Sanur, Bali

We spent a total of 4 nights in Sanur, shopping, eating, watching movies, swimming and laying low. We checked into Kirana Homestay, just off the main strip, nights one and two. The room was simple, but amazing since it came with air con, a TV, and mini fridge for only $200,000idr/ $17usd. That day we noticed the woman who lived at the homestay was working hard all day preparing various fruits and offerings to be displayed around the hotel. The elderly woman explained to me that every six months they do a ritual where they set out tons of fruits at their temples for their ancestors and then feast on the fruit afterwards.

Later that afternoon we watched American Hustle, a black market DVD we bought in Sengiggi, and cooled off in the amazing air conditioned room. For lunch we wandered on over to The Porch for an incredible meal. I ordered the caesar salad, among the best I have ever had, and Aidan ordered a massive burger with onion rings, coleslaw, bacon, tomato, onion and cheese, exceptional. 

Afterwards we found ourselves in awe at the massive supermarket, Hardy's, that had everything from groceries to underwear to utensils to alcohol to fake perfume. We walked out a few hours later wondering what the hell just happened to us. 

Random statue in town: 

That night we ate CHINESE FOOD. It was actually pretty amazing. We ordered broccoli with garlic, which was the first time we have had broccoli on the trip, chicken with mushroom and potato, and fried rice. 

Day 2 we woke up late and meandered to Bali Deli for some average chicken, feta, pesto, etcz., sandwiches. Following lunch, we headed back to the home stay and observed the various temples that had offerings displayed on them. Afterwards one of the women handed us three different fruits that they had used for the offerings earlier that day, including mangosteen, snake fruit, and an orange. The mangosteen was particularly interesting and tasted like an extremely sweet combination of banana, orange and fruit punch! After sampling the new fruits we went back to the room to chill out and ended up watching the whole Titanic film. 

Offerings at one of the temples: 

Snake fruit, mangosteen and orange: 

Later that afternoon we decided it was time to check out Sanur Beach, but as always, we got to the beach at extreme low tide. The beach was beautiful however, and there were great rock island formations to sit at or swim to, we think to prevent waves from crashing on shore and make it better for swimming. 

That night we went to Retro Restaurant and I ordered an amazing filet of Mahi Mahi with garlic butter, mashed potatoes and vegetables. Aidan ordered something equivelent to chicken cordon blue, which was delicious as well! 

After spending two nights in Sanur, we headed to Lembongan Island for three nights and then returned to Sanur for the remaining two nights of our trip. 

Day 3 we took the fast boat from

Lembongan, back to Sanur and checked into a lovely hotel Sari Villas. Sari was by far the nicest hotel we have stayed in this entire trip for only $40usd per night, including an amazing breakfast, swimming pool, beautiful bathroom, private court yard, back patio, mini fridge, tv and air con. What more can a girl ask for? 

That day we headed to Hardy's and bought a block of feta cheese (Aidan was stoked), a loaf of bread and some peppered salami, then sat in our private courtyard and feasted. For the rest of the day we sat by the pool and soaked up some rays then went back to The Porch for a caesar salad and burger. 

The next day we ate an amazing breakfast at the hotel then headed to the beach and swam to the island rock barrier formation. 

After swimming we found ourselves at Hardy's AGAIN and spent a few hours wondering around every square inch of the store, buying last minute gifts and slightly panicking about the fact that we were never going to leave the gigantic supermarket. 

That night Aidan brought me on one last date at a very nice and DELICIOUS  restaurant called Three Monkeys. I ordered a tuna steak with spinach and mushrooms and Aidan ordered a steak with caramelized onions and a soya sauce glaze. Oh how we will miss Indonesia! 

Tuna:

Steak:

Cheers! 

Lembogan Island

We spent three nights on Lembongan Island at hotel Pondok Jenggala on the Jungut Batu side of the island. The island is known for it's pretty beaches, surfing and snorkeling, but we found that the beaches were mediocre and the place was better for lounging at the pool and doing nothing all day. 

Volcano view on our way to Lembongan:

Mushroom Bay- boat port and beach where we arrived: 

Day 1 we checked into our hotel room ($350,000idr/ $30usd- air con), drank our welcome drinks, ate lunch and wandered on over to beach nearby. 

Our welcome drinks:

Our patio: 

The beach had very corse sand, nothing like we were used to, and there were many boats floating in the water when we arrived. We were surprised to learn about the seaweed farming that takes place on Lembongan; the locals collect mounds of seaweed and ship it to Japan to be used for cosmetics. 

