Prambanan & Ramayana Ballet

Stats:
Destination: Prambanan Temple - Java, Indonesia

Number of Days there: 1
Favorite Restaurant: The buffet restaurant at the ballet was surprisingly very good. At 70,000 (roughly $7) it was rather pricey but there were few options around the temple and time was short so we gave it a try. Tasty food and yummy fruit with ginger tea!

Times we took the: Bus: 0 Train/Subway: 0 Taxi/Car: 0; Motorcycle: 1
Estimated KM walked: 3

After spending a day in Yogya we decided to get the heck out of dodge so we jumped on our motorbike (those things are pretty handy but not fun to ride in the sun or traffic for that matter) and rode up to Gunung Merapi and then over to Prambanan. Prambanan was erected in the middle of the 9th century and is the largest Hindu temple in Java. The main temple, Candi Shiva Mahadeva, is dedicated to the goddess Shiva and contains carvings depicting the story of Ramayana. There are several outlying temples that flank Prambanan as well and are considered part of the same complex.

After viewing a beautiful sunset we headed over just west of the complex and bought tickets (50,000 RP -$5) for the Ramayana Ballet. The story of Ramayana is considered one of the most famous Hindu stories (at least in Indonesia). It tells how Lord Rama's wife, Sita, was abducted and how Hanuman the monkey god and Sugriwa the white monkey fight with Rama for the release of Sita. The ballet was really beautiful (the men playing on their cellphones next to me must have though so too)! It featured 50 dancers, a full gamelan and the final couple acts even had fire!

To see more pictures from Prambanan please click here!

Some Days you just step in it: Yogyakarta

Stats:

Destination: Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia

Number of Days there: 4
One thing unexpected: How desolate this place is in the day during Ramadan
Favorite Restaurant: Via Via - Belgian run "chain" (it's actually a group of friends from Belgium that have about 10 restaurants scattered around the world designed to promote the local culture of the city they are located in) that serves up good food and more information than the visitor's center.

Times we took the: Bus: 0 Train/Subway: 0 Taxi/Car: 0; Motorcycle: 3
Estimated KM walked: Around 15
Where we stayed: Crystalit Hotel (A/C and a pool for 135,000rp/$14 US)

What we liked: Impromptu Puppet Show at the jewelry store

What we disliked: Aggressive touts, lack of services during the day (our fault for traveling during Ramadan), crowded streets + motorbike + sun = miserable

After hopping off the first plane in and checking into our hotel early in the morning, we decided to explore the self dubbed "Cultural Capital of Java", Yogyakarta (Jogja for short). As we are prone to do, we severely underestimated the distance between our hotel and our first stop, the walled center of town known as the Kraton. Along our what ended up being 5 km's in the heat, we made some instant "friends". They all seem really nice at first, asking where are you going?, where you from?, oh America..."I love America!" Lesson number one on now to spot fake friends...they always LOVE the country you are from, especially America! After having spent the past three weeks warding off touts, we had a pretty good idea this was no different. The difference here compared to those in Bali is that they will follow you down the street telling you all along the way, they know a "short-cut" and walk with you for blocks and blocks. Ultimately they all want to take you to a Batik (hand painted, sometimes poorly, fabrics) store that has offered them commission if they bring in customers. After five in a row, it gets a little annoying, but just stay calm and friendly and always stick to your map, not any directions you get on the street. When we finally got to the Kraton, we paid our entrance fee, and walked up to the gate where we were met by another friendly "guide". We followed him around while he explained the two windows of old clothes on mannequins for about 10 minutes and afterwards, he also let us in on a great deal at a Batik store just around the corner and had transport waiting to take us there. In our opinion the Kraton was a bust and unless there is a special ceremony going on there, skip it. There was supposed to be gamelan music playing there as well, but because of Ramadan, the place was not only silent, but there were no other tourists around. After the let down that was the Kraton, we walked around to find the Water Palace. After getting lost in the maze of shops next to the water palace, breaking our own rules and following someone for about 3 minutes towards...yep you guessed it...a Batik store, we finally stumbled across the back entrance of the Palace. Naturally, the Water Palace had NO WATER! Defeated, we trudged through the sweltering heat back to the Bird Market. While it is somewhat of tourist stop, this is a real market filled with all sorts of exotic animals ranging from mice, to 100's of types of birds, to rabbits, to snakes, dogs, pretty much anything that moves they had. You could even purchase the small animal, a civet, that makes Kopi Luwak. They feed the animal coffee beans and it passes through the digestive system and out the other end to produce supposedly some of the best coffee. It was a bit depressing seeing all those animals caged in the heat like that so we passed by the maggots (bird food?) and made our way back to the northern part of town to stroll the shops. As we were walking and talking about how crappy this town is, it happened. We both stepped in a big ole pile of S**t. All we could do was bust out laughing thinking what perfect timing that misstep was! There were no real positive notes to that first day and were glad that we were going to spend the next couple of days outside the city visiting what we really came to see, Prambanan and the jewel of the crown, Borobodur.

