Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Reaching Amed!
On Monday Henk and I caught the morning shuttle from Ubud to Amed, after stocking up on bottled water and a few banana jaffles that the woman running our hotel graciously made for us. We enjoyed the extremely scenic ride and spoke with some of the other passengers about their journeys, and their stay in Ubud.
We met an elderly couple, who were both teachers, and we later sat down with them for some fresh juices during the shuttle stop. They gave us a few tips for later in our travels, suggesting we do some conversational English teaching while in China. We even got some company names and phone numbers from them after they told us we won’t need a special certification or anything to teach, just be a native English speaker. We wondered if we’d have enough time in China to try teaching, but it’s a fun idea!
Finally, we reached Amed and were dropped off at our pre-booked hotel, a beautiful cliff top location called Waeni’s. Although it was a bit pricier than our Ubud hotel, a quick look around later in the day reassured us that most of the places in the area weren’t too much cheaper. Plus our room was amazing! We ended up getting the best room in the hotel with a nice daily discount. Henk and I took a quick walk around town to see what there was, but we realized quickly there isn’t much besides the beach.
The beach, which we have a perfect view of from our hotel, is extremely rocky to the point where it’s pretty difficult to walk on. This made me slightly skeptical about the beach’s quality at first, but I was later proven quite wrong. That night was a dinner in the hotel of Sweet & Sour Pork for myself and a fish dish for Henk. Then we retired to enjoy the outdoor bed/lounge area our hotel room included.
The next morning we put on our bathing suits and got ready to explore the snorkeling! We decided to walk towards the snorkeling and pick up some gear on the way, which turned out to be a good idea. Ali rented Henk some snorkeling gear (no sizes left for me) and suggested we snorkel outside one of the nearby hotels named Kusuba Jaya, which had some amazing reefs. I got my gear from the hotel and we stored our stuff before heading into the water.
The snorkeling was absolutely incredible! Henk and I were astonished at how varied and colorful the coral was here – it even rivaled, and surpassed we might argue, what we saw at the Great Barrier Reef! The amount of fish, and the variety was just mind-blowing. I didn’t remember seeing nearly as many fish at the GBR as we saw in Amed. Perhaps it was because there were less coral formations and they were much more condensed than in the GBR, but the fish swarmed around us like mad. Henk and I explored in separate directions for a little while, but quickly realized that 4 eyes see more than 2 and decided to try and stick together.
We even came up with some of our own hand signals to point-out and describe what we were seeing to each other while under water: 2 hand squeezes means you’ve spotted something interesting. Then came the ‘shape-game’: making a ‘tube’ for spotting a long fish, a ‘ball’ for spotting a very fat fish, obviously a ‘triangle’ for a triangle-shaped fish. Made communicating a lot easier!
Side note About Images: We wish we could show you pictures of the fish we saw, but renting an underwater camera was pretty expensive for the Great Barrier Reef, and we didn’t want to spend the extra money this time around. However, I’ll find some pictures from the internet of what we saw and I’ll post them for you all here as examples.
We snorkeled for a couple hours and then took a break for lunch at the hotel where we left our belongings. Henk had what he called an ‘amazing’ chicken curry, and I decided for a simple garlic and oil spaghetti. We shared some ice-cream for dessert. Then it was back in the water! Some parts of the reef were insanely colorful and full of life… but other parts of the reef where completely barren. They were covered in mashed up lava stone, we guessed from the many boats that ripped through the reef on their way out to sea, and we wondered how well Bali’s reefs were being protected. Doesn’t seem like they are protected at all! There was trash all over the place, floating in the water and littered all over the beach. Such a shame, when the nature itself is so beautiful there…
Oh, by the way! Henk and I were under the assumption that since I have such tanned skin already, that I don’t really sunburn and probably tan just slightly. I’ve never been in the sun too much, so I never really had the opportunity to find out. However, take a look at this crazy photo! That’s what the sun did to me! I guess I do tan/burn…
That evening was another dinner at the hotel, where we were attended to by Mario, the helpful and cheery manager of the place. Since it was low season, we only noticed other guests a few times while we were staying at Waeni’s; it was like we had the place to ourselves! That was exactly how we felt about the reef that day. We were so pleased with our first reef experience that we planned to go out and snorkel something amazing the next day: a Japanese ship wreck!
