Well this has been a long time coming! During my summer vacation I was also able to visit the gorgeous Indonesian island, Bali. It was such an interesting place with a beautiful mixture of sandy beaches and mountainous rice paddies. And the weather was perfect. The temperature was comfortably warm, and the sky was a piercing blue occasionally dotted with some puffy white clouds. The people were very friendly and the food was scrumptious!
GETTING THERE
I booked my flight via Kayak, opting for the cheapest flight available. Lucky me, it turned out to be an executive class seat! So I was really pumped for that. I have always wanted to fly in the privileged section, so it was exciting to get a seat for the best deal available (that I found). But it wasn't without its downfalls... A 6 hour flight from Osaka to Malaysia, a 6 hour layover, and another 6 hour flight from Malaysia to Bali were all in store. But then luck struck again. The flight was overbooked, so Malaysian Air put me on a direct flight via Garuda Indonesia that left at the same time I would have originally flown out. So my travel time was just a third of the originally scheduled time. And it was great, because Garuda Indonesia offers inflight visa service, so I was able to get my visa right on the plane. No waiting in the long line for my visa upon arriving at the airport. I got through customs and out of the airport so quickly. And the flight itself was very comfortable. I drank champagne and lounged in the very comfortable seat. I also watched a few movies. It was a really nice flight. I wish I could fly executive class all the time!
Since I arrived in Bail a day earlier than I anticipated, I had to frantically book a hotel once I arrived around 6 p.m. (on Sunday, August 11) I was so happy to learn that the airport offered free Wifi. Thank God for technology! I searched, found a booked a hotel on my iPod for a really good deal. I was a little panicked when the booking fell through the first time, but I was able to get it eventually. I started my tour around Bali in Kuta. It is conveniently close to the airport and one of the cheapest areas to stay. I left the airport grounds to find a taxi, because I wasn't about to get ripped off. The third taxi I hailed outside agreed to the meter and took me to my hotel. He was a nice guy and was jamming out to some reggae music. It was a fun, short ride. And about a tenth of the price it would have been jacked up to had I gotten one straight from the airport. Once at my hotel I ventured out for some food and after got a massage. I got a full body massage, a cream bath (basically a head massage with cream), a facial and a pedicure all for roughly $30. Talk about a great, relaxing deal. It was the perfect end to an evening of traveling.
The next day I changed to my originally booked hotel, which was sadly not as nice as the last minute one I found. But it was cheaper yet, so can't really complain. I spent most of the day on the beach, reading and sun bathing until sunset. That night I went to the large shopping area in Kuta and had dinner at Tony Roma's. I felt a little lame going for an American restaurant, but after living in Korea for a year, it had been a long time since I had steak and ribs. And the food was delicious, so it was worth it. Later in the night I checked out some of the clubs, but felt a bit odd heading out alone. So my night ended fairly early, which was fine by me. Tuesday I didn't do much else. I did a little shopping and chilled on the beach again. And a sucker for massages, I went for a four-in-one body massage that included hot stones and Thai and Balinese techniques.It was a decent massage, but my poor masseuse kept falling asleep. I felt bad for the poor lady, but I was also a little bummed that my massage was not very good. I headed home for the night after and rested up in preparation for heading out the next day.
PEMUTERAN
Wednesday afternoon after roaming around Kuta, I was picked up to head to my bungalow in Pemuteran in the northwest of Bali. Along the way, my driver stopped at a few hot spots to let me explore popular sights in Bali. We went to Lake Batur and he took me to a really beautiful waterfall. It was a pleasant drive with great views of the numerous rice paddies along the way. I did miss some of the sights on the drive though, because I kept being lulled back into sleep. But to be fair, the trip took five hours.
Pemuteran was definitely my favorite spot on the trip! I would have loved to have spent more time there. The beach was absolutely stunning, and it was such a relaxing area. I really enjoyed that there were large stretched of soft sand, both black and light brown. And the beaches have a backdrop of lush vegetation and some nice, rounded mountains. It was such a stunning juxtaposition. The area reminded me of Kauai.
