Evacuation day

So we're here, and without a hitch.

Waiting for Dad to leave for the airport

Monday morning we were up at 5 am to leave home by 6 to make it to the airport in time for mum and dad's flight to Europe. Unfortunately our flight was 3 hours after theirs, and we were at the airport before their flight check in had opened - let alone ours. So we spent 8 hours at the airport waiting around, mum and dad's flight had left even before we had checked in, but eventually we got onto the plane at 4pm and had a decent flight here. The German girl sitting next to us sounded like she had the flu with an awful cough and sniffling that meant none of us could sleep.

Ready for take off

I had a brief moment where I thought we were gonna die where they announced they would soon be starting 

descent, which was followed by the plane entering what felt like free fall, engine struggling noises, and a super loud announcement that didn't play properly and sounded like any good  movie sound effect just as the robot starts malfunction and is about to start killing people.

We got to the airport around 9pm local time and bought a visa on arrival, which means we have the option of extending our visa another 30 days when it runs out in 30 days time. We got through security and customs without any effort despite not having an exiting flight, although we do have a ferry to Singapore booked.

First dinner in Bali

At the airport lobby, we got some cash and booked a car to take us to our accommodation in Kuta. 

We definitely payed foreigners price as anyone 

selling stuff at the airport is selling it for tourists only. But we were pretty tired and didn't mind paying a bit more to get out of stuffing around.

Got to our hotel, Suka Beach inn, checked in, went out for some dinner, then finally got to bed at 12 am local time.

Kuta Beach Bali - Corals or actual rubbish?

Spent the morning walking around Kuta and realising we didn't want to be there much at all. Without having seen much else of Indonesia I don't have much point of reference but the effect of Australian tourism is definitely there. The streets are lined with junk shops selling cheap sunglasses, thongs, souvenir trinkets, bintang singlets, and football stubbies. Every second person offers you a massage or to put cornrows in your hair.

Tanah Lot - unobstructed

We decided to not spend any more time in Kuta and try to make our way up to Ubud via the famous 

temple Tanah Lot. We would have our big backpacks with us and we aren't insured to drive a motorbike (which really does seem to be the easiest way to get around) so instead opted to  controubrbto the effect of tourism and hire a private driver to take us. Drivers here just wait on the street for a foreigner to walk past and then tries to make a sell, some being far more enthusiastic than others. Thanks to this we were able to haggle with a few different drivers and work out what seemed like a reasonable price of around 35AUD. The drive out of kuta was slow with traffic, but it didn't take too long to get away from the bintang mafia.

Tanah Lot - obstructed

Driving through rice and banana fields, we asked the driver to stop for some food. He suggested we get babi guling, or "succulent pig" - a very popular Balinese food. Now I don't know about you, but to me succulent implies tender and juicy; this doesn't seem to be the dish at all. The dish is an assortment of pig parts all cooked long and hard, some parts heavily seasoned, to the point of being dry and tough. I don't know if this is typical or just that restaurant, but the restaurant was called something like Mr Babi Guling and the driver seemed to think it was good. It was nice but the word succulent really threw me. (I've now learnt that I was mishearing the driver's accent, the translation is actually 'suckling pig', which I think makes even less sense).

Babi Guling

Side note on food. All the Balinese food we've had so far seems to be very meat-centric. Walking around in the heat we really crave watery vegetables like cucumber and lettuce, but it doesn't seem to be a big part of the cooking. There's also a taste to most of the food we can't put our finger on, Mimi likes it but it doesn't sit particularly well with my pallette.

Anyway we continued to Tanah Lot and enjoyed walking around and putting our feet in the ocean. From there we headed up to Ubud. Along the way we saw many other local temples, most in very good condition. The woodwork we see on doors and windows and around temples really reminds me of other Polynesian and even Maori woodwork that I've seen before, which I guess is because of an ancestral common root, probably Polynesian wayfinders many years ago!

About to taste many teas and coffees

The Teba Sari tea, coffee and chocolate plantation was another stop we had on the way to Ubud. The plantation here processes everything by hand, from grinding coffee to making chocolate. They are famous for selling the world most expensive coffee, which is a special coffee bean that has been digested by the luwak, a sort of jungle cat. I was really enjoying the tour until we saw the luwaks on display, which are probably treated much better than the ones that process the beans. They looked half dead and their display cages had no floor, only bars, so that they're easier to clean. We finished the tour with a taste test of their tea, coffee and chocolate, all which was very nice and quite different (ginger, vanilla and lemon tea and coffees for example) but I couldn't bring myself to buying any after seeing the luwaks.

Looking for accomodation in Ubud

We arrived in Ubud and were dropped close to the center of town and looked for a hotel. Accommodation was a bit more expensive than what we wanted to pay, so we looked online and found a cheaper area a few kms away. Mimi had her first backpacking experience and walking in the heat with my backpack had me sweating like a paedophile in a playground.

Checked in to the Kubara inn, went out for some dinner and a bit of a stroll around Ubud seeing the temple and markets. There's still a lot of tourism here but it feels like a much more genuine place.

A spot of shade? Still bloody hot.

Our hotel is advertising a sunrise hike up a nearby volcano. I was keen to sign up but Mimi wants to take it a bit slow, wanting to ease in to all the walking we are doing - not wanting to get sick with the big change in climate and food. This was a good reminder to me to slow down a bit and enjoy what I'm seeing. As we were driving around yesterday I kept looking at a map looking at what we were bypassing. But realistically we can't see it all and I need to remember to just look at what's in front of me instead. We're staying here in Ubud again tonight with plans to explore the local region most of today. Not having our big packs means we have more options to get around.

Sorry for a long wordy update with no photos. My laptop is out of battery and I have no way to charge it, which means no camera photos, and I didn't take any on my phone. When I get my laptop sorted I'll come back and add in some photos.