In which our heroes R-- and J-- go on a cross-island epic journey to the edge of Bali and beyond, all the way to the wilds of Lombok and a virtually unexplored piece of land just floating off the northwest shore of Lombok called Gili Air. Once there, they indulge in much fruit and fish, and while away the hours of the day wandering, playing with kittens, reading, and generally doing nothing much of anything.
(They also try to scuba-dive, but the visibility is bad. J-- also gets caught in a slow-moving upward current, and gets separated from her buddies in water so cloudy yet brightly lit by sunlight that she can't see anything, and despite her best efforts, she surfaces too early, without so much as a safety stop, and she's still trying to forget that slightly bad, sufficiently disorienting, somewhat frightening experience. Needless to say, there are no photographs of the incident, but it makes for a kind of interesting, though lengthy parenthetical comment. And it allows J-- to mention the fact that the scuba-dive instructor remembered her from her visit 2 1/2 years ago when he taught her how to dive!)
After countless days of wrestling with the desire to never return home, our brave heroes acknowledge that they cannot avoid duty forever. They muster their energy and start the long trek back to more civilized (ie., urban) parts of the world. But wait! Fate steps in, in the guise of a slimy, underhanded domestic airline, and our heroes are stranded in paradise for a little while longer. Somehow, they manage to survive this horrible ordeal, though undoubtedly many sacrifices were made along the way (and many sleeping cats were also stepped over, incidentally).
Our heroes eventually reach the urban landscape of Taipei, and prove once again that, despite failing health and temperatures less than tropical, they can sightsee with the best of them.
And so, for now, our heroes continue to live happily ever after. Well, till the next set of adventures whisks them away, that is.*
You can view the entire Bali / Gili Air / Taipei saga here. If you view them in the set, they're all in order and then you can see my witty (read: overly informational and undoubtedly pedantic) commentary.
* We're going to South Korea in 1 1/2 weeks!!!**
** We're going to Hokkaido in 3 weeks!!!
Showing posts with label bali. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bali. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Christmas Trip, Part the First - Take Two
Pictures of Bali. Enjoy you will 3 of Taipei and 124 of Bali. Yes, you will enjoy.
But wait. There are others. Gili Air (Part the Second) and Taipei (Part the Third). But not yet. Time there is. Patience. Patience learn you must.*
This girl, filled with sleepiness she is.
* Question: Why did Yoda say Anakin was too old to teach, yet he eagerly took on Luke later? Is Yoda guilty of classic excuse-making???
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Christmas Trip, Part the First
Six Days in Bali
OK, so Randal has a really good write-up on our time in Taipei (afternoon/evening of Dec. 23, then Jan. 6-8), so I'm going to jump straight into our arrival in Bali, the morning of December 24, Christmas Eve.
What can I say? We have both been to Bali before, and it did not disappoint. From the airport, we headed up by taxi to Ubud, and, after visiting a few places, we settled into the Sayong Guesthouse (we later found out it's been written up and recommended by the Lonely Planet, and I can see why). We had a second-floor room with our own private verandah overlooking the courtyard and the swimming pool.
Randal relaxing on the balcony rail (the stairs go down right there) with the pool in the background.
It was just paradise. In the mornings we would get up anytime between 8:00 and 10:00. We'd shower then order breakfast, usually an egg with toast or an egg or cheese jaffle (which, for the backpacker-uninitiated, according to Wikipedia, is like a toasted sandwich that's been through some kind of sandwich-maker but with sealed edges - tasty tasty), and of course the ubiquitous and obligatory fruit salad.
My mother is right - I don't take enough pictures of food. But thank goodness Randal does, though this breakfast pic is, sadly, minus jaffle.
We'd head out usually between 10:00 and 11:00, and hit any number of shops in town, including at the Central Market. Ubud and the surrounding area is one of the main arts-and-crafts centres of Bali; people go there to bargain for beautiful wood and stone carvings, silver and metal work, furniture, jewelry, clothing - you name it, it's there.* We did a lot of shopping, though most of it recreational rather than acquisitional. I am always reluctant to start bargaining, but once I get my feet wet, I enjoy diving right in. And, to the chagrin of shopkeepers who continually seem to think I will be an easy sell, I can be a hard bargainer (though Randal wins the competition between the two of us hands-down), and won't hesitate to walk away when I feel the price just isn't right. (Well, OK - I might hesitate a little bit. But I'm too stubborn most of the time to cave in to a bad price.) Anyway, long story short, we walked out of Ubud with our arms and bags full of nice things - largely clothing and wood carvings of various types.
