somewhereonthedesk: 2017 - has wings and is flying past

Welcome back for 2017.
How fast is the time flying again.
And with this the return back home home to colder weather from the most amazing holiday i have ever experienced in Bali.
With my short holiday experience last October 2016, visiting the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, Ubud Bali with the girls from my bookclub.

This is my epic Part 1 - week 1 in Bali , May 2017

My love for the island and my desire to explore further, my plan to return was was started. My goal was to have an experience of new places, culture, and to see how the locals live, and to experience some lesser visited sites, with less tourists around.

My plan came to frutition on 30 April 2017, 2 weeks of bliss in Bali.
Along for part of the journey was one of my oldest school friends, who had never had the pleasure of travelling overseas before.
After buying cheap plane tickets with Tiger airways and then having the tickets cancelled as Tiger no longer flew directly to Bali, I had to change to Air Garuda.
My flight experiences both directions were very smooth and uneventful with Air Garuda, along with my 30kg of luggage, mostly presents for my friends in Bali and some items for an orphanage in Lovina.
We were off on our adventure.
Landing smoothly and being greeted by the hot and humid weather was our lovely driver Ary, waiting amongst all the other drivers at the airport exit. With our name on a board. The feeling of being greeted and welcomed personally made for a very welcoming start to my holiday.
Off to Ubud we headed. Skillfully navigating the crazy traffic of Bali, and with roads closed and many detours due to the many ceremonies that are performed regularly in this idyllic island. We finally arrived safely to the beautiful and spiritually inviting village of Ubud and our first accomodation - Honeymoon Guesthouse 2, where we were welcomed by my other friends and out for dinner at a local cafe.

Day 2 - leisurely breakfast at our hotel, Honeymoon Guesthouse 2, Ubud A short stroll to the shops to find some thongs (flipflops) as my friend packed to left thongs, the first of many moments of laughter, and then a visit to Cafe Lotus for a cool refreshment. A must visit for its beautiful Lotus ponds, sent in front of a palace temple. Such a beautiful backdrop of any meal. In the evenings there are dancing performances.
After lunch we were greeted by our driver Ary and friends Wira and Luis, who were going to show us more about life in Bali over the next 2 weeks.
We were honoured to be the guests at my drivers house and met his wife and children, and a short tour of a traditional Balinese compound/house. With a surprise birthday cake to celebrate our recent birthdays.
We visited Elephant Cave and temple, the Mask museum, set in lush tropical forest, with an amazing collection of traditional masks and costumes, ie Barong masks.
The end of the day was celebrated with dinner - Indus restaurant, Ubud. We were treated to yummy Balinese food and cool cocktails. Sharing our meal with our lovely driver Luis and his wife and child. It was an honour to be able to have them join us in the meal.
Day 3 - my regular morning swim began. Such a refreshing way to wake up with a rainy morning.
With a quiet morning at the Honeymoon Guesthouse 2 and a massage and relaxation, before moving to our next amazing accomodation.
With the new day came new experiences at ARMA museum and resort. This resort is beautiful and has an amazing art gallery in the most tranquil gardens, with community temples and dance classes for local children to learn tradition dancing.

Day 4 - Exploring the local sites around Ubud, Temple in Batubulan, visiting several Batik houses, observing the process of batik and weaving on display at some of the more touristy Batik centres. I was taken to the most beautiful silver smith jewelers- Sarawati Silver, Batubulan with gorgeous gardens and a variety of birds in cages.
A visit to Bali is not complete without observing and visiting a traditional mudbrick house and compound. Where the family still carry on with the wood carving and skills that they have been doing for decades. But i find it ironic, that with a traditional style they have power leads leading to the open style rooms, to the tv mounted on the wall. Traditional meets modern conveniences.
With a late lunch at a local Balinese restaurant - Rapuan Cili, Mas Ubud, overlooking a swimming pool, a good chance to taste local cuisine. Ending our day with a much needed massage from my massage lady in our rooms.

