Kevin & I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary on May 17, 2010. What a blessing to be able to celebrate our anniversary together! Last year, I would have thought being together on our anniversary was a given - but ever since we have moved to Singapore, we have been grateful to celebrate any special holidays or anniversaries together we can!
We were planning to rent a car in Bali - although everyone we talked to said we were crazy (including the hotel staff where we stayed) but for some reason, we were determined the traffic could not be that bad. After our flight landed late Friday night, we looked around the airport only to find that the car rental place was not at the airport (as advertised on the website!). One old man told us it was very far away (30+ min) and since we called and no one picked up, we decided to get a taxi to our hotel and get the care delivered in the morning. Apparently, the car rental place was only 5 min from the airport, and they could only give us a 50% guarantee of geting a car (even though we reserved online) because it was a national holiday. RIGHT. In some asian countries, a common thing taxi drivers will tell you is that there is a national holiday and stuff is closed, so that you will visit their factories or shops and not go where you want to go. This actually happened to us several times in Bangkok, and when we called them on it, they just laughed. Turns out, they weren't lying here. We managed to visit Bali during the holiday weekend that only happens twice a year, and is a whole weekend celebration of Hindu temple worship.
The good thing about visiting during the holiday was seeing the families in their traditional dress. The women dressed in very brightly colored shirts (typically lace and sheer material) matched with brightly colored (sometimes matching) pants. The men typically wore white shirts & pants, sandals, and a white hat. We tried to get pictures of the families together on their motorscooters (everyone drives those instead of cars in Bali) and sometimes you could see 2 adults, 2 kids and a dog on a scooter! Amazing to see not only the number of people they could fit on a scooter, but also how quickly (and dangerously) they navigated through traffic. Needless to say, we were grateful the acr dealer could not guarantee us a car, and we opted for a driver for the day instead.
Our first full day in Bali, we drove up to the city Ubud. It is the central arts shopping district near Bali and also has lots of interesting natural sites to visit nearby as well. On the way to Ubud, we stopped many times in the stone carving and wood carving districts. Tons of stone carvings lined the roads, making it hard to choose where to shop! Our driver was very patient with us as we frequently asked to stop and take pictures or get out and look around.
After we made it to the city, our first stop was the "Monkey Temple". It was an old temple that has since been turned into a park where lots of monkeys live and people pay to enter and experience wild monkeys in a fairly "natural" setting. We didn't pay to buy bananas for the monkeys because we heard they will climb all over you, and we wanted pictures of them...not on us. =) It was quite comical to watch and listen other tourists who thought holding them was a good idea..."Hey there little monkey...pretty monkey...you're so cute! ...OW! Quit biting me!!!" Glad that wasn't us! The setting was beautiful though - scenes of Avatar ran through my mind as I looked up into the trees that were hundreds of years old and clouded out most of the sky.
After seeing the monkey temple, we walked the streets of Ubud to shop. The area had tons of interesting handicrafts - baskets, carved coconut bowls, statues, etc. - but they are also known for their silver jewelry. SCORE! There were tons of beautiful earrings that were very affordable, so I definitely got earrings from Bali no problem. Such a fun thing to collect!
For lunch, we went to a place recommended by a friend - Naughty Nuris - famous for their pork rib BBQ. In Bali, Indonesia of all places! Having been deprived of good pork BBQ for far too long, we were determined to eat there, even though the wait looked like it would take hours. One group of older men called out to us, and said they would make room at their table for us to sit with them. They were an interesting bunch! From all over the world, the one thing they all had in common was they all had moved to Bali to live. We ordered iced tea, thinking it would come from a can, and it showed up as glasses with ice and tea. Uh oh, we thought. I told Kevin we needed to re-order our drinks since we couldn't eat the ice - it would make us sick - so we did. One of the older guys laughed at us and said we were paranoid, that ice wouldn't make us sick and they all drank it (they were all drinking beer - no ice - hard to trust...). We looked still unconvinced, so they pointed at the guy in the corner of the table where we were and said, "You can ask him - he's the owner of the place!" It was true! He was the owner of the restaurant and said the ice in Bali came from a company on the island that use purified water to make their ice. And he said the rest of the restaurants on the island that welcomed tourists also used the same ice. What a relief! We gratefully drank our tea and ate the best pork ribs we have ever had - and had a long conversation with the owner about NY Jets football of all things! Turns out, he is from NY and has been a life long Jets fan. He was amazed Kevin was from NY and his dad was a Jets fan, and we were too! What a small world. We told him to come and visit us in Austin whenever he gets back to the States, but since he always goes to NY to get his "city"fix, I don't think he will find quite the experience in Austin as he finds in NY!
