Welcome to Bali
Ah a nice warm welcome, literally, from Bali!
We spent the first few days here as a belated birthday gift from Jesse at a nice resort in Nusa Dua. We had a bit more space than the van, which was refreshing, but after a few days we were ready to explore.
We were lucky enough to have friends recently visit the island and they were able to get us in touch with our driver, Ida. Ida has kept us very busy and has showed us a lot. He is a local professor at the collage teaching accounting, but school is recently on holiday. He has grown up in Ubud and is very knowledgeable. If you come to Bali you HAVE to use him!
The first day he picked us up and drove us to Ubud. Along the way we stopped at a Batik, which is in a way a high end clothing store to get hand crafted clothing made by the wonderful women of Bali. Our next stop was a famous wood carving village called Mas. Wood carving if you were to drive through Ubud is a very common, but the work they create is astonishing sometimes taking up to 2 years to finish a piece. You can see it all over the city from the doors, sculptures, window treatment. If we didn't have a weight limit with us I would probably purchase one of these doors and bring it home with me.
The second day was spent in the Ubud markets, where it can be a bit overwhelming, but is to be expected in these types of markets. Our second activity, which I was very excited for was monkey Forest. You will find that most of the larger attractions like this are quite cheap and is a good way to experience something you don't see everyday.
Our third activity, was participating in the Holy Water Temple. It was formed around a hot spring that is constantly running. People come here to pray or give thanks by dunking their heads under the holy water. For each fountain you pray for the same thing. You first pray, drink the water 3 times, splash your face 3 times, and then dunk your head three times and you do it for each fountain. You also have little fish that swim around your feet, which were a bit distracting because they tickle. Quick fact 90% of the people living here practice Hinduism.
We spent the first few days here as a belated birthday gift from Jesse at a nice resort in Nusa Dua. We had a bit more space than the van, which was refreshing, but after a few days we were ready to explore.
We were lucky enough to have friends recently visit the island and they were able to get us in touch with our driver, Ida. Ida has kept us very busy and has showed us a lot. He is a local professor at the collage teaching accounting, but school is recently on holiday. He has grown up in Ubud and is very knowledgeable. If you come to Bali you HAVE to use him!
The first day he picked us up and drove us to Ubud. Along the way we stopped at a Batik, which is in a way a high end clothing store to get hand crafted clothing made by the wonderful women of Bali. Our next stop was a famous wood carving village called Mas. Wood carving if you were to drive through Ubud is a very common, but the work they create is astonishing sometimes taking up to 2 years to finish a piece. You can see it all over the city from the doors, sculptures, window treatment. If we didn't have a weight limit with us I would probably purchase one of these doors and bring it home with me.
An item we purchased:
The second day was spent in the Ubud markets, where it can be a bit overwhelming, but is to be expected in these types of markets. Our second activity, which I was very excited for was monkey Forest. You will find that most of the larger attractions like this are quite cheap and is a good way to experience something you don't see everyday.
Our third activity, was participating in the Holy Water Temple. It was formed around a hot spring that is constantly running. People come here to pray or give thanks by dunking their heads under the holy water. For each fountain you pray for the same thing. You first pray, drink the water 3 times, splash your face 3 times, and then dunk your head three times and you do it for each fountain. You also have little fish that swim around your feet, which were a bit distracting because they tickle. Quick fact 90% of the people living here practice Hinduism.
Our fourth activity was a local coffee plantation, where you will find the most expensive coffee in the world. The process is tedious and includes poop... yes poop. They have the Luwak, which looks between a ferret and a raccoon. The Luwak chooses the most expensive beans to eat, eats it, digests it, and then the remains of it are picked out of the poop and then made into a luxurious coffee. Of course we had to try some and if you would like to purchase on Amazon you can buy 100 grams for $60.00 USD.
Getting the local driver was a great idea. Maybe Starbucks should add the Luwak special coffee.
ReplyDelete