Bye-bye Bali

Before leaving Bali, we drove up to one of our favorite villages, Ubud, and toured the Monkey Forest:

One of the monkeys tried to bite Todd... but Todd was too quick.

So, I decided to keep a good distance.

We also tried to recreate one of our favorite photos from 2009:

Now we are finishing up packing before grabbing some nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice) and heading to the airport for Perth!

All washed up

Rainy season in Bali:

Red Tape and Road Rage

Extending a 30-day tourist visa in Bali seemed fairly straightforward from the research we did on the internet.  We read that there were two options:
1. Go to an extension office (these offices can be found on almost every street near our house), pay about Rp 600,000 ($60 US) per person, relinquish passports for a week, and pick up extended visas 8 days later.

2. Go to the immigration office in Denpasar (about 10 miles from where we live), relinquish passports for a week, return to immigration a week later to pay Rp 250,000 ($25 US) per person and then return the following day to pick up our passports and extended visas.

We decided to take option 2 to save a little money and check out Denpasar since it's only 10 miles away.  Now that it is over, we are certain that the extra money for option 1 would have been well spent!  The entire process included 3 death-defying trips to Denpasar, one of which was even worse than usual (due to a power outage).  Here is a video from that journey:

The drives were so stressful and frustrating that by the time we finally arrived in Denpasar we had no desire to explore the area and never ended up doing so much as having a meal there.  In the end, it cost us only $25 each instead of $60 each, but it also cost much more in time and stress.

TP or not TP

Running out of toilet paper in another country is either more or less traumatic, depending on how you look at it, than it is in America...

Happy Holidays!

All days ending in "Y"

While living in Bali we have discovered that the following things are probable/certain to occur on all days ending in the letter "Y":
- gratuitous/excessive fireworks
- the offering of possibly authentic DVD's for purchase for Rp 10,000 ($1 USD)
- power outages
- traffic nightmares due to powerless traffic lights (see above)
- forecast for three days of thunder storms
- half off massage special for a full body "therapeutic massage" at Reborn Spa on Jl. Sunset
- burning of noxious/toxic waste
- religious ceremonies involving rice and flowers, the remains of which end up either in the ocean, the streets, or the piles of burnt waste (see above)

Risk and Reward on the Bukit Peninsula

Although Uluwatu (located on the southern tip of Bali) is only about 19 miles from where we live in Kerobokan and it is one of the most beautiful and wonderful places on the planet, we rarely make the trip.  This is due to the fact that not only does it take over an hour to ride there, the ride is a harrowing and frequently life-threatening experience.  The roads are congested with traffic which does not follow any rules (because there aren't any- see Dec 7 blog "Not Looking...") and is like a high-risk game of frogger.

Whenever we do make the journey to Uluwatu the rewards are great and we remember why we fell in love with Bali in the first place.  The air is clean, the ocean is actually blue (not brown), the food is not quite as "tourist-priced" as it is in our neighborhood, and our favorite Warung that the Pyzels introduced us two back in 2009 is still there right on the cliff with a gorgeous view of the surf and sunset and is still serving up our favorites:

Fruit plates for Rp 20,000 ($2 USD)

Jaffle (bread pocket) filled with scrambled egg

Roti in the rough

Neither of us ever guessed that we would frequently be enjoying roti in Indonesia.  We are not certain why, but  roti places are everywhere!  There is one in particular that is a hidden gem in Seminyak called Roti Canai & Teh Tarik on Raya Kerobokan (less than 1km south of Lio Corner).  As the name implies, they specialize in tea and Indian flat bread.

We've been there a few times and plan to revisit it a few more times before we leave Bali.  Here's why we love it:
When making a "teh tarik" the workers put on a great show and make one of the best sweet tea drinks ever.

Same goes for the roti.

Locals and tourists alike are more than willing to wait patiently for the delicious roti and teas partly because the friendly atmosphere and the fact that the food and drink is THAT GOOD!

Idiosyncrasies?

Following a trail of ants underneath the mattress in our new apartment, we stumbled upon a couple of other surprises:

Yay... lizards and black mold!

Onward and...

While our villa/studio has been a great home for the past month, we are moving on to another apartment nearby for half the price and all of the amenities (fully-equipped kitchen, AC, wifi, daily cleaning, hot water, etc.).  We are very happy to say goodbye to our shower with no water pressure and very infrequent hot water, our internet that has little or no signal, and our leaky roof.

And while we might miss our "pet lizards"

and the dogs, Putri (named for her habit of rolling in all things putrid) and Boots,

I doubt we will miss many of the other visitors (like this rat who made a playhouse out of our rafters at night).

We are looking forward to discovering and sharing the idiosyncrasies of our next place!

Not Looking...