After lunch, we headed to see the volcano & rice patties in the area. We got an amazing view of the volcano (not covered by the clouds like it is most afternoons) and were the only ones there to soak in its beauty. You could actually see the darker soil where the lava flows had been, and on the side of the volcano you could see smoke coming out! It hasn't gone off since the 70's so people leave near it, but it is still active, so I was fine being as far away as we were. The rice patty fields were another amazing site to see. Some of the fields had recently been harvested, so they just looked like plods of soil and water. The unharvested fields looked like tall green fields of grass, and their symmetry on the hillsides was incredible.
For dinner, we went to Dirty Duck, and had the most amazing roasted duck! The local veggies and spices were very good and the setting of the outdoor restaurant was very serene. From our candlelit table, we could see out into a big field of rice. The place was named Dirty Duck because when they first opened, the local ducks would walk from the fields into the restaurant and make the floors dirty! The place was magical in the night setting, even minus the dirty ducks.
The next morning, we got up early to go surfing! We paid for a semi-private lesson (one instructor for 2 people) and we were very impressed with the whole operation. The place we went was Oddessey surf school; they picked us up at our hotel, gave us surf shirts, gave us lockers for our stuff, took us surfing for an hour, gave us a break with cold water, took us out for another hour where they gave us more freedom to try and surf on our own, and then had a professional photographer capturing some of our shining (and not so shining) moments on our surf boards! They took 119 pictures of us and it was definitely worth it to have someone record or (few!) moments of glory! =)
After that, we went back to the hotel (Ayana) and spent some time in the infinity pool (overlooking the ocean) before heading out to Kuta Beach again for shopping. There was not as much shopping as we expected in Kuta, but apparently we didn't go far enough to find the kind of arts and handicrafts we were looking for. Once we finished in Kuta, we headed for the airport.
Getting through the Bali airport was quite a challenge - they tried to make us check a bag when we didn't need to (knowing they could charge us $60 USD to do so) and we finally convinced them we didn't need to, they tried to take our bug spray away (even though we came to Bali with it in a carry-on), and then they charged an exit fee as an added insult to injury from the long lines we had to wait in for everything. Once we made it out, we were finally able to relax. If we ever go back, we will definitely stay for longer - not only because customs was a nightmare - but more for the fact that we could get lost in Ubud for several days and we just might consider being life long surfer bums...
Monday, June 7, 2010
Pulau Ubin (old Singapore)
Since we decided to stay in town for the Singapore Cup Horse Race, we decided to visit Pulau Ubin (Pulau means island in Malay) – a small island off the coast of Singapore that is considered part of Singapore. There is a population there still of about 100 people, and the island is reminiscent of how Singapore was in the 1950’s. To get there, we had to take a bus to the coast and then board what we were told was a ferry. The “ferry” was actually a bumboat – a small wooden boat that can only hold 12 people and also doubles as a home for the owner! We saw one that was particularly decrepit and said to ourselves “as long as we don’t ride in THAT one”. Spoken too soon.
After we boarded the bumboat, we took a quick 20 min ride out to Pulau Ubin. The main pastime of visitors to the island is bike riding, since the roads are not paved and most of the island is old granite quarries and campgrounds. As we looked out of the windows of the boat towards the shore, we saw we were headed into a storm. On the ocean though, you can see for miles, so we hoped to ourselves we would escape the rain and enjoy ourselves nonetheless. Well, we enjoyed ourselves, but did NOT escape the rain. =)
When we got to the island, the place was packed with bike rental salesmen. After picking some very high quality bikes to rent for $8 each, we headed off to the left side of the island. We started to hear thunder and headed for a nearby shelter for cover. We were soon joined by 3 older men who also needed shelter, so we made room. The rain poured pretty heavily for a bit, and then died down; the silence occasionally broken by loud claps of thunder. After a long period of silence, Kevin decided it was time to go. I told him he should go out from under the shelter and look at the clouds to see if the storm had truly passed. He walked about 5 steps from the shelter towards the water, and no sooner had he gotten to the middle of the clearing, lightning struck the water in front of him and we heard the loudest clap of thunder we have ever heard! He RAN back into the shelter, covering his ears from the deafening noise, and the 3 old men in the shelter proceeded to chuckle at him. We then waited for them to leave and make it out of the clearing before we committed to leaving!
