Blissful Bali

For the past few weeks, Jennifer and I have been exploring the beautiful Indonesian island of Bali.  

In my mind, Bali was going to be an amazing island for lovers and newlyweds or yogis looking for Liz Gilbert's infamous personal clarity documented in Eat, Pray, Love, which she wrote almost a decade ago while living in Bali.  

Jennifer had been reading this famous book on her Kindle when we were mid-Vietnam, so between her Pinterest "Places to See Before You Die" and Ms. Gilbert's writing, we bought our tickets and decided to head off to paradise. 

Our first stop: Ubud.  The town was originally put on many Westerner radars by EPL, and for us it was no different.  We wanted to see and experience the peaceful, authentic Balinese lifestyle that we had read about, while also enjoying our last few weeks in Asia.  

My morning cup of tea on the first day - great sign for the days to come

Since we were not sure about Bali or Indonesia in terms of availability of accommodations or transportation (like our all-to-familiar arrivals into new countries over the past 2 months), I decided to book a room on AirBnb.com before we arrived.  It was going to be a whopping $32/night, which sounded like a steal considering the resort-filled Bali I had imagined.  It turned out to be quite a splurge, but well worth it (most of the accommodations available were priced at about 2/3 this cost).

Beautiful rice terraces dot the Balinese countryside

Turns out, Jennifer and I went on a honeymoon together.  The room and guesthouse was near perfection, set on a tier of rice terraces just a few minutes' walk outside the center of Ubud.

Included with our stay at Ibu Wayan's Guesthouse was a delicious breakfast of homemade banana pancakes and fresh fruit platters served with (an entire pot of!) coffee or tea.  If you don't already know this about me, hear it now: I love coffee.  If left on my own I would probably go into some sort of caffeine-induced cardiac arrest due to my love for it, so to have an entire pot served to me each morning was heaven in itself.  

Add the orchids cascading from the overhead planters, the small, moss covered Buddha and Ganesh statues, the pleasant sound of the wind rustling the surrounding greenery, and Jennifer's phone endlessly chirping to incoming messages (oh wait, what?!), and you can start to see how this really is paradise. 

Roasting coffee beans at a local plantation outside of Ubud.  We got to taste test afterwards...YUM!

One of our favorite stops in Ubud was the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, which was about a 15 minute walk from the center of town.  When we first arrived at the sanctuary, we purchased a small bunch of bananas from local vendors to attempt to befriend the monkeys.  What we soon realized was that we had set ourselves up as prime targets for these thieving primates.  

I have enjoyed countless hilarious moments with Jennifer over the past two months, but watching her being chased, harassed, and robbed of her bananas might be up there with one of my favorite memories.  Regardless of her subsequent banana-less state as we continued into the forest, the little creatures took a special liking to Jennifer and her accessories, which she almost lost to one very fashion-forward monkey.

My sister has superb taste, and so does this monkey

It was fun to play with them and see them in their natural habitat, but I have to admit I was quite unnerved when I got too close to one of the babies and saw the mama-monkey instincts in full glory.  We made friends with a few of the sanctuary employees who ensure all of the monkeys and humans are safe and happy, and they gave us a few crackers that helped make this picture possible.

Crackers needed: Unlike my sister, the monkeys were not impressed by my style

After spending our day playing with our furry friends and exploring the different eclectic cafes and shops in Ubud, we had dinner and decided to attend a Legong Dance at a local temple.

  Although it was catered towards tourists, it was still beautiful and interesting; both of us enjoyed seeing an authentic Balinese dance and learning more about the culture.  The costumes were incredibly intricate and absolutely stunning, too.

Legong dancers

The next day, with Ibu Wayan's advice, we decided to participate in a Balinese Hindu Cleansing Ceremony at a famous temple on the island.  The Balinese have a very unique, and incredibly interesting approach to health and spirituality (which is comprised in part by white and black magic present in the world).  This was one of the coolest and most authentic experiences that Jennifer and I have shared on our travels together.  

A friend of Ibu Wayan's drove us to the temple and took us inside, while explaining that since it was the Full Moon there was a specific ceremony for cleansing negative energy from one's life and preparing for the new moon cycle.  Set on the hill above the temple is the President's Estate for when he visits Bali.  The perfectly manicured gardens and lawns were gorgeous to see while we waded and waited.

