Garuda Air from Brisbane to Bali

Looks like it is working again.....

I will just continue to keep my journal on Bali on this page and add each day's activities at the bottom!

7 January 2002 - Flew Garuda Indonesia Air from Brisbane Australia to Denpasar Bali! A bit of delay in takeoff as the captain announced as we were driving down the tarmac that the brakes were not working so we pulled back near the gate and they worked on them for 1 1/2 hours...finally took off close to 11 am and arrived in Bali at 2:18 pm (two hour time difference back)....and we were glad that the brakes worked on landing as the airstrip is not that long! A long queue at the customs desk and very hot and humid...then got a taxi from the airport which is near Kuta to Sanur which is much more quiet...accommodation at the Grand Bali Beach Hotel right on the beach....one of the first major resorts built in the 1960's and it looks it although they have done some renovation! We had gotten a good deal by booking ahead in Australia (for $50 US per night) but to extend we would have to pay more. We did suss out the accommodation along the beach and everyone is giving 50% discount due to low season and no one arriving due to a combination of 11 Sept and the political unrest in other parts of Indonesia. We feel pretty safe here as they rely heavily on tourists and they are mostly Hindu not Muslim. We found an ATM to get some money which is $1 USA = 10433 rupiah and hardly any coins so we carry a wad of dirty paper. The max that you can get at the ATM is 600000 rupiah and the notes are 100000, 50000, 20000, 10000, 5000, 1000 and the 500 and 100 usually look pretty mangled! Breakfast on the beach is about 10000-15000 for juice, fruit, eggs, bacon, toast and wonderful Bali coffee!

8 January 2002 - We walked the grounds of the hotel at sunrise...actually quite a bit of property that the hotel has and everything is spread out so quite airy....plus three pools. We are in a garden unit and they also have a renovated highrise and cottages....very well laid out. After sussing out the other accommodation at Sanur, we have found that we did make a good choice and plan to stay here our last week(4-11 Feb) on Bali after exploring the rest of the island. We visited the Museum Le Mayeur (home of one of the many artists of Bali) and after his death, his Balinese wife maintains their home as a museum with works of art done my Le Mayeur. Also found the supermarket for basic goodies like water (thank goodness we have a fridge in the room). Relaxed by the pool and had a massage on the beach....you can get them for as cheap as $5 per hour! We took an evening walk to the south end of Sanur....a wonderful stone walk extends the entire length of the beach.

9 January 2002 - We hired a driver for the day (100000) to take us in his Toyota Kijang (means deer in Balinese) to visit Ubud...we wanted to suss out the accommodation before just arriving with baggage and also explore the village. They say it is cooler at the higher elevation (of only about 300m) but it is very hot so did find room with aircon! We returned to Sanur in the afternoon for some pool time and then fresh grilled tuna at the Matahari Cafe on the beach for only 20000 rupiah!

10 January - A bit of walking around Sanur to explore new streets and then pool/beach time. Had a wonderful rijstaffel (rice table with a bit of everything Indonesian) at the Kalimantan Cafe that was started by an American ten years ago. Purchased ten postcards for only 10000 and hope to get them written one of these days.

11 January - We took the local Perama bus transport to Kuta (10000 each) which is about half hour away but he did a stop at the airport first so took about one hour! Kuta is very crowded and busy with heaps of western shops and resorts....even found a Haagen Das ice cream for snack before our wonderful sashimi lunch at the Sushi Bar Kunti. Had a chance to check Internet at Poppies but very slow at 500 rupiah per minute.

12 January - Another wonderful massage from Annie on the beach, an hour laying on the beach and then packed to move to Siti Bungalows in Ubud...about half hour drive from Sanur in the mountains and surrounded by very thick rainforest. We are staying at the bungalows of the artist Han Snel who died in 1999 but still run by his Balinese wife Siti hence the name of Siti Bungalows....lovely garden setting on the creek.