We continued to head to the left side of the island, but quickly noticed that every biker passing us from that direction was completely soaked and most were completely muddy as well. Easy choice – head away from the left! We then headed to the right side of the island, and saw some of the older homes in the area. It was amazing to see the architecture and serenity of the homes as they sat situated in clearings between the jungle and brush. As we were stopped on the trail to take a picture, 2 wild boars ran across our trail 50 ft in front of us! We froze. Those things can kill you! Our plan was to go medium speed past the clearing they ran through, and then speed up if more were on their way. After mounting up our courage, we passed safely through the clearing, and headed on our way. We made it to the part of the island where you then are only allowed to hike – the paths are too steep and unlevel to bike. We walked up to a large observatory tower (very smart after the storm had just passed!) and on our way back down, we saw a wild boar! We followed him and took some pictures, as we noticed from other observers, he was pretty unalarmed by humans.
After that, we continued walking towards the Mangrove forest. It was awesome to see how large and magnificent those trees are. They have adapted to their environment in such a unique way, and it was mesmerizing to see. We continued walking through the rainforest and it started to drizzle. We waited under a large tree for about 10 minutes, and the storm seemed to have passed, so we continued walking. After walking around the whole right coast of the island, the trail took us back through the rainforest. As we were under the shade of the trees, the heavens opened up and the rain was unstoppable! Of course, neither of us had brought umbrellas! We clung to each other by a large tree trunk and waited about 10 minutes for the rain to subside. We actually were quite dry because of the heavy leaves blocking the rain. After about 10 minutes though, the leaves got weighed down by the weight of the rain and we started to get sprinkled on. I didn’t realize how close we were to the shelter (about 100 feet, up around a blind curve) but the rain was so heavy that even in a sprint, we would have gotten completely soaked. While we were waiting, two ladies walked by under their umbrellas. They offered to let us borrow one as they shared one and let us walk back to the shelter. What a lifesaver! We were so grateful and thankful as we walked together up the muddy hill to the park shelter, and waited for another 30 min with a group of about 40 people as the storm finally subsided.
After that, we walked back to our bikes, brushed off our seats, and finished riding back to the dock to return our bikes. It was so amazing to really experience why a rain forest is so aptly named! We had a wonderful time, and will definitely not journey out on our own in the future without taking an umbrella.
After we boarded the bumboat, we took a quick 20 min ride out to Pulau Ubin. The main pastime of visitors to the island is bike riding, since the roads are not paved and most of the island is old granite quarries and campgrounds. As we looked out of the windows of the boat towards the shore, we saw we were headed into a storm. On the ocean though, you can see for miles, so we hoped to ourselves we would escape the rain and enjoy ourselves nonetheless. Well, we enjoyed ourselves, but did NOT escape the rain. =)
When we got to the island, the place was packed with bike rental salesmen. After picking some very high quality bikes to rent for $8 each, we headed off to the left side of the island. We started to hear thunder and headed for a nearby shelter for cover. We were soon joined by 3 older men who also needed shelter, so we made room. The rain poured pretty heavily for a bit, and then died down; the silence occasionally broken by loud claps of thunder. After a long period of silence, Kevin decided it was time to go. I told him he should go out from under the shelter and look at the clouds to see if the storm had truly passed. He walked about 5 steps from the shelter towards the water, and no sooner had he gotten to the middle of the clearing, lightning struck the water in front of him and we heard the loudest clap of thunder we have ever heard! He RAN back into the shelter, covering his ears from the deafening noise, and the 3 old men in the shelter proceeded to chuckle at him. We then waited for them to leave and make it out of the clearing before we committed to leaving!
We continued to head to the left side of the island, but quickly noticed that every biker passing us from that direction was completely soaked and most were completely muddy as well. Easy choice – head away from the left! We then headed to the right side of the island, and saw some of the older homes in the area. It was amazing to see the architecture and serenity of the homes as they sat situated in clearings between the jungle and brush. As we were stopped on the trail to take a picture, 2 wild boars ran across our trail 50 ft in front of us! We froze. Those things can kill you! Our plan was to go medium speed past the clearing they ran through, and then speed up if more were on their way. After mounting up our courage, we passed safely through the clearing, and headed on our way. We made it to the part of the island where you then are only allowed to hike – the paths are too steep and unlevel to bike. We walked up to a large observatory tower (very smart after the storm had just passed!) and on our way back down, we saw a wild boar! We followed him and took some pictures, as we noticed from other observers, he was pretty unalarmed by humans.
