BALI BIKES AND SPA’S
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Monkey and baby at the Monkey Forest in Ubud[/caption]
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Offerings found all over the place. Mike stood on one and burnt his foot from the hot ash[/caption]
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Cocoa beans at the Bali Pulina in Tegallalang[/caption]
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Rice Terrace[/caption]
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Coffee and Tea tasting at Bali Pulina in Tegallalang, Gianyar near Ubud[/caption]
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Us with the Rice Terrace in the background[/caption]
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Coffee and Tea tasting over looking the Rice Terrace in Tegallalang[/caption]
Arrived into Bali after our flight from Singapore via Bangkok. Took a cab to Nusa Dua where our hotel was. Big disappointment with the hotel so we cancelled our booking called a cab and went in search of another hotel. After 5 hotels that were not going to pass the Trisha standard and a patient taxi driver we found a fabulous new hotel in Legion called the Mercure. The eventual taxi bill was 15 dollars, he must have been with us an hour or longer. They gave us a lovely room (100$ a night with breakfast for two including all the taxes) in a quiet area so this became our home for the next 2 weeks.
Apparently we are in Bali in the quiet season as it’s the rainy season. The humidity is really high, about 85 percent and temps up in the 30’s so the best place to be was by the pool, which is exactly what we did mostly. After all, the idea of Bali was to chill out and have R and R after the hectic 2 weeks or traveling India 12 hours per day.
After a few days we hired a driver for the day to take us up to Ubud. We went to the Rice fields and the famous Rice Terrace, The Monkey Forest and the Coffee Plantation and also the market in the square along with the Artist’s area. We also saw the area where they make the beautiful teak furniture. Beautiful carvings. Great whicker furniture too.
The Coffee Plantation just blew us away. It was so incredibly amazing!!! They showed us around and explained how the coffee is grown and processed 100 percent naturally by wild Palm Civet cats called Luwak’s. They harvest the coffee cherry and leave it out for the Luwak’s who invade the plantation nightly to gorge only on matured red coffee cherry from the trees. Thereafter, the coffee bean’s ferment and acidity in the bean is neutralized as they pass through the animal’s stomach enzymes and digestive tract. So they poop them out!!!!
The Luwak coffee bean skats are then collected from the plantation and cleaned and the shell broken. The end result mocha based gourmet coffee and very expensive to boot. Tastes delish!!!!
They also showed us all the spices and herbs, fruit etc. they grow using nothing but cow manure to fertilize. The cow was there to view and pet. We saw cocoa, ginseng, white and black pepper, cardamom, cloves, ginger, turmeric etc growing. With this they make their own tea and coffee to sample while looking out at the Rice Terrace plantation. Amazing!!! I could imagine Bonnie and Jen doing something like this together.
The rest of the two weeks was spent exploring the area but mainly taking advantage of the fabulous Spa’s where you could have a full hour massage for Can $8.50 in a really nice shop. Believe me these girls were fabulous, better than most Can $150 massage that we have had in Canada or on cruise ships. I had a manicure and a pedicure which included a half hour back massage all for Can$28.00.
The people in Bali are just so friendly and quick to say hello and the girls are so beautiful.
The best beer is called Bintang, which you can get in a bar for about $3.00. Food is about between $6 to $17 for a main meal. Local wine when you can get it is about $8.00 per glass. They seem to have an issue with getting a license for wine.
All over Bali similar to India there are temples and idols. Each house has a little temple and each village has a bigger temple and each town has a massive temple, there are temples coming out of the ying yang!!!!! Everywhere you look people offer up a gift to their idols in the form of a tray made out of banana leaf containing flowers and things like cigarettes, biscuits, sweets or money. Always with an incense stick burning. These are found sometimes just on the pavement. Before we were familiar with this Mike stepped on one and burnt the under sole of his foot and ended up with a massive blister!!!!! But at least he didn’t get run over this time!!!!!
Another thing worth mentioning about Bali is the amount of scooter/motorbikes on the roads!!!! The drivers of these bikes have no concern for pedestrians, cars, trucks or other bikes. There are no rules. Even driving on the sidewalk where the pedestrian is beeped to get out of their way!!!!! On one-way streets the bikes drive down the opposite direction and even up on the sidewalk. Needless to say with the two of us Trish wearing her bike fume mask and Mike trying to protect her from bikes we looked like the right odd couple!!!!!
We found a fabulous restaurant before we left called the Lemon Grass owned by a New Zealand guy. The food was amazing. Very similar to the Chilli Club Thai in Calgary but a third of the price.
All in all we had some great food and R and R and are ready for our next stop. Perth!
T & M
