Ubud: otherwise known as the Love in "Eat,Pray,Love"

After a rough couple of days spent in Kuta, the armpit of Bali, trying to get our visa extension we finally landed in Ubud. Ubud is located in central Bali and it is a very relaxing place with lots of pretty rice terraces and amazing shopping. And for those of you who know me, you know the shopping has to be great for me to like it. Cuz I hate shopping generally.

My guide book said that it was a simple one day at the immigration office to get our visa extensions. They give you a 30 day one on arrival, but we are here longer so had to extend. Well, it turns out that you have to go back 2 more times, which would have meant us losing 2 more days of our trip, not to mention having to pay to go back to Kuta so I finally had to pay an agency $150 to do it for us. 

Kuta is a loud touristy town with a dirty, crowded beach and really aggressive touts. Along the beach are such classy restaurants as McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks and other American pollution. Our first hotel had bedbugs and every street has hundreds of crappy teeshirt shops. Apparently 18yo Aussies love it, but for me it is my idea of hell.

Classic rice terrace

One of the attractions here is a temple in a forest inhabited by hordes of aggressive monkeys. They steal, they bite and generally are mean. So they are fun to see but we had to be pretty vigilant in keeping them off of Jasmine. Another nice thing about Ubud is the hundreds of cheap Spas here. I got a 1 hour massage and half hour body scrub for about $11. Oh so nice, I could get use to that everyday, though I have only had 2 since I've been here.

Hordes of Monkeys

Baby monkey

My friend Alison has joined us for a week and we went and did some of the touristy stuff around Ubud. We visited a couple of temples and another volcano. Man I love all the cool geology here!

The Dragon Alison brought Jas in celebration of the Year of the Dragon

Mt Batur, with the 1994 lava flow in the front.

Temple

This is generally how we get around. Me doing all the work and Jas watching the scenery

We have had a relaxing week here in Ubud, but it is time to see something new. We are going to the beach to spend some more relaxing time. It's a hard life we are living!

Random Pictures from the Gili Islands

Mt Rinjani in the clouds, a big volcano

No dogs on the islands but tons of feral cats.

Perfect day to swim in the ocean

Horse cart, the only transport on the islands

Looking towards Lombok



Ending the day with a Bintang Beer at the beach



Sunset over Bali

Sunny in Gili Trawangan

Gili Trawangan is the most populated and touristy of the 3 Gili Islands. We are spending a couple of days here before catching our "fast boat" back to Bali. Frankly it has been a little bit of a shock to the system to be here after the mellow, laid back vibe of Gili Air. Also everything is more expensive here. We are staying at a place in the village (a homestay) that is pretty far off the beach for about $15USD/night. Everywhere else we have been this would have gotten us wifi and a pool. But on Gili T this gets us a clean room 5 minutes from the beach with aircon. But it is nice to do some people watching.

But to cut our costs we have started eating more street food. Though I had two of the Big Bintangs beers tonight (At Rp30,000ish/$3ishUSD each) so I guess that negates the cheapo dinner.

In our new place we ended up with some great neighbors, one is even an American (only our 3rd encounter of the trip). We chatted at breakfast and then all went on a snorkel trip for most the day together. Julia is a German living in Ireland with the best, most unique accent ever. And Alex is the Cleveland Browns center travelling in the off season (here out of respect of our new friend I refrain from any digs at the Browns).

Snorkel trip with Julia & Alex

At this point I want to say HELL YA PATRIOTS. No one else on this side of the world really gets why it was so awesome of the Pats to smash Tebow into ground. Though from Alex I get the impression he didn't really want to talk shop with me about how great the Patriots are, not that I blame him much since he is on vaca.

Not to jinx us, but the weather seems to finally have shifted a little to a more enjoyable sunny realm. I can live with some sun, some cloudy and some rain. But the pouring down rain of the last couple of weeks was beginning to wear. Keep your fingers crossed for us the weather is improving. We have had 3 days in a row of nice weather.

baby turtle conservation project on Gili T

Jas goes snorkeling in the Gili Islands

We arrived in Gili Air, one of a small group of islands north of Lombok a couple of days ago. So far we have found the best weather of our trip here. Yesterday it was sunny ALL day long. Yeah you heard that, no rain all day. Which I guess I could have predicted since I finally got us rain ponchos and a solid umbrella that morning. Murphy's Law, if I had known it was that easy to get a super duper nice day I would have done it long ago.


Boat to the Gilis

 The downside to a hot sunny day... my back and shoulders would fit in nicely in a burn ward. I even used sunscreen, I guess just not enough or frequent enough. Oh well, it should cool to a nice tan in a couple of days.

But it was so nice to finally have a full on hot sunny beach, swim in the ocean day. Since traveling with Jas I have had to exist at a slower pace and so we swam in the ocean, build sand castles, swam in the pool and spent the afternoon watching Dora the Explorer.


