Over the past few years the Seminyak area has evolved dramatically catching up with the Kuta and Legian areas and playing host to some of the best boutique shopping and restaurants in Bali, offering a diverse range of products that crosses from artifacts, clothing to gourmet foods. If you enjoy shopping, dining and nightlife Seminyak is now the place to go. As well, Seminyak is becoming well known for a number of luxurious holiday villas. The Seminyak beach is now also popular amongst surfers looking for a less crowded area to surf and to enjoy the sun drench beach. A quieter more relax area, Seminyak is charming and quite chic.
Coco and I walking to the beach
Ben and Coco walking down the banana tree lined villa entrance
Lunch!
Ben enjoying a drink of blended avocado and chocolate... me, enjoying a beach pedicure from a couple of very persistent sales women!
Despite having a caught a little tropical cold, we booked a dive trip and hoped for the best. Last time we were here we went diving twice and both times the dives were just OK, nothing spectacular. This time we totally lucked out! There were just 2 other divers with us and we were able to go over toward one of the little islands surrounding Bali. We dove just off the coast of NusaPenida in Crystal Bay. This area is know to see the MulaMula or Sun fish and has a lot of beautiful soft coral and lots of fish on a steep reef wall. The dive was nice and warm and very relaxing. They anchored the boat just off shore and we were able to swim into a secluded beach to eat lunch and relax before the drive to the second dive spot. The second dive was going to be at Manta Point. Obviously by it's name you can probably guess what we were looking for here, we were hoping to see a Manta Ray feeding on the plankton. After a beautiful 30 min ride to the dive site, we were right off a rocky shoreline and were told to only go down about 7 to 10 meters. We were following the dive master and swimming toward the coastline when out of the dark I saw the first Manta. Wow! It was incredible and a little creepy. All of the sudden they were everywhere! Swimming above, below and all around us. They were very big, the smallest one probably had a 10 foot wingspan and the largest, maybe 16 feet. They were very graceful for being such a large animals, were were all in awe. My sinuses were hurting from having a cold so I surfaced and let the rest of the divers finish without me. When I got back to the boat I could see the Manta Ray's from the surface and if I had seen that before I may have been to freaked out to dive. They were just so big and dark! Even for Ben who has been on hundreds, maybe thousands of dives, this one was special. I posted two videos, the first one is from the dive company that we went with and is a good example of what we experienced, the second is Ben's amature video of the boat ride back.
We were excited to hear that Julia Roberts is here filming the Bali scenes for the movie version of Eat, Pray, Love. I absolutely loved this book and would call it a very entertaining must read! We have seen her security a few times but no sightings of her yet..
Population: 3,151,000 Average Winter Temperature: 80° F Average Summer Temperature: 80 °F Most Precipitation: 28 inches Highest point: Mount Agung at 10,308 feet Bali is one of 17,508 islands that make up Indonesia The island of Bali is home to six volcanoes and lies on two tectonic plates There are more temples than there are homes More than 80% of population in Bali are Hindu
In Bali there are spa's everywhere. You can get an hour massage for between $4-$18 dollars depending on how fancy the spa is. If you aren't taking advantage of that on a daily basis you are crazy!
Day 5 we say goodbye to Jimbaran bay and the very friendly staff at our villa. Heading a bit north to Villa Blubambu, our home for the remainder of our stay. This villa is in the hip metropolitan area called Seminyak.
Finally by day four we are feeling pretty good and adjusting to all the new sights, sounds and smells! Ben has been surfing everyday and since we are staying at the south end of the island we wanted to take advantage of a couple of the surf/beach spots that are close. Uluwatu is a beautiful small white sand beach with a famous wave that breaks on the reef that can be easily seen from the beach. You park at the top of a 200 foot cliff and walk down these crazy paths they have built into the rock. There are warungs and little shops along the way, its pretty cool. Climbing down with a baby was interesting but once you get down to the beach it is so worth it!
Have I mentioned that traveling around Bali with Coco is like being with a celebrity?? We get stopped and surrounded by Balinese people, both men and women, all of them wanting to hold her and ask about her. They love babies here very much and Coco ham's it up when she is getting attention like that. She smiles and says "hi" to everyone. It is really cute, she is definitely not shy.
Coco and her fan club :)
That night we went back up to Uluwatu, this time to the temple to see the famous Kecak and Fire Dance. This temple is one of the most famous and spectacularly placed temples in Bali. It was built in the 10th century and stands atop a sheer cliff rising 200 feet above the Indian Ocean. It commands an amazing view of the ocean breaking against the base of the cliffs below, and a totally unforgettable sunset. At night they perform this special dance, they are basically acting out the Hindu Ramayana epic story. There are no instruments used, instead there are about 30 bare chested men sitting in a circle chanting, almost beat-boxing. It is trance-inducing and very cool. Coco was enthralled along with the rest of us. She watched the entire show and didn't even get scared when the bad guys came out with their crazy masks or when they started kicking around the fire and ash. It was so much fun and very entertaining.
Day three we still wake up at the crack of dawn and are all ready for a nap by 8:00 a.m.! We decided to get one really touristy (is that a word) activity out of the way and go to the Bali Safari Park. It was actually really fun, they had a baby orangutan and baby tigers there. You could actually hold both and have your pictures taken with them for a fee. It was good to venture out a bit and see more of the island.
Things I had forgotten about Bali:
How crazy HOT it is here
How wonderfully kind and sweet the Bali people are
How many scooters there are and how crazy the traffic can be
So as I'm typing this it is 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday here in Bali and 6:35 a.m. on Tuesday in Utah. That is a HUGE time difference especially for a 14 month old to figure out. It did take us a good 3-4 days to really adjust. The first night we (well Coco followed by Ben and I) were up at 3:30 a.m. looking at each other wondering what to do until the sun came up! We decided to walk down to the fish market since it opens at sunrise. What a site! So many interesting fish and people. For the first 4 days we were staying in Jimbaran Bay, a beautiful community set in a small bay on the very south end of the island. Several of the fancy hotels are located here (Four Seasons etc.) taking advantage of the beautiful white sand beaches, calm water and great fresh seafood. Jimbaran is actually know for the fishing and seafood restaurants on the beach. There are probably 50-100 warung's ( local cafe, usually family owned and operated) set up along the beach with tables right on the sand. They have all kinds of live fish, crab, lobster, shrimp etc inside the cafe. They have you choose the actual fish you want before they cook it up for you & serve you ocean side. Its such a perfect set up to enjoy sunset and dinner and a great place for us to ease into Bali (if that's possible)!
Ben and Coco walking down the banana tree lined villa entrance
Lunch!
Ben enjoying a drink of blended avocado and chocolate... me, enjoying a beach pedicure from a couple of very persistent sales women!