Day 5 - FUN FUN FUN - Greenbike cyclingtours - I highly recommend joining with this company for a bike tour through the Kintamani Volcano and Mount Batur, with a stop off at a coffee plantation at BAS Agrotourism, Bali Coffee Plantation. Where we got to sample the tea and coffee on offer including Kopi Luwak coffee beans that have been pooped through a Cevik cat. Beans are collected , washed, cleaned and dried and then roasted. On this day unfortunately as we got to the top of the mountains, it began to rain, and the view of Lake Batur was not so clear.
And then it was time to get on our bikes and ride down the hills, through the rice fields and the villages. And through the jungle tracks for a bit more excitement. I had so much fun, bouncing down the hill and dodging the pot holes in the road. Avoiding the motorists and scooters going past on the road, dogs and children along the way.
We called into another traditional compound, where we were greeted by the family and shown how to make traditional ceremony offerings. I found this fascinating. I was impressed with the bike company and their support of these villages, by having us visit, they are creating employment for the local villages along the bike route.
We passed many rice fields and children out flying kites over the rice fields. Young children driving past on scooters with 2 or 3 of them on the scooters. Something you would not dream about doing in Australia.
At the end of the ride we then took a 30 minute drive to the most amazing lunch spot, newly opened Green Kubu. The food was spectacular and so fresh and yummy. Nice clean toilets and beautiful landscaping. The guys here have done an amazing job at setting up this new cafe/restaurant, surrounded by rice terraces.

Day 6 - Friday. Our big adventures continue with an overnight trip to Lovina in the North Central of Bali. Lovina is on the coast and seemed to be part of a big city - Singaraja. Singaraja is known for its universities and is quite a busy place. Traffic is horrendous as it is in most places in Bali.
We had several stops on the way to Lovina.
Jatiliwah rice terraces - these rice terraces cover a huge area of the Island and just seem to keep going on every hillside all you see are the rice terraces. It is fascinating to see how the rice industry thrives in Bali, compared to the very different style of rice farming in Australia. The small plots that grow rice on the hillside in Bali, compared to the vast kilometres of land and water, required to grow rice usually on flat land in Australia.
It is beautiful to see, all green, or progress of the rice, it may appear yellow as it is becomes ready to be harvested. And then the new crops are replanted and it all begins again.
Bedugul Gardens are a must to visit, situated on the side of a hill, and overlooking the Lake Beratan. I found them to be peaceful and relaxing although we did not have a lot of time here, there are a huge variety of trees in the arboretum, a hotel and various other buildings to be explored on my next visit.
Lake Beratan has the floating temple on it, which we missed on this trip.
Make sure you stop at the markets on the edge of the lakes, and try the donuts from the vendors, ooohh so yummy. We also tried the grilled corn with cheese and chili. It is always interesting tasting the local food. The markets here also had a lot of the local colourful fruits for sale.
As the road wound around the mountains we came to a carpark, where an old lady was handing out bananas to feed to the wild monkeys on the side of the road. It was entertaining watching the interaction with the monkeys and also the lady hitting us up for payment after you have fed the bananas to the monkeys.
Our last stop before arriving at our accomodation, was to visit the Orphanage - Panti Asuhan Narayan Seva. Narayan Seva Children's home . www.narayanaseva.com. Where we were given a tour of the orphanage. I found it overwhelming and an amazing experience, to meet the 2 ladies who run this home for 80 children. Seeing the children all smiling and happy in a caring environment, where they may not of previously had this support in their lives if this home did not exist. They support the children to go through their schooling and even some of them onto University. I am full of admiration for the job that these ladies do.
We finally arrived at our accomodation in Lovina, Aneka Resort. Where the rooms were inviting in a minimalism style. The swimming pool, which did have a swim up bar in it, was a welcome relief to the end of another hot and humid day. This resort is situated on the beach, where the sand is not the usual white colour but a black colour from the volcanic sands in the area. Where the fishing boats all line along the beach during the day and night, and go out to fish early in the morning.
We did find a nice restaurant and resort next door, with live music and outdoor seating on the beach at the end of our evening, where we indulged in gelati while listening to the last couple of songs of the night.

