After touring the beautiful temple we begin our journey over the mountain range range dividing North and South Bali, passing terraced fields, fruit trees and small villages along the way. At the top is a beautiful view of two lakes along with more long-tailed macaques; at this stop a "vendor" is charging money to take pictures of an eight foot long boa constrictor and a beautiful fruit bat. We don't take any pictures!
Just past the top of the mountain we have lunch at a café with a gorgeous view of clove tree orchards down the mountainside. After lunch we take a little trek to a beautiful waterfall where Cheri strikes a universe hugging Nathan pose at the base of the fall. We finally arrive at our destination in Pemuteran in the late afternoon.
Pemuteran is a small, remote village, very quiet and serene. We set up our new home at Villa Amertha, a comfortable and welcoming villa. Our neighbors were Jose and Francois, from Barcelona, and their two children. Their son’s name was Natan, our Nathan’s Spanish name, the name he went by in Costa Rica. We also met a couple named Tom and Rob from Italy, who told us about a very good Greek restaurant just down the beach. We walked along the sandy beach that night, getting to know our new home, still feeling the amazement of being in Bali. Just like Nusa Dua, peaceful music and the aroma of incense permeates the air.
Our "villa" in Pemuteran!
Umbrellas to keep the gods cool!
The next morning we arise early and go on a guided bird walk with a fellow named Eco. Have to admit, it was not a noteworthy trip. Not sure if Eco wasn’t a very good birder, we didn’t have enough time or it was just a bad day, but we didn’t really see anything unusual. Oh well!
A parade we ran across in Pemuteran.
After a very good night’s sleep we take a boat ride to Managuan Island to go snorkeling. We share a boat with only one other family, a man and woman from the UK and their beautiful 17 year old daughter, who shares a striking resemblance to Danielle. Seeing her makes us miss our Danielle even more than usual. This family has visited Bali every year for the past 18 years and have now bought land and built a villa near Seminyak. When we get to the island, the snorkeling is exquisite, better than Saipan, we think. So many different kinds and colors of fish, big and small, and clear, clear water with many hard and soft corals! After lunch we motor around to the other side of the island and see a beautiful temple with a large white sculpture of the elephant god Ganesh perched on the side of the hill. The fish were not as good on this side, but the corals were beautiful. When we return to Amertha, we take a stroll down the beach and try out the Greek restaurant, a very nice change from the Asian and now Indonesian fare we have been eating for the previous 6 or 7 months.
One of our favorites – Ganesha - a highly loved and revered God in Hinduism
Our time is up in Pemuteran, so we sadly say goodbye and meet up again with our driver Wayan, who is now going to drive us to the arts center of Bali, Ubud!
On our way to Ubud, Wayan gives us another mini tour. He takes us to a very old temple. It’s early in the morning and the temple is almost empty of people. We stroll around the park-like setting and drink in the mystical feeling surrounding the place. The only other people around are a few locals. It’s nice to be able to have this silent, magical place almost to ourselves. Onward to another very small and ancient temple in a tiny village. As you can tell, Hindu temples abound in Bali. There are daily offerings and ceremonies for every occasion. The daily life of the Balinese revolves around preparing for ceremony, transporting offerings, making offerings and cleaning up after ceremonies. The offerings are placed into small and large baskets, hand woven from palm and banana leaves, and are transported by local women, carried on their heads! Every family clan in every village has a temple or shrine to make daily offerings to. A very different lifestyle! After the temples, we started our mountain climb in the van to the volcanic mountain. We had lunch at a large restaurant barely balanced on the mountainside overlooking the volcanic lava flow fields and beautiful flowing countryside and valleys. Then down the mountain and into Ubud.
Scenes from the fruit stands, Howard's favorite places, we visited along the way:
Mystical, Magical Ubud
In Ubud we stay outside of town, and as we find it was probably a good idea. Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali, is a bustling little town! It was actually a lot bigger, more crowded, and more active than we had expected, probably due to the fact that we have been living in tiny little Saipan for the past 6 months. So after getting unpacked at our new hotel, which lies in the middle of a field of rice paddies, we take the shuttle into town.
Hundreds of people! All walking around the streets gawking at all the shops. As you may know, we're not really shoppers and it seemed that was what everyone was doing in Bali, shopping and eating. So we joined in on the eating part and indulged in some great Indonesian food. It was delicious. Soon we got into the swing of Ubud life and found some nice yoga classes at the Yoga Barn. Beautiful place, looking out over the lush flora and filled with sounds from the jungle. Cheri took a cooking class while I did a little birding. I should have taken the cooking class! Not many birds ... maybe next time.
Here are some scenes from our villa at Bhanuswari in Ubud:
In Ubud…
Here we are enjoying Bali! Great food and typical of all of SE Asia - great fruit smoothies!
At night we took in a "puppet show", an old Balinese art. It was pretty incredible to watch the old masters and their helpers at work.
This is how things get transported around town - the traditional way and the more modern way. The Balinese women carry huge amounts of everything on their heads! About 93% of the population in Bali adhere to Balinese Hinduism. As I said before, there are ceremonies everyday and everywhere. Here are pictures of the women carrying the offerings to the shrines on their heads! Everything that is not carried on the head seems to be transported by scooter - parents, kids (up to 5 people at a time), livestock, propane tanks, lumber, glass, etc... really unbelievable.
We found lots more long-tailed macaques when we visited the Monkey Forest on the outskirts of Ubud. Some of the tourists seem to act like monkeys too!
There were preparations for a large ceremony going on there also. People of all ages were setting up decorations, offerings and musical instruments. Little girls were hanging around waiting to perform their part in the upcoming religious rites. Men were playing cards, taking a break from the setup chores and waiting for the ceremonies to begin.
This is where Cheri took her cooking class:
Baby monkey, so tiny and cute. Bali was a wonderland.
What a great place! Thanks so much for all the work of posting this. It's like being there...
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