We booked a cheap boat from the hotel Kusuba Jaya for the next morning at 10:00 am. After another breakfast of fruit pancakes and jaffles, we went down via the beach and met our boat driver. We tossed our gear in the boat and hopped aboard. I have to say, the boats were really interesting! As we were sitting on them, I described them to Henk. I likened them to “motorized canoes on water skies” because that’s exactly what they seemed like! The boat was narrow like a canoe, but had these two larger appendages sticking out on either side, making the boat appear to float quickly above the water. I laughed as a similar boat came towards us – “they remind me of water spiders…” I told Henk.
After a great boat trip, we arrived at the Japanese ship wreck. It was so awesome! Henk was very surprised that the boat was so close to the surface – he said it reminded him of something “they would have on the Discovery Channel.” And that’s so true! There isn’t much information available about the ship itself. All we know is that it was a Japanese ship active during World War II, and that there is also an American shipwreck, the Liberty ship, nearby. Anyways, here is a picture we found of the wreck we visited, showing the hull of the ship completely covered in different types of colorful coral.
Later that afternoon, we had lunch at our new-found hotel again. Before lunch however, we jumped into the pool! We played around in there for a bit, having the entire pool to ourselves for half-an-hour or so. It was so nice to splash around in something where I didn’t have to worry about stepping on coral! For lunch, Henk opted for another curry (fish this time was available) and I had a chicken sandwich with onion rings and a soda.
The next day was pure relaxation – we stayed in and watched movies all day. The only time we ventured out was in search of some internet to check e-mail, but it was so sweltering hot out that we didn’t want to stay out for too long. The next morning we checked out and had the owner of our hotel drive us to Kuta. Immediately after arriving, we realized we were in a completely touristy destination. Tons of people, completely commercialized, really bad traffic, and not a local seen anywhere. Seriously, only Australians. We didn’t expect much from Kuta because we heard all this before, but still it made us miss our stays in Ubud and Amed! Well, we’ll see how much there is to do here…
Talk to you all soon,
Francesca
We met an elderly couple, who were both teachers, and we later sat down with them for some fresh juices during the shuttle stop. They gave us a few tips for later in our travels, suggesting we do some conversational English teaching while in China. We even got some company names and phone numbers from them after they told us we won’t need a special certification or anything to teach, just be a native English speaker. We wondered if we’d have enough time in China to try teaching, but it’s a fun idea!
Finally, we reached Amed and were dropped off at our pre-booked hotel, a beautiful cliff top location called Waeni’s. Although it was a bit pricier than our Ubud hotel, a quick look around later in the day reassured us that most of the places in the area weren’t too much cheaper. Plus our room was amazing! We ended up getting the best room in the hotel with a nice daily discount. Henk and I took a quick walk around town to see what there was, but we realized quickly there isn’t much besides the beach.
The beach, which we have a perfect view of from our hotel, is extremely rocky to the point where it’s pretty difficult to walk on. This made me slightly skeptical about the beach’s quality at first, but I was later proven quite wrong. That night was a dinner in the hotel of Sweet & Sour Pork for myself and a fish dish for Henk. Then we retired to enjoy the outdoor bed/lounge area our hotel room included.
The next morning we put on our bathing suits and got ready to explore the snorkeling! We decided to walk towards the snorkeling and pick up some gear on the way, which turned out to be a good idea. Ali rented Henk some snorkeling gear (no sizes left for me) and suggested we snorkel outside one of the nearby hotels named Kusuba Jaya, which had some amazing reefs. I got my gear from the hotel and we stored our stuff before heading into the water.
The snorkeling was absolutely incredible! Henk and I were astonished at how varied and colorful the coral was here – it even rivaled, and surpassed we might argue, what we saw at the Great Barrier Reef! The amount of fish, and the variety was just mind-blowing. I didn’t remember seeing nearly as many fish at the GBR as we saw in Amed. Perhaps it was because there were less coral formations and they were much more condensed than in the GBR, but the fish swarmed around us like mad. Henk and I explored in separate directions for a little while, but quickly realized that 4 eyes see more than 2 and decided to try and stick together.
