Most of the day we spent figuring out how we’d get back to Bali on Friday since we didn’t have return tickets.  It gets complicated on these little islands, and who are you supposed to believe?  Once that was settled, sometime after lunch, we headed out for another snorkel.  We’d been studying the beach in front of our lunch spot and figured out how to get out to the reef.  Lots of beautiful fish.  We also signed up for a snorkel trip.  So the next day off we went to catch the 1000 boat.

It was great because the boat took us out to the reef just off shore where we drifted with the current.  We made four stops around our island:  Turtles, a Coral Wall, a Shipwreck, and Blue Coral.  Back for cold showers and a three Bintang lunch at our favorite spot – YaYa’s, for their Fried Noodle Special and fresh squid.

One of our fondest memories of Bali and Gili Meno in particular is how happy the people seemed to be.  At YaYa’s when the young guys who waited on us were not busy they were singing and playing the guitar.  Even at our WeBe Cottages, the same thing.  We’d come home to young guys singing and playing guitar.  It was like acoustic guitar playing and great ol’ American songs, lots of John Denver and stuff like that, with their own island twist to it.  One of them would play percussion on whatever was handy or available.

Here’s the cat at YaYa’s.  He had the lazy afternoon groove down pat.

After our long, lazy lunch break we spent the rest of the afternoon and all the next day exploring.  We saw the remains of several “resorts” from the past like this one.

And others that had been abandoned

Bags of cement and rocks delivered

A “resort” under construction

And lots of lonely solo flip flops (or would these be only the flips without their flops)

Even a flip flop tree!

A salt water lake in the center of the island

A mosque?  By day and by night

A construction project

More Bintang deliveries

And for our last night on Gili Meno – dinner on the west side to watch the sunset

with the greatest guy in the whole world!

 

 

This has been like four vacations in one.  First was the hubbub of Ubud, then the zen-like tranquility of Bali Eco Stay.  Now we’re off to a totally new experience of island life.  Five relaxing days on Gili Meno.  There are three tiny islands east of Bali off the NW coast of Lombok.  Gili Trawangan, the largest, is known as the party island with all-night raves.  Gili Air is a cross between laid back and party.  And Gili Meno is the smallest and quietest “the perfect setting for your desert-island fantasy.”

We were up early at the Eco Stay where they were kind enough to fix us a wonderful breakfast of fruit, muesli, coconut yogurt and coffee to send us on our way.  Our driver picked us up at 0700 to take us to Sanur, two hours away.

Side note and sights:  Bali has lots of kite festivals and we see kites flying high in the sky all the time.  These festivals are a big deal and there was a big festival gathering in Sanur so we saw several trucks carrying huge kites.  These kites are so big it takes 30 guys to fly them!  So when a kite truck goes by you know it ’cause there’s a lot of honking and hoopla with the entire entourage hanging on the truck and riding scooters and waving big flags.

The Eco Stay arranged for us to take the fast boat to Gili T, a two-hour boat ride leaving at 0930.  From there we would take the slow boat, 15 minutes, to Gili Meno.  The driver dropped us off in Sanur at Scoot, the boat company we were to use, waited until we had our tickets and then drove off to pick up someone else.  We were to wait for a little shuttle van to take us to the boat.

All the people in the picture above had disappeared and we were waiting all by ourselves when Chris said “something doesn’t seem right.”  At around 0935 someone ran over and said “Hurry, come with me – emergency.  We have to take this.”  He threw our bags in the back of a sort of mini flat bed attached to a scooter and told us to hop in – and off we went whizzing along to the boat.

Oh, did I mention the scooters in Bali?

Once at the shore we waited with the other passengers and finally were ushered down to the beach where several different boats were tied up.  Eventually we were sorted and directed to various boats.  We all wore stickers that said where we were going.  It felt just like a preschool outing but since the local boat operators didn’t speak any english we were grateful to be wearing these stickers.

Our boat held about 20 people.  Some going to Gili Air, a few to Gili Meno.

We finally got underway around 1000 – off on our two-hour express trip…

Thirty minutes later we’re pulling up to Nusa Lembongan, an island due east of Sanur where some people got off and others got on.  Then off to Gili T…

Along the way we were treated to water and a snack.

And a nice view of Bali

But Gili T?  No – after two hours we landed at Gili Air where most people got off and the six remaining Gili Meno folks were told to stay put.  We waited and waited.  New people came on board and we thought ok they’ll drop us off next and take the others to wherever they are going…

 

But no… We then went to Gili T.  Again we were told to stay put.  We waited and waited.

