This summer we went
to Bali for ten days. While ten days isn't that long, it was the
longest time we could stay without paying an astronomical airfare. You
see, Bali is a popular destination for Japanese package tourists; however,
with the Japanese work ethic, most people will only go on vacation for three
or four days, tops. So, we could've bought a cheaper four or five-day
ticket, but we opted for the ten-day ticket, the most we were willing to
pay. If we wished to stay any longer, we would've had to buy an
open-ended thirty-day ticket which was substantially higher.
The flight from
Fukuoka to Singapore and then onto to Bali was amazing. We flew with
Singapore Airlines and it was an experience like no other flight I've been
on. Usually Air Canada staff are fine, but Singapore Airlines blew
them away. The service was friendly, the selection of complimentary
drinks was wonderful, (we drank fruit spritzers all the way down). And
the best part was the onboard movies. Usually airlines force everyone
to watch the same movie, except in first class where sometimes you get a
personal TV set. Well, on Singapore Airlines, EVERYONE gets a personal
TV set and can choose to watch any one of about twenty movies, TV shows,
news, or play Nintendo games on demand. We could even fast forward or
pause our movies if we wanted to get up and use the washroom. Truly
amazing.
Usually when we
travel abroad, we decide to stay a cheaper places and save some money.
This time however, I was checking hotel prices on the web and discovered
that after the Bali bombing, there wasn't much price difference between
expensive hotels and cheaper ones. We could've stayed in a really
cheap guesthouse for about $5 US each, but most of the mid-range two or
three star places were between $30-40 US. Then I found this amazing
four star beauty for $45 US. It was incredible. We spent all ten
of our nights there and it really made the vacation that much nicer. A
few times we ate dinner at the hotel too, and they had special theme nights,
like Balinese BBQ or pasta night, along with live music. It was
wonderful.
Bali is really
hurting for tourists these days. The locals have told us that the
first couple months after the bomb, there was nobody. The streets were
empty and a lot of stores went out of business. Now things are
starting to pick up, but it is still pretty slow and everyone is really
competing for your business. Most restaurants we went to were giving
40-60% discounts on food items. They were basically giving the food
away, just to stay in business. It was pretty sad to see how all these
people have suffered in the last year, scrambling to make ends meet because
of the terrorist bomb.
Aside from that, now
is probably one of the best times to visit Bali. Hotels and
restaurants are cheaper, and the beaches and streets are less crowded.
There are still tons of people at Kuta Beach, so we can't really imagine how
crowded it was before.
In Bali we did a few
things. We went snorkelling one day, where a 14-year old boy took us
out to the coral. We noticed that there was an empty water bottle in
the boat so the boy just threw it overboard! We couldn't believe it.
Here their entire income revolves around tourists, and you think they'd try
so hard to keep the place clean, but no, just chuck it into the ocean.
We also went for a
one-day tour of the island. You pretty much have to do the one-day
tour sometime during your trip because everywhere you try to walk in Bali,
taxi drivers and just about everyone else will hound you, "Where are you
going? Do you need a ride? Have you been on a one-day tour?
Have you been to Ubud? Seen the volcano?" It was horrible!
So we went on the one-day tour. The highlights were visiting Ubud, the
cultural heart of Bali, the Elephant cave, the Monkey Forest, the terraced
rice fields, and the volcano. The Elephant cave was interesting.
The cave was carved out of the rock sometime around the 15th century, but
then it somehow got lost. Then it was only discovered sometime in the
20th century. It was a Hindu temple, where you had to walk through the
mouth of an elephant god to enter the cave. The Monkey forest was fun
mainly because of our guide. There is a temple in the forest, and
according to Hindu legend, the monkeys are the guardians of the temple.
So the whole forest is just crawling in monkeys, and they're "friendly"
because a lot of people buy bananas to feed them. Well, our guide
wasn't really impressed with the monkeys. Instead he was fascinated by
this one squirrel. A single, brown, ordinary squirrel. I guess
it's just cultural differences, but he went crazy, "Ahhh! SQUIRREL,
there he is... oh, there he is!" He just went crazy because he saw a
squirrel. We were like, "A squirrel? Big deal. Look at all
the monkeys!" Then it was off to the volcano were we enjoyed a rather
pricey lunch, but the view was amazing. We figured that all the tour
guides drop off their guests at certain restaurants and then get a cut of
what we pay. Not that fair really because we were kinda herded in, and seated.
Then we found out it was buffet lunch with a set price. You couldn't
choose anything cheaper even if you wanted to. But it was fine, the
view of the volcano more than made up for it. Then it was off to the rice terraces. Our guide found the perfect place to pull over
to take a picture but as we went out we were swarmed by the locals trying to
sell us just about anything. It was probably the worst experience of
the trip. We found shelter in this woman's shop, where we were able to
snap some pictures and the others weren't allowed, but then we felt guilty
and bought something small from her. After that, we had to literally
fight our way back to the van.
In Bali, I also
tried surfing, but I nearly died. I had the bright idea of trying to
catch the really big waves before I even tried the smaller waves.
It wouldn't be that stupid to move onto the larger waves if you haven't yet
mastered the smaller ones but have at least tried them for a few hours, and
feel comfortable moving onto the larger ones. BUT, I thought due to my
boogie boarding skills and ability to snowboard that I could ride the big
waves. After paddling past the smaller breakers I reached some pretty
deep water. I felt safe here and felt that I could paddle in a bit and
catch some fine 6-8 foot waves. However, what I failed to consider was
that larger waves break in deeper water. That is, they feel the ocean
floor sooner. A very basic concept in coastal engineering... and WHAT
do I want to be? :) So, after the first big wave swallowed me up,
dragged me along the ocean floor, and spat me up, I decided to try it again.
This time I was certain I could get out of the way and dive under the big
waves so that wouldn't happen again. Well, just a few minutes after,
another really big wave came. When I realized it was too late to dive
into it, I turned around and tried to ride with it. And it seemed to
work, until the inner surface of the wave got really steep and the hollow of
the wave surrounded me. That's when it crashed and sent me doing
cartwheels along the seabed. I eventually managed to stand up, in the
trough of the wave and breathe. This in water that was around 12 feet
deep if the water was calm! After that I came in, and was content
riding 3 foot waves.
Aside from a few of
these day trips around Bali, we contented ourselves at the hotel's beach
lying on lounge chairs reading, and by the pool. All in all, it was a
nice, relaxing trip.
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The bed out on the patio. |
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The hotel's private strip of beach. |
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Our room. They upgraded us because it was our one year anniversary. |
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Josh at dinner at the hotel. |
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Eden at dinner at the hotel. |
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The pool at our hotel. Swiss-bel Bali Aga. |
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Reading The Once and Future Spy by the pool. Ooohh, spy books. |
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Women drawing patterns on the batik with wax. |
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The many stages of dyeing to create a batik print. |
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This is where we had dinner. |
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A "friendly" monkey, in the Monkey Forest, Ubud. |
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Two of us at the volcanoe. |
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