Big Bali Tour

Rooftop Breakfast

Tuesday was the day of our long tour! We started the day off at 8 am ughh with a beautiful breakfast on the rooftop to the sun waking us up. Our tour guide Wayyon arrived at about 830 in his new toyota crossover; which he was very proud of. We got in the car not sure what to expect and Wayyon took out his map and asked us where we wanted to go. I was a little taken aback because 1.) he had such great english and was genuinely nice and 2.) he was interested in what we wanted to see and what would make us happiest. We developed a general game plane and headed off. Bali is overcrowded with many motorbikes and cars, so things are generally not a far distance, but there is always miserable traffic. The first stop of the day was finally out of some of the congestion. We drove through Tohpati which is a batik making village. The towns in Bali mostly all have a certain craft that have been passed on to them. Therefore when driving through these areas you will see thousands of the same thing repeated. We stopped at one of the plentiful Batik "factories" and learned the art of these beautiful fabrics. The fabric is first outlined with a pattern with black ink then sealed with wax. The wax is scraped flat and more colors are slowly added in layers until the pattern is complete and more wax is placed over it. It was such an intricate process which definitely surprised me. There of course was a gift shop and the prices definitely reflected the time and effort that goes into every piece. I did not buy anything here mostly because they were inflated tourist prices. 

Batik Outline

Wax covering

Next stop was the silver making village called Celuk. We stopped at a silver factory that was opened by Wayyon's college friends. Wayyon never graduated from college but he was getting his degree in some sort of International studies with a focus in English, and he knows about six languages.  The silver jewelry making was so intricate and of course all done by hand. A pair of earrings would take one skilled man a little over one days work to complete. A necklace with all the links hand made would take about a week! Inside there was absolutely stunning jewelry and when I have a real job Kara and I will return and select one special piece of jewelry there. 

Hand making earrings

So beautiful

Mas village was the next stop, which is the wood carving village. We arrived to see about ten men whittling and filing away on foot long hunks of wood. Some were in the beginning process and some were becoming very elaborate. The tour guide there told us that each artist had their own style so there are never two pieces that are the same. The men are the only ones allowed to do actual carvings on the side there were five women sanding down all of the finished pieces. Apparently it is considered unholy if the women were to carve. The wood carving stop was right next a gorgeous rice field and Wayyon explained to us a little bit about the harvesting. (I honestly don't remember the particulars about it- but I do know it is an extreme amount of work). He said that in the past every family would have their own rice field and altars were set up in the fields to ensure a good harvest and luck. Slowly people began to focus more on other crafts, so the altars would move to these locations. Now every household has an altar instead of in different work places, so everyone will prosper. 

Carvers

Women sanding 

Masks in the gift shop...

On our way through the island we drove through Ubud which is a main city in Bali. We were shopped out so we did not stop at the touristy marketplace there. The next stop was Jalan Wanara Wana which is a sacred monkey forest outside Ubud. The monkeys roam through the paths and temples here and worshipped by the locals. After our terrifying experience at monkey beach is ph phi, Kara and I were very wary of these crazy creatures. You could feed the monkeys, so they were quite friendly and after walking around for a few minutes I was definitely ready to leave. We managed to make it up to the main temple and took a few pictures and then we pretty much ran out of there. 

This was close enough

Main temple for the monkeys

Family Cleaning

Tegalalang was the next stop . It is just a beautiful viewpoint of rice terraces-the view was quite breathtaking and I will never forget how precisely the fields were carved into the mountains and just the vibrant colors of the fields.

Beautiful Rice Terraces

Kara, Francie and I

 Our furthest northern stop was next- the semi-active volcano Gunung Batur and the lake inside the crater Danua Batur. The crater inside the volcano is massive, in the 1980s the volcano erupted and there is still damage in about a half of the crater. The other half is small villages surrounding the largest fresh water lake in Bali. Normal tours only look at the view on top of the mountain but Wayyon took us down the scariest weavy road to the lake. We ate at a local restaurant know for their fresh Tilapia that they harvest. The restaurant was on floating docks in the middle of the lake, it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience-eating on the water inside a volcano! 

Danua Batur

Gunung Batur

Us with Wayyon eating on the floor!

FRESH Tilapia Lunch

The floating restaurant!

Posing in the crater lake!