We have a wonderful bungalow overlooking a small stream....but no hot water and no fridge....but we do have aircon for which we are grateful in this heat...plus they served us afternoon tea with fresh crepes! We also had no kettle for our morning coffee so visited Tino's minimart and found ceramic kettle (very similar to the old ones in Australia) for 30000 rupiah! ! We also visited the former home of Walter Spies, another Balinese artist, whose residence has been turned into fancy hotel called Hotel Tjampuhan.

Another wonderful dinner at Miros Garden restaurant.

13 January - The folks at Siti Bungalows served us a wonderful breakfast of blended juice drink, fresh fruit, eggs, toast, Bali coffee, and banana pancakes (crepes)...our accommodation here is $30 US includes breakfast,afternoon tea and no tax....which is important when making either accommodation or food purchase because they charge up to 21% tax....so you need to bargain beforehand! Found cheaper internet for 200 rupiah at Fairway Cafe! We have enjoyed the sites and smells of Ubud....statues covered with flowers and palm leaf basket offerings filled with flowers and coffee and rice and the burning of incense.

14 January-We spent a long day touring East Bali; we booked a tour through the Tourist Centre in Ubud and it cost us 75,000 rupiah each for a tour from 8:30am until after 5 so we felt that we did well! We initially stopped at Gianyar to see batik making, then to the fishing village of Kusamba to watch the making of their fishing boats that look like an elephant/fish with an eye that helps them to fish at night and to watch the making of salt (a very long process as they take water from the sea and dry it in the sun in wooden troughs), then to Goa Lawah/Bat Cave Temple where heaps of bats live above the prayer area (they were also having a ceremony during our visit so great to see the traditional dress and listen to the singing), then to Tenganan (very small clean and neat village of Bali Aga people, the descendants of the original Balinese, and where the hills provide a beautiful backdrop) where we enjoyed watching the local craft of ikat weaving and basket weaving and traditional Balinese calligraphy on palm strips (we also tried some local Balinese bread), then on to beach resort of Candi Dasa (the beach has been drastically eroded away due to the building of the hotel resorts with the coral reef out at sea that was protecting the beach), through the village of Sibetan where they sell heaps of the local Balinese fruit salak and the village Selat for beautiful views of the rice fields, then to the Besakih Temple (the Mother Temple of the Balinese on the side of the Mountain Agung), more rice terrace views at Bulit Jambul and then to the Hall of Justice at Klungkung/Semarapura. The Besakih Temple is perched nearly 1000m up the side of Gunung Agung (mountain) and is Bali's most important temple and is actually an extensive complex of 23 separate but related temples. We spent most of our time at the main one Pura Penataran Agung. The only disturbing thing were the young touts who try to get more money from you after you have already paid the entrance fees (they want you to use them as a guide and tell you that you are not allowed in without a guide....very annoying as they also began shouting obscenities when we did not give them money but they finally disappeared and left us to enjoy the temple). We have been very surprised at the lack of tourists....everyone keeps saying that it is due to 11 Sept so I do hope that things change for Bali soon and that more tourists will come to visit. Ubud is known for its restaurants and we have been eating well although a bit more dear than Sanur and also some great Western specialities....I had a delicious pumpkin ravioli (homemade pasta) last evening at the Casa Luna.

15 January - After another wonderful breakfast at Siti, we went across the river to the Museum Puri Lukisan (Fine Arts) that was opened in 1956 and displays fine examples of all schools of Balinese art. There are three gallery pavilions set amongst beautiful gardens with decorative lotus pools and statues. Then Internet at the Fairway Cafe (great little cafe overlooking the street and they also provide a facility to refill your water bottles (1500 rupiah) a bit cheaper than buying water at the local market(2500 rupiah for 1.5 litre bottle) and also to reduce the amount of plastic waste which you see everywhere) and a massage/scrub and pedicure at the Nur Spa...over two hours for 140000 rupiah ($14.00 US).

