Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Bali, Indonesia

In August 2006, Tom and I took our first holiday out of Korea to Bali, Indonesia. Bali had everything- fantastic snorkelling, adorable wild monkeys, volcanoes, mountains, beaches, temples, and great food! It was truly an incredible holiday.

On the first day of the vacation, we spent a day snorkelling, and exploring a wildlife sanctuary tucked away on a little island south of the main island of Bali. Although the snorkelling wasn't the greatest, the wildlife sanctuary more than made up for it. They had a turtle breeding ground providing shelter for hundreds of turtles from a day old, to 150 years!! The turtle in the photo below was one of the oldest at the sanctuary.



We checked out some of the many incredible Hindu and Buddhist temples scattered throughout the island. Indonesia is exclusively Muslim, other than Bali, which integrates its traditional customs (which are still strong in modern Bali) with a combination of Buddhism and Hinduism. The stone carvings in the temples, often on which monkeys were perches, frequently feature the face of Barong, who is supposedly king of the good spirits in Balinese culture.



Dreamland Beach made for some nice swimming, although it was a bit rough in the strong surf! I did a much better job at collecting sand in my bathing suit than stayign aflot- that's for sure. We also gave boogie boarding a try. Unfortunately, I wasn't as successful as I had hoped- it looks deceivingly easy! But between my attempt at holding my bikini bottoms up, my bikini top down, and clutching onto the board, steering clear of the people playing along the shore was not really an option. I had a knack for faceplanting into the sand, anyways.



My personal highlight during the trip was a fantastic dance and chant, performed by about 30 men in traditional Balinese clothing, at the top of a cliff overlooking theocean as the sun set- truly incredible. Funny Story: Before the performance began, Tom and I were walking along a path along the edge of the cliff, monkey watching. As we were taking some photos, a curious little monkey (Curious George perhaps?) jumped on Tom's head and stole his glasses!! The little bugger then ran away, and started chewing on them, while sitting on a branch hanging off the cliff just out of reach. A team of a couple of Balinese men chased after the monkey- seriously hanging off the edge of the cliff, and retrieved the glasses for us! It was so great. But Tom had to wear nasty glasses all sticky with saliva, and missing ear pads for the rest of the day.



Close to the end of the trip, we decided to do a midnight hike up to the second highest volcano on the island. armed with flashligts and water, we started the hike at about 3am. After the swealtering heat and constant sweat dripping down me for the rest of the trip, the cold temperatures were a welcome respite from the heat. We reached the top of the volcano while it was still dark. Since this volcano is a common tourist destination, they have built a little shack on the top, where you can cook using steam heat produced by the volcano. Our guide cooked us some eggs, which we dined on while watching the sun rise illumunate the mountains surrounding us.