Bali - Another New Frontier

Feb. 1, 2009 - We left lovely Thailand for Bali, Indonesia. Bali is one of the many islands of the Indonesian chain, a chain with more land mass than anywhere in the world. It is certainly a beautiful island, filled with lush vegetation and lots of beaches.
We arrived late in the evening. We had pre -arranged transportation to our hotel in the beach town of Sunur (friends we met later on said they call this town Snore, which was to be proven….).

The taxi driver/tour guide seemed to take us under his wing and told us the do’s and don’ts of Bali. Right off the bat he told us not to let anyone know we were American since the Bali people don’t like Americans. We thought if they don’t want us here, we don’t want to be here, but it turned out that there is nothing further from the truth.

This particular guide had a horrible demeanor and actually argued with us about taking us to the places we wanted to tour. He had made so many references to natives disliking Americans, we finally got rid him and found that the Balinese were incredibly grateful for American support and tourists. We even had one native tell us how much he appreciated America and its generosity. It was so nice to hear.
One night we went up to the Hindu temple overlooking the sea and got to enjoy a traditional fire dance with exotic costumes and fun loving theatrics. It was a real introduction to Balinese Culture. Classic, traditional, beautiful and FUN!

It was tough to find our zone here in Bali. It was rainy season and the rain kept coming. After three days of it, we decided to take in some diving. It doesn’t matter when you get wet if you are under water. We went to a village on the East side of the island called Tulemben. We had a dive wreck about 100 ft. off shore, right in front of our hotel, but under the water.
Back in 1945 the American supply ship named “USA Liberty” was anchored off the coast of Lombok. The ship was hit by a Japanese torpedo. No one was hurt but the ship went down. Since then, fish converge on the boat/ reef, which is about 60 feet under water.
We spent three days diving and enjoying the small town, relaxed atmosphere and non tourist vibe. Finally, we took off to the mountain city of Ubud, the cultural center of Bali. We stopped at the King’s swimming pool. It is said that holy water comes from a natural spring which feeds the pool. It’s a beautiful water garden filled with plants and trees. We hired a guide, a deaf man who met us at the gate. Michelle’s background came in super handy while she communicated with our guide. He had everything written down, but he and Michelle were signing up a storm, so much so that we didn’t need to read his standard tour book and we got an extra special version.

We finally arrived in Ubud and once again, it was raining. We checked into the Honeymoon Guesthouse. The room seemed dark and Gothic and the windows which were carved in Balinese fashion had no screens. This made me very uncomfortable about mosquitoes. We decided to move to a lovely hotel which was bright and airy that overlooked the famous rice fields of Ubud.

Super Bowl was played during our time in Ubud. We were so lucky to have the opportunity to watch it live with the rest of you at 7:30 AM on Monday morning!!!!. While there, we were fortunate to meet other Americans and party the game away, drinking morning tea and coffee. One of the people we met was a So Cal boy. We really enjoyed his company and ended up hanging with him and his wife (Ron and Lena) the rest of our time in Bali. They are regular travelers and LOVE the Bali scene. They also seemed tired of the rain. Michelle shopped lots, I was sick with a cold, so we were happy to leave when the time came to do so although sad to leave the fun loving couple we met.

Bali was our last stop in developing countries for a while. On we went to Byron Bay, Australia for the infamous Festevo and the celebration of our traveling partner, Steve Hart’s 50th birthday.