Mon March 11- Today marked the end of our New Zealand adventure. We packed up the tent and drove from Waipara to the Christchurch Airport. The Qantas check-in lady was extremely helpful and checked our bags all the way to Bali. This might sound like a non-event, but somehow our flights Christchurch - Sydney - Bali were not part of the same itinerary! Special thanks to Air Treks. As booked, we were supposed to clear immigration, collect our bags and then check-in with JetStar. This would have been impossible with a 1:30 hour layover - especially with all our camping gear which needs a special check in Australian customs. Anyway, no need to complain! With good luck our bags were checked through, the flights were fine and we landed in Bali around 9pm.
Now we had to find our way to Villa Mango Trees (VMT) in Jimbaran. Tomorrow would be Nyepi, the Hindu New Year, and tonight the people were carrying ogo-ogos (intricate papier-mâché statues on a frame) through the streets. Most streets were blocked off and we knew it was going to be a challenge to get to VMT. It was quiet at the airport, but we were lucky to get in a taxi with an excellent driver. VMT was not even a 10 kilometer drive, but with the road closures it became a true adventure! At one point we were on a narrow street, going against the traffic and were then forced to turn around by the oncoming parade! With an "O my god, this is bad boss!" the driver quickly turned the car around and dropped us off at the beach. Andrea, the owner of VMT, had instructed us to text her if we got stranded. So we did, and within 5 minutes she picked us up on her bicycle. It only took us 10 min to walk the dark streets and alleys to the villa. It was quite an experience watching the local boys chanting and hoisting the ogo-ogo above their heads barely missing the power lines. Happy to have made it to the villa, we soon jumped into our private pool to calm our heat-shock.
Tue March 12- The day of silence. The Balinese New Year (1935) is greeted with a day of total silence. Nobody on the streets, the government blocks the TV (internet worked though) and we were not allowed to leave the Villa compound. A great day to do nothing! We worked on the blog and hung out in our private garden with pool. We loved the villa! Beautiful inside and out and a great place to relax! On a practical note; since we could not go out for dinner, VMT made Nasi Goreng for us. Thank you!
Wed March 13- The day of silence was followed by the day of noise. At 6am sharp, firecrackers and loud music marked the end of the silence. And the music and parties continued the whole day! After a lovely breakfast with fresh bread and pastries, we walked to nearby Jimbaran beach. We were a little diasppointed by the huge amount of trash on the beach and in the water. We quickly decided to go back to the pristine oasis of our villa. We cannot recommend Villa Mango Trees enough. We absolutely loved it! For dinner we walked about 20 minutes to a restaurant in Jimbaran (Balique). We were the only people walking on the sidewalk filled with sinkholes. A challenging trek! But the food was delicious!
Thu March 14- Another day of vacation! The day just went by... At the end of the afternoon we decided to do something cultural. We took a taxi to Uluwatu where we visited the temple and saw a Balinese Kecak (fire) dance. The temple is right on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We enjoyed the beautiful setting, the nice sunset and the fun dance! Back at Jimbaran we had a seafood dinner on the beach. Quite a good day! :-)
Fri March 15- Around 8 a private car picked us up from Villa Mango Trees to drive us to Lovina, in the north of Bali. Since we would be driving across the island we thought it would be fun to make a stop in Ubud, the cultural (hippie) center of Bali. We walked around Ubud for a bit, but we were not too impressed. We continued the drive north through the volcanic mountains. Unfortunately it was cloudy and it rained as well. The drive was OK, we had some nice views, but in general the nice rice-paddy views were blocked by houses all along the road. Never ending towns... We did visit a nice temple though, in a beautiful jungle setting! After getting ripped off for a bad lunch, (our driver probably got a good cut though), we were happy to arrive at 'The Lovina' hotel.
In general, we do not understand why so many people come to Bali, love it and come back. Outside the bubble of beautiful villas and resorts, it is busy, dirty and chaotic. It is pretty cheap though, so the (drinking) Aussies are understandable. But that is of course just our humble opinion! And we know, we are rather opinionated. Apologies.
The Lovina Resort was phenomenal! We had a beautiful 'beach suite,' overlooking the pool and ocean. With a beer at the pool bar and an awesome sunset, this day was not bad at all!
Sat March 16- Another brilliant day in our pristine resort-bubble! Our most exciting thing today was a Balinese massage! Lovely! And it was for 'free!' ... or maybe just part of the room-rate.
Other than that we were lazy... The resort was nearly empty and most of the day we had the huge swimming pool to ourselves. For dinner we walked 10 minnutes along the beach, through the trash, to the town of Lovina. We must say the food in Bali is delicious. We ate chicken satay with peanut sauce every day! And a lot of Nasi Goreng!
Sun March 17- We broke the lazy-cycle and got up at 5:30 for a dolphin tour. We hopped in a 'traditional' motorized canoe and set out on the Bali Sea. Soon we saw the pack! Not the pack of dolphins, but the pack of about 70 other boats chasing the dolphins. A couple of weeks ago in Doubtful Sound (New Zealand) we also saw some dolphins. The captain specifically stated that he was not allowed to change course and follow the dolphins. This would disturb their natural behavior! In the Bali Sea this was not the case. There were more chasing boats than dolphins! But it was a lot of fun! A beautiful sunrise, calm seas, dolphins and boats racing about made it a great event!
The dolphin-tour was the only thing noteworthy on this day in 'paradise.'
Mon March 18- Our busiest Bali day! At 8 we got picked up to go snorkeling at Menjangan ??? Island. After a 1 hour drive and a 30 minute boat ride we got to the island. The pre-lunch snorkel on the North-side was great! Except for the little jelly-fish that kept stinging us... But the coral and fish were spectacular! World class! It reminded Maurits a lot of diving off Cairns in Australia. We had lunch on the South-side. Before going out snorkeling again, we walked to a really cool temple. A beautiful Ganesh statue, nice buildings and two deer. Yes, that is correct, two deer. We also did not know that there were deer in the tropics! The post-lunch snorkel was even better than the first. No jelly fish, a steep reef and beautiful fish! Maybe we should have gone on a diving trip/course on our world travels... An awesome last day in Bali!
Tue March 19- Before heading back to the airport we had a lazy morning. We slept in, enjoyed a late breakfast and had a final swim before a driver took us back to Denpasar. The drive back to the South of Bali was a lot more enjoyable than the drive North. A different road with less development and better views!
Back at the airport we checked in, found a seat and waited for boarding to commence. A long story short; our first big air-travel-delay of our world-trip! Garuda 840 was supposed to leave Bali at 7pm and arrive in Singapore at 9:30, but we did not leave untill 10:30. A lot of unhappy people missed their European connections... Luckily we had a 10 hour layover and would make our connection just fine.
Blogsy is not the ideal app...
Is there supposed to be more than one pic in this post?
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