We even came up with some of our own hand signals to point-out and describe what we were seeing to each other while under water: 2 hand squeezes means you’ve spotted something interesting. Then came the ‘shape-game’: making a ‘tube’ for spotting a long fish, a ‘ball’ for spotting a very fat fish, obviously a ‘triangle’ for a triangle-shaped fish. Made communicating a lot easier!
Side note About Images: We wish we could show you pictures of the fish we saw, but renting an underwater camera was pretty expensive for the Great Barrier Reef, and we didn’t want to spend the extra money this time around. However, I’ll find some pictures from the internet of what we saw and I’ll post them for you all here as examples.
We snorkeled for a couple hours and then took a break for lunch at the hotel where we left our belongings. Henk had what he called an ‘amazing’ chicken curry, and I decided for a simple garlic and oil spaghetti. We shared some ice-cream for dessert. Then it was back in the water! Some parts of the reef were insanely colorful and full of life… but other parts of the reef where completely barren. They were covered in mashed up lava stone, we guessed from the many boats that ripped through the reef on their way out to sea, and we wondered how well Bali’s reefs were being protected. Doesn’t seem like they are protected at all! There was trash all over the place, floating in the water and littered all over the beach. Such a shame, when the nature itself is so beautiful there…
Oh, by the way! Henk and I were under the assumption that since I have such tanned skin already, that I don’t really sunburn and probably tan just slightly. I’ve never been in the sun too much, so I never really had the opportunity to find out. However, take a look at this crazy photo! That’s what the sun did to me! I guess I do tan/burn…
That evening was another dinner at the hotel, where we were attended to by Mario, the helpful and cheery manager of the place. Since it was low season, we only noticed other guests a few times while we were staying at Waeni’s; it was like we had the place to ourselves! That was exactly how we felt about the reef that day. We were so pleased with our first reef experience that we planned to go out and snorkel something amazing the next day: a Japanese ship wreck!
We booked a cheap boat from the hotel Kusuba Jaya for the next morning at 10:00 am. After another breakfast of fruit pancakes and jaffles, we went down via the beach and met our boat driver. We tossed our gear in the boat and hopped aboard. I have to say, the boats were really interesting! As we were sitting on them, I described them to Henk. I likened them to “motorized canoes on water skies” because that’s exactly what they seemed like! The boat was narrow like a canoe, but had these two larger appendages sticking out on either side, making the boat appear to float quickly above the water. I laughed as a similar boat came towards us – “they remind me of water spiders…” I told Henk.
After a great boat trip, we arrived at the Japanese ship wreck. It was so awesome! Henk was very surprised that the boat was so close to the surface – he said it reminded him of something “they would have on the Discovery Channel.” And that’s so true! There isn’t much information available about the ship itself. All we know is that it was a Japanese ship active during World War II, and that there is also an American shipwreck, the Liberty ship, nearby. Anyways, here is a picture we found of the wreck we visited, showing the hull of the ship completely covered in different types of colorful coral.
Later that afternoon, we had lunch at our new-found hotel again. Before lunch however, we jumped into the pool! We played around in there for a bit, having the entire pool to ourselves for half-an-hour or so. It was so nice to splash around in something where I didn’t have to worry about stepping on coral! For lunch, Henk opted for another curry (fish this time was available) and I had a chicken sandwich with onion rings and a soda.
