Scribbles Abroad

Baguio, the art gem in the Cordillera Mountains was reached shortly before 9pm after an exciting 8 hour bus ride.  These buses are getting comical and easier as we continue to tackle them.  This one had no A/C so it was a green bus other than the clouds of black smoke that flowed out the exhaust.

We were once again the last to get off the bus and were dropped off on a seedy street corner.  Louise posted up at the first decent hotel we could find and I went on the hunt.  This search was one of the heaviest.  I went to nearly 6 different hotels of which one or maybe two of them were actually specialty hotels if you know what I mean.  They showed me a room because I liked the price and it was a box in the basement with no windows.  When I told them no thanks they offered it to me on a hourly basis and things went click.  After checking all the places I realized the first place that we had checked was at the time our best choice.  Its like when you go for a hunt for surf.  You look at your break out front but figure its better somewhere else.  But after your search you realize it was best out front.  Its not always like that but it seems like it happens more than not.

The view of Baguio from our hotel

There’s a meat market all the way down at the bottom.

Upon settling into what we now know as the cockroach hotel we went to hit up the local reggae bar.  We had been suggested to go here by a friend of a friend named Kabunyan DeGuia. By the end of our time in Baguio, Kabu became a good friend rather than just a friend of a friend.  The recommendations of friends to meet theirs have been priceless and insurmountably helpful.  We graciously thank all of those that have helped us thus far and for those that will help us in the future.
The local bar was a collection of students jamming to a live local reggae band.  It was nice to see good live music with the electricity of college kids keeping the vibe exciting.  People were skankin on the tables and congo lines were formed around the entire seating area.  We scored seats right up front.

The next day when I found a cockroach in the butter for my toast I had officially had enough.  We packed up and moved a bit out of town to a more secluded and beautiful part of town. 

The place we moved to was awesome, local artwork everywhere and great service.  The place is called Iggys.

We were invited that afternoon to Kabus house for a pinikpikan supper.  Pinikpikan chicken is prepared by beating, or they would say massaging, the chicken to death.  The massage sends the blood to the muscles and meat.  The chicken is then slaughtered and cooked in a couple of ways.  We had boiled chicken and barbecued chicken.  The white meat was not dry and rather moist and was really good with the home made rice wine.

Kabu also happens to be the son of Kidlat Tihimik and Katrin DeGuia.  Katrin is the author of a book I’ve been reading called Kapwa, the Self in the Other.  In short it is a description of the degradation of Filipino culture at the hands of Westernization but that certain individuals are making concerted efforts at changing this trend and bringing pride back to Filipinos.  The book is a collection of biographies of those individuals that are making a difference.  As we travel we are seeing this more and more but being just at home in Hawaii, its not hard to see the same issues.

Kidlat Tihimik is one of those individuals that is bringing back true Filipino culture to the masses and letting them/us feel proud of their/our heritage.
Kabu met us at Iggys and we set off to his house.  It’s the first one outside of the Baguio city limit and set along a steep hillside.  The house is a testament to his fathers style of wasting nothing and seeing art everything.  A few years back the entire house was burnt down and has since been a work in progress.  ITs like stepping into an amusement park in a sense.  Its the house we’ve always wanted but that building codes wouldn’t allow.

Kabus Bathroom and self portrait on the can

Kitchen that upon the right light shines different colored rays everywhere

When you meet his father you see an intensely deep but calm individual.  With long grey black hair and a movie camera under his arm serving as his continual diary, he puts off an aura of understanding.  Its also said that under his clothes he is always wearing a traditional Filipino g-string.  He is the father of Filipino Independent Films and is considered a living legend of Filipino Art.  It was truly a pleasure to meet him and his friends whom we spent the entire afternoon with and then stretched it into the late evening.

Louise, Kidlat Tihimik (Silent Lightning), and Me

People were jamming throughout the evening on traditional gongs.

A local dance being passed down to the next generation

After supper we all hung out in Kawayans’ art studio.  He was putting the last touches on his art pieces that were headed to NYC.  Kawayan doesn’t look like the other brothers, he is a really tall haole guy amongst smaller brown guys.  Its pretty funny but also a testament to the strength of genetics.

