We're off again! - Skiing Bulgaria

So after a few days at home to adjust for the time difference we are off again. But this time the climate is somewhat different. We are going to Borovets in Bulgaria to Ski. So yes, it is actually totally different, but I think we will be able to cope with the temperature change. We have colourful, cosy clothes! Woop! ;)

We usually go skiing every year but most of the time we stay with a friend in the French Alps, which is great. Their accommodate us very well with breakfast, lunch and tea. In return we help out in every way we can; setting and clearing the table, washing up, help clear the drive way, just little things like that. This year we opted for a holiday with another group of friends and the chance to try somewhere different.
This ski holiday to Bulgaria is very cheap, it's actually crazy! I think it cost us £600 for the two of us whereas a previous holiday to Italy (Sestriere) cost around £600 each.

Setting up our plane!

We arrive at the airport in good time for our flight only to find out it was delayed and our plane was stuck in Grenoble, due to bad weather and the fact there is only one plane deicer there. So everything was going slow. 

Many flights were delayed with some people having waited since 8 am and it was now 2 pm, the time our flight was due to leave. We later found out that our friends in London had also been delayed and were due to leave a little before 5 pm.

I felt so ill and was surprised I had even made it to the airport but I wasn't going to miss a chance to visit a new country! In an attempt to feel a bit better I decided it was probably best not to eat anymore food until we arrived at the hotel that evening. Rob also bought me a pair of blue Sony headphones to try an cheer me up (I had also forgotten mu mini ones). They were beautiful but it didn't stop me from feeling sick, bleugh! I just wanted to sleep. I tried to think why I felt so bad; it was either I had caught something in Bali or the meal I had eaten out on Thursday hadn't agreed with me, as I hadn't felt right for a couple of days. Personally, I think it was the fact I had eaten to many mini cheddars in the days leading up to today! I wont make that mistake again!

Anyway, at about 4:30 pm our flight was announced for boarding, Thomas Cook had found us a new plane. I have no idea where they found it, as it had no logo on it. It was just a large white plane! Shortly, after 5 pm we boarded, three hours after our initial departure time and it turned out that plane was actually run by Hifly, a Portuguese airline company. Fancy! :)

The flight took longer than I expected and then there was a bus journey to follow, so we only arrived at our hotel, The Hotel Samokov, at 1 am the following day. Our friends had only arrived minutes before and were in the process of checking into their rooms. We decided we would meet at breakfast in the morning, as everyone was pretty tired! 

Excited for our first day of Skiing!

Breakfast at The Hotel Samokov is not too bad. It is kind of like a canteen based restaurant where you serve yourself. They offered some fresh fruit and cereals, cooked breakfasts and breads. I mainly survived on fruit and mini breads. I love bread products particularly croissants and pain au chocolats. I know they are not the healthiest of things, but hey I'm on holiday I'm allowed to treat myself a little. Aren't I?

Unfortunately, the evening meals aren't great! We only ate in the main restaurant once and that was probably enough. The people we were on holiday with didn't really like it and they didn't offer any vegetarian meals. Apparently you can request them though. Our hotel also offered a free meal in the panoramic restaurant on the 9th floor as part of our stay. I wasn't expecting much from what we had witnessed at the main restaurant, but it was actually quite nice. We got a 3 course meal and the view was fantastic we had a great view of the resort and the night skiing slopes, we vowed we would definable have to try that.  

Anyway the resort/holiday is so cheap you can afford to eat out pretty much ever evening, so we tried all of the recommended restaurants/bars in Borovets. The meal at Bobby's bar was pretty good, I chose the vegetable fajitas and the portion was massive. I couldn't finish it, so if you want a big meal I would recommend going there. :)

Another great place was Hunters, the owner was some friends snowboard instructor and the atmosphere was great. We sat on a large table near the fire, it was nice and cosy. The place was so cute with tea-towels all of the walls from all over the world, many of them were from the UK. And some really weird places too. So funny!

Isaac and Emily relaxing at lunch.

One of the best places we went for lunch was Snack Bar Joy at the bottom of the gondola. They offered great pizzas made in an outside pizza oven. The service is a bit slow, as they have to cook them one at a time. But they are worth the wait! We ate here probably too many times!

Another, bonus of being in Borovets is the beer is so cheap! Definitely, a lot cheaper than our usual Ski holidays in Les Gets. 

Snow!

