A little bit more Bali: Kuta and Ubud

We left the chill atmosphere of Amed after about four nights and headed back to the madness and excitement of the big city, Kuta. My main goal there, outside of avoiding the hawkers and not getting run off the road by a motorbike, was to learn to surf…and surf I did. It took three separate lessons to be able to stand up consistently and with any amount of confidence, but I finally did it with the help of my awesome surf instructor, Agung. He insisted on giving me the second lesson for free because he wanted to make sure I could stand up properly. After those few days surfing, I usually hung around Agung’s umbrella with a few other folks, just chatting and occasionally having a yummy Nasi Goreng from the beach vendors and of course, renting a board for a few hours at a time and practicing what I had learned. One afternoon Katy and I went down to the beach with all intentions of renting some boards and trying our luck with the surf that day, but instead we ended up getting sucked into an awesome beach party separating Linda’s birthday (an awesome Indo girl trying to start her modeling career in Kuta). My good friends Jim Beam and Bintang came along…oh my, what a fantastic afternoon. One guitar, a few drinks, multiple sing alongs, good company, and drunk surfing at dusk…what more could you ask for?

Beach party clan, Agung is the one with the guitar (he played as beautifully as he sang)

I am trying to upload a video of an Indo girl (I forget her name, thanks a lot Jim) who has a power house voice and sings with some real soul. Anyway, moral of the story is that the video won't upload, so use your imagination and I'll try another time or I'll just show you when I get back if you're interested enough to ask me.

Moving on...


After Kuta, we headed to Ubud, which is the artistic center of Bali, not to mention a yoga and meditation sanctuary (you could call it the Eat, Pray, Love city, they actually sold little Eat, Pray, Love statuettes haha). It was a nice place, kind of ritzy and overpriced, but nice nonetheless. There was one café that I loved in particular, it’s called Kafe and it totally sent my café senses haywire. Marcelle and Katy were always laughing about how happy I got over a really good cappuccino or the fact that I needed to take pictures of everyone’s dishes because they were so delicious looking and well presented. I definitely snagged a few good café ideas from this place to add to my mental Rolodex of my one-day café.

Ubud is a barrage of beautiful store fronts and works of art

Pinky out when you're eating street food. I should have taken a picture carrying a huge basket full of different types of food on her head.

Meg's Big Bowl at Kafe. Om nom nom, it was just as yummy as it looks.

Aside from the obvious good eats, the other highlights of Ubud were the monkey temple forest and the white water rafting trip. The monkey forests is just as it sounds, a forest/park thing with a big temple and a shit ton of monkeys. There were big monkeys, baby monkeys, obese monkeys, monkeys sleeping and swimming and hugging, monkeys flying from trees, and stealing bags of bananas from out of your hands. It was a cool experience, to say the least.

Obese monkey (banana belly?)

This monkey just stole that bag of bananas from a full grown man

Just taking a little dip

Monkey on a shrine

A wet monkey eating a banana (you get the idea yet?).

Baby monkey dangles while Mama monkey gets her butt cleaned.  Isn't it just darling?

Monkeys hugging. It's amazing how the similarities shine through in moments like this.

Monkey shrine.

Intricate carvings.

Just monkeying around (a tired joke that had to be made)

Did I mention there were tons of monkeys?

I should have stopped there but this one is just adorable.

While monkeys are cool, nothing compared with white water rafting on the Ayung River through terraced rice paddies, under waterfalls and over four meter high drops off a damn. I was a bit to chicken to risk my camera's life during the actual rafting so here are a few before and after shots.

Free Bali coffee pre-rafting

Getting stoked

Looking down on the take-out on the Ayung River.

And here are a few pretty pictures of the rice paddies that are everywhere in Bali.

People are always carrying impressively heavy loads on their heads.

Motor bike is hands down the best way to get around Bali.

Katy looking pretty in the rice paddies as the sun falls low in the sky.

Some terraced paddies on the way to the Ayung River.

Bali Baybay

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2011

So we've been in Bali for a little over two weeks.  I must say, Bali is one of, if not, my favorite place so far.  We arrived on the 4th, spent a night in Kuta, which is the beachside tourist enclave.  You'll walk down the streets being harassed with a few phrases, ultimately saying the same thing: Please spend your money here.  A few of my favorites: you buy? transport, transport? massage? cheap cheap (which sounds more like chip chip).  Anyway, after one wild night in Kuta and nearly escaping a night in a bed bug ridden room by the skin of our teeth, we headed out on the four hour ride to Amed through the tiny winding mountain roads framed by terraced rice paddies.

Katy, breaking it down in Kuta like only she can

The thing to do in Amed is chill, chill and chill some more.  Squeeze in a few awesome meals (gado-gado being my favorite), a game of chess or two, a cup of Bali coffee in the late afternoon and a long seaside walk if weather permits and you've got Amed all wrapped up.  There is also supposed to be really beautiful at a big wreck a short boat ride away, but the seas were too murky because of the rain the whole time we were there to do any diving.  No matter though, I still thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Amed, taking in the scenery, talking to locals and watching the sun move slowly across the sky.

Photo by Katy: Local kids flying kites in Amed

Marcelle and the rice paddies

Meet Gadi, a Berkley man who Marcelle and Katy met at some other point in the journey.  He spent a few days chilling with us in Amed.

