Bali truly is the most beautifullest, wonderfullest, greatestest and bestest place in the whole world. Now, I don't mean to get all hyperbolic on your collective asses, but Bali really blew us away.
The Bali beaches, at least on the mainland, can't really hold a candle to those in Thailand. But the scenery....oh the scenery! Bali is rife with both natural and man-made beauty. Every damn tree, bush, or plant, it seems, is full of some sort of exotic and amazing flower. Every damn five minutes one can spot a Hindu temple complete with complex and cool carved stone work. Every damn house, it seems, has a miniature version of a temple right there in the damn back yard. It's awesome.
Bali, as you may or may not know, is part of Indonesia. It's 60% Hindu and 100% supersweet. It's home to delicious food, dangerous drinks, tons of Australian travelers and expatriates, and everything from terraced rice fields to the best snorkeling in the world (well, maybe tied with the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, but we'll get to that in the next installment.)
I'm going to try again to let the pictures speak for themselves but I'll give a quick rundown of some stuff we did in Bali.
We made the southern coastal town of Sanur our home base for the duration of our stay --- about 8 days. We avoided the craziness of Kuta and Denpasar but were also able to visit some gems along the way thanks, in large part, to the proximity of just about everything as well as the inexpensive nature of hiring a car with driver to drive you wherever you'd like to go.
Quick anecdote: The night we arrived in Bali we grabbed a taxi to our hotel and walked around looking for food and/or a drink. It was kind of late and on a weekday so all we could find near our hotel was a tiny bar full of arguing Brits and Kiwis. The ladies running the bar took a shine to Leann and I (I think they just wanted to escape the arguments for a while) and chatted us up. They ended up giving us a couple free shots of Arak, the local drink (kind of like a tequila-ish concoction made from coconut). Apparently people make their own Arak. I'm not sure if this stuff is like bathtub gin or moonshine or what but it was strong as hell. We found out later that a whole batch of tourists had died from drinking the stuff. I guess sometimes it gets mixed with methanol and can burn you from the inside out. We were fine. I drank most of Leann's shot.
So, we go to see the following stuff: A multilevel marketplace that would panic anyone with claustrophobia, the Royal Temple in Ubud, the island of Lembongan, a waterfall at Git Git, snorkeling at Amed, a really old temple somewhere on the road to Ubud, a bat cave temple (no Batmans or Robins, but about a gazillion bats flying around), a temple on a lake, and the holy water gardens. We also even went to our driver's tiny little village to meet his mother and other family and neighbors!
In the spirit of visual storytelling, I'll try to show you what some of these places were like by the pictures we took there.
The Bali beaches, at least on the mainland, can't really hold a candle to those in Thailand. But the scenery....oh the scenery! Bali is rife with both natural and man-made beauty. Every damn tree, bush, or plant, it seems, is full of some sort of exotic and amazing flower. Every damn five minutes one can spot a Hindu temple complete with complex and cool carved stone work. Every damn house, it seems, has a miniature version of a temple right there in the damn back yard. It's awesome.
Bali, as you may or may not know, is part of Indonesia. It's 60% Hindu and 100% supersweet. It's home to delicious food, dangerous drinks, tons of Australian travelers and expatriates, and everything from terraced rice fields to the best snorkeling in the world (well, maybe tied with the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, but we'll get to that in the next installment.)
I'm going to try again to let the pictures speak for themselves but I'll give a quick rundown of some stuff we did in Bali.
We made the southern coastal town of Sanur our home base for the duration of our stay --- about 8 days. We avoided the craziness of Kuta and Denpasar but were also able to visit some gems along the way thanks, in large part, to the proximity of just about everything as well as the inexpensive nature of hiring a car with driver to drive you wherever you'd like to go.
Quick anecdote: The night we arrived in Bali we grabbed a taxi to our hotel and walked around looking for food and/or a drink. It was kind of late and on a weekday so all we could find near our hotel was a tiny bar full of arguing Brits and Kiwis. The ladies running the bar took a shine to Leann and I (I think they just wanted to escape the arguments for a while) and chatted us up. They ended up giving us a couple free shots of Arak, the local drink (kind of like a tequila-ish concoction made from coconut). Apparently people make their own Arak. I'm not sure if this stuff is like bathtub gin or moonshine or what but it was strong as hell. We found out later that a whole batch of tourists had died from drinking the stuff. I guess sometimes it gets mixed with methanol and can burn you from the inside out. We were fine. I drank most of Leann's shot.
So, we go to see the following stuff: A multilevel marketplace that would panic anyone with claustrophobia, the Royal Temple in Ubud, the island of Lembongan, a waterfall at Git Git, snorkeling at Amed, a really old temple somewhere on the road to Ubud, a bat cave temple (no Batmans or Robins, but about a gazillion bats flying around), a temple on a lake, and the holy water gardens. We also even went to our driver's tiny little village to meet his mother and other family and neighbors!
In the spirit of visual storytelling, I'll try to show you what some of these places were like by the pictures we took there.
Above you can see the rice fields (first two pictures), the fire dance we watched, some monkey action complete with monkey baby, stone carving on the beach, Hindu temple, waterfall, two gargoyle-esque creatures, more monkey action, a Hindu procession, the post-snorkel beach happiness, the holy water temple, and the entrance to the bat cave temple. Bali is pretty fierce, eh?
If there's one time you absotively, posolutely MUST look at our Flickr pictures, this is it. Check out Bali here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisandleann/sets/ There are a few different groups of Bali pictures sorted by location.
Next up will be a recap of Australia! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!
Although my time in Bali was years ago I know exactly why you loved it - a most unusual place unlike any other. I liked chicken satay in an open-air cafe and a sunfish totally boned and beautiful cooked. Connie
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