oh, bali! ....from singapore

oh bali!
land of beauty, culture and cuisine! a place that finally lived up to ALL the hype! or maybe we were just that happy to leave java! Bali was absolutely awesome. While the beaches were simply great(not the best ever), the culture, awesome food, people and inland sights more than made up for it. In fact, the inland, stepped terrace farms, temples and awesome tropical forrests were in many ways the highlight of the island. Our days on a scooter, getting lost driving around in monsoon level storms were even magical(although i couldnt have been wetter if i had jumped in a pool.) the times we drove around, stopping to admire the steep hillsides covered in rice farms, surrounded by palm trees and other foliage straight out of the jurassic period were a mind altering experience.
The real world of bali is filled with fancy hotels, infiniti pools, tons of traffic, overdone tourist temples and millions of tiny warungs(local food stall/restaurants) that all combine to make an authentic Indonesian attraction. Yes, Tanah Lot was a huge disappointment, but our scooter ride afterwards up into the highlands to see a more remote temple more than made up for it! After Tanah Lot we were tempted to just call it a trip, head back to our hotel in Ubud and relax for another day or so before heading out, but then we decided to take off in to the mountains, see some of the famed farmland, jungles and a lesser known temple(name to come.) That might have beeen the best idea we had in bali. Our drive up the hills and farther in to farmland was awesome, and then our scooter ride back down the hills was awesome for different reasons. The whole way it sprinkled rain, but on the way back the skies opened up and it began pouring!!!! within moments i was totally soaked. we pulled in to a small metal barn/garage of a farmers, but realized it could be hours before the rain stopped! So, i gave jin my raincoat, which luckily was big enough to fit over her, and the backpack, and I braved the water to get absolutely drenched! We made it back to Denpasar after a while of driving through a straight up monsoon! When we got to Denpasar, our scooter even ran out of gas! Luckily, one of the liquor bottle gas stations was right around the corner, so the ordeal only lasted at most 10 minutes! these are the classic asian gas stations, where people sell you 3/4 of a liter of gas for 25 cents more than the price of liter.... all out of a liquor bottle and supplied at random from most any streetside store more than a couple kilometers from a gas station!

Overall, Padang Bai was a relaxing and chill place to spend a 6 or 7 days(spread out over two visits,) Ubud was a nice upscale tourist spot(although a bit too upscale and touristy for me and jin), and Kuta was a great tourist laden party town, best for only one night! We had a great time in Bali, but were ultimately happy to leave.

Now, we have been in Singapore for a week. We are leaving to head back to Phuket, Thailand tonight, and have found another free place to stay on couchsurfing.org. More to come on SG soon, but it won't be near the misty eyed, magical memories that Bali left behind.