I have searched the internet for Balinese traffic laws and have come up empty handed.  There only seems to be a few things that are enforced on the road:
* motorbike riders and passengers should wear helmets
* all vehicles should stop behind the painted line at a red light
* motorbikes should be ridden with their light on at all times
* all vehicles should drive on the left hand side of the road
We say should because these laws are more guidelines than anything else and are rarely enforced.

Other than that, all of the rules are the same as on a kindergarten playground:
1.  I'm bigger than you.
2.  I was here first.
3.  I'm not looking.
4.  Since I'm not looking, no one can blame me for anything I do.

This makes for absolute chaos on the road.  Motorbikes and cars pass on either side, often encroaching in two lanes of oncoming traffic.  Intersections are an absolute free-for-all with the above kindergarten rules playing out thousands of times per day.

Here's a video of a typical drive to the supermarket... yes, we are passing on the wrong side of the road:

Balinese Sweeping Torture

So, the place where we are living has a gardener.  All day long, he sweeps.  Everyday (except Sunday).  He sweeps the stone walkways, the grass, the flower beds, anything that is below his knee level, he sweeps it.  Currently, he is sweeping  a 2'x2' area of grass...  the same plot of grass that he was sweeping when we left the house two hours ago.  The best part is that there are only 5 leaves and four plumeria petals in a pile on that particular plot of grass.  The fact that his sweeping doesn't improve or change anything doesn't deter.  As it seems, it is his life's mission to sweep and rake regardless of the need.

So, all we hear everyday, all day long, is whisk, whisk, whisk from his broom made of wheat bristles (very noisy).

The big 2-7!

For my big day, we decided to celebrate with 2-hour full body Balinese massages at a spa called Reborn off Jl. Sunset in Kuta.  After we chose our oil scents (I chose plumeria for me and sandalwood for Todd) and had our feet scrubbed, we were whisked upstairs to our massage tables for two hours of bliss!  The session was incredible and we both agreed that we would be visiting the spa in the near future.

We spent our evening at Degan on Jl. Petitenget following raving reviews for their crispy duck (which Todd was salivating for).

Sadly, the restaurant did not live up to our expectations.  The duck was burnt far beyond "crispy" and my spicy beef was more spicy fat-chunks than meat.  So, we decided to move on for dessert to Zula Vegetarian Paradise for a very tasty warm chocolate brownie and coconut ice cream (all non-dairy)!!!

Canngu beach day

In our housing search last week, we looked at a place in Canngu on Pererenan Road (Jalan).  We didn't take the house but we "discovered" a pretty nice beach that we think is called Pererenan.  It has a couple of reefs that are very tide dependent but on the right day could hold good waves.  Yesterday, since there was a pretty big out-of-season SSW swell, we jumped on our little scooter and made the 40 minute trek north to check it out.  It's not the perfect season for this side of Bali because the winds generally blow onshore but yesterday the winds were light and by the evening the onshores had subsided, the ocean surface was glassy and the overhead waves were absolutely rip-able.  The tide had filled in enough that the sets were consistently peeling left in front of the street and right down by the river mouth.  Not having a board or fins, Todd made the most of it and bodysurfed by himself for a couple hours.  Sorry, no photos because the sun was setting behind Todd and the surf but there were claims of barrels and the long rides are verified.

One of the great things about Bali is that the warungs/restaurants on the beach are happy to provide showers etc. for patrons.  We took advantage of that fact and had a nice shower and dinner on the upstairs lanai overlooking the beach and the setting sun.  Here's a shot of the fare (which cost about $15 US!) including grilled snapper:

All Bagus in Bali

Keeping true to our list of things to do in order to live in a place instead of visit, we have spent the last 4 days in Bali getting the following things in order:

1.  We booked a hotel, Nyima Budget Inn, for our first few nights in Bali while we looked for an apartment.

2.  We found and moved into a great month-long rental in Umalas (near Seminyak) with wifi, AC, a pool out front, daily maid service, drinking water, a small kitchen, and hot water for about 6,000,000 IDR (or $663 USD).

Our apartment hunting in Bali has taught us that internet "villa" listings are almost always more expensive than anything found while actually in Bali.  We found a cafe in Seminyak called Moka that has a bulletin board full of short and long term houses available.  Although the home that we called and went to see was not available, the nice Javanese owner referred us to her friend who owns the place we are now happily living in for a "good friend price".

3.  We bought SIM cards on Indosat and now have working phones (although our data still doesn't work - the phone guy is going to have his "professional friend" look at them).

4.  We have rented a motor-scooter to get around.

5.  We have established that tap water is not good for drinking.

6.  We bought memberships at a gym about 1/2km from our house (special couple price: 707,000 IDR or $78 USD).

7.  And, finally, we found three different markets around our house where we have found all of our cooking essentials!