Hello everyone!
I am in Yogyakarta, Indonesia right now and I figured I should write about Bali now instead of later or my e-mail will be even longer than usual.
I’m not sure how to start my e-mail this time around. We are still really enjoying traveling and with less than a month left in this part of the world before heading to Korea for a week, we definitely feel more pressured to do more and see more; however, as we have been traveling for so long, I have to admit that part of me is now getting a bit tired of traveling and thus my perception of everything we see is a bit different now. We are tired of packing and re-packing our backpacks, of having to arrive late at night and look for hotels, of hearing, “Hello! Transport? Taxi? Miss, where you go? Hello! Transport? Transport? Transport? Transport? Hotel? Hotel? Hotel?”, and especially of trying to gage who is trying to rip us off and who is just being friendly and helpful. Also, since we have less time, when we arrive at a place that we don’t like, we think, “Oh no! We wasted a day here.” But before , when we had lots of time, we didn’t care because everything was a novelty so when we got to a place that wasn’t that great we figured at least we were seeing how the local people live. It’s kind of like going to Europe and seeing all the cathedrals: they are all really beautiful and interesting, but when you have seen 50, they all start to look the same. We are starting to feel the same way about a lot of the cities, so unfortunately we are probably not appreciating where we are as much as we could be: it takes a lot more for us to be impressed; therefore, I am not sure how my e-mail will come across. We still love being here, but our perceptions are tainted by the fact that we have now been traveling for 3 months.
So about Bali…It’s a really beautiful place. There are lots of mountains, lots of lush, lush, bright green rice fields, trees, and forests, and some beautiful beaches. You would probably need a month to really know Bali and we only spent 10 days. It also can be a super relaxing place with some extremely friendly people. Many people came up to us just to talk and find out where we were from etc. We also found it to be one of the areas where the importance of religion is really obvious. 90% of Balinese are Hindu. There were ceremonies going on all the time and from the outside they were really beautiful to see. Both the men and women wore traditional dresses of sarongs, and scarves around their waist. The women also wore these lacy shirts and on their heads they had offerings of fruit piled on their head (at least 40cm in height: truly an amazing sigh t). The men wear these bandanas, like scarves on their heads. However, even when there are no ceremonies you see many of the Balinese people walking around in traditional dress. Every morning, you also see people make a pile of flower and fruit offerings on these straw plates that are placed outside the stores and houses. They are offering to the Gods for good luck. So in some ways, Bali seemed still very traditional, true to itself.
At the same time, in many areas, it was one of the most commercialized places that we have been to: full of hawkers (vendors), taxi and moto drivers, and most of the Balinese people you saw were only trying to sell you something. On our arrival to Kuta, our first destination, this was what we saw. As I said before, Kuta beach was simply annoying. We finally found a place to stay after a lot of stress and walking around and went to the beach. It was probably one of the worst hotels that we have stayed at: no fan, with broken beds and also the most expensive place we stayed at too! There we got surrounded by people trying to sell us stuff and I mean surrounded. One comes, and if you make the mistake of talking to them, another 10 come and WON’T LEAVE YOU ALONE! This happened the entire time that we were at the beach so it was hard to relax: “Manicure?” “Pedicure?” “Massage?” “ Sarong?” “Watch”? A nd then let’s not forget the plethora of men who call you darling, whistle and say what a nice body you have! Equally as annoying as the vendors, but at least they leave you alone once they see that there aren’t any reactions.
Later, however, we met a really nice man from Sumatra who spent the evening with us and showed us a good place to eat. We sat down and watched an incredible sunset and relaxed since all the vendors had gone home. Being at the beach again was wonderful. The waves were so huge that lots of people went surfing and we had lots of fun playing the waves. After dinner, we went back to the beach and then to bed.
The next day Eva and I went walking around the city for hours looking for a particular street that we couldn’t find. It was fun though because it was full of shops so we window-shopped while looking for the street. We found a great restaurant and had some really good Japanese food that both of us had been craving for and then we went to the beach to cool off, walked around some more and later went off to bed.
