Archive for July, 2009

Last days in Ubud

Posted in Indonesia on July 13th, 2009 by Vagablonding – Be the first to comment

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

ubud sign

In the morning we had a big breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit salad and coffee at hotel Puri Gong, then we set out to walk around Ubud. I saw a dress I really liked in a shop window but it was bright orange and not quite my size so they are making me one in dark grey for 200,000 and it will be ready for me to pick up tomorrow morning!

ubud street

In the afternoon I got tattoos at Creative Tattoo. Lionk the artist there was really nice and had a feather-soft touch! I got “Bali” in the Balinese script Hanacaraka on my right ankle and the symbol for Gili Air on the back of my neck. It took about half an hour total and cost me 550,000 including tip.

loink creative tattoo bali

creative tattoo bali

bali tattoo

loink creative tattoo bali

We had a late lunch on JL Gootama at Dewa Warung where I got Gado-gado. Dewa Warung has the best Gado-gado of any place I’ve tried, and it only costs 8,000!

ubud street

We went to the market again at the end of the day for more sunset-priced shopping. We went to Pizza Bagus for dinner and our last Bintangs. I got yogurt and muesli for 20,000 which was a little light on the muesli and heavy on the yogurt for my taste.

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

After another big breakfast at Puri Gong we had some delicious tiramisu and cheesecake at a bakery on Jl Hanoman to celebrate my birthday. Then we hired a taxi for 50,000 to take us to visit Wayan Rana, the painter we met up on Campuan Ridge at the beginning of our trip. We bought 9 paintings and one wooden egg painting total, some for ourselves and some as gifts, 5 in frames and 4 singles, all for 800,000. Score!

On the way back we had the driver drop us off at the post office where we mailed a bunch of post cards to friends. It cost 8,000 per post card. We went to Dewa Warung for lunch again, then we headed back to hotel Puri Gong to pack before going to the market.

balinese praying

bali dog

Around sunset we hit up the market one last time where we bought carvings, t-shirts and sunglasses, and I gave a lady selling sarongs the purse I bought on the first day here because I didn’t need it anymore.

ubud sunset

After the market we went to Dewa Warung for our last dinner where I got a rice, spinach, coconut dish for 10,000 which was ok, and a mixed juice for 5,000 which was delicious as always. While we were eating the power went out!

We headed home to finish packing, then we checked out and got a taxi to the Denpasar airport for 140,000.

Goodbye Indonesia, we aren’t ready to leave! This has been an amazing trip and I plan on exploring more of this country very soon.

ubud landscape

Now on to Japan for a short adventure in Narita during our 10 hour layover there!

From Gili Air to Ubud via Perama boat and bus

Posted in Indonesia on July 13th, 2009 by Vagablonding – 2 Comments

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Happy birthday to me! I’m 23 today!

We woke up before sunrise, had some mango, pineapple, protein bars and coffee soda for breakfast before getting on our cidomo for a ride down to the jetty on the south end of the island. We boarded a local boat at 7:15am which took us to Bangsal. From the boat we could see where they harvest the pearls!

lombok pearl farm

perama boat sign

In Bangsal we walked on the main road to where the Perama bus picked us up to take us to Senggigi. You can tell which road to walk down because it’s where all the horse carts are waiting to offer you a ride. You can get a ride on a cidomo or a motorbike if you want to, but the walk down the road isn’t bad and going by foot saves you money. The bus stop is on the left side of the street before the tattoo shop. You will know it by the baby blue painted pillars, but otherwise there are no signs indicating that it’s the bus stop. We walked right past it the first time!

bangsal perama bus station

bangsal perama bus station

The bus to Senggigi goes along the coast and the views from the road are lovely. Lombok definitely has some stunning beaches and I am coming back to explore this island for sure someday!

perama bus

view from lombok road

view from lombok road coconut trees

Once in Senggigi, we took a local boat to the larger Perama boat, which left at 9:00am. A breakfast of coffee, banana pancakes, bananas and pineapple was waiting for us onboard. The boat was practically empty compared to the packed Perama boat we came on 12 days ago. The ride was much smoother and I read and napped for most of it. Lunch was served onboard at around 11:30am and consisted of rice, veggies, tempe and peanuts, fish, and watermelon. We arrived in Padang Bai at around 1:00pm. There we waited for the bus to Ubud.

perama boat and public ferry padang bai

The ride to Ubud took about an hour. We were dropped off at the Perama office where I waited with our bags while Ryan walked around trying to find a hotel that still had rooms available. We ended up staying at a place called Puri Gong Cottages on Jl Hanoman. We got a room with a double bed, air conditioning, and a view of the pool for 225,000 a night. The walls are rattan and are very thin with peep holes poked through them! We stuffed some toilet paper in the holes to keep out any prying eyes. Because the walls are so thin there is pretty much no noise barrier which makes sleeping well a bit difficult.

puri gong peep hole

After getting settled in our hotel we went to the market for some sunset-priced shopping. Everything is always cheaper at the end of the day because the shopkeepers get desperate if they haven’t made enough sales for the day. Then we had dinner at Biah-Biah on Jl Gootama.