The next day was pure relaxation – we stayed in and watched movies all day. The only time we ventured out was in search of some internet to check e-mail, but it was so sweltering hot out that we didn’t want to stay out for too long. The next morning we checked out and had the owner of our hotel drive us to Kuta. Immediately after arriving, we realized we were in a completely touristy destination. Tons of people, completely commercialized, really bad traffic, and not a local seen anywhere. Seriously, only Australians. We didn’t expect much from Kuta because we heard all this before, but still it made us miss our stays in Ubud and Amed! Well, we’ll see how much there is to do here…
Talk to you all soon,
Francesca
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Culture And Relaxation In Ubud
On Friday the 20th we had asked our hostess’ husband to drive us around to some of the local sights. He was only too happy to take us, even bringing his daughter Koman with him. Francesca and I had found several things in the Lonely Planet that we had wanted to go and see, and he took us in the order he thought best, whilst showing us the Bali-countryside. Our first stop was ‘Goa Gajah,’ also known as the ‘Elephant Cave.’
The name is based on inscriptions found inside the cave that stem from 10th century. Before we got to the cave itself we had to dodge several eager guides, and found ourselves looking at some of the eternal water carriers in a pond down some stairs.
The cave itself was a little more exciting, with on the left side a statue of Ganesa; in the middle three Stupas; and on the right side some crumbled statues that were no longer recognizable. Francesca and I exited, and followed a tour guide with 2 tourists to some of the surrounding paddies. We saw a man working in a rice paddy with and saw some more stalls with junk in the distance that we did not want to pass. We headed back, having a last look at the massive amount of temple remains that were stacked together on a separate platform. We went back to the car and were taken to our next destination.
Continuing our cultural exploration of the surroundings of Ubud, Francesca and I chose to go to ‘Yeh Pulu.’ “'Yeh' means 'water' or 'spring', and 'pulu' is a Balinese name for a stone water container. It’s an ancient complex of rock carvings of various images of Wayang characters (shadow puppets) and common people, which form a scene of Balinese village life in the early days, and include Lord Ganesha, horsemen, an ascetic, and a seated woman.”
Francesca and I had to work hard to get rid of the guide that had started following us without asking us, demanding a mere $5 for his troubles. We told him several times to stop, whilst ignoring his pleas and in the end managed to go on together. A scenic walk through some paddies, and jungle-esque nature made the whole thing well worth it. I found the skin of an insect and showed Francesca how not all insects are bad. She even put it on her hands and I captured her getting closer to nature.
An old lady was waiting for us at the end of the rock carvings, and we each got sprinkled with the ‘holy water,’ and took a picture with her. Of course, she wanted a tip after that and I gave her some. Apparently not to her satisfaction as she ‘tssk-ed’ me. Some people are just never satisfied. Anyways, there was not much else to see/do after the rock carvings and we turned around and strolled back to the car.
The next stop was ‘Pura Penataran Sasih.’ “It is also known as ‘The Moon Temple’ and derived its name from an ancient bronze kettledrum (or nekara) called ‘Moon of Pejeng’ which is now kept in the inner chamber. It is the largest bronze kettle in Southeast Asia at about two meters in length and allegedly dates from 300 BC. The design is associated with the Dong Son culture of Southern China and Northern Vietnam around 1500 BC. This highly valued and ornate gong is in the shape of an hourglass and is beautifully engraved: it is regarded as Indonesia’s most important Bronze-Age antique.”
Francesca and I also found out that up until today nobody knows where the drum came from exactly. The locals believe it fell from the sky. We believe the drum was simply highly unimpressive. We couldn’t really see much of it, because it was so high up. Ornate? We didn’t see any of it. The complex itself was more interesting than the drum.
We knew that our next stop had to be more interesting, since it was the thing we had looked forward to the most. Our host took us to ‘Gunung Kawi’ (meaning ‘carving in the mount’), a 10th century Hindu temple complex. We had to descend the 300-step stone stairway leading to a beautiful valley. Loads of locals try to sell all sorts of drinks and even more souvenirs. We walked past them and the sweaty tourists coming back up the stairs and found ourselves staring at a fantastic complex. Before entering the complex we sprinkled ourselves with ‘holy water,’ as requested by some signs. When I say sprinkled, I really mean a small water fight. Let’s just say we appeased the Gods more than enough!
At the bottom we found five of the ten seven-meter-high memorials carved into the rock face. According to legend, these ruined temples are the memorial shrines of the king's concubines and his family. These days, ‘Gunung Kawi’ sanctuary is still used for ritual ceremonies and locals gather periodically to offer the usual gifts and to pay homage to God, the ancient king, and his family.
