A Farewell to Bali

We arrived in the afternoon at our very posh and over-the-top Balinese hotel in town (still only about $50 a night included all taxes and a very nice breakfast buffet), and we enjoyed a swim in the pool, before we met with my cousin Liv and her assistant Maria for a nice dinner just a few steps away from our hotel at another restaurant which Liv had redesigned.  

The last day came, and I spent most of the day getting organized, writing my blog, and went for a refreshing swim in the big pool, before I met up with Liv for a last farewell.  Jan took of early in the morning, and I took a cab to the airport at noon, to catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur via Singapore.  I found out that luggage rules are different for the inter-Asian flights to the tune of $160 for my second suitcase!!  Had I known I think I could have saved about 1/2 by booking excess luggage when I purchased the ticket, so something to keep in mind!

Over the Mountains Back to Seminyak

We thoroughly enjoyed our days at Reef Seen - I enjoyed finally getting a little more painting done, relaxed and enjoyed the slow pace and the gentle breeze from the ocean.


We went snorkeling several times a day right in front of the lodge, and took a few walks along the beach, had some very nice dinners at the more upscale resorts along the beach and just soaked up the atmosphere.


Too soon it was time to head back to Seminyak, and Tuesday morning our driver arrived to pick us up and take us back via another scenic route over the mountains. We had a new, younger driver, and he drove well, but quite a bit faster than the other Wayan (they are more or less all called Wayan, Kasuk, or Made it seems!) Driving on Bali is a trip in itself - a scary trip! There are so many motorbikes on the road - mostly loaded with up to 4 on a bike, plus various and sundry things - and they drive in and out of traffic, with no apparent rhyme or reason. Of course, they drive on the left side (most of the time), and horns are used often, it's a vital part of the rules here, it seems. From what I gather it is always the biggest car/truck who has the right of way, regardless of all other rules! I had the questionable pleasure of sitting on the front passenger seat on our way back, as Jan was not feeling well and slept on the back seat! so I got to experience the drive up close, and observed every neck-braking maneuver!


It was another beautiful route over the mountains, this time we stopped by a big, beautiful waterfall just outside the mountain town of Munduk. It was a hike of about 3/4 mile to the fall, and once there I was soaked in minutes by the spray - nice and refreshing!

On the way down the trail we saw how the coffee plants and cocoa plants grow right in the shade of taller trees along with nutmeg, vanilla, cloves and many other spices.

Later we stopped at Ngiring Ngewedang - a coffee roasting place. It was fun to see the process the coffee beans went through before enjoying a great Bali coffee overlooking the lush mountains where it was grown.
We passed by little villages and lots of fields were 

we saw carrots growing under grapevines, that grew under taller trees with crops as well - it is so incredibly lush everywhere! We saw fields of Hydrangeas growing under fruit trees, and truckloads of the flowers being brought to market - beautiful!





















The next stop was the fantastic view of the 2 lakes Danau Buyan and Danau Tamblingan. After passing the lakes we joined the route we had come up the week before for the remainder of the trip back to Seminyak.

Reef Seen Dancers

Saturday morning we woke up around 5 AM to the call from the local mosque and of course the roosters chimed in, as they did every morning! However, we managed to get a few hours more, before we got up and packed up to move over to Reef Seen. One of the guys from there came on his scooter to pick us and our suitcases up. We let him take the suitcases, but were not ready for a ride ourselves, so we walked the short 10 minutes walk over after having settled up with the girls at Jubawa Home Stay.
It was so great to be right there on the beach - cooler too, and soon were were installed in our room - it was only 11 AM, so we had the whole day to just enjoy the new surroundings.
We went snorkeling and swimming, and in the afternoon we watched as the local village girls came to practice their dance performance - it was just so precious to watch them! So sweet and graceful, and many of them really were doing a very professional job, and you could tell they took it very seriously!
That evening they were performing at the restaurant next to us, so of course we wanted to experience the "real"performance in their beautiful costumes and on a real stage. It was beautiful! Most of the guests there were Germans we learned, and in general we saw lots of Europeans on Bali - Germans, quite a few Dutch, of course, Bali being an old Dutch colony, and we ran into several Danish families as well.