Breakfast on the beach



I should probably take this moment to wax poetic about Dora the Explorer. After considering many options back at home (and asking Jas what she wanted to watch) I ended up downloading a season of Dora the Explorer on iTunes, since my netbook doesn't have a dvd drive. I know that there are better ways to do it but it was easy for my techo-challenged brain to figure out. And it has been the best thing ever. The hour or two each afternoon that Jas watches Dora is the only quiet alone time I get each day. I go for a walk or take a nap in absolute SILENCE. So much so that when I met another single mom traveling with a 4 y.o. I let her copy it and she as so grateful, because she knew it mean some alone time.

Today I got to go diving. It was pouring rain with alot of wind when we got on the boat so I almost canceled. I am so glad I didn't. Jas stayed on the boat while I dived in the morning and fell asleep due to the rocking waves.

Ready to snorkel w/ our awesome Divemaster, Chloe.

Then in the afternoon we went snorkeling together in a place with no waves and the weather improved alot. And it was AWESOME. Jasmine loved it. She couldn't really fit the mask but I would hold it to her head and she would look at the fish in the water. We even saw a turtle (a big one). Finally I was cold and asked her if she wanted to get out and she said "No, I want to see more fish". That child is a waterbaby through and through! Not bad for not yet being 4 years old.

End of the day "OKAY" w/ Mt Rinjani in background

Rain, Rain Gone Away

So after meeting a very nice Aussie named Leah whilst sitting at the bar in our hotel in Senggigi last night, I was convinced to stay another day here. The pouring rain helped make the decision, since the ocean was really rough and I didn't want to risk it for our boat crossing to the Gilis. I think this decision is why the pouring, torrential rains finally stopped!

Senggigi Beach in front of our hotel, Beach Club

So with our extra day here, we shared a car with Leah and Luke to head to Senaru, about 2 hrs on the north side of Lombok. There are water falls there that you can hike to and it is a very pretty drive.

Gassing up the car on the way to Senaru

We hiked to two waterfalls and our guide carried Jasmine the entire way. I don't think we would have made it without his help, because the trail was pretty slick and wet. This is by far the neatest experience we have had here. The weather finally cleared and it was a gorgeous 1 hr-ish hike. At the upper waterfall we were able to swim in the clear cold water.

Our guide hauling Jas up the trail

Swimming in paradise

Beaching it in Kuta Lombok

Walking on the ferry to Lombok

After a night in Padang Bai, a boat town on the eastern side of the island, we boarded what the locals call the slow boat, the ferry to Lombok for the 4-5 ride between islands.

Lombok is one of the bigger islands that make up Indonesia and is located to the east of Bali. We don't have to meet my friend in Bali until later in January, so we are going to spend about 2 weeks exploring Lombok and the Gilli Islands. Unlike Bali, which is predominately Hindi, Lombok is mostly Muslim. It is also a lot less touristy, but still has some killer beaches both for surfing and snorkeling.

Our first stop is Kuta Lombok a small village with a few hotels/homestays and surf shacks. Despite the fact that the typical trash of a developing world village is everywhere on the streets, the beaches are generally clean and nice. This is the town that allowed me to experience my first cattle drive on a beach, while eating killer grilled fish (Mahi-mahi) and drinking a cold Bintang beer (the big one).

This town has the feel of a place that is a newborn in the tourist industry. The locals are starting to figure it out, but still have a feel of being open and welcoming, which is massively refreshing after Bali.

The area is pretty spread out and since I only have about a 1 km range with Jas walking or me carrying her I needed to find alternative transport to get out and see the area. Luckily walking up the beach yesterday I ran into an Australian couple with kids just around Jas' age. So we all rented a car together and set out to explore with the idea that the kids would keep each other busy. Since it was pouring rain all day, our trip was pretty much road trip, with play in the sand stop. Just so nice to talk to grownups and for Jas to have someone to play with.

A note on traveling with the Jasminator. We are doing okay, but I think the extended time together (now going on 14 days) without a break is starting to wear. And when I say without a break I mean the only time we are not together is the hour or two each evening I get when she is asleep before I join her. We even sleep in the same bed, with her touching me. It is starting to wear on me and her. I am now starting to to actively search for a babysitter I can trust enough to get a break, a day or afternoon anything. Though having a playdate and a couple days of hanging with Tess and Xavier, the Aussie kids, has done wonders for both of us.

Finally Bali

Pool!