The next stop after the trecherous clim back up the mountian was a coffee growing farm. Bali is known for a certain coffee, Luwak Coffee or fondly known as "cat poop coffee". These cat like creatures- Luwak will selectively eat certain coffee beans that smell the best. Their bodies can not handle the beans, so they are passed right through the body without digesting. People then collect the excreted coffee beans and roast them to make coffee. I did not try the cat poop coffee since it was a bit of an appetite suppressor but I heard that it is quite smooth and delicious ughhh We opted for the free coffee and tea sampler. My favorite was by far the ginseng coffee, it had the most amazing smooth taste with a ending hint of ginseng without it being too overpowering. The hot cocoa was great too because cocoa beans are harvested as well at this farm. 

Roasting beans

Our sampler

View form the cafe

Gunung Kawi temple was the following stop. It is one of the most famous temples in Bali because it was built and carved into the rock faces in the 16th century but it was covered over by vegetation and was not rediscovered until the 1960's! These days the temple is used once again for special celebrations. We had to wear clothing that was appropriate for the religion, so even the men had to tie fabric around our waists as skirts to cover our legs and a rope to hold it up. It was really fun to explore and I felt an outer body experience like I could feel the ancestors there and feel the history seeping out of the rocks. Then we continued to climb up the 1000 steps back to car- it was worth the workout though!

Adventuring

Of course we had to

 Ketut Liyer Medicine Man from Eat Pray Love was next. I was so excited to see this celebrity in person. The locals all say that Ketut is a scam because he tells everyone the same fortune but we still wanted to check it out. It was 250,000 rupiahs- which is quite expensive for Bali. (about $29) We actually had a show to get to on time, so we couldn't wait for Ketut to give two more 20 minute fortunes. It was quite hilarious to listen to Ketut because he doesn't know that much english so his story did not make too much sense, she was going to go back to school to become a doctor and get married when she was 30 (even though she was 29 and single and had her teaching degree). I guess I will just have to see what the future unfolds for me instead of learning ahead of time. 

Our final destination was a night fire show. We were exhausted and did not enjoy the show too much, it was more amusing listening to about 30 men chanting as the background music to the show. Next time we know that the show was a D-rated production of a fire story and after a long day not exactly the thing you want to sit and watch. We still laughed secretively and almost fell asleep.

Creepy masks afterwards

 The drive back to Echoland was silent- we all fell asleep! Wayyon was so great to take us on such a long tour for the same price as others. I will have one more entry this week to sum up my trip! Until next time...

xoxo

Leah

Start of Bali

Spring break started off a little slow. Kara was unfortunately sick- I think she picked up the cold that I had. So saturday we just relaxed at NTU and rested. Our flight was on Sunday evening and Kara was feeling somewhat better so we leisurely made our way to the airport. Our break started to look up when we decided to stop for dinner half way through our hour long MRT journey to the airport. We got off half way through at a stop called City Hall, which was in the middle of Raffles Place Mall. We went down to the food market and found a fabulous place called Senor Burritos. It was exactly what we were looking for, some delicious mexican food. We made it to our flight with plenty of time to spare and boarded our 2.5 hour flight to Bali. I sat next to one boy from England who has been teaching English to students in Taiwan for two years, and a Russian girl who was on a three week vacation to Bali. The flight went fairly quick because we all got along well and had plenty to talk about. There was no time change in Bali so we arrived around 11 pm. Luckily my friend from the fight was walking with us and warned us of scams that some of the locals do. When getting currency converted they will pull out bills when you are not looking. 1 US dollar equals about 8780 Indoneisan Rupiahs, so it gets very confusing because you are getting so many large bills. I made sure I counted my money exactly and it was correct. The other thing locals do is when you get to the baggage claim someone will be waiting with your bag, and then they expect a large tip for wheeling your bag. Yet again my flight friend was there to help us get a cab for a good rate. Our lovely hostel was called Echoland Bed and Breakfast. It was about an hour drive from the airport, and about 45 minutes from the most touristy area called Kuta. The hostel was so great, all of the people who worked there were extremely friendly and helpful.  One man named Hendi took a liking to us and made sure everything was perfect. He let us stay in a regular room the first night free of charge because we arrived so late. The next day we moved into our dorm room, which had two triple bunk-beds. The only other person there when we arrived was Francie, a backpacker from Germany. 