We spent one more day in Kuta, at the beach, and at the shops and then we went off to Ubud, which is considered the cultural center of Bali. It’s really touristy, but really beautiful with tiny streets, and full of rice fields and forest. The first day there we got up and bought tickets to see a Balinese dance show. Then we slowly made our way to the Monkey Forest, stopping at many artist shops on the way. The Monkey Forest was really cool. You enter a tropical forest filled with animals, palm trees, and humidity and all around there are these wild monkeys. Inside the forest are 3 temples. Nature is very important in Bali so the temples here revere nature and Hindu God and Goddesses that have to do with nature. To walk around the temple we needed to put on a green sarong and yellow scarf around our waist. As well, if any of us had had our period, we wouldn’t have been allowed in (though, this would of course be based on an honor system!) The temple was interesting to look at, with monkey statues and moss growing all over them and the temples. Actually, all over the forest were wonderfully grotesque statues of monkeys with their tongues sticking out to their knees, female gorillas with huge sagging breasts, and grimacing monkeys with their penises sticking out. We spent our time walking around and watching monkeys being monkeys: eating bananas, climbing on trees, searching and eating lice, and being playful by trying to steal anything hanging off you. However, we had quite a scare when we first arrived. The monkeys seemed really sick of their bananas because they had left several out on ground. We picked one up to give to different monkeys and one of the monk eys came running towards us barring his teeth and hissing at us. I quickly threw him the banana and he left us alone, but it really gave us a scare. He was totally ready to bite us! So, as a result of that it kind of scared me when 3 monkeys started climbing on me trying to grab my headband, earrings, and bag. Still, overall, it was a lot of fun seeing all the monkeys and walking through the forest.
After that we slowly made our way to get something to eat and see some Balinese dancing. The dancing was superb. You can definitely see the Indian influence: lots of gold, long black hair, bindis, the music and a lot of dancing with the hands. The dancing was fantastic to watch: extremely intricate and super detailed. They dance with their whole body: their hands, fingers, eyes, head, hips and feet (which they flex with the result that they are dancing on their heels). They were so expressive and the costumes were beautiful. One of the things I liked most was that the people (the musicians and the dancers) seemed to really enjoy performing. So it was a very pleasant evening.
Our next day in Ubud, Eva and I rented a driver to take us to Gunung Kawi. Gunung Kawi is an old temple dating back to the 11th century. The way there was beautiful. Bali is so extremely lush and green – full of different kind of trees and bright green rice fields. Oddly enough, the rice fields look like the ones in Sapa, Vietnam. There is a supremely relaxed atmosphere driving through the towns on the way to Gunung Kawi. Going through the towns was also great because the area where we were staying was in the commercial area. So we drove through the greenery and towns for about 45 minutes and then we arrived at the start point of Gunung Kawi. However, to reach the inside we had to climb all the way down into a gorge. The view of the rice fields, mountains, and palm trees was great. Finally, we got to the bottom. The most impressive parts of the temple are these carvings into the mountains that also date back to the 11th century. They look like 4 identical diamond shaped doors carved into the mountains.
After walking around a bit we came back to Ubud and had some Balinese food. We’ve been eating really well in Indonesia: they have peanut sauce, and a lot of different types of curries. Then we decided to take a walk around Ubud to get a feel for the area. There were a lot of really nice walking paths that we wished we could have gone on, but we didn’t have enough time. We probably walked for about 2 hours. On our way back to the center we saw the beginnings or the preparations for the full-moon prayers. Everyone was dressed in traditional Balinese clothes. It was beautiful to see, especially the women with the fruit offerings piled on top of their head. We stayed and watched them for a while because all of a sudden it started to down pour, but like most tropical storms, it left as quickly as it started. Then we finally made our way back to the hotel and packed our bags to head off again.