To read about the two days visiting the temples, check out the next couple of postings.

The last day in Jogja, we made our way out to the silver shops on the southern edge of town in the village of Kota Kede. Following true to the rest of town, we underestimated how far it was to walk and ended up wandering aimlessly through the small streets looking for people making and selling silver jewelry in the village itself. After about two hours of walking around and finding nothing, we settled on sticking to the main drag of silver stores. We ended up where we started, at the large jewelry store called Tom's. They also gave free tours of them making silver pieces and it was neat to watch them. Tracy ended up purchasing her Christmas gift from Diane & Dave, a nice silver set of earrings, a necklace and bracelet to match (which she loves and is the only thing she has really purchased on the trip - impressive, I know). While Jason went on what ended up being an odyssey to find a working ATM (sometimes the 5th one is a charm!), the jewelry store staff offered to give us a free shadow puppet show upstairs. There it was, above the jewelry store, a stage with complete gamelan choir and a small room for folks to sit and watch. After the show was over, we banged on all the instruments (I have a new found respect for musicians, how do you train one hand to do something completely opposite than the other?) and there we finally found something we liked in Jogja. While it certainly was a let down in many regards, I don't want to make it sound like it was horrible. If you see past the touts, and realize that Ramadan certainly changes things, then it's not a bad town to visit. At night, the place was bustling where dozens of shops and restaurants set up along the main drag to Break the Fast.

Next stop, the sprawling capital of Indonesia, Jakarta.

To see more pictures of Yogyakarta click here!

This place looks familiar....Ubud, The Return

Stats:

Destination: Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Number of Days there: 4 (this time, 10 total)
Our Best of: Awesome hotel, cheeky monkeys again! & a fantastic birthday dinner!
One thing unexpected:
Times we took the: Bus: 0 Train/Subway: 0 Taxi/Car: 2; Motorcycle: 2
Estimated KM walked: 5km, a stroll through the rice fields
Where we stayed: Hibiscus (hibiscuscottages@hotmail.com; phone number 0361-970475) - Rp 160,000 (US $18) including a huge breakfast and coffee/tea all day long

Favorite Meal: Cafe Des Artiste - pricey for this area, but the best steak (70,000rp) we have had in a long while (including the States). This Belgian own and run place had all the classic western dishes with local paintings adorning the walls and great food.

After much deliberation, we decided that the best place to spend Tracy's big day was to head back to a familiar and loved location, Ubud. Having spent nearly a week there already, we knew we loved the hotel, could get a good meal there, and do some more shopping. The tipping point came when we figured that trying to find a decent meal during Ramadan, i.e. one with good wine, would not be possible in the predominantly Muslim island of Java.

There is a certain sense of ease that comes over you when you already know a place. It takes a lot of the guess work out of finding a hotel, transport, food, etc. We strolled into Ubud in the morning after the two hour bus ride from Sanur acting like we owned the place. After checking back in with our friends at Hibiscus, we made our way over to Putu (nice driver) to say hello. To make things easier on ourselves, we rented a motorbike for the three days we planned on being here so we could make the rounds to all the shops. We spent the rest of the day shopping and thinking about B-day plans the following day.

For Tracy's B-day, we decided to visit the monkey forest again, this time armed with bananas! See the before and after pictures below and be sure to check out the teeth on that monkey! After the monkey forest we decided to hit up one of the nicer spas in Champuan, Bali Botanica Spa (right next to the 5 star restaurant, Mosaic). After endulging in a massage, scrub and flower soak, we were off to dinner. After looking at the menu at Mosaic, we decided that it would be a little too far out of our budget, and instead, opted for Cafe des Artiste. Considering that Bali is Hindu (i.e. the cow is sacred and thus not eaten) we were skeptical of the quality of beef here, but decided to give the steak a whirl. We were not disappointed! Not only did they cook it exactly as we had ordered, but the pepper sauce it came with was awesome and just as good as the sauces we have had in France!

The next day we spent shopping around town browsing countless sarong and batik stores, looking for just the right color and print. On our way back to the hotel, we passed Rosalie, our friend from Nusa Lembogan and made plans to hang out with her the next day.

We did manage to do some physical activity the next day by doing one more walk around the countryside, this time through the rice paddy with Rosalie. After shaking off the self appointed "guide" (he paints and has a shop in the middle of the field), we made our way to the all organic restaurant with a great view overlooking the rice terraces. We lingered there for a while just absorbing the peaceful surroundings and taking our last full day in Ubud in stride. After we emerged from the fields, Tracy and Rosalie took off in search of some great deals while Jason took it easy and took a nap for the rest of the afternoon. With our flight booked for first thing the following morning, we called it an early night, said our goodbyes, and got packed up and ready to head out to Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta, or Jogja for short).

For more pictures of Tracy's B-day and the rice fields, click here.

Nusa Lembongan - We had the mola mola all to ourselves!

