BALI
DESTINATION #4: DENPASSAR
(by way of Guangzhou, China, and Seoul, Korea)
Arriving at the airport in Delhi for our flight to Bali by way of Guangzhou, China, and Korea, we were told our flight on China Southern would be delayed until 00:45 A.M. Unfortunately, we didn't leave Delhi until 1:38 A.M., putting us in Guangzhou too late to catch our 6 A.M. flight to Korea. We spent the rainy day in the empty airport looking out the window at the boarding bridge and no plane. The local crew, not knowing what to do with us, finally brought us a box lunch like they were eating. This delay caused us to miss our flight from Seoul to Bali costing us $300 to change our Delta tickets as well as spending the night near the airport and having one less day in Bali.
Korean Air helped us find a bed and breakfast near the airport; I was so exhausted, I slept through breakfast. The manager helped me with the computer so I could notify our Bed and Breakfast in Bali that we would not be arriving until midnight the next night. When he left, the computer changed to Korean! In the morning the Delta rep called the Mata Hari B&B for us.
We spent the afternoon in the beautiful new airport in Inchon, eating and reading and waiting for our 6 pm flight to Denpassar, Bali, Indonesia.
Matahari Cottage
Bed and Breakfast
Bali is Hawaii in triplicate! We loved our Balinese Matahari Cottage B&B in Ubud, about an hour from the airport; a perfect place to relax from all the structured sight seeing we had been doing for weeks.
Each cottage had a different theme. Our Barong cottage was nestled in a veritable paradise of tropical plants and trees. Our front porch had a peekaboo view of the pool and breakfast deck.
I loved looking up into our high pointed bamboo ceiling. In the middle of the night we would hear a knock three times and then: "Hello, hello, hello." Was it a bird, a man, superman?
Above is the beautiful handpainted door and detail to our outdoor bathroom with a sunken tub and marble shower with the interesting shower spout. Alone we could leave the "library" door open and enjoy the bamboo fenced enclosed tropical garden.
Breakfast Poolside
We hadn't packed any shorts so Iluh, the Matahari hostess, and our "care giver" dashed off to the city market and brought me colorful shorts and top and Bob's shorts that advertise the local Bintang Beer.....that he learned to love! Guests with us for breakfast were Rose, a lady from Australia who planned to retire in Bali and a young married couple from Belgium (good English) who have been traveling the world for five months.
Of Prime Importance: Eating
Our favorite place for lunch was Bali Buddha, a cafe and store. We ate upstairs and they sold all organic food downstairs. The kitchen was across the narrow street. It was wonderful to eat fresh vegetables, a "no no" in India and Egypt.
Bob had grated carrots, shreded cheese, guacamole and salsa, refried beans, sour cream and crispy taco with green olives surrounding his plate. I had a Greek salad with lots of feta cheese. A long list of fruit and vegetable drinks were available.....and tea, of course.
Our first night we walked to an indoor open-air restaurant: Nomad. The owner, in business since 1979, would always greet us and tuck a plumeria flower behind our ears. He always gave us a table looking out at the street. People walked by carrying all kinds of things on their heads....one was carrying a large table.
Directly across the street was a Ralph Lauren Polo store and a very expensive lacy neglegee store. We felt like voyeurs watching to see if the lady came out with a package indicating she had talked her man into buying her one of those lacy numbers. All the while enjoying a good martini!
After our walk back to Matahari, Bob decided to take a swim in the disappearing edge pool. The edge really disppeared into a ravine so deep, I couldn't see the bottom of it. (Picture on right)
Bali Sightseeing
Waterfalls, rice paddies, wood carvers and a batik demonstration were all on our private tour.
Bali Sightseeing: Monkey Forest
Iluh, who worked for Mataharai B&B, offered to take us around Bali on her day off with her cousin Dewa driving us. Dewa had made two trips to the airport at midnight to pick us up.
Our first stop was the nearby Monkey Forest, a jungle paradise with monkeys. Monkeys played an important part in the Hindu Ramayana epic.
Right is the Naga bridge. Hindu's believe the undulating serpent king's body symbolizes the rainbow that links the human and devine worlds. Naga is the Sanskrit word for 'snake,' and it is also the name of a Nagasare heavily featured in both the Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Balinese are very religious giving offerings every day.
Below, each morning someone would have placed an offering of fresh flowers and leaves on our porch.
Bob and a banyan tree.
A Balinese giving offerings in the Monkey Forest.
The talent displayed by the wood carvers was phenominal. We strolled through a building full of their extraordinary work. I chose a small elephant (of course!) and a beautiful kneeling bride carved from the crocodile tree picture on the right.
Next, we drove up a ridge, just wide enough for a narrow road with severe drop off on both sides until we got to the top. All the while the three volcanoes across an enormous valley were smoking. At the top was a lovely restaurant perched on the edge. Looking over this precipice, the terraine was so thick with vegetation, the houses barely peeked out.
Our last stop of the day was the Holy Water Temple: Pura Tirta Empul, a Hindu temple near the town of Tampaksiring, famous for its holy water Many local people were there, some taking karate lessons or ?
Besides coffee, all kinds of spices were grown. All the plants were labeled including fruit trees and flowers. The 94 year old lady was roasting the coffee beans.
Lovely Balinese food, including chicken and fish satay that we had learned to love. We were also introduced to many strange fruits--one was mangostim like lichee nut inside. Iluh showed us how to eat them.
Traveling through the countryside, the roads were lined with blooming poinsettias and small shops were scattered selling fruits and vegetables as well as clothing. We were on our way to a coffee plantation.
