Posted on February 6, 2010
To our readers
We would love to know who is reading our posts. My mom, the lovely Penelope, just informed me that there were many family members following us. Please leave comments on the page and we will respond to you!
To leave a comment on a particular post click on the post’s title. At the bottom of the post you can leave a reply. This post has a “read more” tab which I will include in future posts. By clicking “read more” you will be directed to a clean page that includes the box for comments.
Miss and love you all! The Puffins
Posted on February 5, 2010
Bangkok’s Buddhas
We have been in Bangkok for three days now. We flew from Bali on Tuesday on Air Asia. For our first three days we stayed at Boonsiri Place. It is a new hotel which is conveniently located near Wat Phra Keao and The Grand Palace.
Unfortunately, I had been coming down with a sore throat over the past few days and a day of traveling did me in. I suffered from strep throat and the flu.   Luckily, Sebastien took good care of me and I recovered by Wednesday afternoon.
The first attraction we visited was the Wat Po (also spelled Wat Phra). This was within walking distance from our hotel just past Wat Phra Keao.
The Wat Po is where the beautiful golden reclining Buddha can be found. There are many different areas within the walls of Wat Po. Some rooms have beautiful sitting Buddhas while other rooms have detailed paintings depicting different stories of Buddha philosophy.  The buildings have detailed mosaic patterns with gold incorporated everywhere. The Thai’s know how to use gold tastefully.
Stepping into the room that was built around the reclining Buddha produced deep emotions. A spiritual feeling and very humbling.
On Thursday, we visited The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kea0. These are also amazingly decorated and designed sites. The Royal Monastry of the Emerald Buddha is located inside the royal residence.
The Emerald Buddha was wearing his winter (hard to believe since it is so hot) robe. It was another spiritual site.
Here are some pictures of our visit there. One is of a man touching up the paintings that depict Rama’s reign.
Posted on February 3, 2010
I’ve been massaged for 26 hours last month
01/08 – 1.5 – $15
01/09 – 3 – $17.5
01/10 – 1 – $5
01/11 – 2 – $10
01/12 – 1 – $6 Foot Reflexology
01/13 – 1 – $6.5
01/14 – 1 – $7.5 Shiatsu
01/16 – 1 – $7
01/18 – 1 – $7.5
01/19 – 1 – $7 back, neck, shoulder
01/21 – 1 – $6 back, neck, shoulder
01/22 – 1 – $6
01/23 – 1.5 – $9
01/24 – 1.5 – $9
01/25 – 1.5 – $10
01/26 – 1.5 – $9
01/27 – 1 – $8
01/28 – 1 – $6 foot
01/29 – 1 – $6 foot Total: 26 hours We are now in Thailand and massages seem to be a little bit more expensive than in Bali. Besides, I haven’t seen many massage places so I might not be able to break the record of last month. Life is good, isn’t it?
Updated on January 30, 2010
Ubud is Uber-Cool
We stayed at Suly Resort which is outside of Ubud. We ended up staying 4 more extra days in Ubud area because we really loved the place.
Ubud is a large town full of cool cafes, yoga studios, and clothing stores. My favorite place to eat was Sari Organiks. It was very tricky to get to (thanks to Jakki who provided great details).
Here are her directions:
From Ubud Market head west on Ubud Main Road. Pass Bisma St and on the left there is a steep driveway. Up the driveway you will see a small sign that says Sari Organik. Follow this narrow path about 800 meters. It looks like you are heading deeper into the rice paddies but you will see “white” tourists walking or hitching a ride from locals. You can not drive a car down this path but you can a motorbike. Seb and I took the motorbike and had a few sketchy moments where we thought we would drive off the path into the rice paddies. It is well worth it though!
Overall very impressed with Ubud. Lots of French people though…. ha ha.
Posted on January 30, 2010
The Best Bali Bike Tour
We had been told, by several people, to do a bali bike tour. So in Ubud we signed up with Bali Eco and Educational cycling tour. There are several different bike tour options but we went with this one and were extremely impressed!
