Ballin' in Bali

Finished up class this past Saturday with a grueling 3 hour investments final.  Celebrated by A) getting a Blizzard from Dairy Queen (although the large here is smaller than an American small), B) visiting Chinatown to see the preparation for the New Year, C) taking a 6am flight to Bali, Indonesia.

Twas the night before New Years and all through the streets...

Bali is a fairly touristy island in southern Indonesia.  We had three and half days, so we decided to first head to Ubud, which is in the middle of the island, with the intent of getting a better sense of the true, less-touristy Bali. 

Kecak Fire and Trance Dance

The first night we walked around the town, and discovered a beautiful view of a rice paddy.  We quickly pulled out our cameras (well I still don’t have one, but I would have) and took photos of this “rare” view.  (We would, in the next 3 days, see about 10,000 of these incredible rice paddy views.)  We then went to see Kecak Fire and Trance Dance.  Again, we wanted to see the “real” Bali, so somehow this led us to decide we should go to what is clearly a tourist show.  The show was somewhat of a Bali opera, with 65 men chanting while a story that I couldn’t entirely follow unfolded with people in costume dancing.  The chanting was impressive, and it ended with a guy kicking a bunch of smoldering embers, so something for the whole family.

Turns out there are a number of rice paddy vistas to be found in Bali

The next day we took a “bike” tour of the area.  This primarily consisted of us viewing rice paddies, standing under trees filled with Herons, and coasting down hills for about 1.5 hours.   I somehow managed to avoid falling, although my bike maneuvering skills were severely tested.  

Riding through the rice paddies

Noticing a trend of rice paddy backgrounds

The Luawak: they apparently have quite the nose for the best coffee beans

One other highlight was a visit to a coffee plantation (surprise surprise).  We got to see how they roast their coffee beans and tasted 7 different coffees, including Luwak, which is one of the most expensive coffees in the world.  Why is it so expensive?  Because the coffee beans have been eaten by a luwak (like a mongoose) that then, pardon my language, shits out the beans.  This then sells for around $30/cup.

After our ride we then drove to Seminyak, where we were staying near the beach.  We rented a villa that included our own pool and a chef for breakfast, all for $40 per person per night! 

Arrows, sling-shots, blow darts.  This man sells it all!

Our first full day in Seminyak saw us head to the beach.  As soon as we staked our place on the beach, we were swarmed by people trying to sell us hats, pirate-kites, beverages, and one guy hawking an assortment of weapons.  Bow and arrow, sling-shot, blow dart-gun, you name it, he had it.  I was confused as I imagine the vast majority of people on the beach have to fly home, and while I haven’t checked, I imagine blow darts might catch the attention of TSA.  We then headed to Tanah Lot to watch sunset. Despite some clouds, we still caught an impressive sunset on the Indian Ocean.

Tanah Lot

Sunset

For our last full day, we wanted to relax on a nice white sand beach, so we chartered a driver for a 2.5 hour drive across the island.  After getting lost and driving down a road that is reminiscent of riding Indiana Jones at Disneyland, we emerged at a quiet, secluded white-sand beach with crystal clear water.  We practically had the beach to ourselves, and saw sting-rays and dolphins.  To cap off our final night in Bali, we headed to the larger town of Kuta for dinner and drinks and found Bounty, which is a club that is pirate-ship themed, but that I mistakenly thought was actually located on a galley.  

White sand beach- pretty much what you'd expect

Bounty: Not an actual pirate ship, it at least had a steering wheel

Forgive me for the poor layout of this post, I'm trying to publish this before heading to Myanmar, where we may not have any internet access.