Last of Bali

Once we got off the ferry from hell, we headed strait to a little tourist town called Ubud. This is the artsy-fartsy town that most tourists end up moving to. Tons of art galleries, restaurants, and just about every building was a "home stay" or guest house. Rice paddies in this town are strictly planted for asthetics so tourists could feel like they are staying in the "wild".

The shuttle van dropped us off at the edge of town in front of a Circle K and the first thing I did was grabbed a $2US Bintang (Best Bali Beer). A local driver/guide approached us and offered to show us his buddies guest house. Being so hungry and exhausted (the rain didn't help either), we agreed and went along since it was 2 blocks away. Nice little place for the price of $15US so we took it. Our tummies made us ran to the nearest restaurant for a quick meal before a cold shower and bed. Damn we were so tired from that ferry ride through hell.

The next day we walked around and found a really nice guest house with a swimming pool that we fell in love with. The sun was out and super hot so the pool sold itself. I think we spent more time in that pool then in our room or anywhere else in town. The next few days consisted of swimming, walking around town, swimming, eating, swimming, sleeping, swimming and more swimming. I think we were both water logged by the time we left Ubud.

We did manage to go to a "traditional dance show". There is a different dance every night but we got lucky and got the most popular dance the night we went. What was amazing was that there were about 1000 people all dressed in white marching down the main street. This parade was the intro to the dance show that we were attending. We thought "WOW, there must be a lottery system where half the town needs to do this parade as a civil duty such as jury duty for us back at home". "Billy and his family has been doing it for the past 20 years but Mike's family hasn't participated in over 5 years". I guess everyone in town hates Mike and doesn't buy shrimp chips from his warung even though it's fresh. The actual dance show itself was very interesting also.

Monkeys at the monkey sanctuary weren't as feisty as their reputation puts them. They are well behaved and will only take banana's that you hand them. None of them threw poop at anyone, and the baby monkeys weren't crying. Those little suckers are so cute and we have wayyyyyyy too many pictures of them. Oh, we took one back to the guest house with us as a pet but he ended up not knowing how to "wipe his own ass" so I kicked him out. Damn monkeys!

It would be a sin not to visit the volcanic Mount Batur and Kintamani lake so we hired a driver for the day to take us there. The drive up was very interesting and we stopped at a few different temples. The problem with temples in Bali is that you can buy the exact replica stones at the corner store and build your own. Most homes and shops are built to look identical to the "real" temples. Since you see it all around you (the architectural design of the temples), when you actually visit a temple you aren't as impressed. Did I mention you can buy wooden penis bottle openers at all the temples?

Mount Batur itself was spectacular, the views were amazing, and boy was it windy and cold. We managed to get about 20 minutes worth of beautiful views until the clouds blew in and visibility became zero. You had a hard time seeing 5 feet in front of you so it was quite scary when we were driving back down to town, the driver listens for an oncoming vehicle rather than watching for one. We managed to survive the descend and stopped off at the most picturesque rice paddies on a hillside. The vendors and street hawkers were really pushy but everything was only one dollar. Motorcycle toy=one dollar, penis bottle opener=one dollar, silk sarong=one dollar. What we found out later was that nothing was one dollar, it was there way of getting you to touch the item so you'll have to buy it for $20US. Once you touch the item and it's in your hands, they will not take it back and demand the higher price. Lucky for us we refused to even look at anything and our driver informed us of the "bait and switch" one dollar scam. Who wants a very large wooden penis bottle opener anyways?


After four days of sitting on our butts and swimming way too much, we decided that it was time to get out of town. We booked a driver to Medewi, a small surfing village on the south eastern part of the island. This was perfect since it's really close to Balian River where our large bags were being stored at "Mike from Canada" guest house. Did I mention that I have been traveling though Bali with a small backpack with only 2 shorts, 2 shirts, 1 underwear, an ipod, and my surfboard? Yeah, it's really nice to travel lite except when both shorts are wet, I had to wear the towel as a sarong to the restaurant. I fit right in.

