Bali tours above and below sea level

We left Ubud for Lovina, a beach town on the north coast of Bali. We hired a driver to take us to a few awesome temples, waterfalls, rice paddys, botanic gardens and more along the way. Gorgeous! It was only $10 more than the shuttle bus, and we saw things we never could have seen without him. SO MUCH FUN!



Upon arrival in Lovina, we signed up for 2 days of diving. The following morning we were picked up and driven 2 hours west to hop on a boat to Menjagan Island- world class reef walls and incredibly abundant sea life made for 2 awesome dives. Unfortunately, our personal guide did not really care about kicking/breaking coral,and poking sleeping fish with his long metal stick. Not cool. Thank goodness my mouth was occupied with my regulator or I would have had some words. We spent the evening with a few drinks and some delicious dinner before heading off to bed.



The next day, we dove the most famous dive in Bali- the U.S.S. Liberty wreck off the coast of Tulamben- two hours west this time. We arrived into a very chaotic situation- I have never seen so many freaking divers in one place. The lot was filled with dive vans, and the beach was swarming with wetsuit clad Westerners. We were not pleased, but suited up anyway and happily trotted into the water. The dive was great- the ship is nice and long (120 meters) and provided many penetration points, which was a first for us!! There is something nerve wracking about entering a broken down ship's cargo hold and corridors whilst being surrounded by all the bits and pieces that have collapsed and broken off during the years. We made it through without any problems,and it was phenomenal. The crowds made no real difference underwater, and when we did see others, they usually passed quickly in a cloud of bubbles.

After the wreck, we drove back to Lovina, napping the whole way. We wandered around a bit, then decided on having some beers at the local bar, Zurich. Cheapest beers in town! Still not so cheap, Bali is surprisingly tough on the budget. I digress... we settled in with a few large chilled BinTang and were joined shortly thereafter by a local guy, Agus. with whom we struck up a great conversation. We ended up spending the whole evening with him, telling him about the life we left behind, and he told us all about being a Balinese twenty-something working in a dive shop. It's amazing how differently we have lived our lives, but in the end its all circumstantial, and we want the same things and have the same dreams. It was so much fun talking to him, and I particularly enjoyed watching him kick Oli's butt in pool! For better or for worse, probably for worse, we also were the cause of his first encounter with pizza, and he seemed to enjoy it. We ducked out around 10 to get some sleep, as we had a shuttle bus the next morning to return to Ubud.

Agus brought us some gorgeous mangoes and papayas from his backyard- so so delicious, and how sweet of him!! The shuttle bus arrived early, and as it turned out we were the only two people so we were transported by SUV. We made it to Ubud in record time (barely over 2 hours!!) and found a cheap-as-chips guesthouse that looks like a royal palace. Sweet! We headed into town and had a much overdue sushi lunch, did a bit of wandering, and somehow found ourselves undressed and splayed out on two tables, receiving the most luxurious massages one can buy for 90min/$7. Life in Bali is tough, I tell you. We had dinner at a local health food/SoCal eatery. Delish but so not what you want to eat in Bali.

Yesterday we did a bit of the same thing. Woke up early... lounged... read a book... Lunch in the pouring rain, and somehow splayed out again on those two tables- cheap massages are addictive. Mellow afternoon, beers beside a lush green rice paddy while having an impromptu SNWMF meeting (we are super excited to come back and work for a few weeks! seriously!) and then some awesome dinner. We were hanging out on the veranda of our palace when a guy came by asking for a lighter- we ended up speaking to him for a few hours about Chile (where he is from), India (where he is headed), and lots more in-between. One popular topic is CouchSurfing- something we planned on doing for ages but have been too chicken to go through with. Its a huge network of travelers who offer up their couches free-of-charge to people who are coming to their towns or cities. We have heard nothing but fabulous things from other travelers about this new age way of traveling, and are determined to do it soon!

Today we took a temple tour, checking out the Elephant caves and the Stone temple (whilst wearing local garb supplied by our driver - a requirement to enter!) an amazing coffee and spice plantation where I found my new love, Ginsing Coffee, tried something that I swore I would never try (animal poo coffee) and we bought 5 grams of saffron for less than $10. The animal poo coffee was actually not bad - basically, this weird fox/rat/varmint type animal eats the beans out of the coffee tree, and during the digestive process ferments the beans, poops them out, then the poo is collected, rinsed, roasted, ground, and put into your cup for $3 a serving! It's a steal, actually, considering how freaking expensive it is elsewhere, and is thought to be the most delicious coffee in the world. We tried it, it was nice, but the whole idea kinda turned my stomach!



We just returned from the tour, and plan on a lazy evening before our crazy travels ahead. Tomorrow we fly Denpasar(Bali) to Jakarta to Singapore. We sleep in the airport overnight, then fly Singapore to Kota Kinbalu (Borneo) to travel to the east coast and start our jungle tour a few days later. Many amazing pictures to be had there, I'm sure!

Love to all, we will keep you posted!

PS- gonna make it to LA after all! One night, one night only- June 12, save the date.