Sweet Bali Hai Part. 2

Everyday the Balinese place these around their homes,
1 offering for the good spirits , in hopes to keep them around and 1 for the evil spirits to
 keep them away. They are placed on different levels good high up and closer to home and the evil on the ground and in the entrance way.


**This blog is a continuation you can read Part 1 Here!**

    So here we are on day 6, in Bali, Indonesia. This place really is special, so much to do and see. We are finally fully rested and ready for a day of fun. What is on the agenda today? Renting moto bikes and cruising around the island. Moto bikes are a great way to get around, and usually don't cost to much. I get pretty scared on them mainly because I have absolutely no control over what happens, and traffic all over Asia is crazy and unpredictable. Luckily for me, Nick is a great driver, and respects my wishes when it comes to the speed... It could be the speech I give him every time we hop on, "If you kill me you will have 2 very angry Italian parents that will come and hunt you down!" lol


First stop on our tour of the island is a beautiful Sacred Monkey Temple. It took us about a half hour to get there, with some amazing scenery along the way. I really enjoy going to temples because you get to learn the religion and it helps you to understand the culture. Unlike the rest of Indonesia, Bali is mostly a Hindu country (about 93%), Muslim (5%), and the rest is Christian and Buddist. When we spoke to most of the Balinese we got many mixed feelings about all the religions. We sat down to eat one day and our server asked us where we were from and we said of course 
        "America", he responds with.. 
        "Ohhh Obama, I don't like him" 
        I kindly inquired, "Why Not?"
       "Because he is Muslim, and they try to take over our country, I love George Bush, he is a very strong man!" 


I kindly smiled and tried my best not to vomit in my mouth a little. This has been one of the only negative responses I have heard about Obama since being abroad. Most of the time it is a pretty positive response. The Muslim community has such a strong influence on Indonesia especially since the rest of the country is muslim. However, like most places it is not always a positive one. Today was actually the 5th anniversary of Bali bombings from the muslims. They planted bombs and blew up a very tourist populated area killing many people. But, I am not here to preach about religion or politics! 


So back to the Sacred Monkey Temple! 

          Upon arrival we have to sign a waver and if desired purchase life insurance! Why would we need something like this in a temple you ask? Well, unlike most temples this one is inhabited with over 300 monkeys! They run around freely and you can play with them if you wish, but at your own risk! lol 
 
        The temple itself was very beautiful and naturally designed with Monkeys all over it. Unlike Thai temples that usually have Elephants! Monkeys are highly respected in this country and treated accordingly. We were able to enter the temple as long as we were dressed properly. Shoulders, and legs covered they provided cloths for us to cover up with! Here is our motley crew, Monkeying around..[pun intended]
































         After we paid our respects to the temples, it was time to go play! It was really scary at first because there were monkeys everywhere!! You really had to keep your head on a swivel because these monkeys were very cheeky!  

Adorable Monkey Family! 

Me and my new friend, who tried to steal
my earrings right out of my ears!

We were warned ahead of time, not to wear sunglasses, hats, or anything that could easily be removed by them. Naturally, Nick ignored this warning and got his glasses stolen by this little guy! He took them right off his face and ran up into the tree...

                                                                                                                                  

         


...and put them on! One of the security guards spotted this and took his sling shot out.. shot him and he dropped them immediately. It was pretty entertaining! 


















        After about 2 hours of playing around, we headed out and got some lunch, hopped on our moto bikes and headed home! There were some beautiful sites along the way. Rice fields, temples, and beautiful art work, which Balinese is famous for, so of course I had to purchase some! Overall, it was an amazing day! We got a little lost on our way home but after swerving in and out of traffic arrived safely at our Guest house, just in time for dinner!

Until next time...

Cheers!

Sweet Bali Hai

Thailand is the mustard colored country, Indonesia is the Brown 
and Bali is one of the tiny islands toward the middle.

                Hello everyone! Terribly sorry for the slight delay in my vacation blog. I know I said I would post every day while on vacation but... I was on vacation! So it was much more tempting to put it off and explore. 


So, where were we? Oh yeah, Day 4. Winding down our time in Koh Phi Phi [pronounced P.P.]  and heading further down south to Phuket [Pronounced Poo-ket] Thailand's biggest island. We took a two hour ferry ride, and one very long overpriced taxi ride and we finally arrived in Phuket International Airport at around 9pm.

Thank You for flying Air Asia. 

 Our flight left for Bali, Indonesia early in the morning so rather than waste money on a hotel for a couple of hours we decided we would set up camp in the airport terminal. Especially since we had to watch college football and we were going to be up all night anyways. Well the boys at least... Jen and I had our own Gator -Vs- Noles Battle in our sleep.

On to day 5, we arrived in Bali, Indonesia.  First impressions: Clean air, Hot weather, darker Asians, beautiful flowers and many hidden fees. Just to go to Bali you have to basically pay a cover fee of 25 USD, however the Thai Baht price was about 30$. 

The exciting but frustrating thing to me about arriving in a new country is learning the way their money works. If there is one thing I can't stand is getting ripped off, but you are pretty much guaranteed to when leaving the Airport. People tend to take full advantage of the fact that you are a tourist and probably wont know how much a taxi should cost to get to your destination. We booked a beautiful hotel for the first night and ventured off to find a taxi. We read online  that there are metered taxies all over the island. Of course when we get to the airport there aren't any in site.  After a about 4 different taxies we were finally able to get a reasonable price. Luckily, the Balinese speak really good English (compared to Thailand) and made things a lot easier. 

We spent the rest of the day getting a bite to eat and checking out the closest beach. First order of business dip my toes into the Indian Ocean. I then laid out my towel on the sand, and drifted off to sleep ...only to be awoken by a large parade of Balinese dressed completely in white, walking towards the ocean. We were a bit confused but watched intently. We later learned that this is a Hindu ceremony they preformed two times a year!  It is meant to ward off the evil spirits, and keep the good ones. They light incense and bring offerings to the ocean, and pray to the gods. 

We sat and watched from the back and it was quite funny, really.. the women were on one side and the men were playing the music. Most were quite present while others were playing on their  blackberries and gossiping with each other. After about a half hour, they continued their parade through the city.  It was actually really cool, and we were so lucky to catch it! 

At this point we were running on empty, and decided it was time to go back to the hotel and crash! It sure did feel good sleeping on a comfortable bed! 

Until next time...

Cheers!

Photo Credit: Jen Cowan and Jon Watt