Bali

This past December, my parents came to visit me in Indonesia.  During the week of Christmas we were in Bali.  Bali is the name of one of the islands in Indonesia.  It is a predominantly Hindu island.  We stayed in an area called Canggu.  Bali is very big and many of the areas are well-known for different things.  For example, there is an area that has many backpackers, an area with all the luxury 5-star hotels, an area for surfing, etc.  We ended up choosing the Canggu area because it was near some of the temples we wanted to go to and looked like it had some nice places to eat and hang out at. We were in Bali for about a week from December 21-27.

December 22

We arrived on December 22nd and went to our airb&b for an eventful first afternoon/evening.  The airb&b looked great in photos and seemed like the perfect place.  However, the address that we were given was wrong and we actually couldn’t find the place until the property manager sent us a video of someone driving to the house so we could follow it.  We were a bit worried about having taxis and tours pick us up from the house but later that didn’t end up being an issue because we did not say long.  When we were in the house, we started to notice more and more of these big flying ants.  We quickly, found multiple holes in the walls where hundreds of these flying ants were coming out of.  They were in every room, flying around, on the beds, couches, in the bathrooms- everywhere.  We called the property manager who came as quick as he could but it still took about 45 minutes to an hour.  We later found out that these flying ants bite and sting people and often the bites result in large swollen mounds.  The property manager said this was more than he had ever seen.  He tried spraying but they just kept coming.  Luckily he was very helpful and recommended some hotels around the area.  We were able to find one that would work and luckily they had room.  Lots of places were all booked up because it was the week of Christmas.  We ended up going to the hotel that same night and stayed there for the rest of the trip.  After multiple days and a lot of back and forth with airb&b we were refunded because of the infestation.

December 23

The first full day we had a private temple tour booked.  Our tour guide was wonderful and picked us up from the hotel even though we had a last minute change in pick up location.  We went first to Tanah Lot temple.  This temple is located on the water and can only be accessed at certain times when the tide is low.  The private guide was super knowledgeable about the Hindu religion and even talked about some of his own experience.  Next we went to the Jatiluwih Terrace, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  This was the largest rice terrace that was continuous that I had ever seen.  Interestingly there are many families who own parts of the terraces so you could see the boarders by the new offering status.  This was beautiful but it was extremely hot that day so we didn’t end up doing the long 1-2 hour hike around it.  Our next stop was at a local coffee and tea company that made all of their teas and coffee from ingredients they grew in their gardens.  We went on a tour around the gardens and learned about their tea and coffee production.  We got to try a sample of all the teas and coffees they sell.  We ended up buying our favorite to bring back.  Our next stop, after a break for lunch, was Ulundaru Beratan Temple.  This was a temple of a lake and was beautiful to walk around.  Our guide took us back to our hotel after the full day of activities. This was definitely a highlight of the trip and we all got to learn so much about a religion and community we didn’t know a lot about.

December 24

We booked a snorkeling day tour to Padang Bai with a diving company that was locally owned and recommended to us by some of the other Peace Corps volunteers.  This company was very good and we had a wonderful time.  We were a little worried about the visibility because it had stormed the day before but this was a great experience.  They picked us up, took us to their dive shop to grab the right equipment and headed to the harbor to set off.  The great thing about this is besides my parents and I, there were only 2 other people going so it was veery private and personalized.  The other 2 people were diving and pretty much did their own thing.  We had a snorkeling guide just to ourselves.  We saw a bunch of amazing fish, some turtles, and wonderfully, two black-tip sharks just hanging out around the reefs.  This was a wonderful experience and of course no matter how much sunscreen we put on we all came back a bit sunburnt.

December 25

On Christmas Day we didn’t have anything big planned as we wanted to see where the day took us.  I found a brunch spot that did classic American style brunch which I was super excited about.  I had a mimosa and really celebrated Christmas with some good home comforts.  Obviously, the trip was the gift and we were in a different country so there wasn’t really anything to open on the actual day of Christmas.  I had asked my parents to buy me a bag, a Cotopaxi travel bag.  This is like a backpacking bag but they make it to fit as a carry on.  The Cotopaxi bags are also super colorful, with at least 5-8 different colors on one bag.

After brunch we were thinking about going to the beach or hanging out at the pool but it started to rain and the forecast indicated that it would be raining pretty much the whole days.  We decided to shift and go to an area that has a lot of shops.  Bali is well-known for really good fake bags from luxury brands.  We were interested in just looking around and seeing if there was anything good.  We walked around and on a probably 1.5 miles road there were so many stores that sold fake luxury bags.  We wanted to be careful because we only wanted to buy from ‘fixed rate’ sellers.  I personally don’t love to negotiate the price but I also don’t like when sellers increase the price so much just because we are foreigners.  My mom ended up finding two bags for her and my sister that were really nice quality.  There were also a few jewelry shops around the area.  I found a cute ring that was made out of sterling silver.  I am not a big bag person so I was glad to get the ring instead.  The one time we ended up negotiating for something was towards the end when my mom found a hat she liked.  Unfortunately this was not at a ‘fixed rate’ place so I ended up taking the lead in the negotiations.  I was actually pretty proud of myself because I got the price from 180,000 to 80,000 rupiah.  This is pretty good if I do say so myself.  And my mom was able to use the sun hat throughout the rest of the trip.  On the way to finding a taxi to go home, we found a parade for a Hindu celebration.  This was cool to be able to watch.

December 26

The 26th was also a down day for us.  Our hotel had a rooftop pool with amazing views of the ocean so we spent a bunch of time there.  Massages are very popular in Indonesia and my parents were happy to be able to get some massages for less than in the US.  We enjoyed the day to the fullest as it was our last day in Bali.

December 27

Instead of flying to our next island, we decided to take a speedboat ferry.  Bali and Lombok are both islands in Indonesia and they are right next to each other.  The ferry takes about two hours and is a very enjoyable ride.  We were able to get seats on the rooftop which is open and has a nice breeze.  They were selling some drinks like water, soda, and beer during the trip.  Overall, this was a much nicer and more relaxed way to get to Lombok rather than flying there.

This was a Mediterranean restaurant and the manager in the photo gave us a tasting of his homemade Limoncello