Bali Break

Six days in in the Legian / Kuta / Seminyak area was more than enough for me, not being a beach bum left only motorcycle watching, people watching and the odd tourist spot to see, I also spent a fair bit of time in the hotel pool as well. The hotel I stayed at deserves a plug, Legian Guest House was a great place to stay, a small complex, 8 rooms in total, a very nice little pool and run by a family that couldn't do enough to keep you happy. Positioned in a quiet location away from the tourist and beach strip yet central enough to access restaurants, beaches, shops etc quickly on the Honda scooter.

While in Legian I checked out the local sights including the Bali bombing Memorial in Kuta. I also rode the scooter to the near by Safari Park. I tagged along really, a English woman had organised with the hotel to be pillion on the back of a hotel security guards scooter, they asked if I was interested, so why not, I went to.

Along the way I was  introduced to how the Indonesian police operate. I rounded a corner to be faced with a police road block randomly stopping drivers for who knows what, they make up some infringement on the spot, fleecing you for 300,000.00 rupiah and sending you on your way. Deny, deny, deny was my instinct, and after several minutes and an appearance by the hotel security guard who didn't get pulled over, he bargained down to and I payed 100,000.00 rupiah (AU$10) and continued on. I still don't know what the infringement was for, the cop tried on several, in the end I just wanted out of there.

 

Ubud was my next destination, situated about an hours drive from Denpasar, it is away from the coast, set at a little bit of altitude and a bit cooler than the coast. It is more of an arty, cultural place than Kuta. Kuta and the coastal area I found a little bit like an episode of the Australian TV series Housos holidaying in Bali.

 

Ubud was also easy to get round, on a little Yamaha scooter this time, I visited many of the temple sites, including Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Goa Gajah and Gunung Kawi.

 

 I also went on another tag along from the hotel I stayed. This time the young guy from the hotel was taking a young Swedish girl (Yar) on the back of his scooter to see where Luwark coffee was made. The young lass was on a mission set by her brother in Sweden to sample and purchase Luwark coffee. Luwark coffee is made after the coffee fruit containing the bean is fed to fury little critters similar to a mongoose, the critters pass the whole coffee bean, the bean is then retrieved and processed. Yes, we sampled the coffee and several other types of coffee and tea they made, the Luwark coffee is said to be stronger than normal coffee (though that could have been in the making of the test cup) who knows, but it was nice.

 

 



 

Six days in Ubud was also plenty, so I was off to the airport for a flight to Dili, Timor Leste. That is where I currently am, waiting for my motorcycle to arrive on the ship from Darwin. I have made contact with the shipping company, paid the local fees, just waiting on an email to say come and pick up your bike. I can't wait to get on the road for a quick visit to a few towns here in Timor Leste, then across to West Timor, Indonesia then begin island hopping my way towards Thailand.