Bali, Part III (Uluwatu, Ubud, Monkeys, Temples and Volcanos)

Once we had our new camera, we decided to explore the island. Our first stop was a clifftop temple called Pura Luhur, overlooking the crashing waves in Uluwatu on the west side of Bali's Bukit peninsula. Despite a few clouds, it was beautiful scene, a mix of abundant greenery, ancient statues, crashing waves and monkeys leaping from one precarious ledge to another and permanently scarring Liz by reaching for her bag, hissing and bearing their teeth. One was so aggressive that I had to punt it like a soccer ball. (ok PETA, I didn't really punt it but I did have to nudge it away from us with my foot).

Unfortunately, the end of our Uluwatu visit was marked by a torrential downpour. Luckily we had a taxi driver waiting for us to take us back to Sanur, but we were soaked by the time we got to the car and the trip was long so I stripped down to my skivvies in the back of the cab...and got a few interesting looks from the cars next to us (Liz got some photos but I'll spare you by not publishing them here).

The next day, we got up early to go to on a roadtrip to the middle and northern parts of the island. First we stopped at a traditional Batik factory, where in the midst of her textile bliss I tried to explain to Liz the economics of a taxi driver's commissions and the resulting goods premium. Nevertheless, we walked out with arms full of scarves, sarongs and bedspreads.

Afterwards, we made our way up to Ubud. We began by touring the market, which was a colorful but exhausting mix of repelling aggressive vendors, negotiating for wares and figuring out that much of the cheaper market Batik actually came from India (we were looking for a less popular size, and when they pulled out the bags they had made in India markings all over them).

After a delicious sushi lunch at Minami (highly recommended), we made our way to the monkey forest, a temple complex / park overrun by friendlier monkeys that were more interested in eating the copious amount of bananas offered by tourists than attacking Liz. Inside were lots of interesting statues, streams, and fountains, and the thick humidity and verdant jungle smell made me think I was in a Rudyard Kipling story (I kept looking for Baloo the Bear - my cartoon soul-mate - and King Louie but I couldn't find them).

Afterwards, we headed up to some of the beautiful rice terraces near Ubud. Unfortunately, my snap-happiness had burned through the battery of our new camera about halfway through our jaunt through the Ubud monkey forest, so from that point on I had to use the iPhone (apologies for the poorer picture quality of such an amazing place).

A little further up the hill was an organic farm that produced Kopi Luwak, the fabled low-production coffee made from beans digested (and passed through) by Asian Palm Civets that only live in the Indonesian archipelago. Although the idea was a little tough to stomach at first, the coffee smelled so good that we were soon gulping it down (along with locally-grown cocoa and tea beverages). I definitely understand why it is so renowned, but I'm still not sure that I would be willing to regularly spend $6600 per kilo ($3000 per pound) to buy it. That said, we made sure to get a small portion to take home with us.

Our coffee-tasting hut at the organic farm

The hill we were working our way up was actually the main destination, Mount Agung, an active stratovolcano. On the slopes of this volcano is Pura Besakih, Bali's holiest Hindu temple dating from around the 14th century. A mix of rainclouds and ash permeated the air, but we were still impressed by the grandeur and placement of the temple. However, the pagoda-like, multi-tiered towers made of wood and straw roofs seem a bit risky in the presence of an active volcano...

Liz looking very Hindu-chic...

...here's to hoping that it doesn't bring on an "Eat, Pray, Love" moment

Volcano seen from our route back to Sanur

All in all, it was another great day in the amazing experience known as INSEAD.

Bali, Part II (Seminyak, ku de ta and the camera)

Since the official purpose of our trip to Bali was to celebrate Liz's birthday, we decided to have one special night out in Seminyak with dinner and drinks at ku de ta, a renowned lounge / restaurant hotspot that over the past 10 years has earned something of a cult following among the jetset (at least, the small fraction of which we have exposure to via INSEAD). Think buddha bar 15 years ago, but in a balmy island location.

