Bali!

After paying a painfully exorbitant amount for my excessive luggage, a delayed flight and my apparent inability to properly select a vegetarian meal for my flights, it was nice to be seated next to a half Australian, half American woman who had been living in HCMC for the past six months. She was on her way to Bali to meet her boyfriend as well. We started talking and she told me of her Vietnamese experience. It turns out that my stay there was cut a little short. She informed me that she too felt unsafe and unwelcome for the first few months she was there. We talked for the whole three hours and I found myself wishing I had had time to hang out with her in HCMC and experience the city through the eyes of someone who understood the feelings I was having and coming out the other end loving it. It always amazes me that life works out that way - some experiences you don't love until they're behind you.

After a relatively short flight, I touched down in the Denpasar airport to begin the second part of my summer adventure. Danny was waiting for me as I exited customs with a cab, a bottle of water and the news that we had been upgraded at our hotel! Things instantly looked up and Vietnam felt far behind me already. We drove up to the villas and it was breathtaking, honestly. Our room had its own beautiful entrance with an open air living area, kitchen, bathroom and swimming pool. The bedroom was enclosed and supposedly mosquito-free (though my 30+ bites all over my body by the time we left beg to differ). I had arrived pretty late that evening and was happy to have something to eat and get a construction-less, cockroach-less nights sleep.

The next day was a little overcast so we had a breakfast with a beautiful view and went off to a reflexology place called Chill to book some massages (believe it or not, they were cheaper than the ones in Vietnam!).

We went into Kuta, just about a twenty minute cab ride from Seminyak, the area we were staying in, to take a look around. It was very westernized and filled with Australians, so we only stayed a short time and then got our massages, had some lunch and got ready for dinner by the beach.

The next morning, we decided to rent a motorbike and check out Jimbaran Bay. I really wanted to ride, but I decided that perhaps now wasn't the time to show off my super skills since the streets were narrower than in Vietnam and just as packed. Reluctantly, I allowed Danny to take the wheel and off we went to find Jimbaran Bay. After a few wrong turns and some traffic jams we came upon the bay.

We walked on the beach for a bit before stopping to have lunch. We were heavily recruited to eat at a little restaurant right on the beach, which looked exactly like the other five we passed. We ordered two Bentang's (the beer of choice in Bali) and some delicious food. 

When our food came, so did a live band. After asking where I was from, they proceeded to play Hotel California, and while the lyrics weren't quuuuite right, the music was good. We hung out for a bit and got back on the bike for a very interesting ride. Traffic had really picked up and we had to get creative. Danny weaved through traffic and I took on the role of a defensive biker chick. We rode through trucks, onto the sidewalk, in between other bikes...you get the idea. By the time we were back, we needed another massage. We went home and quickly showered to meet a friend of Danny's and his fiance for drinks at Potato Head. It was beautiful inside. There was a view of the waves and the sunset, a pool and a stage for live music, and couches and lounge chairs to drink on. They made amazing espresso martinis, and I proceeded to drink several.

We then went to dinner at a restaurant called Chandi, which had incredible ambience and amazing food. We headed home early-ish as we wanted to get up early to head to Ubud in the morning. Ubud is about and hour and a half drive up to the northeast of Seminyak and is home of the monkey rainforest. I could not wait to see some monkeys running around and feeding them bananas we brought. My excitement lasted through the walk up the river, which was actually quite beautiful and not what I expected in Bali.

When I finally had chosen the monkeys I wanted to give my bananas to, I was shocked by the response. I wanted to give the banana to the little baby monkey above, but the bigger monkey stole it. Then when I tried again, another larger monkey came and stole it. I was pretty annoyed at this point, so I naturally put my hands on my hips and said "Hey! Give that ba...!" But before I could finish scolding the large monkey, he looked me right in the eyes and hissed at me! I was so scared that I ran and hid behind Danny, who was hysterically laughing at what he had just witnessed. This sequence of photos he had taken could be why. 

After being hissed at and almost attacked by this bossy primate, we decided it was lunch time. Off we went to find food in the town of Ubud. We found delicious Indonesian food and some pumpkin raviolis.

Right before we were leaving the restaurant a gecko fell from the sky directly in front of me, looked around and ran away. It was a rough day for me and the animal kingdom and I needed to do some retail therapy. We found the market in town and wandered through.  

When I was looking at some things to buy, the girl working at the stand came up to me and said “Do you want to buy?” And when I replied yes, she said “ok, miss, I’ll give you a price and then you give me one, that’s how it works.” She was giving me a lesson in bartering! When she said an outrageously high price, I came back with an outrageously low one and she laughed and said, “oh, miss!” I couldn’t decide if she thought she had taught me well or not, but we went for two or three more rounds before we settled on  sufficient price. I walked away feeling like I had really learned something. 

Danny had had enough shopping and I wanted to end my day with a good bartering experience so we headed back to Seminyak for dinner. We decided on a Greek restaurant called Mykonos and it was amazingly good and amazingly cheap.

The next day was a beautiful day and we decided to head to the beach. As you would guess, it was stunningly beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

The wonderful thing about Bali is how delicious the restaurants are but how cheap it is to eat there. It really lent itself to making us eat until we were going to burst every time we ate.

The last day of our flight didn't leave until late so we woke up, had breakfast, packed, did some last minute shopping, got one last massage and then went to the beach for one last time. It was a really lovely trip and though we weren't ready to leave, I was anxious and excited to get to Perth!

At 10:30pm that evening we got on a plane, took a short flight, and exactly the opposite of Vietnam, when I stepped out of the airport was silent, freezing and dry. Instant reverse culture shock!

Jessie xo