Triple bunk-beds

Outside Echoland Bed & Breakfast

Our pool in our HOSTEL

Hendi arranged for us to do a tour for a great deal, it would be about $21 US per person. Our first day it rained so we walked down to Echo beach and looked around. Echo beach is one of the last areas in Bali that has not become too commercial. There were five beachfront restaurants and about six small shops, and that was it. It was a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of Kuta and areas around the airport. Our hostel was located in the middle of rice fields, and pastures. When we walked down to the beach we passed cows and that was it. This area was actually one of the most peaceful and relaxing places I have ever been. Since it was raining Hendi assisted us in finding something fun to do-what else to do in the rain then shop? Hendi tried to teach us how to use the motorbikes that Echoland provided, since motorbikes are the primary source of transportation on the island. Kara and I decided we were a little too clumsy, and the other bikers were a little too crazy, so we got a taxi. We found ourselves at a souvenir mega store called Krisna. Surprisingly we were the only tourists there, and it was filled with locals. We realized later that all the vendors buy their things at Krisna and sell it for a higher price at their shops. I picked up some great souvenirs for under $20 US. I got a few bracelets, wooden sculptures, and lots of other fun Bali gifts. Kara and I got our gift shopping done in the first day for much cheaper than everyone else! When we returned to Echoland the sun was peeking out so we went down to the beach and watched some of the surfers. Echo beach is a very well known beach for experienced surfers, so we had fun watching all of the huge waves. 

Street to Echo Beach

Echo Beach

With my new floppy hat from Krisna

Surfers!

For dinner we ate at a cute little restaurant called Sticky Fingers. It was amazingly good italian food in Bali!! Kara and I shared pasta with tomato basil sauce and a cheese calzone. It rivaled some of the best Italian food I've had! It was the perfect start to our beautiful vacation in Bali. Since there is so much to say I am going to break these posts up into parts to make it easier for me, so be on the lookout! Until next time...

xoxo

Leah

THAILAND TIME!!!!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post it has been a crazy two weeks! Not much to comment on, just had my first quiz/test last week for my classes. Here the quizzes are worth 20% of your grade and then the final is 60%, so a lot rides on one test. Anyways this weekend was probably the best trip of my life. Kara and I planned a trip to the lovely island of Koh Phi Phi Don in the Andaman Sea off of Thailand. (that is a mouthful!) We started our great adventure at 5:30 in the morning on friday ughhh. The traveling was quite long and extensive but so worth it. We took the first bus from our campus at 6 am and headed to the mrt station. Our stop at NTU is the second to last stop on the red line and we were going to the last stop in the opposite direction. We just napped for the hour long trip which brought us right to the bottom of the airport.  We arrived with perfect timing and made it through security and immigration easily. Our flight left at 8:35 am and arrived in Phuket Thailand at 9:10 am (due to the time difference) Next up came the 35 minute taxi trip to the ferry. Driving through Phuket was very interesting, it is not the nicest area where we were driving. There is a resort area along the other coast that apparently is more established. Everything was pretty run down with the exception of some very elaborate Thai temples and cultural things. It was such a contrast to see shacks surrounded by elaborate statues and walls. We made it to the ferry pier in perfect timing and boarded our little rickety ferry. It was so hilarious because there were so many people and bags packed onto this little boat but we made it! We thought it was a great idea to sit outside along side the boat, but it ended up we had a constant spray from the ocean for two hours, so by the time that we arrived we were soaked. 

Ferry Ride

The phi phi islands are comprised of a few scattered smaller islands and one larger island phi phi don, which is the only one that is established and has inhabitants. It was 1 pm when we officially arrived after a long day of travels. We headed off the ferry in search of some well needed food and we stumbled upon a restaurant called Mr. Tees. I am so happy we found his hole in the wall, of course in Thailand I would order the Pad Thai, but this was the most delicious Pad Thai I have ever tasted. It was the best start to our day in Phi Phi. 

Thai Fanta

Small Shop Best Shop

Pad Thai!!!

The island is actually quite small and there are no cars at all. You have two options: walking, or taking long boats to where you need to go. Our hotel was in walking distance even though it was on the opposite side of the island. We stayed at the lovely Twin Palms Bungalow. It was about ten steps to the beach and ten steps to restaurants and shops. We had to rough it a little bit in order to be in such a fabulous location. The bungalow had no outlets, tv, radio, or anything modern. On top of that it was equipped with mosquito nets for all the bugs and of course no A/C so we had one fan. I think the entire trip that I was in Thailand I was some degree of hot. The water was warm so not refreshing, the nights were hot, the days were hotter... so you get the point. 

Our Bungalow

Beds with Mosquito Nets

Modern Bathroom...

