11.24.10

What an incredible few days! So many stories, I don’t even know where to start! The first day they were here, I had a photo shoot, and Sonja was excited to be able to tag along. After words, we let them walk around and discover the busy ally ways of Kuta and the beach. That Monday, we decided we would head out for a two or three day adventure up North.
The night before we left, we had found a tiny orange kitten near our villa. I had noticed it laying down when we went to go get dinner, and it was in the same exact spot upon our return home. I had John stop so I could pick it up and local nearby had told me to take it home…so I did. He was dubbed the name ‘Baby’, because that was precisely what he was. In fact, such a small baby, that I had feared he was starving from being away from his nursing mother. He was nothing but skin and bones, and instead of being strong and mighty, he was very weak and limp when I held him. I knew in my heart there was little that we could do besides make him comfortable. I had hoped that we had gotten to him in time and could possibly get this guy strong enough to go back in the wild, but deep down, I knew he was in pretty bad shape. I gave him a quick bath which he seemed to enjoy. Flea ridden, we made him a bed outside with a towel and left him lots of food and water. At first, he was thrilled, and practically drowned himself in the water. He curled up in his towel and was all stretched out and comfy. In the morning though, he didn’t look very good. We were leaving for our adventures with Sonja and Marco, so we just made sure we left him lots of food and water and prayed for the best.
We were on the road by 8am. There is the Berut Belong tree, where the road literally drives through the trunk of this massive tree. It was in the direction of where we were headed, but not really on the way. We took a wrong turn and started to head up into the mountains. Again, it is very cold and chilly up there! We noticed some nasty clouds so we stopped at a nice little restaurant for lunch before heading back out. The problem was that it started to pour! Unfortunately, John and I only have two ponchos. We debated after some time of the best way for us to keep ourselves and our things dry, but the boys were gentleman and let the ladies were the ponchos. We had all crossed our fingers that the rain would stop once we turned around and headed out of the mountains, but we had no such luck! The rain was freezing, even when we were out of the mountains, and I could barely keep my eyes open with how hard it was coming down, and I had sunglasses on. (John and I had developed a really good driving system…he drives and I direct. I have a great sense of a direction and am really good at mentally visualizing a map on the road. Doesn’t make sense does it? John pays attention to the road; I pay attention to road signs and road markers that help me figure out where we are and how to get back. When I can’t see anything, we might as well be driving around in circles because John has not a clue. Besides, it would be way too hard to drive around all the crazy traffic and figure out where we are going at the same time. Not to mention that the road signs in Bali are often covered by trees, and are so tiny that you need a microscope to see it!) We stopped and asked for directions several times, but when you are this far out of a touristy area, you can forget anyone being able to speak English. We were lost for a good 20 minutes…freezing cold, still in the pouring rain, ready to give up, when we FINALLY found the road. Pour John and Marco were soaking wet and wrinkly from being in the rain. Especially Marco! His hands looked like they belonged to an 80 year old man! The rain started to let up as we got closer to the tree, and we were all so relieved when we finally found it! The tree is considered to be a sacred place because of all the lives that were lost when they made the road through it. To be honest, it wasn’t as massive as I had thought it to be, but it was still really neat to see. We took lots of pictures, rested our very sore butts, and drove through it towards our next destination.
We had driven up North through the beautiful rice fields. It is later in the season, so the rice is growing tall and bushy. When it is at this length, it’s hard to see the rice terraces clearly. It ends up looking like a busy hill instead, but we stopped for some pictures. We finally got to Lovina just as it got dark. Lovina is at the Northern coast, fairly close to Singaraja (the old capitol). It is famous for the dolphins that occupy its warm oceans, which is its drive force for tourism. We had found a cute sea-side homestay and then got dinner. We booked our dolphin sight-seeing tour for early the next morning, so we all headed to bed quite early.
The next morning we had to meet our boat guide at 6am. It was miserable, but the dolphins were worth it. He took all 4 of us on a quaint banana boat made of bamboo and slowly tugged us out to sea. Before you knew it, we were surrounded by hundreds of dolphins, swimming around in their pods, jumping and playing together! It was an awesome thing to see. We didn’t get to touch them, or swim with them, but I feel that this sight-seeing tour is a much more eco-friendly way of positively supporting the dolphin trade. We went up and down cashing the dolphins around, but eventually we were surrounded by more boats then we were dolphins so we decided to head back. Our only regret was that we wish we would have gotten up earlier to have beaten the other boats.
