It's BALI Time!

BALI Days and Nights

Here it is, the day-by-day of my time in Kuta, Bali!

Sunday, April 8

*Depart for Kuta, Bali, Indonesia!!!!

*Arrived at Wina (weena) Holiday Villa, Kuta, Bali

~Stayed with Andrea T and Kyla

Monday, April 9

*Hung out by the pool

*Room service and free breakfast

*Supper in Seminyak, Bali @ Mykenos Greek Restaurant

*Sky Bar for free drinks and dancing at Bounty

Tuesday, April 10

*Tanah Lot Temple (middle of the water)

*Uluwatu Cliff Temple

*Padong-Padong Beach with monkeys!!

*Kecak Fire dance

*Fried noodle dinner on the beach with fireworks!

*Hilarious drivers

Wednesday, April 11

*Market Street in Bali

*Kuta Beach

*Smart Salon & Day Spa – 60 min Balinesse Massage J

*Pizza from Dominoes (delivery!)

Thursday, April 12

*Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary (Ubud, Bali)

*Ketut – healer from Eat, Pray, Love

*‘A True Balinese Experience’ – The Elephant Camp

*Rice fields

Friday, April 13

*Pool alllllllll day

*Dinner @ Cafe Bali – SO CUTE!

*Cards @ Alleycats with boys from Canada

Saturday, April 14

*River Rafting

*Dominoes pizza for dinner

*Sky Bar, Alleycats, Icon, Bounty

Sunday, April 15

*Markets

*Lost Debit Card

*Tubes – Surfer spot for lunch

*J. CO for donuts

*Depart for home!

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            One fine evening when we were walking home from Bali, I summed up the island in two words, Bali smelt like poop and incense. Not that those descriptive words should sum up my experience while in Bali, but I think I was exposed to more culturally shocking things in my week away in Bali than I have been in my entire time in Australia.

On Sunday, April 8^th, eleven beautiful ladies departed for the terrorist-ridden land of Bali, Indonesia. Back in 2002, there was an evening bombing in a nightclub in Kuta, Bali. Needless to say, after discovering this, I was anything but excited to be heading to this treacherous land in the year of the tenth anniversary of this event. But, I had to put my big girl pants on, trust that God would protect our group, and realize that I just paid over $800 for this trip, so there was no going back now.

I am happy to say that I returned safe and unscathed, but with many, many stories to share. When we arrived in Bali I noticed an immediate difference from Australia because the climate was a lot hotter and more humid. Let’s just say I started sweating when I got off the plane, and it didn’t stop until I got back on it to head home to Australia. When we arrived at our hotel (Wina Holiday Villa in Kuta, Bali), we were greeted by the friendly faces of the staff, as well as some warm, wet, delightfully smelling towels to clean our face and hands. (We were all really nervous about our hotel because we figured it would end up being nothing like the photos from our online booking, but in reality it was just as beautiful!) The hotel had two big pools and a swim up bar, and after some rearranging with our rooms we settled in for our week long adventure.

All the ladies ins front of Tarah Lot Temple

Selfy in front of Tanah Lot temple

Secret Cove in the rocks

Padong Padong Beach 

Uluwatu Cliff Temple with our Sarongs

Uluwatu Cliff Temple

Awaiting the Kecak Fire Dance

Kecak Fire Dance

Dinner on the beach with fresh fruit juice!

My $3 meal!

The group with our crazy drivers!

This monkey was crazy and loved me!!

Ketut, the healer from Eat, Pray, Love

About time to conquer some elephant riding!

We were blessed to have such a delicious meal included in our day!

Jimmy ♥

Elephant Hugs

An elephant never forgets.

White water rafting with the crew

Wina Holiday Villa, our home for the week

One of the blue bird taxis that we had to take everywhere

the markets

just one example of a woman carrying a large load on her head

I can't believe this is my life!

This must be for all the lazy American tourists haha

Monday we spent our time hanging by the pool and ended up going out for an evening of tasty food at Mykenos, a Greek-style restaurant. I was unable to eat anything because I had made myself so sick thinking about how I could possibly get the horrid ‘Bali-belly’ sickness. You can get ‘Bali-belly’ by drinking water from the tap, or eating food that was not prepared with distilled water. It was really difficult to be somewhere so amazing, yet unable to enjoy my time because I was so afraid I was going to get sick. Since the water is so bad, you have to shower with your mouth shut (which for me is apparently a very difficult task.) You also have to use bottled water to brush your teeth, once again a difficult thing for me to remember. One night I was mid brushing my teeth when I went to rinse...*cue scary music*.....and I was about to rinse when I caught myself with my toothbrush in my mouth and the sink running tap water. Needless to say I freaked out, threw my toothbrush away, dried the inside of my mouth with a towel, drank some red cordial water (kind of like red kool aid to coat your stomach), and then proceeded to pray I wouldn’t get sick. I ended up being fine, but you can see how big of a deal this Bali-belly stuff is! I’ve never had to worry about that when here in Australia!

