10.02am - Taking It Balinese-y
Trip Start
Jan 07, 2010
1
19
77
Trip End
Dec 13, 2010
Where I stayed
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Friday, February 19, 2010
Another day, another country. My Indonesian visa took up a whole page in my passport, which concerns me slightly because thanks to Australian immigration and their hard on for stamping clean pages this time around, I only have thirteen clean pages in my passport. Some countries are funny about it having to be a clean page for a stamp, others, like Indonesia, require a whole page to stick in a visa, so I hope I don't run out of space before I run out of countries to visit.
Other than that, and various backpack related difficulties (not being able to wear either one due to sunburn, dragging my big one across my foot and accidentally slicing half my toenail off), my journey to Bali was fairly simple. Everything is insanely cheap here – due to the aforementioned issues with carrying my bags, I decided to get a cab to Ubud rather than the bus. The journey takes about an hour, and it was two hundred thousand rupiah. That sounds mental, until you consider that £1 = 16,000Rp. So 200,000Rp is about £13. Not exactly the most bank-breaking sum. After the expense of Australia and New Zealand, and even comparatively speaking Fiji, it’s mind-boggling how much you can get for how little here. A beer is a quid. Food is pence for a delicious plateful. Accommodation is a little more pricey, but only compared to how inexpensive everything else is – it’s still cheap compared to Westernised countries. I imagine even touristy souvenirs wouldn’t set you back all that much, because there’s so many places making the same stuff – on the drive to Ubud, I was at first admiring the shops we passed with beautiful stone carvings outside, but after we’d passed about twenty selling identical statues, I realised how much stuff they probably sell. Not that I wanted a stone Ganesh anyway, but I’ll definitely stick to my fridge magnet collection now.
I got a hot tip from Craig and Michael, the Bristolian guys on Waya, that if you’re at a loss in Asia, there’s always film after film on HBO. I can now confirm this is true. When I arrived last night, I was exhausted, so I did a bit of writing, a bit of reading, and watched a couple of films before bed. When I realised I was watching Madagascar 2 in Balinese, a film I’ve never especially wanted to see in English (my Antarctic friends Jacqui and Anna’s endless recommendations notwithstanding), it was clearly time for bed. As I’ve been writing this, Fatal Attraction has been playing in the background, which I love – a brutal revenge thriller over noodles at breakfast time, this is my kind of place. (There were options of an American breakfast – fry up – or Continental breakfast – fruit, pastries and toast – this morning, but I decided on the Indonesian breakfast – fresh fruit and mie goreng, a kind of pad thaiesque omelette noodle thing which was absolutely spectacular. Not really breakfast food, but then, I’ve never been one for insisting on certain foods only in the mornings. Quite honestly, it just takes all my concentration to stay off the cocktails until a decent hour.)
My sunburn has begun to peel tremendously, which I guess is a good sign (I really do look like a leper now, Lowri). I find it disgusting, and yet am compelled to mess with it. Still, another couple of days out of the sun is probably a good idea, just to let it heal properly, and then I’ll be on it. Lots to see in Ubud and the whole of Bali – I think I may have to do one of the proper tours to see it all, because there’s just too much to do under my own steam. My ongoing battle between wanting to see animals and my conscience saying they should be out in the wild also took a new turn when I saw a leaflet for the Bali Safari & Marine Park with a Siberian tiger on the front. Covet. The leaflet boasts of their great conservationism credentials though, so I might have to take a trip over there in the next few days all the same.
Comments
Go to Monkey Forest - it's superb. And remember to go to that restaurant on the mountain. If you go down to the beach in Kuta you can get one of the guys there to take you on a tour of the whole island for a really good price. Obviously wait for them to approach you like - don't just go randomely asking men to take you places.
I love mie goreng. Yum! I love Ubud! Did you know the Balinese have about 5 names they recycle through in a family? Wayan is the name for the oldest child, I think. So if they have 6 kids, there'll be 2 Wayans. Love that. Figuring out birth order in other people's family is easy there.
Also, the Monkey Forest is a must-see. But I warn you, this is where the saying, "I couldn't beat them off w a stick" came from. I had them crawling all over me and was fodder for a Japanese tour bus when it screeched to a halt, released all of its passengers in order to film me experiencing what has become one of my greatest travel stories: a huge male sitting atop my head w his balls hanging in my eyes as he bent down to look at me upside down w his monkey banana breath whilst many females and babies climbed around my body leaving their little dirty footprints all over my black mini-dress. They would not leave me alone and this went on for about 5-10 minutes. !! My neck and back were getting sore from supporting their weight and I began to feel as though the Japanese tourists were no longer laughing w me rather AT me... Anyway, you must go there. :-) And try to attend a burial - - it's interesting. And actually it's difficult to avoid it as they occur constantly somewhere.
Oh wait! I got my stick quotes wrong! It's this: There were more monkeys than you could shake a stick at! "Shake a stick at." There was a guy who walked along w me and shook a stick at the monkeys to keep them away from me. There were so many he could hardly control them. Don't ask me why I just thought about this...or why I felt the need to correct myself...
I did Monkey Forest today, folks. It was just as cool as you two suggested. Jane, I wasn't quite as popular as you - only got two climbing on me. More about it in the next blog though.
Love the stick-shaking. You rock my world, Janey.
Lowers, am going to the Gilis after all (Bandas are just too hard to get to, there's only a boat like once a week or a flight once a fortnight, and they get cancelled all the time, and I just can't waste the time waiting around on it when the Gilis are supposed to be also very nice). Text me any suggestions for what to do. I'm staying on Trawangan because the boat from Ubud only goes there - wanted to stay on Air but can't be ar'sed with the faffing.
One night in Kuta before I fly to Jakarta. I've got an evening and a morning - any recs?
So is that why I say there are more of something than you can shake a stick at ? A bit harsh on the monkeys to shake sticks at them. Poor poor monkeys. love mummy. x