Bali - Great but not as relaxing as intended... I blame Australia!

Dear Bali lovers,
I flew to Bali in Indonesia!!! Who would have thought I would do that when I arrived in Sydney exactly 10 months ago? To be totally honest, I felt a bit like I'm betraying Australia when I headed to the Perth International Airport. But than, it is a typical Aussie get-away right? I planned this to be a totally relaxing, slow-paced cultural holiday to regain some energy for my further travel. Well, that didn't quite go to plan.
After a smooth flight and a long immigration queue I got picked up by the owners of the homestay which I chose in Ubud. I arrived there at 8pm and settled into my room before I went out for dinner. I was a bit overwhelmed by the hot and humid weather and all the noises, smells and looks. Visiting any part of Asia is so different to any Western country or Australia. I know a bit from our family holidays but I haven't been to Asia in over 10 years. (Shocking, I know!)
The next morning I enjoyed a Banana pancake on the terrace of my room. That's how a holiday should be like!!!

After breakfast I headed into the city center of Ubud and into the middle of the seemingly traffic chaos and I walked West on the main road past lots of shops and temples and then up North towards the rice fields. I just wanted to go for a short stroll amongst the green fields in the cool morning. That was the plan.

Well, somehow I must have missed the right turn as I stayed on the main road and caught glimpses of the rice fields behind the shops and houses but couldn't find a way to get there. I detoured several times as I wasn't willing to give up. But after two hours I decided to turn around and another hour later I was back in Ubud sweating like hell and watched this practice session for a Balinese dance.

While I was there I decided to have a look into the courtyard of the Ubud palace. You know, just a short visit before I have a relaxing rest of the day.

After some time I found a nice place for lunch and then bought the Indonesian beer Bintang. You have to have a beer when you are on holidays right?

After a nap during the heat of the day I decided to just have a quick look into the Ubud market. I was just in time to see a ceremonial procession blocking the road.

Well, the quick look into the market lasted 1.5 hours and it was time to find some dinner. I got myself a real speciality: suckling pig! Incredibly tasty!!!

This first day was fairly exhausting, so I wanted to take things really easy the next day. I went into the Sacred Monkey Forest in the morning and seriously, there are LOTS of monkeys about. And they are very cheeky and have almost no fear. They'll grab your water bottles, plastic bags and cameras.

One monkey attacked my handbag several times although I didn't have any food in it! Really sacred these creatures. I wandered around the whole complex which really has a jungle feeling to it and visited all three temples, the deer stable and the dance theatre.

For the afternoon I had booked a 4.5 hour spa package. HA! That's real holidays! Completely pampered I went back into the Ubud palace after a change of clothes to reserve a good seat for the Legong dance. I was sitting in the middle of a student group from Mannheim and chatted with them while we waited. The dance was really good, I liked it very much.

I went straight back to my room after the dance performance as I needed to get up early the next day. Why? Well, I'm not sure how it happened exactly but I booked a one-day tour around Central and North Bali. So the next morning I got picked up together with five other people to be driven around the country to see various spots for a short length of time each. I immediately made friends with two other German girls Claudia and Nadja. Our first stop was the Holy Royal Family temple.

Then we stopped at a little coffee and spice farm where this lovely woman explained the special aroma of coffee beans that have been digested by various animals. These are the poo-beans in question...

This is our group. To the left the Australian couple Jean and Fern from Adelaide, to the right Karin a teacher and behind her Claudia and Nadja. We tried different teas and coffees and also the special poo-coffee. Well, not my cup of coffee, really.

Next stop was the Ulundean temple at the Lake Beratan where we saw another little ceremonial procession.

We wandered around the garden and took lots of pictures of the temple with the mountains and the lake in the background before we headed to the Gitgit Falls.

The road through the mountains was very steep and curvy and our driver wasn't exactly the slow and patient kind of guy. I was feeling seriously dizzy and always very relieved when we got out of the car. For lunch we stopped at a buffet restaurant next to a fairly ugly grey and dirty beach in Lovina. The girls and I decided against the expensive buffet but there was nothing else around.
Our next stop was the Holy Hot Spring where we got from one pool into the other not really knowing in which order they should be done. The water was smelly and the underground very slippery and kind of disgustingly slimy.

After this short hot bath we stopped at a viewing point to see the lush green rice terraces for which Bali is so famous.

Our next and also last stop at the top of a mountain where the roads were specially steep and curvy we had this fantastic view onto two lakes.

We arrived back in Ubud at 7pm and i had a take-away dinner with Claudia and Nadja. It turned out that they're staying only two houses away from me :-) We talked and laughed until 9pm.
The next morning I was very tired from the long daytrip and only got out at about 9:30am. I wanted to do a short stroll to the rice fields and this time I found the way there.

But I couldn't find the roundtrip and got lost in the rice fields and returned nearly four hours later to Ubud, ready for a nap! In the evening I met up with the girls again to go and see a ceremony at a big temple. Unfortunately they were not allowed into the temple because their shoulders were not covered, so I went in alone for one hour and watched the procession from the background.

It was all a bit confusing as I had no clue what was going on or what was to happen next. So we went to this stylish and expansive looking place for Sushi.

I got to bed at 10pm and set my alarm for 1am. WHAT??? Yep, I really have no clue why I thought taking this sunrise trekking tour would be a good idea but I got picked up at 2:30am to be driven to the base of Mount Batur where I together with three other girls joined our guide to climb up Mount Batur, an active volcano btw...
To be honest, it was steep and quite slippery with all these loose rocks but I didn't experienced it as too difficult for me whereas two of the other girls really struggled to get up and without the constant help of the guide they wouldn't have made it at all.

Therefore we made it just in time for the sunrise. And then I knew it was worth all the effort!

After a spectacular sunrise our guide took us around the mountain and explained the history and importance of it to the community before we descended again.

The other three girls joined their two friends who didn't do the trekking and we got driven to a temple and after that we went for lunch with an amazing view over Mount Batur and Lake Batur.

I got back to Ubud at 2:30pm and was so seriously exhausted, this was not a relaxing holiday at all anymore!
I totally blame Australia for this unknown desire of mine to do long walks in the heat, attending daytrips with jam-packed itineraries and climbing active volcanos in the middle of the night!!!!
The next day was already my last day in Ubud and I stayed in my room until I had to check out at 12pm and then wandered around the Ubud Palace, to the Sacred Monkey Forest, up and down the main roads before I just set at the main crossing and watched all the traffic and people going by before I shared a taxi back to the airport with the Australian couple from the daytrip. My flight was at midnight and only 4 hours short.
My next very well-known stop: Perth!
Yours Bali-visiting Stefanie