Stats:

Destination: Nusa Lembongan

Number of Days there: 7 days

Our Best of: Two mola mola sightings; chilling at the "free" pool; how incredibly chill the island was despite (or because of) the whole surfer crowd

One thing unexpected: Seeing the mola mola up close and personal with no other divers present.

Times we took the: Bus: 0 Train/Subway: 0 Taxi/Car: 0; Motorcycle: 5; Boat: 4

Estimated KM walked: Around 16km

Where we stayed: Aussie owned Linda's - Rp 100,000 (US $10)

Likes: Cheap price, very clean, friendly staff, and met some great fellow travelers in Rosalie (Dutch) and Adam (English).

Dislikes: Rather bland food, which is typical of Western establishments; last hotel on the beach strip so the walk to the middle was quite far each day.

Favorite Restaurant: Mangrove Restaurant - Jacketfish - RP 50,000 ($5) & Grilled Tuna - RP 35,000 ($3.50). Quiet little restaurant about a 40 minute walk from town (10 minutes by motorbike, free pickup). We had this awesome place all to ourselves all three nights we went, other than the crazy Aussie that made this place his home while on holiday. The little shop with the nasi campur in paper bags - RP 4,000 ($.40) was not only cheap, but delicious as well!

What we did:

We arrived mid morning and made made our rounds of hotels before settling on Linda's. We are starting to get the hang of finding cheap hotels. Instead of just settling on the first one that looks nice, we set the bags down, and one of us scopes out what is available. After finding the hotel, Tracy struck out to talk to the dive shops about diving. Since World Divers was booked (the one most highly recommended) we settled on Bali Dive Academy, which also happened to be a 5 star PADI dive shop as well and was recommended by World Divers. After meeting the French instructor, Severina, we decided to go ahead and complete our PADI Advanced Open Water with four dives: Deep Dive (between 20 and 40 meters), Drift Dive (where you just ride the wave underwater, hopefully), Underwater Navigation (Break out the compass and start counting fin strokes!) and Peak Buoyancy Control (practice doing push ups using only your lungs). After getting our dives set up, we started to walk over to the beach when we passed this quite little hotel on the hill. We poked our heads in and saw paradise. The pool was deserted and the view was tremendous. We strolled up to the counter and after a few words back in forth (are you SUUUURE we can't use the pool if we buy a drink???) they reluctantly said ok. I always wondered why people would ever go to the beach and get in a pool, but that day, I saw why. We spent the rest of the day sipping on Bintang Beer, dipping in and out of the clean, clear waters of the infinity pool to cool ourselves and just relaxing the day away while enjoying the view. After returning to the hotel, Rosalie, a traveler from Holland, has told us about this amazing place called Mangrove and that we had to go and try the Jacket Fish. After just finishing our blah meal at Linda's, we told her to count us in for the next night!

The first two dives were the more technical ones, Peak Buoyancy and Underwater Navigation. The dive shop had warned us that the water was cold. We thought to ourselves, "It's the tropics, how cold could it really be?" After jumping in the water, we soon found out! Where the average water temperature of most dive sites are around 75-80 degrees, this particular dive site sat at a balmy 55-60 degrees. We later found out that the waters between Bali and the island are home to one of the deepest trenches in the world and sits directly on a fault line. The 20 degrees difference is do to the swells from down below. After practicing our hovering and push ups underwater we took a small break and were back in the water for the Navigation Course. Given that I had pretty much failed the compass part in our Open Water classes I was not looking forward to breaking them out one more time. Not only did we have to make a square using a compass underwater, but we also had to measure how many fin stokes it takes to travel a predetermined distance. Swimming back and forth, back and forth, making squares, navigating around rocks can really wear you out, not to mention make your air rapidly disappear. As Tracy was completing her "perfect" square, I looked down and realized I was sitting on 60 bars and still had to complete my square. Much to my delight, Instead of the standard 20 fin stroke square, mine was reduced to 8 fin strokes! This is one of the only times that it pays to be a heavy breather! We resurfaced without incident, and looked forward to some real diving the next day. We raced back to the hotel just in time to be picked up by motorbike to be taken to Mangrove. The ride itself was good fun, poor road combined with night made for a bumpy and slightly scary ride. We ordered a couple of Bintang's and the infamous Jacketfish along with Rosalie and Adam. As the fish arrived, I actually recognized the fish as one of the fish that are prevalent on the reefs. Thinking to myself that I had seen countless ones all over the reef, I found a little comfort in knowing they were by no means endangered, no matter how pretty they are. The texture was moist and flaky, the taste was mild and after adding a little sambal to complete the dish, it was one of the best meals we had had on the trip so far.