Mostly we kicked around Ubud and took it easy. We signed up for a day trip of the area one day and visited a number of temples.
Randal, in the rain, on the dragon-flanked steps to the top part of the temple at Bekasih, the largest temple in Bali on the slopes of Mount Agung.
There was a ceremony going on in full-force at the beautiful Temple of the Holy Springs, which we got to watch in part.
Randal had been to most of them before, but I had only been to two. Our travel partners that day were a couple from Thailand - she was a civil servant and he was a lawyer - how appropriate!
The other reason to go to Ubud is that it boasts some of the best traditional dance troupes on the island. We went to see three dances while we were there: the Legong, the Kechak**, and the Barong.
Legong dance
Barong dance
The weather in Bali was lovely. It would be sunny and hot in the morning, then every afternoon it would rain for about an hour, usually starting between 1:00 and 2:00. This suited our schedule just fine - we would head for lunch around that time and thus miss the rainstorm. Then it would dry up and heat up again. Evenings were warm. Nights were fairly comfortable for sleeping in our non-air-con room.
Heavy rainshowers every afternoon (pic stolen from Randal).
Highlights involving wildlife:
Giant, giant snails on delicate foliage.
Geckos from the sky!: One night, we're sitting on our verandah, and some small geckos are hanging out in the rafters above us. But then we realize they are fighting (for territory by the light - geckoes eat insects). One snaps at another, and the second guy loses his footing and tumbles about six or seven feet onto the table between us! He made a nasty splat. The fall itself was like slo-mo. He lay there stunned for a second and then, upon realizing he was between two humanoids, gathered himself up, scurried over to the wall and away to gecko safety.
More geckos from the sky!: The very next morning, Randal opens the door to our room, and a tiny gecko goes falling from the top of the door to the floor. This one does not get up and move. He lays there a very long time, only moving slightly when Randal tries to help him along. Finally Randal put him in his palm (apparently he made a tiny squeak at that), and put him in the garden. We hope he was OK.
Dogs: Everybody has a dog in Bali. And they have some real personalities. At least it wasn't like last time, where when I'd go home late at night, all the dogs would stand outside their homes and growl or bark at me, one at a time... Ack.
But the best, the best, the best moment of all in the whole island of Bali was discovering this in the local convenience store:
What a great name for toilet paper. Of course, I had to buy some. (Pic also stolen from Randal.)
More to come later, plus I'll get a proper full set of pictures from the trip up on Flickr in due time (whatever that means).
* For those of you lucky enough to live in Toronto, you don't have to travel to Bali to see Balinese furniture: there's a great store on Yonge Street (between Wellesley and Bloor on the west side) called "Morningstar" that sells furniture from Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and much in the Bali style, for reasonable prices (though nowhere as cheap as buying the same items in Bali, though then again there would be shipping costs). There's also a store in Ottawa just outside the Market that claims to sell Balinese furniture, but I'm not entirely convinced of their claim.
** My pictures of the Kechak dance didn't really turn out because of a badly-placed spotlight. Go see Randal's instead (once he puts them up). Or look at my pictures of the Kechak from the last time I was in Bali - that was a better dance troup (in Ulu Watu, on the southern tip of Bali), anyway.
OK, so Randal has a really good write-up on our time in Taipei (afternoon/evening of Dec. 23, then Jan. 6-8), so I'm going to jump straight into our arrival in Bali, the morning of December 24, Christmas Eve.
What can I say? We have both been to Bali before, and it did not disappoint. From the airport, we headed up by taxi to Ubud, and, after visiting a few places, we settled into the Sayong Guesthouse (we later found out it's been written up and recommended by the Lonely Planet, and I can see why). We had a second-floor room with our own private verandah overlooking the courtyard and the swimming pool.
Randal relaxing on the balcony rail (the stairs go down right there) with the pool in the background.
It was just paradise. In the mornings we would get up anytime between 8:00 and 10:00. We'd shower then order breakfast, usually an egg with toast or an egg or cheese jaffle (which, for the backpacker-uninitiated, according to Wikipedia, is like a toasted sandwich that's been through some kind of sandwich-maker but with sealed edges - tasty tasty), and of course the ubiquitous and obligatory fruit salad.
My mother is right - I don't take enough pictures of food. But thank goodness Randal does, though this breakfast pic is, sadly, minus jaffle.