Despite all of the worry about Kuta being dangerous, I found my time there to be quite enjoyable and for the majority of the time, safe. Our group decided that we wanted to see more than just the inside of the city of Kuta. A few of us ventured out of our hotel to book a tour one day, and quickly realized the importance of bartering. We ended up going to a travel stand and got a day long tour price down from $50 to $30 dollars. Now, the currency in Indonesia is rupees, but we sometimes would have to deal with American prices for the sake of tourist spots.

On our tour we ended up going to two different temples (Uluwatu Cliff Temple and Tanah Lot Temple.) Tanah Lot Temple was in the middle of the ocean and you could only get to it during low tide when the waves subsided. It was my first experience going to a Hindu temple, and although we didn’t get to go inside, all around the area there was a feeling of deep respect. In Bali, there is a tradition of making little boats of flowers that have a stick of lit incense in them. These are found all over Kuta, as well as at the temples. It contributes to why I described smelling incense all the time in Bali. They were all over, all the time! They are used as a sign of offering to the gods for the Hindu religion. On our way to Uluwatu Cliff Temple we stopped at Padong-Padong beach. When we were here, Kaley F. and a few others really wanted to get some food. When I walked over to check out their lunch, I was really confused because I didn’t see a kitchen anywhere for where their meal was prepared. I asked Kaley where the kitchen was and she pointed to the shed with the surfboards in it. Sure enough, there was a lady making rice on this tiny little stove top inside this rickety old shed. Kaley’s quote was “if I don’t get Bali-belly from this, I don’t think I can get it at all.” Sure enough she, as well as our whole group survived Bali without getting sick. When we went to Uluwatu, out of respect they give everyone showing their knees a sarong to wear around their waist. We were supposed to keep our knees covered as part of the time at the temple. It was around sunset, and as Uluwatu is a cliff temple we were right on the cliffs edge. I think I know a few people that would have been freaking out about how close we were to the edge! The scenery here was so amazing that I just stood still and breathed in the fresh ocean air. I couldn’t believe that this beautiful place could be located so near to such poverty and danger in the city. That evening we went to the Kecak fire dance. It is a traditional dance by Indonesian men that make music and chant while only using their bodies as instruments. There is a story being told as well through the chanting and the dancing. It is said to be one of the most cultural things to do while in Bali, and I think it definitely opened my eyes to the heritage of Bali. They even had a part that dealt with being sent off to a husband that was chosen for the young girl, and it was interesting to remember that arranged marriages exist there sometimes. We rounded out the evening with dinner literally on the beach. Our table was placed right by the water’s edge, and as we watched the waves crash on the shore there were even a few fireworks in the distance.

A few random things to note.......

1.      Breakfast food in Bali apparently is the same as lunch and dinner food. There were Asian noodles, rice, pancakes, potatoes, corn, baked beans, and all sorts of other things at our daily continental breakfasts at our hotel.

2.      You know you’re not in Kansas anymore when one of the girls in your group needs to get out of the van to vomit, and she is standing with a cow on her left side and a women balancing a basket on her head on her right side.

3.      Your drivers get back in the car at night after you eat dinner, and they are driving 15 mph on the freeway. After you realize that the car had a funny scent in it, you ask if they were doing drugs. They deny it because drugs get you the death penalty in Bali, but then they offer you Magic Mushrooms because those are legal. You politely decline and pray you are not about to be a duplicate from a scene out of Taken.

4.      Your driver and “interpreter” (needed because the driver apparently didn’t speak very good English), ask if they can take you out to the clubs because they like you so much...then proceed to want your name to add you on Facebook!

5.      When you walk down the street, you are whistled at, howled at, or called:

a.       Lady Gaga

b.      Spice Girls or

c.       Shakira

.......none of which I’m sure are really complimentary.

On Wednesday we went to the markets in Kuta. They are streets upon streets lined with markets where there are Indonesian men, women, and children hassling you to stop at their “store.” If you even look at their clothes they immediately think you are interested, and they try to suggest prices for you. If you tell them where you are from, then they make things even more expensive because they know the exchange rate of the rupee to dollar is about 10,000 to $1 dollar. Sometimes they will begin with a starting price of 300,000 rupees, but that is around $30, so I would suggest prices of 30,000 rupees instead, which was around $3. One time I began with a firm answer of 30,000 rupees and a woman kicked me out of her store. She told me “no way..you get out...too cheap! Too cheap!” I couldn’t believe she actually did that, but then I learned you sometimes just had to go to a different store. That night we checked out Kuta beach where the shoreline was plastered with garbage and junk, I even saw a pair of underwear washed up on shore! Although it was a gorgeous beach in terms of waves and attractive surfer men, you would have people constantly coming up to you trying to sell you things. Someone even tried to sell one of the girls a bow and arrow.....seriously? What are you going to do with that?! And how on earth would you ever get it through customs?!! Since the exchange rate was so much in our favour, we decided to treat ourselves and head to the spa that night. I was able to get a full body Balinesse massage for only $10 dollars! I was in heaven! However, I had never received a massage before, and a man was almost going to do it for us, when we interjected and politely requested a woman. I mean, I don’t mind getting a massage from a woman when I’m barely wearing anything, but a man is an entirely different story!!

