On Thursday we had a school field trip to Uluwatu where we
were going to watch fire dancers at sunset in a picture perfect venue. We were
quite excited as it was going to be the most exciting trip were going to have
other than the white river rafting.
However when we got there we were dropped off at the
entrance where we waited for the other half of our group to join us, along with
our lecturers. When this didn’t happen we all got over waiting and decided to
go get ice cream. After returning to our drop off point, our one lecturer came
to us saying that they had been waiting at the other entrance. Cool.
We received sarongs and sandwiches and headed inside, while
walking to the area to watch the dance I spotted a monkey eyeing my sandwich
out, refusing to be attacked like Lindsay in the monkey forest, I threw my roll
into a bush and ran, at which point my flip flop broke.
So we found seats and got ready to watch fire dancers, but
what we saw was not at all what we were expecting. About 50 shirtless men came out and sat in a circle and
started chanting and repeating what sounded like the words “check” and “tseck”
the entire duration of the performance. There were also other dancers who told
a story, luckily there was a program telling us what was happening, otherwise
we would have no clue. It was interesting but it wasn’t a fire dance, in actual
fact the only fire involved was the fire that was used to light us the stage
area.
It was a nice experience and we all enjoyed the bit of
Balinese culture we just saw but the highlight of the night for all of us was
the 1hour and 45minute drive home. It was a truly unique experience as the
driver insisted on driving in second gear the entire journey.
Friday was the 10 year anniversary of the Bali Bombings that
happened in Kuta, where 202 people died. We decided to go check it out, which
in retrospect we regret a bit as the street of Legian was like a ghost town as
all the clubs had turned off the music for the duration of the memorial. There
were such bleak vibes in the air and it definitely rubbed off on us.
Saturday was spent doing what we do best, vegging by the
pool.
Sunday we woke up early and caught a taxi to Sanur, were we
bought return boat tickets to Lembongan Island. We got there on a ferry the
trip was bumpy but not as unpleasant as expected. We arrived in Lembongan and
were bombarded with an offer to go snorkeling, the price was right so we
accepted.
We got led down an alleyway away from the water. Slightly
confusing. All of a sudden Balinese Rambo pulled up on a scooter that sounded
as if it would break down any second, ripped camoflague cargo pants and mullet
to boot.
Sami and Linds jumped on the back of a scooter with the guy
that approached us first and I got on with Rambo. They took us through a very
rural area until we eventually got to a beautiful white sand beach with crystal clear water.
Rambo then grabbed his kid, gave us snorkeling gear and took
us to his boat. We had a great time because we could get really close to the
fish and coral reefs. Im not sure if we enjoyed snorkeling or taking pictures
of ourselves more. Thank God for underwater cameras. Lucky for us Rambo let us
do our own thing, unlike his son, Yogi, who wore a lifejacket and got tied to
the boat with a piece of rope.
On our trip back to Sanur we caught a fast boat, the trip
was short but extremely bumpy and unpleasant. Note to selves: take the slow
boat and never drink the night before. We foresee disaster.
We got back to our hotel relatively early and seeing as we
only had a fieldtrip the following morning, the party animal within convinced
me to go to Alleycats with the boys. Needless to say, it wasn’t a great idea to
play 1 for 1 with 5 dutch boys when drinking the infamous double doubles.
The following morning can only be described as living hell. Being
stuck on another bus for a very long drive to Ubud to go visit a traditional
Bali Village, to see how daily life is for the Balinese people although I am
almost 100% sure that most people don’t plant rice and climb coconut trees all
day. I must say that the highlight of the trip was watching a cock fight and of
course seeing the reaction of some of our classmates when they saw a spider in
a tree.
The rest of the week was spent working on assignments and
sitting in classes. Boring. No need to elaborate on this point.
Brandon arrived in Bali yesterday and all three of us are so
grateful to have a South African to hang out with and I absolutely love having
my partner in crime at my side.
Gili Islands tomorrow and we are all crazy excited for this
trip as we have been looking forward to it from day 1.