We hopped in a cab and asked him to bring us to ku de ta, but on the way over we drove down a shopping strip in Seminyak that made Liz's eyes pop out of her head in a cartoonish way (like Wile E. Coyote chasing a new bikini). So, after verifying that we were close to the restaurant we stopped and got out of the cab. After 20 minutes of the most joyful experience of any man's life - listening to his wife / girlfriend / fiancee gripe as she tries on bikinis - Liz finally found something suitably scintillating and we were able to go on to our meal, now 15 minutes late.

Unfortunately, we were not quite as close as we thought we'd be, and had to wander along the mean streets of Seminyak, the shadowy resorts hiding untold numbers of Austro- and Eurotrash out to rob us of the authenticity of our experience. After this oh-so harrowing journey we arrived, sat down and relaxed with a bit of Champagne - a true celebratory luxury for us, given the frequency of consumption we had come to enjoy in France and the vein-itching withdrawal we went through in Sin-tax heavy Singapore.

Liz rekindling the relationship with her long-lost friend, Champagne

Since our night out happened to fall on Chinese New Year's Eve, we were treated to a dancing dragon wandering the establishment and making friends with / scaring the hell out of the patrons.

After a surprisingly good meal, we decided to wander around, champagne glasses in hand, and explore the surroundings. Seminyak is located on the western coast of Bali, where the big, crashing waves appeal more to surfers and singles than to the sexagenarians of Sanur. ku de ta is located right on this tumultuous beachfront, with a large courtyard looking out on the ocean, and effect lighting to illuminate the waves at night... an enchanting experience. As Liz and I stood in this glamorous location, a waft of Vogue-era Madonna came over us and 20 minutes of silly posing began, with the disastrous results captured below.

Wind gets in the way of Liz's serious Voguery...

...while I perform the best Legong dance ever attempted by someone in pink pants

Through all this free-spirited, champagne-addled pageantry and spectacle I kept a tight grip on our trusty Canon G7, an amazing (if slightly bulky) P&S/SLR hybrid that my parents had given us a few years ago. Strapless and missing a few screws (no, I'm not talking about Liz in a sundress), the camera had faithfully accompanied us on many a voyage. But my poses began to battle Liz's poses, and with a single errant collision our beloved camera flew through the air and crashed against the stone floor, pieces strewn about our feet. The loss of our camera in such a dramatic fashion was a blow so flooring, so heart-shattering, so devastating that Liz started crying...although I suspect the tapped Veuve Cliquot bottle may have also had something to do with the tears. Unfortunately, the night ended with me doing my best to calm Liz down, asking everyone we could for recommendations on nearby camera repair shops (to no avail), and figuring out what we were going to do without a camera on our trip the next day to Ubud and the volcanoes.

The morning after came, and the combination of champagne hangover and camera mourning made us decide to postpone our adventure. Instead, I went to the local Carrefour (apparently the grocery sponsor of INSEAD locations) and looked for a replacement. The selection at Carrefour was terrible, but the shopping complex happened to have a camera store which happened to have one remaining Canon G12, the successor to our cherished G7. After trying unsuccessfully to negotiate the price  -- including a scene in which I made a stink, left the store and strolled around the complex for 15 minutes to let the vendors contemplate the mistake they had made in not bargaining with me -- I came back and bought the camera at full price, despite the fact that I had no mobile internet and thus could do no on-the-spot price comparisons (look out for my upcoming blog/facebook/twitter posting about how frightening life without mobile internet can be).

Only once I got back to our bungalow and the coddle of wifi did I compare prices - to joyfully find that the price I paid was actually cheaper than I would have been able to get online, in Singapore or in France! Thank you growth-addicted ASEAN nations and your currency devaluations!

