Days 55-58: Bali
Halo Mister! Flew to the island of Bali, Indonesia a few days ago and headed north to the string of small villages called Lovina (which we’re told means Love Indonesia). The place must have had less than a dozen tourists but a gaggle of hotels and restaurants. What a terrific country this is!
Our first few hours in Indonesia were an assault on the senses. As we had trouble uploading pictures in Lovina, we thought we share a few of the sensations with you.
The feel of the swerving of the drivers at the last second to avoid on-coming vehicles in a form of orchestrated chaos on the two lane winding roads through the volacanic mountains with mopeds swarming everywhere; the sweet smell of burning piles of agricultural waste; the wet terraced rice fields reflecting the palm trees and the sky; the sound of bemo (mini-bus) horns going almost constantly as they try to get you on board; the rich taste of the white flesh of the center of the mangosteen (fruit); the sight of women carrying baskets and bundles of logs on their heads; the constant smell of incense from offerings made; the taste of a Balinese roll cake (banana wrapped in pancake with palm sugar and coconut on top):
Luckily, we found a place where we are able to upload pictures.
One thing we were surprised by is the intricacy of the shrines everywhere and the woven baskets with flowers, food, and incense left in them every day. There are really neat sculptures all over the place. This is a gate for a small street in Lovina.
We hired a boat to take us out to the reef off the coast for some snorkelling and it was fantastic. The coral has taken a hit from a crown-of-throns starfish invasion (they eat the coral) but that made all the aquatic beasties stand out even more. The water was like a salty bath (much warmer than our shower) and the tiny stinging jellys seemed to like it too. Regretably, the sun is pretty strong at the equator at mid-day and Marcus is now part lobster.
Almost everything here is cheap (the one exception is the phones). We have been eating three meals out a day, and for the two of us the price range has been $2-$5. Our last hotel was $3.50 a night, but tonight we’re paying a whopping $6.
The food is absolutely phenomenal – it is all fresh out of the field. We’re both now huge fans of tempeh, which we never liked in the states. The food is so good that we both took an Indonesian cooking class where we learned how to make things like sweet black rice and gado-gado. Yum! Here’s Kelly sampling the goods.
We stopped by a temple at Lake Bratan on the way from Lovina to Kuta.
We found the youngest Charger fan in the southern hemisphere.
Found some very useful NASA white papers.
Sunset in paradise.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Tags: Indonesia
Kelly & Marcus
May 8th, 2005 at 8:25 am
AWESOME! Thank you for the Mother’s Day wishes 🙂
What a cutie – the Chargers fan – who would have thought, half way around the workd!
Glad you got some cooking lessons – I know you had been planning on lessons if possible…
Love you, Mom xoxox
May 8th, 2005 at 10:02 am
Bali Hai ~
When I think the number of times I have seen South Pacific on the stage and have watched the movie(s) and this is the first time I have really seen Bali.
Thank you!
May 8th, 2005 at 10:24 am
I’m not certain, but I think the mangosteens are imported from Israel…
May 8th, 2005 at 2:12 pm
I do love the Charger fan. And if our sunsets are supposed to be pretty because of all the pollution, what’s the story with the sunset there? Kel, I’m impressed you took a cooking class – the food must be really good!
May 20th, 2005 at 10:07 pm
Kuta has some excellent pollution to rival LA – we were able to walk faster than the cars. So, excellent sunset 🙂
Yeah, the food is terrific – and I’m not even tired of asian food yet.
May 21st, 2005 at 2:02 pm
Hey did you checkout that restaurant in Nusa Dua called Bumbu bali? The food was very good.
May 25th, 2005 at 2:16 am
Nusa Dua is too posh for our budget this trip. We did go to Gili Air and had a great time. Thanks for the recommendation.