The three brothers, Kabunyan, Kawayan, and Kidlat

We then headed to the local art studio that is also a café.  The place is on the top of a building and is like walking into a set for a movie.  It’s a little village built into the spacious penthouse floor.  Local artwork is on display and some is for sale.  Even though it had just closed, Kabu was able to convince them to prepare us his favorite dish, the eggplant parmesan.  It was the bomb and was a nice change from the adobo we’d been eating non-stop.  At the bottom of the building there is a mosaic that Kabu and his brother did.  The mosaics used to be all over Baguio but due to liability issues they had to be removed.  This last one was kept alive through grassroots lobbying.  Also on the bottom floor are two hilarious ladyboy bars.

The last mosaic

After dinner we headed to the pizza joint  for some beers and another bite.  Here we met up with Kawayan and the gang.  We drank a new drink that was yet to be named.  It was a mix of a dark beer and a San Miguel Light.

After the pizza joint we ended up going out to a bar in the depths of the city called Chillaxitive, funny name.  The walk there was one best done with a large group.  The guys ended up painting on the walls, painting faces, and some passing out in their chairs.  It was a good time.

The next day Kabu took us to the local market where Louise and I hunted for second hand clothing.  We both got shirts but wanted to get more.  Problem is the traveling factor.  For every shirt you pick up you have to get rid of another.

In this pic you can see Kabus coconut husk hair.

We had been checking the swell reports and a nice one was to hit the next day in La Union on the China Sea.  We bid Kabu a farewell, packed up, and jumped on another 8 hour bus.  Baguio was a good time and it was really special to spend it with true locals.

After having a blast in Malaysia we were headed to Manila, which was a short three hour flight from Kuala Lumpur.   Our plane landed in Clark Airport located in the outskirts of Manila.  The scenery abruptly changed from lush green to urban madness as we rode the bus into town.

Rolling thorugh the streets of Manila, the skateboard contraption sure is coming in handy

The bus dropped us off right across the street from Manila Bay.  It was a beautiful site until we got a little closer and witnessed the toll that littering has taken on the bay.  It still looked great from a distance, something you could say about the Ala Wai Canal in Waikiki.

Manila Bay

We checked into our hotel The Makati International Inn located only a short jeepney ride away from the LRT (light rail transit).  If you don’t know what a jeepney, imagine a bus crossed with a jeep and then way over decorated.  The areas they service are printed on the sides and to catch one you stand on the curb, flag them down and quickly jump on, sometimes while they are still moving.

The jeepneys really give you a chance to interact with the locals.  They often get packed and you need to squish on the long bench seats, it’s a great opportunity to get to know your neighbor.  If you’re sitting next to the driver people will begin to hand you money.  No it’s not a donation, you’re supposed to pass the money to the driver and return the change to the appropriate person.

Public transportation everywhere!  Notice the LRT to the left, the rasta colored public bus, and the jeepneys.

Manila really has their public transportation system worked out.  The jeepneys are really easy to use and cheap too, averaging only about $0.15.  You can use the LRT or MRT for longer distances then hop on a jeepney to get anywhere in the area.  There’s really no need for a car.

If you can’t find a jeepney or bus to take you where you want to go, you can always hire one of these tricycles with a two person cart attached to the side and they’ll peddle you anywhere you want.  Within reasonable distance of course.

Walking down one of the streets we passed by a little hole in the wall restraunt.  Something smelt really good so we gave it a try.  There were four large pots each filled with a mysterious soup.  Kahi tried some sort of beef soup and I tried congee with small intestines.  The food here is really different from what were used to.  I was able to eat the soup but couldn’t stomach the intestines.  I was quite embarrassed.  It didn’t taste bad, just different.  I think it was the fact that they were intestines and the texture was strange.  Maybe its something that takes getting used to or its something that you need to be raised with.

Some sort of beef concoction and small intestine congee, yum!!!

That evening we met up with our buddy Brian’s friends, Jay and Cathy, who showed us a night out in Manila.  We started off by eating dinner at Buggzy’s.  One of the owners, Bug, is also one of Brian’s friends.  Everything we had was yummylicious!  After dinner they took us to this bar where they were playing old school late 90’s hip-hop.  It was definitely a happening place.  We felt like we were back at home cruising at a bar in Chinatown on First Fridays.

Cathy, Bug, Jay, Louise and Kahi
The next day we caught the LRT to Pasay City and wandered around until we found the Libertad Cockpit.  We’re not into animal cruelty or anything but cockfighting plays a large role in Filipino culture and we wanted to check it out.  It was exciting but also difficult to watch.

WARNING: If you don’t like the site of dead birds or cockfighting in general, scroll past this section.  Also there is excessive use of the word COCK.