Seaweed farming:

Low tide- seaweed farming boats:

We spent the rest of the day swimming in the hotel's amazing pool and talking to other hotel guests (lots of Canadians). That night we went to a nearby Warang for dinner and ordered chicken satay, nasi goreng and spring rolls. 

The next day we ate the breakfast that was included with the price of the room, surprisingly good and somewhat filling- eggs, toast, tea, and fruit.

Afterwards we jetted off on a motorbike to explore the town and found ourselves in a panic because of the fact that the island has ONE ATM and doesn't take visa. We were forced to either leave Lembongan island or pay a money changer 7% to get cash, so we opted for the more expensive and sketchy option and lost a couple bucks in the trading process. 

After the ATM scandal we headed back into town to find a place to eat and stopped at a beautiful viewpoint on the way. 

Panorama Viewpoint:

Naturally we ended up at Gomez Kinda Mexican Restaurant for lunch and ordered pretty good tacos, quesadilla, guac, and bean dip. We sat around for a while and played pool, finally I can shoot a ball, and then headed to the spa for a massage. 

Gomez Restaurant: 

I got an extremely necessary cream hair bath for my severely sun damaged hair, along with a shoulder, head and hand massage. Aidan got a full body Balinese massage. We met a super cute furry friend while we were in the spa and realized how much we miss our furry friends back home! 

Day three we decided that we needed to find a nice beach to swim and snorkel at and sought off on our motorbike to do so. Without a map or any idea of where we were going, we ended up doing a complete loop of the island and stopped at some pretty incredible, but unswimable beaches on the way. 

Looking out at the neighboring island:

Dream Beach:

Devil's Tear Beach:

Umbrella grave yard:

One of the many temples on the island:

 

After finding our way back to our side of the island, we stopped at Jibaku Restaurant, which is right on the beach and ordered beers and a bruschetta snack. We meandered back to the hotel and walked the stretch of sand in front of our hotel.  Later we banked an hour or so at our luxurious hotel pool. 

Once we were waterlogged enough from the pool, we went to explore the range of beachfront resturants.  We landed at a small hotel and dive center where we watched a beautiful Balinese sunset over the seaweed farms and munched cheese stuffed jalapeños and sipped cold white wine! (Can you tell we miss some of the tastes of home??) 

The hard life continued... We discovered a small beachfront warang that served fresh fish, freshly baked bread and dinner with our feet in the sand. Katie got the fresh tuna steak mmm! I of course opted out of the seafood and had a chicken burger on fresh bread. The kitchen was outdoor, as is typical in Indonesia, and consisted of what we may consider as two propane burning camps stoves; it was a delicious meal on island time! 

Moni, Flores

Moni is a little mountain village with a population of roughly 900 people. "Adventurous" tourists filter in and out of the village surroundings to see the mysteriously color changing crater lakes of Mt. Kelimutu. One word to explain the village of Moni... indigenous. 

We shared a two hour taxi from the Ende airport to Moni with a Dutch man who we had met earlier in the airport ($120,000idr per person/ $11usd).

Aidan at the Ende airport: 

The taxi drivers (flys) anxiously waiting and pounding on the windows of the airport exit in hopes of business:

The drive was beautiful with sheer cliffs on every side of the road and tons and tons of hairpin turns. Since the town of Moni is located in a mountainous region, the weather was is less humid and much cooler than other areas in Indonesia. It was really refreshing being able to escape the overwhelmingly hot weather for a few days. 

The driver pulled over to let a funeral service pass by- hundreds of cars and motorcycles drive together: 

The drivers fingernail: 

We arrived at Bintang Lodge and checked into a nice and fairly large room with a fan and hot water ($300,000idr/ $25usd). Afterwards we moseyed down the street to check out some of the village.

A local woman sitting on the ground at our hotel: 

 

The waterways throughout the entire town: 

That night we ate a delicious meal of vegetable soup ("shit soup"), nasi goreng,  and fried noodles and then hit the sack early so we could wake up at 4am to hike Kelimutu the following morning. 

Day 2 we woke up at 3:45am, dressed ourselves in the warmest clothes we had packed in our backpacks and then jumped in a taxi with three other tourists that drove us 25 minutes/ 13km up a windy road to the base of Kelimutu. Along the way we passed a woman who was walking alone in complete darkness and was carrying something on her head...the driver assured us that she did that every single day and preferred to walk. 

The entrance fee to hike Kelimutu was a whopping $20,000idr/ $1.70usd and took us 20 minutes to hike to the top in pitch black dark. Aidan and I made it to the peak first and I have to say it was a little eerie all alone up there in the darkness, and unsure what was around us. However, as the sun began to rise and more people began to show, the experience and beauty was overwhelmingly beautiful and special. 

