Posts filed under 'Bali'
Amed Beach, Bali. Yesterday was a relax-day at Lovina, sitting by the pool, reading books, watching the sunset, and having dinner and drinks in the evening. At dinner, Joni started talking to this Australian girl who is a tour guide in Bali, and she told us of an acoustic night at one of the bars across the street. So we met up with her and the 2 women on her tour later and had a GREAT time listening to live music…the guy they had was really good and there was just enough crowd to make it a good time but not be too crowded. There were some local Indo guys there too so it was really fun actually to watch them have a good time in their own element. The acoustic place closed at 12 even though the crowd was begging for more – I guess the police are pretty strict about it. Anton had wandered back to the cottage because he wasn’t feeling so well and Joni and I went to the only other place in town. I wound up talking to an American guy from Missouri who runs a guide business on Papau New Guinea – if you knew how rare it was to meet Americans in these parts you could appreciate how strange it was.
Today we actually got up early despite our late night of debauchery and followed the coast east for 3 hours to the town of Amed. Beautiful ride; blue sea, and black sand to the left, volcanoes to the right. Upon arrival Joni decided to do a dive straightaway but I chose to snorkel because I was feeling tired and a bit hungover, not a good condition under which to dive. Anton claimed a hammock and had a nap in the shade…unfortuneatley he’s STILL not feeling well.
The snorkel was excellent. I was the only person out there. Saw 6 squid, 2 bump-headed wrasse, 1 lobster, 2 lionfish (first time ever while snorkling!), a longnosed unicornfish (how cool – another first for me!), tons of trumpetfish, 1 sweetlips, and even a bunch of garden eels in the sand. It was really, really good. Hope to see more tomorrow on some dives!
Our paradise by the pool
The black sand of Lovina (actually it looks pretty good when the tide is out)
Fisherman at sunset, Lovina Beach
May 18th, 2002
Lovina Beach, Bali. Road tripping through Bali today – me, Joni, and Anton in our rented Jeep for $8/day. Decided to head north from Kuta, directly through the center of the island. Much bigger than I thought, took us more than 3 hours to get from the south to the north. On the way we stopped to check out some of the terraced rice fields, visited a temple, and walked up to see the GitGit waterfall. It’s traditional culture here for the men to wear a sarong in the temple so I let (or made) Joni and Anton borrow 2 of mine and it was very amusing watching them trying to tie them on and complain about the’girly’ colors. The waterfall was pretty spectacular but we didn’t stop to swim because we were on a mission to get to Lovina.
The beach town of Lovina is very small and is mostly known for it’s black sand beaches, dolphins, and good snorkling. We looked at several places to stay once we arrived, and finally found a spot right on the beach with a great swimming pool and a 2 story-cottage with breakfast included for $5/night each! Much more along the lines of my budget. We celebrated the day by drinking beers at the pool bar and hanging out in the water all afternoon. Must admit that I was disappointed by the whole black sand hype – it actually looks more like dirty, dark sand from New Jersey. Oh well – still cool to see because it was a first for me. Tomorrow is a full-on relaxation day by the pool.
For anyone wondering what it’s like being an American here in Indonesia (the country with the largest Muslim population in the world), I can tell you that it’s fine here in Bali. Well this particular island is mostly Hindu not Muslim, but there are plenty of tourists here and so far the locals have been pretty friendly. What it’s like in other more radical, conservative islands, I couldn’t say, and honestly I’m staying away from those places anyway so I won’t be finding out anytime soon. The bottom line is tourism = money so even if people hate your guts they will be sweet as molasses to get your dollars so you never really know what’s happening with that sort of thing. That’s my take on it anyway.
Scenery of central Bali
At the Temple
GitGit Waterfall
May 16th, 2002
Kuta, Legion Beach, Bali. So happy to be here – in a different country on the world tour! Joni and I arrived yesterday on the 4-hour flight from Bangkok. On the plane we met Anton, another traveler (from New Zealand) and we decided to all look for a place to stay together. We shared a taxi from the airport to Kuta, which is a backpacker/resort beach town not far from the airport. Lucky for us, as we were having lunch by the beach, a Hindu festival started up nearby. Apparently it was some type of annual celebration involving members of 14 different temples in the Kuta area. It was a beautiful festival right on the beach, with live music and dance by women, men, and children all in different traditional costumes. The only reason I was able to find out anything about it was because I was talking to one of the cops guarding the area who happen to have lived in Denver for over 10 years!
Anyway we finally got around to looking for a place to stay around 6pm, and Joni found a great place in Legion with aircon and a pool! Last night we went to Joni’s Bar (believe it or not), right across the street, and had the BEST Mexican food! I was THRILLED – a veggie burrito!
Today we hung out here; I went shopping after going for a walk on the beach, and then relaxed by the pool. It’s much different from Thailand here – the waves are BIG and the water is FULL of surfers. We are in the southern hemisphere here too but we haven’t seen the southern cross yet (only looked early last night). The island of Bali is just one of over 13,000 islands in Indonesia – the world’s largest archipelago.
Tomorrow the 3 of us plan to head to the north side of the island for a few days just to get a feel for the place. Yeah, I’m really excited to be here!
Welcome to Bali! (note: do not try this at home)
Hindu festival at Kuta Beach
…ditto
May 15th, 2002
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