The following day, we started with Crystal Bay, our planned deep dive class. After swimming for about 10 minutes and descending to a depth of around 30 meters (a little over 90 feet) off in the dark depths came a huge fish, the infamous Mola Mola (Sunfish). Measuring about 10 feet long and 6 feet wide, the large fish swam effortlessly towards us as we hovered trying to stay motionless in the water. The Mola Mola lives in the deep waters around 100 meters (300 feet) and far to deep for normal scuba diving. For about three months of the year, they leave there deep home and come to the surface to be cleaned by smaller fish. As the fish came into closer view, we could see the smaller emperor fish picking away at the large fish. We sat and just admired the scenery taking it all in for most of the dive, until we were close to our no decompression limit and had to swim up. Back on the surface, our instructor was ecstatic exclaiming in her French accent "We had zee Mola Mola all to ourselvez!". Indeed, it was her first time seeing one as well, and she had been diving in the area for 3 weeks straight and had yet to see it. After all the excitement, we could not wait to do our drift dive in the afternoon. We had done a drift dive before in Cozumel and remember what a rush it is just flying through the water, letting it take you where it may. As we jumped in the water and dove, we soon realized that the site that is known for current had none! In fact, the water was so calm that we had to swim quite a bit. It was still a pleasant dive site, but we found it a bit ironic that our certification for completing a drift dive would come with no drift what-so-ever. We came back to the hotel, shared our day's excitement with Rosalie and Adam, and got ready for Mangrove, part two (when you find a restaurant you like, stick to it!)

The next day we had told Adam and Rosalie about our little hidden paradise on the hill so we decided to return once again with Adam and Rosalie tagging along. Once again, the friendly staff said ok, and we settled in once again, catching up on some rays (Tracy) and feebly attempting to catch up on this blog (Jason). They also agreed that this was one certainly a pleasant surprise. They had no guests staying at the hotel, and we were their only source of income for the day, so we felt like it was a fair deal.

We decided that the next day, we had to get in one more day of diving so we actually went to the same place as before for another chance at the Mola Mola. This time we also had "zee Mola Mola all to ourselvez!" As we sat on the side of the cliff just watching, the large fish came closer and closer. We could see its eyes look our way and then look forward. Back and forth his eyes went and closer and closer he came until he was less than three meters away from my head! There is good diving, and then there is once in a lifetime diving, I believe that this moment was one of those once in a lifetime moments. Luckily, Tracy snapped a great photo to capture the moment. As he came within 9 feet, he saw other divers descending upon our location and it made an abrupt turn and swam off to sea. In the afternoon, we did actually do a real drift dive, flying through the water like Superman passing over beautiful coral and passing our little friend, Mr. Jacketfish. Coincidently, the dive site was....The Mangrove.

Our last day, we headed over to spend the whole day at the pool only to discover that "The Boss" was bringing over people from the mainland for the day and it was not possible to use their deserted pool. Now hooked on pools at the beach and dejected, we turned to the resort pool back up the path, Coconut Bay. Sadly, they charge for use of their pool, but at least the pressure to purchase food and beverages was off so we bought our lunch for 4000 (about .40 cents!) and some water somewhere else and hung out all day, albeit far more crowded.

After finally deciding on where to head for Tracy's B-day, we boarded the boat in the morning and jumped on a bus heading back to...Ubud, The Return.

A special thanks to momma Karen for your generous gift! It made the sighting of "zee mola mola" possible!

To see more pictures of Nusa Lembongan please click here!

Snore...oops, I mean Sanur

Stats:

Destination: Sanur

Number of Days there: 1

Our Best of: Sanur has a huge variety of restaurants to choose from.

Worst of: Durian Cake - it tasted almost as bad as it smelled.

One thing unexpected: Sanur has a huge grocery store with a special aisle devoted to imports! Hello peanut butter!

Times we took the: Bus: 0 Train/Subway: 0 Taxi/Car: 0; Motorcycle: 0; Boat: 1

Estimated KM walked: 6-7 kilometers

Where we stayed: Watering Hole (RM 100,000 - about $11)

We liked: cheap, clean, quiet & centrally located 1 block from the beach & ferry terminal

Disliked: cold water showers (I will NEVER get used to them) & a bad restaurant

Favorite restaurant: Beach Cafe - yummy European breakfast with muesli, yogurt, fruit, real European style bread, cheese, meat, juice & Italian coffee (pricey at 75,000 RM - about $8-$9 US but big enough to split)

We negotiated a transfer from Amed to Sanur with a friendly driver named Tajus (contact info: to be posted). It was a bit expensive at 400,000 RM ($40 something US) but we were able to make a couple of stops along with way and it included pick up and drop off at our hotel. We stopped along the way at several viewpoints and at Tengagan which is occupied by the Bali Aga people (original Balinese). We toured their village and saw many of the local crafts being made (baskets, double & single ikat weavings, etc). I had the opportunity, not that shopping opportunities are unheard of, to purchase a hand made scarf and an ikat table runner. After stopping at Tengagen we stopped for lunch at a local warung Tajus recommended and tried lawar which is a chopped salad of coconut, chilies, pork & blood (we ordered ours sans blood but it still came with jerky made from pig heart and what I think was a piece of liver). We were not impressed. Anyways, onto Sanur!