I arrived in Pemuteran around 5 p.m. Wednesday, so I just went to the beach for a bit and had some dinner. Thursday I spent the first half of the day doing two dives at nearby Menganjan Island. The dives were great! I went on a boat out to the island with a family of five (from France) and a couple (from Italy), but they all went snorkeling. So it was just me and the instructor doing the dives. Nice and exclusive. The sites were both incredible. I saw so many different creatures of all shapes, sizes and colors. I was a little nervous on my first dive of the day, as it was only the fifth one I have ever done. But I got back into the groove about halfway in and I was really able to enjoy the rest of my time exploring the underwater world. After the excursion to Menganjan we returned to Pemuteran and I headed for another day of reading and sunbathing on the beach. I had dinner at one of the resorts on the beach, which served up some delicious Greek inspired dishes. Everything I ate was so delicious. Friday morning I again spent my time lounging on the beach before leaving a bit after noon for Ubud. It was such a relaxing way to end my time on the northwest side.
UBUD
It was about a three hour drive to get to Ubud, but I wouldn't have minded if it took a little longer. My driver was intent on getting us to our destination as fast as he possibly could. He zipped around the curvy roads that wound up and down through the inland mountains and rice paddies. I was a little nervous, but happily arrived at in Ubud safely. I didn't do much after arriving besides walking around the area near my bungalow, and of course, grabbing some dinner. But on my way back to my accommodation, I stumbled across a celebration for Indonesia's Independence Day. There was a school band and lots of groups of students in the festivities. And several military people. I didn't understand all of the pomp and circumstance, but it was interesting to watch. After some singing and once it started to get dark, many of the spectators and those involved in the even set fire to torches. They then marched down the street with them to conclude the festivities.
On Saturday morning, I joined in with a cooking class, Paon Bali. We started with a quick tour of the market, learn ing about the offerings given each morning and night as well as the ingredients we would be using in our dishes. After we went to some rice fields where we learned a bit about the process of growing rice in Bali. Finally we went to the home of the incredibly sweet couple who ran the cooking class. The husband gave us a brief explanation about traditional Balinese homes, which have special rooms built in upon each cardinal point. One of the most interesting things he told us was that the placenta of each child born into the family is buried in front of the main house. After gaining some new knowledge, we were taken to the kitchen area to get our cooking on. We made an absolute feast: vegetable soup, chicken coconut curry, chicken satay, gado gado (mixed vegetables with peanut sauce), snake bean salad, steamed fish in banana leaves, deep fried tempeh salad and banana and jackfruit in palm sugar for dessert. Everything tasted incredible and was so much fun to make. There were 16 of us students, and we took turns working with partners for the dishes, alternating who took the lead. The cooking class was one of the most enjoyable experiences I had in Bali. I would highly recommend it to anyone! Later that afternoon I wondered around the downtown area and had a delicious carne asada burrito at a little Mexican restaurant. It was so much better than any Mexican food Korea tries to offer. The home-made tortilla alone impressed me, but the guacamole, pico de gallo and meat made it even more delicious. It reminded me a bit of a Chipotle style burrito, but with a bit more of an authentic taste. I also had a really tasty watermelon mojito with real lime and mint! Another exciting thing to see. I ended the night watching a fire dance. A group of maybe 30 men sat in a circle chanting while two women and a few other characters danced around a fire structure that was much like a really large candlestick.
Sunday I went on a long trip to the east side of the island, leaving at 9 a.m. and returning around 6 p.m. I saw Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave), which was so lush and gorgeous. The elephant cave itself wasn't so impressive, but the surrounding forest was beautiful. I then headed to Semarapura (aka Klungkung) for a little history sightseeing. I went to Kertha Gosa (The Hall of Justice), which had a small, but interesting museum highlighting Bali's history. Next I headed up to Sideman for a gorgeous drive through some more rice paddies. After was Tirta Gangga, the floating palace. It was really cool and had some swimming pools, which sadly I did not swim in. Then I finally got all the way to the east-coast city of Amed. The beach there was also lovely, but it was a really quiet area. It would have been a better place to stay and relax at rather than just a day trip, but I'm still happy I saw it. Then came the long journey back, but this time it was along the coast. On the way back traffic was insanely backed up, apparently from cremation ceremonies taking place. It took about an hour more than it would have without traffic, but I finally got back to Ubud after a stop over at the unimpressive sea temple Pura Musceti.