16 January - Today was a day for a long walk through the villages and the rice fields...just beautiful! We first stopped at the Gallery of Antonio Blanco (artist from Spain who was born in the Phillipines and ended up in Bali marrying a Balinese woman and who just died in December 1999) and enjoyed his wonderful but zany artwork. We then followed the footpath to Penestanan and Sayan for a brief stop to view the new Four Seasons Hotel on the Sungai (River) Ayung....they claim it is the best in the world. It was too expensive (in Bali terms) for a cappucino at 42000 rupiah so we headed back to Penestanan for lunch at the Warung Made. We wandered along the irrigation canals of the rice paddies and visited artists homes(great beadwork and lovely paintings) and various homestays that are desperate for business! We had a wonderful chocolate dessert and delicious cappucino at the Indus restaurant overlooking the valley and then enjoyed the art work at the Neka Art Museum....especially that of Arie Smit (another expat). We experienced our first bemo ride back to Ubud for only 1000 rupiah. For the past two days we have experienced heavy afternoon rain storms with thunder and lightening but today (so far) we have been spared! Everyday we visit additional accommodation options just to suss them out and today we found another wonderful place called Ananda Cottages overlooking the rice fields....too difficult to make decision on where to stay!

17 January - Our last great breakfast in the courtyard of Siti Bungalows before moving onto another part of Ubud. Siti is located near the centre of Ubud, a bit north off a small lane (Jalan Kajeng), so very central to everything. Our next accommodation is at the south end in a village called Nyuhkuning past the Monkey Forest Sanctuary. So we walked a bit this morning around the neighbourhood finding another spa (Ubud Sari) at the end of Jl Kajeng and then some internet prior to our pickup at noon by the manager of the Gazebo Bungalows Villa Labak(www.baligazebo.com (although this site only appears to talk about their Sanur location and not their Ubud location which is new))...off to explore another part of Ubud. We were also very happy to meet the wife of Han Snel, Siti, before we departed Siti Bungalows (for which the place is named). She showed us around here Balinese home which contained an altar for Han who passed on a few years ago. We arrived at our new abode in the afternoon during a rainstorm so were happy to be inside when it hit. Our new home is very lovely....a bungalow named Arjuna with two bedrooms, living and dining area with verandas overlooking the river, kitchen with small fridge, and a bathroom that opens to the out of doors with an outdoor shower (which is very common in the bungalows that we have seen). We walked across the river for lunch at the Bali Spirit and finally broke down and just had a cheeseburger with great fries...a nice break from RICE! Our local driver, Chandra, then drove us to the local supermarket, Delta Dewata, to stock up on basics such as cornflakes, milk, yoghurt, and soda water. We are also buying heaps of water as we do not trust the water coming out of the tap to do well for our tummy....we do not want any Bali Belli!

We are also reading some great books about Bali that we found in the local bookshops:

Island of Bali by Miguel Covarrubias

Our Hotel in Bali by Louise Koke

A House in Bali by Colin McPhee

A Little Bit of One O'Clock by William Ingram

Bali Moon by Odyle Knight

The Kris of Death by Meredith Moraine and Jerrold Stewart

At Home in Asia by Harold Stephens with a chapter on Han and Siti Snel

These either tell of the history, of the culture and Hindu religion and black magic, of folks that have lived with local families, of expats that started their own hotel in the early part of the twentieth century etc....wonderful reading to get more of an insight into the island and its people.

18 January - We are about a half hour walk from the centre of Ubud. We are in the village of Nyuh Kuning just south of the Monkey Forest. This morning we walked through the village of Nyuh Kuning which is known for its wood carvings and visited the Wood Carving Museum. We then passed through the Monkey Forest where we saw another beautiful temple and heaps of monkeys. You need to hide everything as they especially like shiny things like cameras! We then stopped for another morning massage at Milano/Sicilia Salon...only $5 for one hour! And then a lovely lunch at our favourite place, Casa Luna, where I had a wonderful vegetarian dish, Mediterranean Tofu, with eggplant puree and salad and topped it off with a chocolate mouse....all for $5!

