DAY 10: Volcano, Scooter, and Temple!

DAY 10 was filled with scooter riding, gorgeous views, and uncomfortable, but funny memories!

We started the day with banana pancakes with coconut on my balcony at the place we're staying, some blogging, and then hopped on the scooter and headed for Mt. Agung (an active volcano).

We had a map, but weren't too sure we were going the right way, so we ended up stopping about 15 times to ask where the next town was that we were headed for. (Total adventure was over 100 kilometers.)

Sometimes we were told things like, "Turn right at the statue!" I wish we had more round-a-bouts with beautiful statues in America!

After riding for a while, we decided to stop here, between Gianyar and Sideman to get some lunch amidst the sea of rice paddies. When we walked up to the counter, the lady asked "Two?" and we said, "Yes" and then were motioned to find a seat. We had no idea what we were about to eat!

... and then this came!

We weren't sure what the meat was, or what the balls were in the soup, so after eating it, we decided to ask. I scooped one of them in my spoon and asked the young girl, "Excuse me, What is this?" I received a very confused look, so I quickly asked, "Pig, oink, oink?!" hoping that she would understand... and in PERFECT English, she responded, "Yes!" Aaron laughed at me and said, "She knows English Jillers. You should talk to people normally first, and then if they don't understand, say the animal noises." I felt kind of dumb and totally agreed, and we laughed about how she probably knows perfect English. But then, about 3 minutes later, she brought us another whole bowl of the soup and we realized she apparently didn't know any English at all! Feeling bad about wasting the soup (since it was kind of gross), I poured it into the grass when she wasn't looking. That's the great part about eating outside! :)

After lunch, we got back on the scooter and rode through the towns, until we reached the most beautiful stretch of land I've maybe ever seen! We had to get off the scooter and take a picture! (When you have to set your camera on random poles in the ground, you don't always capture the full surroundings! This is all we could get!)

You would think that there would be a highway leading to a mountain, but nope... we rode, almost 3/4 of the way through neighborhoods like this one! Everyone was so friendly and would wave and smile as we passed.

This family was hanging their laundry on a huge piece of bamboo! I love the resourcefulness around here!

We saw a lot of craftsmen along the way, working at their roadside shops. This man was hand painting this small temple.

These guys were chipping at volcanic rock to create gorgeous figures and statues of Hindi gods.

We're not sure what this was, but it looked like it was the remnants of a HUGE temple party!

The road was beautiful, the ENTIRE WAY up the mountain!

... and was REALLY, REALLY steep most of the way up!

This was probably one of the more funny experiences of my entire life. When we got almost all the way up the mountain, we saw an old man, sitting in a roadside stand who got up to greet us as we got near. He motioned for us to park the scooter, so we did. We weren't sure why, but we did it. I got off first and followed him over to this statue. He motioned for me to take off my helmet and pick up a flower, so I did, trying not to laugh! Then, he motioned for me to fold my hands and bow about 20 times. Aaron, of course, being Mr. Photographer, was busy taking pics... but the man wasn't having it. He made Aaron come over and do the same thing. So, there we were, the two of us, holding flowers in our hands, and bowing to this statue, trying soooo hard not to laugh at what was happening! But then, the best part came! The old man took a cup of dirty water and dipped a paintbrush looking thing into it, and splashed a ton of water into my face! At this point, I almost lost it! Then, Aaron was next! Then, he splashes the dirty water into our hands and motioned for us to drink it! ehhhh!!!! I heard Aaron making a noise like he was drinking it, so I went ahead and drank it too. (Come to find out later, he just made the sound) I'm not sick this morning, so I think I should be fine!

When the whole ritual was finished, he allowed us to get back on our scooter and head up the mountain, but not before giving him some money first! hahaha

When we got to the end of the road, we saw a temple on the mountain. Aaron said he had read about the temple, and knew that it was the most sacred temple in all of Bali... so, we got off the scooter and decided to check it out. We were quickly stopped by this man, who told us we needed to put a sarong on first!

Then, we started the climb! 335 stairs in all! (Yep, I counted!)

.... and then we reached this! Notice, we are in the clouds! We were soooooo high on the mountain!

There was a man worshiping there who offered to take our picture!

After spending some time looking around the temple, we headed back down the mountain. We saw this beautiful area of bamboo and decided to see where the path lead.

Unfortunately it lead to a barking dog who wasn't happy we were there, so we turned around and headed back to the road!

The views on the drive were so gorgeous! These pictures just can't do them justice!

We heard this ice cream man behind us, with his Indonesian ice cream truck music blaring from his scooter, and we flagged him to stop! When will I ever again get ice cream from a man on a scooter!? We had to take advantage of the moment.

While Aaron was waiting for the man to scoop his ice cream, I walked towards the field workers who motioned for me to come over closer. I was so excited, hoping I could help them harvest whatever they were harvesting for a couple minutes... Unfortunately, they only motioned for me to come over so they could ask for money, which seems to be a common thing around these parts! The kids seem to know about 4 phrases: Hello, Bye bye, What's your name?, and money.

As excited as we were about the idea of ice cream, it unfortunately wasn't very yummy. In fact, half of the cup was filled with this tapioca juice mixture. I pretended like mine fell into the dirt! Oops (wink, wink) :)

The views in this area were absolutely spectacular.

