Bali

So, finally we made it to Bali. Last time we missed it  and went to Sulawesi instead to dive Lembeh and Bunaken. We always felt we missed something and wanted to see it this time. Especially as the island is described as one of top 10 island destinations in the world. It is even referred as Morning of the World or Island of Gods.

So, Bali for us...
I suppose after all we heard and read about Bali anticipation was ripe. We had certain expectations.. Afraid to say Bali did not live up to them.
Bali is the only non-islamic island in Indonesia, predominant religion being hinduism. It was brought by Indians in the 1st century AD. When Islam came in the 15th century last Java Hindu king escaped to Bali with many of the court's intellectuals, artists and priests. This is where Bali’s rich cultural and artistic strike comes from. Europeans obviously had to have a say – Dutch came in the 17th century and practically stayed until after the World War 2 (clutching at straws for a long time to stay here…).

People. First, we have decided to give all a chance and stop comparing any other nation to Irish (definite winners!). But Balinese don't cut it very well, I'm afraid. We are not saying they are unfriendly, but just didn't get that vibe. They are definitely not as warm as Thai or Philippino. And there was a lot of hassling! Haven't seen so much since Tanzania a long time ago. You could not walk without quite aggressively being offered something: a shirt, dinner or a taxi ride. We felt as were two walking wallets. And without wanting it really  you just go on defensive. Not that we were buying a lot – Bali proved to be pretty expensive, more than expected. Corruption is horrible as well. Police actually stops tourists on motor bikes and invents reasons for ticketing (best one we heard was that that they stopped one meter away from the stop mark on the road instead on it). Yep, felt like paying a road tax. To be honest last time we saw something like this was more than 15 years ago, again in Tanzania (fyi, we haven’t been there since…). Very disappointing indeed. We actually managed to talk ourselves out of fine (everyone we talked to were surprised), but it left a bad feeling in the mouth. Nothing compared to when we were almost conned when changing money. Nives went alone to change 100 EUR and only the next day noticed about 40  EUR was missing. So, we went back to the exchange shop (not in a good mood!) and after a reasonable conversation (her exact words were: I'm going to the police and you are going to prison!) guy admitted stealing 25 EUR. And then the haggling started (we know!!!) and we agreed in the middle - about 32 EUR. We were fairly happy to have most of the money back (and learned a good lesson!). Well, that was before Dejan found the missing 15 EUR in his pocket. So, in the end we got a really good exchange rate... And this was not an isolated exchange incident either! Now that we knew that there is a trick, we both went to change money and see how they actually do it. Boy, they are fast, we can tell you that! So, in the end they tried to con us 5 more times over next few days. We were prepared thou and walked away with our money.

Traveling around and infrastructure. Now, this was a joke really. Roads were there (apparently built only last year!), but no scheduled transportation system really for most of the island. So, as a tourist you have to rely on taxis and private transport that you have to haggle for. Have  we mentioned we felt used? Other option is renting a scooter. Two problems thou: expect police “road tax” and the traffic was horrific (felt like Indonesia was a single world market for scooters!). Definitely not for non-experienced. Internet is basic if not poor. At one place we managed a voice Skype only and it was for short time as well - some kind of anomaly, we thought. Positive side is that "Little Shit" proved to be useful - we would write few mails off-line and it would send it when Internet was available. Needless to say, we were not in touch a lot. Someone even said Bali is a Switzerland of Indonesia! This must have been a joke. On the other hand, thank god we haven't seen the rest... Whoever came with that comparison must on be some really good stuff... wish we had some while we were on Bali...

Food. Well, with food available and without direct intention we actually lost weight. Only other time this happened was on Sulawesi. Yes, we can see the common denominator... We even went for a really good Balinese restaurant (recommended by two different guide books). And did not really like it. Ingredients were good quality: fresh and local, preparation techniques were excellent, but taste was missing. That kick you get from good Asian food, explosion of aromas in your mouth was just not there. Btw, do not mix Indonesian cuisine (satay and mie goreng are from there! And from Malaysia and even Singapore) with Balinese – that one is good. Only local dish we did really like was pork roasted on a spit - or Babi Guling. Place is the legendary restaurant Ibu Oka in Ubud. Meat was succulent and nicely spiced - definitely worth a visit. To be honest, anything on a spit over the fire can't be bad, right?

