We arrived in the second country of our 5 country “Epic Adventure” mid evening, after several hours in the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia airport. We are staying at the Courtyard Marriott Bali Hotel and it is beautiful…absolute luxury…and we appreciate the 5 night complimentary stay we were awarded through our Marriott Reward Points. But, as much as I enjoy the accommodation, pools, and extraordinary customer service…I can’t tell I’m in Bali! From within these hotel grounds, I could easily think I’m in Miami!!! Actually, I kinda miss our little boutique locally-owned hotels where we stayed in Thailand, but we are enjoying the luxury and it is beautiful.
Additionally, I was blown away when we arrived for our first complimentary breakfast…it was a feast! There are 7 food stations…juices, pastries, breads, bagels, toppings (including vegemite…yuck); Balinese fresh fruit and yogurt with tons of toppings (chopped fresh & dried fruits, nuts, compotes); salad and cold cuts station with feta cheese and capers; bacon, assorted sausages, tons of sautéed and roasted veggies; made to order eggs; made to order Balinese noodle dishes with veggies and soups; AND a whole food station with at least 10 different traditional Balinese foods which changed every day! A few of today’s offering were:
Serombotan – mixed veggies in peanut & coconut grated dressing
Samosa Sayuran – veggie samosa
Gedang Mekuah – green papaya in spicy sauce
Plecing Kangkung – water spinach in tomato and lime sambal
Ikan Pepes – fish wrapped in banana leaves
Sapi Mesanten – beef cooked in coconut milk
Ayam Goreng – spicy chicken
Boy, did I look forward to breakfast everyday!! So wonderful to be able to just have at least a taste of so many traditional Balinese foods! A feast!!
Back to our trip…so, I understood that it’s the rainy season in Bali, and it certainly has rained!!!…but our first day in Bali we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day at the hotel beach…it was another of our traveling “chill” days.
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That evening we took a long cab ride to the Uluwatu Temple atop huge beach cliffs to watch a performance of traditional Balinese Kecak and Fire dance. It is a unique dance which tells a story of magical powers, trances, and an evil king kidnapping a beautiful princess. The only “music” in this dance performance is the sound of 70 men sitting in a circle around the performers making “chuck-chuck’ sound s for nearly an hour! Interesting…
While we were in Bali I had arranged for 2 full day private tours by two different tour guides. The first one was fabulous…then we had another relaxing “chill” day, and the second tour day, not great…particularly as compared to the first.
We started our “great” tour day at the beautiful and holy temple at Tanah Lot which is on a small off-shore island which you can only walk to at low tide!
Our fabulous tour guide, Agus, was so tuned into what we wanted to see, that we made numerous impromptu stops to see the real Bali…
It was Sunday and we drove on back roads everywhere and came upon this boys youth group practicing playing music…
…and we came upon a group of girls practicing traditional legong dance…great facial expressions are part of it!!
And we passed a man carrying crops in a double basket, and motorbikes driving crazy everywhere…scares me just to see them on the road! As we mentioned, some motorbikes carry up to 3-4 people at a time, and others carry amazing amounts of cargo, and we passed a woman doing laundry by a canal.
Our incredible Bali experiences continue in our next post…Bali, Bali, Bali…Indonesia! Part 2