Sanur has a reputation for being a quiet alternative to Kuta and it definitely lived up to that reputation. Compared to Kuta, Sanur was pleasantly deserted. lt's still very touristy but it has a slightly more upmarket feel and it's geared towards older travelers rather than the surf crowd. We checked into the hotel and relaxed at a beach cafe for the afternoon and then ended the evening with a long stroll through the beach and around town. We stocked up on snacks for our trip to Nusa Lembongan and searched for an ATM that would allow us to take out 3 million rupiahs (roughly $300 US which is the max any ATM in Bali will allow you to withdraw). There are no ATMs in Nusa Lembongan and we planned on diving so we needed cash & fast before our morning ferry! After stopping at 7-8 ATMs (ironically enough the amount got less and less with every stop) we finally found one near Dunkin Donuts of all places that allowed us to take out the right amount of money. We kind of laughed and joked about our bad luck but then we started to talk about the obvious underlying issue. It's very humbling to travel in a country where your dollar goes so far and to realize that people here survive on far less than an American ever could. To most Americans $300 in not that much money. There we were wanting to take out enough money to last us a week and we found only ATMs that would let us take out the equivalent of $50-$150 US. To people living in Bali and making roughly $100-$200 per month (and $200 is a REALLY good salary) that is a huge sum. Many survive on far less than that. While I wouldn't say Bali is poor by any means they are heavily dependent on tourism and the supply seems to far outweigh the demand so it's difficult for people to become upwardly mobile.

After finally finding an ATM we headed to dinner. Exhausted we decided to try the Watering Hole, our hotel's restaurant which was recommended by Lonely Planet. It was a definite disappointment though with very bland food. I don't know why but in many tourist establishments the food tends to be tasteless. We asked each other, why do restaurants adapt their perfectly good food to satisfy western palates? Don't we all need a little bit of spice in our lives?

Next stop, Nusa Lembongan!

Diving and swinging the days away: Amed and the east coast of Bali

Stats:

Destination: Amed (Selang village to be exact) and Tulamben (site of the USST Liberty)

Number of Days there: 4

Our Best of: Sipping on tea as you watch the local fisherman bring in their days haul at 7:30am, diving the majestic USST Liberty

One thing unexpected: Riding down the road on the back of a motorcycle with no helmet in a wet suit

Times we took the: Bus: 0 Train/Subway: 0 Taxi/Car: 2; Motorcycle: 2

Estimated KM walked: just to the water to go snorkeling/diving

Where we stayed: Good Karma (160,000rp about $18 US) Nice place with all the Bungalows facing the water and breakfast included. Goods: quite, ocean front, hammock, friendly manager, Baba somewhat of a local celebrity. Bads: the random request for massage? or snorkeling? or transport?, location is too far from town to walk and the mysterious brown water that flowed from the shower on occasion

Favorite restaurant: Blue Moon - decent fare that took the usual Indonesian dishes and gave them a little spin - the rest of our food excursions were rather uneventful.

We arrived an Amed to really do two things: dive the USST Liberty and relax on a nice beach. The Liberty was a US cargo ship that was torpedoed by the Japanese during WWII, towed to shore to salvage the goods, and left on the shore when the island was lost to the advancing Japanese. When the nearby volcano of Agung erupted in 1963, it broke the ship in half and pushed it into the ocean where it now lies at a nice diving depth of 21 meters at the deepest point. While the ship did not disappoint, the beach was not exactly suited to swimming and sunbathing. All the beaches along this stretch are rocky and the expanse of sand under the water have been replaced with corals. Good for snorkeling, but not the pure white sand beach we were hoping for.


The first day we spent relaxing at the hotel. We arose in the morning to find that all the boats lining the shore from the day before, were gone. Around 7:30 all of them came back in carrying a basket full of fish (if they were lucky that is). Apparently all of the fishing is done between sunrise (around 4:30 - 5:00, we have yet to get up early enough to find out!) and 8:00am. The women then come out, collect all the fish, and take them to the market. We were told that the fish being caught were some variety of tuna, but a much smaller variety than what we are used to in the US. After watching the fisherman and getting breakfast, we snorkeled for a little while right in front of the hotel, which was surprisingly nice. With beautiful corals and lots of fun fish swimming around, it was a perfect way to spend a day. According to the folks staying next door there was even a blue octopus (which we could never find), a really rare find. After tiring from snorkeling, we would swing away in the hammock on our porch. We also booked our diving for the next day with White Sand Divers, the dive shop associated with our hotel. Since our hotel was to far from town to really check around properly, we just decided that they would be just fine.

The next two days we spent diving around Tulamben. Each day we were greeted by the same driver that picked up divers for the dive shop. He was quite the talkative one that chatted it up with us the surprisingly long 30 minute drive and stopped for a good picture of Agung. After arriving at the dive shop, we suited up and made our way down the driveway for a shore entry to the dive site. The wreck certainly lived up to its billing as a great place to dive. With huge schools of travally's, tons of nudibranches, and of course, the loads of coral completely covering what's left of the ship. During the afternoon dive, we swam in and out of cargo bays, enjoying the scenery as we went. Our divemaster stopped by a cleaning station and let the little cleaner shrimp clean his teeth. We are not quite that brave yet! After our two dives for the day, we decided to book three dives for the next day with one of them being our first night dive. Upon paying for our first day's dive, we thought that they were charging us a little more than what we agreed upon, but figured since we were back the next day, we could sort it out then. The friendly driver took us back to Amed, and offered to stop by one of the few Internet places in town while he waited outside. The Internet connection here is impossibly slow not to mention expensive - 500rp per minute, so don't plan on catching up on anything. He dropped us back at the hotel and we spent the rest of the night having dinner and relaxing on our porch.