Luwak or civet coffee, refers to the seeds of coffee berries once they have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet, pictured on the right. It sounds pretty disgusting, but this coffee that supposedly has a chocolaty taste is the most expensive coffee on the market. We didn't buy any!
This plantation was on a steep slope and the family grew all kinds of fruit as well as coffee and spices on this cascading mountainside.
We were served eight different drinks: ginger tea, chololate, different coffees, cinnamon tea, genseng tea, and fresh cocoanut milk.
Holy spring water flows into a long row of pools with each spigot representing a God. As the people progressed from pool to pool, they ducked their heads under the rows of spouts. My friend Rose from the B&B said she felt very invigorated after experiencing this.
IGreen beans above, ripe beans left.
Driving back to the Matahari, we traveled through small towns bustling with activity until we came upon the necessary ATM before we go to dinner. A long beautiful day with Iluh and Dewa.
After a little rest, we walked the few blocks to Nomad Restaurant. Rose was there with her friend who teaches gamelon, an Indonesian instrument. We enjoyed listening to some of his students who were entertaining this evening at the Nomad.
Another day with Iluh and Dewa showing us some really spectaular terraced rice paddies and then a real treat--visiting her home. One never sees a private home from the street as they are always behind a wall. Her house has four buildings: north, east, south and west. The south building below, is their living quarters. The architectural detail was beautiful. One building was like an open pavilion where they have celebrations. Another building was in a lovely garden where they pray and give offerings. The kitchen was completely separate and a few chickens were nearby.
IAfter tea and goodies, we were on our way to ride an elephant. This was my seventh elephant ride; something I do at every opportunity--love being higher than an elephant's eye! My first short ride was in Bankok with my husband Jimmy in 1984; the second, climbing the fort in Jaipur, India; the third in Nepal was through tall grass and a river (both with my son Jim); the fourth was in Zimbabwe with Bob; the fifth with Bob in northern Thailand and then again Bob and I rode up to the fort in Jaipur; All were sitting in a box seat except in Africa we straddled the elephant's back with stirrups. (quite a stretch!)
As our mahout climbed on Laura's head, we were off to the jungle.
Returning from our ride, our mahout told me to climb on Laura's head, which I did willingly until he told me we were going to do some tricks.......I said, "No thanks!" and climbed off.
Bob, on the other hand, agreed. Thinking he was alone on the elephant, he got nervous when the elephant started performing and he thought he was going to fall off her head.
Two feet, four feet and then sitting on a stool!
After our very busy "tour" day with Iluh and Dewa, I decided to try out the pool before dinner. Pretty refreshing!
Followed by our walk to Nomad and martinis and chicken satay.....our favorite......and watching the activity across the street..
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On the street where we lived....
Iluh now is back at work at her outdoor desk after taking her two days off showing us her beautiful country. Now we are on our own to relax and enjoy this heaven on earth.
We loved walking out the pretty driveway and starting down the hill to the main street. It seems there is a temple in every block in every town. This is the temple on our block. Peering in the doorway, I could see an elephant. Passing several times, I finally got up the nerve to walk inside the doorway and see the crowned elephant holding his Hindu symbols of protection, the axe and the lotus blossom and others in his four hands.
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Every morning these ladies to the right prepared offerings with flowers and grasses. Balinese are very religious, placing these offerings on doorsteps and at the temples. Many claim there are more temples in Bali than houses. We would find a lovely offering on our doorstep each day. Was it from Iluh? or our roof tapper?
One morning I caught this young lady presenting an offering to a Hindu God who resided at the Matahari. (Below)
Every time we walked past this open-air dress shop, these industrious ladies would smile and wave....maybe because we bought some of their beautiful clothing for me and Bob's daughter Nancy.
Near the bottom of the hill is the very colorful post office with a rack of free postcards. Did you get one???
While wandering around Ubud, a town of 30,000 people, we ran into three friends we had met. Our destination was our favorite place for lunch: Bali Budha for the most interesting organic food.
This day I had gazpacho soup, and vegetable lasagna and one of their interesting fruit shakes. Yesterday, I had chicken salad on a bed of leaf lettuce, shredded carrots, squares of "free-range" chicken (we could hear chickens cackling all during lunch), and indescribable things like tiny white nuts and other little things. Very tasty. My drink was cocoanut milk, yogurt, papaya, and lemon juice. What a pleasure after no fresh vegies while in India and Egypt.
The main street at the bottom of the hill was usually pretty busy, mostly motorcycles with two or three people aboard. Again, in the middle of the road, another Hindu symbol towering over the populous. Twisting snakes (remember "Naga") and a god standing on the elephant.
Our last two days in Bali were spent relaxing and enjoying the delicious food including wonderful crepes for breakfast around the pool. We did try a different restaurant one night for dinner. It was a beautiful place that covered half a block with a lotus pond, but we still went back to our favorite Nomad Restaurant--good martinis and Bintang Beer and I did look at a lace vest across the street, but the price was out of my budget.
Six fantastic days in this island paradise where no one will ever go hungry as there are always cocoanuts overhead. It took an afternoon to fit all our stuff and new stuff into our luggage. Dewa picked us up at 9 pm for our flight at 1:30 am. Our 1 1/2 hour drive to Denpassar was down dark streets lined with small home-craft shops and alive with motorcycles. A nice young man at the airport helped with our luggage right to the check-in place. We shipped three bags through to Sydney as we had a nine-hour layover in Seoul. The nice ticket man gave us bulkhead seats right behind 1st Class so we could stretch our legs...and lucky me, there was an empty seat so I could lay down. We dozed and read for seven hours and were served chicken and rice before our arrival at 9:30 am. Unlike our last arrival in Korea, this one was a real treat!