19 January - Today was another tour booked through the local tourist information centre....only 55000 rupiah for six hour drive to visit five temples and a fantastic view of Mt Batur and the lake below(we were quite lucky as the sun just peaked out and cleared after a big rain storm). We first stopped at Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave Temple - 3100 rupiah entry fee) which is very near Ubud, and then to Pejeng for the Pura Penataran Sasih (Moon of Pejeng temple-3000 rupiah donation) where many of the locals were preparing for a ceremony so many lovely colours of umbrellas and towers being built with heaps of flowers (we think it may be a cremation as they are due to occur on 24 January), and then to Gunung Kawi(3100 rupiah entry fee) where we walked to the bottom of a river valley to view ten rock cut candi (shrines) cut out of the rock face in imitation of actual statues (a very hot walk back to the top), and then to Tirta Empul (Holy Springs temple-3100 entry fee) in Tampaksiring where the springs (main source of Sungai Pakerisan) bubble up into a large crystal clear tank within the temple and gush out through waterspouts into a bathing pool where the local were taking their baths. We found that the palace above the springs belonged to Soekarno and even though it is a fairly unspectacular single storey structure built in 1954, it is said that he had a telescope here to spy on the girls bathing in the pools below! We then drove up to Penelokan for a great view of Mt Batur and Lake Batur and then to Kintamani/Batur for our last temple visit at Ulun Danu Batur. We were hassled in a similar way as at Besakih but this time by women to rent us a sash even though we already had one....very feisty ladies!

It poured down rain all the way back to Ubud so we had the driver drop us back at the Casa Luna for lunch (Tenggirri salad - fresh Spanish mackeral) before Jan headed to another massage and I decided to do internet since my hotmail account was not available yesterday when we stopped at the Fairway Cafe. It has been interesting to see all of the time that these people devote to their religion....women making offerings everyday, heaps of ceremonies, dances at many temples every night with wonderful gamelan music, and we are awaiting to see the famous cremation!

Our plans are to stay in Ubud through mid week then head to Lovina on the North Coast for a few days then back to Ubud then back to Sanur.

20 January - A day to relax a bit by the pool that we have not taken the time to enjoy. We had Chandra, our driver at the bungalows, then drive us to Casa Luna for their Sunday Brunch....their car is a Citroen 2CV which I just love as I had almost bought one while living in France but opted for the newer Twingo instead. I had great Eggs La Mer which was an eggs benedict over Bali smoked salmon instead of ham. We met some folks from England that talked to us about the various dances that they have been attending so we are changing our plans again to stay longer in Ubud so that we can attend the Jegog dances in Negara (west of here by about two hours) on Thursday (http://www.baratatours.com/bali_tours/jegog.html) and also the Kecak/Fire Trance dances on Wednesday evening. We may not stay in Lovina but just go there for a day tour and spend more time exploring the east coast...too much to do and so little time! We had our laundry done today which we thought would be done in the river but found that they have a real washer and dryer (which is needed because nothing dries with this humidity)....I had eleven pieces done and it cost 11,600 rupiah.

21 January - Another day at the pool as this is our last day at Villa Labak Gazebo before returning to Siti Bungalows to be closer to town....it has been fun to be out in the country though. Chandra drove us to Casa Luna at noon and then we booked the tour for 24 January in Negara. Both rain and sun today! We also visited the ARMA-Agung Rai Museum of Art founded by Agung Rai as a museum, gallery and cultural centre and the only place on Bali to see works by the influential German artist Walter Spies but most were just poor reproduction! The best part of our visit there was seeing the local children practicing their Balinese dancing which they do every day in the courtyard from 3-5!

