Casey Space

On Christmas day, we flew from Java to Bali and finished up our group tour. For the following 10 days, Josh and I were pretty much on our own. We explored the beaches and mountains on two rented motorbikes and our own two feet.

We were there during the rainy season, so I think enjoying every place and every day was a bit more challenging. I had envisioned us carefree on motorbikes and out in nature in sunny Bali, but the reality was more like trying to get something out of the few hours a day it was not pouring rain, and trying not to die on the road. We went way above our experience and skillset on motorbikes on this island.

Bali is very different from Java, it is much more laid back with an island vibe. The people are mostly Hindu, with a mix of tribal traditions. The island is definitely geared towards tourism. Natural beauty is around every corner, and there are countless temples and spiritual attractions.

Fun Facts: We wondered how Bali became a tourist spot. The island was introduced to the West in the early 20th century through a silent film that bordered on being a blue movie called Dance of the Virgins about two teen Balinese sisters. Someone told me that in at least one tribe on Bali, it is still normal for women to walk around without a top. Sure enough, when we were driving down the road, we saw a lady like this hanging out on the side of the road. It reminded me of peeking at the National Geographic magazines in 6th grade to see the boobies.

Bali Yoga

Yoga seemed to be everywhere on Bali. Josh and I took a Bali Yoga class at the Be Here Now Studio on the beach in Sanur. The studio looked exactly like what I expected to see in Bali. A view of the ocean from a bamboo hut and thatched roof.

Our resort stay in Ubud had free yoga classes some mornings at the open air event facility by the pool.

In the town near Mt. Batur, there was a huge hot springs complex with waterslides AND yoga, plus an Ayurvedic spa. I have never seen waterslides and yoga together.

The glamping resort at Munduk had a yoga platform by the creek at the bottom of the canyon. We improvised our own little session there on the wet deck.

Ubud Upgrade

After a stay near the beach in Sanur, we headed up the mountains to the tourist hotspot and cultural center of Ubud. We thought we were going to a quaint mountain town, but we found it was so crowded with tourists, we had to basically walk our motorbikes through town. Even in Hanoi I haven’t seen traffic that bad.

After a slow go through town, we finally turned on an open mountain road and headed up to our hotel. They were overbooked and sold my room to someone else, and to my surprise, they upgraded me to an enormous wooden “hut.” It had an outdoor bathtub like I’ve seen in Sunset magazines. In my opinion now, they are a novel idea, but in reality, I had to move some spiders and giant ants out of the tub, fill it with not-very-hot-water, and then elect to either sit in a spot light or in the dark wondering what bugs are crawling on the edge of the tub.

We elected to just hang out at the resort by the pool and get massages for our stay instead of chasing tourist sites. So, we had a lovely relaxing time, but we did miss out on quite a bit of Bali’s must-see sites such as river rafting, temples, and a giant swing in the canyon.

Mt Batur

After a relaxing stay in Ubud, we headed up further into the mountains. The weather was good for a long time, and the views were spectacular. During an impressive downpour, we stopped at a cliffside cafe for lunch and took in the view of Mt. Batur.

There is where we started to try to emulate the locals in figuring out the weather enough to decide when to get back on our motorbikes to finish our journey.

Little did we know, this would be the beginning of the level-up lesson in motorbike riding of our trip, and one of hundreds of times the locals told us to be careful.

After the cliffside cafe, we gritted our teeth and clenched our fists around the handlebars as we headed to the lake and mountains to find our next accommodations. Of course, with spotty GPS and Google rerouting, and we ended up needlessly driving up and down steep wet narrow mountain roads with hairpin blind turns for a couple of hours. We were definitely riding above our skillset and the locals enjoyed smiling and waving at us both times we passed, and even the third and fourth time we went by.