Monday I biked around Ubud and headed to the Sacred Monkey Forest. It was another highlight of the trip. The monkeys were so adorable and the forest itself was incredible. It was entertaining to watch the monkeys interacting with the other people visiting their home, and of course interacting with each other. The trees were really tall and the area was so green. On my way out of the park, I carried my empty water bottle with aims of throwing it in the trash. I attracted one little monkey's attention, and it ran up to me looking at the bottle with such longing. He put his little hand on my for support, but thankfully didn't climb all over me! I was really surprised at how soft his hands were; it was actually a nice touch. But I found a trashcan soon after, and once I ditched the bottle, the monkey ditched me. I spent the rest of the day reading in one of the coffee shops. I happened to stumble across one that was putting on a coffee making competition for its employees. It was interesting to watch them try to make the prize winning cup of Joe. I finished up the day with another meal at the Mexican restaurant (this time shrimp tacos, yum!) and then got a ride to the airport.
Remember my great luck getting to Bali and the roughly 12 hours of travel time I saved? Well that was all wiped away by the terrible luck I had getting home. I had a 19 hour delay, due to technical malfunctions with the airplane. But better to be delayed and have a functioning plane, then go up in a compromised one.I got to the airport around 9 p.m., which gave me plenty of time to check in and wait for my flight, which was scheduled to leave at 12:25 a.m. I kept checking to see which gate we needed, but it wasn't listed, so I started getting suspicious. Sure enough, at 11:50 p.m. it was announced that our flight was delayed until 3 a.m. As a compensation, the airline gave us free meal vouchers. So I went and grabbed one of the meals, and settled in next to an outlet in the restaurant. I was able to pass the time by fairly quickly, because I watched Gladiator on my iPod. So 3 a.m. finally rolled around and we were let into the waiting area by the gate of our plane. But it was to no avail! The delay kept getting longer and longer, pushed back in hour increments. I was really fortunate to have a few other English speakers on the same flight--all teachers in Korea-- so we played some card games and chatted to help pass the time. And it really helped me to not freak out too much. Had I been alone with no one to talk to about the situation, I would surely have been much more miserable. We finally boarded at 6:30 a.m. and started rolling out a bit after 7 a.m., but our hopes were quickly dashed. The plane rolled right back into the gate area and technicians boarded to check it out. About 30 minutes later we had to get off of the plane, and were taken to a nearby hotel to get some food and rest. One of the girls, Heather, and I ended up getting a room together, which turned out to be a fun idea. We didn't really get much sleep, but we watched TV and chatted. It was good fun and we laughed quite a bit. We left the hotel around 4 p.m., went back to the airport and waited again. We finally got on a new plane and left Bali about 7 p.m.
The flight was miserable. I think I got a bit of a fever from lack of sleep and perhaps some bad reaction to the food we had at the hotel. I felt like I might puke the first half of the flight, and even though I was wrapped up with four blankets, I was freezing. Thankfully the flight was rather empty, so I was able to lay out across a middle aisle and get some sleep. The turbulence was really bad the whole time, which wasn't a comfort after learning the first plane had malfunctions in the cockpit. But I did my best to get as much sleep as I could. We got to Korea just before 3 a.m. Wednesday (originally scheduled to arrive at 8 a.m. Tuesday), and I felt a little better from the rest. I had to wait until 6:20 a.m. to catch the four-hour bus home to Daegu. I was so relieved once I finally arrived home. It was such a journey getting back, but I made it safely. Plus we got 200,000 won back from Garuda Indonesia for the flight back, which was a nice touch. And I have always wondered what it would be like to have a long enough delay to warrant the airline putting me up in a hotel. But now that I know, I don't need that adventure again! Even though my trip ended with such frustration, I absolutely loved Bali and am so happy I was able to visit.
