Bali, Day 8: C Bali Daytrip to Lake Batur and Local Villages

It was a daytrip today. We booked a tour with C Bali, which does a canoe and biking tour of the Mt Batur/Batur Lake/kintamani region of Bali. We actually lucked out and had a private tour, because the two guides didn't have anyone else sign up that day, so it was just us and them. It was pretty nice though, they were an Austrlian-Dutch couple who lived in Bali for 3 years and love it there, and very easy to talk to and nice and friendly.

First they drove us up to the region, and we had a quick breakfast of some eggs and toast. First we did some canoeing. Actually, the boats look more like inflatable kayaks, but still fun. First Aaron and I had to carry one of the canoes across the street and then down a dirt bath before we can paddle, which was quite a bit of a workout for my weak arms. It was a bit windy so the waves were a little big so paddling back (towards the current) was a bit tiring. The view was quite nice though, with some mountains and the lake in the scenery. Aaron and I rode in canoes with the different two guides since we never canoed before, but it was pretty easy to learn, although that doesn't mean it didn't need upper body strength I didn't have.

After our little canoeing trip, it was lunch. We had baked fish (from the lake), chicken satay, some fried noodles and some fried rice. It was a pretty yummy Balinese meal

.

After lunch it was our bike tour, which I was still weakish from sick so I couldn't make it to some of the hills, but it was still fun. Along the bike tour we got off and walked through some local villages. The guides had used to live in these villages and now help with donations and schools and such with the village, and so the locals all know and like them.

The kids were especially cute and would smile and imitate our guide and hug her legs and just be happy kids. We also saw some of their local temples and school, and met some more local people. I felt as if this was a great experience because it was actually seeing the locals in their natural setting, not meeting them in touristy markets and them hassling you to buy a sarong. They seemed very happy and smiling and the kids were just too adorable.

After our bike and walk tour, they drove us back to our hotel, satisfied and happy. I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone. For dinner, we went to back to the organic restaurant across the street and I got a veggie sandwich and Aaron got a breakfast burrito. We also tried the Balinese black rice pudding, which was creamy and very good.

Click here to read more

Bali, Day 7: two temples and some organic food

First day back from being bedridden, so it wasn't a very intense and busy day.

First we drove through some rice paddies and scenery to get to the Kertha Gosa Temple. It consisted of a building in the middle of a pond, with lots of pictures on the roof of the temple building, drawing of different scenes. It also consisted of a tiny museum with a few paintings and some artifacts from the past Balinese people who lived in the region. There was a lot of interesting statues around the pond area.

The next temple we went to was the Tirta Gangga, or water palace. It was a bit further from where we live, but it was worth it. It had tons of statues squirting water from their mouths, ponds everywhere, little stepping stones and statues in one of the larger pond areas, a pool to swim in with a separately entrance fee. It was in a gorgeous setting and very scenic and nice.

We had lunch in the restaurant there, which actually caters to weddings there, but the food wasn't expensive (at least to our budgets, to the typical Indonesia budget, probably). I got chicken coconut soup and Aaron got a sampler plate with consisted of many random foods (some meat, some veggies) wrapped in banana leaves, as well as egg and rice.

After this we had a long drive back to our hotel, but we made it back to our hotel area. We checked this local organic coffeehouse/restaurant type place for dinner, where we ordered way too much food: carrot ginger soup, chicken sandwich, viet spring rolls, indian plate, and two juices.

We also tried some different fruits here too. Salak, or snakefruit, has a snakelike skin and when you peel it off, it sort of tastes somewhere in between a tart apple and a hard lycee. Hard to explain it. And then of course I tried my mangosteen again, which I had in China before, it is sweet and soft, almost apple tasting.

Click here to read more

Bali, Day 6: Sick Jacki day

I don't really have too much to write about today, because I was sick today. In the morning Aaron explored the area and went to the local grocery stores and bought some snacks and some fruit. In the afternoon, I felt so ill that we headed to the local clinic, which they took samples from me and we paid a lot for some medicine and some antibiotics. Long story short, I was sick today, went to the doctor, and that is about it. Not much else to say about today. I was just glad that I did have a day that I could rest. Click here to read more

Bali, Day 5: More Temples and Monkeys

It was another daytrip day today, but it was much shorter than yesterday. At this current hotel, they actually bring our breakfast up to our balcony, which is very nice. We got a sort of omlette and fruit salad for breakfast, pretty yummy. We actually got confused about the time because I thought we set the alarm for 8 but it was actually 7, and we were rushing and was like why is our driver so late when it wasn't even the time yet. That was pretty humorous.



Anyway, when he finally did come, on time of course, we drove to a few places. First we went to the temples at Taman Ayun. They had lots of pagoda-shaped temples, but instead of being round like East Asian, they were square shapㄷd and seemed to be made of straw.






After these temples, we went to the Alas Kedaton Monkey Forest, which apparently has some of the least aggressive monkeys (but I haven't been to the other two, so I can't compare). We were there relatively early so there wasn't a lot of people there. There were some very fat monkeys and some very young monkeys. Unfortunately it was the fat ones that love to come up and jump on top of you (and yes, some of them can be quite heavy) and eat peanuts, but the young baby monkeys are the shy ones. There was a ton of monkeys everywhere, just sitting on the floor, on the fences, on the temples, everywhere. It was almost surreal to be surrounded by so many monkeys in close proximity.













After monkeying around, we went to Tanah Lot. Now, this temple is best during sunset, but we had time now, so why not. From the parking lot to the temple area was a journey, because it was windy roads around lots and lots of vendors and restaurants and people. Finally, we got the water's edge, where we saw the little temple perched on its little island (you could walk in the water to get to the other side, but we passed). The temple itself wasn't too big I could see the location can be pretty nice.





We had our lunch a local restaurant on the way back to the parking lot, of which I had some kind of chicken soup and Aaron got Indonesian fried rice with some satay (meat on sticks).





The rest of the day was uneventful because we were pretty tired and just headed back to the hotel. I was feeling a little sick so I just lay in bed and rested for awhile. For dinner, we tried out a Japanese restaurant nearby. I ordered some cold noodles on a bamboo plate, which I could just top with soy sauce, it was pretty good and refreshing. Aaron ordered some rice with anchovy and seaweed on top, and we shared an eggplant and a something that looked like a crab cake for appetizers. Click here to read more