We did have another foodie memorable evening in Ubud thou. Well, maybe not foodie only exactly... First, there was a walk to the restaurant. On the map it looked like a stroll, in reality it was a 5 km hike up the hill in the heat. We were half expecting that when we get there they would be either closed or out of food. Well, luckily we were wrong this time. This was upmarket part of area (read even more expensive) and offer was good. We had pork ribs; and they were excellent, best we had since South Africa (in our minds still world capital of good brai). Anyway, ribs were delicious (not sure how much Balinese as the owner is American and has brought the recipe with him, but who cares - they were yum), but that was not highlight of the evening. That one goes to the martini served. Now, we read it is something to try and we did. And it was damn good... and alcoholic... Not sure if it is the heat, or distinct lack of alcohol here (Indonesia is still the largest Muslim country in the world, so alcohol is expensive), but the way back home was in a blur... Definitely worth 10 EUR a pop! Thing we missed a lot was wine. You can buy some Australian one at extortionate prices (you guessed correctly, we didn't go for it) or locally produced. Definitely something we do not recommend (and we have had our share of seriously shitty wines in Slovenia in our student years!). Not sure why it is even called a wine?

Diving - definitely not something to come back for. Not as good as Thailand and definitely not good as Philippines. Again, comparing to neighbours only to be fair. Snorkelling practically not existent. First we were in Tulamben. It is an interesting place for US Liberty wreck and diving on black volcanic sand (last biggest eruption was in 1967). Will definitely remember it for damn fire grass as well (bloody biodiversity!) - still itches! More of a macro diving place than not, so not high on our list of favourites. Next stop was Padangbai. Best dive sites were interesting for strong and unpredictable currents. One minute you were pulled to the surface and next pushed towards the deep. Like a big roller-coaster ride! There is more big life here, but visibility is very bad and water is cold, so does not really help the experience. Aside all of that we had a ball there - we met up with a group of Slovenian divers. As always they were a great craic. Whatever we lacked in diving was more than compensated with constant joking and laughter. We miss the lot already!
Some of us even managed to fall down and not so gracefully land on a mask and break it (we are not mentioning his name here!). So, due to usual good selection in Bali, most of diving in Indonesia was done (for some of us) with half flooded mask. On the last day we made it to biggest dive shop in Indonesia (it is kind of biggish) and after trying zillion of new TechniSub masks (complete disaster! Our old Cressi is far better!) we discovered that new kid on the block is called OpenWater. Go figure, new authority is a Thai company (defo not surprised they are not from Indonesia).

Culture. As said, Bali is only predominantly Hindu island in Indonesia and historically is a cultural (guess has to do with exodus of last hindu king and his company?) and spiritual place. So, we did our share as well. We went to see two plays and quite a few temples. The culture is very colourful and temples are definitely interesting. We especially liked the Uluwatu - it is perched on a cliff with beautiful views of the beaches below. But the best part of it were resident monkeys – really funny. A lot of monkey business going on, that is for sure. Last four days we spent in Ubud - the most artistic place in Bali. This is also where we went to local theatre. Plays were based on traditional tales and full of symbolism and tradition. We are not the biggest fans of traditional Balinese theatre, but definitely something to see. The most famous one is really interesting thou - it is called  Kecak and it does not have any music background, but supposedly more than one hundred men (53 in our case –  yes, we counted...) are producing sounds that give background to dancing and play. We also went on a tour to see the giant caldera of one of the volcanoes. Views were nice, but not majestic. Hassling by people was on a top level and only surpassed by hassling by millions of flies. We managed about 20 minutes and then escaped. On the way back we did have a really nice experience thou (probably one of the best in Bali) – we visited one of the plantations and tried the local produce: from coffee to tea and cocoa, even the tobacco. We even had a go at Kopi Luwak! If you haven’t heard about this one it is a specialty – beans of coffee berries are eaten and excreted (yes, you are reading this correctly) by civets (sort of squirrel). Excretions are then collected, coffee beans extracted, cleaned (really hope so!!!) and then roasted. Story is that by passing through the intestines beans change is coffee is different. Well, that it is. And it is actually not bad. One we liked the  most was ginseng coffee - local explanation: papa drinks mama happy, mama drinks papa broken. Needless to say, we had to buy some.

So, after being taxed again (this time for leaving the country!!! Go figure... at least it is the last time...) we finally left Bali. Yes, baby!!! Are we going to be back? No. So many new places to visit and so many others that we liked so much more (all of Thailand and Malaysia and Philippines, for example?) that it is hardly possible we will ever consider going back. Actually, we are considering ditching the tickets we already have for Pulau Weh. I know, we are definitely not Indonesia fans here (not applying for job with Lonely Planet to write a next guide for sure).  At the same time we can see the appeal it has for some people. Whisked from the airport to a five star place to do yoga retreat is probably giving a different experience. But yoga is not our thing really (nice for couple of hours a week, but that is it) and we are definitely not a five star material - tried once and were not allowed into  dining room as we were not dressed appropriately!

Our next destination? Palau - our number one spot in the world for diving (so far!). We can't wait!