As always!

We were the only tourist there and the locals were excited to show us around, they even let me hold one of their cocks.  Kahi was jealous.

They took us into the room where they were attaching the blades to the cock.  They have a small briefcase filled with razor sharp blades, they pick their favorite one and bind it to the back of their cock’s leg.

Binding the blade to cock’s leg

This green cover is kept over the blade and removed right before the fight

Prior to the fight the owners stroke their cocks to get them ready for the fight.  They are taken into the ring and have a face off with another cock.  They are basically antagonizing them, getting them ready for the fight and showing the crowd just how tuff their cocks are.  While this is happening the betting process begins.  Everyone starts raising their hands and calling out who they have their money on.  They search around the arena looking for someone to bet against.  They make eye contact and its on!

The betting process

The owners meet in the middle of the ring with their cocks in their hands.  They make eye contact, show their cocks to eachother, drop them and the fight begins.

They fight till death or 10 minutes, whichever comes first.  Kahi threw some money down on the first fight and won.  You either bet on the Wala, the underdog, or Meron, the favorite.  The first couple of fights we watched were quick only lasting a minute or so.  The third fight was a draw, with both cocks dying at the same time.  All bets are off in this situation.  One of the last fights was the most difficult to watch.  Both of the cocks were badly injured and they would get to the point where they no longer had any interest in eachother.  The referee would pick the cocks up, bring them to the middle of the ring, drop them face to face, and they would begin to fight again.  This happened until the 10 minute mark was reached, neither of the cocks had died and all bets were off.  After the fight the winner gets stiched up and put into an airconditioned room where it recouperates for its fight the following week.

Cock surgery

The losers on the other hand are washed, their feathers are plucked and are sent off to your local restraunt to make chicken adobo

The losers
Later that evening we went on an historic tour of Intramuros given by Carlos Celdran.  His tour was not only entertaining but also very educational.  He helped us realize why Manila is the way it is.  When we first arrived in Manila we just though it was a huge city with many districts with no real center or character.   The tour made us realizes that the bombing during WWII destroyed the city.  After the devastating war rebuilding was sporadic and the city never fully recovered from its effects.  This is why you do not see building with Spanish architecture, even though they were under Spanish rule for years.  If you ever go to Manila we highly suggest a tour with Carlos.  You can check out his site here.

Kahi, Carlos, and Louise

One of the locals going for a leisurely swim in the pond at the golf course while looking for balls

The footsteps of Jose Rizal leading from his jail cell to the place of his execution.

The tour also shed some light on why we were not getting the same warm reaction given almost anywhere else when we say that we’re from Hawaii.  Instead their response was more of a “oh…America…”  or a “so you think you better than us” feeling.  America mislead the Philippines into thinking that they were going to be the 50th state and then they bombed the hell out of them.  Long story short style goes as follows, General Macarthur disregarded the warnings that the Japanese were going to attack.  Then the day after the Pearl Harbor bombing, Japan attacked Manila and was able to take it over.  Macarthur escaped and vowed to return but pretty much never did.  At the end of WWII the US bombed Manila in order to rid the city of the Japanese.  I guess I’d be pretty bitter too.
The city was kind of getting to us and the waves were picking up on the Pacific coast so the next morning we caught a bus to Baler.  The ride was about 9 hours and they kept the air conditioner set on freezing cold.

The bus was freezing cold.  Here’s Kahi with his bundled head eating cup-a-noodle.

Military guards with huge guns did routine secuity checks along the bus route

We sampled some local grinds at one of the rest stops, pork adobo and stir fried veggies.  The soup was super nasty and smelt like wet dog.

The bus dropped us off in the middle of Baler so we loaded our surfboards on a trike and road to the beach.  We checked into Bay’s Inn, which was on the beach right in front of the beach break surf spot.

Bay’s Inn, Baler

We had arrived just in time for the arrival of tropical depression Quinta.  The winds where howling and the rain was dumping.  It rained pretty much all day but we still went surfing in the shorebreak.  It really wasn’t the best surf, but we were stoked to get in the water.  There was definitely some size but the waves were mostly quick drop in close outs.  Still fun though.

