Mountain high and ocean low

Nov 18-20    Padaibang, Ubud, Bali

Ubud is known for artists in residence, many handicrafts, art shops and galleries, Balinese dance performances, Yoga retreats, nice scenery, rice terraces and being close to some other major sites. Many times it's just a chill out zone where people retreat to when they had enough of the crazy beach life in Kuta. On Ubud's main stretch it's busy with plenty of traffic, shops, markets and restaurants. Once you leave that area though you can be in an entire different world within a matter of minutes.

Driving to Ubud was only a small challenge. Once again just a few minutes detour. The roads are quite ok and most of the time you will find a sign pointing you in the right direction. That is if the sign is still readable and not completely covered by vegetation. Or if it can be seen before and not just after the crossing at which you should have turned. We make it to Ubud without accidents, minor delays and head for the Center of town where the Market is located. Although we just wanted to look around the prices are just too low not to at least shop a little bit. Just a teeeny little (I know this is a habit now. I am a woman after all, what's there to do). We find a walk just off the main road that leads by countless homestays small temples and idyllic roads onto rice paddies, just a short walk away. We walk through the rice paddies enjoying the panorama and peace and quiet. What looks beautiful in the picture – the dark clouds – is not so nice when we start to feel the first drops. Since we are in the middle of the rice paddies we make our way back and would you think, within a few minutes we are in the center of town again. That's the charm of Ubud. Nature is just so close. There is one art shop after the other all selling handmade things. Most of it is not to my taste with some other things I would be tempted if I would just be on vacation in Bali and going back home from here. But transporting it is just to much of an issue. So just not look too closely if there is anything I might really like.

After spending some time strolling through Ubud we opt against the Monkey Forest (blame goes to the aggressive Thai and Indian monkeys) and attempt to find some hilly rice terraces instead. And we do manage to find them. It's very scenic again but after the gigantic rice terraces I have seen in China these just don't amaze me so much anymore. Street salespeople here are more aggressive, sending their cute little girls after every step you make. Since the tourist buses must have left for the day a few individuals are the only ones around and all salespersons congregate around them. A brief photo and milkshake stop later we decide not to go back right away but search for a close by famous temple instead, Tirta Empul. It's fairly close by over some scenic back country roads and my amazing navigational skills. It is an important temple with holy springs where the locals can take a holy bath. There's also lots of holy Koi Fish and Holy Monks around. A whole lot of Holiness.

Padangbai and the pool calls. Aaaaaaah! How nice is that! A great dinner and endless talks in the bathtub warm pool end another wonderful day in Bali. Diving tomorrow morning!

Julia has decided not to join me for diving. Although I could stay in and sleep a bit longer it's always nice to make it underwater so I do peel myself out of bed for another adventure. Two dives today. Nice underwater world but unfortunately really bad visibility. Bad I get rewarded with a nice diving buddy from Venezuela in the oil industry – lots of interesting stories there for me – and a sighting of no less than three whale sharks after the second dive. So a productive day after all. We originally planned to spend the afternoon exploring Bali with the car but opt for another relaxing day and morning after instead. I finish Eat, Pray, Love the overhyped book from Elizabeth Gilbert. I mainly bought it just because I am in Bali and felt I should have read it and am sorely disappointed. A few hundred pages of a boring ladies search for spirituality. Really? That made it to No. 1 on the bestseller list? I know again why I don't agree with critics on so many accounts. But the sunshine the lovely people, good food and great atmosphere let me forget about that and just enjoy my time in Bali.

The next afternoon it is back direction Airport / Kuta. Julia's flight is at 10pm and I am flying out early morning so after being stuck in traffic for hours and taking 3 hours for 40 km drive – patience be with us please – I jump out in Kuta to search for a place for the night and bid a fond farewell to Julia. See you in Bangkok!

Off to Labuanbajo, Flores tomorrow for some great diving and to see the famous Komodo Dragons!