The next day the same driver picked us up for the journey. After talking for a while, he turned to us and in a more serious tone said, "So Jason...Tracy..., you like cocaine?" All the while, the driver had been funny and joking, but this question had a different tone and made us feel a little uneasy. We of course replied NO, considering that even if we were into the drug scene (we're not!) getting caught with it here will land you in jail for 25 years, and having enough to traffic means the death penalty. After a bit of banter back and forth over the uncomfortable topic of drugs, he turns again and laughs saying "Haha, I only joking." We thought to ourselves yeah right, if we had said yes, we were fairly certain he could produce it. The last few minutes of the drive were in silence and we arrived at the dive shop, got out, and got ready for the dive.

The first dive of the day was at the Tulamben Dropoff, aka. the Wall. Walls prove to be a popular dive location where the edge drops into the ocean and goes on forever, farther than you can see in a wet suit and some gear strapped to your back. To get to the dive site, it's a few minutes down the road from the shop so we hopped on the back of a motorbike, dawned in wet suit and carrying our mask and fins. Luckily, the ride was short and we arrived with no problem. After a short swim down the once sandy beach (it's now, sadly, covered in trash) the wall appears jutting out of the cliff only about 40-50 feet from shore. Teeming with life, mostly of the smaller variety, there is an infinite amount of things to see. We even spotted a rare pigmy seahorse, difficult to see as they blend in so well with the fans they live on. After our dive, we clambered back onto shore over the rocks and between the boats and waited to ride the motorcycle back to the shop. While waiting, we noticed these ladies carrying not only one tank, but two, on top of their heads, gear and all! It's hard to imagine how they do it considering it's all we can do just to carry our own gear up the hill. After our surface interval, we were back in the water, this time back to the wreck. Some of the highlights of the dive included swimming through the wreckage, a huge school of Jack's, and of course, trying to dodge all the other divers - mainly the ones in groups of about 10.

After finishing our first two dives, we wandered around Tulamben for a little while. Not really much to see here, it's a small town and the only thing going here is the diving. We did come across another dive shop, Tulamben Wreck Divers that seemed a lot better and cheaper than the outfit were were with and would recommend them over the White Sand Divers we went with. After returning to the shop we went ahead and sorted out our bill. Of course, they had overcharged us from the first day. The now sketchy driver was the one we had paid the first day, and he had decided to add on a little extra for transport, which was supposed to be included, used a ridiculous exchange rate and not given our discount for multiple dives. After talking about it for a little while, we got it all sorted out and we were back in the water for our first night dive. They say that it's a different world down there at night, at it certainly is. The only places you can see is where you shine the flashlight and the colors of the corals, fish and other marine life seem to change by night. Our dive was highlighted by a huge Bumphead Parrotfish, the largest Parrotfish variety. Most Parrotfish have a couple of teeth, but the Bumphead has one large row of teeth solidly fused together. It's something special to swing your flashlight around and there right in front of you is this huge fish swimming by. The currents are also stronger at night than during the day for some reason, so you need good buoyancy control, but it's well worth it and we plan to do it again in the near future. After the dive, we were dreading the ride back with the same driver. The 30 minute ride that was full of talking and chatting it up was replaced by an awkward silence. Wether it was the refusal of cocaine, or more over, the fact he didn't suck us for extra money for the "free" transport, it could not end soon enough. Fortunately, we arrived back at the hotel without further problems, ate some dinner, and went to bed early.

After the weird exchanges with the dive shop, we decided that four days was enough in Amed and spent the last day snorkeling another little wreck just south of the hotel. The Japanese shipwreck as it is called around here, was no where near as impressive as the Liberty. All that is left of the ship is the bow that sticks up to about a meter or two from the surface. The little warung there serves up tasty light dishes and we spent a casual afternoon snorkeling around the wreck and sipping on fresh fruit juices. After snorkeling, we finally decided on where to go next and booked transport for the next day to Sanur (400,000rp with a couple of stops along the way) so we could take the ferry the next day over to Nusa Lembogan.

Next stop: The Island of Nusa Lembogan for some more diving!

To see more pictures from Amed click here!

