Scribbles Abroad

It had been one month of eating rice and noodles, staying in the cheapest accommodations we could bare, and learning to haggle the hustlers when my parents showed up in Bali.  This was their first time to Bali and it was a quasi honeymoon reunion.  They were supposed to be here 36 years ago for their honeymoon but the standby seats were taken.  My moms pull at United Air, where she was working at the time, landed them in Reno.  A far cry from Bali, but I’m sure it would have been the same no matter where they went.
We first met up with them at the Outrigger O-Ce-N in Seminyak/Legian.  It is a brand new 5 star condotel managed by Outrigger.  It was beautiful, modern, clean, but it lacked the Balinese feel.  We stayed there for three nights on the couch (two couches pushed together) which was nicer than what we were staying on prior mostly because of the air conditioning.

On the first day we took them to the Kuta and Legian streets for some shopping.  They absolutely loved it.  My dad couldn’t get enough.  I taught them the basics and by the end they were getting close to local prices on Bintang shirts and shorts.   Here is a quick lesson.  Let the seller start, cut that by a minimum of in half, and then don’t let it get more than 15% higher than your 50% price.  Most of all, set your price ahead of time and don’t pay more than that.  Easier said than done.  While they shopped, Louise and I had some street food called Soto Ayam.  Its wierd, but good.  Mysterious meatball, most likely chicken since Ayam means chicken, noodles, spices, and tofu in a soothing broth.  At night we took them to a couple of really nice restaurants in Seminyak.  Great food, maybe the best for Kuta area is found in Seminyak.  We took them to Sasa’s and to Cafe Bali although Louise and I have been to a bunch more.

The rainy season is starting here in Bali and Indo in general.  One night on the way back from Seminyak it started pouring and the taksi (taxi) driver refused to take us down the street.  We had to walk it.

The day before we left for Ubud we took them to the Uluwatu Temple, Uluwatu Surfing Area, and then to Bingin.  Bingin remains our favorite spot in the Kuta area for lodging and surfing.  In Uluwatu my mom managed to get a 1 dollar massage that went to a $1.50 half way through.  The rents and Louise did some kayaking and snorkeling while I surfed out at Bingin.  While I was out surfing at Bingin I saw my mom try and catch a few with the kayak while the reef was only 2 feet below her.  One wave caught her sideways and the boat flipped.  Luckily she was fine but she had to swim over the shallow reef to retrieve the kayak.  She didn’t give up, laughed it off, and got back out there to successfully catch a few.

In Ubud we stayed in a Villa overlooking the rice paddies a few minutes out of the center of town.  We couldn’t help ourselves and on the first day we took them to the Monkey Forest.

Then we walked up the street to do some shopping and ran into a shop that sold musical instruments.  We started a legitamate jam and all types of locals and tourists alike started stopping in to see what was going on.  Then my mom went outside and scared the shit out of some girl that had never seen such a white person before.  After that we went and got some massages, pedicures, and I got a haircut

After that we did some more shopping and then headed for lunch up at Kintamani.  The view was spectacular and on the way down we stopped at a fruit market and got so ripped off.  Also once we bought our fruit we were jumped by three hawkers selling us crap and we couldn’t help ourselves but to engage in some negotiations.

The next day we took a cooking class at Warung Enak.  The language here states everything backwards from English so Warung Enak is literally Restaurant Delicious.  Also the language here lacks a lot of the BS that other languages like English, French, and Spanish contain.  So learning the language has been quite easy compared to other languages.  In the past two months we’ve learned enough to get by and we will put up another page containing the words we’ve learned so far….maybe.

The cooking class was awesome, we started at the local market and picked out ingredients we’d be using in our dishes.  We then came back to the kitchen and prepared 6 different dishes.  It went from around 7:30 to 12:30 and then we got to eat all the food we had prepared.

Whenever the Umar our driver was asked to take us to buy stuff, crap, goods, whatever you’d like to call it, he stopped at these shops that would tag you with a number claiming it would give you 50% off.  It did give you 50% off but it also identified you for the store to hook the driver up with his cut.  At least you didn’t have to haggle with the shopkeeper.   In one of the shops they dressed my pops up like a Balinese.  What a handsome bugger.

