Back from Bali
We had a great time in Bali, and came back to Bandung yesterday. I think Lonnie and Eve are just boarding their plane now to head back to Seattle. We had a lot of fun with them while they were here. I just wish I’d had time off work while they were in Bandung, so we could’ve checked out the city together. Oh well.
We left Friday morning from the Bandung airport and had a short layover in Surabaya before heading on to Bali. We decided to start with a few days in Ubud. We got to Ubud and had lunch, then Eve and I relaxed in a little cafe while Billy and Lonnie went out exploring and found us a hotel. The hotel was nice with lots of Balinese Hindu style. It also had a great swimming pool, which Eve and I used a lot. There were lots of birds, and it was just off Monkey Forest Road.
We went to the Sacred Monkey Forest one of the days, and the next day we did a walk through Ubud’s rice paddies. We got a bit lost on our walk, but we had a great time exploring.
After three nights in Ubud, we struck out for a beach. We’d looked at the Lonely Planet Guide Book a lot, and Billy suggested we check out a nearby island, called Lembongan. It sounded like a tropical paradise. We had to take a boat from Bali. It was a nice little boat, but it was kind of insect-like. It had pontoons and three arms on either side that lead to the pontoons. It gave the look of a big skiing bug.
On the boat trip we saw some little flying fish. That was pretty cool. At first we thought they were little birds just skimming the surface of the water, then we saw them disappear into waves. They were small, probably no more than 6 inches long, and they could fly for quite a distance, but never very high off the surface of the water.
We got to the island, and the boat let us off by a bunch of small fishing boats and seaweed farmers. It wasn’t all that inviting. We met some locals on the beach that insisted they new a better beach to stay at on the island, so we got on the backs of their motorcycles and they took us to Dream Beach. It was a small beach, with a restaurant and just a few little beach bungalows made of woven bamboo with thatched roofs. We ended up staying there for 3 nights and really liked it. The water was cool and clear, and the waves were at times pretty rough, but we had a lot of fun playing in them.
We rented a couple scooters while we were there so we could check out the rest of the island. We did a snorkeling trip one of the days, and had an amazing time. I think it was the nicest snorkeling I’ve experienced. The water was so clear, and there were so many colorful fish and coral of different kinds.
Yesterday morning as we were about to leave Dream Beach we walked down to the beach for the last time, and saw a giant sea turtle on the beach. There was a guy from the Nature Conservancy checking on it. He took a photo of Eve and I with the turtle.
We took the boat away from Nusa Lembongan, back to Sanur on Bali. We had breakfast and lunch there, then went to the airport. Lonnie and Eve flew from Bali to Jakarta. Billy and I flew from Bali back to Surabaya and Bandung again. It was sad to say goodbye to Lonnie and Eve. We had so much fun with them while they were here.
But it’s good to be home to cool, breezy Bandung.
Filed under Exploring Indonesia | Comments (4)Lonnie and Eve are here!
My step-brother, Lonnie, and his wife, Eve, arrived in Bandung yesterday. They landed in Jakarta on Sunday, and spent a couple days exploring the city before hopping a train to Bandung. They stayed in a hotel near our house last night. We picked them up last night after we finished work, and took them back to our house to hang out and talk about their plans for the rest of the time they’re in Indonesia.
I think they’ll be staying in our spare bedroom for a couple nights, then heading off to Batu Karas, the beach Billy and I love so much. When they come back from the beach we’re going to spend some time in Bali together.
Filed under Living in Bandung | Comment (0)Great time at the beach!
We returned from our beach trip yesterday. We had a fantastic time, and I didn’t break any bones this time. We went with a bunch of other teachers from our schools, and there were eight of us total. Billy did an excellent job of organizing the trip. Everything went smoothly, and a great time was had by all.
We left Bandung at 11:30 Friday night, and arrived at Batu Karas beach at around 5:30 in the morning. We were exhausted, but the beach was deserted, and felt like it was our private beach. We had some breakfast and checked in to our hotel early. We stayed at the Java Cove Beach Hotel again. We love that place, and the owners are incredibly nice.
The first day we did some swimming and drinking, and just relaxed. The second day I had surf lessons with my friends Gabrielle (from Australia), and Melanie (from Canada). None of us had ever surfed before, and it was cool having the support of our friends if we had any problems. It was hard getting the surfboard out to the waves, as there’s a strong current that just pushes you back to the beach. But, after we got through the whitewater (with the assistance of the instructors helping us), we had a lot of fun. I stood up several times with the instructors’ help, and a couple times all on my own. It was thrilling. Even though I’d been working out, I was really sore for a couple of days after the surfing lesson.
The next day, we went to nearby Pangandaran beach. It’s a much bigger beach, and although we like it, we prefer Batu Karas. Billy organized an Angkot (public mini-bus) to take us all there and back. We had some lunch and a couple drinks in Pangandaran, then the girls and boys split up. We girls hopped a little fishing boat over to Pasir Putih (white sand), a wildlife reserve, and the boys swam on the beach, and just hung out around town. We had an hour in Pasir Putih before the boat took us back to Pangandaran. We saw two different kinds of monkeys, and had a nice time walking along the beach collecting seashells and coral. The sun set as we were leaving Pasir Putih, and the driver of our boat pointed out the gigantic bats that were flying out over the water. They must’ve had a wing span of about 3 feet. Incredible.
We met back up with the boys, and headed to the Pangandaran fish market. There are probably a dozen restaurants with fresh seafood on ice. You choose which fish you want, tell them if you want it grilled or fried, what kind of sauce you want, and they weigh it and cook it all up for you. We had one really big grilled fish with a spicy sauce, 2 crabs, and a kilo of fried calamari between 6 of us, along with rice and water spinach. We were all stuffed, and I think it cost about $5 each for the feast. Nothing beats fresh seafood!
We got back home yesterday around noon. We missed most of the holiday traffic, and stopped for a nice breakfast on the way home. The whole trip was a great success, and I can’t wait to go back to the beach again.
Filed under Exploring Indonesia | Comments (3)Beach Trip Digital Scrapbook
I put together a digital scrapbook with some of the photos from our beach trip. I did this with Photobucket.com’s new ScrapBlog application.