According to the local people, the three lakes of Kelimutu represent a final resting place for the spirits of their ancestors.

The lake that the spirit goes into depends on the person and several different factors. 

Watching the sunrise:

As it became lighter out, that lady who we had seen walking alone in the darkness popped up the mountain carrying hot water, cups, tea and COFFEE! Apparently she walks 25km (round trip) everyday to Kelimutu in hopes of selling a few cups of coffee to the tourists. 

Coffee woman setting up camp:

The two lakes (turquoise and dark green, sometimes red): 

The solo lake (blue, but sometimes red or white):

After watching the sunrise and taking 1000 pictures of the lakes, we ventured over the rail to view the two lakes closer up. They were massive! 

The two lakes at a different angle:

We left Kelimutu at 8am, which we though was plenty late as we had been there for 3.5 hours, and drove back to the village, and of course stopped at some rice fields to take pictures along the way.

When we returned to Bintang Lodge that morning we enjoyed an "omlet" with cheese and tomato and then took a nap for a few hours. When we woke up and walked down to the lobby/ restaurant area, we noticed that no one was around except some tourists and young local girls who spoke very broken English.

We found out that a local man had passed away the day before, under suspicious circumstances, and all the locals were at gathered together nearby for his funeral. This meant that absolutely no restaurants were open and the entire village was essentially shut down. We contemplated catching a bus and leaving the town of Moni that morning, but felt the need to stay for one more day to truly soak up what the village had to offer. 

The locals leaving the funeral:

The parade of cars, motorcycles and people leaving the funeral:

Not knowing what to do in the middle of the afternoon in the tiny village, we decided to grab a few Bintangs from the only open shop in town and sat around and sipping them on our balcony. 

The real ethnic and indigenous feeling of the town kicked in when we saw two people carry a squealing pig by its legs to kill for food I presume. The night before we watched a young kid carry two squawking chickens into the kitchen of the hotel... I guess the reality of it all was too close for my personal comfort. Unlike what I am usually exposed to, grocery stores, etc., the local people have to kill the animals that they raise in order to survive because many other food options are not readily available for them. 

Aidan did console me however, by explaining how the animals that are being killed in very indigenous areas have probably had a better and much healthier life than the animals that we consume from supermarkets in the states. Enough said. 

Later that afternoon we walked across the street to observe the Catholic Church, which had a very basic interior and exterior.

We then made our way down a pathway, passing many locals' homes and to the outskirts of the village. We saw lots of animals hanging out around the village huts, including beautiful cattle and tons of baby pigs! 

Some graves in the village:

Their hut homes:

We stumbled upon some kids that were playing soccer in a field outside of the village and were very delighted (flirting with me) to see us when we passed by. We also ran into two young ladies who were assisting their grandmother with moving tree branches from one area to the next via their heads. The young girls were extremely outgoing and introduced themselves to us and asked us our names and where we were from. 

That evening we sat around with some tourists and Billie, who runs Bintang Lodge with his family, and ate dinner, drank beers and tried to figure out Billie's made up toothpick tricks.

How do you make the tooth picks equal 4 by only moving one tooth pick? (You can't move the 4 or the equal sign):

How do you make more than one pig by only moving two toothpicks? 

The next day we decided it was time for us to leave Moni and move onto the last leg of our trip, a week vacation in Bali :) we crammed ourselves into a mini van (literally), two people even sat on the roof, and drove two hours down the windy road to the Ende Airport.

A kid selling fish at the airport:

We originally planned on booking a flight from Ende to Denpassar that day, however there were no flights available for Denpassar until the next day, therefore we had to spend one more night in Labuanbajo. 

We went back to Gardena Hotel, where we had spent three nights before Moni, and found out that their only available rooms were view rooms for a little more money, but we decided to just book the room rather than searching for homestay in 100 degree weather. We didn't realize however, that the view room actually meant we had to hike to the literal top of the hotel lot, a ten minute walk up the winding, concrete stairs. Let just say it wasn't a pleasant hike with 15kg backpacks on, but the view was out of this world.

The view:

The sunset that night: 

We went back to the "Made in Italy" restaurant that night and Aidan ordered a pizza with gorgonzola and mozzarella cheese and sausage, and I ordered homemade potato filled ravioli with shrimp. They were both delectable dishes and made the extra night in Labuanbajo well worth it. 

The next day we headed to the Labuanbajo Airport AGAIN, and caught a flight to Denpassar at 11:30am. Now on to the "vacation" leg of the trip. 

The view leaving Labuanbajo: