Monday, May 23, 2011

A Different Part of Asia






Indonesia was great. If I had to use one word to describe Bali it would be "lush." I don't think I've ever seen a green so rich. These beautiful rice fields were around every turn on our way to Ahmed.





We had a nice little bungalow on the ocean in Ahmed, a small town on the east coast of the island.

The view from our bungalow.

The sunrise from our bungalow.

In Ahmed we hired a driver to take us around. It was $40 a day, and he took us anywhere and everywhere we wanted to go. Three temples, wonderful food, and beautiful landscapes were around us all day. The driving there is a bit hectic, I was glad that someone else was doing all the work.

Mother Temple, the largest Hindu temple in Bali

Two different water temples; Pura Tirta is the second picture but I've forgotten the name of the other one.



More photos from our trip around the island. The bat was almost 2 feet long, and waited outside of a restaurant as patrons fed him fruit.


There aren't a lot of big gas stations, and the roads are so small that it's difficult to send big tankers around to service them so most people fill there scooters up at a place like this. They just use empty bottles.


Kites are really popular, we'd see them up in the sky all the time. This guy was playing outside of a store that Beth was shopping for jewelry in.


A typical Balinese alley. If you look close you can see they guy carrying two chickens in cages.


After we left Ahmed we went to Ubud, Bali's largest city. With 60,000 people it didn't feel very big compared to Korean cities. We did a lot there in just two days though, shopping in the market, enjoying traditional Balinese dance, and visiting a monkey forest. I even saw a cock fight.






Cockfighting is illegal in Bali, but that word is used very loosely. The police were at this one, betting and getting paid off. It was an interesting vibe, it felt seedy having all these people essentially calling for blood.


This guy sold the blades they tie to the cock's feet. They were deadly.