When I was in still in Japan with my girl friends, Bill left on Sunday for a week long business trip to Jakarta. Since Daphne and Zoe were headed to Beijing the following Wednesday for the APAC soccer and I was going to be alone in Seoul, Bill suggested I fly to Bali and meet him for a long weekend. And I said…why not?!
Bill had a very busy week visiting various Korean companies in and around Jakarta who manufacture goods in this cheaper labor market. He spent a lot of time in traffic since Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia and the most populous city in S.E. Asia. Infamous for its lack of proper infrastructure for a city of this magnitude (a subway is under construction however) and insane traffic jams, Jakarta is hot, noisy, crowded and yet, Bill enjoyed his time there and spent a lot of time with Harapman, Bill’s Citibank counterpart in Indonesia. He particularly enjoyed tours of the Adidas and Nike manufacturing plants (both Korean owned companies) and was amazed at the vast differences between the two. Adidas was state-of-the art, with automated processes and robots while Nike’s operation was “slap-jack” by comparison with manual workers spreading glue on soles of shoes. After 5 days together and visiting 7 different clients, Harapman generously offered the services of his driver in Bali for our long weekend so Ngurah met us at the airport.
When I got off the plane late Thursday night, a smiling Bill Stanton was waiting for me amidst lots of French tourists. All week long at his business dinners, Bill had been sipping Bintang beers, which are produced by the same brewery as Heineken and he recommended we grab two bottles for our ride to the resort. 
As you can see the look is quite similar to that of my favorite beer and Bintang tastes a good deal like Heineken which was a delightful way to start our long weekend in Bali.
Bill and I did very little planning before this weekend “bop to Bali” and really didn’t know what to expect. Suffice it say, Bali has been DISCOVERED. Tourism is alive and well in Bali and the island (one of 13,000 that make up Indonesia??!!) is far from sleepy or undeveloped. Many of the high-end resorts are located in Seminyak which has nearly 1,000 hotels, many fine restaurants and boutiques…and held no appeal whatsoever for us. We’ve been influenced by the Korean’s fear of sun damage and now try to minimize our time in lounge chairs on the beach. This may come as a HUGE surprise to many of you who remember my sun-worshipping ways… Instead, Bill and I were hoping to find some quiet time to read, do yoga and just be together.
Sanur Beach, located on the southeast coast of Bali and felt to be more relaxed than Seminyak, Kuta and Nusa Dua, seemed like a good choice and after mildly discriminating internet homework (price based only), we booked a stay at the Maya Sanur Resort. Sleek, modern and very different from the hotels we’ve frequented in other parts of S.E. Asia, the Maya Sanur was a shock initially, with its minimalist design using primarily concrete and glass and lack of teak wood. Soon however we adjusted and ended up really liking the resort…especially the spa and the fantastic massages at the end of each day. The Balinese scalp massage is the best we’ve ever had. The resort had several pools, a lovely rooftop garden and some cool driftwood sculptures that you can see below.
After a restful, but too short, night’s sleep we headed to the buffet breakfast by the water to find some much needed coffee. Indonesia’s coffee is strong, rich and almost like a drinking a full mug of expresso. Bill had no trouble making the adjustment while this half caff/half decaf girl got the jitters after just a few sips and watched her intake. For the first day, we had made a plan with Ngurah to tour the island a bit. Thinking we’d go to a nice beach, a temple or two (83% of Balinese people are Hindu) and get a feel for the culture, we asked Ngurah to develop a 3 hour plan. BIG MISTAKE! Ngurah is a driver, not a guide, and thus he didn’t really know where to take us so defaulted to Benoa Bay, the most touristy spot of all in the nearby town of Nusa Dua. Here, there were tour bus loads of folks waiting to go paragliding, snorkeling or out on banana and glass bottom boats. As far as we could tell, many of the visitors were from the Middle East and clothed fully in burka or head scarves and acting as if they’d never seen an ocean before. It was funny to see life jackets on top of such clothing since we are more accustomed to the Caribbean bikini clad tourists enjoying these water sports. Check out the waiting room.
