A lot has happened since the last time i wrote on here. This will have to be a pictureless post until next time, i am getting stuff done because I leave for Australia today. I delayed my ticket after much persuading by my friends Ilse(dutch girl), Jason(british guy), and Polly(aussie girl). so to catch up...
That night I went to Echo beach to meet Polly and some other yoga friends and ran into Ilse and Jason and drinks ensued! We had a blast, a great dinner and a good amount of Bintang's. Bintang is the local beer here. It actually means Star in Bahasa whichis what they called it after Heineken had to pull out of Bali, who originally brewed it. Polly runs a resort here and invited all of us back to her ridiculous pad. Oh my god you can own a freakin personal resort here for absolutely chump change compared to america. You need to have a nominee who puts their name on some documents, but then you get a mansion and land for cheap. It was then that the salesmanship ensued and I was coerced into moving my flight to monday, haha. It was well worth it.
I ended up hanging out with Ilse all the next couple days going to the beach, surfing, eating awesome food and actually having some ridiculous Indian food at this place my friends suggested called Queens Tandoor. Her parents own two houses here and are really cool. They suggested we go see the volcano at Toya Bungkah the next day and got us a driver.
On the way to Toya Bungkah we grabbed lunch in Ubud and shopped our faces off to get presents for folks back home for me. Mom, three male friends and Leslie are checked off the present list now, haha. Then we went to a temple where I got to actually where a sarong and belt and get in the holy water and cleanse my spirit in the fountains and pray to the Balinese gods which was very soothing. I love respecting local traditions and religions and hope they do it when they visit us as well. Just so happened that I got to go swimming to respect this one, haha, awesome! Got some snacks and off to the biggest Lake in Bali, Lake Batur.
We arrived in Toya Bungkay around 5:15 and met Gede who is the nominee for Ilse's parents houses and company here. He treated me like a son and got us into the hot springs and got us massages and his wife, Yoman, made us amazing fish! So i will not do this justice, but when you arrive at his place, you are at lake level and across this amazing lake there is a mountain Jutting out of the other side of the lake making it look like a movie filmed in Interlaken, Switzerland or something only warmer. We caught up with Gede and his family and ate and had some Bintangs and then caught some sleep because we had to get up at 4am to climb the volcano the next morning.
Got up and our guide started walking us throught he dark. About an hour and 20 minutes, which is apparently really fast, we reached a little warung(food hut) at the top of the volcano and had eggs, roasted banana sandwiches and Bali coffee. was truly picturesque. We were above the clouds and looking across the lake at the other mountain...amazing. and the volcano was smoking...it had erupted in 1997 and spewed lava flattening a village or three in 1973! not today though thankfully! We took a ton of pictures and just took in the scenery which was other worldly. Finally climbed to the absolute top and literally took pictures inside of a cloud! I felt like i was in a plane, haha. We watched the sun rise over the mountain and quietly gazed at the amazing scene that is NOT the regular thought of Bali. This Bali is somewhere I could send my mom or family and have them fall in love with the scenery, people, food and pace for sure. No party but lots of amazing other things that Bali affords. After climbing the mountain, Yoman made us traditional bali style pancakes and taught me more Balinese over Bali coffee, haha. I grabbed a nap and then we went swimming in Lake Batur.
After swimming we went to the hot springs and went back to hang out with Gede(pronounced Kah-day) until our driver got there to drive us back to Canggu.
Got back to Canggu and showered up and met Mirko at Echo beach for a goodbye dinner and drinks. This place has its hooks in me for sure and there are pictures to come. I leave today for Australia and am excited, but am sad to leave this wonderland of waves, views, and nice people.
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