So I had mentioned our trip to a coffee plantation, … but I need to go into a little more detail.
Tina was able to join us – it was during her stay in Bali.
I had met our driver, Mr. Nyoman, while walking home from monkey forest with Amani. She had done such a good job walking to monkey forest, and then gotten scared of the monkeys in the forest, that I thought I would spare her having to exert herself by walking home.
Many men call out, “Taxi,” as you walk down the streets of Ubud. I looked for someone with a kind face and found Mr. Nyoman. Now, keep in mind, a taxi driver can be someone who drives an actual taxi, spelled, “TAKSI” or it can be someone with a car who is a “driver” and between jobs driving tourists around the sights of the island, he may choose to drive tourists on shortly drives around town. Mr. Nyoman’s English was really good and his personality was as kind as I had hoped. While he drove us “home” to the Panorama Hotel, I asked him if he did tours. He said yes and we set up a tour for the coffee plantation, the temples and the rice paddy views for Friday (a week ago). Though I loved the temples, especially the water temple, the coffee plantation part of the day was my favorite.
There is a special, very expensive coffee, that is exported out of these plantations. We learned about this as we entered. First up, tourists are able to meet the luwak, a catlike animal that eats coffee beans. The coffee beans are pictured in my previous blog post – they are red and look like cranberries, but slightly larger. I tasted a coffee bean and it tasted like a sweet fruit with a coffee-ish aftertaste. When a luwak eats the bean, his body doesn’t digest the entire bean but his enzymes changes the bean in a certain way. After he poops out the bean, it is cleaned, dried, roasted, ground, sifted, and then made into coffee. The luwak coffee is supposed to have a different taste than regular Balinese coffee and is highly sought after. Of course, Yog saw this whole thing as something similar to the Emperor’s New Clothes, but we tried the luwak coffee regardless.
Yog and I couldn’t really tell the difference between luwak coffee and Balinese coffee. We thoroughly enjoyed the tasting part of the visit. We were given about 10 mini cups of different coffee and tea variations, some with milk or sugar, some without. There was a vanilla, ginger, chocolate, etc. coffee and lemon, ginger, ginseng, etc. teas. Everything was delicious. Amani was able to try cacao mixed in hot water with sugar (basically a no-nonsense hot chocolate) and loved it to the last drop. What made everything so enjoyable was the view:
Breathtaking…
The next day, we headed to Uluwatu, which is in the south of Bali, in the Bukit peninsula. It is a town situated on cliffs that overlook the ocean. We stayed in a two bedroom home for a night where we enjoyed a chat with Mama Lucy, the jolly housekeeper. She told us about the days before tourists and proper (“black”) roads. We rented motorbikes and rode to Padangpadang Beach where Amani swam in the ocean, Tina bought us coconuts, and I got a sarong for Amani to wear to the temple where we were hoping to catch the Kedak show (Balinese fire dance at the temple over the water) at sunset. We were a littel too late for the show, but enjoyed the amazing view of the ocean from above. We returned the next day and took some photos:
Then we headed to our final destination with Tina: Jimbaran. Tina only had a week with us and ended her trip on her birthday. It was fitting to stay at a resort and enjoy the luxurious side of Bali. My friend Theresa had told us about the lovely resorts in Jimbaran, and Jehangir Mamoo had told us about his stay there as well. So we picked a gorgeous hotel called the Keraton Hotel, didn’t worry about being on a budget for that night, and enjoyed a gorgeous hotel, beach and pool. Keep in mind, we had been staying at hotels for about $25-30/night in a country that could be called a developing country, so we were used to hotels that are a little rough around the edges. To have a hotel that had bathrooms that were squeaky clean, bathrobes and slippers provided for each of us, and still have the architecture and style of Bali, was a huge treat. The cost was $150/night. The beach in Jimbaran was ideal for swimming and lounging. And what made it even more perfect is that you could walk just to the right of your hotel on the beach and find warung after warung (roadside eateries) serving fresh seafood on the beach (we preferred this food to the westernized and overpriced hotel food). These little eateries became even more enticing by night, when they set up an increased number of tables and chairs and put out candles everywhere. Musicians strolled around singing familar songs with Indonesian accents, and vendors grilled corn or sold light up toys by the ocean. The hot and humid air turned warm and breezy the way a tropical vacation should feel.
We had eaten at one of these warungs at lunch time (I had fried red snapper – yum!). When I headed over in the evening, I wondered what all the above hullaballoo was about. I figured they had set up for someone’s wedding. I was mistaken. The above festive description was a nightly affair, drawing tourists, most of them Indonesian or at least Asian, around for yummy seafood dinners. We enjoyed the ambience thoroughly. Amani enjoyed making new friends and running around with them (and often bossing them around a little!)
After a night in Jimbaran, we spoiled ourselves with a second night – we couldn’t resist. During this time, Amani learned how to swim in the pool because it was just the right depth to allow her to feel comfortable but give her the room she needed to flail her arms and legs to propel herself forward. We were so proud when that little fishy finally got all four appendages off the ground and actually swam!
The town of Kuta is minutes away from Jimbaran so we decided to go have lunch there. Though we found a warung with delicious food and enjoyed our lunch, we decided to turn right back around after seeing the commercialized tourist trap that is sadly a part of Bali now. Tina left for a late flight that night and got home safely after a long delay of flights.
Here is Jimbaran:
Bali at Four 