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Bali Part 1
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Bali Mar. 14-22
14th arrive late - 11 pm local time - like 3 am to us - 4 hr time change from Brisbane, amost continuous builtup area for 1 hr ride from Denpensar
15th- walk down many stairs through gardens past statues and butterfies to riverside restaurant - few other visitors, pleasant attention, glad to have us- shuttle to Ubud 10 min. walk around shops and plasant lunch overooking lotus pond and temple - platter of typical Indonesian food for 2 -about $20, food is very good and very cheap- other lunches less than $10 with wine & beer about $12. Back for rest and back into Ubud - trip to Balinese dance in next village -about $10 ea. Elaborate costumes , graceful dance depicting Hindu traditional stoey of Prince Praji. Good but too long. This is just an excerpt from the full story. Back for shuttle at 10:20 - met woman from Eastern Townships. She is living in a bungalow for $16 a night. We thought we had a bargain at $80. Mind you we don't know what it looks like.
16th - Sunday- back at hotel, walk through local village past wood carvers to Monkey Forest. Morning Paul had deep neck, arm and back massage (1 hour $15), Cheryl had manicure and pedicure with foot massage - 2 hours $30. I know we can get it cheaper in town but it's stil less than ½ what you'd pay in canada. 15,000 rph entry (less than $2 ea.) Bought food from vendor and were previously warned not to feed them. woman fed them. When one sat beside Cheryl she naturally patted it. bad move. Monkey jumped onto her back and bit her. Woman had some native medicine which we applied right away. Skin was not broken but it's stil l sore today 2 days later. Another fine meal and cappacinos walk to shuttle and early to bed for Monday.
17th - Wake up call for 6:00 for shuttle at 7:00 to the real market . 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. is food market at main intersection in town. Stalls 2 feet apart crammed with locals buying food for the day. Everything available including live poultry and even imported fruit. Guide knew many people and showed us many things not found at home. Back to resort and breakfast before start of Cooking Lesson. Private lesson for Cheryl and I - satay, vegetable dish, appetiser and dessert. Got recipes and ideas for substitutes for things you can't find in Canada (eg. Palm sugar). lots of chopping. served us our efforts for lunch. Very tasty (and filling). 4:00 shuttle back into town to see religious procession including our pedicurist and cooking instructor. More shopping (how do they all make a living?) I know there must be shops that don't sel anything in a day. There are tourists but it's not crowded except for all the guys offering us Taxi service. So far we've declined. it may be cheaper but the hotel organized shuttle is free and their tours aren't that expensive, certainly under my budget and a lot cheaper than similar tours in OZ and NZ. I needed another memory stick. Price fixed ot negotiable - 250,000 rph. I've taken over 3 gig of pictures and movies so far.
18th- back to Ubud to finalize a transaction for more souvenirs - $10. We'll see if they survive the 22 more flights we have ahead of us. little lunch at Lotus garden then walk to gated fancy villas. $220 per night is cheaper than what I saw on the internet but still 3x what we're paying. We like our choice. Wine and get ready for trip to see temples and sunset. Right now it's overcast. sure hope it brightens up.
19th - cancelled the Sunset Tour again as there may not have been a sunset (no sun) but after we cancelled the sun did come out. We rescheduled for Friday, our last night in Bali and booked a trip to the temples and to the volcanoes for Thursday. We walked! A short walk across the bridge from our resort is a woodcarvers village. Storefront sales and production in the back. AMAZING details. Can we bring wood back into Canada? We did buy a few little things also thinking about having to transport these items. I've taken pictures but they won't do justice to the artistic work. This with a hammer and a chisel. No Dremel tools here. When I said I was from Canada the artist said "Moose" and showed me a carving of a moose that he produced from a picture. I have no idea how he was able to figure out the proportions from the picture but it was fantastic. I'm looking at 2 heads from Hindu literature complete with headress and necklaces in very fine detail. Everyone here is an artist.
We hiked further up the road which became a path which became a 18 inch wide mound between 2 rice paddies. It was hot and muggy but we bumped into an unemployed (or underemployed) guide who led us the rest of the way to the village where the painters lived and worked. It seems that each village specializes in a specific art. We were greeted with much appreciated water and shown around. Again the artistry was amazing. We negotiated a good deal on a small picture ($20), an original and paid to be taxied into Ubud to catch the shuttle. We spent the afternoon around the pool with good friends that we've made and several beers and wines. Dinner was at another fantastic (I'm starting to run out of superlatives here - thesaurus please) restaurant called Indus. An al fresco restaurant overlooking the river gorge with a meal that would be $200 plus in Ottawa cost $33 including drinks. Rollie, NZ and Australia were great but you've got to get to Bali!
Mar. 20th- 7 hour trip to northern Bali with visits to the Elephant Caves temple, a former kings temple and the previous House of Justice (also another temple). They're everywhere. Processions and offerings at every corner and most store fronts. Another lovely lunch (a buffet this time) overlooking terraced rice fields and just as we were finishing the clouds parted and in the background we saw the largest volcano on the island at 3100 metres. We purchased a postcard to get what it would look like without the clouds. Later in the day we met with some of the 14 adventurers who had hiked the smaller brother of that volcano, lonly 1700 metres. I'm sorry but we didn't go into the Mother Temple. We could have, we had our umbrellas with us, but 1 hour in the rain going through another temple didn't appeal to us. It was the first and largest temple on the island but we went instead over to Klung Kong and visited the black sand (volcanic) beaches. 2 weeks previously the storms had taken out some of the road and rice fields next to the ocean but what was left was special. Cheryl picked up stones and sand for her shadow boxes that she intends to complete. I'll let her carry the sand and explain that to customs.
Part 2 will probably not be until I do something with the pictures and may be from our room in Kuala Lumpur. G'day!
Latest Comments (1)
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Good Friday (reply)
Mar 21, 2008 09:49 EST by newbies
Today is Good Friday and we have Darren here to enjoy the weekend. From the sounds of it every day is good for you two. Can't wait to taste some of your new cooking when you get back. Cheryl, hope your monkey bite is better. Won't be long until Kim is there with you.
Can't wait for part 2.
John & Cindy
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