Back to Bali

Last week I had the opportunity to go back to Bali - one of the most unique and stunningly beautiful places I have ever been.  The first time I went in September 2010.  I went with a small group of friends and we mostly focused on the "beachy" areas of Bali.  This time around, I traveled with Julian, his lovely mom and dad, a fellow teacher, Jo, and Jo's friend from England.  We experienced the lush jungles and gorgeous hills of the more inland areas of Bali - Ubud and Amed - and ended our trip in Legion.

Ubud: 

For anyone who has read (or seen) Eat Pray Love, you will probably be at least a little familiar with Ubud.  In fact, since the book/movie release, Ubud's tourism has skyrocketed tremendously.  While this is great for the locals pocketbooks, it is a bit worrying how quickly they are needing to expand and grow.  Many people are worried that the environment and natural beauty of Bali (especially Ubud) might be in jeopardy.  Time will tell, but for now, it remains one of the most beautiful places on this planet.

Welcome to Ubud, Bali

Having parents coordinate accommodation was a very nice improvement to the game of "let's see just how cheap a place we can find".   The hotels in Ubud were spectacular with every detail, from the huge front porches to the beautifully decorated bathroom doors.  I can't imagine a more gorgeous place.

We went on a tour our first full day - Although it wasn't exactly what we were expecting, it was a great chance to get around Ubud and see different areas.  We went to a woodcarvers gallery, a silver gallery, lunch on the hillside, a trip to the  a coffee/tea plantation.  I even tried their most expensive and sought after coffee that is made from the poop of a civet.  Yes - you heard that right.  Civets will only eat the finest coffee beans, and once they poop them out they are apparently even finer.  Sounds gross, but it was surprisingly delicious!  At least I can check that off my life list.
 

Sacred temple of the volcanic lake

Herbs, spices, coffee beans

Monkey Forrest was one of my favorite places.  We stayed close by so we were able to walk through a few times.  The first time I was a bit overwhelmed by the monkeys' boldness.  They weren't afraid to come up to you and try to steal your bag and search through your pockets.  There were bananas and potatoes that you could buy to feed to them, but I was too chicken to the first time.  I told myself that I had to do that before we left Ubud, so the second time through I bought some bananas.  Immediately, the biggest monkey there started coming towards me.  The Indonesian woman quickly said "The boss! The boss! Have to feed the boss!".  Let's just say the "Boss" took all my bananas because I was too scared to give them to any of the others.  Not quite the experience I had in mind.  We kept walking through the forest and I found a piece of a potato.  I thought I'd try feeding a smaller monkey, but before I knew it he was climbing up my back and pulling the red flower that was in my hair.  Apparently the flower was more delicious than the potato.  It made for quite a memory...and an awesome picture. :)

The Boss

Monkey love

 Jo and I spent an afternoon at the Art Museum to watch some of the local girls practicing their traditional Balinese dancing.  They were so tiny but so talented!  It was great to see their traditions being kept alive, and I think they secretly loved the extra attention.  We had a blast exploring the rest of the museum...although I think we wandered a bit too far and ended up in a fancy resort!  We ended the day meeting up with the group for a delicious dinner where the table was 2 feet high and our chairs were pillows.

rehearsal

exploring the museum grounds

out in Ubud

Amed:

After enjoying Ubud for 4 days, it was off to Amed.  After a three hour car ride up the windy hill side, we finally arrived.  The first day it was snorkel time!  Unfortunately, I don't have any classic "awkward snorkel" pictures this time around, but luckily the coral and fish were amazing!  I've done my fair share of snorkeling in Southeast Asia, but this was by far the best!  Everything was so colorful and alive.  It was like being in another world!  We also snorkeled at an old Japanese ship wreck from World War II.  It was amazing to see how much the sea life and taken over the old ship and made it part of their world.

going to snorkel

Sunsets in Amed were my favorite part of the trip.  The sky was so clear, allowing the most breath-taking sunsets I've ever seen.  Sunset is the most peaceful and perfect time of day in my opinion.  Everything goes quiet and the pinks and purples painted on the sky seem too amazing to be real.

Kuta/Legion: 

After saying goodbye to Julian's mom and dad, we were off to Kuta/Legion to see some old friends.  We spent the afternoon at the beach with one of Julian's oldest friends, Steve, and his girlfriend, Cissy, who live in Bali. (enter jealousy here).  After a burrito on the beach and a little local shopping/haggling, we all got dressed up to go to a fancy dinner.  The wonderful thing about Bali is that even the nicest restaurants are cheap.  We had quite a group - old friends and new friends - and it was so fun to just relax and enjoy a fun night out.  We went to a reggae club and danced the night away - it was definitely one of the most fun nights in a long time!  The next day was our last full vacation day so we just shopped and relaxed one last time on the beach.

Julian, me, Cissy and Steve

before dinner in Kuta

at Apache

Before I knew it, I was back on a plane at 6 am Monday morning and back to work a few hours later.  It was an unbelievable vacation.  I wouldn't change one bit of it.  Thank you, Bali for being even more amazing the second time around.