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Well we have had a roller coaster ride for the last 5 months, so I decided that we should kick back and take things a little more easy. Bali seemed like the perfect place. Staying for a month has meant we have been able to live here for next to nothing. We booked Our accommodation in Sanur through AirBnB.com and got a double room with en suite for £267 for 28 days - including breakfast! We are staying in north Sanur in a residential area, but it is only a 10 minute walk from the beach and 20 minute walk to the main restaurant/bar area. To be fair if it wasn't for that walk we wouldn't be getting any exercise at all - we have become a bit fat and lazy! We have hired a scooter too for only £32.50 for the whole month and petrol is only 30p a litre - cheaper than water! Bali has a lovely, laid-back culture, friendly and stress free - the religion is a weird mixture of Hinduism, Buddhism and animism. Essentially, they'll worship and thank anything; any number of Gods, ancestral Spirits, the sea, the mountains... Each community has its own temple but worship is not restricted to formal ceremonies, it is a daily occurence. Private worship takes place throughout the day in the form of beautiful offering rituals at home and at business places. Anywhere you walk in Bali you can't avoid kicking over a pile of tiny reed baskets filled with flowers (magnolia, bouganvillia and frangipanni), incense sticks, biscuits and sometimes even cigarettes. Its a bit of an ant fest really. Being an atheist myself, I think their time could be better spent, but there is no denying that their beliefs engender friendly, positive behaviours and attitudes and their rituals bring communities together and provide many great opportunities for community bonding and the cooking of babi guling - suckling pig (sorry Gail and Jan!)
Sanur is in the south east of Bali, it is known as the quieter resort compared to the Surf-dude party paradise of Kuta. The clientelle are older, many are retirees and ex-pats. The beach is lovely, with distant barrier reefs creating huge breakers about 500m out that roll in slowly. Scarily reminiscent of a tsunami when I first saw it. There is also a constant breeze coming in from the west. Lambongan island, emerald green with white cliffs sits out to sea and provided a beautiful backdrop for the rise of the blood moon earlier in April. Most of our days have been spent walking part-way along the shaded tiled beach path (which runs the length of the 7km shoreline) to Rosetta's - a beach front cafe, where we sip diet coke (Bintang beer earlier in the month) and eat shrimp crackers. Sometimes we then sit in the shade on their sunbeds. We then head back to the apartment for a shower and a 'rest' before heading out for dinner. We have discovered the Pasar Sindhu, which is the night market, where we sample Indonesian dishes such as Nasi/Mie Goreng (Indo fried rice/noodles), Cap Cay (sauteed veg), Bakso - meatballs in a soup and a Chinese favourite of ours Fu Yung Hai (deep fried Chinese omelette). Every day the stalls arrive on trailers pulled by scooters. Packed tightly into the trailers are dining tables, food, frying pans and everything they need to cook up and serve fresh food. Each dish is around 50p and is absolutely delicious and way better than the fare cooked up at most of the tourist restaurants. Usually for us, after dinner, it is back to Rosetta's to watch the effect of the sunset over Sanur beach. Tough life! Just before sunset, the locals head out on their scooters to the beach for a nightly, fully-clothed bath, it is a strange thing to witness. They then wring themselves out and pop back on their bikes and head home. There are also regular community worshipping activities on the beach too. Around 30 or 40 people gather wearing traditional dress (lace blouses and sarongs for the women and sarongs and a headdress for the men). The silent worshippers sit in lines on the sand meditating with their incense sticks in hand and their offerings in front. After about 30 minutes, they form into groups and head out to sit in the water; again in silent contemplation. See Paul's photos.
Despite this lazy lifestyle, we have occasionally managed to get out and have a few adventures. Most day trips have taken us around an hour or more on the scooter along the main bypass - the roads are busy and a little chaotic. We have, however, only been stopped once by the Bali police, which is apparently a very low average for tourists staying as long as us. Paul spotted the roadblock ahead and we discussed whether or not to go another way, I was adamant that our docs were in order and we we wearing helmets so there should be no problem. Not the case. Apparently, the UK licence (internationally recognised elsewhere) is not recognised as international in Bali - you can either pay the 'official fine' of 250,000 Rupiah (£13.50) or for just 200,000 Rupiah the police will not write out a ticket but will take your money and put it towards the Bali Police Widows' and Orphans' fund (beer money). We thought ourselves honoured to contribute to such a worthy cause and politely drove off again. Our trips have included Ubud, for those of you have seen/read "Eat, Love, Pray", I wouldn't really bother making the pilgrimage. Ubud has expanded rapidly and is a sprawling tourist area with shops and galleries galore. The rice paddy fields are now being torn up for development. On a walk out to the rice fields signposted off the main stretch, we saw huge apartment block developments marring the quaint, pretty countryside. One walk still remains largely unspoilt; this was the Champuan ridge walk. Down the side of the Ibah hotel is a pathway that leads out past community temples to a lovely paved walkway with views of Gunung Agung (an active volcano) and picturesque rice fields. The walk itself is only around 40 minutes, it passes artists' galleries. We stopped to chat to a guy who does extremely intricate egg painting. The eggs are wooden, made from the wood of the Jack fruit tree. He spends 7 hours on each one, but only sells it for 50,000 rupiah (£2.70). Perhaps he should try a more lucrative career with the Bali police. Paul took a lovely photo of him. The walk brings you past Karsa Kafe - a perfect little spot. There are three thatched huts and a larger dining area. We returned there after our walk and spent a very lazy couple of hours drinking, eating and occasionally snoozing in one of the huts. The stilted huts are set over lotus ponds filled with Koi carp; they look out over the rice fields and distant mountains. A cool breeze flows over the area constantly. You can also have a spa treatment here too. Mmmm bliss!
