Bali - Getting There! Nusa Dua to Lake Beratan

Bound for Bali

After leaving Saipan behind in the mid afternoon, and flying to Guam and then Manila, we find ourselves in the Philippines in the airport in the middle of the night with about a 7 hour layover. We decide to take a taxi to a hotel and catch a few hours sleep. The hotel information guys grab us a taxi and send us on to a “lovely” hotel in downtown Pasay City near the airport. As we wind and weave our way thru the heavy traffic, we zoom by the most incredible sights. There are tiny little, colorful buses, packed with people, bicycles with tent-like attachments which turn them into little campers. People live in these bicycle RVs! People are walking the streets, hanging around outside the bars, enjoying their break from the hard rain they’ve been experiencing for the past few days. When we arrive at our destination, it’s a little less than a five star, maybe a one or one-half star hotel.

We take the elevator upstairs to the noisy street side room, cover the bed with towels from the bathroom, note that we only see one cockroach, and fall into bed. Howard is so tired he falls right to sleep. It takes me awhile, visions of muggers crashing into our room and taking everything we have before we can even get to Bali keep floating thru my head! But of course we were fine, got a little rest, woke up in about 4 hours (1:30am) and our cabbie was waiting at the curb as promised to take us back to the airport! What an exciting adventure our little peek into the Philippines was! A great beginning to this trek. I hope we can make it back there someday to explore the beautiful island of Palawan and other wonderful dive locations we have heard so much about in the Philippines.
We fly from Manila to Singapore and have another 8 hour layover. We put our backpacks into a locker, get our boarding passes and head out on the subway into Singapore to take a look around for a few hours. We meet the friendliest, guitar music loving guy on the train. He helps us find our way to Little India, the place we have decided to tour today. He plays music selections from his cell phone, making us guess who the musician is. He introduces us to some guitarists we don’t know, like Steve Vai. He loves Guns and Roses. With his help we arrive in Little India easily. Like Japan, Singapore is a very clean city with a very efficient mass transit system. The US should learn from these countries.

Singapore Layover in Little India.

Little India is bustling even at 9:00 am. We go to visit a Shiva Temple and are amazed. It’s indescribable. The abundance of sculptures sitting on the roof and filling the temple, so colorful, incense wafting thru the air, people paying homage to their higher power, offering gifts of food, lying prostrate on the floor before the images. The temple is quite full and we wander about, loving the feeling. We leave and continue on to a mosque down the street. We aren’t allowed in here without wearing robes. We find that to be the case later on in Bali. I think Howard is going to need to purchase a temple outfit! We look at the mosque from the outside, then wander the streets and explore the shops. Because of our wonderful guide on the way into the city, we easily make our way back to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Soon we are on our way to Bali.
Stores in Little India in Singapore. Silk Shop.

Bali!!
After a 27 hour journey, we arrive in Bali. It is beautiful here! The weather is warm, but not stifling hot. The Balinese seem to adore statues, even at the entrance to the airport from the runway. We start taking pictures immediately. We pass thru customs, immigrations, find our driver and head to the hotel, stopping along the way to purchase a SIM card for our phone so we can make calls in Indonesia.

This is the first thing you see after landing at the Bali Airport - the first of many, many shrines and temples that we would see throughout Bali. Because of their religion, the people of Bali are very busy people, observing and partipating in religious ceremonies virtually every day. This is one of the primary things that make Bali as unique as it is. The Balinese are extremely friendly and helpful.

Every morning, offerings are set in front of each shrine and in many cases in front of each store or business. As a result, a lot of flowers are grown in Bali and a lot of baskets are woven.
Relaxing, rejuvenating Nusa Dua
Our first destination in Bali is located in the southern part of the island. When we arrive at the Novotel Hotel in Nusa Dua, we breathe a big sigh of relief. It’s just what we wanted, beautiful lobby with magical music, flowering gardens full of birds, a cool pool and the room so comfortable. A big step up from the seedy joint in Manila.

Our first beach in Bali near Nusa Dua. Beautiful, lots of people from all corners of the world!

We got hooked on fresh coconuts in Saipan, so had to buy one of these.