Before looking at the carvings up close we walked up a little stone staircase and took our flip-flops off. There was some ancient housing area, which seemed largely abandoned. Water was coming down from the cliff, creating a waterfall in the middle of the carvings. Really serene and amazing to see how people managed to create such a thing hundreds of years ago with only basic tools at their disposal. We put our flip-flops back on and walked around in front of the shrines for a while. Just the idea of carving them into a cliff face is really interesting and they still look well-preserved.
Francesca found a river just a little distance away from the memorials and wanted some pictures taken with the stunning scenery. I gladly obliged and like a true photographer and model we changed poses, backgrounds and looks. We got some really cool shots! We repeated the former in the reverse with the rock face as the setting.
Disclaimer: Francesca likes my hair long, so no haircuts!
Francesca and I strolled around a little more and finally decided to start the hike back up. It had gotten quite hot, and we had brought no water. Francesca got really thirsty after a little while and we sat down with one of the locals for a drink. A short Q&A session later we were ready to go again and got ready for the final section. At the end of the steps Francesca and I returned our sarongs and walked away. At that point I checked our belongings and realized one essential thing was missing: our camera. I panicked and ran back to the sarong-return-stall. No sign of our camera… I told Francesca I’d run back down all the way to see if we left it somewhere. She continued searching the sarongs and I ran off. I didn’t realize we’d sat down all the way at the beginning and so I had to walk a long way, asking everyone if they’d seen a camera. When I finally got to the lady that had sold us the water, I saw it: laying there peacefully as if it hadn’t even been touched. The lady handed it to me and I ran back to an initially distressed and soon very relieved Francesca. I was sweating all over, so some more water came in handy. I’d certainly learned my lesson!
Back at the car we told our host we had no other things we wanted to see really badly. He offered to drive us around and show us some of the more spectacular rice paddies. We didn’t refuse and were soon exploring more of rural Bali. Our driver stopped several times at some particularly scenic spots and we jumped out to make use of our camera. He also told us to walk past a little house and through some rice paddies for a nice view. I offered to go quickly, as it started like it was going to rain. I sort of started running and ended up stepping in some mud, sliding off the steady ground and into the mud of the paddy. My whole right leg up to my knee disappeared, and I lost my flip-flop as I pulled it out. Two locals started laughing as I tried to clean my mud-clad leg with a small bottle of water. I managed to save my flip-flop and Francesca and I went back to the car.
Due to the ominous sky and first drops of rain we decided to call it a day and we went back to ‘Tunjung.’ Francesca and Koman played with the chickens, me taking pictures of both of the girls with their chickens, and Koman then taking pictures of Francesca and her chicken. My companion and I rested up for a while (and I cleaned up), before heading out for dinner. I had wanted to eat next door at a place called ‘Nuriani.’ The menu looked inviting and the door was too colorful and detailed to ignore. We were the only two people seated and had the whole place to ourselves. The prices were very doable, so we decided to have a good meal. I ordered a variation on nasi campur, rice with several local delicacies. Very tasty! Francesca went for the more traditional nasi goring, but it was so well made that she had nothing to complain either.
I also tried the mixed fruit juice, and Francesca challenged me to guess the fruits involved in my drink. Being a fruit-lover I could not get these wrong – I would never hear the end of it! I tasted banana and pineapple quite clearly, but that mix did not explain the orange color of my drink, so I had one more sip before deciding the third ingredient was papaya. I asked the waiter, and sure enough: I had them all right! *wipes sweat off forehead* Before we left the restaurant I took some pictures of Francesca in her colorful dress in front of the colorful door. Amazing match! Let us know what you think of Francesca’s new dress! For the following day we had relaxation in mind, and booked ourselves several treatments at a spa.