We could see the storm moving in on the horizon

The hotel started to flood

Out door seating area at Bay’s Inn

The banana-chocolate shakes and banana fosters crepes were the bomb!
The location of our hotel was pretty much perfect except for the fact that it was located right next to a bar/club that had live music until 2am every night.  The earplugs really came in handy.  One night we cruised over for a couple of beers.  The place was packed and there was a live band playing.  They were pretty good and had a pretty decent crowd dancing.  The bar was an interesting scene.  There were the lady-boys dancing in one area, an old guy surrounded by prostitutes sitting at the table next to us, and a ton of kids partying it up.  We were greeted by a group of three local surfers who were incredibly wasted.  We hung out with them for a while until one of them passed out on our table.

Club scene in Baler

Kahi’s drinking buddy

The next morning we arranged for a trike to take us 6km south to Cemento Beach.  There was an old bridge that we needed to walk over to check out the waves.  It was a little sketchy and we needed to watch our steps.   It was packed!  There were about 11 people out.  This was not something expected, but we paddled out anyway.

The road to Cemento

This is the sketchy bridge you walk out on to scope out the waves

The other end of the bridge is small kine falling apart

Kahi at Cementos, the wave looks bad but it was actually really good a bit earlier.
The majority of the crowd was Filipino, which was surprisingly different from Indonesia where most people in the line up were tourist.  We were two of four tourists out there.   The waves were a little overhead and the barrel potential was high.  Kahi got some sick waves.  I was a little timid of the crowd but still got some fun ones.

One of the local surfer, Jason
We headed back to our hotel packed our bags and jumped on another bus.  This one would take us to Baugio.

Malaysia was one heck of a good time.  We stayed with Ditesh, a fellow couchsurfer that opened his beautiful home to us.  Those that haven’t checked it out yet, please do, www.couchsurfing.com.  If you can offer a couch or bed to a traveler they will surely be grateful.  In addition you learn a lot about a different culture and end up making new friends.  If and when you decide to travel you too can attempt to surf a couch and will have an easier time with a bit of experience hosting people.  It’s set up very similar to Facebook or Myspace, so many of you will be able to figure it out very easily.

Every single meal we had in Malaysia was an Indian meal.  While in Bali, Leeanne and Kimberly had told us there were a ton of Indians here but we had no idea.  The choice to eat Indian food was not forced but voluntary.  We absolutely love the stuff.  We were there for two nights and two days for a total of 5 meals.   We also only ate two different things.  The first was banana leaf:  Your placemat is a banana leaf and they bring a bunch of rice, vegetable curries, and if desired, meat curries.  The other item we kept getting was Tosai Masala.  It was and Indian Burrito.  Inside was curried meats, onions, potatoes and other veggies.  The outside was kind of like a super thin crispy crepe.

Our first night we obviously had an Indian meal and then we headed to the Petronas Towers.  The iconic buildings are beautifully surreal.  A funny story I was told, goes as follows; The Developer for the building hired two firms to build the towers, one per tower.  The first contractor was a Korean firm and the second was a Japanese firm.  The firm that completed first was to be rewarded a bonus.  The whole way the firms were tied in a deadlocked race.  Upon the final day where one was to be crowned victorious, the Korean contractor snuck up the final antenna that night through the interior vs. a helicopter and sneakily installed it.  Upon daybreak the Koreans were crowned victorious.

After the towers we headed to a bar called Decanters, a wine bar that found out that the Malaysians in the area really didn’t drink wine.  They kept the name but they pretty much only served beer.  It was a smoky excursion and my eyes were hurtin that night.

The next morning Aizat banged Ditesh’s neighbors car.  He was hungovers.

During our full one-day tour in Kuala Lumpur we checked out the Batu Caves, Chinatown, Little India, and then on to Oktoberfest Malaysia style.
The Batu Caves are a holy Hindu collection of temples.  Every year around one million pilgrims congregate at the Batu Caves in order to participate or witness personal sacrifices by Hindu devotees.  The sacrifices are of the pain-inflicting genre.  They include the piercing of skin with several hooks and then dragging edifices of the gods.  Others pierce their cheeks and practice other forms of sacrifice that many of us Westerners would just shake are heads at.

Funny looking little statues/gods

The god of Milk

We ate here, its the bizzle.

