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Published: August 31st 2008
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Death to Drug Runners
As we flew into Indonesia, we glanced at our entry card only to see written in bold, red letters "Death penalty for drug trafficking." Hopefully, no one had put any surprises in our bags! Entering the Bali airport, I looked around and expected a lot more out of a major international hot-spot airport, but it was nothing short of old and broke as I entered one of the most happening travel spots in the world. I jumped in a taxi and took it to the most popular beach in Bali--Kuta Beach. I was supposed to meet Billy's mom, sister--Cherrie, and her friend, Miriam. Billy would meet us later after having to catch a different flight from KL than I did. The taxi driver dropped me off in front of a McDonald's and said, "You're hotel is right next to the McDonald's." So, I got out and spent the next 20 minutes searching for my hotel down one winding, dark alley after another. When I finally found the place, I was relieved to see that the family was already there preparing for our next stop in Ubud. The next morning, we woke up early, ate breakfast, and laid
Ubud
Botanical Gardens--Mickey Mouse Flower on the beach watching the surfers, and of course, getting hasseled.
Ubud & Monkey Forest Road
That afternoon, we left for Ubud--a cultural town in the south-center of the island. We were to stay on Monkey Forest Road . . . where there actually was a "Monkey Forest". Our guesthouse was really nice. We had a great pool, and there were fresh flowers cut and laid out all over the property. Once we arrived, Cherrie and Miriam decided that it was time to shop. There were some great shops in Ubud, and we saw every one of them. Luckily, it was a wonderful day . . . in Indonesia (since it's below the equator), it's their tropical winter. The weather is warm in the day but not too hot. At night, it's cool and breezy--perfect weather for traveling. After a long day of shopping, we found a nice place to have supper. The next day, we did some more touristy activities. First, we went to a botanical garden. There were some really beautiful flowers blooming and many different interesting plants to see. Next, we headed to the Elephant Caves. Billy saved us from having to buy some sarangs for the
Ubud
Tasha & the pool. "temple"; he found that we could borrow them for free . . . unfortunately for every seller outside the temple. After the caves, we went to the Bali Royal Palace which is still inhabited. Then we went to the main market for some shopping--Billy bought some mangosteens. Finally, we headed back to town for some Balinese dancing and dinner. The dancing was nice . . . and very loud. It was cool to see how the women can bend and twist their hands around. They also do a crazy thing with their eyes--it freaked Billy out. The last morning, we headed down to the Monkey Forest Temple. Here, we could buy a bunch of small bananas to feed to the monkeys. They were aggressive little things. You had to really watch your back--even if you weren't holding any bananas. Miriam got them first. She was just standing there when a monkey decided to use her for a tree. It climbed up onto her back before we scared it away. Once we started feeding them, it was bedlam. We had to hide the bananas in the backpack--I'm pretty sure they knew they were there, and that's why they attacked Billy. One
Ubud
pretty little monkey shot right up on top of his pack. He does not like monkeys. We even saw a 5 year-old girl screaming and running from a monkey who was tailing her holding on to her dress. They were everywhere. I think they climbed up on everyone except Mom H. We did get some fun pictures and videos.
Suntanning in Sanur
After Ubud, we headed down to Sanur Beach. We thought this side of the island would be more quiet. It was more quiet, but there was also significantly less beach available to lay on. When the tide was high, there was probably 10 feet of beach between the sidewalk and the ocean. Plus, there was a lot of seaweed in the water and on the beach during low tide. No one really waded out past their knees. The good thing was that our hotel had a nice, warm pool that we took advantage of daily. We did get some good suntanning done while we stayed in Sanur. It was also fun to watch the sailboats and kites on the beach.
Back to Seminyak--North of Kuta
So, we decided to head back to where the waves are big, and the
Ubud
Monkey Forest beach is bigger. We stayed in a really nice guesthouse off of Seminyak Beach. It even had a saltwater pool. The beach here was, by far, the best. There was plenty of room for nice beach chairs, boogie boarding, and massage ladies. We used all three of these services. The waves were some of the biggest you will find in all of Asia. Billy had fun jumping and splashing in them. To Cherrie's delight, the shopping in Seminyak was pretty good, too. Luckily, we found a place to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics. We enjoyed watching all of the countries parade around as we sipped mango smoothies.
On the Road Again
After a week in Bali, it was time for us to head out again. We had to get to Bangkok to meet up with Brenda and Heather for our next adventure.
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