Beautiful Bali (Part 1)

May must have been busy, I hardly blogged at all! But I'm ready to get back at it.

I can't make a great argument for us needing a vacation, but for all of last month, Jacob and I were so excited for our upcoming trip to Bali - mostly because it meant a visit from Jacob's sister Anna and her husband, Erich. Having visitors is wonderful, especially when it is family!

Anna & Erich came to Singapore, via a few days in Japan (ask them about Robot Restaurant!) on May 21. The 4 of us left for Bali that same evening, taking advantage of the Buddhist holiday on that Friday to sneak in a 5 day vacation!

We broke up our trip into three locations, wanting to sample as much of Bali as possible.

Where: Seminyak
What: Beach Party All the Time!
Accommodations: Umadasa Hotel

Pool time!

We began in Seminyak, just a bit north of Bali's infamous beach/club scene, Kuta. Our small guesthouse, consisting of just 5 rooms and a small pool and garden, was tucked back in an alley off a main road just a few minutes from the beach. We began our (Wednesday) morning with breakfast and a swim, before heading to the beach. 

Our guesthouse.

For a few bucks (thanks to Jacob's Malay and bartering skills), we rented loungers and umbrellas for a few hours - and when we grew thirsty, we added in a few Bintang beers as well!

Let's go to the beach, beach, let's go to the beach...

Some of us hold our alcohol better than others...

Happy place: on a beach, drinking a beer and
reading Neil Gaiman short stories

We ate lunch at a small cafe (thanks Lonely Planet) that served a variety of Indonesian food - and milkshakes. Then more pool time before we dressed up and walked (a long ways) to Kuta. We had dinner while watching rain roll in over the ocean, and then walked through Kuta, trying to figure out where the famed nightlife was. Unfortunately, Anna wasn't feeling well so she had to call it a night early, but the rest of us eventually found our way to the Sky Garden club, followed by more dancing at Bounty. It was a fun scene, but not as hopping as we expected - but it was a Wednesday night after all!

How to party.

How not to party.

Where: Ubud
What: Food, Art, Monkeys, Food, Adventure, Food
Accommodations: Alas Petulu Cottages

On Thursday we were picked up by Ketut, an Indonesian tour guide/driver recommended to us by some of my work colleagues. He spent the day driving us to various spots and showing us around Bali. While most of the places we went catered mainly to tourists (which we were), all the driving around let us see a lot of regular Balinese life. And rice. And the temples - Bali is called the Island of the Gods, and I can see why! 

The Barong, a tiger-like creature, represents good spirit.

We began the morning by seeing a dance performance of the Barong & Kris story - a story about the opposing forces of good and evil. It was really interesting to compare the dance styles to what we had seen in Java - similar, but different! The gamelan music was much quicker and the dancing had more exaggerated moves. Facial expressions were more important in the Barong & Kris dance, and also the dancers did this movement with their fingers that I can hardly describe - they sort of wiggled them back and forth laterally, and really quickly too. There was also much fighting using tufts of grass, and some hilarious interludes with lewd jokes. The costumes, as you can see, were amazing!

The art gallery was set up in a huge old Balinese house.

Ketut also took us to a batik/textile craft shop where we could see people creating batiks (and shop among hundreds of beautiful batik pieces), a silver-smithing shop, and a huge gallery of paintings. After we'd gotten a bit of the shopping bug out of our system, he drove us up to the top of a volcano (to be honest, I'm not sure which one). Unfortunately, it was by then cloudy and raining, but we stilled enjoyed an Indonesian buffet while overlooking a mysterious, mist-shrouded volcano. Also, I actually got cold - outside! I was so excited.

The Balinese, who are mostly Hindu, set out small offerings of flowers and small treats all over (sometimes you pass them just sitting on the sidewalk or placed next to entryways.)

View from lunch on the volcano - kind of spooky!

Indonesian buffet atop the volcano.

After lunch, we drove down from the volcano and stopped at a coffee and spice plantation. Here we got to see coffee in its raw form, and how it is roasted and ground. They also have Luwak Coffee (the civit cat poop coffee), which we all tried a taste of. Jacob also tried the Peaberry Coffee, which is made exclusively from the 'male' coffee beans. In addition, we got to try Balinese coffee, their blend of mocha, ginseng coffee, cocoa, ginger tea and lemon grass tea. I would have taken a box of each - so good!

Coffee cherries, beans, and the roasting pan.

Anna got a sweet cat phone-case, complete with a tail!

The best part of waking up is
civit poop in your cup!

Rice paddies!

Near the end of our tour, we stopped off to see these rice paddy terraces - so cool. It looks so labor-intensive, but it must be worth the effort for the crop production.

After a long day of driving, Ketut dropped us off at our hotel in Ubud and while Anna & Erich set off for Mozaic, a very fancy (and delicious) restaurant in Ubud, Ketut took Jacob and I to see one more cultural dance - the Kecak Monkey Chant Dance. Instead of being accompanied by instruments, the dancing was accompanied by a choir of about 40 men who created very interesting and evolving rhythms with various sounds (mostly 'chuk chuk chuk') - it was like Balinese beat boxing. The dance told the story of the Ramayana, which we were familiar with from our time in Java. 

Jacob and I finished off our evening at the Jazz Cafe in Ubud, lounging on pillows, eating pizza and drinking Bintang while a Indonesian jazz piano player performed with her combo - good times!

That's probably enough for one post - I'll finish the rest of our Bali trip in a bit...