Legian, Bali

Tuesday was the last day of the retreat (though Linda and I were staying an extra day). After breakfast and a morning meeting, Linda and I started walking around the area near our hotel, known for its shopping. I picked up a few more things and we made massage appointments for the following day with Yes Spa – which is owned by the same family that owns the Poinciana Resort (where we stayed on the north shore). We had lunch at an Italian restaurant (by this time, we were pretty sick of Indonesian food). We watched the sunset from the beach and then walked with the group to a Mexican restaurant we’d found for a final goodbye dinner. We gave everyone necklaces that Linda and I had specially made that day that said, “Bali 2017,” each woman’s name and a word that represented them. In the middle was the tree of life. They were very pretty and a great memento of our time together. 

Talking to the jewelry maker

With our special necklaces on our final night dinner

South Bali Tour

Winten picked us up in the morning for a tour of south Bali. First we went to Nusa Dua beach – which is where all the tourists go to do water sport activities. Everything was pretty expensive, so we decided to do the cheapest thing as a group – a glass bottom boat to “turtle island.” We were under the impression that this was an island where hundreds of turtles roamed free in a protective environment. Wrong. First off, the glass-bottom boat was a boat with a narrow glass window on the bottom where you could sort of see fish swimming by. When we finally arrived at the island, we realized it was a type of petting zoo. They had dozens of turtles that they said were being protected from poaching, but some had been there for many years. A worker said a bunch were being released into the wild in June, but I was very unclear on why some had been there for over 10 years. They were keeping them in relatively shallow, ugly holding pens and it was really sad. Linda started crying and had to go sit by the exit. Sadly, it only got worse as we walked through the “petting zoo” which had many cages of animals that you could hold like fruit bats, toucans, a boa constrictor (with its mouth taped shut), and even a flea-ridden puppy in a tiny cage. That one made me tear up. It was all so inhumane, but none of the countless Asian tourists or Balinese workers seemed bothered.

This was before I realized what a terrible place this was

Turtle statue

glass bottom boat tour

After that, four of us had also paid to do parasailing. First, we were taken out on a speedboat into deeper waters, where we pulled up next to a parasailing boat and were told to climb on. Once on board the parasailing boat, we were driven around and two people at a time would get harnessed in and go. The workers/drivers of the boats had bandanas wrapped around their faces to prevent breathing in all the exhaust from hundreds of boats in the water at once, but one of the ladies, Kelly, said it looked like we were going parasailing with ISIS. They had hats and sunglasses on as well, so you literally couldn’t see any of their faces. The parasailing itself was really nice – with a great view of the whole beach and all the boats below, though it paled in comparison to parasailing in the Florida Keys. When I did that, I could see turtles and stingrays and all sorts of things in the water swimming around because it was so clear. The water at Nusa Dua beach would have been clear, except that with all the boats taking tourists out to do stuff, it was churning up the sand.

parasailing time!

view from on high

landed safely

We left the hectic Nusa Dua beach after that and went to a different part of the same stretch of shoreline where people swim and there are no boats. Lining this stretch of water are expensive hotels and restaurants. We chose a Chinese restaurant for lunch before heading into the water. While the food was pretty good, the service was terrible. We were also the only non-Chinese people in the place, and everyone kept staring at us. When we finally got out of there, we only had 30 minutes left to swim, so a few of us waded in. Unfortunately, the tide had gone out and the water was very shallow for a long ways out. We just lounged in a few inches of crystal clear water and enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings.

In the shallow waters

From there, we headed to Padang Padang beach – one of the most iconic beaches in Bali. They filmed some of Eat, Pray, Love here and the tour guides all tell you that Julia Roberts was here. To get to the beach, you have to go down some very steep steps that carve their way through a giant rock. The beach is bordered by these rock cliffs and also features many miscellaneous boulders covered in beautiful green moss.

Padang Padang beach

Padang Padang beach

We set up our towels under one of the rock ledges and then I went into the gorgeous water. However, after I’d been in for five minutes, I looked down and realized the tops of my legs were bright red. I must have missed them when I was lathering on the sunscreen earlier. I ran out of the water and back into the cool shade of the rock face. I was so mad at myself for getting burnt, and quickly applied lots of sunscreen, but I wasn’t willing to go back in the water.