So, anyway on to the skiing! Firstly, a 6 days lift pass is half the price of what it is in The Alps, so this is great bargain resort and great for beginners. Now on to the conditions, in the weeks leading up to our ski trip Borovets had been very, very cold at around -15 degrees and had had quite a bit of snow. But during our stay the temperature had risen, so it wasn't totally freezing, which was nice for me. I do not like to be cold! But skiing keeps you warm anyway for the most part so even if it was super cold it shouldn't have made too much difference. 

Before we arrived there had been a big dump of snow so there was enough snow for us. It did snow however a few times during the week, so we did have at least one powder day. So Rob was happy, as he was initially quite disappointed in the lack of powder. For most of the holiday we skied at top of the sky resort, which is quite high at around 2100 m, so even on one of the last days when it rained in the resort, at the top we were high enough to still be in the snow. Woop, woop! I did get a little bit bored of skiing down the same black everyday though. But there is a really long blue run that takes you back down to the resort, which I particularly enjoyed. It was like you were strolling through the forest just enjoying the view.

The resort itself is quite small but it offers a lot of variety in different types of runs, with green, blue, red and black runs as well as a small park with a few jumps. Apparently, off-piste skiing is illegal in Bulgaria but we did a little and it was fine, no one said anything to us and we survived. It wasn't too dangerous! Rob however likes to do things to the extreme and took the off-piste to another level, he managed to break both of his poles doing a few jumps and crashing into both a large rock and a chair lift stanchion in the same morning! I think he hurt himself both times, so not really the best thing to do. :( 

Him, Isaac and John had decided it would be a great idea to climb Mount Musala and then ski back down to resort. It took them all day and resulted in Rob breaking his skis. They were all pretty tired on their return but had a good time and got some great photos. :)

I did not join them on their quest to the top of Musala. I must admit it was quite tempting to be on the highest point of Bulgaria, but mountain climbing is not really my thing. And anyway, I came on holiday to Ski downhill fast not go uphill slowly! So, I spent the day skiing with some of the other guys and drinking coffee out of a straw! Fun times, only in Borovets! It was so funny, why offer a straw with a coffee! This made me happy! :)

Coffee through a straw, only in Borovets! Love it!

As Rob broke his skis he needed some new ones for our last full day in resort. He chose to rent some of the better skis in the shop but apparently they were terrible. Borovets does not cater for experienced skiers. I guess this is more of a beginners resort. In the end he opted for a snowboard, as he thought it may be more fun! This was not the case, as he is much better a skiing so all he did was complain about being wet due to constantly falling over! 

I must also recommend night skiing. Okay, you have to buy a additional lift pass and only a few runs are open, but it's cheap and it was an experience. I think night skiing runs from 6 pm until 9:30 ish, which is definitely enough time to get a few runs in. As after skiing all day and feeling rather hungry I was ready to go by 8 pm. However, the experience of skiing after dark is quite a novelty and a must do! :)

Happy!

Our last morning before catching the bus back to the airport was spent on a skidoo. I thought this was so much fun! Okay, it was a little scary at first, as in an attempt to climb the first hill I pulled a massive wheelie but I managed to recover it and we didn't die! Phew! I think I shocked Rob a little as he was on the back. 

To accelerate you must squeeze a lever on the handlebars quite hard, so after a while it starts to hurt your forearm, so Rob and I took it in turns to drive. 

Rob drove somewhat faster than me, he liked the speed. It is quite relaxing driving through a quiet track in the snow covered forest, almost tranquil if it weren't for the noise from the skidoos. I had never ridden a skidoo before and I thought it was awesome! I would definitely recommend it. But if like me you lack forearm strength, go with a buddy and share the driving! :)

Skidoo!

A nice little fact about Borovets is that most of the town is actually illegal and doesn't exist under Bulgaria law. It is only the large hotels in the village that have planning permission and postcodes. The rest of the town consists of buildings which are just little shacks that have built up without planning permission. Quite fun really! 

You learn something new everyday!

Samx

Going Home :( - Bali Blog 13

Monday 16th February/Tuesday 17th February

Today is our last day. Well we only have a few hours left before we have to go to the airport. Our transport is already booked for 12 pm and our flight leaves at 4 pm, so we have the morning to enjoy the last little bit of Ubud.
We woke up and made sure all our stuff was packed and we would be ready to go once our lift arrived. We enjoyed mie goreng for breakfast, an awesome last breakfast in Ubud. We also ate fresh dragon fruit and papaya and drank coffee. Yum! I will miss this, enjoying breakfast in the sunshine. Oh well, maybe in the summer we can enjoy breakfast on our balcony back in Manchester.

Trees!