Rice paddies
GETTING THERE
I booked my flight via Kayak, opting for the cheapest flight available. Lucky me, it turned out to be an executive class seat! So I was really pumped for that. I have always wanted to fly in the privileged section, so it was exciting to get a seat for the best deal available (that I found). But it wasn't without its downfalls... A 6 hour flight from Osaka to Malaysia, a 6 hour layover, and another 6 hour flight from Malaysia to Bali were all in store. But then luck struck again. The flight was overbooked, so Malaysian Air put me on a direct flight via Garuda Indonesia that left at the same time I would have originally flown out. So my travel time was just a third of the originally scheduled time. And it was great, because Garuda Indonesia offers inflight visa service, so I was able to get my visa right on the plane. No waiting in the long line for my visa upon arriving at the airport. I got through customs and out of the airport so quickly. And the flight itself was very comfortable. I drank champagne and lounged in the very comfortable seat. I also watched a few movies. It was a really nice flight. I wish I could fly executive class all the time!
Kuta Beach Sunset
KUTASince I arrived in Bail a day earlier than I anticipated, I had to frantically book a hotel once I arrived around 6 p.m. (on Sunday, August 11) I was so happy to learn that the airport offered free Wifi. Thank God for technology! I searched, found a booked a hotel on my iPod for a really good deal. I was a little panicked when the booking fell through the first time, but I was able to get it eventually. I started my tour around Bali in Kuta. It is conveniently close to the airport and one of the cheapest areas to stay. I left the airport grounds to find a taxi, because I wasn't about to get ripped off. The third taxi I hailed outside agreed to the meter and took me to my hotel. He was a nice guy and was jamming out to some reggae music. It was a fun, short ride. And about a tenth of the price it would have been jacked up to had I gotten one straight from the airport. Once at my hotel I ventured out for some food and after got a massage. I got a full body massage, a cream bath (basically a head massage with cream), a facial and a pedicure all for roughly $30. Talk about a great, relaxing deal. It was the perfect end to an evening of traveling.
The next day I changed to my originally booked hotel, which was sadly not as nice as the last minute one I found. But it was cheaper yet, so can't really complain. I spent most of the day on the beach, reading and sun bathing until sunset. That night I went to the large shopping area in Kuta and had dinner at Tony Roma's. I felt a little lame going for an American restaurant, but after living in Korea for a year, it had been a long time since I had steak and ribs. And the food was delicious, so it was worth it. Later in the night I checked out some of the clubs, but felt a bit odd heading out alone. So my night ended fairly early, which was fine by me. Tuesday I didn't do much else. I did a little shopping and chilled on the beach again. And a sucker for massages, I went for a four-in-one body massage that included hot stones and Thai and Balinese techniques.It was a decent massage, but my poor masseuse kept falling asleep. I felt bad for the poor lady, but I was also a little bummed that my massage was not very good. I headed home for the night after and rested up in preparation for heading out the next day.
Pemuteran
PEMUTERAN
Wednesday afternoon after roaming around Kuta, I was picked up to head to my bungalow in Pemuteran in the northwest of Bali. Along the way, my driver stopped at a few hot spots to let me explore popular sights in Bali. We went to Lake Batur and he took me to a really beautiful waterfall. It was a pleasant drive with great views of the numerous rice paddies along the way. I did miss some of the sights on the drive though, because I kept being lulled back into sleep. But to be fair, the trip took five hours.
Pemuteran was definitely my favorite spot on the trip! I would have loved to have spent more time there. The beach was absolutely stunning, and it was such a relaxing area. I really enjoyed that there were large stretched of soft sand, both black and light brown. And the beaches have a backdrop of lush vegetation and some nice, rounded mountains. It was such a stunning juxtaposition. The area reminded me of Kauai.