On Thursday, we embarked for another group excursion. We went to a few different places including a monkey park where I bought bananas, and literally had monkeys jumping all over me to snatch the bananas. Afterwards we had some extra time before we had to be at the spot to ride elephants, yes I did say elephants!!! Something I learned about Bali was that if your driver for the day really liked you and your group, you could get them to go on all sorts of little extra excursions during your time with them. I asked if we were anywhere near where the healer from Eat, Pray, Love lived and to my surprise we were only about a half hour drive away from him! Our driver took us to meet Ketut, and I was speechless. We actually pulled up right at his house, and walked through the gates to find Ketut sitting on his porch (just as in the book and movie) doing a healing session with someone! I could hardly believe my eyes! Riley and I were almost going to take a number and come back the next day for a healing session, but to be honest between the money and my fear of him telling me I had a short life line on my palm, we decided against it. We went to ride elephants next, and it was such a life changing experience. My elephant’s name was Jimmy, and he had been at the camp for almost 10 years! The guy he was riding with had been with Jimmy for close to 15 years though. Jimmy was the oldest elephant at the camp, and was also the largest. He was such a gentle and loving elephant, and after our ride I got to take lots of pictures with him! They’re trunks are so strong that they could actually lift up a person if they wanted to. They are also so incredibly intelligent that they were able to pick up Andrea’s flip flop and return it to her! We even raced on our elephants for a little bit.

I noticed that a lot of people in Bali have great senses of humour because when I was chatting with all of our different drivers I always took note of their willingness to interact and joke with us. I think they really enjoyed getting to take us around their country and teach us about their livelihoods.

After a very busy week, we took Friday to treat ourselves to some r&r time by the pool. Since room service was so cheap, I ordered food and had it delivered to me in my lounge chair right by the pool! That would never happen in the states, just because it is so expensive. I even had a banana split brought to my room one night, and I felt like I was in Home Alone when he orders all the junk food to his room! We soaked in the sun and enjoyed some belly flops and cannon balls into the water as well. That night we went to another restaurant in Seminyak, a city near Bali where we ate at Cafe Bali. It literally looked like a page straight out of Home and Garden magazine because it had such a light and airy feel to it. There was even a little river in the back of the restaurant. However, not all restaurants will split the bill for you, so we had to spend an extra 45 minutes in the restaurant trying to make sense of our bill and who had to pay what. It really is quite comical because we spent so much time arguing over thousands of rupees, which in reality are only a few dollars and cents. Later on, we went to one of our favourite little bars called Alleycats where we had met some really nice Canadian boys earlier in the week. We ended up playing cards there for awhile before calling it a night and heading down the dark alleyway back home. Much to our dismay, our favourite little bracelet shop turned into a Magic Mushroom dealer spot at night and even had a bright colourful sign that we took our picture with! It was so crazy to see how dirty the city can be at night.

Saturday we spent the day river rafting where we got to see a lot more of  the traditional Balinese landscape! We had waterfalls and rice fields all around us, and even got to climb 200 steps up to our lunch spot at the end of rafting. It was a really great experience to have an Indonesian guide yelling out commands, and trying to understand it all!! He would yell “Boom Boom” when we were about to hit something so we had to quickly hang on to the boat, otherwise we would get thrown out of it! That night we went to a few of our other favourite spots, Sky Bar, Bounty to go dancing, and Alleycats. We even saw our Canadian friends there as well!!

Sunday we finished up our trip with another brief trip to the markets and some lunch at Tubes (a surfer themed bar and grill restaurant.) Oh, and I should probably mention as well, that I’m an idiot and left my debit card INSIDE the ATM when getting cash out on Saturday night. After freaking out and retracing my steps, I had to call the Indonesian bank. Let’s just say there was a bit of a language barrier (as we had previously discovered when trying to order Dominoes, only to realize we had been on the phone for 10 minutes with room service haha.) After the lady told me she couldn’t help me, I cried a little, then skyped home to send my parents to the rescue (thanks mom and dad!)

Honestly, when all is said and done, Bali was quite the cultural experience. Between trusting in the BlueBird taxi service instead of the many motorized bikes for public transport, being hassled constantly, called many sketchy celebrity names, drinking tons of bottled water and taking my daily supplements of red cordial and Bali-belly preventative pills, lots of time at the markets, and exploring the outer areas of Bali, I think I had one of the most amazing and life changing spring breaks any girl could ask for! I love exploring the country God has made. Also, I have now been to 4 continents J How nifty!!