We'd head out usually between 10:00 and 11:00, and hit any number of shops in town, including at the Central Market. Ubud and the surrounding area is one of the main arts-and-crafts centres of Bali; people go there to bargain for beautiful wood and stone carvings, silver and metal work, furniture, jewelry, clothing - you name it, it's there.* We did a lot of shopping, though most of it recreational rather than acquisitional. I am always reluctant to start bargaining, but once I get my feet wet, I enjoy diving right in. And, to the chagrin of shopkeepers who continually seem to think I will be an easy sell, I can be a hard bargainer (though Randal wins the competition between the two of us hands-down), and won't hesitate to walk away when I feel the price just isn't right. (Well, OK - I might hesitate a little bit. But I'm too stubborn most of the time to cave in to a bad price.) Anyway, long story short, we walked out of Ubud with our arms and bags full of nice things - largely clothing and wood carvings of various types.
Mostly we kicked around Ubud and took it easy. We signed up for a day trip of the area one day and visited a number of temples.
Randal, in the rain, on the dragon-flanked steps to the top part of the temple at Bekasih, the largest temple in Bali on the slopes of Mount Agung.
There was a ceremony going on in full-force at the beautiful Temple of the Holy Springs, which we got to watch in part.
Randal had been to most of them before, but I had only been to two. Our travel partners that day were a couple from Thailand - she was a civil servant and he was a lawyer - how appropriate!
The other reason to go to Ubud is that it boasts some of the best traditional dance troupes on the island. We went to see three dances while we were there: the Legong, the Kechak**, and the Barong.
Legong dance
Barong dance
The weather in Bali was lovely. It would be sunny and hot in the morning, then every afternoon it would rain for about an hour, usually starting between 1:00 and 2:00. This suited our schedule just fine - we would head for lunch around that time and thus miss the rainstorm. Then it would dry up and heat up again. Evenings were warm. Nights were fairly comfortable for sleeping in our non-air-con room.
Heavy rainshowers every afternoon (pic stolen from Randal).
Highlights involving wildlife:
Giant, giant snails on delicate foliage.
Geckos from the sky!: One night, we're sitting on our verandah, and some small geckos are hanging out in the rafters above us. But then we realize they are fighting (for territory by the light - geckoes eat insects). One snaps at another, and the second guy loses his footing and tumbles about six or seven feet onto the table between us! He made a nasty splat. The fall itself was like slo-mo. He lay there stunned for a second and then, upon realizing he was between two humanoids, gathered himself up, scurried over to the wall and away to gecko safety.
More geckos from the sky!: The very next morning, Randal opens the door to our room, and a tiny gecko goes falling from the top of the door to the floor. This one does not get up and move. He lays there a very long time, only moving slightly when Randal tries to help him along. Finally Randal put him in his palm (apparently he made a tiny squeak at that), and put him in the garden. We hope he was OK.
Dogs: Everybody has a dog in Bali. And they have some real personalities. At least it wasn't like last time, where when I'd go home late at night, all the dogs would stand outside their homes and growl or bark at me, one at a time... Ack.
But the best, the best, the best moment of all in the whole island of Bali was discovering this in the local convenience store:
What a great name for toilet paper. Of course, I had to buy some. (Pic also stolen from Randal.)
More to come later, plus I'll get a proper full set of pictures from the trip up on Flickr in due time (whatever that means).
* For those of you lucky enough to live in Toronto, you don't have to travel to Bali to see Balinese furniture: there's a great store on Yonge Street (between Wellesley and Bloor on the west side) called "Morningstar" that sells furniture from Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and much in the Bali style, for reasonable prices (though nowhere as cheap as buying the same items in Bali, though then again there would be shipping costs). There's also a store in Ottawa just outside the Market that claims to sell Balinese furniture, but I'm not entirely convinced of their claim.
** My pictures of the Kechak dance didn't really turn out because of a badly-placed spotlight. Go see Randal's instead (once he puts them up). Or look at my pictures of the Kechak from the last time I was in Bali - that was a better dance troup (in Ulu Watu, on the southern tip of Bali), anyway.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Happy New Year!
It seems if you show up to an international flight check-in counter at the airport only 15 minutes before your flight is due to leave, the counter is already closed and you have, effectively and thoroughly, missed your flight from Denpasar (Bali) to Taipei.
D'oh.
Anyway, we had a lovely though unexpected night in Kuta Beach, and we are attempting the international flight again this afternoon. It seems Taipei is still standing after last week's earthquake, so that's good.
Details to follow.
D'oh.
Anyway, we had a lovely though unexpected night in Kuta Beach, and we are attempting the international flight again this afternoon. It seems Taipei is still standing after last week's earthquake, so that's good.
Details to follow.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas, all!