Eventually the Gili Meno gang was told to get off and wait in the sand.  After awhile a Gili Meno boat was called.  Eventually we were picked up by this fast little boat and zipped over to Gili Meno by some hot shot driver.

It’s 1430 and we’re here.  I’m so glad it was a beautiful day with calm seas.

After wading ashore with our bags, we hopped into this little cart (no cars or scooters here)

and were whisked away to our next “home”

the WeBe Cottages.

We settled in and headed out to explore the island.  Here’s our path to the beach.

We wandered and wandered

and ended up covering about 80% of the island’s coast.  (It only takes 2 hours to walk around the entire island.)

 

It’s been a long day.  Time for a beer.

 

It’s a new day and I’m sicker than a dog but we won’t go there.  Chris got up at 4am to check out the Ubud market.  Remember, I talked about it a couple of days ago, the large 2 story structure with all the craft stalls.  Well, every morning starting at 4am the craft booths are replaced by food booths and all the locals go to the market to do their grocery shopping.  Then by 9am the food disappears and the crafts fill their place, ready for the tourists.  Chris said it was pretty wild with lots of fruit, vegees, and chickens in cages.

At 11am our new driver arrived to take us to our next “home” Bali Eco Stay.

It was a very long drive up into the mountains.  After the hustle and bustle of Ubud, Bali Eco Stay was all the peace, tranquility and harmony with nature that we had imagined Bali to be.

Our bungalow is right on the creek and the “windows” are all open to the dense vegetation all around us.

The creek

 

The pool

The dinning hall

The kitchen in the dinning hall

Rice fields all around

Our bathroom

This was all so beautiful and the crazy thing was was that I booked the honeymoon package and poor Chris had to enjoy all the amenities by himself while I tried to sleep off my bug.  But what a wonderful place to be sick.  The staff was always asking how I was feeling.  They even fixed toast for me to eat.

We were there for 3 days.  Chris did a lot of walking and by the last day I was feeling pretty good.  On our last night they fixed us a special “honeymoon” dinner which was served in our own private dining area downstairs.

Look at our beautiful feast, so colorful, and my favorite palm frond dishes.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I did make it to the couples massage which was very nice.

What a day we had.  Off we went with our driver for a full day of exploring the arts and crafts of Bali.  First stop – the Village of Mas, famous for their wood carvings.  Amazing works of art carved out of a variety of interesting woods.

On our way to our next stop we visited this beautiful waterfall.

As we hiked down to the falls I stopped by the ladies room near the river

then on to the falls.

Next stop was Sukawati, known for its silver.  Very interesting to watch this jewelry being made.

From here we moved on to Celuk where batik was being hand painted on fabric.

Also amazing weavings underway.

From here Degas took us all the way down to Jimbaran, nearly the southern tip of Bali.  Our mission – to visit one of the top “must see” bars of the world, called the Rock Bar.

 

This bar is located within the Ayana Resort and Spa which is way too fancy.

And we had to take an 8-person tram down the hillside to get to it.

The bar is perched out over the sea.

Ahhh . . . What a way to end a perfect Bali day!

 

Every morning we have breakfast here on the roof top of our cottages

with a spectacular view

I usually have the banana pancake.  It doesn’t look great in the picture but it’s filled with brown sugar and coconut and bananas.  The green comes from extracting the oils from a certain leaf and incorporating it into the rice flour.

Here are a few more shots of our lodging.

Today is another walking and exploring day.

We head off down the hill to the confluence of the Wos and Cerik Rivers and the Campuan Ridge Trail.  Campuan means “where two rivers meet” and is the sight of the founding of Ubud.  Very beautiful.

From here the Campuan Ridge Trail heads off into the fields of elephant grass, used for making thatched roofs.

Along the way we met this man who said (with a big smile on his face) he’d been sitting in this same spot for 20 years – painting these amazing eggs.  He seemed very happy and content.

It’s always fun wandering the backroads and I’m always grateful for Chris’ builtin GPS so we never get lost.  Here are more sights from our wanderings.

 

Typical two-way road (without the cars and scooters) very narrow, with a pile of dirt covering most of one lane.  We saw this everywhere.  Just adds to the travel experience.

Back in civilization,

you see shelves of bottled petrol for sale on every other block.

But you’d better be careful with what goes in your scooter and what goes in your glass. . .

At one point we were nearly overrun by a flock of young students leaving school all at once.

