Bali Part II

Bali was a constant assault on all of my senses. I figured that after a couple of days I would get used to everything, but it was just as exciting on the last day as it was on the first.

I guess where I'd like to start this entry is with the Balinese people. They are wonderful! Of course, there are touts and scam artists. More often than not, the Balinese people we came across were super friendly and helpful. A little cultural respect and basic language skills goes a long way. It was hard to leave our favourite "warungs" (restaurants or food stalls) as the people who ran them were very nice and always dished up great food. What is even more interesting is their reaction to the horrible bombings that occurred in Kuta on October 12, 2002. They are truly upset and outraged by this incident and not only because it severely affected their tourism industry. They are outraged that terrorists would come there and bomb their home. They let you know that none of the people involved with the bombing were Balinese. They also stress that they are peaceful. I actually saw a couple of locals wearing shirts that said F--- terrorists. They also sell these to the tourists too.

We managed to do some day trips from Kuta so that we could see more of the real Bali. Kuta is very touristy. I kid you not, there's a Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory restaurant and store. Something tells me you won't be finding any locals in there.

Our first adventure sent us into the capital city of Denpasar. It was much different than what I expected. I guess I expected bigger and more modern buildings. There were drastically less tourists there so that made it nice. We took a "bemo" bus, which is a public bus. It wasn't that uncomfortable or crowded, but Mark and I were drenched in sweat throughout the ride, while the locals seemed just fine in jeans! We ended up visiting a bird market - which was both interesting and sad. It's always difficult for me to see animals in small cages, but not a sight we'll see back in Toronto. As a side note I should mention that chickens and roosters seem to be almost as common as cats and dogs in Bali. There were chickens roaming the streets and you could always hear a rooster crowing somewhere. We also visiting the main produce market in Denpasar. Let me tell you, it was quote the spectacle. I'm sure that the pictures will barely do it justice. It was huge and overwhelming and completely chaotic! Definitely a worthwhile experience.

We took a day trip to the town of Ubud, which is north of Kuta. It's the arts and crafts capital of Bali. We ended up with 2 sarongs and a painting. Along the way we saw quite a few temples and a monkey forest.

We spent another great day traveling further north to see yet more temples and the famous rice terraces. Bali is a beautiful country! This day we some some of the most important temples in Bali, including 2 that were set in magnificent surroundings. One was set on a very peaceful lake in between 2 mountains while the other was set right on the ocean. It's easy to see why those spots were chosen. The rice terraces were equally impressive. To best utilize the land, they build terraces into the hillsides to grow rice. It was so brilliantly green and beautiful - we could have stayed all day just staring at rice.

The inevitable happened in Bali - I got traveler's diarrhea. For 2 days I was unable to eat and drink. Luckily, we had designated those days to rest. I was pretty much unable to go very far from the place we were staying. I figured it was coming. I had been tempting fate all week by drinking fresh juice and eating other questionable things. Hopefully this just makes my body able to deal with it quicker in the future. Consequently, it must have been something we both ate because Mark's tummy didn't feel great either, but he was better after 15 minutes while it took me 2 days! I told him that's the difference between growing up playing in the dirt in Rochester, NY versus playing in dirt on a commune in China. He told me a story how he once got pretty sick from eating spoiled chicken kidneys at a road side stand in China when he was there years ago. I know what everyone is thinking so no need to comment. I told him that I probably would have died if I had eaten spoiled chicken kidneys if my body couldn't even handle some bad OJ.

Pictures from Bali (April 10 -19, 2005):
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/nicoleella10/album?.dir=ea9c&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/nicoleella10/my_photos