But we did manage to pull ourselves away and tour many other areas of the island. The kids and I arrived late on Saturday night and spent that night and all of Sunday lounging in the villa, stuffing ourselves with mangosteens, and walking along Jimbaran Beach. Matt arrived late Sunday night after spending a few days in Bangkok for a hockey tournament. (His team came in second place after a double over-time final game but Matt ended up with the "Best Forward of the Tournament" Trophy! Nice!)
On Monday we hung out at the villa for a while and then headed out to another beach called Nusa Dua. This beach has every type of water sport you can imagine to choose from. We chose parasailing and it was great fun! Although Liam was too little, both Ethan and Jonah flew up with no problem and no worries and were asking to do it again as soon as they landed! After our parasailing we boarded a glass-bottomed boat and headed out to Turtle Island.The boat ride was great and we saw tons of coral and beautiful fish but with my "zoo issues" I could have done without the visit to Turtle Island. Once again, however, it was the highlight of the trip for the kids! They were able to pet sea turtles of all ages, toucans, snakes, lizards, and even a fruit bat! In Turtle Island's defense, they do a lot of work for the protection and conservation of the sea turtles so I guess I should lighten up a bit. After a great day at the beach we headed into the "city" area of Bali called Kuta and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Food was typically bad as to be expected at a Hard Rock but it was fun anyway. Sidenote - this is the same area that was bombed in 2002. Although there is no damage left to be seen Bali did erect a huge memorial in the area of the pub where the bombs exploded.
The next day we headed out on our first tour with our driver, Wayan. An interesting sidenote - all boys are named the same thing in Bali when they are born. First born is Wayan, second born is Made, third born is Komang, and fourth born is Ketut. The boys spent the whole trip being called by these names and the locals liked to ask us "When is Ketut coming?" Funny. Anyway, about three months after the babies are born they go through a naming ceremony where they receive more personal names and that is also the first time the babies will touch the ground. Wow! Although they do get their own names, many of them still go by Wayan, Made, Komang, and Ketut. But since the government has "suggested" that two children is plenty - the number of Komangs and Ketuts are apparently dwindling.
So on our tour with Wayan we headed north to the Ubud area, which is a beautiful town in the hills. The weather is much cooler and the scenery is gorgeous. This area is where most of the artwork that Bali is known for is sold. There are specific areas for each type of art - painting, gold and silver, batik, stone carving, and wood carving. As we came to each area we were able to see actual artists creating pieces and watch how the process works. We thought the batik artists were amazing - what a process! We bought a few small items as we wandered through and then kept heading north to the volcano! We had lunch at a small restaurant that sits near the base of the volcano and then walked around a bit taking in the beautiful view of the summit all the way down to lake and houses at the base. Just amazing.
After the volcano we headed to Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud. Before we even entered the forest monkeys were coming at us from all angles. Matt had a mangosteen in his hand that he was planning to eat but a monkey jumped up and grabbed it right out of his hand! We bought a few bunches of bananas and headed deeper into the forest. There were monkeys of all ages wandering about and they were not at all shy. I made the mistake of bending down at one point to take a photo and immediately had two monkeys climbing on my back and pulling on my clothes. Jonah was chased by one monkey until he finally leaped into Matt's arms to get away from it. And Ethan sat down on a ledge for me to take a photo and two little monkeys walked up on either side of him. At first it was cool that they came so close but all of a sudden Ethan jumped up because both monkeys gave him a nice bite! He had bite marks on his side and on his arm. So scary! Even scarier, the next day for some odd reason his forehead was swollen right down to his eyes. We were fearing some sort of Monkey Fever but it went away so I guess he's all clear.
We ended the day with a trip to the cliff temple near Uluwatu to watch a Kecak Fire Dance. It was so amazing, we sat in a small amphitheater that looked right over the ocean with the sun setting beautifully in the background of the dance. What a great night!
The next two days we lounged around and visited a couple of beaches - Dreamland and Jimbaran. It was a very relaxing couple of days that ended with a great Thai dinner in Kuta and an awesome Italian dinner right near our villa.
On Friday, we took another tour with our driver, Wayan. It was supposed to be a quick half day tour but turned into a full day but it was very worth it. We started the tour with another local dance - this time it was a Barong Dance. Very similar to the Kecak Dance but with less fire. Both tell a varied version of the Ramayana. Very exciting!
After the dance we headed north to the Jatiluwih area to see the amazing terraced rice paddies. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It went on for miles and miles. Wayan explained to us that the rice season is usually about three months from start to finish and because of the tropical weather they can harvest and replant continuously. He did tell us that they occasionally will plant peanuts instead of rice to give the land a rest. It is amazing that something so basic and necessary is so beautiful. We wandered through one of the paddies and found that there are several huts throughout them and in each of these huts sits a cow. They bring the cow out once in a while to graze on the grass between the terraces and then after a couple of years they will sell the cow for meat. Very interesting. We had a great lunch on a restaurant overlooking the fields and we stuffed ourselves on their local red rice. Delicious!
After the paddies we drove back down to Tanah Lot Temple, which is actually way more built up than we expected. When you arrive, you need to purchase a ticket to see the temple but once you enter the area it is a good 20 minute walk because you are directed through this maze of shops and there is no other way to go. We did wind up buying a couple little things. . . just like we are supposed to, I guess. Anyway, the temple is very famous and sits out in the water on a huge rock formation. The beach is black volcanic sand and just beautiful. You have to actually walk through the water to get to the base of the Temple and although you are not allowed up to it, there is a natural "holy spring" at the base where you can wash in the waters. There were men here who help you to the spring, then they give you a blessing, and press rice onto your forehead. Very cool experience. By the way, there is also a "holy snake" that is apparently hidden inside a nearby cave but we passed on that visit.
After we headed back to the villa we decided to walk along Jimbaran Beach for a while and had a lovely sunset dinner right there on the beach as we watched the sun set. The next day we had to leave our beautiful Balinese villa and head back to Singapore. We loved Bali and once we learned our way around a bit and figured out the Rupiah(it is abut 9,000 rupiah to one US dollar - whew!)we had a great time. But it is also very nice to get back to beautiful Singapore.