The Cultural Capital of Bali: Ubud - Part 3

Day 6: Temples on islands, lakes and waterfalls, and babi guling

We began the day with a stop at Pura Taman Ayun. With a "moat" all the way around its outer walls followed by a smaller "moat" inside the temple, it seemed more like a medieval castle than an ancient Hindu temple. With it's large, thatched roof temples, it made for a nice photo, but the origin and meaning of the temple remain a mystery to us and apparently the driver as well. The next stop was the main reason we wanted to make the trip to the lake country of Bali, the stunning temple of Ulun Danu Bratan. The Hindu/Buddist (important to both religions) was founded in the 17th century and the two temples themselves are built on two tiny islands in the lake. With the mountains in the background, it makes for a stunning view. While we were there, their was a Buddist procession complete with music and flags waving. After admiring the temple and the well landscaped surroundings, we headed further up the mountain and made our way to the waterfalls of Gitgit. Quite touristy, the short walk down to the main waterfall is lined with souvenir shops selling anything from bathing suits to sarongs (no shop is complete without sarongs ANYWHERE in Bali). Cascading off the cliff from a height of 120 feet, the single fall was nice, but we found the better falls to be the twin falls down the road. The twin falls were much shorter, only about 25-30 feet, but the water here was much more impressive and the swimming spot was a lot nicer than the other fall, albeit just as cold so we didn't swim, but Putu had a nice swim. The only unfortunate part is that you have to hire a completely useless "guide" (36,000rp) that leads you down the well signed, concrete path to the bottom. After the quick dip, we started to make our way back to Ubud with a stop at one of the markets. It was a huge, sprawling market, but quite touristy and the prices were extortionate so we bargained hard to get a few peanuts and some fruit to take on the road. After the market, we hit up a roadside warung on the way back serving up babi guling, or suckling pig. If Bali has a "national" dish, this is it. The warung only serves this one dish and with it comes a plate of rice along with greens, pork crackling (skin), both sliced and chopped pork, served with sambal (local version of chilli sauce). While it was tasty in its own right, we both agree that it doesn't hold a candle to the pork barbeque you get in North Carolina, and we sure could have used a little of Dad's sauce to spice it up. After our late lunch, we returned to Ubud, relaxed our our porch for one last night, ate at Roda's one last time, and called it an early night.

Day 7: To Amed we go, stopping by Gunung Batur and Tirta Gangga

We had one last delicious breakfast of banana pancakes and waved goodbye to the lovely people at Hibuscus and were off to Amed, the name for a group of villages on the East Coast of Bali. In route we stopped at for a wonderful view of the rice terraces, seemingly filling every hill in the lush central part of Bali. After snapping a few photos and messing with the local children selling postcards (it was a holiday from school that day) we made our way to a little roadside stand where you can sample some of the local produce. Bali has a very diverse variety of produce. In the same plot of land they grow, mangosteens, mangos, vanilla, cinnamon, coffee, tea, cocoa, bananas, palm fruit, papaya, and tons of other spices. After sampling the coffee, tea and hot chocolate we hit the road again headed for Danau Batur, the lake named after the adjacent mountain of Batur. Not more than an hours drive from the fruit stand, the soil becomes volcanic and the lush valleys and hillsides are replaced with an arid and barren landscape. The area is best known for growing vegetables like onions, chilli's, and garlic. We stopped at the lake side for a little while, but other than seeing the little fishing village, which consists of fish farms mostly, it's not really worth the time. We stopped for lunch at another warung, this time selling goat satay. I enjoyed the goat myself and would not mind it again, but Tracy didn't care for it, particularly the soup, which I must admit didn't do much for me either. After a long three hour drive leaving behind the arid volcano landscape, through dense jungles, we arrived at the Water temple of Tirta Gangga. With water effects everywhere and beautifully landscaped grounds, the water temple was quite impressive. It even has two swimming pools, and looks like they were in the process of adding a stage for traditional dances as well.

We arrived in Amed and settled on our little hotel by the sea, Good Karma. We figured with a name like that, how can you go wrong!

To see more pictures from Ubud please click here!

The Cultural Capital of Bali: Ubud - Part 2

Day 4 - Vroom, Vroom, Vroom: Spinning around with a motorbike

Having never rode a motorbike, much less driven one before there was a certain degree of uncertainty in having to not only learn to drive one, but also drive on the opposite side of the road. After a few minutes of wobbling down the side street, it became a little easier and we were on our way to the Elephant Cave, Goa Gajah. Built over 900 years ago, the age and simplicity of the cave certainly shows in contrast to the intricate temples that adorn the island today. The T shaped cave consists of three basic "windows" which contain a statue of the elephant lord, Ganesh, and on either side the male and female phallic symbols of the Hindu god Shiva. Even in it's simplistic manner, the grounds themselves were really nice with a lush hillside leading down to a small river. The next stop on the list was the ancient temple of Gunung Kawi. It too was built at the river bottom and the steps to the bottom were quite daunting knowing that every step down meant the same step coming up. Assuming (you know what that does) that the sarong (in order to enter any temple in Bali, you must wear a sarong along with a traditional "belt") by donation stand was at the bottom, we walked all the way down only to realize that it was back at the very top off to the side. Rather than trek back to the top to rent one and then make the trip one more time, we just poked our heads in the entrance and figured that was enough. Similar statues were also on the outside of the temple so we got a good view of them. After enjoying the scenery (they plant rice just about anywhere!) we climbed up the steps and stopped at a nice little roadside warung (cafe or small restaurant that mainly cater to locals) where we enjoyed our first es buah (ice with sweetened condensed milk, fresh fruit and some type of syrup) which was surprisingly good, and our staple meals here, mie goreng (fried noodles with vegetables, chicken and an egg on top) and nasi goreng (same only with rice instead) pedas (spicy!).