On our way back up to where Winten had parked the car, we saw many monkeys. Winten had warned us about the “cheeky monkeys” there and said to watch out. They didn’t seem bothered by us...until an Asian tourist came up with an ice cream cone. All of a sudden, the monkeys started running toward him. He was terrified. We told him it was because of his ice cream, so he threw the cone on the gound and the monkeys rushed over. One picked up the cone and started eating it just like a human would. Another picked up the wrapper (it was one of those cones from a cooler box) and started licking it carefully. It was pretty amusing.

From there we went to our last temple of our trip: Uluwatu temple.

Uluwatu temple

Uluwatu temple

Uluwatu temple

Uluwatu temple

This temple is another that is on a cliff in the ocean. The terrain looks a lot like the California coast. It was pretty to see, but after Tanah Lot, it wasn’t quite as impressive. The sunset was also not as nice because there were clouds on the horizon. There was a Kecak Fire Dance happening in an outdoor amphitheater there, but since we’d already seen a Balinese dance for free, it didn’t seem worth the $8 pp.

There were also a lot of “cheeky monkeys” at Uluwatu, and we saw some steal sunglasses off someone’s face, and others grab someone’s hat. They are usually bribed to give said items back by the workers who offer them bananas in exchange. We were on our guard and with Winten’s warning, had put anyway anything easily grabbable, so we were left alone.

We left before the fire dance let out (so we’d beat the rush) and headed to Jimbaran Beach, which is famous for it’s “seafood dinners in the sand.” Winten dropped us off at a restaurant where they took us to a table out on the beach and gave us menus. We were completely scandalized by the prices which were 10 times what we would’ve paid in Ubud. Plus, there were almost no options except seafood (which was not good for the vegetarians among us). Thousands of people were eating out on the beach in both directions, so I started walking down and looking at other menus – but everything was the same. Finally, we decided as a group just to have Winten take us back to our hotel and we’d eat there. It was a good call. We sat at Azul, our hotel’s gorgeous open air restaurant, at an upstairs rounded booth that looked out over the ocean. We got pizzas and salads and brownies for dessert. It was heavenly.

Sunset from Bali Mandira

Ubud to Legian, Bali

Checkout was at noon, so after breakfast and our morning meeting, Linda and I wanted to check out the other properties associated with the Alam hotel group. We stayed at the Alam Indah, but just down the street there was also the Alam Shanti and the Alam Jiwa. They were both beautiful, but we still liked ours the best because of its seclusion and its proximity to the Monkey Forest. We then returned to the Monkey Forest to see the real thing, not just the back road. Man do we wish we’d gone there sooner! We didn’t have nearly enough time. There were monkeys EVERYWHERE. People were holding them, feeding them, they were swinging from trees and lounging on statues. It was amazing. Plus the reserve looked like something out of Indiana Jones. Why didn’t anyone tell us how totally cool it was?? As we walked, a monkey jumped onto Linda’s backpack that she was wearing, but when it realized she didn’t have any food, it leaped off. I was trying to get a photo, but all I got was a gray blur leaping from her backpack back to the railing. Lol. I was too nervous to let them touch me. If I’d been in the US I would have...but if I got scratched or bitten in Bali, I’d have to go get a bunch of shots in a foreign hospital and we didn’t have time or desire for that! However, everyone who encountered them said they had a very gentle and soft touch. Their fingers and toes are a lot like ours, so they have finger pads, not long nails that scratch you like a cat or dog.

A traditional wedding going on inside the Monkey Forest

Grooming party

Brave tourist

We sadly returned to our hotel and Winten picked us up at noon to take us to our next hotel and location – the Bali Mandira resort in Legian (south Bali). On the way, we stopped at a HUGE store where he said all the Balinese people shop. We saw much of the things you can find in the Ubud market – for a quarter of the price. We all got some bargains in a 30 minute shopping spree. (I felt like I was on that show where you throw stuff in your cart in a small amount of time). We had to be at the hotel in time for a couple of the girls to get 3 p.m. massages which we’d pre-arranged.

We made it in time and checked out our new digs. It was very gorgeous there – much like a 5 star resort in Hilton Head or the Bahamas. The pools were amazing and it was right on the beach. Our room had a little courtyard when you walked in with a stone bathtub where you could bathe under the stars. Then there were sliding glass doors to go into the room. On the other side of the room, we had a bathroom with an open-air waterfall shower which was just about the coolest thing ever (but not as cool as the open air bathroom we had in Ubud). The room itself was fairly standard but it had GREAT air conditioning and it was the first time we’d been truly cool since we arrived.

eating at the hotel

Bali Mandira resort

Bali Mandira

pretty flower designs

gorgeous sunset

That evening we met with the ladies on some outdoor benches near the pool where we could see the sunset over the beach. Pretty amazing. 

