Traveling Indonesia without a Lonely Planet

May 24-25, 2008 Ubud to Padang Bai, Bali

So just a side note: I’m traveling Indonesia without a Lonely Planet! And its do-able! Ha! I’m seeing all these tourists carrying around the books and going from one place to another based on some book. Lose the book people! Just go out and pave your own trail!

My last day in Ubud was spent online and just relaxing around my hotel. Gaie has edited a draft of my poster so I’ve been working on updating that and getting edits back to her. I took a taxi to Padang Bai middle day on the 25th. My taxi driver was so nice too. I told him I liked carvings (really just making conversation) and he stopped at the big carving city of Mas. We went to a shop and I bought a small barong face mask carved out of hibiscus wood. It was about an hour drive to Padang Bai from Ubud. Padang Bai is just perfect though. Just what I was looking for. There are about 8 small hotels across the street from a strip of busy beach in a bay, filled with local outrigger canoe boats. You can literally hear the ocean and see the crystal clear, turquoise water from your room. Farther down the way are the docking areas for the ferries to Lombok and the Gili Islands. There is just enough civilization and tourists here for me. All the locals are so friendly too. Even the ones trying to sell me crap, sometimes they just sit right down and want to practice their English with me. There are lots of dive operators that go around the bay and to the outer islands, but as just one person I can’t seem to get a company that’s going out to the outer islands. Diving around the coast here is ok, just ok though, I don’t know if I want to spend the money to go just around here after diving Banda too. I found a super chilled out spot I like to hang out at. It’s called Topi Inn. An outside bar, restaurant, internet with a view and a breeze. It’s owned by a woman from Holland, and she definitely has tourists in mind. My hotel is also super cheap at $7 US this time. It has a few less amenities than my place in Ubud, and the breakfast isn’t as good either. Less amenities as in no hot water, a light put behind the fan for that thriller movie effect (what were they thinking!), and a toilet that flushes whenever it wants to.


May 26, 2008 Padang Bai, Bali

This morning I went snorkeling at a place a short walk up a hill from here called Blue Lagoon. 2 hotels and restaurants are there with a small strip of beach in a bay and ok snorkeling just off the beach. Pieces of styrofoam kept washing up on the beach and so I had this creative idea that I was going to make a boat out of it to give to the little kids at my hotel. That afternoon I did just that, even sewed them a little sail out of an older pair of ripped underwear. It was real cute and they liked it. I got to Padang Bai just in time for their annual Padang Bai festival. What good luck, what bad luck right? Its going on for this whole week. The first night I arrived I got to watch some dances and there is a boat race later this week. That first night I watched some TV with Slovakian dive instructors at their dive shop, well it was Formula One racing live in Monaco, but still TV for me! And not in Indonesian!

Everything is walk-able here too, which is great. I’m still fascinated by Balinese culture and the Hindu-Buddhist religion here. Naive me! At one point I thought it was weird that so many people had the same name, but it turns out I read in a book that those are abbreviations for when they were born. Wayan, Knut…1st born, 2nd born. Ha! I felt like such an idiot! There are lots of good restaurants to try here too. Lots of fresh seafood and with especially fish. I’ve discovered a favorite drink of mine. It’s milk, honey, and yogurt blended with different fruits and it’s called a lassi. Yum!


May 27, 2008 Padang Bai, Bali

This morning I woke up early and went out sailing and trolled a hand line to fish on an outrigger canoe with this girl’s brother. We didn’t catch any fish, but still a nice little breeze to sail around the coast. In the afternoon, I visited the temple up on a hill a short walk from here. Some blessing was going on that I sat in the back for and just watched until they noticed I was there and seemed distracted so I left. I’ve been just reading and relaxing. When I got back from sailing, the electricity was out for the whole area and wasn’t back on that night until about 7 pm. I might go see a black sand baech tomorrow of spend some more time snorkeling at Blue Lagoon. I have 3 more days here and then onto Uluwatu. I think the best way to get there is a shuttle bus to the airport and then a cheap taxi from there. I might spend my last afternoon/night in Kuta (to buy more cheap DVDs!) to be close to the airport as my flight is at 1:30 in the night! Ahh! Depends how I like Uluwatu I guess, if I’ll make it back to Kuta or not.