The day started at 7:00 am. and Jenring, our funny witty spiky haired tour guide, meet us at our hotel with a huge smile. We picked up several other people (10 total including 6 and 9 year old boys) and drove up towards the Batuk volcano and lake. On the way, we stopped to view terraced rice paddies. These were beautiful and something very unique to see.
We then headed for breakfast at a restaurant over looking the Batuk volcano and lake. This volcano is still active and you could see how far the most recent lava had reached.
After breakfast we headed over to drink some “poop” coffee. No we are not kidding. This is considered some of the finest coffee in the world which just happens to be from the poop of a cat. This coffee is called Kopi Luwak which you may remember from the movie “The Bucket List”. The cats eat the coffee beans that fall into their food and then the bean comes out (you know where) whole. After the process of separating the male beans from the female beans the beans are roasted over a fire. Sebastien and I tried the poop coffee and he thought it was the smoothest coffee he had ever tasted.    We also tried several other coffees and teas. The one I liked the best was called ginseng coffee. The ginseng make the coffee creamy but without the dairy.
We then choose our bikes (which were very uncomfortable) and headed on our 25K downhill bike ride. We road through the back streets of Bali which were full of children giving high fives and saying “hello”. All the people smiled as we road passed. On our ride we stopped and had a chance to plant rice with the locals.
Sebastien and I took off our shoes and jumped into the knee deep mud to join in the planting. The mud was really warm and squishy. I am sure that the locals laugh their butts off watching us try to help them.
After we planted rice we kept riding and were fortunate enough to witness a traditional Balinese wedding. Traditionally the family hosting the wedding places palm flags outside of their home and many guests are invited (200-500). This wedding was small but grand. The guests and groom encouraged us to come in and take pictures of the event. The bride was dressed in beautiful colors and wore a gold crown. Another beautiful feature was all the fruit and food that were placed out in an artistic form as an offering for the gods. It was a special event to witness and made me think of our upcoming wedding.
Along with experiencing a Balinese wedding we also were bought into a families compound/home. At this families home where they make palm mats. Sebastien tried to help but won’t be quitting his day job. We learned some interesting facts about the Balinese culture and way of life. Here are the ones that stood out for me.
- They still use specdicide to grow their palm trees
- They keep thier children held (not letting them touch the ground) for the first 3 months of life
- Each child is named based on thier class and number in the line up- first child, second child, third child
- The eldest boy will need to take care of themselves and leave the home if it becomes to crowded
- The youngest boy stays in the families home and cares for the parents
- They have teeth filing ceremony’s which they believe help take away “animal” instincts
- They cut the tails of dogs or cats if they steal food (also because they believe this takes away the animal instinct)
- They all live together except for the elder adults which have a home built a little higher then the others. Our tour guide pointed out that though this was respectful it created difficulties for the elders to get into the home as they aged.
- After a person dies they bury them for five years and then dig them up and have a cremation ceremony (Today we were walking on the beach in Kuta and witnessed an actual cremation ceremony taking place)
I especially liked learning about the children and have noticed that Balinese people LOVE their children. Everywhere we have been I watch men, women, parents, and strangers smiling and joking all young children. The children also ALWAYS look clean and well dressed for school. Here is a picture of a young boy washing his prized possession. So cute.
We also visited a 500 year old banyan tree and got to hang on the vines. After our 25K down hill ride we had the option of another 10K upward bike to where we would have lunch. Seb took part in this challenge and I took the conditioned van to lunch. When he meet up with us non-riders, he was covered in sweat and looked exhausted. Stating that he was out of shape.
After lunch we went to the Monkey Forrest. This is a small forest in Ubud which has a zillion kleptomaniac monkeys. There are also many beautiful stone carvings and some funny ones.
This was a great tour and I recommend it to anyone visiting Bali!
