Same same but different

Already back in Balgium but I will now tell you bout some experiences in Bali. For that I have three cathegories: Nirwana Bali Resort in Tanah Lot, Lembongan Island and Kuta.

Tanah Lot, Nirwana Bali Resort: I arrived in Bali late in the evening the 8th November after the most boring flight ever - I think the desire to meet Kristof was quite big. After one night spent in Kuta we took ´traaaanspot´ to a huge five star resort right next to one of the most important temples in Bali, Tanah Lot. The resort was built in the 90´s and has one of the Asia´s best golf courses. I did some morning running on the golf area and before seven o´clock there were loads of people reparing the grass and sand pits. If I played golf I would definately choose Le Meridien, Nirwana resort.

On arrival the person at the main entrance hits a big bell and carriers come for your bags. Then a short tour with a guide who takes you to your room. The room itself was ordinary in Nirwana-scale but very very nice for our needs. Toilet was my favorite, wooden windows that open to your room. The room service was excellent. There were three different persons to do the cleaning: toilet, room and mini-bar. The towels were changed a few times a day, and of course you get extra towels by the pool. The pool had a water slide which we used quite a lot for having fun :-) By the pool were both normal chairs and also beds with roof to enjoy your drinks or watch the sunset; we enjoyed the drinks but the evenings were always too cloudy for pretty sunsets.

The resort has tennis courts, a gym, pools and many restaurants. For us the three nights spent in Nirwana were enough. As the resort is ´far´ away from everything else we didn´t leave the place a lot. One day we did have a walk on the beach (no pretty enough for sunbathing, neither easy accesses) by the resort. During high tide the water gets very up, so best to do the walk during low tide. The sand was black and very hot where the sea didn´t cool it. We saw a nice temple further away and planned to walk there but a wide, brown river stopped us - you can only imagine how the river got its brown colour.

Lembongan Island: You get used to the great service and being treated like royalty but our time had come to leave to a small island called Lembongan. We took a public boat to get there. To in to the boat you do get wet feet, no pears or bridges are used, you walk where the boat is anchored. As there was not too much space in the shade índoors´ we sat on the roof. The journey took only 75 minutes so we didn´t burn our skin (too badly).

The waters get more than 100 metres deep between Lembongan and Bali. But once you reach the coast of Lembongan the waters turn into clear light blue. The water is very tempting. Already on our first day we hired a scooter. The island is only 4km long and 3km wide so getting an idea of the whole island takes less than one hour. On the way we needed to of course stop for my photographing. The island´s main industry is seaweed farming. There are fields underwater from where the local people collect the weed. The weed is set under the burning sun to get dry. The seaweed from the island is used for cooking and cosmetics. In most parts of the island you smell the seaweed strongly.

As said, we explored the island in one day. We had the tastiest mango juice at Made´s, in Mangrove Forest. There you have it so very quiet and calm that you cannot imagine other people even living on this planet. The sea stays still and the time stops, that is how I felt in the north end of Lembongan Island. Made´s place was so great and the mango juice so tasty that we returned there two times more - so once a day at Made´s.

We visited also many beaches. Some were nicer than others. At least two of the beaches had a temple just there where the sand ends. On the both beaches they were having the daily hindu ceremony when we got there and the smell of the scent sticks was floating every where. The same smell you could smell almost anywhere. The sacrifices take place many times per day and you don´t need a temple to put your sacrifice. Just on the street in front of your front door is enough for gods.

Lembongan Island has a few places where you can do good snorkeling. We rented our equipment at Made´s and due to low tide walked quite a few metres before we got the water reaching even half of the shank. Once the sandy surface turned into seaweed and coral we put our fins and masks on and started our underwater journey. The first thing we saw was a sea star and a fish. That´s it, we thought. But we were told to swim further away from the seaweed fields and so we did. And suddenly when we had swam over the last fence this magnificent world opened in front of our eyes. Colourful coral and thousands of fish swimming all over us. I have never seen so many bright and clear colours in one place at the same time! Snorkeling was definately my most perfect Bali experience! We stayed in water for two hours. I could have stayed for longer even but we needed to leave from the island - and I started feeling a bit cold after such a long while just floating in the sea. But it was so magnificent and I was so concentrated on the fish that I even bonked my head on a fishing boat ;-) I knew the boat was there, I just didn´t realize it was that close...

Kuta: Our last stop was in the most popular tourist area called Kuta. Kuta used to be waste land. On the seventies an American couple saw the potential of the place and set up the first hotel in Kuta. Since then the place has grown a lot and the tourists come there to drink, eat, surf and enjoy. The life in Kuta tourist area has nothing to do with the normal Balinese life.

Kristof didn´t have any possibilities to practice surfing during our first days together and he was very pleased to be able to ride the weves again. Kuta beach is no nicely calm, family beach. The shore is filled with surfboard stands and guys renting out the surfboards. At any time of the day there are surfers in the water. Especially beginners come to Kuta to practice on long boards. Even I tried surfing but there´s nothing much to mention about that. I didn´t do well and I am still scared of bigger waves - which for everybody else are very small ones.

The food was tasty, as always. Chicken is very popular, especially chicken sate = pieces of chicken on a stick which you dip in peanut sauce. Tasty as what. In Kuta you find all different cuisines and all the typical hamburgers and pizzas. Warung which is a typical restaurant are hard to find in the center of Kuta. But if you walk a bit and go away from the tourists´ main streets you can find the normal places.

My most Balinese experience was a visit to local markets in the capital Denpasar. I took a taxi to go there but came back with a local, cheap transport called bemo bus. Cost was ten times cheaper than for the taxi. Bemo is a ´kleinbus´, different coloured bemos take you to different places. My colour was dark blue. About the local markets: what some places! On the both sides of the river were two big buildings. Both bazars, markets. Pasar Badung offers food, spices and clothes; more calm and relaxed Pasar Kumbasari offers handicrafts, souveniers and clothes. It wasn´t only indoors where the selling took place, also outside on the streets there were ´stalls´ next to each other where you could by fruit and vegetables. In Pasar Badung the salesmen were many - and all selling the same things. Mango, papaya, oranges, bananas, rambutans, tomatoes, lettuce, fish, crabs, shrimps, clams, and the parts of the cow and pig. Flies were flying around every where and the smell wasn´t pleasant. But the smell wesn´t the most horrible in Pasar Badung; in Badung you get an extra shadow following you all the time. There are certain ladies who just wait for their victims to arrive to the market. They immediately ask you what you wanna buy. Their intention is to take you to the best salesmen and bargain with you, for you, great prices are far from the reality. They get a provision for the things they promote you. I knew this before hand and could avoid their help till certain point. I was mostly just walking around, a lady 10 metres behind me. If I stopped to look for something she was immediately ready with her price. But I did make a foolish thing and bought some spices. I wanted to do the business with the salesman but it wasn´t possible. In the end I wasn´t willing to pay what they asked for and they started getting very angry. I said I don´t pay and will walk away. In the end I got what I wanted for my price, which was more than what I would have payed in a supermarket. Luckily Pasar Kumbasari was a nicer place. Nobody bothering you too much and there were even set prices in a few places. Interesting bazar-world.

What more can I say. The Bali holiday was sooner over than we expected. I liked the place very much. It is warm, hot, sunny. You have nice scenery and tasty food. As we changed place for three times was there not enough time to explore the island itself that much. If I ever go back (which is very possible when dating Kristof) I know already what I want to see and do. In the eastern and northern part there are not so many tourists and the landscape is even more beautiful there, that´s what they say. But the best waves you have on the southern coast, if you plan to surf ;-)

Erika