One other thing, Batu means rock in Bahasa.  No there weren’t a bunch of ice-heads there, although it woulda been funny.  Louise and I carry mace with us just in case.
Chinatown and Little India are just as you would think.  Selling of knock off goods, haggling, weird and good foods.  In Chinatown we witnessed a little bit of civil justice.  Two individuals snatched a tourists bag.  As they were running off the local shop owners beat the guys down.  We heard it all go down as it was only about a 100 meters away (note the metric system we’re falling into).  When we made it to the mess, the two guys were tied up with rope, had bloody faces, and had the ashamed look of, “I just got my ass kicked”.  It’s sad because they were probably extremely poor and were just trying to get by, but robbing tourists through bag snatching is not the way.  I was proud of the locals and it actually made me feel safer.
Louise and I have been robbed in a different sense.  Be it the cab driver that charged us triple the price or the hotel that charged us double.  To us it was just a few bucks, but the feeling of being taken advantage of kinda sucks.  At least we take away from the experience a lesson.
That night was the highlight of our trip to Malaysia.  Ditesh and his friend Aizat took us to the local Oktoberfest……..on November 1st.  Nothing like Oktoberfest in November.  The night started off with a promo of the first 1000 beers going for a buck.  The line was about 500 people long so we all got two beers for the promo price.  The line moved pretty fast and you needed to finish your beer before you could get your next.  After that good start, we bought buckets of German beers and continued the celebration of our heritage and internationally shared hobby of beer–drinking.
The venue was filled with about 1,000 different individuals by that time.  Malaysia is truly a melting pot, even more than Hawaii.  Every race was represented in this mix and everyone was having a great time.  Nobody was acting the tough guy, everyone was smiling, and all were having a good time.
After a couple of more buckets down the competition began.   We had finagled a table right up front of the action and both Louise and I were chosen for the beer drinking competition.  See the pictures and quick movie for the rest.

EA25ID Represent!!!!!!!!!!

The challengers

This girl opened up all the girls beers up with her teeth.  I though Louise was in trouble.

The sexy winner

Later that night we went and had more Indian food, actually two more meals.  It was such a great night and we have to truly thank Ditesh and Aizat once more.

West and East

]

Diteshs’ friend jumped up on stage and started rocking it.

I tried to freak Louise but she wasn’t really having it….right then.

I

A fresh bucket of Tiger.

No wasting!

This sign said that only non-muslims could enter.

Taking a quick nap.

Love is still loving an empty bucket of beer.

Still sleeping, I think I ended up drinking that iced tea with a barf moat surrounding it.

The next morning our flight departed at 7am which meant we had to be at the airport around 5ish.  We were planning to catch a bus to the airport.  As Ditesh with Aizat in shotgun took us to the bus terminal at 4:30am they spontaneously decided they’d take us all the way!  A full hour away!  These guys were true homies and we were so stoked to meet them.  Ditesh even let us leave our 6’6”s (surfboard’s) there since we don’t think we’ll need them for the rest of South East Asia.

We sent an entire backpackers bag home to Hawaii in a friends container back in Bali.  Louise and I are now traveling with half of the stuff we were in Indonesia.  We will need to update our packing list for you to see.  What we’ve learned is that you really don’t need all that crap to get by.  It’s a hell of a lot easier without it, and if you really need it, you can buy it.  Plus we got rid of our 6’6”s for now.   For the rest of SE Asia we are traveling with one backpackers bag, a small backpack, and one boardbag (with 3 boards in it, two shorties and 1 fish).
We’re off to the Philippines and can here the adobo calling.  Aysus!

Hey, wheres the beef?………Darabif!

Our trip back from Lovina was an easy 4 hour mini bus ride that weaved through the center of Bali. We headed up into the mountains and then dropped down through Ubud finally landing us back in Seminyak. We spent the last couple of days in Bali involved taking a quick trip to Medewi, hanging out with new friends, meeting up with some old ones from Hawaii, and of course surfing.

Louise and I hopped onto our moto and trekked about 3 hours up to Medewi where we were lucky enough to score some fun waves. It’s a long left that peels over cobblestones and some big rocks as well. Its not the typical Bali wave that pitches and barrels but rather rolls along the point and has some fun rippable sections that you have to be patient for in order for them to set up. We made friends with the locals, especially one named Hadi. I hooked him up with my tunes onto his new ipod. Hope he likes my music.

While we were there we checked out the tree that a road goes through.  In Bali, certain trees are sacred.  This one was so sacred that they built the road to go through it rather than cut it down.  We also got to try soto ayam for the first time.  This cheap dish is a delicious soup made up of mysterious meatball, noodles, chicken, and rice chunks.  Try it when you get to Indo.

When we got back to Seminyak we moved back into our mansion after spending one night at Jacopos. This place was unreal and the price we were paying was even better. I will not disclose it here but lets just say you spend more going to Kozo Sushi to buy lunch. It’s a 2 bedroom place with a giant foyer, full kitchen, big bathroom, and great living room.

