Adventures!

Today was our last full day in Indonesia and if you thought we'd be laying around all day doing nothing...you'd be wrong! It was Bali Adventure day!

The day started with a 1.5 hour bike ride. We started high up overlooking volcanoes and a lake and we had a fabulous ride down through the villages and farm lands. It was fantastic. I loved seeing all the children get excited as we rode by and all the different kinds of crops people were growing. We saw orange trees, coffee plantations, and rice fields to name a few. We also learned about many of the local customs including some of the temples, cock fighting, and about how this one animal eats coffee beans and then poops them and that apparently makes better coffee. We also saw another Balinese house and some awesome spiders. The ride was fun--a lot of it off road and downhill which was nice!

Spider!

Creature that eats coffee and then poops the beans back out

Then it was off to the Elephant Safari Park. We had lunch overlooking the baby elephants, then had a bumpy 30 minute elephant ride and also saw a short elephant show full of all kinds of tricks.

Smart elephant.

And just to be sure our day was full it was now time for some white water rafting. A great time! We had a crazy captain that give us jungle flowers for our helmets and liked to spin us all around, it definitely made it more fun. The scenery was beautiful. Jungle so high up! We also saw monkeys!!! Awesome! And many waterfalls. And we got out and floated downstream many times.

 

 

Cool carvings in the rocks

After our busy day we decided to stay in tonight. Jeff checked out the natural pool and we watched the beautiful sunset one last time. We had a nice Balinese dinner here at the hotel.

 

Sunset from our hut

Our hut

One more post tomorrow...probably from the Singapore airport. :) Even though we head home tomorrow I still have some events planned for the AM. :)

 

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Our journey to Ubud, Bali

Last night we had a yummy dinner with all but one couple from our hotel (the other couple was celebrating their wedding anniversary so we left the resort for them). Here we all are at dinner. Also, our meals were probably like $4 each, but our drinks were $7.50. Food is cheap here, but alcohol is not.

 

This morning we enjoyed the last few hours at The Point with a nice breakfast. While sitting on the deck waiting for our taxi, dolphins swam by. A perfect way to end our time there. Then, it was off to the Rocky Fast boat again. The road was closed so we had to take a smaller boat to the big boat, but we made it. And again...those boats are crazy! So fast and bumpy!

Now we are outside of Ubud at the Bambu Indah resort which happens to be located behind a Jurassic Park style gate. We were supposed to stay in the Shrimp House (glass floors with a shrimp pond underneath), but a mango fell through the glass tiles in the bathroom this morning so we were upgraded to the Padi House. This place is ridiculous. The view is incredible. Rice fields for days. And the natural spring fed pool is right outside our door.

Our view

Various huts at our place

 

If that wasn't enough, tonight we went to a Balinese cooking class at a private house near Ubud. First, we went to the rice fields and learned all about that process. We fixed an 8 course meal and then ate it. Awesome food!! There were only 6 of us in the class and we got recipes so we could make the stuff at home. 4 hours well spent! We made a mushroom soup, chicken curry, chicken satay, veggie salad, a salad covered in peanut sauce, tuna in banana leaf, a sweet and crunchy tofu dish, and boiled bananas dessert. Unbelievable stuff!!

 

Now it's time for sleep. Another busy day ahead!

 

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Our day on Lembongan Island

Our day on the island included some snorkeling, afternoon massage, and evening chit-chat with the other resort guests.

Snorkeling: the resort booked a private charter to take us out. We were joined by two other folks from our hotel. We went to three snorkeling spots and were back by around 1pm. The first spot was amazing! So many corals, colorful fish, and beautiful blue water. Much better than my last snorkeling experience (recall the curse of the manatees post from Belize). It took a minute to get a hang of the snorkel mask, but then thins we're fine. Except I did cut up my knee pretty badly on a piece of coral. And on the second stop I got water in my mask and my eyes were burning. And on the third spot I got a blister on my big toe because my fins were too small. Jeff said I was a mess. But other than that it was lovely. A nice morning.

 

Afternoon massage: after a nice lunch beachside at Cafe Bali on Mushroom Beach (same place we had dinner last night) we came back to the hotel and got massages. $12 for a one hour massage...in our room...by the ocean. Very pleasant.

 

 

Chit-chat: after our massages we hung out at the pool with the rest of the guests chatting. The guy from the UK loved that Jeff was an oil man from Texas. He's so happy to tell people back home about it. We watched another beautiful sunset and are headed to Shady Beach for dinner soon.

 

 

 

On another note, our resort overlooks these cliffs, we saw it for our snorkeling boat today and on our way back from lunch we took a detour and saw some amazing wave crashing. In the resort pic we're in the 2nd room from the left. There are only 4 rooms total, so this is a pic of the whole resort!



 

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Our trip to The Point

First, thanks to all for reading and commenting. It's fun to hear for you all! Keep those comments coming.

We've arrived in Bali! More specifically we're now on Lembongan Island. After a one hour drive, two plane flights, another one hour drive, a 30 minute boat ride and a 15 minute ride in the back of a truck we arrived at The Point resort just in time for sunset. Here are some stories from today and some pics.

 

1. Flights in Indonesia take off at your flight time. No they don't leave the gate at that time...you're I'm the air. Good job, Indonesia!

2. Our boat also left early. Crazy stuff. We rode this crazy fast boat! Every time we hit a wave it was like that feeling you get on a plane when you hit big turbulence. I feel like they should make one of those 3D motion rides for this fast boat thing! Crazy!

3. Enjoying this beautiful resort. Beautiful sunset and infinity pool. Walked down to the beach for dinner. It was lovely.

4. Speaking of dinner, while waiting for the Aussie surfers that also road in our car to the boat, we had some KFC at the airport. I just couldn't resist, it's so popular here and it was right there so I had to check it out. With your chicken (which tastes just like KFC) you get white rice (not mash potatoes)...a bit of a letdown but I shouldn't be surprised. :)

 

5. Our driver was ready to pick-up Jessery Nash. :)

 

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Borobudur

This morning we woke at 4am. We picked up flashlights and a skirt and headed to the top of the temple in the dark. We staked out a spot and watched the sunrise. We took lots of pics and posted a few of them here. It was beautiful and peaceful watching the sunrise over the mountains and seeing the volcano appear from the clouds. We climbed down the stairs and were on our way to Bali by 6am.

 

 

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