Category: Indonesia
Goodbye Bali, hello Bangkok!
Our month in Bali was the longest stay in any one location so far on our travels, and it was a good test of the whole “slow travel” methodology that we wanted to be about. There were benefits (you get used to one grocery store, meet your neighbors, get plugged in local groups and a
Day trip to Northern Bali
On Sunday we took a day trip away from Sanur to a very different part of Bali. Our gardener Nyoman invited us to the place where he grew up, in the north. I didn’t realize quite *how* north it was but we’ll get to that. We rented a car and driver for the day, as it’s quite cheap and there’s no way we would drive in Bali. Because guess what? Their license laws are very lax.
Indonesian cooking class
Last week I took a cooking class in order to learn how to make some classic Indonesian dishes. If you’re ever in the Sanur area, I’d highly recommend it – Bamboo Shoots cooking school. They picked us up early in the morning and took us to the morning market. Because it’s the slow season, it was just me, two French women and a lady on a holiday by herself from Australia.
Second week in Bali
Sorry for taking so long to post. It started out tough – Matt battled his sinus infection on bad sleep for about 8 days before it finally went away on its own, about the time we were preparing to road-test our new insurance at a clinic. During that time we didn’t leave the house much. Between the sickness, taking care of the dogs, and Matt’s work, we didn’t have but a handful of hours to get out together. It has been on me to get out and scout out interesting places, and I had a big drop in morale at first. I knew this would happen at some point, I just didn’t want it to happen HERE.
Beautiful Bali
So far Bali has been pretty extraordinary. We arrived here a little nervous on Saturday night, having realized right before we boarded our plane that Indonesia requires an exit ticket upon arrival. Many countries aren’t so stringent, merely asking you how long you intend to stay, but some require you to have a plane/train/etc ticket already booked to leave their country so that they can ensure it’s within the visa time limits. In Indonesia, a tourist visa is 30 days or less. Every day beyond that, you pay a fine. At 60 days, you face up to 5 years in prison. Their website also informed us that drug traffickers will be given the death penalty. Indonesia does not mess around.