I arrived in Pemuteran around 5 p.m. Wednesday, so I just went to the beach for a bit and had some dinner. Thursday I spent the first half of the day doing two dives at nearby Menganjan Island. The dives were great! I went on a boat out to the island with a family of five (from France) and a couple (from Italy), but they all went snorkeling. So it was just me and the instructor doing the dives. Nice and exclusive. The sites were both incredible. I saw so many different creatures of all shapes, sizes and colors. I was a little nervous on my first dive of the day, as it was only the fifth one I have ever done. But I got back into the groove about halfway in and I was really able to enjoy the rest of my time exploring the underwater world. After the excursion to Menganjan we returned to Pemuteran and I headed for another day of reading and sunbathing on the beach. I had dinner at one of the resorts on the beach, which served up some delicious Greek inspired dishes. Everything I ate was so delicious. Friday morning I again spent my time lounging on the beach before leaving a bit after noon for Ubud. It was such a relaxing way to end my time on the northwest side.
Independence Day Celebration
UBUD
It was about a three hour drive to get to Ubud, but I wouldn't have minded if it took a little longer. My driver was intent on getting us to our destination as fast as he possibly could. He zipped around the curvy roads that wound up and down through the inland mountains and rice paddies. I was a little nervous, but happily arrived at in Ubud safely. I didn't do much after arriving besides walking around the area near my bungalow, and of course, grabbing some dinner. But on my way back to my accommodation, I stumbled across a celebration for Indonesia's Independence Day. There was a school band and lots of groups of students in the festivities. And several military people. I didn't understand all of the pomp and circumstance, but it was interesting to watch. After some singing and once it started to get dark, many of the spectators and those involved in the even set fire to torches. They then marched down the street with them to conclude the festivities.
On Saturday morning, I joined in with a cooking class, Paon Bali. We started with a quick tour of the market, learn ing about the offerings given each morning and night as well as the ingredients we would be using in our dishes. After we went to some rice fields where we learned a bit about the process of growing rice in Bali. Finally we went to the home of the incredibly sweet couple who ran the cooking class. The husband gave us a brief explanation about traditional Balinese homes, which have special rooms built in upon each cardinal point. One of the most interesting things he told us was that the placenta of each child born into the family is buried in front of the main house. After gaining some new knowledge, we were taken to the kitchen area to get our cooking on. We made an absolute feast: vegetable soup, chicken coconut curry, chicken satay, gado gado (mixed vegetables with peanut sauce), snake bean salad, steamed fish in banana leaves, deep fried tempeh salad and banana and jackfruit in palm sugar for dessert. Everything tasted incredible and was so much fun to make. There were 16 of us students, and we took turns working with partners for the dishes, alternating who took the lead. The cooking class was one of the most enjoyable experiences I had in Bali. I would highly recommend it to anyone! Later that afternoon I wondered around the downtown area and had a delicious carne asada burrito at a little Mexican restaurant. It was so much better than any Mexican food Korea tries to offer. The home-made tortilla alone impressed me, but the guacamole, pico de gallo and meat made it even more delicious. It reminded me a bit of a Chipotle style burrito, but with a bit more of an authentic taste. I also had a really tasty watermelon mojito with real lime and mint! Another exciting thing to see. I ended the night watching a fire dance. A group of maybe 30 men sat in a circle chanting while two women and a few other characters danced around a fire structure that was much like a really large candlestick.
Sunday I went on a long trip to the east side of the island, leaving at 9 a.m. and returning around 6 p.m. I saw Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave), which was so lush and gorgeous. The elephant cave itself wasn't so impressive, but the surrounding forest was beautiful. I then headed to Semarapura (aka Klungkung) for a little history sightseeing. I went to Kertha Gosa (The Hall of Justice), which had a small, but interesting museum highlighting Bali's history. Next I headed up to Sideman for a gorgeous drive through some more rice paddies. After was Tirta Gangga, the floating palace. It was really cool and had some swimming pools, which sadly I did not swim in. Then I finally got all the way to the east-coast city of Amed. The beach there was also lovely, but it was a really quiet area. It would have been a better place to stay and relax at rather than just a day trip, but I'm still happy I saw it. Then came the long journey back, but this time it was along the coast. On the way back traffic was insanely backed up, apparently from cremation ceremonies taking place. It took about an hour more than it would have without traffic, but I finally got back to Ubud after a stop over at the unimpressive sea temple Pura Musceti.
