Adventure Chronicles™

05.30.01 - We found Dolphins and more Monkeys
Denpasar (Bali), Indonesia - Kuta

After leaving Ubud, we travelled north to Lovina, taking in some spectacular scenery along the way. Just north of Ubud is a lush area of rice terraces. Picture stairs of bright green all along the hillsides. Believe or not, rice paddies are actually quite nice to look at. I (Lisa) think of them as a natural patchwork quilt, since you often see them organized in nice, straight squares, with patches of cabbage and other produce thrown in for variety.

As we were driving, I kept noticing bright splashes of red in the roadside foliage. I realized that they were poinsettas growing wild along the street. It was like Christmas, only really hot and muggy. :)

We made a stop at Mount Batur, which is an active volcano overlooking a picturesque blue-green lake. We were joined by a couple who had climbed the mountain that morning, and they told us that the volcano erupted as recently as 1980. The vegetation close to the mountain was sparse and new, so this made sense. The ground at the top of the mountain is so warm that you can cook eggs by buring them in the soil! Hopefully the picture I took shows the cone which had steam rising from it.

We arrived in Lovina that afternoon and spent the day just poking around the town, which is very quiet this time of year. The people were REALLY friendly, and we were surprised at how good their English was. We had a nice dinner at a restaurant down the lane from our hotel and spent a long time talking to the owner of the restaurant (we were the only people in the place, so he had some time on his hands). I think one of the things that made the conversation so enjoyable (aside from him just being a nice guy) was that he was one of the first people we've encountered that didn't have an ultra-glamorized vision of life in America. This made it much easier to talk about life in both countries. He made the all-too-true observation that life in America is rush rush and that people work too much. Generally speaking, the people in Bali work only enough to support a simple lifestyle. The standards for homes are basic, but we haven't seen near the poverty here that we did in Africa and Nepal. For the life of me, I can't remember the gentleman's name, but he told us that homelessness is actually very rare in Bali. Families stay together, and businesses are usually passed on to sons to run. We were discussing the prices of things and he was amazed to hear how much houses in Seattle cost. For what we will probably pay, we could buy a nice resort (the WHOLE resort) in Bali. We had to stop and ponder that for a moment...hmmmm, a resort in Bali. :)

The next morning, we got up before dawn (ouch!) and went on a dolphin watching cruise. Our captain took us out in a small canoe-like boat, and we were out on the water at sunrise, which was nice. We've opted to sleep late for most of the trip, so haven't seen too many sunrises. We travelled for thirty minutes or so to the area where the dolphins normally show up, and were joined by at least ten other boats. We were pre-warned that dolphin watching was popular, so weren't surprised. It didn't take long before we saw dark grey fins and bodies riding the surface in the distance. But, once the dolphins were spotted, things got a little chaotic. As soon as they were seen, all the boats went rushing over to them, and surprise, surprise, they vanished. Fortunately, our captain stayed behind the mob and we waited for our own pod to show up. It was actually pretty funny watching the boats going all over the place trying to keep up. I would have felt guilty, but the dolphins clearly had the upper hand. I pictured them laughing under the water and saying "lets see where we can make them go now". Our refusal to join the pack was rewarded with several dolphins swimming about 15 feet off the bow of our boat. They swam fast, but so gracefully, like little half moons rolling through the waves. Jay even saw one jump out of the water. We stayed for about an hour, and saw several more at various distances. It wasn't quite as up close and personal as I was hoping for, but definitely a great way to spend the morning. My mission now is to find a place where I can swim along side them.

After dolphin watching, the captain took us to a reef down the beach from our hotel for some snorkeling. It turned out to be some of the best of the whole trip. The water was amazingly clear, so the visibility was great. We spent over an hour pouring over the reef, which had some great brainy-looking coral. Every time we go snorkeling, I expect to stop seeing new kinds of fish, figuring how many can there be? But, it's like you get a whole new crop each time. There were so many that I had never seen. They come in every size and color you can imagine (and then some). I even spotted my first eel! Those things are totally creepy looking, if you ask me. Jay finally caught up with the elusive lionfish he's been hunting for (the fish with the stripes and all the fluttery fins).

The beach in Lovina wasn't quite as nice as we'd hoped, although it was black sand, which was a different (but much hotter for the feet) twist. We decided to head for Lombok, which is the island directly east of Bali. On the morning that we left, Jay wasn't feeling well and wasn't up to a long boat ride, so we changed plans and headed for Kuta Beach in Bali, figuring that we'd make the trip to Lombok a few days later. We hired a car and driver (by the name of Peno) to take us to Kuta so that we could make stops along the way. Jay started to feel much worse as we got under way, so we cut out a few stops. He insisted that I hit a few of the ones that I had been looking forward to, but he opted to stay in the car and sleep while I did. Peno took us to Gitgit Waterfall, and walked with me down to the bottom. It was a gorgeous waterfall and calm place. As we walked back up, we passed more rice terraces, and I learned that my assumption that the farmers were able to irrigate the rice from the local streams and rivers was false. All that water (rice has to be kept soaking) is hand carried!

After the waterfall, we made a stop at another Monkey Forest, but this time the monkeys were MUCH better behaved. They would gently take peanuts from your hand, and then skip away to eat them at a distance. Monkeys really fascinate me. Their behavior is so human-like sometimes that it is scary, or maybe our behavior is just very monkey-like, who knows?

We also made a quick stop in the town of Bedugal, and the Ulun Danu temple, which sits right on the edge of a beautiful lake. I spent a few minutes walking through the temple and surrounding gardens, but didn't stay too long since Jay was looking not so good and I thought it best to get him to Kuta.

Needless to say, we never made it out of Kuta. Jay picked up some bad food somewhere in Bali and had a serious battle with his intestines as a result. He was laid up in our hotel room for about five days, and wants everyone to know that he's sure he set a world record for number of trips to the bathroom in one night - seventeen! Poor guy. Not to worry, though, he's good as new after a series of antibiotics. When I wasn't playing nurse to him, I was soaking up the sun by our pool and on the beach. Fortunately for me, the beach in Kuta was great. It was several miles long, with great surf and white sand. A perfect walking beach. I became a regular beach walker at sunset, and enjoyed having a little time to myself to reflect on the trip and all we've seen. I've found that it takes me some time to process all the sights and experiences, and I expect that it will be after we get home that I have all my observations in order.

Once Jay felt better, he joined me on the beach and was successful at boogie boarding in the waves.

We also discovered the wonders of Balinese teak furniture and decided to splurge on a few pieces. Even with the cost of shipping it home, it was still a great deal, and we love what we bought. Now all we need is a house to put it in! Fortunately, the furniture won't arrive until October, since we custom ordered some chairs, so we have a few months to look for a house.

Tonight we leave for Sydney, Australia. We have a long night of overnight flying, which is never too fun, but I'm excited to get there and catch myself a crocodile or something. I'm ready to get active again. As you can probably tell from the journal, our time on the beaches of Thailand and Bali has made us L-A-Z-Y. I was feeling a little guilty about that, until Jay reminded me that we are on vacation. Oh yeah!

Want to contact Jay and Lisa?

william.gibson@airtreks.com