“Glamping” near Mt. Batur

The view was absolutely spectacular from our mountainside camp that we finally found by parking our bikes and walking trails Google showed as roads, because locals drive scooters on them like roads, but we were not ready to, and asking people along the way. After meeting our hosts, they walked back to the other side of the mountain and got our motorbikes and drove them on the muddy trails to the proper parking area. Our hosts were so nice and would help with anything we wanted.

Though the spot was advertised as glamping, it felt more like camping. The glam part was the fabric on the cinderblock hut, the fact that they would make you noodles, rice, or a pancake for a meal, and the futon mattress and shelter was provided. The bathroom left much to be desired as I am fine with a water hose next to the toilet, but I’m still not comfortable with just a bucket of water with bugs in it and a a ladle.

Despite all this, you absolutely cannot beat the view.

There were several hot springs at the bottom of the mountains, and our host offered to escort us to some because the roads were so steep and slick, he could tell we were not really qualified to be scooting around for fun. He took us to the craziest hot spring area I have ever seen.

The Toya Devasya had 9 large pools, 3 of which were like infinity pools on a lake, waterslides in various states of operation, yoga studio, Ayurvedic spa, several restaurants, and hundreds of purple elephant statues. More things surprised me there: they served all food and drink in glass, kids are allowed to eat popsicles in the pools, and they boasted that the water is not hot, which, it was not.

After two nights in a hut on terraced fields, we took advantage of a dry morning to ride down the mountain to the flat road along the north beaches.

The road down was so steep, it was difficult to keep the bike slow enough to make the turns. About 2/3 of the way down, I was about to turn down yet another steep hill and when I squeezed the left handle to break, it was loose as a noodle and did nothing. Josh was in front of me so he continued down the mountain not realizing I had a problem. I turned the bike sideways on the road, carefully made a 5 point turn, and accelerated back up the hill to a house where I had seen some dudes hanging out front.

I stopped in front of their house, waved at them, and they come down to see what I was doing. I showed them that the break wasn’t doing anything and they called their son to come speak to me in English. We worked out that he would ride my bike down to the mechanic and I would ride on his dad’s bike.

The mechanic quickly worked on the bike, and I guess fixed the issue?? Josh came back to find me, but the kid rode my bike down the rest of the mountain for me just to get me down alive I think, and I rode with his dad. When we got to the flat road, a thunderstorm came through, we took shelter and the dad offered Josh and I some cigarettes to pass the time, which we declined. The kid had the difficult conversation with me of asking for money for his trouble which I was glad to pay. So, the mechanic charged 100K Rupia and the kid charged 100K Rupia, so all-in-all it cost about $13 for me to safely get down the mountain on the faulty motorbike.

New Years in Lovina

We spent New Years Eve at an older resort in Lovina on the beach. I bet in the ’70’s, it was THE place to be. When I saw the flier for their party, I could not believe they were going to have a drag show. I sat in the crowd with women wearing hijabs and their children and husbands cheering for the queens on stage.

Glamping near Munduk

Near the end of our trip was the maybe the most Bali experience I was looking forward to. This was more like glamping. We rented a furnished tent on a wooden deck overlooking a lush canyon. The cafe served delicious and fresh vegan food, and had tarot / metaphysical cards and crystals for guests to enjoy.

During our stay here, we went for hikes to several waterfalls. During a downpour of rain, we tucked into a small village cafe, and that was where I tried the “cat poop coffee” aka Luwak coffee, the most expensive coffee in the world, about $600 per pound. I had a cup for about $3, and it just tasted like coffee to me.

After glamping in the mountains, we cruised our bikes back down to sea level on a blissfully dry day. There was a national holiday coming up, so all the traffic was heading up to the mountains to celebrate the gods.

We turned in our motorbikes back into Sanur, and took a taxi to Kuta for one more night. This area is near the airport and has lots of resorts, surfing, and long sandy beaches.

After almost 3 weeks in Indonesia, we returned to the wild energy of Hanoi, as Vietnam is gearing up for the lunar new year, known as Tet.