of the
monkeys were very cute especially the babies. The older monkeys were dominant and a little scary. The temple and surroundings are breathtaking and it is cool to see monkeys playing the in trees everywhere. It started to rain lightly so many of the tourist left. We stayed around and explored since the rain made the place even more magical. We then headed to Goa Gajoh, “the Elephant cave”. Upon entering you are greeted by a local who is your personal guide. Our guide was Made (pronounced “Ma-day” it is the typical name for the second born Balinese child). He was a fascinating guy. Not only did he lead these tours to the temple but also he lead mediation retreats, played traditional Balinese music and he was the head “chef” for many of the ceremonies in Ubud. It is traditional to have whole roast pig following the ceremonies. He told us how he is in charge of figuring out how many pigs they will need. For a small ceremony maybe three but for the grand cremation ceremony of the recently deceased king of Ubud they will need 750 pigs. He invited us to attend the ceremony that will take place November
3rd and we are planning to attend. The tour was very interesting and insightful. There are Buddhist and Hindu temples on the lush jungle site that date back 1000 years to the 11th century. He also told us more about the history of the Balinese and Hindu culture. He was so interesting we ended up staying until dark talking and were the last to leave. We headed back to Uluwatu that night.
Day 11, October 22nd, we work up to pouring rain. We relaxed for a while. Then, I did yoga and John surfed Uluwatu. It was the biggest day yet at Uluwatu, about 7-9 feet. Later that night we set up an outdoor “movie theatre” on the porch where we watch movies at night on the computer. It is so nice to be outside all the time. There was a crazy thunderstorm that night.
Day12, October 23rd , I woke up and did yoga. John wanted to surf Uluwatu. I needed to do some computer work so I decided to spend the day at the Blue Point Hotel, which overlooks the Uluwatu surf break. I had day use of the pool Internet and lunch for $15. I also
met some great girls from Australia and a guy from South Africa. When I told Adrian, from South Africa, we would be traveling there in January he started giving me tons of great recommendation for our itinerary. He had to catch a plane that afternoon so he did not have time to surf so we chatted for a while. By the end of our conversation he gave me his e-mail and offered to show us around and invited us to stay at his beach house in Cape Town. John surfed all day and had a great time. Our new friend Mike recommended a great sushi restaurant. We went there for dinner and enjoyed sashimi, Bali Poke (tuna with garlic, lots of fresh ginger and other spices) and their special Paella. Yum!
Day 13, October 24th, was a beautiful day. We went to breakfast and then to Uluwatu. We got in the water about 10am. John talked me into paddling to the bigger break called Temples. It was much less crowded than the other spots. We were having a great time and catching lots of waves. We had discussed going to Semiyak and Canngu that day but the waves were
so good we decided to keep surfing. We surfed until 2pm. We met some really cool people in the water that worked for Rip Curl designing wetsuits and other gear/clothes. They were from all over the world meeting for a company conference. Can you imagine your company “meeting” in Bali? One particularly cool Australian, Joel, gave us his contact info and wants to meet us in Portugal in February. We are meeting tons of great people and making new international friends. Another friend we made, Mike, from Florida invited us to a seafood feast for his last night. On our way we went to the Uluwatu Temple for the kecak Dance and sunset. Many young men chant while Balinese dancers act out scenes to a story. It was cool to see. Then we went to the Gecko Hotel to enjoy the seafood feast. They had prepared Mahi Mahi , jumbo shrimp, rice, salad and vegetables. The dinner was great and we had a fun time celebrating Mike’s last night.
Day 14, October 25th, I woke up with a swollen lip from too much sun. We have been using fresh aloe for our sunburn and it has been working great,
however, it was not enough for my lower lip. It is swollen up like Angelina Jolie’s lips (well unfortunately only the lower lip so not as attractive). We went to Uluwatu for breakfast and to check the waves. The swell dropped a bit but still good waves. John decided to surf but I thought it best to stay out of the sun today to let my burn heal. We ran errands this afternoon getting ready for our meeting with the wedding planner tomorrow. Also, I am in search of pink Zinka for my lips and nose (I’m going 80’s style). Late in the afternoon with a sunset surf at Uluwatu. The sunset was amazing orange and pink. It made the water sparkle with a pink glow that was so cool. As it got darker there were less and less people surfing until we had the wave to ourselves. The lifeguard blew the whistle signaling the last of us to come in. As we paddled in it got pretty dark so we did not realize we paddled to the cave. We had to go through the cave to get back to the stairs to walk up the cliff - a little
freaky but cool. We finished the night a Yeye's Warung eating pizza in the rain.
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Bonnie
non-member comment
Those pants are so in right now. You should have got them!