China in January is pretty cold, so you can imagine how happy I was to be flying to a location that is seven degrees below the equator. Getting on the plane I was all bundled up and looking forward to getting out of the cold and into the sunshine. First we flew into Bangkok, waiting a few hours for our connecting flight to Bali. The flight to Bali was eight hours and we were sitting in the row right before the exit row so our seats didn’t lean back. Along with trying to sleep in the upright position, the airline didn’t provide food or drink unless prepaid. When we arrived I was tired, hungry, thirsty and crabby. Getting off the plane and seeing the green, lush surroundings all my fatigue and crankiness went away. I was greeted with a warm breeze, the smell of ocean and a $25 tourist visa. I rushed to the shortest customs line and waited to get stamped, checked, and x-rayed. Once all that was done it was time to exchange money and get a taxi to the hostel. Stepping out of the airport we were hit with a wave of humidity. I enjoy humid climates due to my anemia, so for me it was like stepping into weather that suited my needs. We stood in line for a taxi, gave them our hostels address, paid 60,000 Rupiah and were off.
The hostel we were staying at was located in Kuta, a tourist town. We were surrounded by Aussies and other foreigners along with the locals who hustled you around every corner to buy a souvenir. The next day we woke up to a torrential downpour. The streets were flooded and it looked like we weren’t going anywhere. With a few hours the rain let up and we were off searching for things to do. We shopped, ate, went to the beach, got massages and came back to the hostel for a cold shower. Due to the amount of foreigners and city life around us we decided to head inland to Ubud an hour bus ride away.
Ubud is home to rice terraces, coffee plantations and Mt. Batur. The town seemed quite idyllic and it appeared to be less out a tourist town. We found a home stay that was relatively cheap and not too far from the downtown area of Ubud. Hanging out at the home stay we met Hannah, a gal from the States who had been living in Bali for six months. She gave up lots of information of things to do around the city and where some good hiking was.
The next day my friend Jenna and I rented bikes with the hope of finding some rice terraces. We came across a street market, had lunch and made our way up to the terraces. At the top of a hill we were biking we stumbled into a ceremony that was happening to celebrate the half moon. We saw offerings being made with incense and basket upon basket of food. It was so cool to witness all the men, women and children dressed for the occasion and the traditional music being played. We biked on and saw some beautiful rice terraces and offerings for the half moon celebration.
The next day we headed to Mt. Batur with the hopes to hike to the top. Just when we arrive at the mountain it started to rain. We camped out in a coffee shack until it let up just enough for us to head back to our home stay. We were bummed that we weren’t able to hike, but the view was gorgeous.
The next day we got up early to meet our taxi that would take us to the airport to catch our flight to Thailand.
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