The REAL Bali...

I am so behind on our blog but I feel like I have to finish a couple posts about our Bali trip before I can move on!

Ben LOVES riding his mountain bike and he searched high and low to find a tour company or bike company in Bali to take him on a REAL mountain bike ride. There are lots of tour groups claiming to offer bike rides through the "real Bali" but with names like "Happy Bike" offering bikes with baskets on the front, they weren't going to cut it. Ben found a group that had actual mountain bikes and sounded like they had scouted out some amazing single track trails so we decided to give it a shot and were not disappointed! It was one of the coolest things I have done and a highlight of this trip for sure. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get to the starting point, a remote village high up in the mountains, these villagers rarely see tourists and were very interested in who and what we were doing. I was sitting in the truck trying to braid my hair before we started and had 3 villagers right next to my open window watching my every move, all smiles and they would say "hello" (the only english word they knew) every time I looked up. These were not kids, they were grown men and women, native Balinese. We were at around 10,000 feet elevation and it was nice and cool when we started riding. Over the next 4 hours we traversed down these amazing foot paths that have been used for centuries to get from village to village. We rode through fields of flowers grown to be used in the offerings the Balinese make and give several times a day. We rode through the most amazing bamboo forests, the villagers were hard at work harvesting the bamboo to sell for building material. We came upon a group of villagers roasting a pig, they were all sitting around chatting and watching their soon to be feast cook to perfection. We saw women hard at work beating their rice and brushing it onto tarps to dry in the sun. We rode through the rice paddies and watched a group of villagers dressed in there best clothes going to a ceremony at their local temple. These women of all ages were beautiful and carrying a huge assortment of food in amazing arrangements balanced on their heads, again offerings for the ceremony. Our final destination, a serene white sand beach of course.

I won the bet...

Ben thought Coco would LOVE Santa.... he was wrong. At least not this day!

More Ubud

Ubud's Dirty Duck Diner... I sampled the specialty. Probaby won't try it again :)
This restaurant is surrounded by rice fields and lotus ponds, beautiful!

Taking a frozen yogurt break on a very hot day in Ubud

Ubud

Ubud is an amazing town in the middle of the island of Bali. For more than a century, it has been the island’s preeminent centre for fine arts, dance and music. Ubud is arguably the best place to use as a base if you’re visiting Bali; if you’re looking for culture, comfort, nature and inspiration. Ubud is surrounded by most of the things that bring people to Bali – scenic rice fields, small villages, art and craft communities, ancient temples, palaces, rivers, cheap accommodation and unique luxury hotels. And it’s central location makes it easy to get from Ubud to the mountains, beaches, and major towns.

I LOVE Ubud. It is really everything I love about Bali. I tried to talk Ben into staying here for a week of our trip but since it's an hour drive to the surf it was a tough sell! So I settled for 3-4 day trips instead.

We took Coco with us this first day and went to the Sacred Monkey Forest. It is an ancient temple in the village of Padangegal. It is really a beautiful forest but I find it a little creepy! There are HUNDREDS of monkeys (long-tailed macaques) running around. Old Grandpa monkeys, brand new baby monkeys, naughty teenage monkeys, so many! The village people sell you a bunch of bananas for a few cents when you enter and you better beware if you are holding them because the monkeys are not shy! They will climb you, look in your bag, take your hat, glasses etc until you give them the food! Ben thinks it's a great game and loves to tease them. When we visited 3 years ago we laughed so hard. This time was similar. I wasn't sure how Coco would react but she felt more like me and wanted to see the monkeys from a distance. Coco was a star here too and we were stopped a few times by some Chinese tourists and Indian tourists that all wanted to take her picture! So funny, but those blue eyes are pretty amazing!

Home Sweet Home

Yes, we are home and have been for a week now. We flew in at midnight on the 28th and have spent the past week trying to get back on UTAH time. It was probably the most challenging thing about this adventure! Poor Coco was up at 3:00 a.m. running around and WIDE awake for two nights after we got home, wondering why it was dark outside and why we couldn't go play in the wa wa (pool). It is amazing how much she has grown up since we have been gone. She is taller and running around, talking and so much fun!

I am not done posting about our trip, it was just to much to try and do it while we were there. So, expect several more to come...

New surroundings

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!

Manta Point

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 Nusa Penida in Crystal Bay. This area is know to see the Mula Mula 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.

Eat, Pray, Love

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..

Bali Fun Facts

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!

Goodbye Jimbaran

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.

Into the groove

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.