Sunrise, sunset, the days melt away on Gili Air

Posted in Indonesia on July 5th, 2009 by Vagablonding – 1 Comment

Friday, June 26th, 2009

We went snorkeling again in the morning but since the waves have picked up again the visibility wasn’t that great and the current is getting stronger. It was still fun though!

For lunch we went to (you guessed it,) Munchies again where I got Urap-urap with tofu. I am really going to miss this tasty food.

urap urap tofu

We did some more reading and bumming around for the rest of the day before watching another beautiful sunset and hitting up Munchies for dinner.

gili air sunset

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

We skipped snorkeling today because the visibility was so bad yesterday. After watching sunrise and bumming around we spent most of the afternoon shooting the shit with our buddy Rouling at Munchies. He’s a 19 year old surfer kid, born on Lombok and now living on Gili Air trying to make enough money to get by. Like most people here he works from 8am till closing at around 10pm and only gets 2 days off a month. He’s a good kid, just living life and hoping he someday finds true love.

gili air bathroom

In the evening I bought a fresh mango for 10,000 to eat for lunch tomorrow, then we watched the sunset and went to Munchies for dinner. Wash, rinse, repeat… this is the life!

gili air sunset

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

After breakfast I bought a pack of peanuts from Ozzy’s store for 5,000 and inside was a 1,000 bill taped inside one of the peanut shells! Later I learned that it was part of a marketing contest, apparently I was the lucky winner of approximately 10 cents!

gili air beach

gili air beach

We spent the afternoon chilling at Munchies again. There is a momma cat and her 3 kittens that live there so we played with them and talked with Rouling for a while. In the middle of the day it was super hot so Ryan and I had an impromptu water fight to cool off to the delight of the Munchies crew who thought it was a riot. I borrowed Rouling’s bike to go buy our Perama boat tickets back to Ubud which cost us 335,000 each after the 15,000 discount we got for being repeat customers. We’re leaving on June 30th, but we really don’t want to…. On the way back from buying the tickets I rode through some of the village on the interior of the island. I wish I had more time to explore this place!

gili air road

gili air sign

At night we went back to our favorite place for dinner and beers with Rouling.

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Today is my unofficial birthday because we are traveling all day tomorrow, June 30th, which is my real birthday. We had breakfast brought to our room where we ate and watched the sunrise before heading into the ocean for some snorkeling. The visibility was much better today but the current is getting super strong! It’s fun to just get in in front of our hotel and be able to float along the the sea wall in the current.

We went to Munchies for lunch where I got iced coffee for 6,000, large Bintangs for 25,000 and a mixed lassy for 10,000. We chilled there for a while and took pictures with the Munchies crew.

gili air munchies crew

Later we watched the sunset and then I got a half hour massage by the beach for 50,000, it was lovely. We also gave one of our flashlights to the lady we bought necklaces from a few days ago as a gift. We gave her the manual recharging one so she won’t have to buy batteries. It’s interesting the things people have asked us for here; so far people want our flashlights, extra clothes, and Ryan’s sunglasses.

We headed to Munchies again for our last dinner and beers on this amazing island. I got my all time favorite Indonesian dish, Gado-gado for 13,000, and of course, Bintangs. We stayed until they closed and then asked Rouling to walk back to our hotel with us. We talked along the way and then gave him some money as a gift. It was a small amount for us but we really hope it will be a help to him. We promised him that when we come back we will all climb Mount Rinjani on Lombok together because it’s something we really wanted to do but didn’t have time for, and it is a dream of his to make the trek. Rinjani is considered a sacred mountain to Lombok’s people and making the 3 day trek to the summit is important to them.

We’re not ready to leave this beautiful island, but we are nearing the end of the trip and we must get back to Bali to fly home.

Goodbye Gili Air, you are by far the coolest place I have ever been, now back to Ubud, Bali!