Fun In Bali

My first impressions of Bali was that it is total chaos!  We were on a 2 hour taxi ride to our hotel from the airport and there were scooters everywhere.  The scooters just skooch in between cars wherever they fit.  It makes for tons of honking and there's a general "drive on the left side" rule, but it's only when you feel like it.  Straddling the lane is perfectly acceptable.   The scooters are a story just by themselves.  It's perfectly acceptable to carry all you and your scooter can carry.  I saw entire families including the dog all squished on one scooter.  Sleeping babies sandwiched between the parents, family dog standing on the foot rest of the scooter peeking around the side, tongue flapping in the breeze, large pieces of fencing hanging over a man's shoulder and even the long poles of bamboo 30 or so feet long used for the decorations for the Galungan festival.

But the longer I was there I realized there's an order to the chaos.  All the honking is not an angry honking like in America.  It's a,"Beep!  Hey on your left."  Someone standing close to the edge of the road, "Beep!  Passing right behind you."  Of course there's the "Beep, beep hi!" also.  It all is a pretty polite type of honking that let's you know they're there so no one gets run over.  I realized that everything in Bali, no matter how chaotic it seems, has an order to it.


We stopped at a street market for dinner on our way to the hotel and got our first taste of the yummy local food.  We started the second half of our journey to our remote hotel just as it was getting dark.  The hotel we were staying at was the Sarinbuana Eco Lodge.  It's a remote hotel and when you arrive in the dark it's really frikin remote!  Arriving in the dark was pretty scary and when we got to our little cabin I really felt like we were alone in the middle of the jungle.  But the next morning I realized we were in paradise.  Our little cabin was called the Monkey Bungalow and it was amazing.  It quickly felt like our home.  It's called the Monkey Bungalow because we had two monkeys, Lily and Rose, for neighbors that we could watch from our porch. Lily and Rose are rescued Sumatran monkeys that loved to whoop at my husband when he passed by.  Having them greet us every morning made for a cheery start to the day, and a welcome home when we returned.  Sarinbuana Eco Lodge is a place for those who want to be "at one with nature".  Meaning you will be living with cute little geckos chirping in you room as well as spiders...huge, huge spiders and lots of ants.  If you're walking around barefoot you will have squished ants stuck to the bottom of your feet at all times.  One morning I woke up to a toilet covered in ants.  There was also a cute mouse that lived in the bathroom.  I'd see her peek her head out every now and then from the gap in the roof.  The bed had mosquito netting and we had a pretty funny incident involving a very huge spider that got inside that protective barrier.  The Lodge is located at a slightly higher elevation so there aren't very many mosquitoes and it's quite a bit cooler than other parts of Bali.  There was also an amazing water hole that has multiple levels.  It's beautiful beyond words, just watch out for leeches.  I was NOT okay with my little black, blood sucking hitchhiker. 

Our first adventure was to hike to the top of Mt. Batukaru.  This hike was pretty rough but totally worth it.  My husband and I hiked to the top of Mt. Fuji and we both agreed this was harder.  It was slippery, very steep especially toward the top, and there were leeches (Hitchhiker #2).  Going down was just as hard for me as going up thanks to all the mud.  By the end of the hike I looked like I had been trying to take a mud bath.  The locals say that only the people good of heart make it to the top.  After actually doing the hike I'm not sure if they meant physically or spiritually.  As hard as it was I would do it again without hesitation.  The beauty of this mountain and the forest are memories that I will cherish always.  This hike was absolutely the highlight of our Bali trip.

Kolam house looking out into the yard

After the Eco Lodge our next hotel was the Bambu Indah in Ubud.  We stayed in the Kolam House.  This place was amazing!  Not quite as peaceful and quiet as our Monkey House, and it was HOT here, but still very amazing.  There were some very unique features at this place.  Our house was very private and had its own gate, a beautiful coy pond surrounding it, a sitting area in the yard where you could catch a cool breeze, and an outdoor shower.  There was a rope swing at the pool, a tree house overlooking a river, and a trail that took you down some steep steps to the river and back up the other side and across a beautiful rice paddy. 

Bambu Indah's pool

Being closer to the city we did more of the typical touristy stuff including visiting the Monkey Forest.  The monkeys here are absolutely not shy at all!  This was also one of my favorite experiences in Bali.  I loved these crazy little monkeys.  They have no problem jumping on your back and digging through your hair and reaching down your shirt.  Ya that might've been me the monkeys were abusing.  I also learned they really love bananas.  If you give them something they don't like instead of a banana
, for example a sweet potato off the floor, they will not hesitate to express their anger.  Ya that might've been me too.


Once we got our bearings and felt confident that we wouldn't get lost we rented a scooter and took off to explore.  Traveling by scooter is by far the best way to get around Ubud.  You get the cool breeze and you get everywhere much faster and much cheaper.  Our hotel even gave us an in case of emergency cel phone.  Scooters are supposed to be highly UNrecommended but once you get going it feels pretty safe.  We just took it slow and were really careful.  With our new freedom we took advantage of the local market and bought some amazing fruit.  Mangosteen, snake fruit, rambutan, and some local mangoes.

Okay I've officially written a novel so I'm just going to cut it here.  Bali was so amazing I could just share so much more.  Oh!  One more thing I have to squeeze in here..most amazing coffee I have ever had EVER.  Even if drunk black.  So, so amazing.  Mmmm I love coffee and Bali and Bali coffee...