We got up planning to go to Lebongnan, and found out that because of the elections, the ferries were closed; therefore we had to go to Padangbai. Although we were irritated at first, it ended up being a blessing in disguise because Padangbai was fantastic. We spent 3 and ½ days there. On the first day, Eva and I went to a beautiful, small, secluded beach. It was like a postcard. You could only reach it by walking through a small path. Then you arrive and you see these back rocks on either side and in the middle crystal clear water with a white sand beach. So, after many days of wanting to relax on the beach vendor free, we were finally able to do so. It was a lot of fun because the waves were really high and strong. We stayed there all afternoon and then went back in the evening.
Back in town, I found a great place to go scuba diving and I decided to go scuba diving for the following 3 days. Later that night, Eva and I ended up at a reggae bar and spent the evening talking to the staff there. Balinese people and Indonesian as well, as I have already said, have really been the friendliest people that we have met, and they have the most beautiful smiles.
The following day I went scuba diving. I went to the Blue Lagoon – Padangbai. It was amazing! It was like swimming in an aquarium! There were so many fish, and so many different kinds of fish: yellow and black striped fish, tiny bright blue fish, huge 1 m long Moray fish, clown fish swimming through the anemones, many schools of gray fish, angel fish, long narrow swordfish looking fish, fish that were the same color as the sand, and I saw 2 huge cute fish (squid) about 40cm long, and 2 sting rays. It was amazing and the dive master was really good so I felt safe. After scuba diving, I went back to the beach, and - I know this will seem horrible after going scuba diving and swimming with all the fish - had some delicious fish to eat!
The next day I went diving at Tulamben – where there was an old ship wreck from WWII. It was incredible!! The most beautiful dive I have been to. All of these amazing plants, coral, anemones, and transparent sea squirts have grown on the boat. You could swim in and out of the wreck, and through large pieces of wood that have been anchored in the water. It’s another world down there. I was able to take some pictures, but something screwing happened with the camera so I don’t know how the pictures will turn out. Then I went back to the beach and relaxed there.
The third day, I only ended up doing one dive because I wasn’t feeling very well. We went out far on the boat near this little island: the current was really, really strong and it was hard to control our swimming. I saw some great animals: a huge sea turtle, 2 octopus (very rare), and one eel. There was also a lot of nice coral, but they weren’t very colorful. Right after the first dive, however, I started to feel sick so we had to go back. However, my 3 days of scuba diving were superb, some of the best times that I have had the entire trip. It’s too bad that I can’t do much more of it because scuba diving is unfortunately an expensive sport.
Later that afternoon, Eva and I went with the driver to Lovina. The drive there was great: we saw the mountain side, and more lush greenery. On the way, we stopped at the water palace. It’s like a garden with paths except that the paths are in the water. It was really pretty. After that, we stopped at a Hindu temple and were blessed with holy water, and grains of rice were put on our forehead and collar bone. A man explained that this temple was 5000 years old, but had been newly reconstructed. There the Goddess of the ocean, the Son of Shiva (the elephant) who is the God of education and something else, Shiva, and another important God were all worshipped. From there we arrived in Lovina, which was one of the worst times that I have spent in my entire trip.
It’s too bad that one day can leave such a bad taste in your mouth. In the end, I really enjoyed Bali, but thanks to Lovina, I left Bali feeling negative. We arrived at a hotel, which seemed decent enough and we started talking to one of the guys who work there. He seemed really welcoming and friendly: inviting us to his place to eat duck and driving us to some places to do some errands. So off, we went, I was behind the guy in moto. We started talking and he offers to take us to some waterfalls and hot springs and said that he liked me very much. Then he asked me if I wanted to go walking with him because he really liked me. I said that Eva and I were really tired but didn’t reply if I liked him or not so, as I didn’t reply, he asked “do you like me?” I replied “yes, but only as a friend”. Then he said “why not?” I told him that I was in a period where I preferred to be alone and so he said, “that’s okay, we can have sex for one night only”! I couldn’t believe it: this is the length of our entire conversation and 2 minutes later he asks me to have sex with him! Then I told him no and he kept asking me why and finally I told him that he was married and he says that it didn’t matter. Yuck! I suppose it could have been seen as flattering if you didn’t realize that he would have asked anyone with 2 legs and nothing hanging between them…he would have fucked anyone. However, when you know that all they care about is sex, and with whomever, it is insulting because all they see is foreigner = sex, thus we are treated as total sex objects. Let me put it this way, if I was a foreigner who couldn’t get any at home, I’d move to Indonesia! The men here, for whatever reason are so horny, it’s like nothing I have ever seen! Some might also say that at least they are not pretending to be interested in you as a person when they are not, and to a certain extent that could be true, but mainly it’s just a total lack of respect, especially because they assume that you will say yes! All this being said, the audacity of it was pretty funny and I had problems not laughing in his face.
