~Spring Festival: Bali~

Ah...the island of Bali! The stuff of dreams...Julia Robert's get-away in "Eat, Pr@y, Love,"...and most importantly, our next Spring Festival destination :)

Front entryway to our gorgeous & relaxing hostel (fyi, the Swastika is a symbol for peace for many places in Southeast Asia...not that other less-than-pleasant thing)!

After a bit of difficulty once our flight landed (our hostel had promised a pick-up, but no one was there, forcing us to take a taxi ourselves), we were headed to the Swastika Bungalows, our home in tropical paradise for our final week of vacay outside China :)

One of the four pools gracing our lovely hostel!

Our hostel wasn't the fanciest, or close-by any high-class beach...in fact, many fellow residents, we learned, were more in their "golden years" than we :) But, the staff was very friendly, we were close-by to lots of restaurants, shops, and touristy places, and had wonderful weather...in the eighties and SUNNY! Yes, I got quite sunburned a couple times, probably my first sunburns ever in January/February ;)

We usually tried to fill up on our complimentary breakfast buffet each morning...they made me feel nicely welcomed with this pancake and blueberry sauce.

The name of the game for our time in Bali: relaxation! So this blog will probably be pretty short on stories-- I guess I do have a couple good ones, but they're better told in person, so hopefully we can chat about them face-to-face someday :)

While we were definitely surrounded by tons of other tourists, we met some locals as well, and saw evidence of the Hinduism prevalent in the area--the little incense/flower/fruit box thingy above serves as an offering to the Hindu gods.

Being low on money and in such a beautiful place led to lots of lounging by the pool, as well as walking to the beach a couple times...it was pretty secluded, and had chairs you could rent for a low price, and sleep/read/suntan for hours :)

Admiring our hostel's island-style decor.

We spent a lot of evenings venturing out on the street near our hostel, checking out lots of different restaurants, bars, and entertainment. Several places had life music/dancing, and due to the large number of tourists from the country, there were plenty of Australian-operated haunts...one of which featured a "beet burger." I didn't try it, but I think some in our group did :)

We became friends with a couple members of this band :)

A couple nights into our stay, we went to a local restaurant that served Western-style food, but promised a free & traditional dance show with live music! Of course, we were in!

It was really interesting to see the traditional Balinese dancers...the ladies danced with their fingers spread out, and creepily (in my opinion) darted their eyes back and forth, haha. Equally entertaining were the musicians, all male, accompanying the dancers...a couple of them kept making eyes and waving at Andrea and I (one of them was quite in love with Andrea, I think, hehe).

Scary...while I declined to dance with him in front of everyone, I agreed to a picture ;)

At one point in the show (several short acts, different costumes, masks, etc.) the above performer pulled Aaron up from his seat, and the two proceeded to dance in hilarious harmony for a couple minutes (if you are friends with Aaron, please let me know--I have the video available :D Aaron then gestured to Andrea and I (we were sitting at a different table), but we declined, not feeling brave enough, and knowing we couldn't top his performance anyway!

After the performance was finished, the men who'd shot us lots of looks eventually came over and talked to Andrea and I...much more shyly than when they were onstage :) The cute kid on the right played a frog, and we think he might be this guy's son...he was the only child in the show, and he did a great job!

Afterwards, the three of us headed to a local club, drawn in by its cover band...we had fun sitting close to the stage while singing along to their songs, excited to know most of the songs, and meet the band members...though they may have been a little too friendly later at night, so we eventually split ;) We also met a really friendly Australian guy, who I think had been to that area at least twenty times in his life...a regular, I guess. He was there with his two daughters (about my age) and was a really nice, friendly guy...we all had fun talking together, and I was eventually convinced to goofily dance around with him :D

Putting on a show? Making a fool of myself? Maybe both, but it was fun (with my Australian buddy) :)

After playing pool and talking for awhile, Andrea and I ended our night at a club called "The Zoo." Aaron had decided to head back home and get to bed at a reasonable hour...we probably would have done the same, but we made friends with a British guy outside the door, who said he would buy drinks for us...but don't worry, Mom, I either ignored or dumped drinks out onto the floor if I didn't see them being poured :)

This show's storyline centered around the "Barong," a mythical, lion-like creature,  known in Bali as the hero and champion of good. This, however, is just a picture I like of a character freaking out onstage :D

We didn't have much time to sleep in after a late night of dancing at The Zoo, but the next day was worth the early wake-up: after stuffing ourselves at the hostel's free breakfast, we met up with a local tour guide, who took us to see some sights. First on the list was a traditional dance performance, very well-done, and somewhat easy to understand (thanks to the description the venue provided us, on English handouts)!

So, next on our list of places to visit was a "monkey park." To tell you the truth, I was pretty excited about it, and thought it was cute/funny how nervous Andrea was going into it...but maybe she just had a better idea of what to expect than I did!

Aaron bravely purchased a bunch of bananas at the entrance, but being short on cash and more tentative, Andrea and I hung back and watched as a couple monkeys jumped RIGHT onto Aaron, taking the bananas out of his hand (not very gently), giving him a back massage (kind of, hitting his back) and picking through his hair. It was funny, and I thought I was safe since I didn't have any food on me. However...