After that, we continued walking towards the Mangrove forest. It was awesome to see how large and magnificent those trees are. They have adapted to their environment in such a unique way, and it was mesmerizing to see. We continued walking through the rainforest and it started to drizzle. We waited under a large tree for about 10 minutes, and the storm seemed to have passed, so we continued walking. After walking around the whole right coast of the island, the trail took us back through the rainforest. As we were under the shade of the trees, the heavens opened up and the rain was unstoppable! Of course, neither of us had brought umbrellas! We clung to each other by a large tree trunk and waited about 10 minutes for the rain to subside. We actually were quite dry because of the heavy leaves blocking the rain. After about 10 minutes though, the leaves got weighed down by the weight of the rain and we started to get sprinkled on. I didn’t realize how close we were to the shelter (about 100 feet, up around a blind curve) but the rain was so heavy that even in a sprint, we would have gotten completely soaked. While we were waiting, two ladies walked by under their umbrellas. They offered to let us borrow one as they shared one and let us walk back to the shelter. What a lifesaver! We were so grateful and thankful as we walked together up the muddy hill to the park shelter, and waited for another 30 min with a group of about 40 people as the storm finally subsided.
After that, we walked back to our bikes, brushed off our seats, and finished riding back to the dock to return our bikes. It was so amazing to really experience why a rain forest is so aptly named! We had a wonderful time, and will definitely not journey out on our own in the future without taking an umbrella.
Singapore Cup Horse Race
When we got invited to attend the Singapore Cup Horse Race, we knew it was a great weekend to stay in Singapore! Knowing the history of fashion typically worn at horse races, I thought I needed to buy a hat. Good thing I didn’t find one I liked – I would have been the only 1 of 2 people there with a hat on! Apparently, the new fashion to wear at horse races is feather hairpieces. You know – the ones pinned into the side of your head with bright fake colored feathers that stick up very tall to get attention. Too bad I didn’t save any of my dance costume headpieces from my 13 years of performance. I think they might have come in handy…
We went with a group of co-workers to the “Party on the Lawn” section of the race track, and sat/stood in a covered tent area beside the track with a very close view of the horses when they passed by for each race – all 0.3 seconds of it! The horses were very cool to see up close – the races started in the middle of the track for the short races, and our tent was on the left side of the track – so we only got to see them right before the leaders started pulling ahead. For the last & longest race though, they moved the starting line to right in front of our tent! We tried to get some close up shots of the horses coming out of the gate, but our shuttle speed could not keep up! They were just a blur of colors in 2 frames.
Since we have never been to the horse races – or even watched one closely on TV before – we were totally clueless as to placing bets. The world of horse betting is quite complicated! We had $5 vouchers each to place bets on horses, and we used them on the first two races with no money won. (We bet on the single horse winner, and that is hard to win). Then we branched out to trying different types of bets – top 3 to place (in any order), winner, first & second (in any order), etc. Altogether, we spent about $30 and made none. Guess we don’t have to worry about having a gambling problem. =)
One of our friends won very big on a $5 bet! He picked the top 3 horses to win (in any order) and changed one of the 3 horses he had picked at the last minute from listening to a friend’s advice. He also gave the lady $10 for a $5 bet, and she didn’t give him change, so he just shrugged his shoulders and figured it didn’t matter. When his 3 horses crossed the finish line as the Top 3 place finishers, he jumped up and down and realized he had won a bet that was actually doubled! I think his total win was close to $170. Pretty good return!
The Singapore Cup was a once in a lifetime experience…and we plan to keep it that way!
We went with a group of co-workers to the “Party on the Lawn” section of the race track, and sat/stood in a covered tent area beside the track with a very close view of the horses when they passed by for each race – all 0.3 seconds of it! The horses were very cool to see up close – the races started in the middle of the track for the short races, and our tent was on the left side of the track – so we only got to see them right before the leaders started pulling ahead. For the last & longest race though, they moved the starting line to right in front of our tent! We tried to get some close up shots of the horses coming out of the gate, but our shuttle speed could not keep up! They were just a blur of colors in 2 frames.
Since we have never been to the horse races – or even watched one closely on TV before – we were totally clueless as to placing bets. The world of horse betting is quite complicated! We had $5 vouchers each to place bets on horses, and we used them on the first two races with no money won. (We bet on the single horse winner, and that is hard to win). Then we branched out to trying different types of bets – top 3 to place (in any order), winner, first & second (in any order), etc. Altogether, we spent about $30 and made none. Guess we don’t have to worry about having a gambling problem. =)
One of our friends won very big on a $5 bet! He picked the top 3 horses to win (in any order) and changed one of the 3 horses he had picked at the last minute from listening to a friend’s advice. He also gave the lady $10 for a $5 bet, and she didn’t give him change, so he just shrugged his shoulders and figured it didn’t matter. When his 3 horses crossed the finish line as the Top 3 place finishers, he jumped up and down and realized he had won a bet that was actually doubled! I think his total win was close to $170. Pretty good return!
The Singapore Cup was a once in a lifetime experience…and we plan to keep it that way!
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