Monday I biked around Ubud and headed to the Sacred Monkey Forest. It was another highlight of the trip. The monkeys were so adorable and the forest itself was incredible. It was entertaining to watch the monkeys interacting with the other people visiting their home, and of course interacting with each other. The trees were really tall and the area was so green. On my way out of the park, I carried my empty water bottle with aims of throwing it in the trash. I attracted one little monkey's attention, and it ran up to me looking at the bottle with such longing. He put his little hand on my for support, but thankfully didn't climb all over me! I was really surprised at how soft his hands were; it was actually a nice touch. But I found a trashcan soon after, and once I ditched the bottle, the monkey ditched me. I spent the rest of the day reading in one of the coffee shops. I happened to stumble across one that was putting on a coffee making competition for its employees. It was interesting to watch them try to make the prize winning cup of Joe. I finished up the day with another meal at the Mexican restaurant (this time shrimp tacos, yum!) and then got a ride to the airport.
Flight Delay Compensation!
GETTING AWAYRemember my great luck getting to Bali and the roughly 12 hours of travel time I saved? Well that was all wiped away by the terrible luck I had getting home. I had a 19 hour delay, due to technical malfunctions with the airplane. But better to be delayed and have a functioning plane, then go up in a compromised one.I got to the airport around 9 p.m., which gave me plenty of time to check in and wait for my flight, which was scheduled to leave at 12:25 a.m. I kept checking to see which gate we needed, but it wasn't listed, so I started getting suspicious. Sure enough, at 11:50 p.m. it was announced that our flight was delayed until 3 a.m. As a compensation, the airline gave us free meal vouchers. So I went and grabbed one of the meals, and settled in next to an outlet in the restaurant. I was able to pass the time by fairly quickly, because I watched Gladiator on my iPod. So 3 a.m. finally rolled around and we were let into the waiting area by the gate of our plane. But it was to no avail! The delay kept getting longer and longer, pushed back in hour increments. I was really fortunate to have a few other English speakers on the same flight--all teachers in Korea-- so we played some card games and chatted to help pass the time. And it really helped me to not freak out too much. Had I been alone with no one to talk to about the situation, I would surely have been much more miserable. We finally boarded at 6:30 a.m. and started rolling out a bit after 7 a.m., but our hopes were quickly dashed. The plane rolled right back into the gate area and technicians boarded to check it out. About 30 minutes later we had to get off of the plane, and were taken to a nearby hotel to get some food and rest. One of the girls, Heather, and I ended up getting a room together, which turned out to be a fun idea. We didn't really get much sleep, but we watched TV and chatted. It was good fun and we laughed quite a bit. We left the hotel around 4 p.m., went back to the airport and waited again. We finally got on a new plane and left Bali about 7 p.m.
The flight was miserable. I think I got a bit of a fever from lack of sleep and perhaps some bad reaction to the food we had at the hotel. I felt like I might puke the first half of the flight, and even though I was wrapped up with four blankets, I was freezing. Thankfully the flight was rather empty, so I was able to lay out across a middle aisle and get some sleep. The turbulence was really bad the whole time, which wasn't a comfort after learning the first plane had malfunctions in the cockpit. But I did my best to get as much sleep as I could. We got to Korea just before 3 a.m. Wednesday (originally scheduled to arrive at 8 a.m. Tuesday), and I felt a little better from the rest. I had to wait until 6:20 a.m. to catch the four-hour bus home to Daegu. I was so relieved once I finally arrived home. It was such a journey getting back, but I made it safely. Plus we got 200,000 won back from Garuda Indonesia for the flight back, which was a nice touch. And I have always wondered what it would be like to have a long enough delay to warrant the airline putting me up in a hotel. But now that I know, I don't need that adventure again! Even though my trip ended with such frustration, I absolutely loved Bali and am so happy I was able to visit.
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