Andrea and I both ended up getting mildly attacked by the little critters! Tourists could basically walk on paths swimming with monkeys, and could've stepped on one if they weren't careful...I guess they're probably very used to such a lifestyle, and before long two of them jumped onto Andrea, stealing her empty water bottle (out of her purse) and biting her! I told my friends that I didn't necessarily NEED to have a similar experience, but a short time later, I got similarly hijacked by the little buggers...they also bit me and spazzed out...it was SCARY...but the little demons did make for some good pictures ;)

This guy's got it made--he gets to sit outside in the sun, offering rides to gullible tourists, while holding a sign that says "Sexy car, sexy driver, sexy prices." :)

Actually, I think these pictures are out of order, but I'm too lazy to change them--before we saw the monkeys, we checked out a coffee plantation...and we learned the "special" way that the local coffee is made...

Roasting some coffee beans.

If you've seen the movie "The Bucket List," then maybe this will ring a bell--there's an animal, called the "luwak" (similar to a weasel, but I'm sure you could Google it) that lives in this region of the world, and eats coffee beans, supposedly for their fleshy pulp. The beans are then digested...do you see where I'm going with this...? Eventually, when they are "deposited" onto the ground, plantation workers will wash, roast, and brew the beans to make coffee...and yes, we did get to sample it...

With my lovely and entertaining travel buddies, overlooking part of the coffee plantation.

So yeah, it's called "Kopi Luwak," which I guess has a better ring than "Weasel Poop Coffee," and after being thoroughly amused hearing about the process, and seeing the cages where the plantation keeps bean-eating and "depositing" luwaks, we got free samples, and...it was really good! I only like coffee with lots of cream & sugar, but this stuff was much less bitter, almost sweet! Not that I'll drink it again anytime soon (thinking of where it comes from, and also because it's REALLY expensive to purchase), but it was a fun thing to try :)

While chatting and overlooking the nearby view, the three of us got to sample a few other types of coffee (chocolate coffee, ginger coffee) and tea (the lemon tea was our favorite--basically like a lemon drop candy).

Okay, back on track: after the monkey visit/horrifying experience, we drove to check out a local volcano...it was really pretty, but unfortunately it was quite foggy and rainy, so we didn't admire it for too long. Bali (and Indonesia in general) was in its rainy season, meaning that each day would have a period of rain, but thankfully it never lasted too long while we were there :)

The volcano viewpoint offered a buffet that looked delicious, but was too pricey, so we asked our driver to help us find another place--after driving around and checking out a few different restaurants, we ended up at a new buffet...that was almost the same price. Oh well...these things will happen when you're a tourist, and we did have a nice view of the volcano while we ate :)

Our last stop of the day was a nearby outdoor temple (or rather, ruins of a huge temple, and then a small, still in-use temple) that was recommended to us by a friend in Jakarta. She billed it as an Indiana Jones-esque place, and I had to agree with her!

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, but "Gunung Kawi" temple was a very impressive place to visit! First, we climbed down a ton of stairs, and then walked on lots of different winding paths, staring in wonder at statues that we built into sides of cliffs, checking out artifacts that were centuries of years old, and trying to take in the history of the place.

The nature itself was also really beautiful...flowing streams, palm trees, so much green and fresh air...I had to take a minute just to soak that in, remembering I'd shortly be headed back to the pollution of Wuhan :p

Gunung Kawi was built in the 10th Century as a Hindu place of w0rship, and according to legend, the ruins were originally built to serve as shrines to the reigning king, his family, and concubines.

Rice terraces and several old buildings also surrounded the shrines, and supposedly locals still offer homage to that Hindi king from centuries in the past.

The below picture shows the inner sanctum of the temple, which sadly is still used for w0rship today...even though it was sad, we were very fortunate to be there while a ceremony was going on. We stood in the distance and watched as the Hindi w0rshippers splashed water on one another, chanted, and pr@yed, desperately wanting to share with them the truth of the Living Water. Probably one of the more depressing temple visits I've had, just to see so many gathered in a ritual so empty...please pr@y that more people here can know the joy of a G*d who HEARS and LOVES us beyond measure!

I can't remember what we did that night, after a long day of sightseeing, so that probably means we went out for dinner somewhere cheap, watched a movie, and went to bed early :)

Aaron, myself, and Kelsey swimming "with" Andrea...I love this pic :D

We got a wonderful treat the next day: Kelsey and Sarah joined us for our last couple days in Bali! It was so nice to see them after being apart for almost three weeks, and we had fun catching up and playing in the pool for much of the afternoon...

