Bali

We arrive in Denpasar, Bali, late at night and have a few hours sleep in a hostel. I have less sleep than intended, having not changed the time on my phone and waking up at 5 instead of 7, and being very confused as to why reception wasn’t open. When Heidi wakes up at the correct time, we have our first taste of indonesian cusine for breakfast – a generous portion of Nasi Goreng, fried rice. We then relocate to Ubud via taxi. Our new hostel consists of a few 8 bed dorms in a small bungalow – we seem to be the only guests here. We walk down the pavementless track to Ubud proper and have a bit of lunch on one of the high streets. We visit the market, but we’re still pretty knackered from the night before so we head back after a short wander.

The next day we are meeting Heidi’s best friend from school, Kiff, some of his friends and some people they are on a tour with. We can’t get a hold of him (due to a big night) so we decide to have breakfast at their hotel and surprise him. We’re introduced to the other guys from the tour and form a group to go to one of the big draws to Ubud – the monkey forest sanctuary located just next to the hotel. I don’t think I need to explain what this is, but needless to say there are tonnes of monkeys – some aggressive than others. Shortly after we enter one jumps on Kiffs back, resulting in him swinging off his backpack. During our walk through the beautiful forest, a lady with an open bag is mugged by another monkey. It steals her purse and climbs up a tree. A gent from one of the shops has to, somehow, coax the culprit into dropping it.

Hail Hydra

Because monkeys need temples too

We head back to Kiff’s hotel and jump in the pool. The monkeys are still about, mind. We can see them clambering over the wall and occasionally descending onto the hotel grounds, where they are immediately chased by hotel staff wielding staffs and slingshots. I don’t know if this is their only job, but part of me hopes it is. We’re all having a great time chilling at the pool, keeping a watchful eye of the monkeys, when I spoil it all by cutting my big toe on a loose tile in the pool. I jump out and begin getting nursing treatment from Heidi, whose soon relieved by four members of the hotel staff. They put all manner of treatment on my toe, including what I am told is “traditional medicine”. There’s talk of me going to the clinic, but after a bit more nursing the chief first aider tells me I should be alright, so long as I give it a wash in an hour or so. We decide it’s time to head back.

That night Heidi wakes me up in the middle of the night because she can hear something. I get up and walk over to what was once a kitchenette. In the sink is a 2 inch cockroach trying for dear life to get out. I attempt to get rid of it using humane methods (water) but when this fails I opt to kill it (water bottle) and return to my sleep. Part and parcel, I guess.

We’ve booked a driver for today to take us to our next stop, Candi Dasa, but first we’re making a few stops around Ubud. First we go to a beautiful rice terrace. Frustratingly, there are ‘donation stops’ along the way that stop you from going any further without making a ‘donation’. This is mainly annoying because we run out of small notes early on and can’t walk around the whole thing, I’d have happily paid more for the entrance fee. On the other hand it’s scorching hot so we’re not too upset about doing the full circuit. The next stop is Gunung Kawi, otherwise known as the rocky temple, as it was literally carved into the rocks back in the 11th century. It’s an impressive site. The next stop is the Tirta Empul, also known as the water temple. I have both my shoulders and knees covered and yet I’m still called up to put a sarong. As soon as the gent has wrapped it around me, he pats my beard and says “Ahh, Hanuman!”. I don’t know if he knew that I knew Hanuman is the Hindu monkey god, but he certainly seemed amused. The water temple is given the informal name due to small pools where visitors can have their own purification ritual. We don’t have towels so we give this a miss.

Rice Terrace

Rocky Temple

Water temple

We arrive in Candi Dasa in the late afternoon. Our hotel is very nice and has it’s own stretch of private beach. Kiff and the others join us the next day and the rest of the week is spent mostly pool side, working on the tan and drinking Bintang, the local lager. On our second day, Heidi and I go for a relaxing massage. A few days after this, after a stressful morning trying to get passport photos for our Cambodia visa, I have quite a few Bintangs plus a bespoke cocktail. Overall we had a great albeit mostly sedentary week in Bali. I won’t list everything I ate but it was all tasty, and people are very friendly and eager to help.