A Morning In The Taman Nasional Barat

We rolled out of bed before the roosters had a chance to wake us up – it was still dark outside, as we got ready for our morning tour to Bali's only National Park.
We were supposed to meet with our park ranger and driver at Jubawa at 6:30 am, so when the clock moved towards 6:45 am, we were beginning to doubt if they would actually show up – so far al our drivers had been more that on time, so just as we started to think this was not going to happen, he pulled up and we could start the short drive through a couple of villages to the entrance of the park. We had tried to communicate to the very kind ranger that we were interested in seeing bird and wildlife, and after a short drive on the narrow unpaved road in the park we stopped at a big meadow where Bali cows were peacefully grazing. We got out and wandered towards some distant trees looking for any birdlife we might spot. Birds were there, we could hear them sing in the morning air, but they were hiding in the lush foliage of the trees it seemed. As we were getting ready to head back to the waiting car I suddenly spotted a couple of kingfishers – that was the sighting at that spot, so not too impressive, but we were still hopeful and the day was still young!
We bumped along the narrow trail again, and finally stopped by the beach, where we got out and walked down towards the water's edge. A group of shorebirds were feeding in the shallow water, and as I looked through my binoculars I spotted what looked like a wood stork – that was as exciting as it was going to get at that particular spot. However, the view over towards the island of Java was beautiful, and we could see the two big volcanoes surrounded by clouds in the distance.
We walked along the trail for a while with the car following at a distance, and we saw a long tailed Shrike, and heard lots of birds hiding in the thick woods. Our guide explained that the best time to bird watch was during the dry season in July and August when the trees were bare and birds and wildlife easier to spot.
We did see a couple of monkeys and 2 of the small mouse deer, and a Java deer as we drove through the park, as well as several Jungle Fowl – looks like pretty roosters and chicken – and a couple more of the beautiful belted kingfisher, but overall it really wasn't the greatest wildlife or park experience. I am thinking we did not communicate well enough with our park ranger as to what we wanted to do, and his English was quite limited, so he didn't really tell us much about anything, and most of the time I actually spotted the few birds we saw before him, and often knew what they were more so than he did – but again, that might have been a language problem.
Really the best part of the morning was when he drove us to the new lodge they have built in the National Park – I wish I had known about that, it would have been a perfect place to stay for a night or two – it's absolutely beautiful and you could get rooms from around $55 per night – very, very reasonable for such a beautiful place, and the rooms were gorgeous – we got to see one of them. We had a great cup of Bali coffee up on the 5th floor of the Bali Tower with great treetop views of the park and the Bali Strait and Java in the background. I think renting a mountain bike and riding the trails yourself, and then enjoying sunrise and sunset up in the tower would make for a much more rewarding wildlife and bird watching experience. I will keep that in mind for a possible "next time".

Snorkeling at Mejangan Island

We left around 8:30 am from the shore in front of Reef Seen on the dive boat, it was a beautiful morning and I headed straight for the front upper deck to enjoy the breezier and the view as we headed out towards our destination – Majangan Island, a small, uninhabited island in the Bali Sea close to the coast of Java. As we got closer to the island we dropped off Holly with her 2 Norwegian students who were in the process of getting their dive certification. The waters were crystal clear and glittering in blue and turquoise as we left the 3 divers behind. Next stop was the reef where we were going to dive or snorkel. My friend Jan and the other diver aboard got geared up and soon jumped off the boat with their dive master, and I was left with the other snorkeler – a nice lady from Canada and our snorkeling guide. Soon I was in the warm waters with mask and snorkel as well as my skins – not for keeping warm, but for keeping the sun at bay!
visibility was fabulous, and the corals and colorful fish in all shapes and forms amazing! After about 40 minutes it was time to crawl aboard again, and pick up first Jan and her dive companions, and the we headed back to the spot where we had left Holly and the Norwegians, and soon we were all aboard again, chowing down on a great lunch, so we could get energy for the afternoon diving and snorkeling adventure at the other end of the island, where there was a fantastic reef wall to explore. It was equally beautiful, and I think this was probably the best snorkeling spot I have ever experienced. The boat ride back was great with beautiful views of the northwest coast of Bali with the brilliantly green mountains rising steeply in the distance. The Canadian couple were sorry they had not worn skins, I am sure, as they had bad sunburns on the back of their legs from the afternoon snorkeling – so they opted out of joining me and Jan for the next day's visit to the national park about 8 miles to the south of Pemuteran.

Reef Seen Aquatics & Bungalows

Walking along the beach being a little depressed seeing the litter and the poverty of the village people we stumbled across Reef Seen Aquatics & Bungalows – we had read about them in our Lonely Planet, so we sauntered up and started chatting with the Dive Master – who turned out to be a Holly from Oakland!! We also met the owner and founder of Reef Seen, Chris from Australia. Over the next few days we learned more and more about all the wonderful things he had instigated as far as turning things around and caring for the environment instead of destroying it, and getting the fishermen and the villagers involved actively in accomplishing these changes. It was so great to see that development can be done in a manner that benefits the environment and the local people, instead of raping a place without regards for the future. Of course there is still a long way to go, but the people of Pemuteran are on the right track, I just hope other villages will see and learn from them.
We made plans to go on a dive and snorkeling trip the next trip out to Menjangan Island, about 1 hour's boat ride out towards Java in the Sea of Bali. It was supposed to be one of the best diving spots around Bali, and also great for snorkeling, which is what I prefer – so we decided a day on the water would be a great way to cool of and hang out. We also decided that we wanted to stay at least a few days at Reef Seen, just the whole atmosphere appealed to us, not to mention being right smack on the beach right by where they are doing the very successful reef restoration, and that for less than $40 a night, including tax and breakfast! Granted, it was more expensive than what we were paying at the Jubawa Home stay, but not having to wander along the highway for about 10 minutes to get to the beach seemed well worth the extra money for the last few days.
We also made arrangements to get a ranger guide to take us on a tour of the national park so we could get all of our planned activities done while we stayed at Jubawa, so we could enjoy the beach and just relax when we stayed at Reef Seen. Happy with all of our accomplishments we returned to Jubawa at had a drink and ate a well-prepared meal cooked by the girls there, and then we turned in for an early night.
The next day I took the day off to catch up on emails, blog, and just hang out and paint a bit, and Jan went to the beach to snorkel, coming home with glowing reports on how beautiful the coral reef was right outside Reef Seen. She had also met the turtle Boomer at Reef Seen and seen all the young turtle hatchlings there – another of Reef Seen's projects that was turning into a success story.