Ubud, Bali

In the morning, Linda and I wandered into the Monkey Forest which is right next to the Alam Indah hotel. There is a back pathway that you can get to from our hotel without having to pay an entrance fee. We had 30 minutes before the group Balinese dancing class, so we wanted to check it out. We didn’t get very far.

A morning session at Alam Indah over breakfast

A couple hundred feet into the path, we started hearing rustling. Suddenly, dozens and dozens of monkeys were surrounding us in the trees, on the path ahead of us, swinging from vines above us. Since we were in an area that tourists don’t normally go, we think they were curious. We saw monkeys of all sizes including itty bitty babies being carried by their mothers and fathers. It was SO awesome to watch them up close in their natural habitat. We were a little wary – after all, we’d heard countless stories of their thievery and some more scary stories of monkeys ripping earrings off people, etc. However, we didn’t need to be too concerned. They were just living their lives, and observing us cautiously. We walked up to the main path, but realized we were about out of time and turned around. Back on the original back-road path, a mother, father and tiny baby popped out in front of us. The baby was ahead of the parents and started wandering toward us. When the dad saw us, he scooped that baby up so fast it didn’t know what hit him. Then the mother came over and wrapped her arms around both of them. They looked it us with terrified eyes, worried we might harm their baby. They then side-saddled out of our way and into the brush. It was a pretty august experience (if you don’t know what that word means in this context, look it up ;)). To see the monkeys acting just like we would act as humans were a bear to ramble into our path touched me in a way hard to explain. However, I was sad that we had scared them so badly – but I did get an amazing photo of the little family huddled together, looking up at us.

monkey drinking water

Monkey yawns

The little monkey family I terrified by accident

The gorgeous monkey forest

Gorgeous trees in the Monkey Forest

From there the group went back to the Lake Leke for Balinese dance class, but I was too sick to dance, so I just took a few photos and videos for them. I was coughing pretty badly that day and not breathing very well. That with the horrible humidity and heat made the idea of dancing seem quite impossible. I left after about 30 minutes, had lunch at the hotel and then swam in the pool. The cool water seemed to help me feel better – and definitely calmed the heat rash that had developed on my arms (but the bumps didn’t go away until I left Bali).

I went back to the market with Linda later that day and we had dinner at an Italian restaurant in town.

Bali temple tour

We left the hotel at 8 a.m. with our same guide, Winten, to take us on an all day temple tour. The first one we went to was Taman Ayun Temple, which is very iconic with multiple tiered thatched roofing on the different temple buildings.

Pura Taman Ayun

Pura Taman Ayun

Our second temple is one of the ones you see in all the Bali tourism ads – Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple. It’s set out in the middle of a lake and it’s truly gorgeous. We got some excellent photos there.

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan

Then we stopped by a coffee place where they make all this handmade Balinese coffee including Luwak coffee. This is the most expensive coffee in the world – though it’s not too bad if you buy it in Bali. But listen to how it’s made...

the coffee plantation

With our tour guide, Winten

Sampling bar

There are these little cat-like creatures called luwaks that eat a variety of coffee beans from the plants, as well as berries and a few other things. They are apparently quite selective in their eating habits. After they eat these beans and berries, their POOP is retrieved and washed and the coffee beans from their poop is smoked and roasted and then made into Luwak coffee. At this coffee place (which looked out over the hills and rice fields – a really gorgeous location) we were offered all different coffees and teas to try. I tried a couple of the teas which were very good. Obviously, I didn’t try the coffee. Especially not the “cat-poo-chino” as our driver hilariously called it.

Next we went to the rice terraces to have lunch with a view of the verdant green terraces and their rice shoots. It was such a gorgeous day with bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Behind the terraces, the mountains of Bali framed the picture. I wished we’d had time to hike a bit on the trails through the terraces.

Jatiluwih Rice terraces

Lunch with an amazing view of the terraces

Next we went to Pura Luhur temple – the temple in the forest, as they call it. Unfortunately, most parts of the temple were closed for viewing because of some special ceremonies, so we just walked around the grounds for a while. It was very quite and we were practically the only visitors.