The weather was great, so we went for a last walk in the rice fields behind our hotel. We walked around for about an hour, absorbing the heat and getting our last dose of Vitamin D before heading back to cloudy England. We took loads of photos and saw two giant black and yellow spiders, they were massive! We had seen these spiders before but this was the closest we had been to them. Rob pointed the spider out to a woman working the rice fields. She tried to catch it and ended up ripping off one of its legs! I was like 'Crap! I don't want that spider anywhere near me!' and I backed away. Rob was the same. However, she was unsuccessful in catching it but she told us that you could actually eat them! Eurgh! :(

Fancy!

We didn't stay out too long as neither of us had suntan lotion on and it would be really annoying to get sun burnt on our last day. So we headed back and upon returning to our hotel Tagel informed us that you can actually eat those spiders and they're not actually dangerous. 

Giant spider. 

Whilst we were chilling out at the hotel waiting for our lift to the airport the two French Canadian guys arrived back from their Mount Batur trek! They were super tired, but we chatted to them for a bit and one guy enjoyed the trek more than the other, the other guy was totally knackered! :) 

Before we left Tagel tried to sell us a painting, I would have liked one but we had no cash left and didn't think we had enough time to go and get cash to buy one. 

This is my only regret from Bali, I wish we would have bought a painting. Oh well, it gives us an excuse to go back anyway! :)

Rob with his mates at the airport! Chinese New Year! :)

We arrived at the airport at around 1:30 pm and checked in to our flight and then got some food! More tasty noodles! It was Chinese new year and the whole airport was decorated in celebration of it. Red lanterns were everywhere!

We had to pay to leave the country! I had read about an exit tax but was unsure of the cost, luckily we had enough money! Our first connection was to Hong Kong and the flight was only 4 hours so it wasn't too bad, but there was a bit of turbulence. I guess this adds to the excitement of flying and it wasn't too much, so it was OK. But it was quite bumpy! 

We arrived in Hong Kong and had some very expensive sandwiches and fruit juice. After a while I got bored of waiting and just wanted to go home, plus I felt really sick. I don't think travelling agrees with me! :( Especially when the flight was at midnight!

The flight back to Manchester was much longer (approx. 12 hours), Rob slept most of the way whereas I watched movies and probably only managed to sleep for about 2 hours. So when we arrived in Manchester at 6 am (UK time) I was knackered! So we grabbed a taxi home and I managed to get rid of a Scottish fiver I'd been carrying around for years, just because I thought it was beautiful! Well, I only spent it as the taxi was a little bit more expensive than I had anticipated! 

When we arrived home we popped up to visited some friends as they were getting ready to head to the airport for their holiday. So we told them a little bit of gossip from Bali before we went to Cafe Nero for breakfast!

We then spent the rest of our day in our pajamas and went to bed at 5 pm! I've never been to bed that early in my life, what a great last day to our holiday! Not! Ha!

Have a great day!!!

Samx 

Sunday - Bali Blog 12- Recovery day!

Sunday 15th February

We arrived back at the hotel just before 12 pm, so we were out for almost exactly 12 hours trekking the volcano. The first thing we did when we got back to our room was get a much needed shower, it was so refreshing. Afterwards, Tagel's wife made us some strawberry juice. Now this was awesome! It was just what I needed so cool and juicy with so much flavour! I do love strawberries! 

We were so tired though after spending the whole night walking we ended going to sleep for a few hours and wasted our last afternoon in Ubud! :(

What we found out was whilst trekking Mount Agung was that it is nowhere near as popular as Mount Batur, as us and the two other groups were the only ones on Mount Agung last night. Whereas Mount Batur is so much smaller, loads of people do it. There can be more that 200 people on the mountain at one time in the wet season and I think close to 1000 in the dry season! Crazy! So I would definitely recommend climbing Mount Agung, even if it does take longer.

Bed time in Ubud!

We decided we would head out for some food and ended up in Warung Schnitzel with another strawberry juice (not as good as Tagel's wife's one but it was tasty enough) and a tofu stir fry. It was too hot and I was too tired to enjoy it, plus I don't think my body had recovered from being awake all night, so I wasn't very hungry.

I think I was also disappointed that we had wasted our last day in Ubud, so we just went back to our hotel and watched The Birdcage on Rob's tablet. It's one of my favourite movies and I do love Robin Williams, so funny! 

It wasn't the most exciting evening for our last one in Ubud but I was much happier in the room before bed then in the heat! 