Kelsey, Aaron, and I spent a couple hours trying different goofy poses, seeing how creatively we could jump into the pool, and teaching each other how to dive ^_^

We also later discovered that Kelsey and Sarah's room was next to a huge, more beautiful pool that we didn't know existed in our previous four days' stay! It featured a swim-up bar (my first time to use such a thing, and it was great!) and two nice workers who we made friends with...they gave us some local fruit to try (man, it was SOUR...I succeeded in keeping a straight face, but Kelsey did not and it was funny) and chatted, and yes, now we're friends on Facebook ;)

Aaron and I had fun swimming out a ways into the ocean one day, climbing up and enjoying the view from a little island, and watching a man in the shelter next to ours doing some yoga and meditation. It was great splashing around in the water...until Andrea came out and joined us, fueling the fire of my fear of sharks (which I had been trying to keep dormant), telling us that they can hear heartbeats from miles away, and can swim 100 miles per hour :/

Our bigger group had fun going out to dinner together, goofing around, dancing, and accumulated a nice collection of inside jokes...we'll always have a "Bali bond." :)

Roomie! Love ya, Kels :)

Our second-to-last day in Bali, Andrea convinced us to check out Tanah Lot, a famous temple on the water...I was hesitant, simply because I was enjoying our nights of dancing and days of laziness, but eventually our whole group caved, and the place DID look pretty nice in the pictures.

We had fun walking around and checking the temple out from afar, but sadly we couldn't really go inside or look at anything too closely...we stuck around hoping we'd see the famous "sunset over Tanah Lot" (which again, looked gorgeous in the brochures), but sadly, it was cloudy...so we all sipped drinks and talked about how the day had "changed our lives." Three might have been a little sarcasm there ;)

Andrea, Sarah, myself, Aaron, Kelsey, and our new friend Denni.

One night when Aaron and I were out, we met a nice waiter, named Denni. A couple days later, he and Aaron met up for a bike ride around the beach, and a little while after that, Andrea even got to visit him at his house! He came to the temple with us, and it was fun getting to know him...he has the dream to be a tour guide all over the world, and visit America someday.

On our final day in Bali, we slept as late as possible, gorged once more on our free breakfast, and spent the majority of the afternoon suntanning, swimming, reading, and laughing. For dinner, Denni took us to a local warung (street food in Indonesia) to try more authentic Balinese food...probably very good thing, since we'd mostly been eating Western food during our time there!

Unfortunately I was still pretty full from lunch, and had a stomachache, so I hope I didn't offend Denni by not eating all of my meal...in general, though, I felt the meat was pretty sketchy (not bad, just not what I'm used to, and I didn't know what it all was), the vegetables were absolutely delicious, and the whole thing set my mouth on fire!

Dinner...I wish I could remember what these specific things were, but I do remember, it was SPICY!!!

Sadly, our time in Bali had come to an end...Andrea, Aaron, and I packed up our bags, bid a fond farewell to the sun, Denni, and Sarah & Kelsey (they were staying an extra day), and began the voyage to HONG KONG!

Our "camp" for the night in Jakarta's airport--Aaron and I tried to snooze on the less-than-comfy purple chairs...Andrea actually went around the corner and slept on the floor :p

But before we could reach Hong Kong, we had to spend parts of two different nights in two different airports :( The three of us flew to Jakarta for layover number one, sleeping for about 6 hours (or trying to) and then flying to SINGAPORE!

Part of the skyline on our river cruise.

Our time in Singapore was pretty limited, but far too long to think about staying in the airport when we were in a new country (we had about ten hours), so we exchanged a bit of money in the airport, talked to a very strange travel guide (she mentioned very inappropriate things to us, but was helpful also, I guess), and took a taxi to the river, where we took a short informational tour of the downtown area.

Thanks to Andrea, for lending me your stylish cap :)

Of course, throughout our few hours there, Jack Sparrow's voice: "Clearly you've never been to Singapore" rang in my head again and again!

Sweet arena featuring 3 skyscrapers and a ship on top!

Its own city AND country as well, Singapore actually felt a lot like Milwaukee to Andrea and I as we drove around, saw tons of western buildings & restaurants, and foreigners quite frequently. Honestly, it hardly felt like we were in Asia anymore.

The famed "Merlion" of Singapore.

We were briefed on the history of Singapore during our cruise-- the British used Singapore as a stronghold to help anchor its "East India Company," it was occupied by the Japanese during WWII, and gained its independence in 1959. Something quite humorous to me is the city's mascot, the "Merlion." Half-fish to represent the country's roots as a fishing village, and half-lion because the city's name translates to "lion city." And spouting water, I'm guessing just because it's really fun :)

Another arena, nicknamed "The Durian," because it's shaped like the spiny & stinky fruit, popular in much of Asia.

 After our cruise, we did a bit of exploring, but were impeded by the rainy day, and lack of moolah...we ate at McDonald's, walked around a mall, and eventually made our way to an Indian district of the city, where we got a glimpse of a culture different from the "Western city with Asian people" feel that the rest of the city had, to me at least. We shopped at some markets, strolled around, checked out a temple, and eventually headed back to the airport.

Not lovin' the rain (and I was not lovin' the slippery ground that made me slide all over on my flip-flops) :p

After a few hours in the airport, checking our Facebooks, exploring, and trying to sleep, we were on an overnight-ish flight...off to HONG KONG!!!