Stop #3 Bali - Why use toilet paper when there is a hose?

Day 2 in Bali was quite the adventure. We had our usual Indonesian breakfast at the hotel—mie goreng with tons of fresh fruit, walked to the shops to get water and cash, and then met our driver. He put out his hand and said, ‘G’day’. We thought, oh how nice… ‘G’day to you too!’ we said. We introduced ourselves and then asked him what his name was… and he said, ‘Gaday’!. Oooooh ;)

So we jumped in the car and made our way through holiday traffic towards the mountains. Our first stop was a restaurant perched on the side of a ridge, overlooking a valley at the base of a volcano. It was an amazing view! You could see where the most recent eruption (1992) flowed and there was a huge blue lake just above the valley, at the base of another mountain (not sure if it is a volcano as well).

The only downside of the view was that it had to come from a touristy restaurant, where they charge a ridiculous some for the food. Oh well.

Our next stop was a coffee, tea and spice plantation. Again, perched on a hill overlooking the terraces. Have you heard of that coffee that is made from the beans that are passed through an animal before roasting? I don't know where I had heard of it -- probably in a movie. It's the most expensive coffee in the world and is made right in that little hillside farm. We saw the animals in their cages -- with the special beans ;) Unfortunately, that coffee wasn't part of the free tasting, and we passed it up in the shop ($55 for 100g). In hindsight, perhaps we should have bought it... It would be quite epic to try it, though I think I would have to psych myself up.

On the tasting menu were delicious things -- plain coffee (lovely and rich), gingseng coffee (w/ milk), hot chocolate, ginger tea and lemongrass tea. All were fantastic. I got to drink them all because Billy was experiencing some Bali Belly at the time. Probably courtesy of that tourist restaurant (again, doh!). The shop had heaps of delicious looking spices -- huge bags of whole nutmeg, chilli peppers, etc... Too bad we are on the road!

The next stop was the Sacred Monkey Monestary in Ubud. This was AMAZING! There were huge banyon trees, buddhist stone statues covered in moss and tons, and tons of monkeys. We saw many baby monkeys, which were awesome! I guess it reminded us a bit of Indiana Jones.

Since we lost our camera, I downloaded these from their website: http://www.monkeyforestubud.com/photos.html The only one they don't have is of all the baby monkeys we saw. ;(

After the monkeys we walked around the shops in Ubud -- it was a very busy market with people haggling us left and right. Some of them seemed so desperate. It was really quite depressing actually. I wanted to do more, but the last thing I wanted was to buy the (excuse my language) 'crap' they were selling. We bought some over priced coconut shell bowls and 2 pendants. I think those are our only Bail souveniers! Doh!

After a nice dinner at a restaurant tucked away in one of the little streets, we went straight to see a touristy, but good Balinese dance. I can't remember the style--there are several different types. But anyway, the very graceful young female dancers fascinated us -- they integrate movement with their eyeballs into the dance. As well as flowery hand gestures. The music was Gamelan style (or is that the instrument name?).

Oh! 'Why use toilet paper when there is a hose?'... many of the toilets didn't have TP, instead just hoses. But also common is just a bucket with stagnant water and a scooper to use to splash on yourself. I think I would die.