Census in Bali

January 28th, 2008 Posted in Bali, Travel | 2 Comments »

One thing that was really nice about travelling with Intrepid Travel during our Bali trip was that we always had a local guide with us during our walks, hikes and bike rides. Having this local on hand was really useful to ensure that we were understanding what we were seeing, instead of just looking at things and wondering what it was or why it was there.

Compound Census

On our first little walking tour of a small village we saw these signs on every entrance to the individual family compounds. Had it not been for the guide, I would have had no idea why they were there and what they meant.

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New Art in Bali

January 25th, 2008 Posted in Bali, Travel | 2 Comments »

Steps in a Process

While we were walking through a village in Bali we found this little stall on the side of the road filled with gorgeous, traditional Balinese art. Along with our entire Intrepid travel group we went into the stall to check out the guys work.

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Way Bigger than Japan

January 24th, 2008 Posted in Bali, Just for Fun, Travel | 2 Comments »

So, spiders in Bali are way bigger than they are in Japan. A few months ago I posted about the spider I saw under a bed at Camp Horado. I remember being a little put off by the size of the guy, but nothing could have prepared me for the spiders in Bali. With that lovely warm tropical climate they flourished!

Huge Spider

See what I mean? One of the local guides found this one and took him around to show us and tell us about him. This one was, in fact, a little bit poisonous, but the guide assured us that it wasn’t fatal. He did offer to let us hold him, needless to say, everyone declined his offer.

The other best night in Bali

January 21st, 2008 Posted in Bali, Travel | 2 Comments »

Resta

The other best night I had in bali was in Lovina. After several days of traveling with the group and being will the group for the entire day every day we splintered off from the travel group and went our own way for a evening. Usually we were opting in to the optional activities. One of which almost always included dinner. This night they had arranged another dinner with a local family. However, Danielle and I decided that we had enough of balinese food.

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More Dancing in Bali.

January 20th, 2008 Posted in Bali, Travel | 4 Comments »

Dining at new years

One of my favorite evenings spent in bali was New Years Eve. In order to celebrate and ring in the new year our trip leader extraordinare, ordered up a feast and, called in some friends she has to lead us all in traditional balinese song and dance. The evening also had its fair share of drink involved making for even a little bit more festiveness.

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Mt. Batur

January 18th, 2008 Posted in Bali, Travel | 2 Comments »

Mt. Batur the day before

One of the big events included in our intrepid trip package was a sunrise climb of Mt. Batur. Mt. Batur is an active volcano having had its last major eruption in 1960, which buried a village in lava and ash. Unfortunately, this trip followed one of danielle worst episodes of intestinal distress, so she sat, (or rather slept) this one out. I unfortunately would have my episode later that day…

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Happy Friday!!

January 18th, 2008 Posted in Bali, Just for Fun, Travel | No Comments »

Classy!

Happy Friday, indeed!

This picture pretty much speaks for itself, I think. It was taken in Bali, near the pool at our very first hotel in Ubud. Aaron and I simply couldn’t resist taking a picture of the guy. Classy!

Kechak Dance

January 16th, 2008 Posted in Bali, Travel | No Comments »

Outstretched Arms

One of our favorite things (actually I think I say that about almost everything that we did) that we did in Bali was watching two traditional Balinese dances. Both were quite different in character, and we liked them for very different reasons. The first dance that we saw was a very traditional Balinese dance and I loved everything about it.

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Have I Mentioned the Monkeys?

January 14th, 2008 Posted in Bali, Travel | 3 Comments »



Loved the monkeys! Although, I was quite surprised by how heavy they were or how unafraid they would be of climbing up your back in order to get the banana. But I loved them anyways!

Seirit Market

January 11th, 2008 Posted in Bali, Travel | 4 Comments »

Chilis

The trip to Bali was my first trip to a developing nation. Most people, when going to Bali, check themselves into a nice resort, with a private beach and spend the whole time relaxing, swimming, and eating. Some Japanese co-workers that we have talked to said that they never even encountered a “local” when they travelled there.

We decided to take a slightly different approach when we traveled there. We made the decision to travel with a group, Intrepid Travel. We chose them specifically because of their dedication to travelling in a socially and environmentally responsible way. They make many efforts to make sure that the tourist dollars of people on their trips go directly into the local economy. This is obviously a good thing for countries as poverty-striken as Indonesia.

As a result of this decision, we ended up doing a lot of things that were a bit off the beaten path. In a really good way, I think. We had the chance to see the real Indonesia. We had the opportunity to interact with the locals. And we got to see many things that a tourist never even gets close to.

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