We awake early the next morning, have coffee, rent some bikes and head out to explore Nusa Dua. We locate a massage spa and shops filled with Balinese stuff to buy. We ride along the coast and find blow holes like on Tinian and people hawking their wares. We share the juice of a coconut and dig out the sweet meat after drinking all the juice. While relaxing by the sea, sipping coconut juice, we meet a local guide and make arrangements to visit Uluwatu temple, a very big tourist destination, with him that night. Back at the hotel, we relax at the pool for a couple of hours, then head out on our Uluwatu Temple tour.

One of Howard's Bali Buddies!

Uluwatu Temple
First we carve our way thru the ever-present traffic jams of Kuta…miles of motor scooters, taxis and tourist (mainly "Aussies" we find out - this is their backyard) vans all beeping their horns and volleying for position as we, along with about 600 other tourists wind our way up the road to Uluwatu Temple. When we arrive, Howard is presented with a purple Balinese robe and belt to wear while touring the temple. Our guide advises us to remove our sunglasses and earrings because of the monkey “bandits” inside! As we progress up and around and through the temple with many of our fellow tourists, long-tailed macaques line the walls and trees along side us. A monkey darts down onto the shoulders of the man beside me and steals his glasses, just like the guide told us! A local guy throws up some food to cause the monkey to drop the glasses and sells them back to the tourist – our guide calls this a little bit of “monkey business”.

After we wind our way thru the temple pathways, we reach a spectacular lookout with a view of the long breaking surf crashing into the jungle-lined sandy beach below. Then we’re herded into an amphitheater . We watch a glorious sunset as the amphitheater fills up. When the sun goes down, the traditional Bali dance begins. The dance starts with about a hundred Bali men entering and sitting in a circle while engaging in an incredible chant which goes on throughout the night. The dancers enter and exit the circle, dressed in intricate, colorful costumes and dance a dance that tells an ancient story. The dance is different from any I’ve ever seen before, with elegant, graceful hand movements, head cocks, beautiful wide-eyed women, googly eyed monsters and a white monkey. All performed to the trance-like chanting of the men, with no other music. A mesmerizing event! When the performance ends, all 600 of us tourists march back to our awaiting vans and zoom down the hill to Jimbaran Beach to eat fresh seafood.

Uluwatu Temple and Balinese Traditional Dancers

At Jimbaran Beach, 24 restaurants line the coast. You enter a restaurant, and point to the fish, prawns, octopus and clams you want to eat. They weigh the seafood and you pay by the pound! You’re seated at a table in the sand, and wait for them to grill your seafood selections while sipping drinks by the sea. The food was delicious and what an atmosphere. All the way down the beach were tables of people. enjoying drinks and grilled seafood for as far as the eye can see. Uluwatu Temple tour, very touristy, but can’t be missed.

A big part of the fun of travelling is meeting and making friends from all countries of the world - Indonesia, Poland, France, Spain, and a whole lot of Aussies (Bali is their playground - $99 specials from Perth to Bali).
The next day in Nusa Dua, we really get into the Bali lifestyle. We do a little shopping and then go for a couple’s massage. Mmmm! Luxurious!
After three days in Nusa Dua, we pack up and jump into the van of our new guide, Wayan, who is going to give us a mini-tour on our way to Pemuteran, a tiny beach town in northeast Bali. Nusa Dua is in the southern-most part of Bali, so this is a long drive with lots to see.

The Balinese use motorcycles and scooter for every type of transport you can imagine - whole families, livestock, food, propane tanks!, and anything else.

Cheri liked this picture because if you ever get up early you see the Balinese people using these Asian brooms - cleaning up.

Wayan takes us to his friend’s coffee plantation, where we sample Bali coffee, even the famous Luwak coffee. This coffee bean is “processed” first by passing thru a small mammal called a Luwak’s digestive tract before being dried and ground into coffee. Yuk! But it tasted pretty good.

"Scat" Coffee from the Luwak!!

Along the way we tour Ulun Danu Temple. This temple is pagoda shaped and very picturesque, situated in and along the beautiful Lake Beratan.

What a Beautiful Place.... and only half way through Bali....