Our final temple of the day was Tanah Lot. This was probably our favorite one simply because of the location. The temple is on top of a rock island a couple hundred feet out into the ocean. During low tide, you can cross over to it and be blessed with “holy water” that comes up from a spring in a little cave at the base of the rock. It’s pretty crazy since it’s IN the ocean, but has fresh spring water coming up out of it. When we arrived, all the girls split up and Linda, Traci and I walked around the base of the cliffs looking at the temple on the rock. We then decided to walk over to the little cave and Linda would drink the holy water. We got wet up to the bottom of our shorts on the walk out because the ground was uneven and we stumbled a bit, and when a wave would come, the water got deeper. However, after spending 15 minutes on the little island, I started looking at the crossing and said, “I think the tide is coming in...we need to get back now.” Thankfully, I convinced Linda to put her camera in her bag (instead of around her neck). The three of us started making our way across, but the crossing was even more treacherous. A big wave came and the waters rushed around us and Linda almost fell in completely, but a Balinese man helped keep her up. We all got soaked up to our waists. If Linda had been wearing her expensive DSLR camera around her neck, it would’ve been ruined. We came out gasping and laughing, but unharmed. Shortly thereafter, they closed the crossing.

Tanah Lot

People crossing over during low tide

Sunset was magical

The three of us made our way up to the cliffs to find a good spot to watch the sunset. We found a restaurant that had a cliff-side table where we sipped milkshakes and watched the sun setting behind the rock temple. It was a sight to behold. As we walked back to the bus to meet the others, the sky just kept getting more and more breathtaking. Oranges and purples and pinks filled the sky.

It was a very full, but very rewarding day. 

Ubud, Bali

The next day we had an amazing breakfast and then went to the Lake Leke restaurant again for a daytime offering making class. All those little offering baskets with flower and sometimes food in them that the monkeys love so much – we learned how to make. And let me just say, it wasn’t easy. They make them out of palm leaves and intricately cut them with a sharp knife. It took us almost 2 hours to make them (with help). We asked the old Balinese woman teaching us how long it takes her to make one. She said about 5 minutes. When we asked the Balinese girl at the front on our way out how many each woman makes a day and how long it takes, she said about 100 or more per woman and it takes 1-3 minutes each, unless it’s a very fancy one. She said they learn when they are about 6 years old. I read somewhere that Balinese women spend like 80% of their time preparing offerings, ceremonies and cleaning up after ceremonies/offerings. I can believe it!

A group of us then went to the market. Nicole, from Canada, was rather wary of the bargaining aspect of the market, so I stuck with her and bargained for her. Here is how the bargaining works in the Ubud market: you ask the price of something you want, they tell you something outrageous, you offer them 1/4 to 1/3 that price, they act offended and say “serious price, give me serious price” and you offer slightly more, and they offer a price somewhere in between that price and the original price, and you say “too high” and say “xx is all I have” and they say, “little more lady, little more. Good for me, good for you.” Finally, you walk away and then they call after you and say “okay, okay.” And you get it for the last price you offered them. Needless to say, it’s a process. By the end of our time in Bali, Linda and I were pros. We realized later the prices we were getting in the Ubud market weren’t quite as good as we thought (compared to some other places we went later), but in comparison to what we’d pay in the US for the same thing, they were amazing.

Anyway, I helped Nicole get a lot of nice dresses, and I got some nice things as well (like a silk robe/kimono). The hotel then picked us up and brought us back and Nicole and I had dinner at a nearby restaurant. I got chicken covered in a light coconut breading stuffed with mango and we split a banana split. My cost was 60,000 Rupiah (which is $4.80). Food is so cheap in Bali!

That night we did a spa night in our room with all the girls. We made borah scrubs (this is a type of body scrub that the Balinese people make and Kim tought us how to make it because she used to live in Bali). We then washed each other’s feet and lower legs with the scrub. It was a fun group activity.

Speaking of feet, the Balinese people are always washing their feet before anything important. Every time we got massages, they would wash our feet first in a little tub of hot water with flower petals in it. Although, their feet washing fetish is probably a good thing considering they walk around barefoot constantly. They all wear flip flops and just slip out of them before going into any building. Look around Bali and you will see shoes on all the front stoops. This extends to hotel workers, massage therapists – everyone. And children walk around barefoot all over the place.

That night I slept a bit better, but was still a snotty mess the next morning.