Ubud, Bali, Indonesia: Days 67, 68, 69, 70

Day 67: A Scooter, A Boat, Two Buses, Two Planes, One Taxi to Ubud

The time has come to leave Koh Phangan - although it feels like I could stay forever. My friend drove me to the Pier on his scooter and then it was goodbye. The boat drops of at Suratthani, where a bus takes you to the airport... well, almost. The bus broke down, so we waited 30 minutes for another to arrive. Fearful of missing my flight as we pulled up to the airport only 35 minutes before my scheduled take off, I snatched by bag and ran through the door. Fortunately, the plane was delayed.



One 3 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur brought me to my final leg to Bali and my final destination in Southeast Asia. Landing at 9:30pm, I underestimated the vastness of this island and how long it would take to get to my first town, Ubud. Ninety minutes and US $40 later by airport taxi (which is far too much to pay here), I finally arrived to my hostel, an hour later than I'd told them. They were so sweet and woke up to get me into my room without complaint.

Day 68: Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Warung Babi Guling Ibu Oka, Street Market, Cultural Dance 

Turns out a friend from Pai also ventured to Ubud, so we met up mid morning to check out the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. Only 30,000Rp, or about $2, admits you into a beautiful site not only filled with monkeys, but with a creek, twisted trees, a dragon bridge, and more. Of course the mischievous monkies are the highlight as they take any opportunity to snag some food or shiney objects.

We wandered around the grounds until we found a lone monkey with his keeper, eating raw sweet potatoes. The man asked me to sit next to the monkey, extend my arm up, and pretended to put something in my palm. The monkey immediately jumped onto my shoulder, climbed onto my arm to investigate. When he found it empty, he continued to eat his sweet potato while sitting with his monkey butt on my shoulder. He seemed so comfortable as if he would sit there indefinitely, so to get him off, the man showed his sling shot. In a flash, I was monkey free.

After some Gelato and wandering, we headed back to Pai's hostel to swim in the pool. After a bit, some people wanted to check out a highly recommended restaurant, so we joined. Babi Guling is a famous local treat - an entire pig roast and every bit of him, save the head and feet, are enjoyed. This restaurant, Ibu Oka serves Babi Guling, so we all indulged. Being honest here - it was tasty, but I still prefer bacon and pork chops :)

After lunch, Pai and I set out on a mission to find me new tennis shoes. (A dog ran away with one of mine in Koh Phangan). We planned to hike in the morning, and flip flops weren't going to cut it. After driving and walking around, we stumbled upon their market of souvenirs. If didn't have over a month left traveling, I could have stocked up on a suitcase full of goodies here. Quite humorously, a lady tried to sell me cheap tennis shoes that were 3 sizes to small by knocking the price down to a 5th of the original price she quoted. Sorry lady - the shoe still won't fit!

Eventually I found some at a proper shoe store. We had some down time before meeting again for dinner and a cultural dance performance.

I didn't exactly know what to expect at this dance, but I'd heard that I should go. It definitely demonstrated a completely different type of music and dance than I'd seen before. Only 80k Rp, I think it was worth seeing once, but to be honest I couldn't stand the music (Now that I've been in Bali for awhile, it's interesting to know that they actually play actually listen to this music constantly). They have gongs and drums, but the overpowering sound of metal hammers clanking on a metal scale (of sorts) identifies the style most clearly.

The focus of the dance lay strongly on the costumes. Each represented part of a story of their gods. A lot of hesitation in doorways with shaking hands for the men, whereas the women's dance actually captured my fascination. They moved their eyes in synchronization with their hands and each other, tilting their heads simultaneously as well.

About halfway, they pulled audience members on stage. Of course one had to be me...

Day 69: Sunrise Trek on Mt. Batur

At 2am the following morning, Pai arrived to my hostel with three others for our sunrise trek. Many companies offer the exact same tour, so if this interests you, don't overpay. My hostel, Nema Problema, offers the trek for only 230k Rp. Agenda: pick up at 2am, 1 hour drive to Batur, fried banana and coffee or tea snack, 2 hour hike in the dark, watch the sunrise while eating boxed breakfast of bread, banana, and boiled egg.

And that's pretty much exactly what we did! The first 30-40 minutes of the trek were basically on flat to gentle sloping land. Then the challenge of ascending steep, loose rock began. Mt. Batur is a volcano, after all, so it's no surprise that pieces of volcanic rock lay everywhere.

We reached a look out point as the sky started to lighten. Our fast pace privileged us to seats on the very few benches offered on the mountain. (Dozens of people make this trek each day apparently - so we luckily didn't have to sit on the ground). Our guide gave us the option to continue to the highest point, an additional 25 minute hike, which we declined. One guy in our group set up his time lapse and we cozied in with our breakfasts on the bench, watching the sun slowly ruse over another volcano. Behind that volcano sits the tallest one on the island, Mt. Agung.

Good fortune gave us a rainless day, with clouds enough to enhance the sun's light without hiding it. We sat and enjoyed it's beauty, realizing that a vast lake and town sit below us in a large crater, freshly illuminated before our eyes. The guide led us to another crater, pointing out steam vents and caves, while more monkies played around.

Back down to the van, and an hour ride back to Ubud, I wasted the rest of the day sleeping on and off, thrown off by the odd wake up time.

In the evening, I did join Pai for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant with some others from his hostel. He was a huge fan because it's an all you can eat buffet based on donations. Tons of people rave about this place, and I admit that the concept is great. If you can't afford a meal, you dont have to pay. For me, personally, I didn't care for it. The food was sitting out for who knows how long; you wash your own dishes (which is fine), but the sponge is overly used and I don't trust how some people clean dishes. Maybe I have germ issues....

 After, it was back to the hostel for me and goodbye to Pai for the second time!

Day 70: Shuttle to Amed

I planned to take an Uber to Amed this morning (crazy that they have Uber here!), however, when I went to the app, no drivers were available. Taxi would cost too much money. Originally, I was told that no busses ran to Amed from Ubud, but that is untrue. No public busses may exist, but you can pay for a shuttle. So, for 175k Rp, I was on the road to Amed on Christmas Eve Day, passing gorgeous rice terrace fields on the way.