Beautiful Bali (Part 2)

Now back to this vacation, already in process...

Ubud, Friday

We stayed at the lovely Alas Petulu Cottages in a two-story villa (for an incredible $80 a night for all of us - including breakfast!). The hotel was only 5 minutes from the main road and I don't think I saw a single other hotel guest. In addition, the hotel would arrange for free transport within the town - such service!

Breakfast on our porch - fruit, eggs, toast, tea & coffee.

View from our porch.

Swimming pool - upper level

Our 'villa'

Swimming pool, lower level. The boys may or may not
have jumped from one to the other...

Our room and balcony

Alters/shrines at our hotel - it is family owned and in the evening we saw
a woman taking offerings and incense to each shrine.

Doorways seemed very important in Bali - most homes had some
sort of ornate entry way, and I never grew tired of
driving past them in all their variety.

On Friday we went whitewater rafting down the Ayu River with our guide, Madi. First, we took an hour drive to get there on increasingly disconcerting roads - but through some really beautiful scenery!

Our rafting started with a long downhill climb to reach the river - maybe the most nerve-wracking part!

Fashionable AND functional...

None of us had ever rafted before, but fortunately our guide was skilled enough that we didn't have to do much - paddle sometimes, but mostly just grab the ropes when he told us to! Occasionally he'd grab onto Anna's or my life jackets while we were going over the rapid - and I didn't know whether to be comforted because he was making sure I wouldn't fall out or worried because he thought there was a chance I might fall! It was a really lovely trip down the river, with plenty of time to gaze around in awe.

Halfway through we stopped off at a refreshment spot - Anna & Erich split a coconut, and Jacob and I indulged in some (pricey!) Bintang...because when are we going to sit and drink a cold beer in a river valley in the middle of Bali again?

As we neared the end of the trip, past the final rapids, Madi said we could jump out and swim, so Jacob and I took the plunge. It was the most incredible lazy river I've been in! The water was so swift and since we had life jackets, we just floated along on our backs in the glorious sunshine. Amazing.
After rafting and lunch at the finish station (and another long climb, this time up from the river), we got dropped off at the Sacred Monkey Forest. Guess what we saw?!

If you can't see, that baby monkey is
climbing the up the other
monkey's tail like a rope!

MONKEYS!

Sacred Monkey Forest Temple

Monkey on my back!!

The monkey tried to take Anna's water bottle - and then succeeded in pulling Jacob's earring out! Really, Jacob has the worst luck with monkeys - I can't believe he goes anywhere near them anymore! Fortunately no harm was done, and monkey dropped the earring in favor of some pieces of coconut.

We hiked our way up from the Monkey Forest back into Ubud - quite a trek (looked shorter on the map!). Fortunately as we were about to give out, we arrived at Gelato Secrets and revived ourselves - enough to make it to Ibu Oka, a restaurant famous for its suckling pig! We ordered two servings of just the pork - and then ordered one more! Hey, it's a vacation!  

I really like all the activity going on in the painting,
and all the detailed work. He also had much larger
paintings with perhaps hundreds of character in them.

We headed back to the hotel to relax, swim and nap - and on the way Jacob and I got sidetracked by a small shop selling paintings. We ended up buying a really beautiful painting of the Barong & Kris story, and even got to meet the artist, Nyoman. We even got to see a bit of his studio - which we suspect was also where they lived. I was torn between amazement at his work and skill and sadness over the mean conditions in which he and his wife lived and worked. I hope they will continue to get many interested customers and much appreciation for his work.

For dinner we went to the Dirty Duck (Bebek Bengil in Indonesian) and ate deep fried duck and a chicken salad served in a pineapple, while sitting on pillows around the low table in a lovely secluded gazebo - sweet!

Where: Sanur
What: Relaxation
Accommodations: Puri Santrian Beach Club

Saturday morning we packed up bright and early to be ready for our 7:30am ride to Penang Bai for a morning of scuba & snorkeling. It was a bit of a long ride to get there, but such a beautiful day for it. We dove out of a company called WaterWorxx, and they were really great - were all ready with our gear and were friendly and professional (all reassuring things when you're going diving!)

Never been out in an outrigger boat like this before!

Rocking the wetsuits - glad they were full suits with boots too, because the water was cold!

Heading out to Blue Lagoon - a short ride from the shore.

Jacob and I had a great time diving - after a bit of a disconcerting dive in Phuket, it was great to have a calm, clear environment to dive in. We had our own personal dive guide and hardly saw any other divers, so it was mostly just the 3 of us. The coolest past was seeing a white tipped shark, who hovered nearby for a moment before slowly swimming off, giving us plenty of time to watch him. We also saw some funny looking eels, a large ray, and a myriad of other fish in all sorts of neon colors. While we dove, Anna & Erich snorkeled in a nearby area and saw lots of bright fish and coral too.

The travelers

Little brothers never change.

We then got a ride to our hotel in Sanur, a sleepier part of Bali on the east side known for its beautiful beaches and luxury hotels. We stayed at Puri Santrian, which was awesome and really reasonably priced for a 4-star beach resort! We got in a little pool time, then enjoyed happy hour cocktails on the beach.

We went to The Tropical for dinner, where Erich & Anna split an epic seafood platter. We finished off with a belated birthday celebration with a fruit platter - Happy Birthday!

View from our balcony - that's the private, no kids allowed Santrian Club pool - oooooh. Now, I like kids, but that was kind of awesome.

Our room

The balcony :)

Our final day in Bali was all about relaxation. We slept in, hung out by the beach and the private pool, read and napped. We ate lunch at a nearby cafe, then Jacob, Anna & I went for massages - at a small spa located in the back room of a convenience store? Sounds sketchier than it was though, and the massages were quite enjoyable. And much more affordable than the ones offered at the spa at our hotel! It rained in the afternoon, so it was a bit cooler by the time we got to Happy Hour, but that did not deter us from the swim-up pool bar!

Happy Hour = Happy Anna

Had the place to ourselves!

We finished our trip with dinner at the Cat & Fiddle - a nearby Irish Pub, complete with an Irish Folk band, the Leprechauns! And considering this band was composed entirely of musicians of southeast Asian heritage, we were pretty impressed by their rendition of Danny Boy and other Irish classics. (Full disclosure: we requested Danny Boy. Fuller disclosure: Anna requested Danny Boy.)

Monday morning came too soon, as did our 4am pick-up by Ketut, but we made our way to the airport and back to Singapore - and in my case, directly to work! Worth it though, for such a fantastic trip! I'm already trying to figure out when we can make our way back to Bali - I understand why so many people go back to Bali again and again. I don't think you grow tired of it easily!

Fortunately, the end of our vacation was not the end of our visit with Anna & Erich, who were able to spend another week with us in Singapore...