I have definitely had an adventurous week.
The weekend before last, some of my friends in my group decided to go hiking and camp out in this temple that is on the side of a mountain. I wanted to go so badly, but for the sake of my sanity I decided to explore Bedulu more by myself and stay with my family for the weekend. Since I have been in Bali, I haven’t had time to just relax and use free time like I want to. I haven’t really even been by myself much at all. I ended up working a lot on my batik and using the internet, which was nice. I also visited a couple of nearby temples by myself. They are pretty modest temples, which means there aren’t really tourists there. Also, the day that I went wasn’t a special day in the Balinese calendar so I was actually the only one there at both temples. It was a sort of impressive feeling, being there all by myself, and interesting to be somewhere without a ton of tour guides trying to show you around. However, I went there for an assignment and was supposed to interview someone, so I will be going back on a holy day when there will actually be people there to ask questions about the temple (Pura Puser ing Jagat).
On Wednesday, we headed to Denpasar (the capital of Bali) to attend lectures at Udayana University and meet Balinese students studying English. The hotel that we stayed at was so amazing- we were so spoiled! It had air conditioning, a big pool, a TV with English and French channels, and HOT WATER!! For the first time in Bali, I took a warm shower with actual water pressure- I almost forgot what it feels like. Meeting the Balinese students (we talked to 2 different groups) was fun too because they were all so nice; honestly I felt more welcomed by them than I ever did by any French students that I met. Their English was so good it was kind of embarrassing to try to speak some Indonesian to them (although I am improving!) It was really amusing to learn what American music is popular here- mostly things that were popular about 5-10 years ago at home (Linkin Park, Sum 41, other mediocre alternative/punk bands). The second group was all so fashionable- I actually felt a little behind the times in my modest dress that I brought. Also, all of them get to class by motorbike, so the entire back wall of the classroom was a storage area for motorbike helmets. Some of them have facebook too, so I gave them my name/email to look me up online. I also got some HP (cell phone) numbers so maybe I can hang out with some of them later! Foodwise, the stay in Denpasar was an interesting mixture- one night we went to a traditional Balinese warung, so I had this coconut chicken mixed with vegetables that was great. But one day we also got some pizza from Pizza Hut, which is not the same in the states (fish and chips pizza? Yuck)- I kind of wanted to hurl after I ate it. At the hotel, I had mostly toast and fruit for breakfast, so that was a nice American break to the spicy salty food I have been eating every morning. I also tried a popular snack cracker here in many flavors, but the weird one was pisang keju (banana cheese)- the cracker is sweet and banana flavored, and the cheese in the middle is sort of like cheese from a ritz cracker. I hate to admit that it’s actually kind of good. However in stores I have seen durian flavored cookies also and don’t even want to go there after my gag reflex episode with the durian I tried in Kerambitan.
Friday, we moved to Sanur, which is sort of on the edge of the really touristy part of Bali. Although I feel kind of guilty about it now, I spent most of my time there recovering from the super-busy days of Denpasar. We had a papaya party at the hotel to help everyone get over the constipation epidemic that almost everyone in our group got at the same time. I also went shopping at Hardy’s, a cheap department store/grocery store where the security is ridiculous- people follow you around ALL the time, and they staple and seal the bags after you buy something. I found flip flops there that fit me, which was a good surprise. I went to a different department store in Denpasar, and there wasn’t a single shoe in the entire place that was big enough for my feet-everything was 1 or 2 sizes too small. I also decided to buy some Balinese red wine there (made in Singaraja), even though it was kind of expensive. That was a horrible decision…the wine was so terrible! I mean, maybe I have been spoiled by spending too much time in France, but honestly this had a vinegary sour taste and I couldn’t even finish a glass of it.
