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(currently writing in Nha Trang, Vietnam.... I know, we broke our promise)
We arrived in Bali quite late in the evening and were immediately hit by the humidity and smells of incense. We were appointed a taxi driver who looked and seemed to be quite stoned but ultimately got us to our hotel in Legian. Driving through the streets was quite a culture change from our previous destinations, with motorbikes crammed with people (at least 3 people per bike) and narrow winding streets full of food stalls and shops. There were lots of interesting smells to accompany the sights.
We started out the next day by scaling the beach. Within minutes of leaving our hotel we were greeted with the screams of "1 dollar, 1 dollar, you buy!" This became incredibly annoying but part and parcel of Bali! We walked along the beach and experienced our first Bintang (Bali's local brew) which they are very proud of but we found to be quite average. We also realised that most of the tourists were Australian and wearing, as Mel in Sydney puts it, a Bintang Singlet! We had dinner in a seafood restaurant before heading to Carla Spa for a fish foot spa (extremely ticklish) and very thorough foot scrape. Needless to say the end result for us was lovely smooth feet, and not so pleasant for them to clean up! Gross.
The following day we headed for the Waterbomb park and had great fun trying out all of the rides, the first being graded as the most extreme!! Our favourite was the Macaroni where you head down on a double ring together in and out of tunnels and drops. We were blessed with beautiful weather so made the day even more enjoyable... until of course came the rain! We rode the rain out with lovely cocktails and a trip to Bubba Gump (we couldn't resist). When we thought the rain had eased off we decided to make a run for it but this was a big mistake and we soon became drowned rats! After a few more drinks we headed for Carla Spa for a final pamper... Steve for a massage and I tried out eyelash extensions, all cheap as chips!
We then made our way up to Ubud, the culture capital and also the location for the film 'Eat, Pray, Love'. The bus journey was pretty bumpy but we made it to our next hostel which was set back in a small secluded garden area with chickens strutting around. The pavement in Ubud was almost non-existent and you had to be very careful where you walked otherwise you would end up down a very large hole and flowing down through the drainage system... no thank you! We decided to make the most of the day by visiting the Monkey Forest. This was filled with some very cheeky monkeys begging for food and playing. A temple was found within the forest with interesting monkey statues, check out the pics. We mooched around Ubud which is also famous for its artwork and had dinner in a cool little bar/restaurant with a reggae band playing. It was also a nice opportunity to try the local Balinese cuisine which was delicious.
The following day we took a private tour of the temples, Mount Batur volcano, fruit plantations and rice paddies. We noticed throughout the temples that there was black and white checked material and offerings on square woven plates with incense. Our driver explained to us that the Balinese people do this every day to say thank you for the elements and for good health. We scaled the temple's big stair cases and looked at the beautiful carvings. We stopped off at a fruit plantation where we were shown the process of making the worlds most expensive coffee. This unfortunately has to pass through a lemur before it can be roasted and ground... nice! Our final stop was to visit Mount Batur volcano and caldera where we stopped for lunch with an amazing view overlooking this. Sadly for us we were only given a buffet option and this we later learned was to cause us some lost days in Bali due to severe sickness! We finished up the trip with a stop at the rice paddies, very structured and full of hard workers. We will forever be more appreciative of rice as it's quite a strenuous job for just a few grains.
The next morning (after a very bad night for me!) we took a bus to Candidasa where we were supposed to visit a bat cave and a Wat, but due to us both being so poorly, we spent our stay lying in our sweltering room doing nothing. Such a shame to have lost time but sickness is inevitable whilst travelling I guess. We took the bus back to Legian where we started our trip and spent our last day down on the seafront at Jimbaran soaking up the sea air, Bintang and a seafood feast. Bali was great for the culture although very commercialised in Legian/Kuta. Warning to anyone travelling there, they have several security check points at the airport!
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