Far East Texans: Bali Edition

Thankfully it was a short flight from KL to Bali.  The airport is located near the town of Jimbaran, a 2 hour drive from our hotel. Ram prepared me in advance that it would be a drive so I couldn't complain, haha. As we were approaching immigration, I noticed that the lines kept growing and growing. The wait was about 2-3 hours. But instead of stopping there, Ram kept walking. Apparently he hired a government employee to take care of our visa so we wouldn't have to wait in the line with the rest of those fools people (surprise no. 3). Within 15 minutes we were out. I was SO thankful. If I had to wait in that line for 3 hours and then drive another 2 to get to our hotel, I would be one cranky mama.

Our driver met us outside and it took a few minutes for me to register that we were staying at the Four Seasons Resort in Sayan (surprise no. 4), a 10 minute drive from Ubud. Four Seasons? FOUR SEASONS?! I couldn't believe it. It was red carpet service all the way. We even had free wi-fi in our car:) But Ram assured me the best part was yet to come. In my head I was thinking how could it get better than this? After check in we were escorted to our villa. A private villa in the jungle. A private villa, in the jungle, with our own pool, overlooking Bali's longest river (surprise no. 5). It was unbelievable. I couldn't believe this was our home for the next 4 days.

Entrance to Four Seasons Sayan

Our own lily pond

Oh and for all you Eat, Pray, Love movie fans. Julia Roberts stayed at this same location in Villa No. 12 (a few villas down from us) while filming the movie. The staff let us look at the 3 bedroom, 2 story villa. I was thrilled! I need to see that movie again asap...

That night we had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was terraced in the jungle. Our first full day Ram booked a driver to take us around. Like KL, Bali is very spread out, and so are the sights. So we had to pick and choose. We went to visit some of the famous temples that were about an hour away from our hotel. We also saw some beautiful rice paddies. We didn't get a chance to the see the volcano or the temple that's in the middle of the ocean because of time and distance, but we hope to be able to go back one day. After a strenuous day of sight seeing, we had an evening massage scheduled (surprise no. 5).

He had to wear a sarong because he was wearing shorts. Tsk Tsk.

People come here to cleanse themselves on the New Year. But it's popular year round.

Rice paddies. Felt like a scene from Tropic Thunder:)

The next day Ram scheduled a cooking class with the hotel's sou chef (surprise no. 6).  In the morning we went to the market in Ubud. The market opens at 4:30am everyday. People go to the market before they go to work to purchase what they need for the day. In Bali, people eat the same dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Locals don't have refrigerators, microwaves, or electric stoves (they use fire to cook). After the market we headed back to the hotel to get started. I can't wait to attempt these dishes again!

Cock fighting very much alive in Bali:( 

This paste is used for many Balinese dishes, so glad we know the ingredients!

Making beef satay

We were rewarded with lunch in a private hut overlooking a rice paddy

Ta Da! 

The resort offered many different things aside from the cooking class. They had yoga, cycling, batik painting, garden tour, and karma cleansing to name a few. It was too hot to do yoga, so I really wanted to do karma cleansing. Turned out the priest was unavailable:( So we decided on the garden tour. We figured it would be easy enough, but it turned out to be a mini-hike! We walked through rice paddies and ended up in a local neighborhood. It was really cool to see how the locals live. Traditionally, the son and his wife stay with his family in a compound. A compound typically has two to three houses. Every compound has their own temple. When there is a wedding, they decorate the house and temple and the newlyweds are required to sleep on an outdoor bed (no privacy on their wedding night!).

Entrance to a compound

Their temple

House 1 (left); House 2 (right)

Outdoor wedding bed

On our final day, we decided to get out of the jungle and see the beach.  So we drove 2 hours to the other Four Seasons resort in Jimbaran. Even though the beach views were gorgeous I'm glad we did something different and stayed in the jungle. On the way back we stopped off at a famous art gallery and snagged a nice oil painting. Can't wait to get it framed and on display in our living room!

Overall I really liked the vibe in Bali. The look and feel of the city reminded me of India, except you don't get slapped in the face with poverty. Again Indonesia is mainly Muslim, but Bali was definitely Hindu. I loved seeing temples sprinkled all over town and encountering people that were genuinely happy and spiritual. We loved seeing greenery again. Definitely something you miss when you live in the desert. And I became a fan of mangosteens, their local fruit. My one and only complaint would be the lack of air conditioning in public areas. I would say 90% of all the places were open air with fans as coolants. All the restaurants, shops, etc. we visited were out in the open. Even the airport had no air conditioning, which was very uncomfortable in the 90 degree weather. I don't know how the locals survive but I guess that's how they acclimate to the heat.

To see our full album, click here. Next stop, Singapore!