Then we went to TRY to go to sleep and we had the worst night we have ever had. There were tiny bugs in the bed that were biting us and tons of mosquitoes. When we splattered them on the wall, they were filled with our blood. Our whole bodies were covered in bites, we probably slept 2 hours of the entire night.
Then the next morning we went to go see the dolphins, which was a really pathetic experience. We got up at 6 and went on the boat joining another couple. We went along for about ½ hour and met another 12 boats doing the same thing as us! I don’t know why I thought that there wouldn’t be anyone else. Then we started looking out for dolphins and we spent the next ½ hour in the most absurd way: one boat would spot a sighting and would rev up the engine and speed towards it; the other boats seeing the first boat speed up would also rev up their engines towards the sighting of dolphins, which had by that time of course disappeared (poor dolphins!) We had also been led to believe that we would see the dolphins up really close, but of course that was impossible. The whole experience made me think of a pack of mangy dogs fighting for the one piece of meat.
Then we went snorkeling, which was good: we saw tons of starfish (though not as nice as scuba diving). Then we discovered the only bus to Java left at night and we had already paid for 2 days and for the ducks for dinner with that gross guy. However, as it was still early we changed the time for dinner and figured that if we checked out before 12:00 that there was no reason why they couldn’t return our money. Well, the owner in the morning wasn’t there so we checked out, and spent the afternoon walking around. Then we came back and had problems with the owner. At first he started to say that the gross guy only gave him money for one night, so we went back to the first guy and said that he needed to give us the money. This guy said that he already gave the money to the owner. Then the owner said that he would give us half the money and we said that that made no sense because we checked out before noon, he could still rent out the room to someone else. Then the owner (who had previously said that he only had money for one night) said that we had paid for 2 nights and that there was no refund. Finally, he gave us back our money and said that we had brought bad luck to his place for the next 2 months. So that was quite an unpleasant exchange.
Then we experienced the biggest disappointment of all: the man brought us to his place to dinner where he promised that we eat with his family 2 huge ducks. What we got in return was one scrawny duck that couldn’t feed more than 1 person adequately and we only ate with him while his poor wife took care of the 2 kids and watched us eat the meal that she cooked, which we thought would be for us and the whole family. The very worst is that the money we paid him (which was probably 4 times the price of what it cost) probably all went into his pocket and his wife probably got nothing. This man is just so despicable: cheating or trying to cheat on his wife, ripping off money off tourists for purely his own gain and not his family, and treating his wife like shit! You could tell how over-worked she was: never any break. So we really felt taken advantage of in Lovina: the dolphins, the hotel, the duck…so we were really happy to board the bus and head to Probolinggo – a town in Eastern Java (which I will save writing about in a few days time.)
So, Bali was a lot fun, but unfortunately ended with a kind of sour note. Oh well! So far the rest of Indonesia has been a blast. The only down side is that about one week ago, I don’t know how, I managed to twist my neck and have been unable to do anything remotely strenuous, which has been a shame because there have been incredible biking opportunities. Still, I am having a great time. We have a couple more days left and then we fly to Singapore where we will spent 5 days, then about one week in Malaysia, and another 10 days in Thailand, and then it is off to Korea for 6 days and then we arrive home on May 19th. So, take care everyone: I will see most of you in exactly one month!
Love, Carolyn