Home Sweet Lovina Home

A few notes on Indonesia so far:

• Food is WAY more expensive than expected. I've eaten a few meals here that were more than the prices back home. And soda is the same or more. We are trying to keep to the warungs (small roadside shack restaurants), but it is still $5-7 a meal in those (at least here in touristy Lovina) including drinks.
• Hotels normally include breakfast, which can vary in quality. The place (Nariwana Hotel)we are now SUCKS, they are basically giving us toast and coffee. We stayed at one place that served us a banana pancake that was more like a crepe, perfectly cooked with the fresh caramelized bananas in it. Yum. More commonly is nasi gorem (Indo fried rice) with a fried egg. Usually with coffee or tea.
• It seems like the people here are more aggressively out to take as much money from you as possible. We have definitely meet some really nice Indonesians, but mostly outside the tourist areas.

After our epic adventures in Java we are spending 3-4 days just relaxing, catching up on our sleep and generally getting into the rhythm of being in Bali. I choose Lovina on the north coast as our first stopping point because my guide book described it as laid back and not as rainy.



Dolphin statue in Lovina

So after our first night in a crash hotel we walked around til we found a nicer place to stay for the remainder of our time here. It has a pool, air-con, hot water shower, breakfast included and is a stone's throw from the beach. All for about $17/night. Just what we need to recuperate. Listening to the waves crash is a nice way to fall asleep.

We are spending our time in the pool and just walking around enjoying the small amount of the area we can reach with Jas's limited walking range. We went on the dolphin watching boat ride this am. It was nice and we did see the dolphins, though why the dolphins hang around with 50 boats chasing them I don't know.

Ringing in the New Years with a Volcano& Epic Traffic jam

We spent the New Year on an epic trip to the Volcano Bromo. I booked the tour in Yogyarta that advertised a 9 hour bus ride to Bromo on Dec 31st, hotel, 3am jeep up the mountain to view the volcano on the morning of Jan 1st, jeep to the volcano crater, breakfast at the hotel and then 9 hr bus to Bali.

Well...... that is not exactly how it went. Oh it started out well enough, the bus picked us up at our hotel at 7:30am in Yogyakarta. After it picked up 7 other victims (err I mean passangers) we headed out. Now my guide book says that it is a 9 hr trip to Bromo, and in fine print it says "may take longer on holidays". This should have been in bold because it ended up taking us 14 hours, since Duh New Years Eve is a holiday. The hotel was pretty crappy, but by that time we didn't care we just needed a place sleep. Of course it was New Years so the fire works started at midnight and went for at least an hour. Luckily Jas slept right through it, but I ended up with only a couple hours of sleep.

Next morning we were up at 3:30AM for the jeep ride 19 or so kilometers up the mountain. First we went to Pananjakan (nearby view point) to view the Bromo caldera at sun rise. It was spectacular. The grey cone rising out of the base of the caldera was really cool to see. It was quite a climb and I had to carry Jas most of the way. She did really good on the climb but wasn't as impressed with the view as I was.

Base of the volcano crater, we didn't really get much farther.

Next the jeep drove us down into the crater and dropped us off for the climb to the active cone. Jas and I got about 1/3 of the way up when I realized we wouldn't make it in time to meet our jeep again, so we didn't actually get to the inner rim of the active cone. Bummer. There were horses that you could hire to take you up but I didn't think we would need them til too late. Oh well, I see it as one of those compromises I will have to make on this trip to accomodate Jas.

Up to this time in the tour all is going well and mostly according to plan. At this point I feel the need to mention that Bromo is a major destination for Indonesians enjoying a New Years day holiday. So the mountain was crowed, really really crowded. I will also point out that the majority (80% or more) of Indonesians travel on motor bikes.

This leads us to what I am going to easily call the worst, most epic traffic jam I have ever seen. It was only 19km from the crater rim to our hotel, but it is a 1-1/2 lane road and traffic rules in Indo are more considered a suggestion than a rule. So tens of thousand of motor bikes and cars were trying to surge up and down this road at the same time creating complete gridlock. It took us FIVE HOURS to go the first half of that distance. Yes, you heard me 10 km in 5 hours. That is a rate of 2 km/hr. Jas could have walked it faster. If we had known at the beginning it would take us that long we would have walked it too, but hind sight is 20/20 eh?

Jasmine was a ROCK STAR during this experience. She hardly whined at all. And the 5 other people deserve major cudos for being so kind to her. So thanks big time to the French couple, the Japanese lady, and the two American/Canadien english teachers for spending about 34 hours in minibuses/jeeps with us in just under 48 hours.

Just a small part of the traffic jam

After we finally made it to our hotel, 5 hours late to make our bus to Bali, our tour company arranged a special mini-bus to take us that afternoon to Bali (another 9 hours) arriving in Lovina at 2 am ready to sleep on anything flat. Luckily we found a decent hotel pretty quick where we both collapsed into a coma til morning,

I never would have planned on this much bus/travel time for Jas but she did really good, probably better than me, since I don't really sleep on buses and thus went with about 5 hours of sleep in all that time.
So what did you do to ring in 2012?????