Day 7 - Saturday - Aneka Resort Lovina. Up early at 5.30am to be on the beach at 6am for the sunrise dolphin tour. This was reasonably inexpensive and the tour was booked through the resort. Here began the new experiences for us all, with the small wooden boats, looking like canoes with stays on the side. I was surprised how stable these boats were.
Watching the sunrise over the ocean was a magnificent experience, i would have been happy just skimming across the water in the boat and relaxing watching the sun come, with all the beautiful colours of reds and oranges over the coastline.
We then got to join in with quite a lot of boats in an area known for the dolphins to pass through, as it a feeding area for the dolphins. The dolphins seemed to be smaller and black in colour than the dolphins i have seen in Australia.
We did see the dolphins going past us. I enjoyed watching the dolphins and observing the coastline as we were out on the water.
However, i was not completely comfortable with the boats speeding up towards the dolphins and cutting them off as they swam across the bay. Instead of the dolphins riding the wake of the boat alongside the boat, the dolphins seemed to be swamped by boats surrounding them and then they would disappear again under the water to reappear further away in the water.
It was a pleasant start to the day despite this and on the way back to the resort, the driver showed us the coral and fish under the boat.
Breakfast was enjoyed at the buffet at the hotel, with a late checkout we were able to have another swim and a massage before starting our journey back to Ubud.
We stopped at Git Git waterfall, there are 2 waterfalls in the one area, with the twin waterfall up higher and a single waterfall down the hill and a lot more stairs down further.
These waterfalls were very nice to visit and pretty. I recommend you hire a local guide at the entrance to the waterfalls, as they know the area well and can show you safely to the waterfalls. Wear comfortable footwear as some of the steps are quite slippery.
The local villagers actually live in this area as well, and there are a couple of natural springs with beautiful clean water in them.
At the bottom of the twin waterfall is an exit where some adventurous tourists were appearing from as they had been canyoning in that area.

Back through the winding roads we continued on our way back to Ubud.
And to our next accomodation where I was to stay for the remainder of my trip.
Bliss Spa and Resort, Ubud. This is a traditional style accomodation with a lovely spa on the premise.
A nice small restaurant that had very yummy food and a good selection to chose from for breakfast.
Very reasonably priced accomodation.
After settling into our rooms, I had the pleasure of an invitation to visit my guides family for dinner.
I was very honoured to be invited to visit them and meet them in their house.
They are a lovely family and I look forward to reuniting with them again on my future visits to Bali. I
I had taken with me a selection of Australian toy animals, and it was fun to present these to the children and explain to the children a little bit about these native animals, I was entertained with some guitar playing and chatting with the children. I loved this time with this family and it made my visit to Bali all the more special to me.

Day 8 - Sunday - rest day where my girlfriend and i could chill out for our last day together and do the last of the souvenir shopping before she jetted home to Australia.
With a quick visit to Cafe Wayan and Bakery for lunch, and a lovely mojitos or two with some amazing food, usually for me it was satay chicken and rice.
A lovely walk through the streets and briefly passed the Ubud markets and then onto our last stop in town of a quick drink to cool down at Casa Luna Restaurant, owned by the same people as Honeymoon Guesthouse.
The remainder of the day was spent having a well deserved massage and pedicure at Bliss Resort and Spa ready for my adventurous and another busy week ahead for me.

Here ends part 1 and week one of my adventure in Bali.
I had the pleasure of having amazing people looking after me, my guide and drivers being organised and personalised trip with Wira, Ary and Luis from Yode Wira Bali Tours- Gusti Yode. He can be contacted on facebook, Email yodewira@yahoo.co.id or What'sapp - +62 81 239 762 460.

Following photos are from week 2 - as my adventures continued and my blog will be updated in time.

Kerta Gosa, Klung Klung, Justice Department