We finally left Medana Bay Marina around 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 8 for an overnight passage
to Lovina Beach
– we arrived the next morning around 8:00 a.m. Not only were we greeted by dolphins and the
many tourists out watching them, but Leon, a local, greeted us and guided us
right to our anchorage – such a warm welcoming.
Jim who did the night watch rested on the boat to catch up
on a few zzz’s while Dennis and I went to shore to arrange for our visa
extensions and to hire a car and driver for a tour of Bali
the following day.
Well rested on Tuesday 9/10, we took off for a lovely drive across
the island to artsy Ubud – well worth the long drive! The Balinese culture is so in
intriguing. We got to see many towns
with old “Balinese” style buildings, ancient Hindu temples, and many Hindu
wedding ceremonies in progress where the bride and groom wore traditional Balinese
Hindu wedding costumes.
The island is quite lush and we visited volcanoes along the
way plus an ancient Hindu temple high in the mountains of Bali
over looking a tranquil lake. We also toured a coffee plantation – its specialty
coffee was mongoose “pooped” coffee. The
Balinese keep the mongoose in cages sleeping during the day and then at night
the mongoose are released to eat the coffee beans. When the mongoose digests the coffee beans,
the beans pass through their “poop”. The
next morning, the coffee farmer collects the mongoose poop containing the
digested coffee bean. The “pooped”
coffee bean is then roasted to create a gourmet coffee – a real Indonesian
coffee delicacy. After our long drive, we
enjoyed a nice lunch stop at a restaurant overlooking green swaying rice fields
before heading to Ubud – both Dennis and I tried the duck which was excellent.
Once we got to Ubud we saw heavily trafficked streets loaded
with shops filled with Balinese arts and crafts. Ubud was so crowded with tourists that our
driver couldn’t find a parking spot – at least we could see all of the Ubud and
its many galleries and shops from the car.
While at Lovina Beach,
we found the Balinese Hindu’s to be very charming. Many locals still dress traditionally and
greet you with their hands folded together in the form of a prayer greeting –
so charming. We stumbled upon many
exquisite little religious offerings filled with fresh flowers and watched a
few enchanting ceremonies performed on Lovina
Beach. We got around town by walking or using the
local open air buses.
It was so nice that we got away for a tour before finding
out that there was a hiccup in extending our visa’s, which was just as well, as
Dennis decided that he needed to seek medical care for his injury, now nearing
three months. We then spent the
remainder of our time in Bali seeing doctors at the
hospital in Singaraja and talking to insurance.
(While waiting for the doctor, we observed several surgeons stitching up
victims of motor cycle accidents.) We
had hoped to get crew for the passage from Bali to Nongsa
Point Marina,
Batam, Indonesia,
but decided it was faster to sail there, instead of waiting for crew.
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