Poor Nuragh could sense our disappointment/discomfort with the scene and so we signed up for a mini excursion on a glass bottom (a foggy 1’x3′ fiberglass piece) boat to a Turtle Island. I just love Bill for not getting upset and going with the flow when clearly this was not the adventure we had hoped to experience. Here he is in our private glass bottom boat where the boat captain stopped briefly to let us throw some white bread crusts in the water to attract some fish. Please take note of how very close we are to another boat doing the same damn thing. Underwhelmed in every respect, we spent less than 5 minutes at this spot.
Our destination was a very crowded island that had a sea turtle “zoo” or “exhibit” but as we ascertained quickly was really a thinly disguised tourist trap. Getting dropped off on this island took at least 10 mins. since the beach was like a parking lot with drivers jockeying for spaces.
I think we spent an equal amount of time getting off the boat as we did touring the island’s “sites”. We were greeted by an aggressive woman who kept calling Bill her “brother” and showing him various super cheesy souvenirs he could buy. I thought Bill was going to hit her at one point if she used that endearment one more time. We were “lucky” enough to pose for a picture with some amazing sea creatures as you can see below. SUPER special photos I think you’ll agree.
The highlight for me were the brightly painted outrigger boats we cruised by and the blue water. 
You’ve probably gotten the sense by now that Bail has been discovered and not quite the remote picturesque island you might have envisioned. For all the reasons above and others you can imagine, we made this excursion as quick as possible and asked Ngurah to return us to the resort. He was a bit surprised that we didn’t want to drive 2 hours to Ubud to be with more tourists at the monkey park (?!?), but we emphasized how exhausted we were and in need of a nap on the beach.
After a refreshing lunch at the poolside cafe, we slounged on the beach, Bill reading and me attempting to study Korean before nodding off, for the rest of the afternoon. Our massage treatments were undoubtedly the highlight of the day and felt heavenly.
When Ngurah dropped us off at the resort, he seemed really concerned that his first suggestion had been a disappointment so he practically begged to take us out again. We decided to give it one more shot and asked that he select a more local, less touristy dinner place. And he did….unfortunately, this time he erred on the side of too local for our tastes and we basically ate in an upscale cafe. We had the speciality dish which was a grilled whole chicken with some Balinese dipping sauces and an undressed salad served with a bottle of ketchup…? The Bintang beers were the best part.
We began the next morning the same way…rich coffee, yoga and then breakfast buffet down by the beach/pool. Very relaxing and very different from the action packed, fact filled Myanmar trip with Zaw! Saturday was a significant Balinese Hindu observation day. Each year, the Balinese first celebrate the day of Galungan, which commemorates the triumph of Dharma (good) over Adharma (evil) and this was in early April this year. (The actual date floats since the Balinese use a 210-day Gregorian calendar system knows as the Pawukon.) Galungan is a bit like a new year for the Balinese and it is a time when most people return to their families and home villages and share a communal feast. Every household and business erects a “penjor” bamboo pole that is elaborately decorated with harvest items like rice, fruit, coconuts and young coconut leaves. The “penjor” poles are naturally curved at the top and made all the streets look very festive as you can see from the photos below.
While Bill was buying a Bintang souvenir tee-shirt, I asked the shopkeeper about her pole and she explained that her husband made it and she helped to weave the coconut leaves into patterns. All young Balinese girls learn this when they are about 10 years old she explained. We happened to be visiting on Kuningan which falls 10 days after each Galungan, and marks the end of the 10-day festival. For Kuningan, special offerings are made of yellow turmeric rice and sacred dance performances and rituals are held all over the country. We briefly thought about braving the traffic and crowds to see some of these dances in Ubud, but decided against it. There is a second Galungan-Kunigan festival roughly 6 months later.
We were just as happy to let Ngurah have the day off for Kuningan as he was to spend it with his family. Instead, Bill and I decided to borrow the resort’s bikes and explore Sanur village on our own, asking the front desk for directions to a nearby temple. Little did we know what a ridiculous question this was until we saw there are basically temples every 500 ft. or so. The country is peppered with little temples and Hindu shrines; once we noticed them, they were everywhere we looked. In celebration of Kuningan, the locals were making offerings of small woven baskets filled with a variety of mostly food items, flowers and incense. We stopped to observe some folks as they knelt, prayed and waved their arms in worshipping gestures at the altars. Many worshippers stopped at several different altars, making offerings and reciting prayers at each one.
