Tag Archives: Bali

Bali: Ubud and Amed.

I got to go to a really cool school in Ubud for two days and made a new friend called Jaia! She took me to a cat cafe (cats all over the place) and a dog shelter called B.A.R.C.( BALI ADOPTION AND REHABILITATION CENTER ). At B.A.R.C there was a poor three legged dog that nobody wanted. It made me feel sad.

The CAT CAFE, lots of cats to pat, guaranteed rat free unlike some other cafes.
Dogs at B.A.R.C dreaming of the CAT CAFE.

Dad and I went to monkey forest together. It is a beautiful monkey sanctuary/park near the center of town with over 700 monkeys free to come and go as they please.

Monkey on my back! Monkeys here average one serious bite on tourists a day.Treatment for a bite may mean a flight to Singapore and lots of injections. Dad bought a stout stick along. Monkeys behaved well.

A monkey climbed on to my head, I felt its smooth cool feet on my face as it clambered up to grab the Banana I held high.

On our way out of the park we saw a beautiful wedding couple dressed in traditional Balinese costumes.

This lovely couple were kind and gracious.

 

Next we were off to Amed with Reno, our driver. Amed is a dry village by the sea famous for its snorkeling and diving. We stayed there for four nights spending our time snorkeling, swimming and relaxing. I love snorkeling. I forgot to mention one of the highlights of Nusa Lembongan.

Snorkeling with giant manta-rays should have been unforgettable but with all the excitement I managed to forget it until now.

On our last day in Amed we hired Motorbikes and zoomed up a very steep mountain surrounded by lush bright green paddy fields to a beautiful temple high in the clouds. Its called Pura Penataran Agung Lempuyang, very hard to pronounce.

The next day Reno picked us up from our motel at 9 am, then we said goodbye to Amed and hello to Sanur where we visited mums old friend Lisa. She is a lovely lady  one of mums good friends. She has two boys the age of three and seven. Four little boys all together , what a nightmare! After that we headed back to our beautiful private Villa where we spent our last two days relaxing, packing and collecting all our stock that we had ordered when we were last in Legian.

Then it was Bye Bye Bali and back to snowy Queenstown!

 

Bali : Legian and Nusa Lembongan

Bali is a tropical country where there are ornate carvings on every building from top to bottom. I am there now and am amazed at how beautiful and intricate they are.

The door to our room in a cheap hotel.

 

We arrived at 9pm and went straight to our Villa where we relaxed for a day then went head first into shopping for stock for our shop. The first day we went to Ketuts shop to order rainbow fairy dresses and frilly rainbow skirts. The next day we went back to Ketuts to get fitted for our new circus costumes.

Nudey swimming at our sweet Villa!

After spending 4 days in Legian shopping up a storm we caught a ferry to Nusa Lembongan where we stayed at  the Tamarind beach bungalows for 4 nights. In New Zealand Mum and I had dreamed of going back to the Beach Club (we went there when I was 5) and sure enough we found ourselves at the Beach Club laying on massive cushions eating, swimming, relaxing and fulfilling our dream.

Chilling at the beach club.

I am disgusted at the fact that the island is covered in rubbish. The locals just don’t seem to care and what is collected is burnt. No recycling here!

All waste burnt together at night to hide the acrid smoke drifting through town.(gave us sore throats)

 

After a hot and tiring walk in the midday heat from Tamarind beach to Jungatbatur (main town) we reached our destination, Wahyu home-stay.

Cute little kids shop. They did well out of us. Shouldn’t they be at school?

The next day we hired 2 motorbikes, Dad and the boys went on one and Mum and I went on the other. It was a bit scary as it was Mums first time driving a motorbike. Terrified we set off to tiki-tour the islands but in the end it turned out to be great fun. Mum was awesome! ( she asked me to put that in).

On rugged hill track overlooking the channel between Nusa Cenigan and Nusa Lembongan.
Crossing the new yellow bridge. The old one collapsed a year before loaded with locals on their way to a ceremony. 8 died and 34 were wounded. Terribly sad.

The rules are different on Lembongan, school kids ride motorbikes to school, no helmets so I thought I would give Dad a tour of the island.

Every night we ate at a cute little shack on the beach selling delicious food. After 8 days on Lembongan we took a ferry to Bali and headed for Ubud. Farewell Lembongan!