Our little bungalow by the sea in Amed

Kids playing with water bottle boats in the black sands of Amed

Mama Warung, our home in Amed for a few days

One of the main industries in Amed is salt making.  These large structures are used in the salt making process.  Apparently, they need four consecutive days of sunshine to make salt, something that Amed hasn't had in 2 years.

Their other industry is fishing, which has also been affected by the consistent rain that Amed has seen for the past years. Sonny, the owner of our bungalow is a fisherman and salt maker by trade.  He says he hasn't been able to fish for at least a year because of the change in weather patterns.

Little hams, on their way to fly kites.  Tons of people would get together every day on the beach and fly kites for hours.  It was a lot of fun and harder than it looks.  I tried once and just kept nose diving my kite into the ground again and again.

Just a little porch chillin'

The family that owns Mama Warung flying some kites shoreside.

This was the walk we took to get from our bungalow the road.  That is the only road that runs through Amed.  It was really funny walking along the road because everyone would always ask you where you were going, and not in an attempt to sell you transport or get you to go to their place, they were genuinely interested in where you were off to 9 times out of 10.

Fishing boats framed by the sea and the volcano which is the highest point in Bali.  It's hard to see it because of the clouds, but you can just trust me that it's there and that it's huge.

Sonny breaking out the motor bikes for our little joy ride.

Strange fruit.

At one point, Marcelle stopped, turned off her bike, and then it wouldn't turn back on.  I had to wave a friendly moto rider off the road to help us start it after about ten minutes of failed attempts at starting the bike.

It was raining more times than not while we were in Amed, so we had to find ways to entertain ourselves indoors.    Oh, how I love Katy.

After a few days in Amed it was back to Kuta for us for a little hustle and bustle by the white sand beaches and big waves littered with surfers.

Couch Surfing in Singapore

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2011

The plan went that we'd catch a bus from KL to Singapore, stay two short nights in Singapore, and then fly to Bali.  As it turns out, Singapore is hella expensive, so we decided to couch surf instead of paying the premium for three hostel beds.  I organized us to stay with a host, John, for the two nights.  He seemed really nice and had an a three bedroom apartment all to himself, so we were living the sweet life in a ritzy high-rise condo building with a floor to ceiling view of the reservoir and a killer pool (that to Katy's dismay, we didn't end up swimming in).  It was my first couch surfing experience, so I can't judge by comparison, but John was the best host I could have asked for.  He was a 30ish-ish year old Navy dude from Nevada who is currently stationed in Singapore and heavily involved in the couch surfing community.  He was incredibly helpful, in spite of his insanely busy work schedule.  He gave us all the tips of things to do and see in Singapore, and how to do it on a budget.  John is the man.

Singapore itself is a combination of jaw dropping architecture, hawker stands with delectable sea food dishes, ex-pats, speed tourism, and a day full of a ridiculously impressive collection of SE Asian contemporary art at this huge exhibition called Beinnale.  All in all, Singapore was interesting, but the oddest thing to me was how many rules, laws, fines and restrictions were set in place.  At a certain point I just started taking pictures of signs specifying what you cannot do and how big of a fine you will have to pay if you try and do it.  We didn't have a single drink in Singapore because a single beer cost $8 if you get a deal.  We saw a promotion for $50 pitchers, and might I add that the Singapore dollar is almost equal to the US dollar at the moment.  So we passed on any casual drinking or nights on the town, and instead indulged in the variety of mouth watering foods offered at the hawker stands.

The Singapore Art Museum, where a huge part of the Beinnale collection was held

A memorial, to what I can't remember anymore (damn these back dated blog posts) and the epic skies of Singapore's storms

No skating and no sleeping, you'll also get fined $500 for drinking on the metro, something like $700 for eating and $1000 for smoking.  Who can afford to smoke in Singapore anyway?  We heard cigarette's cost something like $12-$14!

Cheezin'...Apparently there is an infinity pool on top of those three buildings connected with something that I think looks a lot like a cruise ship.

That flowery looking thing is a Art Science Museum.

The dope pedestrian bridge.

Downtown Singapore is full of beautiful sculptures.

The most famous of which is the Merlion.  This the mini-Merlion.

After much searching for the infamous Merlion, we found this little guy and felt a rush of disappointment at its lack of grandeur.  Come to find out, this little guy is stationed right in front of the real Merlion, which had been closed off due to another exhibit for the Beinnale.  Basically, they built this thing called The Merlion Hotel, which is a hotel room built around the top half of the Merlion that is a public space from the hours of 10am-7pm and is rented out for private use every evening.  Sadly, due to a flub in map reading and a lack of knowledge about the exhibit, we didn't get to the exhibit until 7:30pm, so we couldn't see the Merlion of note in all it's glory.  Either way we were tired from a full day of walking and speed tourism, so we made our way over to "Arab Street" and settled in for a little hydrating and shisha before we hit the metro back to John's. 

If you look really close, you can see the Merlion tail through the scaffolding.

Ya, there's a ferris wheel.  Whaaat?  Sadly, it wasn't running. 

More signs telling you not to do stuff.

Shisha time on Arab Street.