So sad our time is nearly up! I wish we could stay forever but then if we did we wouldn't make it to Bulgaria next week for Skiing! Woop, woop more holidays! :D

Samx

Valentine's Day and Mount Agung - Bali Blog 11

Saturday 14th February

Today is Valentine's day and our plan for this evening is to climb Mount Agung. As, you start the ascent at 2 am we couldn't really do too much today. We needed all our energy for the climb, as well as making sure we get an early night. Tagel booked the trip for us, so we just had a nice relaxing day. On my friend Jen's recommendation we went to Taksu spa for raw zucchini lasagna and it was awesome! Granted, it was a little more expensive that I thought it would be at 50,000 idr but it was definitely worth it just to try it! It was so rich and creamy and very filling! Rob refused to order a raw meal and opted for chicken noodles, which I think he was happy with. 

Raw Zucchini Lasagna

We enjoyed our food from a balcony overlooking the spa, the spa is set in a mini jungle garden and looks great. So, we took a wander round, it wasn't very big but we saw some furry caterpillars, they were quite funny! We didn't stay long as there were so many bugs and Rob moaned about getting bitten, so we had to leave. I got bitten too and the bite became pink and swollen, I was not happy! Now I know how Rob feels. 

Taksu spa

Furry! So cute!

After chilling out at the hotel for a couple of hours we headed to Warung Sopa to get some coffee and cake. I had mango coconut pie and Rob had a slice of the gluten free chocolate cake. They were both super tasty! We chilled out for a while so we got some gyozas and I also got a sugar cane juice. I'd wanted to try it for ages and it was really good! So sweet! Rob really liked it too but he didn't get his own. He just drank mine! Sad times!

Warung Sopa

We went back to the hotel at 7 pm to try and get a few hours sleep before our trek. I think we probably managed about 3 and half to 4 hours before having to get up and get ready to go. I was not looking forward to this but Rob was super excited. Our driver Wayan picked us around 12 am as its at least an hours drive to the mountain from Ubud. He kept telling us to sleep whilst driving there but we couldn't,we were too awake. 

We arrived a the mountain about 15 minutes early so waited for our guide to arrive. First another guide arrived,so we were introduced to him first his name was also Wayan. He was the guide for the two German guys who had just arrived. A few minutes later our guide arrived, he was quite short and skinny and didn't speak as much English as the other two men but they all seemed nice. It turned out his name was also Wayan and we would all be climbing together. Team Wayan! Yay! :)

Pasa Agung!

So just before 2 am we met the two German guys and started up the mountain. The car park where we started from is at 1600 m. We then walked up 350 steps up to the temple, Pasa Agung at 1800 m. Here, Wayan and Wayan prayed whilst the four of us waited. It only took about 10 minutes and then we made our way around the back of the temple and into the forest. It was fairly hard going through the forest and we were walking quite fast, so I felt quite ill. My body doesn't work very well early in the morning and right now I should be sleeping not walking up a mountain! Anyway, as we were making good progress we had a little break just before the end of the tree line. Wayan and Wayan made a fire so people could dry there sweaty clothes before we carried on. Whilst we were in the forest our guides told us to be careful of leaches but we did not see any of these. Rob got bitten by bugs a few times (as usual) and as we were walking I noticed my leg felt really itchy behind me knee. When I scratched it I notice that there was a little black thing that wouldn't come off my skin, so Rob had a closer look and squeezed it like it was a spot. It turned out that a little spider like bug was trying to burrow under my skin! Eeeeew! Rob managed to get it out anyway and our guides told us that it looked like a chicken bug, which usual burrows into chicken's heads! Disgusting, I had a parasite! 

Selfie!

Anyway, we carried on and made our way out of the tree line at 2300 m. Even though it was dark the view was spectacular, we could see the whole island and oh my god, the stars! The sky was so clear we could see the whole milky-way, Rob got some great photos! The terrain became very rocky after leaving the tree line but at least I felt better now, so that was a bonus! :) 

After climbing for a little bit longer it wasn't as steep as it was in the forest and as we were going quite fast again we took another break, otherwise we were going to be at the top well before sunrise. As we were nearing the top of the volcano the sky became cloudy, so we continued to wait to see if it would clear before sunrise. The 20 minute wait didn't make much difference in the cloud conditions and people were getting cold, so we carried on. 

The temperature change from the bottom to the top is dramatic! It is so tropical in the forest and near the temple, perhaps a bit too hot for me in the day, but at the top it's around 12 degrees, which is pretty cold when you are used to 30 degrees. Anyway, I digress. The last 15 minutes to the top is a climb rather than a walk, so a little more effort is required! But I enjoy a good scramble so it was fine! :) 

At the top of Mount Agung!