On Saturday, our free weekend started, and some of us decided to go to Uluwatu (which is in the south, on the peninsula that sticks out of the island) since we were basically halfway there by being in Sanur. We got transportation to Padang-Padang, which is a smaller but nearby town that we heard was the favorite place of SIT students a couple years ago because of the amazing beach and laid-back atmosphere. Once we got there, it took us forever to actually find the beach. It was beautiful and hidden, but pretty small, and there was a photo shoot going on there, and it was the first white sand beach I’ve been to in Bali. Also, we were all tired and needed to find a place to stay before we could enjoy it. We saw a sign for a reasonable looking hotel/homestay and headed in that direction. The first place we found was completely deserted; all the windows were broken out and the place was totally empty. The guy in our group (poor thing always stuck with 8 girls) saw another hotel or homestay type thing and decided to look farther down to check it out. So we all set down our stuff for a minute to wait. While we were all looking out at the beach and trying to drink some water, I suddenly saw a furry creature out of the corner of my eye and assumed it was a dog and wasn’t too concerned (i am actually getting better about that). When I took a second glance, I realized that it was actually a monkey and that it was going near our stuff. We all made noises to try to scare it away, but it got sort of nervous and took one of our bags and threw it down the cliff! Luckily it was just a shopping bag with a couple of purchases a girl had just made from the department store. But a couple of seconds later, more monkeys started appearing, probably 6 or 7 in total. We freaked out a little bit and grabbed all of our bags- we didn’t want our wallets being thrown down the cliff or stolen. We had a box of donuts from earlier that morning, and my friend threw it away from us so all of the monkeys would go over there and fight over the donuts instead of our stuff. That part was actually really fun to watch but we definitely ran away pretty fast. We called the guy in our group and told him we would meet him back on the road and that he would have to fend for himself against the monkeys. It was then that we decided to go to Uluwatu and stay there instead of Padang-Padang. There was no transport and it was too far to walk, so we paid these people to take us in the back of their pickup (very common in Bali). For the Balinese people, we must have been the butt of some joke because they would all laugh at us when they saw us drive by.
Uluwatu is a really neat surfer town, but the waves are so brutal and huge that you can’t really surf there unless you are already experienced. So in other words, no surfing for me. The beach was the most beautiful I have seen so far, with a bunch of cliffs and caves along it. There was a lot of coral, and a lot of creatures that I have never seen before, like tons of little crabs and other random sea-creatures. I watched yet another sunset on the beach during my time in Bali…and I hope I get to see a lot more too.
There is also a temple there that I really wanted to see, but that didn’t work out so well because I got a fever in the middle of the night and was probably pretty dehydrated from all of the intense walking we did that day. (Don’t worry, I’m fine now!) So the next morning I just slept until check out time in our hotel and then somehow endured a 2 hour car ride home while feeling really nauseous the whole time. Of course, when we were dropped off at the house where we have school (it’s pretty much our standard meeting place) it was the biggest downpour I have seen so far in Bali; the ditches alongside the roads were flooding so much it was becoming unsafe and almost impossible to drive. So I couldn’t really walk home in that and slept for a couple of hours there. By the time I got home, I told my ibu that I was a little sick and tried to explain that I had a fever by telling her I had hot skin but felt cold. She felt my forehead, (apologizing first because it is rude to touch someone’s head- the sacred part of your body) got a worried look on her face and said “ohhh, panas sekali!” = very warm! She was so nice to me and made me tea. I knew I must have been really sick because the tea they make is usually about 50% sugar- possibly worse than sweet tea in the south, but at the time it tasted so good. My ibu and two of my host sisters sat at the table with me, worriedly watching me eat a little bit of rice. The next morning, they made me rice porridge and tea and brought it to my room for me. I woke up to my ibu, bapak (host dad), and host sister-in-law peeking in to make sure I was okay. Even though I felt a lot better, I went to the doctor that afternoon to make sure there was nothing seriously wrong. I actually went to the hospital because a girl in our group needed to return crutches there, and the local clinic didn’t open until the evening. My fever was down by then, so basically all they needed to do was a blood test to make sure I didn’t have dengue fever or any other tropical diseases. So I am feeling a lot better except for some digestive issues- but that’s Bali for ya.
I am super excited- tomorrow for my birthday I think I am going to play cards and go eat at KAFE, one of my favorite places to eat in Ubud :). Then on Friday I am going to my village homestay and the round-Bali trip to Lovina, Singaraja, and Mount Batur!! Can’t wait!
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