On the 21st of November we enjoyed a lovely breakfast and headed out for our appointment at ‘Venezia.’ We started off with the Flower Bath package, which included the following: “A traditional body massage followed by a fragrant scrub made of blended herbs and spices. Then enjoy a refreshing yoghurt moisturizer that will restore your skin’s natural PH balance. Finish with a soothing fresh-flower bath.” Since this was my first-ever visit to a spa, all of this was completely new to me. The massage felt so good, and really made me relax. The scrubs smelled fantastic, and the bath (complete with complementary tea and fresh fruit) was the perfect finish.
Francesca and I were not quite done yet after this treat and had also planned a honey and cucumber facial. “This treatment includes a soothing milk cleansing, exfoliation peel using natural herbs, face and shoulder massage. Steam vapor, fresh lime & cucumber mask topped off with a cool refreshing towel and moisturizing cream.” Again, a great new experience, but feeling so relaxed after the massage I almost fell asleep. The cucumber mask was so fresh and felt so good. We were left in the room for a good 5 to 10 minutes with said mask and had to stay quiet. Francesca managed to talk, so I remarked: “I have to restrain myself not to eat the cucumbers.” This made her laugh, and she lost half the cucumbers on her face. She tried to undo the damage and stacked them back up, but I am sure the people noticed!
Finally, our day finished with a manicure and pedicure. Having two people work on your hands and feet was also new to me. However, it felt really good, and my nails certainly looked much more groomed after a good hour of rubbing and cutting. We strolled around in Ubud for a while after that, with nothing in particular in mind. The day just slowly ended as we were making plans for our final day and our departure to Amed.
On Sunday the 22nd Francesca realized she really wanted to see the Wayang Kulit(shadow puppetry). From the Lonely Planet we knew there ought to be some shows, and looking it up online we found two places that might have a showing on Sunday. The first one was a little closer to ‘Tunjung,’ so we went there first. ‘Kertha Homestay’ proved a little hard to find, and it turned out we went there for nothing. The other place, ‘Oka Kartini’ was located outside the center, and took us even longer to get to. However, in the end we got there and found out the show was on that evening.
We bought our tickets and decided to sit down in a nearby restaurant to wait for the show. Waiting in a noisy, road-side restaurant with gases crawling up our noses wasn’t really our cup of tea though, so we decided to make the long walk back to our room. Francesca and I laid down and apparently the crazy amount of walking that day got to us, as we fell asleep and did not wake up until the show was halfway over. Not good! We decided not to press it and stayed home, getting ready for departure to Amed the next morning.
The name is based on inscriptions found inside the cave that stem from 10th century. Before we got to the cave itself we had to dodge several eager guides, and found ourselves looking at some of the eternal water carriers in a pond down some stairs.
The cave itself was a little more exciting, with on the left side a statue of Ganesa; in the middle three Stupas; and on the right side some crumbled statues that were no longer recognizable. Francesca and I exited, and followed a tour guide with 2 tourists to some of the surrounding paddies. We saw a man working in a rice paddy with and saw some more stalls with junk in the distance that we did not want to pass. We headed back, having a last look at the massive amount of temple remains that were stacked together on a separate platform. We went back to the car and were taken to our next destination.
Continuing our cultural exploration of the surroundings of Ubud, Francesca and I chose to go to ‘Yeh Pulu.’ “'Yeh' means 'water' or 'spring', and 'pulu' is a Balinese name for a stone water container. It’s an ancient complex of rock carvings of various images of Wayang characters (shadow puppets) and common people, which form a scene of Balinese village life in the early days, and include Lord Ganesha, horsemen, an ascetic, and a seated woman.”
Francesca and I had to work hard to get rid of the guide that had started following us without asking us, demanding a mere $5 for his troubles. We told him several times to stop, whilst ignoring his pleas and in the end managed to go on together. A scenic walk through some paddies, and jungle-esque nature made the whole thing well worth it. I found the skin of an insect and showed Francesca how not all insects are bad. She even put it on her hands and I captured her getting closer to nature.
An old lady was waiting for us at the end of the rock carvings, and we each got sprinkled with the ‘holy water,’ and took a picture with her. Of course, she wanted a tip after that and I gave her some. Apparently not to her satisfaction as she ‘tssk-ed’ me. Some people are just never satisfied. Anyways, there was not much else to see/do after the rock carvings and we turned around and strolled back to the car.