The men were often dressed in long white robes and the women in brightly yellow and pink tops. Even the cars, trucks and motorcycles throughout Sanur were decorated for this festival day. 
Lovely jasmine scented incense was burning throughout Sanur which made our bicycle ride through town especially pleasant.
We had no particular destination in mind and the town of Sanur is small with one main street so we weren’t worried about getting lost. One turn took us alongside a public park with playing fields. Here there were several games of ultimate frisbee being played by locals and foreigners, at least that’s what we surmised by the color of the players’ hair and skin.
The road curved around a golf and tennis club and then seemed to dead-end at a big parking lot next to a temple. Thinking we had actually found what we had set out to see, we parked our bikes and wandered into the temple. As was immediately apparent when we stepped into the courtyard pictured below, we had come in the middle of the offering ceremony. Music was playing, priests in white robes were anointing worshippers with rice, dipped in water, and then stuck to ones’ cheek or ear. and each person was presenting a gift at one of the many altars. Like we’ve seen all over S.E. Asian, the cell phone is often present in religious venues, like the one in use below next to the head priest himself.
We sat in the shade and quietly took in the peaceful scene. At the end, we were offered fruit from the many towers that had been donated and gladly accepted some bananas.
Next to the temple was an alleyway where we noticed several tourists headed, wheeling large bags and scuba gear behind them. Always curious, we decided to investigate. It led directly to the beach and a very busy boardwalk scene to which we had been completely oblivious. Lots of folks were eating in small food stalls, swimming in the ocean and waiting to take ferries to some of the nearby islands. Bill and I had been considering such an excursion and after this “market research” decided to book a day trip to Nusa Lembongan on Sunday. We had a night flight back to Seoul and didn’t need to check out of the hotel until 9:30pm so this seemed like a wonderful way to spend out last day in Bali.
Rocky Speed Boats (not so sure about the name…) picked us up from the resort the next morning and brought us back to this very busy ferry landing on the beach boardwalk. While we waited to board our speed ferry, we took in the operation, watching the workers haul luggage, water containers, and gasoline to fuel the 6 outboard engines on the back of each speed boat.
As passengers embarked on the ferry, everyone was asked to dump their shoes in the green basket above. Upon landing and disembarking, this basket was overturned onto the sand and passengers pecked their way through the pile of flip-flops, sandals, sneakers (and fortunately no Gucci loafers) to retrieve their own personal footwear. We couldn’t imagine something like this happening in America or the fancy Carribean islands we’ve visited, but it was certainly simple and efficient. Afterall, who would want anyone else’s shoes but their own!
The ferry ride across the Badung Strait which separates Bali from Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Penida and tiny Nusa Cenigan was smooth and short. Frequented by divers, surfers and those looking for a quieter pace than South Bali’s scene, Nusa Lembongan is only 8 sq.km in size and easily explored by foot or motorbike. We opted for the latter and happily scooted around for the rest of the day. Bill took to our Scoopy motorbike in no time and I was pretty relaxed holding on behind him. We only had to ask for help once (the engine doesn’t start when the kickstand is down…) and only hit the side rails of a bridge once (minor scrapes and no bruising). We wore helmets you’ll be glad to know despite being in the minority. It was hot and Bill’s helmet buckle was rusty so sometimes, just sometimes, he got a bit impatient when waiting for me to help him out of it….
On our journey, we found empty beaches, a yummy lunch spot with a friendly crab, plenty of temples, a graveyard with umbrellas shielding the hot sun from the deceased, more Bintang beers and pretty water sites all around us.
We rode over the pretty yellow suspension bridge and tried not to think about why there were Hindu altars on either side full of offerings. On the little island of Nusa Ceningan we found our way to the blue lagoon. 
This was quite a scenic spot , though it too has been discovered since there were villas being built on the nearby cliffs. Below are some of the lovely sites we encountered as we toodled around on Scoopy. We both loved the day on Nusa Lembongan and recommend such an excursion to anyone looking for a break from Bali’s crowds. 
The Hagen Daaz ice cream bars we munched on at the end of the day while waiting to board the return ferry were equally as memorable and several folks came up to us to ask where we’d found them. A lovely ride back outside on top with the gentle spray of water and late afternoon sun…it was well worth it to BOP OVER to BALI for a long weekend with Bill!
seoulfulsojourn.net 