To celebrate our return, we had a surf out at Coup De Ta and then went out to dinner with John and Shinya.  We met John in Bingin and he ended up being a solid bloke.  John’s got an import business sending textiles to Cali, but he’s getting into the biz of importing jiu-jitsu guis (the outfits they wear).  Wishing him luck on his endeavor, and soaking in the entrepreneurial juices flowing from his mind, its quite inspiring.  But I don’t think sweat harbinging jackets and pants are Louise and my dig.  Jacopo had a leather bag deal, and countless others were living the life exporting goods and drinking Bintangs on the beach.

John had us over to his house which he rents for extremely cheap on a two year basis.  His pet monkey is an extremely jealous girl.  She loves guys but girls are forbidden.  Another girl that was at his house had a scar on her arm from the monkeys bite and when Louise tried to pet it the thing attacked.  It was hilarious and gnarly at the same time.  Louise was just out of reach since the monkey was on a leash so glad to say she is ok!

We found out that our friends Leeanne and Kimberly from Hawaii were in town so we arranged to meet up with them. They’re sisters on their way to a wedding of a family member in Thailand. A stop in Bali was in their itinerary and we were stoked to show them around a bit. We had them meet up with us at Uluwatus in Warung Salin. They relaxed, had a bite to eat, then went snorkeling at the beach while we surfed.

That evening I picked the two of them up on my moto and zipped through Kuta back to our place for a beer. We then met up with Jacopo and had another great meal at Zanzibars.  Jacopo drove them home as I had a few too many Bintangs.

The next day we did some shopping, tried to teach them the ropes of bargaining without angering their mother for knocking over rice bowls. There’s a saying here that goes, “don’t go knocking over anyone’s ricebowls”. In other words don’t bargain the pants off the locals, they need to eat, and need the money a hell of a lot more than we do. We’ve been keeping that in mind but we did manage to get some sarongs for $1.70 each!” After all that shopping I was able to fit Louise, Kimberly, Leeanne, and myself onto my moto and we headed for sunset drinks at the O-Ce-N. It was quite a scene. I had three beautiful women on my bike and including me, that set a personal record, 4 people!

Mosquito’s are a never ending problem in Indonesia and one way to feel some retribution was to swat them with the electric tennis rackets.  We were both taking Doxicycline while out of Bali, but I stopped while in Bali.  Louise is a mosquito magnet and they follow her everywhere.  She’ll get bit 10 times a night and I’ll get bit only once if at all.

On our last evening in Bali we went to three different restaurants.  We started at Rumours (appetizer), then went to Sasas (main course), and ended at Cafe Bali (desert).  They’re all awesome restaurants and we highly recommend them.

We left the next day, off to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We were headed to stay with a complete stranger named Ditesh from our couchsurfing network.

Puppies in the village Jacopo lived in.

New shakeface!

Jacopos entrance to the Shakeface!

Bought this new camera at the end of the Bali trip (yeah yeah, great timing I know), hopefully will get some photos for you! Waterproof!, but I’ve heard that before.

This guys outfit is awesome.

This is a temple in a convienience store parking lot.  Bali is truly the land of a million temples, they’re everywhere.

Canggu, fun peaky beachbreak

More Canggu

When we surfed Jacopos couch, this was it.  Not bad eh?

Coming up next…….Malaysia!

The whirlwind tour of East Java ended as it dropped us off at the ferry port of Ketapang.  We were headed to Gilimanuk, Bali and we got there just in time to board the ferry and secure great seats.  Kahi and I wanted to explore the north coast of Bali and planned on heading to Pulau Menjangan, a small island off of the northern tip of Bali located in a national park and then on to Lovina to swim with the dolphins.  We boarded a bus headed to Singaraja and got off at Pemuteran.  Although Pemuteran was about 30 minutes from the boat harbor to Menjangan it was one of the only nearby towns with decent places to stay.

The ferry from Java to Bali, get seats on the top and get on board early

our bus to Pemuteran

The Jelly Drink, its exactly as it sounds.

For a bus to leave the station it needs to be full so we had to wait for about an hour before we were able to leave.  While we waited there were ladies with baskets on their heads selling everything from fruits to drinks to cigarettes.   I wanted to try this thing called a Jelly-Drink, I was curious to see what it was like.  It was pretty much like orange Jello in a cup with little orange chunks, but instead of eating it with a spoon you sucked it through a straw.  It was pretty yummy.   Kahi liked it too.