Another trip took us to Gunung Kawi an 11th century temple and Tirta Empul a temple built near hot springs. The Gunung Kawi temple has been carved into the mountain side and its setting is stunning amidst rice fields, waterfalls and babbling streams. Tirta Empul temple is used for purification and healing - worshippers enter large pools and make offerings and dip under each of the elaborate water features - stone cannons. The water is said to have curative properties. I could have done with a bit of a dip myself that day - the temperature has been around 30 degrees by day and 25 degrees at night.
Another reknowned temple was Besakih temple and according to the guy at the ticket booth, we were in luck "You are very lucky today Madam, there is a big festival with many worshippers." We were directed another 1 km up the road where a police roadblock directed us to a market place. We parked outside a stall and were stopped by the stall owner who told us that we would need to buy or hire a sarong to enter the temple and we could not continue further until we had one. A bit frustrated at this we walked on regardless, only to be told the same thing by others. We were covered from head to toe, so a sarong really wasn't necessary. We then had a frustrating exchange with another stall owner who wanted us to buy the sarong rather than rent it. Eventually we persuaded her to take 20,000 Rupiah for the hire of two skanky sarongs. Meanwhile the first stall owner, not happy that we had gone elsewhere, was pushing our bike from the parking speck in front of his stall. We ended up parking the bike back on the road that the police had directed us from. As we walked up the steep road, clad in our skanky sarongs, moped after moped passed us. The police didn't seem to want to let westerners drive to the temple. Another police checkpoint and the guy told us that we were very lucky today etc. etc. We were not feeling too lucky at this point. We then passed a tour group, one of whom was not wearing a sarong - not a problem - sarongs were being given out for free at the ticket checkpoint. We strode up to the gate of the temple complex a little bit hot and bothered. "Sorry Madam, the festival is for worshippers only, you can look at the temple from round the side but you cannot enter the complex" A few words were exchanged, I repeated the "You are very lucky..." speech and asked why I had been sold tickets to a temple that I could not enter. He repeated that the temple was for worshippers only. We held back and waited for the tour group to catch up - no problem with their tickets, clearly. A few more words were exchanged "Clearly they are tourists not worshippers, just like us". Apparently, they were with a Balinese guide so it was O.K. We walked round the side of the complex as he directed and found another way in. No-one challenged us as we entered, so we wandered around the outer complex and headed towards the temple steps. We were then approached by a temple guardian who explained that we couldn't go into the next bit as we were not worshippers but for 20,000 Rupiah each he could give us a tour. This is just over a pound each but I have just about lost my appetite for seeing the damn temple. Paul politely informs the guy that we won't bother and that he will just take photos from this point. Now the temple guardians come mob handed to offer us a tour. After three polite nos, the fourth guy starts giving me a lecture about how little a sum of money it is and how in my country $2 is nothing and how I have probably got lots of money. It was time to leave before someone was strangled with my skanky sarong....
Tanah Lot is a Balinese temple on the west coast of Bali built on a small promontory which is only accessible at low tide. It proved to be a tourist trap just before sunset. It made for great people watching as the tide was coming in and huge waves were drenching people trying to get photos. Uluwatu is an 11th century sea temple built on sheer cliffs on the south western coast of the island. It is designed to protect Bali from evil spirits. You climb up many steps to stunning views down from the cliffs As with many temples on the island it is home to sacred monkeys that worshippers and tourists feed with bananas. Warning signs on the way in tell you to take off your glasses, hats, scarves etc. I thought this was a little OTT. It seems that the monkeys have got wise to a clever little trick, as I was to witness. As I sat in the shade, a monkey climbed up a tourist's back and grabbed his glasses from his face. The cheeky monkey then sat smugly only 10 feet away slobbering over them. Not tempted by bananas offered by several members of the tour group, it was waiting for a better offer. The group's tour guide called over one of the temple guardians who promptly pulled out a candy bar from his satchel. The monkey gladly took the candy bar and put the glasses down - I thought the monkey had trained the temple guardians well.
Have a look at our Bali photo album / vids. We are setting off further east next to the island of Flores, after trekking around the island for about a week we are going to take a boat back west. The boat cruise includes visiting Komodo island to see the eponymous dragons and arrives at our ultimate destination - the Gili islands an archipelago of 3 very tiny white sand islands, for more well earned relaxation time (and perhaps the odd diet coke and shrimp crackers..).
- comments
Angie Well I think I will rethink my idea of buying you a Sarong for your Birthday ..lol. Lovely to hear from you ... been a while Sounds like you have had a well earned lovely rest in Bali. Look forward to the next blog. Love and miss you Ang and Neil xxxx
Lynn Yes me to -I I was going to send your a non swanky sari, well actiully it is a sarong, never used 100% polyester! Loving the law of the land-widows and orphans my ar*se!! You should have given them your Miss Piggy swing Thinking of you-it's not a bad life hon even with the little irritants , and if you have seen one temple etc etc Enjoy and chillax love Lynn 'n him xx