Did you know that Eat, Pray, Love was filmed in Ubud?  At least the Love part.  Anyway, it has increased tourism tenfold and several restaurants and bars are monopolizing on their claim to fame from the movie.  So we set out to visit one of them, Naughty Nuri’s.  It was written up as “a crowded roadside watering hole.  Microbrews, great martinis and slabs of bbq ribs…”  Well, there was nobody there, they only had Bintang beer which was not even cold, and the ribs were just ok.

On another note, Ubud has long been known for its arts.   Descendants of a royal family encouraged Western artists and intellectuals to visit the area in the 1930’s.  They provided an enormous stimulus to local art, introduced new ideas and techniques, and began a process of displaying and promoting Balinese culture worldwide.  As mass tourism arrived in Bali,  Ubud became an attraction not for beaches or bars, but for the arts.  One highlight for me was to visit the Threads of Life Indonesian Textile Arts Center and a street of batik stalls.

From here we wandered through the Ubud Market, a massive two-story structure with stalls throughout.  Then a stop at a warang where they had 2 for 1 margaritas then on to find a great silver shop, Studio Perak.  All the jewelry was designed and made by a local artist.  And finally, dinner at a neat little place we found on Sunday.  It quickly filled up and a nice young couple from Holland joined as as there was nowhere else for them to sit.  Very interesting conversation.  He is a high school math teacher and she is a journalist on holiday.  Finally a nice wander home and to bed.

 

Today we hired a driver (the only way to travel in Bali) and headed up into the mountains to a coffee plantation, home of the famous Luwak coffee, the most expensive coffee in the world.

It starts with these little nocturnal cat-like animals

who eat only the best coffee beans off coffee bushes.

Then as the beans pass through them, various enzymes and digestive juices affect the chemistry of the bean.  Once liberated from the poop,

the beans are roasted and brewed, producing a somehow superior cup of coffee.

Here we are demonstrating the crushing and roasting process

This plantation grows many types of coffee beans as well as cacao and lots of spices.

As part of our tour we had a lovely tasting of their coffees and teas all made with plants grown by them.  And, of course we tried the poop coffee too!

A sculpture

And our view from where we did our tasting.

Moving on, we next visited Puru Ulun Danu Bratan, a water temple on the shore of Lake Bratan.

“Built in 1663, this temple is used for offering ceremonies to the Balinese water, lake and river goddess Dewi Danu, due to the importance of Lake Bratan as a main source of irrigation in central Bali.”

This temple is surrounded by a beautiful parklike setting

and has some interesting statues

Back in the car with Degas, our driver, we traveled along country roads – everything everywhere is so fascinating.  (Note the penjors.)

We are now in the famous Jatiluwih Rice Terraces.  These stretch from the mountain side all the way down to the sea.  Just sit back and enjoy these stunning views.

After lunch, we’re back in the car

traveling through more amazing rice terraces

to the Batukaru Temple

Here we are dressed in appropriate temple visiting garb – a sarong and a sash (provided by the temple staff).

This Hindu Temple, originally built during the 11th century, is meant to protect Bali from evil spirits and consists of many levels, most of which are off limits to tourists.

And a few more pictures from an upper level

And the long stairway back down.

On our way home we passed a village celebrating Independence Day with a community tug-o-war.

Back in Ubud we settled into a warang (cafe) for dinner and to watch the craziness of the day go by.  Here the staff is decorating the steps to this warang.

We chose a tapas of 12 different dishes.  I love the dishes made of folded leaves with little sticks stapling them together.

For our evening entertainment we just watched the non-stop traffic of cars and mostly scooters returning to town right in front of us.  This just went on and on . . . and then

a little parade came marching down the street in the opposite direction!  Lots of children.  First a band of some sort.

Then several teams or schools each dressed in their own colors carrying flaming bamboo stick torches!

There’s always something to see in Bali!!!  Oh, and for dessert we had to try the Black Rice Pudding with ice cream.

It was pretty good – with enough ice cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are in Bali! At long last – after months of planning we are finally here! We will be staying in Ubud for four days at the Hibiscus Cottages. It’s an interesting place off the main road. First you walk down this path

Then past these rice fields

To the Cottages

And our little home

We started our day with a visit to the Monkey Forest.  There were a lot of new baby monkeys clinging to their mamas.

We spent the entire day wandering the streets of Ubud, just exploring and getting a feel for the area.  Very narrow streets, lots of scooters.

Note the “penjors” the tall curved bamboo poles beautifully decorated.  These were everywhere in Bali in celebration of their Independence Day (from the Dutch).

Every morning you see women setting out beautiful offerings in front of shops, in front of temples, on and around statues.