22 January - We moved from Villa Labak Gazebo to Siti Bungalows in the morning then when we left to have lunch, it poured down rain!!! We visited the Pondok Pekak Library and Resource Centre which was started in 1995 by an American woman from Montana whom we met while we were there. Laurie Billington married a Balinese man Made Sumendra and now has two children and a new puppy! When she first came to Bali to live, she found there were very few books available except for purchase hence the desire to start the library and she has expanded this to include a special children's library. It is still raining as we walked to catch up on internet at the Fairway Cafe (also listening to CNN and reading the Jakarta Post in English). It is definitely an experience just walking through Ubud, let alone while there is a flood after the rains. All the sidewalks (if there is one) are brick and go up and down ----\\____/----- sorta like that...but you have to be on the lookout as periodically there is none and you could fall a few feet into the hole full of water (a combination of the sewage or the irrigation system for the rice paddies).

23 January - Happy Birthday MUM!!!

23 January - We want to take the Herbal Walk (very expensive at $18US) but we do not want to do it in the rain so we will make that decision when we awake.....we did not do the walk as the folks that do it are not answering their telephone so we do not know what the story is (probably a ceremony)....it was beautiful this morning but raining heaps by noon! We left at 9:30 to go to the Post Office which is about 1/2 km away and we arrived there by noon as we kept stopping at the small shops (looking at baskets and cloth and woodcarvings etc...ended up buying the much needed sash for the temples for only 5000 rupiah) and the bookshops (already have finished a few books on Bali and needed a new one so bought 'The Kris of Death - A Mystery Novel set in Bali' by Meredith Moraine and Jerrold Stewart). We had a great Greek salad for lunch at Andalan, a health food store across from the PO and when it started to really pour so we stayed on for tea and homemade yoghurt for dessert and a nice chat with a psychologist/professor, David Osgood, from the University of Vermont....he is staying in Tebesaya where the cremation occurs tomorrow and also staying with the family whose grandfather will be cremated along with another high priest. He and is wife, Carla, bring students over each year for continuing education with their coursework in cross cultural communication.....wonderful discussion!

I spent some time early this morning reviewing all the paper that I have collected during our walks around town and wanted to record the websites for future reference as they have some great magazines and news journals here:

Latitudes Magazine - views from 6 degrees above to 11 degrees below the equator!

www.latitudesmagazine.com

Bali and Beyond

www.baliandbeyond.co.id

Bali Advertiser (great for finding long term accommodation)

baliads@denpasar.wasantara.net.id

Profit Advertiser

pundarika888@yahoo.com

BaliOnTouch

contact@baliontouch.com

Bali Travel News

www.bali-travelnews.com

Uluwatu Handmade Balinese Lace

uluwatu@denpasar.wasantara.net.id

The Kris of Death Book

baliwww.net/becho/37/kris.htm

Casa Luna Cafe

casalunabali.com

As we walked through Ubud today, we saw many women carrying baskets of beautifully arranged fruit (about 50 pounds worth) to the temple for the Odalan holiday, the temple birthday. For the evening we visited these temples for the ceremonies of which all were very different....some silent with praying, another with chanting, and another with the loud music of the gamelan!

24 January - We started the day by attending the cremation festivities. We met four American women who are living in the Marshall Islands and chatted with them and their tour guide Ketut about the ceremony. We walked down Jalan Tebesaya to find the start of the activities where there was a giant paper mache white bull and towers and heaps of other decorations....and also ran into David Osgood, his wife Carla and one of their students Lynn. Basically, the body of the priest (he died at the age of 97 about one month ago) is in the tower which follows the bull which follows the gamelan orchestra and the children and their paper mache animals.....we all walk up the street (about 1 km) to the cemetary where they remove the body from the tower and place it in the bull (after cutting a big hole in the top) and then do heaps of praying and placing offerings with the body in the bull. We actually missed the burning itself as we had to be at the Panorama Hotel for our ride to the Jegog dance (and we also missed the huge storm that hit about 3 pm....the gods must have been holding off for the cremation).