We arrived at the top of the volcano at around 5:30 am approximately 30 minutes before sunrise. So while we waited Wayan and Wayan made us each a hot drink and served us a breakfast of bananas, bread and eggs. I couldn't eat my egg, as my body still wasn't fully awake so I put it in my pocket for the journey back down. Whilst we were eating a German girl and her guide joined us. 

We could sort of see the sunrise through the clouds but it wasn't so clear, so waited until about 6:30 am to see if the cloud would clear and unfortunately it didn't. The German guys were freezing so we headed back down. 

The Crater!

After we had descended approximately 100 m, we were below the clouds and the view was fantastic! We spent ages just taking photos, Rob loved it! The journey down took longer than I expected, as first we saw a monkey so we took some photos of him for a while, then he got grumpy and one of our guide had to chase him away! Then a little further down we saw a mini deer being chased by a pack of dogs. The deer was so fast and agile it out ran each of the dogs but a little later we could hear a lot of commotion and it sounded like the dogs had caught the deer! Poor thing! :( 

My guide was such a gentleman helping me down all the hard bits, most of the time I didn't need his help but I did nearly fall a few times. One of the German guys couldn't stop falling over, it was quite slippy on the way down with either the gravel or the mud and his shoes didn't have much grip. I think he became quite annoyed in the end. We took so long to get down that the German girl caught up with us and then over took us just before the bottom. I think her guide just wanted to get home!

Blue!

We arrived back at the temple at 9:30 am and our guides were informed that the other group that set out to climb the mountain at 2 am had only just reached the summit. We actually saw them when we were heading back down and the girl was basically being dragged up the mountain. 

After about 15 minutes rest at the temple we headed back to the car park and made our way back to Ubud. This time I could totally sleep in the car and it was good! :)

Samx

Bali Blog 10 - Another Trip Out, Eastern Bali

Friday 13th February

Today was another trip out with Tagel's nephew as our driver and let me tell you straight off I took a lot of photos. Sometimes I can be very lazy with my photo taking and just let Rob take all the photos, like if I'm too tired or it's too much effort to take my camera out then I wont bother. But today I was very happy taking photos and there was lots to photograph! Woop!

So the day started off early and we woke up to find a small gecko in our bin! It was so cute! :D

Anyway, I think for the first time since we had arrived we awoke before 9 am, we actually got up at 7 am. This was to ensure we were ready to leave at around 8 am, as we had many places to see on our trip today and needed to start early. I think Tagel and his wife were very surprised were up so early and I don't think they had prepared breakfast yet, as they are usually so prompt. Today they served us black rice pudding. To be honest I wasn't really a fan. It was suppose to taste sweet but I found it rather salty, so I concentrated on eating my fruit and drinking my coffee. 

The Bat Cave!

So at around 8:30 am Tagel's nephew arrived and we started on our trip. Our first stop was the bat cave (Pura Goa Lawah), it was fairly touristy and as soon as we got out of the car we were surrounded by women trying to sell us things. It was actually quite threatening! But they gave us a free wooden necklace and told us to buy something when we left. I didn't plan to! 

Sarongs!

Before we could enter Pura Goa Lawah, we had to rent a sarong (the price was included in the entry fee), it was quite a novelty and I thought we actually looked quite good in them (Rob escpecially! :)).

We looked around the temple and were respectful to the rules and the people praying, as tourist aren't allowed inside the cave. We had to watch the bats from the cave entrance but it didn't matter there were loads and they smelt so bad! So much bat poop! After wandering around for a bit and photographing some giant trees (the trees also wore sarongs) Rob got bored so we decided to leave and head back to the car.

As soon as we returned our sarongs and walked back towards the car hoards of women came out from nowhere with no care for personal space. They tried to get us buy things again, like postcards, I just ignored them and forced my way back to the car. Rob did the same. I was so happy to be inside that car, the women on the other hand look pretty pissed off! Eeeek!

Tree in a dress.

After getting away from the women, our next destination was the traditional Balinese village, Tenganan. To enter the village a donation was required which we paid and then went in. The village was totally different to any of the other places we have been in Bali and is definitely worth a visit. It was also a lot bigger than I had expected too.

The first thing I saw when we enter the village was a bright pink cockerel and then an orange one and then a yellow one! It was pretty weird but I think they a used for fighting, that is why they are so colourful. I had no idea cock fighting still existed as its illegal in a lot of places but I guess I was just be naive. :(

Little chicken with Durian.