This little boy was selling witch brooms at the bus station

Finally arriving in Pemuteran we checked into a hotel and began figuring out how we would get to Pulau Menjangan.  This was another place that Jacopo had recommended to us.  He told us that the diving was beautiful and views of Java were stunning, he said it was a must.  So we looked into doing a dive tour, but it was a little out of our price range at $60 per person.  The dive operators also offered snorkeling tours but those were a little pricy as well at $35 per person.

According to our trusty Lonely Planet book (so kindly donated by Shaun and Mandy, thanks bunches!) we could rent a boat for four hours directly from the boat harbor at a much cheaper price.  We rented our favorite mode of transport, a moped, and drove over to Labuhan Lalang boat harbor.  It was about 5pm and most of the boat operators were already gone, but luck was on our side.  We ran into one of the park guides, Wayan.  He told us he would take us and that the best time to go to the island would be at sunrise and he could take us there the following morning at 5:30.  We were able to secure a private boat for $50 including two boat snorkel dives.  If we wanted to find other people to accompany us we were allowed up to 8 more people.  But we wanted to go solo.
On the way back to Pemuteran we stopped by the Menjangan Resort, which is actually located in the national park.  It had a really interesting restaurant that towers 40ft above the treetops.  We walked up the stairs to the very top and had a drink.

We were pretty high up there and so were the prices.  The view was gorgeous though.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the area.  We drove an hour up the coast to the nearest ATM in Seririt.  Then headed back to check out a couple of the local temples.  The main temple is called Pulaki Temple and is most know for the monkeys that came to be its guardians.

The monkey imitating Kahi

The temple was quite empty when we first arrived except for a small tour group of about 5 people and the monkeys of course.  We were walking around when what seemed to be the entire village poured into the temple.  They were having some sort of blessing or festival.  We stood on the side and watched them as they gave offerings and were blessed by the elders. The monkeys and locals seemed to enjoy each other’s company or at least they entertained each other.  The monkeys were walking though the crowd of people stealing their offering and causing trouble, while the locals equally pestered the monkeys.  It was quite the experience.

This was one of the other temples across the street.  We’re not sure what it’s story is but it had some interesting figures built out of stone facing the ocean and some really cool stone dragons.

We took our snorkels to the beach near our hotel and went for a little swim.  It was a beautiful black sand beach and the reef was somewhat alive offering some snorkeling pleasure.  A little ways down the beach the fishermen were getting ready to launch their boats.  Kahi gave them a hand pushing the boats into the water.  The locals were grateful and got a kick out of it.

The next morning we woke up at 4:45 in order to get to the harbor in time.  We met Wayan and Nyoman, our boat driver, loaded our boat and headed to the island.  The sky was lit with a beautiful array of colors as the sun rose from behind the mountains.  After about 30 minutes or so we arrived on Palau Menjangan, we were the only ones there.

Palau Menjangan

Our boat driver Nyoman, he looks a little sleepy!

Java in the background

The sun had not risen yet so Wayan gave us a small tour of the island.  There were a couple of temples on the island one of which one is the oldest temple in all of Bali.  Most of the temples were made entirely of coral that had been collected from around the island.  There were also great views of Java from the island.  We could see Igen, the mountain we had hiked a few days earlier.

When the sun was up the light was bright enough and the water warm enough for us to jump in the water for our first snorkel dive.  It was amazing!!!.  The island is fringed with very alive coral and then it drops off to 200+ feet like a cliff.  There are so many fish that you feel like you’re swimming in a fish tank or you’re in one of Wyland’s paintings.  The visibility was ridiculously good, I’d say about 60ft, not sure though anyway it was incredible.

The coolest part is the drop off.  One minute your happily snorkeling in 3-4ft of water, the next your in 77m of deep blue spooky water.  There’s just something about being in water that deep, its just damn creepy.  So we hugged the fringe of the drop off since that’s where the fish were and we felt we might be able to get to shallow water just in case.  It was unreal; so many different types of hard and soft corals, colorful giant clams (like the ones that were stolen from the Waikiki Aquarium), clown fish swimming in giant sea anenomies, huge puffer fish, parrotfish, groupers, needlefish, and much much more, oh and not to mention all the weird fish we’ve never seen before.   Words can’t describe the beauty!  The only part that kind of sucked were these pesky jellyfish that stung us.  I didn’t get stung too bad but Kahi got hit pretty badly on his forearm.  The sting wasn’t very painful but boy was it itchy.  After getting back on the boat we showed Wayan our battle wounds.  He told us that wearing sunscreen prevents getting stung because they just slide past you, plus if you get stung do not scratch it because it makes it worse.  Too bad we already scratched the hell out of our stings.