Posted on January 25, 2010
Having Lunch in The Middle of Rice Fields
We were warned that finding the place wouldn’t be easy. As usual, Tina didn’t give me all the information she had about this place so we drove around in vain for 10-15 minutes.
Then I asked her to show me the directions she was given and we finally got on the right track. Getting there is pretty tricky. If you don’t know it’s here, you’ll most likely never find this place. There is absolutely no way to get there by car. We rode our scooter in a one-foot wide footpath surrounded by rice fields and their irrigation systems. Needless to say that the smallest driving error would result in a fall. We did good though. We got here in one piece. Best of all, I even have 3G coverage here and I’m actually writing this post from my iPhone 🙂
Updated on January 25, 2010
You can eat on the beach in Sanur, Bali
After our stay at Langon Bali Resort, we headed to Sanur. We stayed three nights at Puri Sading Hotel which was another place we found through wotif.
It took about a day to adjust from Langon to our new nest but after we did we saw the charm that Sanur has to offers.
Sanur is a beach town with nicer stores and restaurants than Kuta but not as upscale as the Nusa Dua resort area. The shops range from local markets that sell anything and everything to high end stores that sell beautiful silver, lace, and silks. They even have Dolce & Gabbana store. There are great resturants right on the beach. You can choose from an intimate romantic settings (two person table with a candle) or a fun funky reggae places.
One day we went to find wedding bands in Celuk. Seb already posted about that earlier. Here are some pictures of a guy shining up the silver on a ring.
After our three night stay in Sanur we took a cab to Ubud. The road to Ubud has shop after shop of beautiful wood and stone carved sculptures. What I would give to be able to buy one of these and take it home. But Seb reminds me all the time that I have packed to many things.
Our cab driver encouraged us to stop at this place they sell and make batik silks. It was amazing to watch these ladies design and then dye the fabrics. The items were beautiful! Many of them reminded me of China Seas fabric, my auntie use to work for them in downtown Chicago many years ago and I use to think that they were so beautiful.
In Ubud we are staying at Suly Hotel, which has a school connected to it that helps to serve underprivledged students. It is about 10 minutes for the town center but we have a nice big clean room and the kids are really sweet. Excus me miss.
Posted on January 21, 2010
Visiting a Jewelry Factory in Bali
This guy is working in your Mom’s next ear rings…
Updated on January 19, 2010
Driving around in Bali
For the last 7 days we have been staying at a nice hotel called Langon Hotel and Resort in Nusa Dua. The resort is a little far from the beach, restaurants, and massage spas but the hotel provides transportation. However, we choose to also rent a motorbike so that we could get around when we please. These pictures have been requested from a special lady, Alison, the expecting mother.
It is wild to ride around town on these motorbikes. It was defiantly helpful that Sebastien had experience with his motorcycle before. Here are the crazy things we have found on the streets of Bali.
- There does not seem to be any laws of who has the right of way. We asked the hotel owner about this yesterday and said, “it is whatever you feel”. I guess you tell your insurance agent, “I felt strong so I went.”
- Families of 4 ride around on these small motor crafts. I have seen babies being held by their mothers, who are sitting with both their legs on one side, and their 5 year old son sitting in front of the dad who is driving. Wild! None are wearing helmets.
- There doesn’t seem to be a driving age here. Very young kids who look to be 12 years old are driving around on these speed demons.
- You can cut across to the other side of the street, into oncoming traffic, if you feel that your lane is going to slow.
- There are more motorbikes than cars.
Besides risking our lives everyday to be like a local we are enjoying our life here in Bali. Our daily routine consists of waking up around 9 ish. Going to breakfast (which is included in our stay) then spending time on the internet before heading down to town for lunch and a surf. We then return back to the hotel for a shower or to get ready for our daily massage before dinner. What a life!
Posted on January 19, 2010
Beautiful Sunset On Nusa Dua, Bali
