We have been up to quite a bit in the past few days and all of it has been nothing but wonderful. After our hellish bus ride from Java to Bali we ended up in Pemuteran at an awesome hotel on the beach. Even after a late night, the next morning we were up bright and early for a snorkel trip to Menjangan Island. It was one of my favorite snorkel spots we've been to in all of our travels (right up there with Malaysia). The thing that made it so special was that there was a HUGE drop off from the reef. As we swam out, all you could see was clear blue in the distance with thousands of fish circling around while the sun shone through the water.
Although it was lovely, it was a bit remote out there, so we headed for Ubud. Screw the bus. We shared a cab for $35 with another girl. We made lots of stops, took photos and arrived in Ubud with plenty of day left. We saw the Kecak dance that night. It's kind of too difficult to explain, so if you really want to know what it is, either watch the movie Baraka or hit up youtube/google. It was awesome.
The next morning we left bright and early for a cycling tour through the surrounding villages and rice paddies of Ubud. Besides the barking, scroungy and heartbreakingly skinny dogs, it was a lovely day. We met lots of locals, learned how to pick/harvest rice and we rode through incredible green scenery whizzing through clouds of smoke and burning incense. Despite the little bike and some downhill gravely roads, the worst thing that happened was watching a little boy pick up a spider about the size of his face and play with it. We topped the day off with a $7 Balinese massage and a couple of beers with some girls from the trip. Nothing like being topless on a massage table with people you have only just met...
Today we rented a motobike and rode out to Jatiluweh and a temple I can't remember the name of. Jatiluweh was supposed to be some amazing views of rice fields... but it was pretty disappointing being that we had seen better in the past two days. 125km is a long way to go on a motobike only to be disappointed. The journey however, was beautiful and we got to eat some interesting mystery meat from roadside stands in various villages along the way. The locals were surprisingly sweet and helpful in getting us to where we were going. (We stopped and asked directions a lot. By a lot I mean, every 2 minutes down some stretches of road.) A few people went out of their way, and had us follow them to navigate through the tricky parts... or lack of road.
Anyways, about an hour away from being back in Ubud, Pete and I were bragging about how incredibly cheap this day was. Let me break it down: motobike rental for 1 day- $4 (this includes insurance). Meals- 50 cents each. Gas- $4. We were just so pleased with ourselves as we pulled away from the lunch stand... until we realized that those bad roads had taken a toll on the bike and we had a flat. Every single person who passed us on the road pointed us in the direction of the nearest repair shop and we were there within 5 minutes of pushing the bike along the road. We thought it could be expensive to fix the tire... or at least about $10.00. Nope. 75 cents and 20 minutes later we were back on the road.
We are heading to Lombok tomorrow morning to check out the Gili Islands. Knowing us, we will likely get bored sitting on the beach after a day or two and head back to Bali again. For now though, it's time to go, because there's a real arrogant guy sitting at the table next to us who WON'T. STOP. TALKING... about himself. I feel sorry for the two girls sitting with him.
Goodnight!
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