Well, here I am, no longer DREAMING of a Green Christmas, but in the middle of one! It's 3:30 in the afternoon on Christmas Day. Randal and I woke up this Christmas morning at 8:30, got up and had showers, then had a leisurely breakfast of fruit salad (fresh bananas, papayas, and pineapple), scrambled eggs on toast (for him) and banana pancakes (for me) on our second-floor guesthouse veranda, overlooking palm trees, a Balinese house courtyard, the pool of our guesthouse and, best of all, the rambutan tree (who knew rambutans grew on trees?) that is so close to our veranda that we can almost pick the rambutans fresh ourselves!
We got here yesterday fairly smoothly. Taipei on Saturday was a bit exhausting and forgettable - we had a bad incident with the shuttle bus guys on our way out of the airport Saturday afternoon, and after the extreme politeness and deference exercised by ALL Japanese people, the Taiwanese seemed quite rude. Sunday morning (Christmas Eve), we had an early morning flight to Bali, and it's been simply magical ever since. I hadn't forgotten how beautiful Bali was, but it's every inch as magical as I remembered, and then some. We had a nice big lunch an hour or so ago, we've done a bit of shopping, and even the giant rainstorm this afternoon was magical (it also helped we were sitting in the open-air-but-covered restaurant at the time, rather than being out in the rain, when it hit).
Anyway, there will be more posts and stories to follow. I am currently sitting in the same Internet cafe that I used two years ago when I was last in Bali, in my pre-blog years when I would send some of you long lengthy mass emails.
Merry Christmas, all, wherever you may be. I am thinking of my family back in Canada - I'd like to say back in the snow and cold, but my understanding is that it's not so cold nor snowy in Toronto right now ... Anyway, have a great day!!!
We got here yesterday fairly smoothly. Taipei on Saturday was a bit exhausting and forgettable - we had a bad incident with the shuttle bus guys on our way out of the airport Saturday afternoon, and after the extreme politeness and deference exercised by ALL Japanese people, the Taiwanese seemed quite rude. Sunday morning (Christmas Eve), we had an early morning flight to Bali, and it's been simply magical ever since. I hadn't forgotten how beautiful Bali was, but it's every inch as magical as I remembered, and then some. We had a nice big lunch an hour or so ago, we've done a bit of shopping, and even the giant rainstorm this afternoon was magical (it also helped we were sitting in the open-air-but-covered restaurant at the time, rather than being out in the rain, when it hit).
Anyway, there will be more posts and stories to follow. I am currently sitting in the same Internet cafe that I used two years ago when I was last in Bali, in my pre-blog years when I would send some of you long lengthy mass emails.
Merry Christmas, all, wherever you may be. I am thinking of my family back in Canada - I'd like to say back in the snow and cold, but my understanding is that it's not so cold nor snowy in Toronto right now ... Anyway, have a great day!!!
Friday, December 22, 2006
Bali-ho!
We leave early this morning.* And that is all I have to say.**
In other news, tonight (Friday), we had our bounenkai at work, which is the end-of-year party. It was quite nice. We had Japanese-style dinner in a Japanese-style room. There was lots of food; I couldn't eat it all. It was (mostly) all tasty. Not much else to say other than, lots of food was eaten, lots of drinks were drunk, and there were many loud, red-faced Japanese people in the room before too long. (Those who are familiar with Japanese enkai will back me up on that point, I'm sure.)
* Please, no comments from the peanut gallery as to why, if we are leaving early in the morning, I am still up at this late hour. Pre-departure jitters? Hardly. More like unpacked bags (now packed) and Walkmans begging to be filled with music (not yet filled).
** I will do my utmost to post from overseas (can I be "going overseas" when, technically, I am already overseas?), but I make no promises that I will surface from my underwater explorations long enough to hit an Internet cafe.
In other news, tonight (Friday), we had our bounenkai at work, which is the end-of-year party. It was quite nice. We had Japanese-style dinner in a Japanese-style room. There was lots of food; I couldn't eat it all. It was (mostly) all tasty. Not much else to say other than, lots of food was eaten, lots of drinks were drunk, and there were many loud, red-faced Japanese people in the room before too long. (Those who are familiar with Japanese enkai will back me up on that point, I'm sure.)
* Please, no comments from the peanut gallery as to why, if we are leaving early in the morning, I am still up at this late hour. Pre-departure jitters? Hardly. More like unpacked bags (now packed) and Walkmans begging to be filled with music (not yet filled).
** I will do my utmost to post from overseas (can I be "going overseas" when, technically, I am already overseas?), but I make no promises that I will surface from my underwater explorations long enough to hit an Internet cafe.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
And the Oscar goes to...
here.*
Got the tix in the mail last week.** We leave on the 23rd (next Saturday!) and return on the 8th, with a few days in Taipei at the end. Can't wait.