Next stop on our scooter tour were the silver shops of Ciluk. After a quick little jaunt to the south we arrived in the little town and were greeted promptly by a seemingly nice man on a motorbike asking the now infamous question "Hello, where you go? (first question they ask when they want to sell you something about 75% of the time, the other 25% goes to the question "Hello, where you from?" followed by transport?, rent motorbike? where you stay?, etc.). After chatting with him while driving down the road no less, we soon realize that he works for one of the hundreds of silver shops and wants us to go to his shop of choice. Yes, even driving down the road you get a little harmless harassment. I guess everyone has to make a living somehow right? After browsing the shops for a bit, we made our way back north to Ubud before it got dark. By the end of the day, we had honed our skills on the motorbike that we even went up a one way street the wrong way (not on purpose, but I was just following the flow of traffic oddly enough - quite the accepted practice here). I would not say that driving here is easy, but you get used to the aggressive, make your own path attitude and have to join in to some degree.

After parking the scooter for the day, it was time for us to do the other half of Ubud - hit the spas. After all the walking, trekking and touring we started our relaxation that night with our first massage of the trip. Ubud is the center of Bali for spas and the choices here run the gambit from murah murah(cheap cheap) to mahal! (Expensive!). We choose one across the street from our hotel. We signed up for a one hour massage (125,000rp or about $14 us) which really ended up being about 40 minutes with 20 minutes of getting dressed afterwards and sipping on a little cup of water. Needless to say, we were not that impressed, especially since the price was quite a bit more than other places around. At least the massage itself was nice, despite the time issue.

Day 5: Need Transport? Yes we do!, bathed in flowers, and Ke-chat, ke-chat, ke-chat

The next day we went and booked two days of a driver - one day to see the temples and a waterfall that was a little too far to go on the motorbike for our comfort, and the next day transfer to Amed with a few stops along the way (more on both later!). After looking around a bit, we met a really "Nice Driver" (His sign said so so that makes it true, right?) named Putu. After chatting with him for a while about various places to go and see, we settled on a price (400,000rm $45 US for one day; 500,000rm $58 US for the second day with transfer). Now, I know that all you independent travelers out there are thinking this is a bit of cheating not to mention pricey, but we did it for a couple of reasons. One, we wanted to find out more about the culture and having the same person for two days that we could understand and ask questions in English was a huge help. Secondly, having someone explain some of the meanings of the temples is a huge help as well rather than just wondering around a sight and thinking oh this is nice, but what does it all mean? Lastly, getting around by public transport is rather expensive in itself (other than catching Bemos from small town to small town until you get your destination wasting a lot of time in the process) so for the two of us to travel around by public bus, it's virtually the same price. If we do Bali again, packing much lighter and renting a motorbike for the whole time would be the better option for getting around Bali. The Island is small and most drives are less than 3 hours apart.

After getting the next couple of days booked, we hit the spa! There was one that had just opened and was running a special price of 50% off everything. Quite the deal so we opted to do the hour and half massage and scrub followed by a soak in a tub filled with flowers followed by a manicure/pedicure. It was a nice little spa and the flower bath was quite unique. Filled with fragrant flowers like hibiscus and frangipani it was a relaxing a pleasant experience. The mani/pedi was lacking a little however, but for 25,000rm (less than $3 US) we can't complain too much! All in all, our three hour spa treatment was the same cost as the massage alone from the night before (250,000RM about $30 US for both of us).

Relaxed and muscles loosened, we decided to take in one more show before we left the Ubud area. Kecak Fire & Trance Dance uses a gamelan suara (choir of 100 men) to set the stage for dancers interpreting a piece of the story from the Hindu epic, Ramayana. At first, we must admit, the choir of a hundred men was quite humorous. All the "music" is provided by the men making noises using their mouths only. Sitting in a circle around a small statue filled with candles, the men started to make a noise like Ke-chat, ke-chat, ke-chat. For a small clip, click here. Once the story started however, it made more sense and we enjoyed the performance. After the story of Ramayana, they set the stage for the trance dance. Trance Dance: A horse rider is lulled into a trance by the gamelan suara (choir of a 100 men) and in his trance he walks on a bed of burning coconut husks responding to the rising & falling sounds of the gamelan suara. The fire was lit and as the gamelan suara changed noises, the rider (in this case a hobby horse) would kick the burning husks around and then walk across them! By the end of the dance, the rider's feet were completely black and he sat a while after the performance presumably letting his feet rest before walking on them again. We both walked away from the performance in awe and we highly recommend you don't miss this particular dance.