We surfed, ate, and basically sat on our asses for a few days in Medewi. The waves were soft head high waves that was a lot of fun. Windy as hell in the late afternoon so you need to get it early. There were about 15 tourist in the entire town when we were there so everyone kind of hung out and talked at the only restaurant on the beach. Nice and convenient since it was cheap, good food, and right in front of the waves. I surfed, ate, drank more Bintangs, and slept most the time. It was a really rocky beach so Amy didn't surf, she spent here days reading, drawing, eating, and drinking fruit shakes by the gallons. Life was good!

The wind picked up too much for the surf break on the third day so we packed up and headed to Balian River. We caught the local bemo (bus) to Balian which was only 30 minutes away and it cost us $1.50 for the both of us. Amy did punk out the driver who wanted more money by saying "We only paid $1 on the way here last time" and jumped out of the bemo and walked away. The actual "local cost" was $.50 each but they usually charge tourists double to triple the price. Good job Amy!

Balian was nice, we ordered food and I hit the water since the waves were head high and super clean. I figured the food will be ready in 45 min and I'll get out of the water then. I caught a few nice waves that were head high to a few feet overhead. Man I was loving it, my single fin was loose and fun. All of a sudden, the swell everyone was talking about was coming in. It was within 20 minutes that the waves went from fun head high waves to triple overhead bombs. I spent the next 30 minutes sprint paddling over the set waves and tried desperately to get over to the channel. No luck since the current was pulling you right to the peak so I took off on a smaller (double over head) set wave and slid down the face sideways on my board. "Stupid single fin board, all looks and no go" I bitched to myself as I splat on the water. The lip of the wave that drove me down and ragged dolled me for 20 feet was no fun for me, Amy seem to be having a kick watching from the restaurant. She laughed in between bites of her damn burrito every time I had to swim under to avoid wave after wave on the head. I finally manage to get a little ripple wave on the inside and took it all the way in to the beach. I'm buying a real board once we get to Australia!

We didn't stay the night in Balian since the room we wanted was booked for a few days. The people at the restaurant was super nice and like us a lot (we tipped them $10US on our first stay) and arranged for a driver to take us to Sanur. Off we go and as usual, it rained like crazy the whole way there and we had to look for a place to stay in the rain.

Our driver was very nice and drove us from guest house to guest house to find a place we liked and could afford. The rain was really coming down hard and it was already dark, I thought for sure that we would end up having to settle for an overpriced shitty place again. Not this time, the fourth place we looked at was amazing for only $18US a night. It had a nice pool in the garden and our room had huge french doors that led to a big balcony overlooking the pool/garden. We'll take it!

We spent the next few days swimming, eating, and getting Arak drinks (local rice wiskey) at the "Honeymoon Bar" across the street from our hotel. The bartenders were really nice and we seemed to be the only patrons there most the time. We tipped well, got free drinks, heard interesting stories from the bartenders, choose the music we wanted to hear and had a great time. Of all the towns in Bali, Sanur would be one of the most laid back places. The expat call Sanure "Sa-nore" as in snoring since it's boring. We loved it, quiet and peaceful. We walked the beaches and decided "lets get massages just to say we did". This was the first massage I have ever had and lucky for me it was by a husky woman with very strong hands. I was hooked instantly! I had no idea one could fall asleep on a nice bed on the beach, in the shade, while someone is beating the crap out of your muscles. It felt so good that we looked over to each other and decided we'll have to just come back again tomorrow for our $6US hour long massages.

Time to go! What? We finally fell in love with Bali and learned how to relax. It was sad packing up and heading to the airport. In fact, we were so sad that we made our driver wait at the hotel while we walked across the street for a couple of "goodbye" drinks at Honeymoon. A few Arak later we stumbled into our van and headed to the airport. Boy are we gonna miss Bali, the cheap food and accommodations, nice people, surf, and just about everything you ever wanted including very large wooden penis bottle openers! next time we stay for 2 months. Off to Oz.