We didn’t hesitate to get back on our motorbikes and back on the road. We headed into Singaraja when all of a sudden John noticed that Sonja and Marco were no longer behind us. We pulled over to wait for them, but they weren’t coming. As I was taking my phone out of my purse, Sonja had called… they got a flat tire! I knew it was bound to happen, but I didn’t think it would happen to them! We turned around, and spotted them at a tire shop. Luckily, we weren’t in the middle of nowhere when it happened. They were able to turn into a mechanic shop only a few feet from where the tire had gone flat. Plus, it was much cheaper. I can’t imagine hassling with some guy who knows you are stranded and has a tire tube. I think they spent 4 bucks on it, but I can promise if it happened in the country, it would have been more like 15. It was maybe a 20 minute detour, and back on the road we went!
We decided not to stop to see the GitGit waterfall. We have seen enough of those in Australia. Once we were out of Singaraja we stopped at a warung for lunch and petrol. So far, my dining experiences have been very pleasant, even at the tiny warungs. However, that all ended here. We all ordered Nasi Goreng, and they were all brought out in wooden, basket-like bowls with a paper lining. The lady had set down a dish for everyone, and I noticed as she went to grab my dish, a cock-roach climbed from under the rice and onto her hand. She just flicked it off like it was no biggie and told us to enjoy. I wasn’t going to complain and insult her, so I took a big gulp and tried to prepare myself. As I picked up my fork, another cock-roach appeared, crawling all over my plate and onto the table. Another one had appeared near Sonja’s dish, and even though we clicked them onto the ground, they just kept coming back! I was really reluctant at this point, but everyone was munching away and I wasn’t going to be the brat who didn’t eat her food. We were in Bali after all… so I went for it, slowly, one bite at a time. Marco picked up his paper lining and took a quick look inside the bowl. He didn’t show much emotion, but he quietly told us there were 4 or 5 cock-roaches chilling in his bowl. At that point I handed my plate to John, who eagerly ate the rest. We paid the bill and politely said thank you.
Just across the street was a waterfall, so since we were so close, we decided to go see it. The road went up to the top of the hill that led us to a bunch of Balinese who wanted 2 dollars per person to see the waterfall! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, we just turned around and said ‘no thank you’. I know that isn’t a lot, but in Bali, it was. 2 dollars got you a meal for 2 with drinks!
It took us only another 10 minutes to reach Tulamben where we wanted to stop to go snorkel the WWII Ship Liberty which had sunken just off the beaches shore. We had no idea were to swim or how far to go out, so we just stuck our faces in the water and followed the other people. There were some fish, but the water was dark and creepy. I just kept on kicking until I saw what looking like the Titanic. The feeling that came over me was so chilling and scary. I just wanted to swim back to shore, but I just clasped onto John and started to explore. Sonja felt the same way. I guess it just feels like a ghost or some un-earthly creature will just rise from this dark eerie object and take you down to its lair! Eventually, I was comfy and swam all around it admiring the gorgeous and REALLY large fish. At one point, a massive school of tune came around. They swim in a circle and John and I swam right in the middle of it! These tuna had to be 2 feet long, and being in the center of their silvery whirlpool was totally awesome. It was like a scene from little mermaid, when they are singing and jumping around! It was just unreal!
After about an hour we got back on the road and went to Amed. John and I had already snorkeled here once, but wanted to show Sonja and Marco how incredible the coral was. We played in the water there for another hour or so, and then made our way towards Candidasa. We stopped along the way to show them the monkeys, but for some reason there were only 4 or 5. Maybe it was late, and they head for the woods during the evening, I don’t know, but it was a bummer that there weren’t more of them like usual.
When we got to Candidasa we spent 30 minutes shopping for the most affordable homestay. We ended up choosing the first place to stop at. We rested and took showers and then went for cocktails at Toke for happy hour. Right after we went to Legong to get dinner and watch the dancers. Unfortunately, there was a ceremony that day so the dancers weren’t around. Sonja and Marco were so over stimulated though that they were happy enough to go straight to bed anyways.
That was the end of our 2 day adventure. The next day we got straight on the rode. Just as we left the city, I reminded John to keep his eyes open for cops, and to run through them if we did spot them. Cops normally are not a problem until you get to the bigger cities like Denpasar, but for some reason, just as I had warned him, there was a block in the road of cops, and no way around it. Now I have my international driver’s license, and John doesn’t, but of course I am not driving in this crazy country! Sonja was driving at the time, but she didn’t have her international license… only Marco did! We didn’t even think to warn them of the cops, so poor Sonja ended up paying them $25 bucks. John got away with $10, though we were equally mad at that. We had all agreed to just drive past them next time, no matter what!
We did eventually make it back to Seminyak. Sonja and Marco played around and did their own thing, and we all were eager to rest our very sore tailbones. Riding that long on a motorbike certainly takes it toll!
Unfortunately, Baby, our sweet orange kitten had passed away the day after we left. The maid had found him so they took him to an empty field. Poor little dude. At least he was comfortable.
It’s been an incredible few days and we are just happy that we got a chance to show them around! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so we are really looking forward to showing them our incredible western celebrations!