So much to see everywhere you look.  We happened upon these children playing their little instruments

Wall art made of inverted Bintang bottles

These “bottle openers” are everywhere and come in a plethora of colors and sizes.

Art Center/ReUse Shop

Organic garden

Temples

Women do a lot of the carrying of heavy loads.  The second picture is of women unloading a truckload of dirt and hauling it to the construction site.

Interesting stonework on a house

Quilt of batiks

Starbucks

Classic Car and Peace on Earth

And this wonderful display of natural oils.

Enough wanderings for one day.

 

 

 

 

I wish I had a picture of us as we left our house in Iwakuni on Friday afternoon.  (8/14/15)  Wearing backpacks and our suitcases strapped to the back of our bikes we rode the few blocks to the train station where we parked our bikes and hopped the train to Hiroshima to watch our first Carps game. It was Japanese baseball at its finest – Hiroshima Carps against the Yokohama Baystars.

We arrived in Hiroshima at 1630, walked a mile+ to our hotel, the Oriental House Hotel, dropped off our bags, then walked back to the station to meet a bunch of Chris’ work buddies at 1730. From here we walked to Zoom Zoom Stadium which was packed with Carp fans.

It was so full we had to sit in the small section with the Yokohama fans, but it was still fun.  We even sat right behind their “pep band.”

Everyone says you have to experience a Japanese baseball game at least once. The basic game is the same as the U.S. but the fans and atmosphere are different. Here are a few highlights.

Chris said the atmosphere reminded him of his high school football games. Lots of group chants and cheers.

After every few innings there was a break for smoothing the dirt.

When your team was up to bat your side cheered. When the other teams was, you were quiet and the other fans cheered. Even though we were Carp fans, since we’re sitting among the other teams fans, it would have been impolite to cheer for our team so we stayed respectfully quiet or cheered for the other team.

When the ball was hit into the stands there was no scuffle to try to catch it. Whoever’s lap it fell into got the ball. As we looked across the stadium we couldn’t even see where it landed. So very polite.

Here’s a sample of Japanese baseball food. Fried potatoes, chicken wings, ramen and of course Japanese beer.

The highlight of the baseball experience comes at the top of the 7th inning. Nearly all the Carps fans had blown up long red balloons and at the end of a particular song they all let them go. A pretty benign hoopla.

At this point the Carps were ahead 8 to 4 and since it couldn’t get any better than this we headed out for some Hiroshima bar hopping. Here’s Japan’s idea of nachos.

Saturday morning we were up at 0430, showered and walked back to the train station to catch the 0600 Shinkansen (high speed train) to Osaka, about an hour ride. In Osaka we changed trains and took another Shinkansen to the Osaka Kansai airport, a 45 minute ride.  This airport is on a man-made island just off the coast of Osaka. You can take the train right to it.

Once at the airport it took at least an hour to go through all the check points. Although our flight to Bali left at 1100 we were to be at our gate at 0920 so we barely had 20 minutes to grab something to eat which was four 2″ square sandwiches on white bread, crusts removed.

We flew on Garuda Indonesia airlines and had a pleasant six and a half hour direct flight into Denpasar, Bali. Our lunch options were Japanese food or Indonesian food. We chose the latter just to get in the mood.  Oh, and just in case you were wondering. . .  instructions are right there on the screen in front of you.

Well, the Kintai Fireworks Show was great.  As we headed out with our camp chairs it reminded me of our Sundays in Coronado heading out to Music in the Park. 

As we rode from our house along the river to the event.  The excitement was building as more and more people were flocking in the same direction, mostly walking or on bikes.  This was a beautiful sight along the way. 

We got to the River at least an hour early and already the riverbed was packed with people.

One reason for getting there early is to eat the local street food.  This time we had fried octopus balls, chicken meatballs on a stick, and salty cucumber on a stick as well as Asahi, Japanese beer.  Here’s Chris talking shop with Bill, Director of Facilities and fellow bike rider extraordinare.

The show started right at 2000 and the way it lasts an hour and a half is that the show is composed of many mini finales.  First the host announces (in Japanese) who the sponsor of the fireworks is and then they shoot off the fireworks provided/funded by that sponsor boom-boom-boom.  Then a pause, then the speaker announces the next sponsor and the next boom-boom-boom.  It’s interesting since some companies have a lot of discretionary funds and others have very little. But never the less, they each give it their all.

The “ride” home was interesting because everyone was leaving at once and the streets were jammed with walkers and bikers (not cars) so it was pretty slow going most of the way.  Quite amazing.