When we booked the Jegog, we only received a brochure in Japanese....little did we know that the entire tour is Japanese! We drove almost three hours to Negara (actually the village of Sangkar Agung) west of Ubud with fourteen Japanese folks in a minibus in which the driver only spoke Balinese and the guide only spoke Balinese and Japanese! When we arrived, we received our 'dinner box' of cold rice, spicy chicken and veggies, rice crackers and dry cake for dessert....but the performance was fantastic! I Ketut Suwentra led with his African style drum and also included some beautifully made up dancers....the musical instruments are very large gamelan/xylophone type instruments made out of very large bamboo.....wonderful sound....and then we all got up to learn to dance and to play the instrument ourselves.....but of course, the instructions are all in Japanese....a real cultural challenge (reminds me of my tour on Cheju Island in Korea where I was the only western visitor on a bus with forty Koreans). We did not return to Ubud until midnite so today will be a lazy day to catch up....we are gathering the energy to head off to Tirtagangga (Water of the Ganges).

One fun aspect of the society here is that the Balinese given names are the same for both sexes and determined by birth order (makes it a bit easy)! The first child is called Wayan; the second child is Made; the third child is Nyoman; and the fourth child is Ketut. Fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth children reuse the same set of names-Wayan, Made, Nyoman and Ketut all over again!

This site http://www.baratatours.com/bali_tours/jegog.html talks about what we did but is not the name of the tour company with whom we went! We actually went with Jasa Tur (www.jasatour.tripod.com) which is in Japanese.

25 January - Heaps of rain so watched the evening cinema at Casa Luna...'What Women Want'!

26 January - Off on another adventure for a few days. We left most of our belongings at Siti and with our day pack we departed Ubud for Tirtagangga(which means water of the Ganges) on the Perama Tourist Shuttle Bus....a cheap way(25000 rph) to see the island although it does take heaps of time. I think we drove 50 kilometres in four hours! The first stop was at PadangBai(where the ferries depart for Lombok) but we were late in departing because we needed to change bus and the other bus could not arrive due to a temple ceremony being conducted in the middle of the street...but it was great fun to watch! The next stop was the beach resort of Candidasa (after which we saw a cock fight going on in one of the villages enroute) then Tirtagangga where it started to rain. We got off the bus just south of the village as we had met some Swiss folks that recommended CabeBali (www.cabebali.com) and so blindly in the rain we trudged 500m up the dirt road hoping that there was a room....and there was thank goodness....a beautiful bungalow in the middle of the rice fields at the base of Mt Agung and a view of the Bali Sea with Lombok in the distance! We walked through the rice fields along the irrigation canals to the village and had dinner of Mie Goreng at Tirta Ayu overlooking the water palace and pools built by one of the Rajas.

27 January - After a great breakfast of eggs, fresh toast, fruit and delicious Bali coffee, Made (the resident local manager) drove us to visit Amed (and all the local villages of Jemeluk, Bunutan, Lipah along the NE coast) and Tulamben (where divers view the remains of the US Liberty ship)....very hot down by the sea so we were happy to return to our abode which is a bit elevated and much cooler. We enjoyed our afternoon tea of the local jackfruit! We actually had heaps of trouble sleeping here as the noise level from the crickets, frogs, roosters, dogs, and chanting at the temple went on forever! Because of the full moon and who knows what other ceremony, they were up all night with their chanting....much different than Ubud where most of the ceremony is with the gamelan.

28 January - Another morning exploring the crumbling water palace at Ujung(entry fee 1000rp) along the southern coast and then to the white sands beach at Perasi (where the entry fee was 2000rp). This was a very nice beach relative to this area as most other beaches are either black sand or big black rocks....plus very few people as it is only known by the locals and you will not find it noted in the Lonely Planet! We returned to Cabe Bali to enjoy their beautiful pool and afternoon tea of Bali cakes. For dinner we walked up the hill to Kusuma Jaya Inn for stupendous views of the valley of rice paddies as the stretch endlessly out to the sea....plus the full moon ceremony was in process with the streets filled with the women carrying the huge offerings of piled fruit on their heads and the men carrying the fringed yellow umbrellas and playing the gamelan and drums.