Unfortunately our waterproof camera broke and we don’t have any pictures to show you.  Hopefully one day you’ll go there and see if for yourself, it is a must!

We had the boat entirely to ourselves!
Our second snorkel took us around to the corner to another part of the island.  It was just as beautiful here as the first location but the reef was a bit more developed.  There were areas where you could swim under and through the coral bridges.  About a quarter way through our snorkel Kahi noticed that a little yellow jack was following us.  If we swam one way he followed, if Kahi dove down he followed.  It was cool, we had made a little buddy.  When we got out of the water we told Wayan that a fish was following us, he said “a yellow jack?”  We were surprised, but he told us that he always follows swimmers.  We laughed, thinking that we were special or something.  Wayan was a great guide.  If you every get a chance to head out to Menjangan look for Wayan.  He has been working there for 15 years and is very knowledgeable and has such a happy and vibrant personality.

Wayan and Louise

We checked out of our hotel and caught a bemo to our next stop Lovina.  I love the concept of a bemo.  Pretty much a minivan that drives a certain route, this particular one drove along the north coast of Bali.  You stand on the side of the street and when you see one coming you stick out your hand and they pull over.  When your stop is coming up you let the driver know you want to get off and he pulls over.  It’s just that simple!

Bemo ride to Lovina

Lovina the dolphin capital 🙂
We came to Lovina for its dolphins but we also wanted to check out a Buddhist Temple and the hot springs in the area.  We rented a moped and drove out to the temple, which was like a mini-Borobudur.  There were also little huts that you could sit and meditate in.  To enter many of the temples in Bali, you have to where a sarong, guys included.

An offering to the EA25ID Buddha

The hot springs called Air Panas Banjar consist of several pools where you can swim in the warm water.  This was quite a popular place.  The top pool was the hottest, and it cooled as it got down to the large pool.  The best pool had three fountains that poured from a height of four meters.  Standing under one of these fountains gave you a soothing water massage.  There is also a pretty tasty reasonably priced restaurant overlooking the pools.

Hot Springs Gainer

We were told by others that we wouldn’t be able to swim with the dolphins because it would cause them to swim away, but Kahi and I were determined to do so.  The next morning we woke up at 6 and walked over to the beach where were met our boat driver Putu.  We packed our snorkels in our backpack and hopped on the boat.  We knew there would be others on the hunt for dolphins but we didn’t know our boat would be one of 40!  It was insane!

We told Putu that we wanted to swim with the dolphins but he just laughed at us and thought we were joking.  It wasn’t hard to find the dolphins.  There were hundreds of them.  Putu told us that it usually wasn’t this good and that today was special.  The dolphins were jumping out of the water and swimming around our boat.  We stood on the side rails to get a better view of them swimming below us.
Kahi got excited, put his mask on and stuck his head under the water.  He could see them swimming under us.  Putu decided to let us try to swim with the dolphins since there were so many of them.  Kahi dove into the water and scared the crap out of the dolphins, they all jumped out of the water at the same time.  They had swam away and he couldn’t see anything other than dark blue and jellyfish.  He got back in the boat and we suggested that he slowly get in the water so the dolphins wouldn’t get startled.

Putu our navigator and captain

Another pod of dolphins were swimming by, this time Kahi slowly slipped into the water.  He could see them swimming by the boat only meters away.  He could also hear them calling to each other in their extremely high pitch tones.  Kahi held onto one of the pontoons and Putu slowly drove, dragging Kahi along.

I wanted to give it a go and jumped in the water with all of my clothes because I didn’t have my bathing suit on.  I had never seen anything like this.  The water we were in was very deep and a dark creepy blue.  There were all kinds of jellyfish and weird other gelatinous animals swimming around.  The dolphins were swimming 20 meters below us in groups of about 20.  We had a blast hanging on to the boat and getting dragged along, getting the best view.  I think the people on the other boats were a little jealous of all the fun we were having.  If you go to see the dolphins in Lovina you gotta find our man Putu, and if you can’t find him, just sneak some snorkels on board.  The driver isn’t going to just leave you out there in the middle of the ocean, I think.