Though, man, has this cold, damp weather as of late EVER chased my tan right away. I'm so not bikini-ready, but somehow I'll manage. Tough job, but I'll do it.
* It's only not-quite-yet 2007. High time I finally put the last of my pics from my 2004 Southeast Asia trip on my Flickr site, eh?
** I had a pic of the actual ticket online, but more cautionary minds prevailed, and I removed it. It is, however, available on Flickr, but only to those special folks listed in Flickr as "Family" or "Friends" (so, like 5 of you). Sorry to the rest of y'all.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Ahh, decisions, decisions...
We have to decide where to go for Christmas. We are currently booked on two different trips and need to choose one of the two.
Should we go to:
(a) Bangkok for 10 days and Beijing for 3?
(b) Bali for 10 days and Taipei for 3?
It boils down like this:
Bali was our first choice for Christmas. Then it looked like it was going to be prohibitively expensive to go, and we started looking elsewhere. We have been recently quoted a decent price for Bali - after taxes, we're looking at just over $1000 each. There are no direct flights, however, so we would have to stopover in Taipei for at least one night, so we decided to make it 3 days and visit there as well.
Bangkok was the one place we had kind of decided we were NOT going, for various reasons. But our travel agent slipped it in somehow, and the price is right: $500-$600 each, after taxes. Again, direct flights were all sold out, so we would have to go via Beijing - this could be a straight transfer (ie., no overnight), but we figure it would be interesting to visit (though it's worth mentioning the Chinese visa is about another $100 each).
Bali pros: We love Bali. We want to go mainly to Ubud, the arts and crafts centre. Bali is just magical; like nowhere else on earth. We also want to scuba-dive. Did I mention we love Bali?
Bali cons: It is a little pricey.
Bangkok pros: Two words: Thai massages. Two more: Good food. Bangkok itself is a cheap city and we could probably get out of the city and to an island somewhere for a couple of days for not too much more money in order to do some scuba diving.
Bangkok cons: The main problem is that the outgoing flight is Dec 22, a Friday, and we are both currently scheduled to work. Our schools will not like us trying to take that day off (but it can probably be arranged). We are on a waiting list for a Dec 24 flight, but who knows if that will go through. Also, it's not Bali.
We have been to both before. We both like Bali better, but Bangkok is nothing to sneeze at.
We haven't been to either Beijing or Taipei (well, I transferred once at the airport in Taipei, but that doesn't count). Strangely, it sounds like we need a visa for Beijing but NOT Taipei (though last time I checked, Taiwan was still technically part of China).
What to do, what to do?
Should we go to:
(a) Bangkok for 10 days and Beijing for 3?
(b) Bali for 10 days and Taipei for 3?
It boils down like this:
Bali was our first choice for Christmas. Then it looked like it was going to be prohibitively expensive to go, and we started looking elsewhere. We have been recently quoted a decent price for Bali - after taxes, we're looking at just over $1000 each. There are no direct flights, however, so we would have to stopover in Taipei for at least one night, so we decided to make it 3 days and visit there as well.
Bangkok was the one place we had kind of decided we were NOT going, for various reasons. But our travel agent slipped it in somehow, and the price is right: $500-$600 each, after taxes. Again, direct flights were all sold out, so we would have to go via Beijing - this could be a straight transfer (ie., no overnight), but we figure it would be interesting to visit (though it's worth mentioning the Chinese visa is about another $100 each).
Bali pros: We love Bali. We want to go mainly to Ubud, the arts and crafts centre. Bali is just magical; like nowhere else on earth. We also want to scuba-dive. Did I mention we love Bali?
Bali cons: It is a little pricey.
Bangkok pros: Two words: Thai massages. Two more: Good food. Bangkok itself is a cheap city and we could probably get out of the city and to an island somewhere for a couple of days for not too much more money in order to do some scuba diving.
Bangkok cons: The main problem is that the outgoing flight is Dec 22, a Friday, and we are both currently scheduled to work. Our schools will not like us trying to take that day off (but it can probably be arranged). We are on a waiting list for a Dec 24 flight, but who knows if that will go through. Also, it's not Bali.
We have been to both before. We both like Bali better, but Bangkok is nothing to sneeze at.
We haven't been to either Beijing or Taipei (well, I transferred once at the airport in Taipei, but that doesn't count). Strangely, it sounds like we need a visa for Beijing but NOT Taipei (though last time I checked, Taiwan was still technically part of China).
What to do, what to do?
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