Our first stop in Bali...

It was time to leave Singapore so we made our way from our AirBnB to Changi Airport by public transit which was fast and efficient, then through all the security lines to our next flight on one of the region's low cost airlines, Air Asia. The flight is about 2.5 hours and cost 166 CAD for both of us, but no food or drinks provided, not even water!

The airport had great art installations including this one...

Aptly themed ‘Tropical City’, Changi’s new Terminal 1 is synonymous with Singapore’s garden city reputation where rain is a common feature in the tropical climate. With more than a thousand raindrops working together in harmony, the Kinetic Rain sculpture also symbolises the coming together of the thousands in the airport community. This installation was quite mesmerizing as the rain drops continually moved in slow motion. I think Singapore does everything in a grand way!

When we boarded there were the strangest announcements I have ever heard on a flight...you will be charged as a criminal if you steal the life vest, if you drink alcohol on this plane, and if you are caught with drugs you will get the death penalty! But after saying that the plane was full of rowdy people and the three behind us were secretly passing around the bottle, so maybe there is a need for all these rules!

Our first glimpse of the island of Bali, one of the 37 provinces of Indonesia, and one of the largest at around 2000 square miles. It is also one of the most popular areas of the country for visitors with almost 14 million last year, as our driver said without tourists there would be no life on Bali!

We had arranged a pick up from our guest house so after moving through the busy airport and lots of traffic on the narrow roads we arrived at our home for the next five days. It is a small guest house, 8 rooms in all set in a lovely garden located in a small alley way surrounded by both local houses and larger villas. The others guests were from around the world and interestingly all women, Don was the only man here! 

The rooms are decorated in Balienese style with beautiful wooden furniture...

It is located in Sanur,a beach town in the south of Bali which is the most developed area on the island. Some of the beach towns are party towns, some very expensive, but I chose Sanur because it is a quieter beach catering to an older crowd as well as families. Like most beach towns it runs parallel to the beach and consists of two main streets running north and south with alleyways going between them. Since we are on an alleyway it is very quiet, except for the roosters in the morning.

If we thought it was hot in Singapore then it is hotter in Bali as the midday temperature is 35 and the nighttime temperature only falls to 28. We will need to take it easier when trying to adjust to the heat so  our first couple of days here we didn't walk as much as we usually do. But we did manage to find a spa to get pedicures done as our feet were suffering from being in boots too long! 

One of the attractions to Bali are the inexpensive spa treatments available here, as an example both of us got a parrafin pedicure that took 2 hours and cost 35 dollars for both of us with a generous tip included and now our feet feel new! There was a sign saying everyone needed to be quiet but after we got there we were the only guests so we had a great time with the spa ladies. We chatted about our life in Canada compared to their life in Bali and we shared lots of laughs. They told us we were not the typical spa visitors as we weren't "proud", their word. But when the boss lady came we went back to being quiet! 

Getting our pedicure...

Wanda and Ibu...

Bali is a very tropical country lying only 8 degrees south of the Equator which gives it a very lush vegetation with beautiful flowers and fruit everywhere...

Haven't figured out what type of fruit this is yet...

Unfortunately as with many developing countries the landscape is often marred with garbage...

Since this is a beach town we did spend some time on the beach enjoying the laid back atmosphere there, as this is now low season the beach was practically empty with no trouble getting a place to spend the day. We found a lounger, beach umbrella, towels, lunch and drinks for 20 dollars for the whole day,, can't beat that deal!

The national beer Bintang is quite refreshing on ice...

A local in his boat...the sail was a plastic sheet.He looked so peaceful paddling along.

Another man was fishing...

Everyone was trying to get some shade...

Even the naked ones...

The boats here are an unusual shape and quite colourful...

Running along the beach is a 4km walkway where a lot of the visitors walk and ride bikes and vendors sell their wares...

Colorful artwork...

And even segways...

Indonesia is largely a Muslim country, however the people of Bali practise Hindism which can be seen in the neighbourhood as offerings are left for the gods several times a day...

They are left in front of homes and businesses and seem to be composed of flowers, incense and food. 

This one we passed had a mint candy...

 

There are also lots of altars around...

And there are also many statutes of what I am assuming are gods and religious characters in front of all the houses...

 

The other great thing about Bali is the food! It is quite delicious and very inexpensive, especially if you eat in the local warongs. Since this is a tourist town there are hundreds of places to eat, both local and international. We saw a lot of Japenese restaurants and then realized why the Japenese would vacation here....their one yen converts to 119,000 rupiah while ours converts to 10,000.We spoke to one man who couldn't believe what he paid for his family's meal...for the four of them he paid the equivalent of less than one yen, or in our terms one dollar! And I thought our money went far!

A sign at the money changers shows the rates for today...here 1 of our dollars gets 10990 rupiah. The currency is quite large and you feel as if you have a million dollars in your pocket! You can see by the sign how strong some currencies are and therefore how affordable a holiday in Bali would be.

The food consists of either rice or noodles as a base and then it is paired with fresh greens and lots of vegetables and a meat or seafood...

This was chicken with tamarind...

I love seafood so will usually choose it whenever possible, this dish was an international choise, seafood kabobs with garlic butter, tuna, shrimp, and squid!

And our favourite was this dish with a bit of everything...

Overall, this place was a good choice to chill out, as it wasn't too far a ride from the airport, we only walked within a 3km radius to whatever we needed and our accommodations were perfect for our needs. Our overall impression of Sanur was positive but a bit too touristy for us, though had everything one would need for a fabulous holiday!

Even NHL hockey....

We are however looking forward to our next stop, so after 5 days relaxing here we are being picked up later today by the owner of a home stay which is inland and we will be staying with him and his family for three days in a local village. There will be very basic accommodation, shared bathrooms and no internet! It will be nice to sign off for awhile so will post again about our home stay experience when we get back online!