We also found some great art and negotiated some great prices.  We found this place pretty close to the monkey forest on a side road next to the rice paddies.  Sounds like those directions help if you’ve never been here but once you do you’ll realize it looks as though every street is a side street next to a rice paddie.  The art will be on our walls shortly, my parents house first probably.

On our last day in Ubud we got to start the process of riding as many different types of animals that we can on this trip.  We all felt it would be prudent to start with the biggest and headed for the Elephant Safari Park.  Considered to be the best Elephant Park in the world by Steve Irwin, may he rest in peace.

On the way up to the Park we stopped at these awesome terraced rice paddies.  Once we were done, we were jumped again and once again my father and I couldn’t help but haggle.  We ended up buying chopstick sets because you know everyone needs a set of these.  We had to end up pushing the arms of the hawkers out of the doorways in order to close them.  Our driver was cracking up at us and Louise and Mom were like, “why the hell did you buy that shit?”  I wasn’t feeling that well in these pics, can you tell?  A case of the Bali belly, no trip to Bali is complete without it.

Riding an elephant is awesome, not really that smooth but highly entertaining.  One of the highlights was when the elephant my parents were riding decided to take a 1 and 2 break.  It dropped coconut-sized nuggets and then let a torrential downpour release.   You can see the pic here.

Check off elephant from the list, or actually add it because we are going to go backwards.  Adding a tab here.  We also convinced the rents to try some street side food.  Brave souls.

While my parents were here we checked out two different dances.  The Kecak Dance and the Legong Dance.  The Kecak Dance involves a bunch of Balinese men chanting at different intervals what sounds like the word, “kecak!”.  Considering the dance is called that I am gonna guess that’s what they are saying.  Then dancers come out and tell the story of Rama and Sita, the Romeo and Juliet of Bali.  The Legong Dance had a few musicians playing Balinese music and then dancers came out and did that crazy eye stuff with long nimble fingers.  It tells a long story about a brother, sister, and a king.  The King kidnaps sis and brother says give her back or you’re going down.  He refuses, they go to war, a bird tells the king don’t do it.  He doesn’t listen and gets axed by the bro.  Lesson: Listen to talking birds, you’re either crazy or they’re trying to help.

In Ubud we also got to have the infamous Babi Guling, kind of like kalua pig.  Its a fire spit pig vs. buried but just as tasty.  We ate at this really nice restaurant overlooking the paddies and they ran out to go get some fresh Babi Guling.

Your time in Bali won’t be complete without a dinner on Jimbaran beach.  You go to the counter at the restaurant, point out the fish, shellfish, and mysterious creatures you want to eat and then they cook them up for you.  Served on the beach with a sun setting, the atmoshpere is hard to beat.  We saw a foreign couple passed out from probably too many bintangs and the tide was coming in.  With every wave we thought it would soak them.  Right at the perfect moment they woke up and spoiled our fun at the expense of others.  But it was fun with every wave going, “ooooohh, oooooohhh, this one!!!!!”

Towards the end of the trip, Hawaii started grabbing back at my mom.  Now that she’s got all the responsibility of her job things like one of her top producers quitting and trading over to the competitor can be quite stressful.  Prior to the news the fact that the markets been tanking hasn’t helped either.  The darn Blackberry works too well in Indonesia.  But she never let it get out of hand.  She understood why she was here and not to sweat because you only live once.  The guile of someone to quit while the boss is gone shows a lot about the person.
The quick week and a half was great with the parents.  We got spoiled, ate more than just rice topped with an egg, saw dances, rode elephants, and had an overall enjoyable time that will be remembered forever.  I highly suggest any family take a trip to Bali.  For one thing its damn cheap and secondly there is so much to do.  I kept saying, forget Disneyland I wish I knew Bali as a youngen.  Since my parents have left, Louise and I have done so much, of which you will reading about shortly.  I wish my parents were still here to share it with them, or you in that vein.  Come meet up with us and lets go adventuring together.  FYI we’re headed to the Phillipines on Nov. 3rd with a quick stop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Gonna go couchsurfing in Malaysia, if you don’t know about this please take a moment to check it out.  www.couchsurfing.com.  This program hopefully will allow us to travel for longer.  Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, and believe me, the next post is gonna be unreal,,,,,,

really not sure what the hell this is, take a close look, it’s pretty darn odd and funny.

hotel pool in Jimbara, this place was bad ass. (The Asari Jewel)

Louise converted

Cafe Bali in Seminyak