Bali, Part I (Arrival, Tandjung Sari)

INSEAD gave me a few days off for the Chinese New Year, so Liz and I made our way down to Bali, Indonesia celebrate her birthday. We were excited after hearing so many stories from classmates that had already visited, so last Wednesday we made our way over to the beloved Changi airport to get out of dodge. I'm pretty sure the immigration people there are starting to recognize us.

We were booked on Indonesia's national carrier, Garuda Airlines, and had an interesting experience getting over to Bali. Despite being crowned the illustrious title of the World's Most Improved Airline, they were casually delayed in everything they did, so we were more than a bit delayed in getting to Jakarta. Once there, we rushed to get through immigration only to be shocked with the realization that our entry visas cost 500,000 Indonesian rupiah...lucky for us, we learned that's only ~$50. Nevertheless, we had no relevant currency (rupiah or USD) so I needed to negotiate with the security to let me out of the "secure" immigration area to find an ATM.

Once our immigration fiasco was resolved, we made our way through Soekarno-Hatta airport, which was mostly deserted and strangely rudimentary / third-world feeling (given how big a city Jakarta is). After a few false starts, boarding finally started and we were herded onto a packed double-decker 747 (to Bali!). Even though we flew on the Airbus A380 to Singapore (currently the largest plane in commercial operation), Liz was excited / amazed to be flying on "a plane with a hump."

Well, it was more like a plane over the hump (ha! I'm so witty). Clearly not updated since 1986, the plane was what I remembered from the Alitalia flights we used to take to Africa when I was a kid... seemingly excessive turbulence, beige everywhere, enormous ceiling-mounted projectors playing a grainy, out-of-focus security video, and "old plane smell" mixed with the effects of the tropical heat on 600 passengers. By the way, for those interested, Garuda recently had an IPO and you can still buy shares as you check-in at the airport. An interesting underwriting approach to be sure -- Goldman, watch out. Maybe they'll use the new capital to buy some new planes.

Enough about the journey. We finally got to Bali and it was all that we hoped: warm, rich in natural and cultural beauty, and cheap.

Our bungalow was the first of the trip's delights. We lodged at the Tanjung Sari, a fabled beachfront compound of 20 or so bungalows that was the hub of Bali's nascent tourism scene in the 1960s and 70s and played host to Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Phil Collins and other people idolized by our parents when they were our age. Although it isn't one of the ultra-modern, ultra-luxury resorts so popular in Seminyak or Nusa Dua, we loved its simple luxury, elegant beauty and focus on service. And with the beach-front view of the Ganung Agung volcano, lush gardens and tons of beautiful Balinese and Dutch colonial artifacts, we couldn't help taking lots of pictures...

Volcano view from the hotel beach in the morning

Blue-capped fisherman off the beach

Gateway to the beach

The intractable moss adds such an interesting element to the sculptures...

Our pool

Sidewalk leading to our bungalow

Our own little outdoor sitting area next to the bungalow, where many a discussion of our future was had

I love this one. So creepy

Standing Sitting Guard

Sanur, the town where the Tandjung Sari is located, is an interesting place. The food options are pretty good, especially a wonderful place called Kayu Manis that may offer one of the best quality-to-cost equations I've ever experienced. We ate two very good, very inexpensive meals there over the course of the trip, but the restaurant shared a theme with our hotel and the rest of the town: every other guest has gray hair. Luckily, I have a few grays and Liz thinks like a granny, so we didn't mind the calm afforded by our antediluvian neighbors. 

Beach at night...

...and during the day

Balinese outrigger canoe

The resort also sponsors a foundation for the preservation of Balinese dance, meaning that adorable Balinese children spend a few hours a couple of times a week learning legong and other traditional dances. One very cute, very uncoordinated little boy led me to try my hand at iPhone cinematography, with the results below (funny boy is in the yellow shirt). The second video is of a very talented 10 year old that was already almost as good as the teacher.

Overall, we would definitely recommend the hotel to anyone wanting a relaxed time in Bali.

More of our Balinese adventure coming soon...