Category Archives: Guided Tour

Where we paid for someone to guide us.

Whitewater Rafting Trip in Ubud

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We started the day with round two of fueling. We had been warned that fuel in Bali is dirty, so we filtered all the fuel with an external filter as it was pumped. We are pleased to report that the fuel did not have any debris or water in it at all. We are still going to polish it before we take off, to be safe. Kosmos is now level, which is nice.

After fueling, we went white water rafting. Eric went once many years ago and had a lot of fun. Christi once went on a week long white water kayaking trip, which was a disastrous experience where 90% of the time she was taking the rapids upside down. She does not look back on that trip with fond memories. Christi had been told taking the rapids in a raft was more fun than a kayak, so she was willing to give it a go. We figured that since it had been raining so much the last few days (we only mentioned the rain on days where it affected our plans, but it has rained at least a little every day that we have been in Bali), the river would be full and the rapids good. And we figured the water would be pretty warm, too, which is an important factor for Christi.

The company we chose is called Sobek and is just outside of Ubud. Much to our surprise, Continue reading →

More Sightseeing in Bali

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Continued from yesterday”¦ We made our rounds around temple Tirta Empul, looking at all the structures, and then headed back to the car. We managed to sneak out the entrance so we could avoid the row of hawkers awaiting us at the exit. As soon as we were out of the temple complex, the pushy banana salesman was back, and despite having told her no at least 50 times, she managed to beat us into submission and we bought some bananas.

The next stop was a town called Bangli. We ate in a restaurant called Batur Sari that offers a nice view of active volcano Batur. While the setting was nice, the food was only mediocre and extremely over priced. Christi’s main course was $8.50, the same price as her gourmet meal in the fancy restaurant Kuta. The volcano never rumbled or spit up any lava or smoke that we could see, so we didn’t even get a show with our meal. We were also attacked by touts as we left, who literally surrounded us, all of them shoving their wares in our faces and demanding we buy their goods. We had a hard time getting through them to the safety of the car. That is our worst hawker experience to date.

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We made a quick stop at Continue reading →

Touring Central Bali

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Wayan picked us up at 0730 to continue our tour. We took a different route up to the mountains this time, but the scenery along the way was almost identical, with the narrow roads, neighborhoods of stores all selling the same product, and the Balinese style buildings with an occasional plot of land or forest peeking through.

Our first stop was at a wood carving shop called Manis The display area is enormous and the pieces are some of the most beautiful we have ever seen in our lives. We are talking award winning artistry here, the kind of work you pay hundreds of thousands for at home and brag about owning at cocktail parties. No exaggeration. It seriously looked more like an art museum than a shop. They offered goods ranging from small curio cabinet carvings, to statues and wall hangings, to furniture sets with matching couches, chairs, bar stools, tables and coffee tables. In the middle of the first floor display area there was a small team of people working away. You actually watched as a plain piece of wood took on a beautiful shape and marveled that the artist could see such a vision in a plain old piece of wood. There were people sanding and staining in addition to chiseling. The prices are outrageous by Indonesian standards, but a bargain by American standards.

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While we looked around, we were followed by one of the staff who talked incessantly about each piece that we glanced at. At one point we Continue reading →

Exploring Ubud – Part 2

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Continued from yesterday”¦ The next stop was the Ubud Palace and Puri Saren Agung, which is a large compound in the heart of Ubud. The compound has several areas. One part of it is the temple with various ornate buildings and altars around a courtyard. From the temple there are a couple gates. One leads to a complex of low, decorative houses where the royal family lives, and the other to what looks like a community area with several open buildings and a kitchen. The first shot is the main part of the temple and the second is one of the royal houses. This is the traditional Balinese architecture we have talked about over the last few days.

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Across the street from the palace and temple, on the south side of the street, is Continue reading →