Wading in the pools before washing in the fountains

Being raised Catholic, but curious about other religions and cultures, we decided to join in.  After leaving our valuables outside in lockers with the masses of pilgrims who had come for the day, we entered the temple and stepped into the chest-deep pool.  We were two of five Westerners who we saw during our 45 minute wait in line while surrounded by locals and beautiful floating flowers.  The ceremony consisted of washing our faces and heads underneath particular water fountains whose water flowed from a famous Balinese spring inside of the temple.  

Although we were obviously the minority, we were welcomed by the locals and found a few who spoke enough English to explain the process to us.  They asked us if we believed in the power of the ceremony, and much to my surprise Jennifer suddenly responded "Who doesn't want to wash away negativity in their lives?"  Both the Balinese man and myself were both impressed (he with her answer, and me by the suddenness of her response) and obviously in agreement with Jennifer, my monkey-whispering wise-woman sister.

After our Balinese Hindu cleansing ceremony in our sarongs

Later that week, my friend Gedy who I had met in Cambodia earlier this year came to stay with us.  

Gedy had a motorbike so he drove us to meet up with Ida, a local Balinese man who I had been introduced to through a friend from Canada, whom I had met in Chiang Mai...Facebook makes the world quite a small place.  We met with Ida for the afternoon, and he gave us a great overview of Balinese culture, the religious differences from Hinduism around the world, and the animal spiritualism that is present in Balinese religion.  

No need to look at the road!

Afterwards we headed back to Ubud to explore and get dinner.  I had a great time catching up with Gedy.  We spent most of our time together chatting about Bali, playing cards and going out, much to the dismay of our yogi neighbors.  

Jennifer's first hookah

We found a hookah bar with live music, and spent the night chatting and dancing with local musicians until we took our party back to our guesthouse.

After Ubud, our next stop was Amed, which is a small beach town on the northeastern coast of Bali famous for their snorkeling and scuba diving.  After our week in Ubud, we loved getting to see our first Balinese coast!  

When we were initially dropped off in Amed, we stopped by a hotel & restaurant to get wifi and gather ourselves.  While we were there, we learned that although their rooms were out of our price range, we could use their pool for $2 a day.  We rented a quite shabby room from the guesthouse next door, and spent our days lounging alone at our pool and listening to Jennifer's Spotify playlist on the pool speakers.  

For the majority of the day, we were the only ones using the pool, which looked out onto the black sand beaches of Amed.  In the late afternoon of the second day, we were snubbed by people actually paying the hotel's outrageous rates (I think it was about $50/day...outrageous, indeed!), so we simply moved our party to the fabulous patio next to the pool to watch the sun set.  Who knew that elderly French couples didn't like B.O.B. blaring on their private pool speakers?!  Weird.

The town is absolutely tiny, so we took advantage by making friends with all 24 locals.  We were rewarded by our efforts with invitations to watch the World Cup in a local temple that night (unfortunately the time difference has made watching matches quite difficult for us). 

Beachside pool to ourselves - life is great!

We debated a trip to the famous Gili Islands, which is about an hour away from Bali by speed-ferry.  After strangely running into a friend from my high school (yes, outside of a restaurant in Ubud...small world), we took his emailed suggestions and opted to bypass the expensive ferry tickets and "pretty touristy" islands for the southern coast of Bali, which was about a four hour drive for us.  

From Amed, we headed to Uluwatu, then moved to Padang Pandang beach the next day in search of a beachside bungalow.  After about an hour of motorbiking up and down the coast in the morning, we had still found no accommodation.  Jennifer and I were hot, exhausted, and aching from carrying our packs while attempting to bargain with guesthouse owners.  

On top of the hill towards Bali Rocks

After finally being dropped off with no idea what to do next, we ran into two German girls who were carrying their surfboards and packs up a rather steep hill.  We asked them if they had stayed nearby, and they said they were just leaving Bali Rocks, which was a guesthouse on the water.  After walking for what seemed like an hour down the steep hill, we found it - and it was perfect.  

I'll let these pictures speak to our views and experience for the next few nights:

View from our guesthouse, which was a few feet from the water

We had a great time relaxing on the beach and watching our guesthouse friends surfing all day, since we were the only two there who were not avid surfers.  One of the nights we enjoyed a nearby beach party, which reminded me of the Full Moon Party in Thailand, but on a much smaller scale.  

All in all, our time in Bali has been incredible.  I'm writing this from Balangan beach, which is my last stop on this beautiful island.  A few days ago, Jennifer left to visit Hong Kong for the weekend for a shopping spree with a high school friend.  We'll reunite next week in Dublin, Ireland and the beginning of Part II of the Carlson Summer Travels: Europe.