We returned to Bali after a few weeks on the smaller islands of Nusa Penida and the Gili Islands. We took a short boat ride from Gili Meno to the port of Gili Trawangan, which is the most popular of the three Gili islands, and was a bit chaotic. We had to pick up our passes from our boat agency office (there are many agencies that are intermediaries for the boat company, we learned), and then had to pay the toll at the office on the dock. While we waited I chatted with a Balinese tour guide who had escorted a group of Italian tourists to the island, and was heading home. Once we boarded the boat it was a relaxing ride and in a couple of hours we landed back on Bali, at the port of Padangbai.
However, before they even opened the port door to let us off the boat, there were taxi drivers waving their cards in front of the port window, and it felt like those images of the stock market back in the 80s, with lots of people yelling and holding up pieces of paper. Luckily, we had our driver from our previous Bali trip, Kris, pick us up. We had heard that Grab, the ride hailing app, didn’t work well in Padangbai, and were glad Kris was able to take us back to Ubud for our follow-up trip as once the other drivers saw us with Kris, they left us alone.
We stayed at a different place this time, a homestay. Homestay’s in Bali are usually very inexpensive, and are located on a family’s compound; the family lives there in separate buildings, and their personal temples and shrines are also there.
We had a large building to ourselves, with a large entryway, daybed and small dining room on the first floor, and a big bedroom and balcony on the second floor.
Also, a great view from the wraparound balcony.
We knew it was going to be a good stay because the owner had these two huge Bonsai trees outside our place.
They also had some really great art on the walls, made by the owner and his wife’s uncle; when speaking with the owner one evening, he told us how important it was to the Balinese that art and creativity are features of everyday schooling; he said he had to keep practicing his art/drawing/painting (just like one would science or math) until his father was satisfied, then he could play with his friends. As such, there are many, many artists on Bali, and there are Galleries all over that sell the art created by locals (we visited one that I’ll write about in a later post). The owner created the piece on the left below, and his uncle-in-law the right one.
On the way to the homestay from the port we also stopped by an office that assisted with Visa extensions. It was our fault, but we neglected to allow enough time for the 60-Day Visa (we were having too much fun in Shanghai) prior to our arrival, so we did the quick 30-day with the plan to extend for an additional 30 days. I spent hours while on Gili Meno trying to process our Visa extension online; the website would simply not work. I had read there were offices that specialized in assisting with Visa extensions (and there are A LOT of them), so we stopped by one with good reviews. They took our info, and payment (about 3 times the Visa fee, which was included in their price), and told us they would let us know when our appointment at Immigration would be.
That appointment would be in the capital of Bali, Denpasar, which we had not planned to visit, but now had to. There was also a Balinese holiday which would affect the processing time, so we would have to stay in Denpasar at least overnight, and delay our next planned stop to the North of Bali (Denpasar is in the southeast). More on this later.
After we settled in to our homestay, the next day we walked to Ubud Palace, where we had seen the dance show a few weeks earlier. It isn’t a huge complex, so we were able to visit and see it all in about 20 minutes, but a cool place nonetheless.
Our next stop was the Sweet Orange Walking Trail, which was down a narrow pathway off the busy main street, marked by a simple arrow pointing to the Sweet Orange Warung. We started down the muddy (it had rained a lot the night before) and broken trail.
Finally the trail opened up, to farms and rice fields.
We finally made it to the Sweet Orange Warung, and took a much needed break with some refreshing drinks.
We continued on, walking past more rice fields until we made it back to Ubud proper.
Once back in Ubud, we passed more shrines…
…and down a shopping street, eventually winding back up at Ubud Art Market. Maybe at one time is was a true Art Market, but now, it isn’t for art, really; as it sold more of the same touristy items of clothes and souvenirs we had seen on the shopping street, and in many places already around Ubud (but for higher prices and worse quality).
We finally returned to the homestay, and after getting cleaned up, headed out for foot massages (which are awesome in Bali and are really reasonably priced), which also include a mini back massage at the end (bonus!). After our massages we grabbed some dinner and headed back to call it an early night because we had a big day tour around Bali planned for the next day; stay tuned!
Phil's WayPastCool 