Della in Jogja: Beautiful Bali

This past weekend Courtney, Misato, and I made the trip over to Bali! We didn't want to miss any work so we made plans to leave very early Saturday morning and return even earlier Monday morning. The flight from Jogja to Bali is a little over an hour. Landing in Bali at around 8:30am and were immediately confronted with reverse culture shock. As the doors opened into the main terminal we saw attractive, 20-something, American-looking guys. I'm not sure why exactly, but we just couldn't stop laughing and giggling. We're definitely not used to seeing such familiar faces back in Jogja, but we were acting as if we'd never seen them before in our lives. One of my friends was laughing so hard she cried!

After a quick taxi to our hotel, we walked around the Kuta beach area and did some shopping. We also walked down the famous Legian street that is know for shopping, bars, restaurants, and clubs. Then we settled in for an afternoon at the beach. Kuta is such a gorgeous beach despite being very crowded. The entire time you're there vendors are coming up to you and trying to sell you everything from fresh cut fruit and bracelets to a back massage. At times in can be quite annoying, but we did take advantage of some of the things they were selling.

In the late afternoon, we arranged a driver to take us to Uluwatu temple. On the way there, our driver told us about Hinduism in Bali. While Indonesia is 90% Muslim, Bali is unique in that it's 90% Hindu. This is why tourists are free to dress as they please and modesty is not expected. It was really nice to be able to wear shorts and a tank top. The driver also explained that Bali is often called the "Land of a Thousand Temples", but he calls it the "Land of a Million Temples". This is because almost every house has its own little temple in addition to the larger, more famous temples.

As we pulled into Uluwatu, our driver gave us a stern warning about the monkeys that roam the temple grounds. We were all instructed to take off all our jewelry and look out for our flip flops. This warning proved to be very real when a monkey tried to take off my flip flop as I was walking up the entrance stairs. I felt a tug at the back of my sandle and I had to use a lot of force to pull it away from the monkey. They're very sneaky little guys and they're way too smart. We also saw a little girl get her flip flops stolen and it was a traumatic event. A lot of crying and screaming. They often steal from tourists and won't give the item back until they are given food in return. The monkeys were literally everywhere at the temple. We were even looking over the edge at the cliffs and they would jump out of the bushes onto the wall next to us.

The temple itself was amazing! It's situated on very high cliffs overlooking the ocean. It's supposed to be a great place for the sunset, but unfortunately it was cloudy when we were there. Despite the clouds, we stayed for the famous Balinese Kecak dance. We piled into a very crowded arena overlooking the cliffs to watch the dance. It's called Kecak (pronounced kech-ack) because around 50 men make music without instruments and basically repeat the word "chak" over and over again. The men all sat around a fire and dancers would come and go telling stories from the Ramayana. The dancers had beautiful costumes and were so methodical in their movements even down to the placement of their fingers. The dance lasted about an hour and we drove back to Kuta in the dark.

The next morning we woke up early and headed to the beach. It was much sunnier than the day before and it was incredibly hot. We cooled down by swimming, which was a blast. The waves at Kuta are good for surfing, but if you swim closer in it's calm enough to swim. There were so many surfers of all different abilities, which made for great spectating. Even though we all came home with sunburns, the beach was so relaxing and just what we needed.

We then met up with our driver again and he took us to two temples. The first was an inland temple called Purah Taman Ayun and we spent about 30 minutes walking around. The carvings and architecture were so ornate and beautiful! The second was the famous Tanah Lot temple where we went to watch the sunset. This time the weather cooperated, which made for an amazing view! It was the perfect way to end our short trip.

Despite having to wake up at 4am this morning to travel and then go to work at 9am, I'm so happy we did this trip! I think we got a good flavor of Bali by seeing and doing a lot. However, 48 hours is definitely not enough time to see Bali and I really hope to return in the future.

The entrance to our hotel called Fat Yogi Cottages. A great little hotel with a beautiful pool area. It was also conveniently located just a 5 minute walk away from the beach and an 8 minute walk from Legian street.

Some of the offerings that line the streets of Bali. They're made up of flowers, food, and incense.

A woman preparing the offerings

More offerings at Uluwatu temple.

The type of gift stores that line the Kuta beach area. You have to barter a lot at these places because they try to rip tourists off like crazy.

Me holding a snake! We came across this guy at a bar with his pet snake and he charged us $1 to hold him for a few minutes. Best $1 I've ever spent.

The volcanic sand at Kuta beach at low tide

Courtney getting a foot massage. These women are incredibly persistant and basically forced us into having a massage. They rub your feet until you agree to negotiate with them on a price. They scrubbed out feet with oils and a rock, which removed all the dead skin. A $3 pedicure right at our towel.