First of all, I’m so appreciative to Peter and Jenica for letting me stay with them at their resort in Nusa Dua, Bali. The resort comprised of gorgeous, individually-walled villas, and ours came with a private swimming pool, jacuzzi and garden.
Bali was tougher than we originally thought. First of all, I feel that Bali is hotter and more humid than Singapore. Maybe that’s not really true, but Singapore is so developed to the point that it is possible to escape the heat by hopping from one air-conditioned building/taxi/train/bus to another all day long and actually feel COLD. The prices at tourist areas in Bali are much higher than in non-touristy places, and because I wasn’t Balinese and didn’t speak Bahasa Indonesian nor Balinese, I couldn’t help but feel that we were being ripped off everywhere we went (especially when dealing with taxi drivers who didn’t want to use their meter, claiming it was broken). Haggling for EVERYTHING becomes exhausting and anger-inducing after a while, especially when the original asking price is unbelievably high ($2.50 for a bottle of water? In Indonesia Especially when I paid $0.50 for the same bottle of water in another store?!). The traffic was particularly bad, especially in the Kuta area, that we didn’t want to go out anywhere on New Year’s eve but just hang out in our villa.
Here is a run down of our first day in Bali:
Seminayak-very trendy and touristy with rows of boutiques.
Ku De Ta-A trendy bar/restaurant in Seminayak that turns into a club at night. We hung out here for the majority of the afternoon since we were feeling lazy and it was next to the beach. Great place to people-watch. Apparently it’s a high profile place because our bags were inspected twice and there were security guards patrolling the restaurant.
Kuta-We walked south from Seminayak beach to Kuta beach and the scene changed from families and couples hanging out quietly to a loud, crowded parties and surfing. I was pretty disappointed with Kuta beach. Maybe it’s because I’ve been spoiled with Thailand’s beaches with its fine, white sand and clear, turquoise water. The sand on Kuta was fine and soft but brown with dead sardines and trash on the shore, and the water that day was dark, greenish brown. The waves were ideal for surfing, though.
Jimbaran-We had a seafood dinner on the beach at Jimbaran. All restaurants we passed by were trying hard to get our business and we were regularly accosted by people for our patronage. We were told that the restaurants we wanted to go to that were recommended by Lonely Planet didn’t exist anymore (don’t know if that’s true), so why not try their restaurant? By that time, we were so tired, hungry and overwhelmed with choices that we picked a restaurant that looked like it had the most locals. We eventually did have a nice dinner but not until taking a break (aided by drinking Bintang beer) from all the haggling from the day.
The next day, instead of dealing with taxis with broken meters, we hired a guide to take us around, and that was a wise decision as it was so much more convenient and cheaper than taxis. Our guide, Made, took us to Ubud, where we visited artists, temples, the Monkey Forest Sanctuary and drove by some rice paddies. We also went to Pura Luhur Ulu Watu in the evening (an 11th century sea temple) for a Kecak dance performance, which was great! Made was entertaining and made us laugh with his observations. Some of his memorable quotes:
On Australians: “If you want to see drunk Australians, don’t go all the way to Australia. Just go to Kuta Beach!”
On passing by a rave: “This is a discotheque temporary.”
On his English skills: “I once only knew ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ So tourists would ask me, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Yes!’ ‘How do you get to Kuta?’ ‘No!’”
Peter and Jenica left on New Year’s Day. I was sad to see them go; I had such a great time with them and I don’t know when (if ever) I’ll be able to spend so much time with them again. I don’t think I spent so much time with my brother since I was 15-16 years old. After they left, I spent the rest of my time in Bali in Ubud.
Ubud
“Hello, transport?” “Yes, please, taxi?”
If there is one thing that I did not like about Ubud, it was the drivers who hung out everywhere in central Ubud and asked me if I wanted transport every time I passed them. I got approached by them literally at least 50 times a day. Otherwise, Ubud was lovely. Great cultural events, wonderful art museums, countless spas to choose from, delicious food, cheeky monkeys; there was so much to do, see and eat!
One of the highlights of my time in Ubud was my meeting Ketut Liyer. If you have read “Eat Pray Love,” you’ll recognize him as the 9th generation Balinese medicine man whom the author spent a lot of time with in Bali. He’s also a painter and wood carver. I ran across a painting at the Museum of Fine Arts (Museum Puri Lukisan) done by a Ketut Liyer from Pengosekan. At first, I thought, “Ketut Liyer. Why does this name sound so familiar?…..Wow, could it be the one from the book?”
Later the same day, I was walking in Pengosekan, a village south of Ubud where many artists and have their studios and noticed a humble looking sign that said “Ketut Liyer, Painting and Wood Ca[r]ving.” My heart skipped a beat and I thought, “Is this the Ketut Liyer from the book? Should I take a chance and just walk into his house?” Thinking I had nothing to lose, I did. Just as the book described, he was sitting on his porch wearing a golf shirt and sarong, talking to a Balinese patient. There was a group of Brazilians/Portugese twentysomethings sitting across from them. I asked one of them if they were waiting in line to see him. She said yes and invited me to join them to see him.
When our turn came, we all took off our shoes and sat on the porch with him. The author’s description of him is quite accurate; he does resemble Yoda and really looks like the happiest man alive. He repeated himself a lot, saying “I’m very happy to meet you” numerous times and showing us his mouth with missing teeth. For all of us, he read our faces, palms, knees and back, telling us our futures.
On myself, he first inspected my face and sai, ”Ah, very good. Very pretty, merry eyes, lips as sweet as honey. I can make magic painting for you. Beautiful as a queen. You will be beautiful for the rest of your life. You have pretty energy” (He’s very good in flattery.) He asked me to squint my eyes, after which he said “Very intelligent. You see both right and wrong. You must make sure that you choose right.” Apparently, the lines formed between the eyebrows indicate how intelligent you are.
He then took my left hand and said, “You will live long. Live to be 100. You will marry once and have two children. Health good. Good liver, heart, blood. You are impatient; you need to be more patient. You have influence over people. Use your pretty energy to influence people. You will be good at whatever you do and be rich. You will always have more than enough money.”
Then he felt my wrist and exclaimed “Oh! Strong energy! Strong sex!” and continued to say something that I’m too shy to write in print.
He asked me to show him my knees and asked if I drove a car or motorbike at home. I said car, to which he said after he inspected my tibia, “Good. No accident. But still you must be careful and drive slower.” He touched my knees and said, “Very good. No arthritis. No rheumatism.”
Finally, he inspected my back and said, “The universe sends energy to the crown of your head and to your back. I see gardenias on your back. You have the perfume of gardenias.” (I have no idea what that means. I’ll have to research that one further.)
We spent about an hour with him, with him chanting some mantras using bells and explaining a little bit of meditation. By then, a Balinese family and more Westerners have shown up waiting patiently for him. So we said good bye to him and left his compound.
I don’t believe everything he told me (I don’t think I’ll live to 100) yet it’s nice to hold on to his predictions in what the future will bring for me.
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- Monkey thinking that Peter’s head is a coconut
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- Kecak Dance Performance at Ulu Watu
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- One of the thousands of temples in Bali
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- With Ketut Liyer