Traditional Village

As we wandered through the village we caught up with a group of what I assumed to be French tourists. They were equally as interested as us in the giant tree covered in vines, so we took their photo in front of it and they did the same for us!  We got chatting to some of them and it turned out they were actually French Canadian and not tourists at all but travel agents. They got great benefits; free tours and free accommodation in 5 star hotels as it's their job to review and recommend them. I guess it pays to be connected. It sounded like they were having a great time and they got so many holidays, we were jealous! :(

Viney tree!

After awhile we realised we had actually been walking with these people for quite a while and should probably be getting back to our driver so we could head to the next place. They were heading up to the top of the hill of the village were their bus was collecting them and taking them to their next destination. We did not have that luxury, so walked back down through the village. Rob was actually getting scared that we would upset our driver as we had been gone so long, it was quite funny! :)

Chickens!

Next stop was the water palace. It was so hot walking around here and Rob forgot his sunglasses, so was being blinded by the sun reflecting of the concrete surfaces, therefore I was very thankful to have mine. I have no idea how you could forget to wear sunglasses on a day like today. 

Water Palace

Bridge

We basically just walked around for as long as we could stand the heat before heading back to the car. The Water Palace had many different flowers and plants as well as offering some great views so there was much to photograph. :)

Stairs

After overheating at the palace we cooled off at white sands beach. It was very pretty and much less touristy than Kuta beach. Our driver walked down to the beach with us and just chilled out at the edge of the beach, whilst we walked along the shore. We returned to the top of the beach were we had left our driver and the sea looked so calm and inviting we went for a swim. As we had our swimming stuff I thought 'Why not?' Initially, it was great and so refreshing just to cool off and swim, but I only lasted about 15 minutes as the waves began to get bigger and the sea became rougher. The women next to us were getting tumbled in the waves, so I escaped. I didn't want that to be me! I'm a bit of chicken really when it comes to the sea. Whereas, Rob is quite accustom to waves so he held out a little longer before heading back in.

White sands beach.

Poor little dead puffer! :(

We had a quick pit stop/lunch break at Candidasa, the beach itself wasn't very impressive. Yeah, sure it had the boats that you associate with Candidasa or you see on the pictures when you google it but that was it. There was no beach, no view, no nothing! So, I don't know if our driver took us to the wrong place or it was just because the tide was right in but it was not what we expected.

The only place Rob wanted to go now was to Keramas to surf so before doing that we got some food at a pretty rubbish cafe. It was quite large and had views of a near by lilly pond but the food was certainly overpriced and the staff were rude! I would definitely not recommend it!

Boats at Candidasa

We arrived at Keramas a little earlier than we initially anticipated at 3:30 pm, which turned out to be a good thing, as the surf rental place closed at 5 pm. So after Rob found out where it was he managed to rent a short board (I think that is all they rented), for an hour. I on the other hand sat in the beach bar, Komune and drank iced tea. The Komune beach club was great! It was part of a hotel just off the beach, and it had fancy seats and a small pool. I just looked really nice and colourful and it's in a great location. I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon there just watching the surf. Obviously, I had to take pictures of Rob too, to prove that he had actually surfed at Keramas. Which for those of you that don't know it's actually quite a famous beach for surfers (I did not know this until Rob told me).

Iced Tea!

So after about an hour surfing and only successfully surfing one wave (which I managed to catch on camera), Rob returned to the bar to join me for a drink and to take some of his own photos.We sat for a short while before returning home to our hotel at around 6 pm. Rob told me that one of the surfer guys thought he was crazy for surfing at Keramas as his first time in surfing a reef break. Rob is funny!

Selfie at Komune club!

Before bed we enjoyed our dinner at Warung Mina around the corner from our hotel. The food was good and we sat in little tree houses overlooking the nearby streets, which was awesome until the bugs started coming out. :( Here I tried pisang goreng guri, which is just fried banana but it was super tasty!

Take care!

Samx

Bali Blog 9 - Chilling in Ubud and Traditional Ceremony

Thursday 12th February

We took it easy again today as tomorrow we had booked another tour with Tagel's nephew and Rob hoped to walk up mount Agung at the weekend, so we spent another day chilling in Ubud. We woke up a little late again and ate nasi goreng and fruit for breakfast. The nasi goreng was super tasty, Rob loved it! 

This morning we took the long way to Ubud, wandering through the back streets we saw a set of communal showers near the river and a giant rubbish pile. It is a shame as this beautiful island is being to destroyed by rubbish! I guess they don't have the recycling or disposal facilities in some places. The large volume of tourist definitely contributes to the volume of waste but then many people here rely on tourism for their income, so everything goes round in big circle. :(

Tamarind sensation!

