Bali

We have spent the last two and a half weeks on Bali and have seen quite a lot of the island. I can understand why people fall in love with this place, but at the same time I really look forward to going to Lombok and Flores.

The only reason we are still here is our visa extension, but that is a story on it's own...

Since our stay in Lovina, we have been staying in Ubud, Sanur and Kuta.
Let's start with Ubud. If you go to Bali without visiting Ubud, you will miss out on a great spot. I absolutely loved the place!
The town is just oozing with creativity. Yes, it is touristy and busy, but there are oases and these makes Ubud worth a trip. And for shopaholics, this place is heaven!! There are so many nice shops selling beautiful things, jewellery, clothes, decoration items... You name it. I could have bought nearly everything! Sometimes it is hard to be a backpacker.
Ubud has wonderful places to stay as well, we spent three nights at Nick's Homestay, which is very nice and pretty central on Jalan Hanoman. The double rooms are very big and the bathroom was great. The rain shower has a pebbles flooring, which makes you feel as if you are showering outside. It was by far the best bathroom we have had!
The last couple of nights were spent at Ubud View, where we had the pleasure of waking up to the quacking of ducks on the rice field behind our room.


The duck parade out the back of Ubud View

There are tons of nice restaurants in Ubud, my absolute favorite was a very stylish one called The Bollero. It is on Jalan Dewi Sri, should you ever want to go there.

What proved out to be a tourist trap though was Bebek Bengil, the Dirty Duck Diner. It is expensive, you have the feeling the waiters are just waiting to see you finish up and leave so that they can give your table to the Japanese tourists who arrive one busload at the time. The garden is really nice though and if you reserve a table there, I guess it could be a nice experience. But the garden doesn't change the fact that the food is overpriced.


To see as much of the surroundings as possible, we rented a moped to get around. The highlight for me was a 50 km trip to Jatiluwih and the marvelous rice terraces there. But the trip through Bedulu to Tampaksiring and Gunung Kawi was really nice as well. And of course we visited the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud itself.

Here are some pictures from and around Ubud:

Macaque family

Macaque mum and baby in the Monkey Forest, Ubud



Rice terraces, Tampaksiring

Goa Gajah, Elephant Cave

Rice terraces, Jatiluwih

And yet another impossibly green rice terrace

Our next stop was Sanur, a sleepy little fishing village in the south of Bali. Most tourists here are middle-aged couples from Australia or pensionists living here for several months at the time.
The beach in Sanur is quite nice, but we were not here to lay on the beach. We were here to dive. Or rather learn to dive.
After four intense days of manual reading, quiz-taking, pool diving and finally diving in the ocean, we were certified PADI Open Water Divers.

For the last two open water dives, we went up to Tulamben on the north coast and dove the site of the Liberty wreck. The wreck does not lie deep and is full of beautiful coral and wonderful fish. Apparently, this is one of the best dive sites in Bali and many of the dive instructors told us that the Liberty is their favorite diving spot.

Balinese fishing boat on Sanur beach

It is a kite and it actually flies very well

As we had to get our 30 day visa on arrival extended, we decided to go to stay in Kuta and apply for the visa extension at the airport. Since a visa extension takes five working days, we are still here.
Kuta is not at all bad, the beach is nice (even though a bit crowded and full of people trying to sell you stuff), accommodation and food are both real cheap for Bali, so it can be worse. ;)

One really nice surprise was the weekend visitor we had. It proved that one of Matthias' former colleagues was in Kuala Lumpur for three weeks of work, so he flew down to join us here in Kuta for two days on the beach. It was great to hear about how things are back home and to see a familiar face. So if you feel like coming by, we will be in Lombok and Flores area for the next three weeks. Feel free to drop by, visits are appreciated!