The next stop was ‘Pura Penataran Sasih.’ “It is also known as ‘The Moon Temple’ and derived its name from an ancient bronze kettledrum (or nekara) called ‘Moon of Pejeng’ which is now kept in the inner chamber. It is the largest bronze kettle in Southeast Asia at about two meters in length and allegedly dates from 300 BC. The design is associated with the Dong Son culture of Southern China and Northern Vietnam around 1500 BC. This highly valued and ornate gong is in the shape of an hourglass and is beautifully engraved: it is regarded as Indonesia’s most important Bronze-Age antique.”
Francesca and I also found out that up until today nobody knows where the drum came from exactly. The locals believe it fell from the sky. We believe the drum was simply highly unimpressive. We couldn’t really see much of it, because it was so high up. Ornate? We didn’t see any of it. The complex itself was more interesting than the drum.
We knew that our next stop had to be more interesting, since it was the thing we had looked forward to the most. Our host took us to ‘Gunung Kawi’ (meaning ‘carving in the mount’), a 10th century Hindu temple complex. We had to descend the 300-step stone stairway leading to a beautiful valley. Loads of locals try to sell all sorts of drinks and even more souvenirs. We walked past them and the sweaty tourists coming back up the stairs and found ourselves staring at a fantastic complex. Before entering the complex we sprinkled ourselves with ‘holy water,’ as requested by some signs. When I say sprinkled, I really mean a small water fight. Let’s just say we appeased the Gods more than enough!
At the bottom we found five of the ten seven-meter-high memorials carved into the rock face. According to legend, these ruined temples are the memorial shrines of the king's concubines and his family. These days, ‘Gunung Kawi’ sanctuary is still used for ritual ceremonies and locals gather periodically to offer the usual gifts and to pay homage to God, the ancient king, and his family.
Before looking at the carvings up close we walked up a little stone staircase and took our flip-flops off. There was some ancient housing area, which seemed largely abandoned. Water was coming down from the cliff, creating a waterfall in the middle of the carvings. Really serene and amazing to see how people managed to create such a thing hundreds of years ago with only basic tools at their disposal. We put our flip-flops back on and walked around in front of the shrines for a while. Just the idea of carving them into a cliff face is really interesting and they still look well-preserved.
Francesca found a river just a little distance away from the memorials and wanted some pictures taken with the stunning scenery. I gladly obliged and like a true photographer and model we changed poses, backgrounds and looks. We got some really cool shots! We repeated the former in the reverse with the rock face as the setting.
Disclaimer: Francesca likes my hair long, so no haircuts!
Francesca and I strolled around a little more and finally decided to start the hike back up. It had gotten quite hot, and we had brought no water. Francesca got really thirsty after a little while and we sat down with one of the locals for a drink. A short Q&A session later we were ready to go again and got ready for the final section. At the end of the steps Francesca and I returned our sarongs and walked away. At that point I checked our belongings and realized one essential thing was missing: our camera. I panicked and ran back to the sarong-return-stall. No sign of our camera… I told Francesca I’d run back down all the way to see if we left it somewhere. She continued searching the sarongs and I ran off. I didn’t realize we’d sat down all the way at the beginning and so I had to walk a long way, asking everyone if they’d seen a camera. When I finally got to the lady that had sold us the water, I saw it: laying there peacefully as if it hadn’t even been touched. The lady handed it to me and I ran back to an initially distressed and soon very relieved Francesca. I was sweating all over, so some more water came in handy. I’d certainly learned my lesson!
Back at the car we told our host we had no other things we wanted to see really badly. He offered to drive us around and show us some of the more spectacular rice paddies. We didn’t refuse and were soon exploring more of rural Bali. Our driver stopped several times at some particularly scenic spots and we jumped out to make use of our camera. He also told us to walk past a little house and through some rice paddies for a nice view. I offered to go quickly, as it started like it was going to rain. I sort of started running and ended up stepping in some mud, sliding off the steady ground and into the mud of the paddy. My whole right leg up to my knee disappeared, and I lost my flip-flop as I pulled it out. Two locals started laughing as I tried to clean my mud-clad leg with a small bottle of water. I managed to save my flip-flop and Francesca and I went back to the car.