It must have taken us an hour to get into Ubud when it should have only taken us around fifteen minutes if we had gone the usual way along the main street. By this time I was super hot and very frustrated so we stopped at Kafe for a drink and a cool down. I chose the tamarind sensation and Rob had a cranberry Juice. The tamarind sensation had so many passion fruit seeds in that I struggled to swallow them and ended up spilling the majority of my drink on my lap. Oh well it was a bit embarrassing but I'll get over it. 

Painted baby chickens!

After we finished we continued wandering around Ubud and walked all the way to the other side of town to the Elephant Cafe. This cafe was a bit out of the way and didn't look that impressive from the road, as in order to get to it you need to walk past some run down shops and and enter the car park of a hotel. The cafe can be found at the bottom of this car park. But once you are inside its quite nice and has a great view of the fields and forest along the Campuhan ridge. So naturally we sat as close as we could to the view. Whilst we were there the sky became very dark and a storm began. We could hear thunder and lightening in the distance, which quickly became much closer and it had not yet begun to rain but we could both tell that it soon would. In the meantime we enjoyed some lunch, rice paper rolls with peanut sauce. They were delicious and very filling considering they were meant as a snack!

View from the elephant cafe.

We sat watching the view for a while, as right outside the window squirrels were playing n the trees, running and jumping. A giant black and yellow spider had also made a massive web nearby, so we watched it patrolling its web. I had never seen a spider that big before, it was huge!  

Afterwards we made our way across the road to the supermarket and bought gifts for family. We originally went in for fruit but didn't end up purchasing any. Oh well, we can get some from the market another time! We weren't in the supermarket very long but when we came out the rain was torrential! So, we went back inside and looked at handbags. Normally I wouldn't mind this but I didn't want to stay in the supermarket! I hate spending my holidays in the shops! So we braved the rain and ran down the hill to Clear Cafe. Rob was slipping everywhere in his flipflops, I was very surprised he didn't fall! We hid in here for the rest of the afternoon, drinking hot chocolates, green teas and iced coffees. It was great sitting in the tree tops watching the rain drops. We got some awesome photos of the temple below and sat watching the incense burner make pretty patterns with the smoke. 

Swirly!

After a while I got a little hungry and ordered a slice of raw chocolate pie. The dessert that arrived was a gigantic slice of frozen cake. It was quite different to what I had anticipated and just tasted like ice cream. The slice was far to big for me to eat alone and I couldn't finish it, so Rob ate the rest. 

Flowers.

Earlier in the week Tagel had told us about the ceremonies going on at the temples of Ubud. So tonight was the night we would actually attend one, after failing a few days ago. We watched the parade of people going to temple from the terrace of Nomad, well Rob ran down to the street to take photographs, I think he got some good ones. After he we return we ate our meal and I got some beautiful palm sugar pancakes for dessert. They were so moreish and coconuty! I could have eaten so many more! :(

Nomad is a fairly large restaurant over two floors and upon entering the restaurant you are presented with a pretty yellow and white flower to wear behind your ear. Rob looked so beautiful with his, it was a shame he didn't wear it for long! :( However, the best part about the restaurant was the amount of little geckos scurrying around on the ceiling of the terrace. So cute! :) 

Green palm sugar pancakes! Yum!

We arrived at the temple shortly after 9 pm and people were already finding seats near the stage. After standing around for a bit we followed suit and sat on the floor to get a good position to watch the show. We had no idea when it was due to start we just hoped that it would start soon, as Rob can't sit on the floor very well. But I suppose after about 40 minute music began playing and we watched the dance of the black magic man with long finger nails, it was kind of creepy and the music was almost hypnotic. Afterwards there was a dance of a lion and good magic. I didn't get very many good pictures but rob got some awesome shots with his zoom lens. Unfortunately, by the time it was 11 pm we were both no longer comfortable on the floor so we left and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep, as we will have to be up earlier tomorrow.

Children watching the show!

When we got back home something weird was going on at our hotel. Our hotel owner had some guests and they were all in ceremonial clothing with two of them holding a white chicken over a hole in the ground. I think they were sacrificing it, but I didn't ask and Rob didn't even notice!

The Ceremony

Enjoy! 

Sam x

Bali Blog 8 - More of Ubud's Rice Fields

Wednesday 11th February

Today we had another lie in and got up at around 10 am, we enjoyed a banana pancake, fresh fruit and Bali coffee for breakfast. It was great! I will have to learn how to make these pancakes for when I get home! :) 

After we had eaten breakfast we watched a frilly necked lizard climb up one of the trees near our room. It was fun watching it puff out this little yellow frill on its neck.
We also learnt that the English people we had met a few days previous had left and moved on to their stop in Bali. Not to worry though as more had a arrived to replace them. :).
Today was another day exploring Ubud, taking a walk around the rest of the rice fields surrounding the town. 