When Australians say they've been abroad, they usually just mean.... Baliiiiiiiiii

Nov 16 to 17 Kuta, Padaibang, Bali

Bali, that's the stuff dreams are made of. What have I heard about Bali before this trip? It's great for beaching, surfing, partying and yes, some terrorist attacks happened here too. It's apparently full with Aussies, since it's closer to Perth than Sydney and it's the one island in Indonesia that's Hindu and where practically everything (and more) tourists love is allowed. And recently it's supposedly also great to find Love, or at least a bestseller book says so.

Since we just got to Kuta, Julia and I decide to stay one more night before leaving. First is to get ALL my laundry done (just in case some fleas/bedbugs) are stuck somewhere. Eeeew! Next I have to pick up some flight tickets I booked with a local agency a dive shop recommended. For whatever reason these tickets just weren't bookable online. While trying to find the Agency we take a wrong turn and involuntarily see almost every nook and crannie of Kuta searching for it. There's plenty of charming stores for souvenirs and just stuff in general. And yes, there's a surf shop everywhere. After getting my tickets we head for the beach and yes it seems it's (beginner) surfer paradise. Most people are running around with one injury or the other, showing that they've done some surfing course. There's big waves and smaller waves but constantly waves. The beach does lack most infrastructure you are used to from tourist beaches but it is a nice beach and you can watch surfers. None of the surfers there that day are any good, all really just trying out but the waves make swimming an exhausting exercise. After some hours tanning and swimming, a quick lunch and refreshing we are out for shoooopping. Well it's more window shopping but it's fun anyway. After checking prices on Shuttle buses, Taxis and tickets we spontaneously decide to rent a car, not because we are keen on driving in Bali, just because if we want to go to more than one place, it works out way cheaper. The car rental is only 10 € per day with insurance. While transport to just Ubud and back for two would have been more than that. So we reserve the cheapest, a 2006 Suzuki Jimny for tomorrow morning.

Stuff here is cheaper than in Thailand and most other places in Asia I've been to. But after being here a while you have pretty much everything you need, and at some point I need to stop buying stuff just because it's cheap. Being strong and just investing in some hilarious sunglasses (after all, you always need sunglasses). We walk through the other side of Kuta which has malls and fancy restaurants in addition to the small stores. I can see why people spend many weeks every year on vacation here or why others simply get stuck. You have everything here you would need, it has a nice beach and lots of facilities. And if you want to go somewhere transportation (although expensive for Asia) is easily organized. This is simply the happening part of Bali. It is low season though and the Bars and Clubs are not that happening yet. I can't wait to hear the stories my friends are going to tell me that visit over Christmas and New Years. Everything is going to be paaaacked!.

Morning time is car pick-up time. Over our fantastic included breakfast of half a toast and black coffee (hey it's free) we decide to go to Padangbai. It's said to have nice beaches, nice diving and is about halfway to the other places we intend to visit. Julia has kindly agreed to drive so I am the Navigator. The 2006 Jimny looks more like a 1976 Jimny. The seat belts are... let's call it 'worn', only one door opens with the key, all others need to be opened from the inside and so on. But the car functions, everything considered, quite well and we set out to discover Bali. The first challenge is to survive the drive out of the narrow lanes in Kuta. It's barely wide enough for one car but in addition it is a two-way road with oncoming traffic, tons of motorcycles and shops protruding on the street. If we make it outta here the rest of Bali can't be that bad. And we are fine. At the petrol pump it shows once again that Indonesians don't know how to form a line, everyone skips in front of us and we also have to get rude in order to fill up. With only very minor detours we get to Padangbai and on the second try find a fabulous looking Homestay (well they found us, really). A bit more expensive than we had hoped but after a hard bargain we pay 9€ each a night for our own Bungalow with pool and breakfast. Aaaaaaah! Since the pool is so inviting we cancel the afternoon plans and just hang around here. It's good to relax for a bit.

I also planned to go for some diving, since they have some good spots around here. The dive shop can't take us out today anymore (1pm is apparently too late of a notice) and we decide to go to Ubud tomorrow and try some diving the day after. Chilling, eating, chilling eating is the rest of the day.

Although the Bungalow is extremely comfortable it is way too hot to sleep tight at night but that's just another thing you have to deal with sometimes in South East Asia.