Our villa - wow, what can I say about our own private villa with our own plunge pool and chef? Well, since a picture is worth 1000 words and I only have a limited amount of time, I uploaded a video to YouTube because the video was too long to post on this blogsite. You can view the video by clicking here.
By now you should know that we like to try at least one new and different thing every place we visit and Bali was no exception. We attempted to learn how to surf, dude. I got this little 40-year-old Indonesian man to give me a lesson while Marc decided he would try to learn on his own. Fearing another Vail-wrist-breaking incident, I took all of my surfing guru's instruction, including renting a surfboard that was easily 3 times taller than me. Here I am taking a quick lesson next to my PINK surfboard in the surf shop before we hit the waves:
Eventually, Marc also managed to get up on his board and he did really well until the waves totally died on us. I got a little frustrated because I had just gotten the hang of it when the waves decided to stop coming and we couldn't keep practicing. Oh well, we'll just have to find some other fantastic exotic locale with some killer waves to do some more surfing, bro.
The show, called the Kecak Fire and Trance Dance, was exceptional. About 100 men sat in concentric circles doing a chant while ladies in traditional Balinese costumes danced around the men and told a story. I had read about the traditional dances in Lonely Planet but seeing it in person was magical:
The next day we spent the day underwater, diving off of a nearby island called Nusa Lembongan. The diving was spectacular, even though the waters getting to our dive sites were really choppy. I spent most of our boat time trying not to hurl our specially prepared breakfast overboard. It should be noted that I've only been dive certified for about 10 months, but I'm probably the most spoilt diver in the entire world. I've now dived in Turks and Caicos, Thailand, Bali and even did a shark-feeding dive in the Bahamas. And to make it worse, we're going to the undisputed diver's paradise, Palau in Micronesia, in February for Chinese New Year. Nope, in case you are wondering, it does not suck to be me.
Near the docks, Marc found some funny looking spider boats that could be cousins to the Thai long-tail boats we saw in Ko Tao. Must. Take. Picture.
After a day at sea, I was ready to be on land again but not ready to be stationary, so Marc and I rented a moped and explored the areas around our resort. Bali is a HUGE island, bigger than I expected and each little area has its own flavor and attitude. Kuta is the main party area of the island and where the waves are best for learning to surf. Seminyak, where we stayed, is full of cute boutiques and upscale restaurants. Ubud, as I mentioned, is the artist haven in the center of the island. There are dozens of other villages that we didn't even get to see with landscapes as varied as the villages. There are beaches (duh), rice paddies, mountains, even a volcano. We could have easily spent another week in Bali and not run out of things to do and see.
The people of Bali are really interesting too. If you've read Eat Pray Love (which if you haven't, you should, right now, go out and buy it here), then you'll know the Balinese are very proud of their heritage and have many festivals to preserve their culture. There are temples everywhere, even this one inside the SCUBA shop:
You can find offerings, those little palm leaf trays of flowers and bits of food (below the chins of the gargoyle-looking statutes on the picture) everywhere on the island, especially on the ground in front of stores. Consequently, you have to be careful where you walk lest you kick one of them and destroy the good ju-ju the store owners are trying to bring in. The Balinese truly believe that good and evil sort out all the troubles in the world, but in 2003 and 2005, forces out of their control rocked their island. In 2004, a terrorist group set off 2 bombs in the densely packed area of Kuta in the middle of a strip of packed nightclubs. Over 200 people died, including many Australian, British and American tourists. In 2005, 2 suicide bombers killed 20 people in Kuta and Jimbaran (the peninsula jutting out the southern part of the island). Since then, the economy and tourism has been in struggling to recover, hence why everything is so cheap. Store-keepers and taxi drivers talk about the bombings and there are constant reminders, including memorials to those who died everywhere you look. In the middle of Kuta, about 30 meters from where the first bomb detonated, is a memorial with all the names of the victims. It was a sobering sight:
Despite their obstacles, the Balinese remain a friendly group and you find yourself in conversations with just about everyone you meet. They all want to know where you are from and where you are going, where you are staying and how long you will be there, whether you are married and where you are eating dinner that night. Talk to them long enough and they will invite you to their restaurant or help you find a driver for the day. It is inspiring to know that they do not live in fear and still embrace foreigners.
Well, I'm starting to get the beginning stages of carpal tunnel, so I better stop for now, but stay tuned for Part II of our Balinese adventure and more importantly, Marc's multiple birthday celebrations.
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