Best of Bali

Seminyak

We've been in Bali less than 24 hours and we already feel like life's pace has slowed to a leisurely stroll. The warm humid air that envelopes you with offering aromas, the background hum of birds and leaves swaying in the breeze, and the welcoming smiles of the Balinese people all put you instantly at ease.

This morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast of banana pancakes and an omlette, with an incredibly tasty Balinese coffee on the side (it's called Indocafe and it happens to be the best instant coffee I've ever had anywhere, we even brought some back with us!). Our meal last night was incredible as well, I chowed down on a whole red snapper while Joce gorged herself on pork ribs. We washed it all down with several drinks of the local draft Bintang (although later we would discover an even better local brew called Storm, their Golden Ale is akin to a Magic Hat #9). All this for 36 bucks tip included, and this at one of the "expensive" places!

This is one of the great things about visiting Bali- although it's an expensive flight from many places, once you are there the prices of food and accommodations make up for it. I don't think any of our meals for two, no matter how extravagant, exceeded $50, and even our cushiest accommodations averaged about 50-60 bucks a night.

Gunung Batur

What a day: we rose at 3:15 am for our hike to the top of Gunung Batur, a volcano in central Bali. It wasn't hard to wake up after a somewhat restless night at our spacious but Shining-esque hotel Pur Bening Hayato- fighting stray dogs outside woke us up on more than one occasion.

The hike was breath-taking, both for the steepness of the ascent to the crater and for the scenery upon arrival. This was the first time either of us had been on an active volcano, and the experience was certainly unique: odd shaped and colored igneous rocks that we scrambled over (and scraped our knees against :), lush vegetation covering every inch of the fertile ground, stunning views in all directions as we hiked around the sharp rim of the crater, and eerie hot steam rising from the rocky sides of the caldera- a faint reminder of the forces of nature below.

Ubud
Scene change- we arrive in Bali's culture capital Ubud, with street after street lined with craft shops, galleries, and dark trendy cafes inhabited by expat hipsters who came to visit and never left. Our accomodations, Tegali Sari, is one of Trip Advisor's top rates hotels in all of Bali, and now we know why. For 50 dollars a night we have the bottom floor of a villa facing a peaceful rice paddy, staying in a stylish yet functional room that has all the facilities we missed in the mountains (tissues! A/C! Mini-bar! Shampoo! Showerhead! Working water heater!), not to mention a bed to die for (or rather in). I think we'll enjoy our time in Ubud, rain or shine.

3rd day in Ubud, 3rd day of heavy rain. How have we coped with the rain? Yesterday we stayed close to home and did a lap of Ubud's main roads (Monkey Forest Rd to Main St. to Hanoman), buying sarongs and grabbing lunch along the way. In the afternoon we had an unfortunate massage miscommunication: we were scrounging Monkey Forest Rd. for a $5 massage and we thought we had found it until they stopped halfway through and said "finished!". Apparently they thought we wanted a 1/2 hour foot massage- not sure how that happened, but we left half the money and were able to find the remaining 1/2 hour elsewhere for 6$, so all ended well. Then we had an average dinner at Bebeck Bengil and attended an excruciating Balinese tradition: Wayan Kulit, the shadow puppet show. The entire show consisted of dialogue (in Indonesian) with repetitive, nausea-inducing music and very little in the way of "action". Even the fight scenes consisted mainly of two puppets smacking together in inanimate battle, or a barrage of flying phallus attacks (don't ask, but these did provide some unintended humor in the show). At least we weren't as bored as the kids in attendance, who were actually falling out of their chairs in fatigue. Oh well, some cultural traditions shouldn't be shared! Puppet shows aside, Bali is a magical place I'd recommend to anyone, and in sha'allah we will return one day!