On our drive back, we spotted this elephant on the side of the road with a dear on it's head. Aaron is such a great travel companion, because he's always up for stopping to take a picture for me! :)

7 hours later, we were back in Ubud with sore butts from being on the scooter almost the whole time! We walked for a little while and found this restaurant that had a whole page of Mexican food on their menu!!!!! I'm never a fan of eating food, other than the native food to the area, when traveling in Asia, but we don't have Mexican food in Korea, so we had to stop!

Then, desert was 2 chocolate chip cookies at this charming cafe down the road!

We took a long walk home, past the monkey forest (which was a bit terrifying), and made it back safely to the place, exhausted from our adventurous day!

Today we're going to try to find a hidden waterfall. Not sure if we'll be able to find it, but we're sure gonna try! Wish us luck!

DAY 9: Massage and Rice Paddies!

DAY 9 was all about relaxation in the morning, and exercise and adventure in the afternoon!

We started the morning with our usual breakfast at the place, and then did some blogging and interneting. It's a good thing I enjoy writing my blogs, because they take FOREVER! As I was sitting, writing my blog, I could hear kids screaming and crying outside the door, so I went out to see what was going on... and this is what I saw! Yes, they are weighing him! haha

When I was finished, we rode the scooter for a while and decided to grab some lunch at the same place we went yesterday! We noticed the same European man as we saw yesterday and decided to strike up a conversation with him. Turns out, he's lived all over the world and currently lives in Bali doing some sort of interior architectural design. He grew up in Austria and knows German, Italian, French, Chinese, and English! He was a Psychiatrist for a while in Austria and then began some business ventures. He told us all about the secret side of Indonesia... Here are some things, we had no idea about:

1. The dances were created by Europeans when tourism became popular 40 years ago. They did have dances before this, but they were very simple, and the clothing was not colorful, bright, and beautiful.

2. The temple structures within the living compounds were built for their ancestors... and many times the families will try to build the nicest, with the most gold, to impress their neighbors.

3. Women have virtually no rights in Bali.

4. Bali doesn't follow Indonesian law.

After talking with him and eating lunch, we rode the scooter over to the market to meet the old man who offered to give me an hour long massage for 20,000 Rupiah. When we arrived there, he didn't seem to recognize me, so I asked a man standing by where I could get a massage, and he said, "This man, here" and pointed to the old man, sitting on the curb. Aaron asked, "Where does he do it?" and his answer was, "Here on the street!" hahaha. Not exactly the massage I had in mind... So, we jumped on the scooter, in search of a REAL massage place.

We landed at Massage Bliss, where I had a 1 hour Balinese Massage, a sea salt scrub (boobs included... that was weird), and a warm bath with fresh flower petals! It was incredible... all for the measly price of $10.00!!!!!

After massage time, we rode the scooter for a bit, to check out the surroundings! I found this beautiful entrance to a home!

We had read in the Bali Lonely Planet book about a beautiful 2 mile hike through the jungle, rice paddies, and Ayung river, and decided it sounded like fun. So, we found the starting point: Sayan Terrace Hotel. What a gorgeous view huh?!

We asked where the trail was that lead down to the water, and we were pointed in the direction of a very old, warn out, and overgrown pathway. We laughed at what was staring us in the eyes, and started the trek down the VERY steep and muddy jungle hillside!

And, finally, with no broken bones (thank goodness!) we made it to the river!

Then, about 200 feet away, we found this staircase leading to where we had started! hahahha!

We began walking along the river and were stopped by this lady, who informed us that the land was private land and that we should cross over to the other side of the river and walk through the rice paddies instead. So, we followed her into the river! She promised us it wasn't very deep, but by the time we made it to the other side, my clothes were completely soaked and I had had a good laugh along the way!

As we were walking through the jungle, she pointed to this banana tree! She said I could try one, but that it wouldn't taste very good, because it wasn't ready! But, you know me and fruit, it can NEVER taste bad... so, I pulled one off the tree...

... and bit into it!

and then I spit it out! She was right! It was disgusting. It tasted like biting into a piece of chalk! She laughed, of course, and said I'm like a monkey!

We saw coffee beans...

... chocolate...

.... a snake, which she found slithering across the pathway... ehh!

... papayas...

... mango stein (which is absolutely delicious!!!

... and the most gorgeous Banyan trees I've ever seen! These were thought to be over 2,000 years old! Can't find that in Cali!

She lead us through a small village where we met these adorable kiddos, who were more than willing to have their picture taken! It was a nice change from the Korean kiddos, who shy away when a camera is around!

As we were walking, I saw a woman, walking ahead of us, with this huge basket on her head, and asked the lady who was guiding us, if I could try carrying it on my head! She laughed, and asked, "Really?!" Before I knew it, she had yelled for the woman and asked her if I could try!

It was WAY harder than I would have thought, and I could barely balance it enough to let go! Looks like I've got some practicing to do!

When she put the basket down, we saw that she was carrying huge chips made from local vegetables, rice, and __________ (I can't remember... I'll fill this in later!) So, we bought some!

and I walked over and gave them to the neighborhood kids! They apparently are BIG fans, because they were sooo excited when I handed them to them!

More local kids on the road.

We got into the main village and she called 2 of her friends to take us back to the Sayan Hotel so we could get our scooter.

They were VERY nice and stopped here so we could take a picture of the volcano in the background, which we are going to be riding the scooter to this afternoon! Aaron, Mr. Mountain Boy is ready for some hiking!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating, walking, and riding the scooter! :) We are huge fans of this area, and are gonna stay at least one more day!!

Time for our Volcano adventure!!!