29 January - An uneventful Perama shuttle bus return to Ubud. On our way out we had met several people (Swiss, Brazil, American) and met one couple again (Wendy and Glenn from San Diego) at Tirtagangga. They had planned to take the boat to Lombok but because of all the delays, they decided to stay on Bali and overnite in Padangbai and Candidasa where they had hired a car and drove to Tirtagangga. We also me a french couple from Lorient on the return bus trip. Overcast in Ubud so we walked to the supermarket, sussed out the new Fitness Club and returned to Casa Luna to see that the evening cinema was Heart of Atlantis which I had read while in Oz so got a salad and watched the film. I think that I had gotten a bad bottle of water in Tirtagangga cos I have a bit of Bali belly so hope that it ends soon and does not become giardia or something!

30 January - A day to catch up on the internet at Fairway Cafe! A great lunch at the Bali Buddha (pumpkin soup with spirulina) and then found a seamstress to repair my daypack. I bought a cheap daypack in Oz and because almost everyday I do refills of water into my two 1.5 litre bottles and carry them in my pack, it fell apart!

31 January - Our third(and last) all day tour booked through the local tourism office...this time north to Lovina via the mountains. Our first stop was the Pura (temple) Taman Ayun(3000 rupiah entry plus 1000 for the toilet!) in Mengwi which is very quiet and beautiful and surrounded by a moat. Then to Bedugul for the Botanical Gardens (famous for their 300+ varieties of orchids) and the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan on Lake Beratan (this is one of the most photographed temples as it sits on the edge of the lake...beautiful setting...also a Hindu Buddhist temple with a stupa). Many Muslim live in the north of Bali! Next stop Gitgit Waterfall (Air...which is the word for water....Terjun Gitgit) at 40m high. Then to the old capital of Singaraja and the northern beaches collectively known as Lovina. We stopped at Kalibukbuk to suss out the accommodation as we had considered spending some time here in the past but decided against it. The beaches are mostly black sand and not the cleanest and full of the small prahas (wooden fishing boats) but still a very nice area. Then a swim at the hot springs at Air Panas Banjar and a beautiful drive along the mountain ridge through plantations of coffee, clove, vanilla, cocoa and of course rice.....wonderful views of valleys and back down to the sea at Lovina. Munduk is the main village of this area. We stopped for a photo stop and it was probably the quietest moment that we have had on the island up there where very few tourists visit except like us on a tour.

1 February - Gosh, the start of another new month....where has time gone and almost just one week left in Bali! We spent most of the day walking. We started along Campuhan Ridge through elephant grass (used for the thatched roof) and rice fields. We stopped at Klub Kokos for a soda water and found that the bamboo bridge we wanted to cross was broken so took an alternate longer route through the villages of Payogan (where a woman showed us a short cut off the road through more rice paddies and irrigation canals) and Sanggingan(sussed out the accommodation at Ulun Ubud Resort/Spa....cottages/bungalows perched on the hill along the river but too much work if you chose the bungalow at the river' edge as it was quite a steep hike back up to the restaurant!). We watched some woman making some beautiful batik at Kembang Bali Batik and then we were very ready for lunch at Indus Restaurant (overlooking the river valley and rice fields and ridge that we had just walked four hours earlier!)....wonderful Greek salad and fettucine....but they were out of our favourite chocolate mocha cake for dessert! We go back on Saturday for their famous Balinese roast duck (as we leave Ubud on Monday...back to Sanur). For the evening we attended the Kechak Fire and Trance Dance at the Pura Dalem Ubud (25000 rupiah). We initially were sitting outside but it started to rain so the performance was moved undercover. A bit different as they do not use the gamelin but about 100 men do chanting and singing throughout for