Rice fields! Yay!

We set off walking down the main street in Ubud and a little past the Starbucks (on the same side of the road) there a turning off the main street to a fairly dubious footpath. Don't worry it's sign posted, so it must have some degree of safety. 

The weather was great and the path was easy to follow (for the most part), as I think somehow we veered from our original route and ended up in the forest watching a family bathe! But we did see some nice things along our walk. We saw lots of butterflies and many, many lizards, most of them were fairly large skinks but a little too quite for me and my camera, as I didn't manage to get a photo of them. Sad times. :(

Rob in the sun!

Anyway, after interrupting a family washing in the stream we were back on track as we climbed out of the trees and back on to the rice fields. At the end of the rice field we spotted the restaurant Sari Organik, which our hotel owner had recommended, so we stopped for lunch there. But just before we arrived we saw a man in a same hut selling coconuts, he looked so happy and Rob took his picture.

Rice fields, the view from Sari Organik.

During our lunch at Sari Organik, we enjoyed the view over the rice fields and just relaxed after spending a couple of hours on our feet in the midday heat. We got to chatting to the couple on the table next to us, who turned out to be a German woman and a Dutch man. They were somewhat older than us, possibly in their sixties and had spent the last six weeks in Ubud, they were due to leave Ubud in a few days time to spend a few days elsewhere in Bali before returning home. 

Lunch at Sari Organik.

After we had been chatting for a while and Rob had taken their photo, they offered to walk us the scenic route back to Ubud. We thought this was great as it meant we would have to keep walking down the main street and it could hopefully be more excited. However as we left the sky suddenly darkened but we thought we would chance it anyway, as the older couple assured us it would be worth it to walk this way home. The rain held off most of the way home, which was great as we made to Nick's pension (a set of fancy villas) before we had to stop and take shelter. The guy at reception was kind enough to let us sit for about 15 minutes until the rain eased off enough for us to carry on. The older couple left us near Earth cafe, as their hotel was nearby. 

Sheltering from the rain at Nick's pension. :)

The route which we had just followed was much nicer than the usual way we go and there wasn't much of a time difference so I would definitely recommend it! 

Once we returned to the center of Ubud, we didn't really feel like returning to our hotel, so we stopped at Warung Sopa (our favourite place! :)) for some coffee and cake. I got a vegan coconut chocolate pie and it was awesome! Rob had the carrot cake! :) After eating and chilling out for a bit, we took a short stroll in the rice fields behind our hotel, which was nice but these were somewhat smaller than the ones we had explored that morning. So the walk didn't take too long and within no time we were back at our hotel drinking more coffee and making use of the free WiFi.

Here are a few photos from our walk in the rice fields: 

Funky path.

Kitty!

Umbrella.

Coconut monkey man!

At our hotel there is a little black dog that waits for us to return and he is never very happy when we do. He always barks and make a lot of noise when we enter the hotel, but this evening he went crazy! Tagel had to come out and shout at him! Scary! I think we must have frightened him or something this time! Eeeek! 

During our chat with Dutch man and German woman earlier today they told us that at night fire flies can be see in the rice fields. I had no idea! And this I had to see, so we decided that after dinner we could go searching for fire flies. We ate dinner at the Terrace Bar, on the main street of Ubud. This is an Italian restaurant but we ate Indonesian. I love noodles, what can I say! :) We had a great view over the town but it was very dark, so wasn't worth me taking any photos with my little camera and no try pod. :(

After we finished dinner we returned to the rice fields and we saw fire flies! Yay! They were just small green flashes of light in the dark. They were fascinating to watch but not much to photograph, but at times many little green flashes could be seen in the trees or in the sky. It was magical! :). I was happy! :)

Later, when we return home Tagel told us that you could see them in the rice fields behind the hotel and there used to be a lot more fire flies, but due to the increased use of pesticides their numbers had declined. This is such a shame as it was so magical watching the little flashes in the sky, I felt like I was in a fairy tale.

Tracking fir flies!

It must be said the main thing you notice about the rice field at night is the noise! It is so loud after dark, the fields just come alive! The constant buzz of crickets and grasshoppers accompanied by the intermittent sound of conversations between frogs and toads gives this place a quite an eerie feel. This feeling is not helped when a cat jumps out the long grass on to the path in front of you! I nearly died!

Enjoy yourselves and stay safe.

Sam x