Bali (part 1)

Hello from Bali!

We are having a short rest here before we resume diving next week.

We had a long journey to get here - who knew Bali was so far from the East coast of Australia!  Oh well, we are here now!

The Airbnb we rented is in Nusa Dua on the southeast coast of Bali.  It came with airport transfers so we met Alex upon arrival.

We decided to take it easy and explore the hotel/apartment on Friday and Saturday. Friday evening there was a short performance for Chinese New Year.




On Saturday we went to the beach.  It was super nice and quiet.



Sunday afternoon Alex picked us up so that we could go to the Kekac Fire Dance.  It was on the west coast of Southern Bali.  The ampitheater was on the grounds of a temple.





We ended the day with dinner on the beach at New Moon Cafe. 

Yesterday Alex picked us up for a full day of sightseeing, starting with a stop at a jewelry store, we were able to watch the artisans at work. Next was a batik store, this is a type of clothing. Very interesting how it is made.

We next stopped at a coffee plantation. The coffee here is famous and is the most expensive coffee in the world. Basically there are Luwak (mongoose) that eat the coffee beans and sh!t them out. There is a "poo-crew" that gathers the clumps of excreted coffee seeds so that they can be boiled and further processed into gourmet coffee! Carsten does not look too committed to having a cup.
In addition to the Luwak coffee, they had a sample flight of all their coffee and tea. All delicious!

Lunch was delicious, we don't normally take pictures of food but this was so amazing! Pork ribs - always a good choice!
This was Carsten's plate, I destroyed mine so fast there was no time for a picture... 😂

The Tegalalang Rice Terraces were the next stop. They are working rice fields.  The colors are vibrant green and the climb is up and down.




While Indonesia is 93% Muslim, Bali is 95% Hindu. We stopped at the Batuan Holy Spring Temple and had a look at all the statuary, buildings and small pools for purification.






In case you are wondering about our attire, everyone must wear a Sarong in the temple.

Final stop was for cooling off - Tegenungan Waterfall.


We swam around a little before climbing the 150+ steps back to the top.

Saw this helpful sign on the way up:


Funny! We skipped what I am sure are  lovely facilities... LOL

No blog about Bali is complete without at least a mention of the traffic! Population of Bali is just over 4 million, based on my research there are 3.9 million registered scooters! As you can imagine the streets are narrow and congested and the scooters weave in and out constantly! A picture really does not convey the true mayhem but here is a shot nevertheless.


We have a couple more days in Bali - we will post Part 2 later. Stay tuned!

Sheri and Carsten 











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