11/08/08 - 15/08/08
haven't updated some legs of my travel, though i love them all very, very much. So much more after I sort of settled into this sedentary working life. Sometimes, just wonder if being an adult is about doing things that you don't really like, but do them anyway, just because. Or it being an excuse to be lazy and do much about nothing...
Back then en route to Bromo, someone mentioned that Bali is more famous than Indonesia. Bali is the ultimate holiday island - surfer's paradise, diver's hunt for molamola, beach bums and culture buffs, party goers and shopaholics, singles, couples, families - there's something for everyone. How is that possible?
After Bromo volcanoes i took a crazy 15h public bus to Bali. By public i mean the bus actually stops every ten minutes or so along the road to pick up and drop off passengers. Non aircon. Smoking passengers. The bus that was aptly named Mad Joe (!) madness indeed!
On the ferry crossing - Indonesia has many huge ferry crossings whereby buses and trucks will pile onto the ferry that crosses between islands - the stereo played ONE indonesian love song repeatedly for about 2h. I don't think I could every forget the song it was madness.
When I first arrived in Bali I absolutely disliked it. It has to be the one of the most touristed place on earth. There seemed to be more tourists than Balinese. I was wandering around poppies lane I and II searching for lodging and it screams tourists everywhere.
But Bali grew on me somehow. haha. I miss Bali!
Anyway, Bali is predominantly Hindu, in contrast with Java being predominantly Muslim. They observe many rituals and you can see them daily and many festivals such as this procession that we chanced upon.
Belsan joined me in Bali on the 3rd day. woohoo! :) we set the meeting place to be a certain Fat Yogi in poppies lane, we just found the name intriguingly funny. Being the blur me i woke up at 5-ish in the morning and waited along the lane since 6am - but bel's flight departs at 6am and arrives only about 8am. i panicked by 7am and called up random ppl to find out where she can be while talking to almost half the ppl who passed by-
it's way way to early to be doing something in kuta, bali at 7am!
But bel arrives safe and sound and we settled down her old school deuter bag and my backpack into a pretty reasonable lodging at Jln Legian and headed off to Ubud via public transport instead of the perama bus. Because we advocate public transport.
On day two in Bali i went for some dive trip off Nusa Dua. The dive was unbelievably and unbearably cold; by half tank i made myself surface and shivered and curled up for the next half hour or so (since i did not bring a towel and the staff were still doing their laundry and could only produce a towel after a certain half hour or so).
As usual i would like to be compensated for my half tank and the owner let me go on some 'turtle island' trip for free with this other Japanese couple, but i had to pretend to be his staff. :)
On the 'turtle island' the friendly guides speak Japanese and introduce you to a resident python, resident turtles, resident iguana, resident bat etc and make you take photos with them without your permission. So i had an iguana on my head, a python on my shoulder and a bat in my hands and all these in my camera.
Which on retrospect is ultimate kitsch but still, how often do you get iguanas on your head and pythons on your shoulders (!)
I dig anthony bourdain on discovery travel and living. There was one episode where he ate ibu oka babi guling in Ubud - and proclaimed it one of the best roasted pork in the world: Though a part of me would like to stay here and eat pig until I lose consciousness, there's a lot more to do and see.
I affirm the above.
Belsan and i absolutely cleaned out the babi guling with rice that we shared. Come to think if it, there's nothing for sale except babil guling in different portions. haha :)
I have never liked pork so much - i've never been a pork fan - but this was as near a genius a pig can achieve!
Ubud being the cultural center of Bali, we caught a Balinese geese theater titled 'the white goose trumphs the white goose'. We were pretty amused by that goose, it was really stepping on the other goose mercilessly!
After that we shopped around Ubud, buying random things such as fridge magnets, wooden rings, balinese musical instruments etc. I was on the hunt for the supposedly awe inspiring rice fields-
which we found the enxt day en route to Tulamben. Tulamben is about four hours north of Kuta by car and it hosts one of the best shore entry dive site in Bali. We planned a crazy itinerary for the day, diving 6-3, surfing 3-6. The rice terraces of Tirtagangga where we took photos were amazing.
cowboy outfit - my dive slate lent to belsan and the cowboy divemaster promptly tried to point out the fishies in the ocean. Morish Idols? How about morei eels and GROOpERS? hahaha the buaya part was hilarious!
And this is the Bali bombing memorial, at a corner of Kuta.
Sunset, Kuta. I probably spent a full week in Bali back then. It's an easy-going place and pleasant enough to stay for a long while. ohhh plus. i think I'm going back to Bali this year...
and thanks to belsan for being such a spontaneous travel buddy! you are great fun :) hahaha you probably like the part where three of us went on that surfer guy's bike with the surfboards together rite. ohh and the teh botol of course!