Due to the ominous sky and first drops of rain we decided to call it a day and we went back to ‘Tunjung.’ Francesca and Koman played with the chickens, me taking pictures of both of the girls with their chickens, and Koman then taking pictures of Francesca and her chicken. My companion and I rested up for a while (and I cleaned up), before heading out for dinner. I had wanted to eat next door at a place called ‘Nuriani.’ The menu looked inviting and the door was too colorful and detailed to ignore. We were the only two people seated and had the whole place to ourselves. The prices were very doable, so we decided to have a good meal. I ordered a variation on nasi campur, rice with several local delicacies. Very tasty! Francesca went for the more traditional nasi goring, but it was so well made that she had nothing to complain either.
I also tried the mixed fruit juice, and Francesca challenged me to guess the fruits involved in my drink. Being a fruit-lover I could not get these wrong – I would never hear the end of it! I tasted banana and pineapple quite clearly, but that mix did not explain the orange color of my drink, so I had one more sip before deciding the third ingredient was papaya. I asked the waiter, and sure enough: I had them all right! *wipes sweat off forehead* Before we left the restaurant I took some pictures of Francesca in her colorful dress in front of the colorful door. Amazing match! Let us know what you think of Francesca’s new dress! For the following day we had relaxation in mind, and booked ourselves several treatments at a spa.
On the 21st of November we enjoyed a lovely breakfast and headed out for our appointment at ‘Venezia.’ We started off with the Flower Bath package, which included the following: “A traditional body massage followed by a fragrant scrub made of blended herbs and spices. Then enjoy a refreshing yoghurt moisturizer that will restore your skin’s natural PH balance. Finish with a soothing fresh-flower bath.” Since this was my first-ever visit to a spa, all of this was completely new to me. The massage felt so good, and really made me relax. The scrubs smelled fantastic, and the bath (complete with complementary tea and fresh fruit) was the perfect finish.
Francesca and I were not quite done yet after this treat and had also planned a honey and cucumber facial. “This treatment includes a soothing milk cleansing, exfoliation peel using natural herbs, face and shoulder massage. Steam vapor, fresh lime & cucumber mask topped off with a cool refreshing towel and moisturizing cream.” Again, a great new experience, but feeling so relaxed after the massage I almost fell asleep. The cucumber mask was so fresh and felt so good. We were left in the room for a good 5 to 10 minutes with said mask and had to stay quiet. Francesca managed to talk, so I remarked: “I have to restrain myself not to eat the cucumbers.” This made her laugh, and she lost half the cucumbers on her face. She tried to undo the damage and stacked them back up, but I am sure the people noticed!
Finally, our day finished with a manicure and pedicure. Having two people work on your hands and feet was also new to me. However, it felt really good, and my nails certainly looked much more groomed after a good hour of rubbing and cutting. We strolled around in Ubud for a while after that, with nothing in particular in mind. The day just slowly ended as we were making plans for our final day and our departure to Amed.
On Sunday the 22nd Francesca realized she really wanted to see the Wayang Kulit(shadow puppetry). From the Lonely Planet we knew there ought to be some shows, and looking it up online we found two places that might have a showing on Sunday. The first one was a little closer to ‘Tunjung,’ so we went there first. ‘Kertha Homestay’ proved a little hard to find, and it turned out we went there for nothing. The other place, ‘Oka Kartini’ was located outside the center, and took us even longer to get to. However, in the end we got there and found out the show was on that evening.
We bought our tickets and decided to sit down in a nearby restaurant to wait for the show. Waiting in a noisy, road-side restaurant with gases crawling up our noses wasn’t really our cup of tea though, so we decided to make the long walk back to our room. Francesca and I laid down and apparently the crazy amount of walking that day got to us, as we fell asleep and did not wake up until the show was halfway over. Not good! We decided not to press it and stayed home, getting ready for departure to Amed the next morning.