Ten steps to beach

After our inspection of our bungalow we just relaxed at the perfect beach for the rest of the day. That night we met up with some other friends from NTU and we went to a place called Banana Bar. It is set on a rooftop with little bungalows all around it. There are black lights everywhere and of course they gave us glow in the dark paint to use. The next morning I headed straight to the beach and reserved Kara and I two prime beach chairs. Along the beach right near our hotel there are a bunch of food stands. At first I was wary but I watched them cook everything so we decided to try it.  ( We were warned not to eat anything raw in Thailand-which means we didn't eat the wonderful pineapple, we said we would rather be safe) I had the most delicious spring rolls and corn, yes a huge ear of delicious thailand corn. We were hooked yet again on another place to eat. 

Our Beach!

Spring Rolls and Prawns

Amazing corn haha

Later in the day we decided to go hike up the the pee pee viewpoint. we thought, well the island is not so big so it shouldn't take too long.... we we're wrong. We were probably climbing stairs for forty-five minutes in the dead heat. By the time we reached the last viewpoint we were covered in sweat and missed the sunset. Yet, it was still so breathtaking. The viewpoint showed the  entire island of phi phi don and all the boats in the harbor. The photos I took did not do it justice. That night we wandered around town with our friends from NTU and had a great time. We tried this food called a thailand pancake. It was great, maybe because I ordered it with nutella, but either way it was great.

Lots of Steps

Pee Pee Viewpoint

Gorgeous

 The next morning we had our cruise with Captain Bob at noon. We headed to Mr. Tee's for some pad thai and then went to the pier. When we were waiting we met four people from Canada on our cruise and we all hit it off well. Captain Bob's boat is a small I would say 25-30 foot sailboat, which he sailed from Canada himself. At first the boat seemed a tad to small for everyone but it actually worked out perfectly. The group was Kara and I the sole Americans for a great majority of our trip in Thailand, the four Canadians, two swedish guys, and one Australian man. By the end of the trip we were all so close, including Captain Bob. On our tour we stopped at Monkey Beach first, to of course see the monkeys that live on a small beach in Phi Phi Don. I was wary of the monkeys before we got to the beach and Captain Bob warned us they were a little vicious. Lucky I kept my distance because there were many other tourists there taunting the animals and they went after a few people. No one got hurt but I was happy with my photo from afar. 

Sailboat

Momma and Baby

The next part of our journey is we sailed over to Phi Phi Leh. This island has a sacred cave called viking cave, which has historical cave paintings from the Chinese. The Thai actually believe that the Chinese discovered North America first due to the depictions in these cave paintings. We were not allowed to go into these caves because from Dec.-May it is breeding season for Thailand's sacred bird. These birds make nests with their won saliva and apparently if a human eats this saliva it will help them to live longer and prosper. Therefore they are in great demand and are highly sacred. One small nest is valued at about one thousand US dollars. Now these nests are protected by the government, but Captain Bob said that there used to be a mafia that ran Phi Phi Leh up until about five years ago. Phi Phi Leh is actually uninhabited besides a few government men protecting the nests, and they live in very primitive bungalows in the cliffs. 

Cliffs

People live here...

Next stop is famous Maya Bay. Our boat anchored on the other side of the island so we could enjoy some non touristy snorkeling. The water was so clear with thousand of these turquoise and yellow fish brighter than the water. We walked through the island to Maya Bay which is known from the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo Dicaprio. It truly was breathtaking, the sand was so incredibly fine and soft and the water was perfect. We basked in the water for awhile and then snorkeled back to Captain Bob. Our next stop was a cave on our way back. We got to do some small cliff jumps and exploring in the sunset. The sailboat had two kayaks being pulled in the back of the boat so in the sunset all the girls climbed into the kayaks and just took in the sun. I have to say it was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. We were in between islands and all we could see was vast ocean around us, no boats, no tourists, just us, the sunset, and the water. We were all reluctant to leave Captain Bob so we all went out to dinner together. 

Snorkeling

Getting Ready...

Maya Bay!

Me at Maya Bay!

Yoga time in Maya Bay Cave

Little Cliff Jump

The whole Crew!

This drew to our last day in Phi Phi, we took in all the sun we could, did alittle gift shopping and parted the island at 230 pm.  We did a long haul of traveling and got back to our little room in Singapore at 2 am. It was worth the exhaustion. This was the most beautiful and perfect place I have ever been. All I can say is pictures do not do it justice. Until next time...

xoxo

Leah