Balam Bali Villa Mengwi

... eggs in. We saw more views of the black lava field down below and learned that the last time this volcano erupated was in 2003 but remains relatively safe. At around 8 AM (which at that time seemed like 2 PM) we started to descend the mountain which was actually in many respects harder than going up. The lack of food, sleep, and rise in temperature made my body not work like I wanted it to, making me trail behind everyone else as I struggled with the hot sand and sharp rocks as ...

... br>We were also lucky to be invited into a temple to watch a ceromony involving lots of different villages from all over. Each village would enter as a group one at a time, produce there offerings (large towers of fruit and flowers and other food and bits), then get blessed by the holy men, before being sprayed with holy water and given rice to put on their forheads and chest.
It was ...

... it would have meant sacrificing Mount Rinjani. A festival is no major event in itself on the festival island of Bali but this festival only occurs every ten years so was a special occasion. We decided not to go as Mount Rinjani was always one of our highlights that we wanted to do but also after reading about the festival the Balinese Hindu's are not as veggie friendly as the Indian Hindu's. The festival started with a lot of ...

... each picture, each one made by Blanco himself to go with the painting. The frames were an extension of the picture, bringing in another dimension to art. You couldn't see some of the paintings without seeing them in their hand-crafted frames. Colors flowed from the painting out onto the frame. Should there be a bottle of liquor in the painting, little glass bottles of liquor were embedded into the frame. Some pictures themselves contained a three dimensional quality ...

... Yogi's only had an indoor basketball court and an Xbox with Rockband...). We returned to Kuta after spending a week inland in Ubud. We mentioned in the last blog that Ubud is considered the cultural center of Bali. If the measuring stick is the number of art galleries, craft stores, Balinese healing shops, and local dance exhibitions, per capita, then Ubud should be declared the cultural center of the universe. Anyone who has read the ...

... helmets and were well on our way - they claimed that it was a 25k ride (mostly downhill) but it certainly didn't seem that long! We cruised around rural backroads - past rice paddies, schools, restaurants, homes... The scenery was breathtaking. The number of dogs that we had to swerve around in order to avoid was also breathtaking - obviously Bob Barker's message has not gotten through to Bali! The dogs all looked hungry and made me a nervous but ...

... I went to go through departures and was asked for 150,000IDR airport tax - cheeky Indonesians ripping you off until the end! Having changed all my money to Australian dollars (and the tax in that currency being twice the price!) I had to go back out of the airport to the ATM and back through security and passport control for the second time! Having done this I had a little money in hand; usually enough for a meal, but as I went to buy a bottle of water I was further ...

... pretty late and places were starting to close. Ubud's nigthlife didn't go on much past 11! In the morning, we had breakfast delivered to our room and we sat on our balcony feeling very spoilt! We decided to have a wander round and didn't manage to leave Monkey Forest Road all day! Yes, it's a very long road but the shops were just awesome. Rows upon rows of funky art galleries, jewellery and clothes shops, wicked little cafes and coffee bars - you name it - we spent ages ...

... Hired a car and driver (a luxury tht I cannot afford!) and drove around Bali which is probably the size of Singapore, framed by 8 volanoes and many many beautiful puras (temples). Gusti drove me to the elephant park where I had the most delightful time riding around on the neck of Gajah Riya (a friendly elephant). I visited Kintamani and Gunung Batur (a volcano) and a scenic lake. A lovely lunch of Cap Cay (pronounced Chaap Chai) at a local Warung (shop) overlooking ...

... since you avoid long car trips! Amed Amed is considered as one of the best dive sites on Bali. Unfortunately it lost a lot of corals due to Al Nino in 1997. Since than the reef has recovered at high speed. It's definitely worth diving here. Especially to see the bigger fish on Bali. Great drop offs. It takes a boat trip from Amed beach to reach the better dive sites. Night Diving Night diving is maybe the reason why many divers dive ...