Big Ass Bali Adventure

At the beginning of September (no apologies on timeliness), my friend Maggie and I went to Bali for a week of awesomeness, splitting the trip between Ubud and Kuta. It was my first time traveling to a third world country, and my first time going to a foreign country with someone other than my family.

Our trip truly began on the flight from South Korea to Bali when we began double fisting wine. Fun fact - Korean Air gives you unlimited booze. Unlimited.

By the time we landed, it was super late and there was no one to check us into our room, so the driver just handed us our key. The room was awesome looking; Bali has some of the most amazing architecture that I have ever seen.

The following morning was rainy, but that didn't stop us from hitting up the Monkey Forest. This was probably the part of the trip that I was initially most excited for, and it did not disappoint.

The Monkey Forest is a nature reserve and temple complex. It is home to about 600 macaque monkeys and was about a 5-minute walk from our hotel.

Right inside of the entrance, there was a small cart selling banana bunches for 20,000 rupiah (roughly $2). We watched an employee show someone how to feed the monkeys, holding the banana above one's head. We were amazed to see the monkey scramble up the man's body and sit peacefully on his arm eating the banana. Despite Mark's warnings of touching animals in a foreign country, we bought a bunch and headed into the forest.

We had a lot of success getting the monkeys to play with us, though one decided to hang out on my lap longer than I was comfortable with. Apparently the forest averages three monkey bites daily, though I didn't know that going into it. Luckily, Maggie and I didn't become statistics.

After feeding the monkeys, we went to the main temple area. You have to be properly dressed to enter the temple, so they put a green skirt-like garment on us before we entered.

The architecture was absolutely breathtaking. Before moving to Japan, I thought all the architecture would be old world and ornate like it is in Bali.

While we were walking around the shrine, the rain began to pick up, so we headed back to our room and partook in the Buy 4 Shots, Get 1 Free deal our hotel bar was offering. 

The following day was our big one, with a bicycle ride around Bali and a whitewater rafting tour. It was at this point that our room began smelling like raw sewage, so we vowed to stay out of there as much as possible, which I guess had always been the plan.

The oldest temple in Bali.

The bike ride tour was very different from what either one of us had expected. The tour was mainly through a village, so we saw more of the "real" Bali I guess you could say. Our guide was very nice and informative and took us to a family's home, which was sad and intriguing at the same time.

The whitewater rafting tour was amazing. I wish I could have taken pictures because it was so pretty. The rapids weren't very wild so we could enjoy the beautiful scenery surrounding us on either side. Luckily, they had showers at the end of the river tour so we didn't have to face our bathroom back in the room.

For our last day in Ubud, we shopped around the art and culture district, which ended pretty quickly when we found a sweet little cafe and decided to start day drinking. We then took a bus over to Kuta for the beach portion of our vacation.

Our first day in Kuta we spent on the beach. There were numerous vendors set up with umbrellas, so we found a spot that looked nice and settled in. Joseph, which I am assuming was not his real name, owned our little area and made sure we always had a fresh Bintang beer.

I made fun of Maggie for having SPF 100 sunscreen, which I didn't even know they made until she whipped it out, and it ended up biting me in the ass. I have never burned so badly in my entire life. I literally slept without pants on for the rest of the trip. I also never made fun of Maggie's sunscreen choices ever again.

Since I was out of commission, we hired a driver the following day to take us to all famous sites in Bali. It was very affordable and we got to see everything.

After the rice terraces, we went to the three lakes, which is where the Bratan Temple is. The Bratan Temple is one of the most prominent images associated with Bali.

The view over the lakes was absolutely gorgeous, even though it looked like it might rain at any given moment.

After overlooking the lakes, they took us to temple where we also had lunch. Yay for more noodles!

After the temple, our driver took us to a spice garden. When we pulled up, it looked like it was going to be kind of sad, but it was actually very interesting.

Coffee bean before roasting.

They taught all about coffee; how to tell good coffee from bad coffee, and the processes of making it. This was when we learned about the most expensive coffee you can buy, mongoose coffee.

Inside of a ripe cacao fruit aka a baby chocolate.

They sat us at a table with a bunch of pots lined up in the middle. They had us try a bunch of different flavored coffees and teas.

Then, they asked if we would like to try the mongoose coffee for an additional $5 each. We said, meh, why not and took a taste.

So why is the mongoose coffee so expensive? Well, it all starts with this little critter right here:

This mongoose was not responsible for the making of our coffee...I asked. 

And that little critter, the mongoose, eats the coffee berries. After Mr. Mongoose has a solid BM, the spice farm workers take the poop, clean the beans, which are not broken down in the mongoose's digestive system, and roast it.

Then, they let it dry and roast it again. So the long story short is Maggie and I paid a decent amount of money for actual poop coffee.

It was nutty.

Our last stop of the day was at Tanah Lot, which we were supposed to get to at sunset, but we got there a few hours too early.

We rounded out the night at an Australian owned restaurant, which was amazing because we could get a real burger. When you live in Asia, you really miss salads and burgers. We actually ended up eating at the restaurant two nights in a row.

On our last day, Maggie took a surf class, while I relaxed at the infinity pool of a fancy hotel we crashed, trying to minimize my sunburn. We had so much fun on our trip and would definitely recommend going to Bali if you can.