Trip to Bali May 2011.
Having reached Koltsovo airport and a little crazy about the prices that are displayed on the parking lot (200r per day), I went to look for a parking lot in the nearest settlement. In the village of Koltsovo (5-7 minutes by car from the airport) on 10 Aviators Street there is a quite decent parking lot costing 80 rubles / day.
I parked the car, called a taxi (do not say that they will take 200 rubles from the parking lot to the airport, but if you say that such and such an entrance to the airport will cost 80 rubles).
The most difficult thing was done and it remained to overcome the flight, given that I really like to fly (my favorite attraction) 12 hours of flight did not frighten at all. The flight was at night, the plane was delayed for an hour (which is generally normal for charters).
Plunging into a chair, fastening my seat belt, I fell asleep, woke up to eat, fell asleep again and woke up when Singapore was already flying over (the island was in a light haze, but even through it you could see skyscrapers and the outlines of Sentosa Island, now I realized that I had returned, returned to Asia) before landing in Denpazar airport was just over two hours away.
Part of the runway rises directly above the water (apparently it was artificially washed). The airport building is roomy, I got my luggage quickly and without problems, went through customs, got a visa (15 bucks) at the exit from the airport there were a lot of taxi drivers. I had a transfer booked from Pegasus to the Inna Putri Bali hotel in Nusa Dua. A little standing in traffic jams, I was in place.
The hotel was opened in 1985, very large and beautiful area
There were always enough sun loungers on the beach (taking into account the fact that I didn’t come there before 9).
Good hotel lobby, friendly staff, orchids planted around.
Of the minuses of the hotel, this is a dead plumbing (which, in general, did not bother much), in some rooms it smells of dampness (it should be borne in mind that the humidity is about 80 percent or more - these are the tropics), the cleaning in the rooms leaves much to be desired, as well as breakfasts.
One of the main questions is where to eat? On the Internet, they wrote a lot of good things about a cafe called Laguna (the one in the village, as you leave the hotel to the left, you reach the ring and turn right - there is a checkpoint) once you went to this place, it didn’t appear there anymore. Dishes there are not much cheaper than in restaurants (namely restaurants) on the Bali Collection walking street, but something canteen tastes to taste.
If you go to eat in the village and try to save something. I advise you to visit the Mai-Mai restaurant (good food).
On the same street there are grocery stores (fruits, groceries, magazines and various household chemicals), massage parlors (decent ; ) )
Near the hotel there is a more beautiful and high-quality place Bali Collection, of course there are also places that are not worth the money, but there are much fewer of them. There I ate at Prada Priority, next to it is an Italian restaurant (delicious pizza and the coolest avocado fresh there), it is also worth visiting the Japanese restaurant Japanese Garden. A chic territory, as if you are in Japan, a rock garden, bridges, everything is in Japanese style, good decent cuisine.
Please note that restaurants do not always include service tax and state tax. Those add 20 percent to the indicated cost, just ask - “finish price” pointing to some thread of lobster on the menu; ) In general, do not be afraid to ask questions and you will be answered.
Souvenirs in the Bali Collection are insanely expensive, so it is better to buy in the village, as well as a massage (in the village 70.000 rupees for 30 minutes, a collection of 100.000 rupees).
Upon arrival, I bought a local Simpati operator card, put 500 Russian rubles on it (enough for the entire stay in Indonesia). By the way, I will say that in Indonesia there is no intra-network roaming, having bought a card in Bali and left for Java (read here), the cost of calls has remained the same.
I changed money with locals - a more favorable rate than in banks. There were no problems, the method, as elsewhere, is simple - you count on your calculator / cell how much you should receive their rupees in your hands based on their exchange rate, show them the figure received, they agree and the transaction took place.
What is interesting to see on the island?
Classes here will appeal to everyone, both children and adults.
On the first day of my stay on the island, I phoned a local guide (I recommend not contacting all possible Russian tour operators in terms of excursions - the same thing but several times more expensive, I gave 300.000 rupees for this individual trip, it includes a car, driver, guide) and set off visit Uluwatu temple. Located in the northwest of the island. From there, a gorgeous view of the ocean opens, the sound of waves crashing against the stones. Many people just come here, sit on the edge of the cliff and dissolve into the music of the waves, humid, warm air that envelops you from head to toe. Here you feel really on the edge of the earth, but this thought does not make you uncomfortable at all. Everything is completely reversed, you catch peace and tranquility ...In general, I recommend it.
A large number of macaques, sometimes aggressive, live near the temple. They often practice stealing glasses, gold jewelry and other things. So be careful!
From here, there are gorgeous sunsets!
Closer to 6-7 pm, next to the temple, the Kecak dance performance (national Balinese performance) begins.
After watching a chic, costumed performance, I went back to the hotel. On the way, he asked me to stop to buy fruit, the main goal was to purchase durian, a gorgeous, awesome-tasting fruit, although many in the hotel did not understand me and did not share my zeal for eating it
There are amazing volcanoes on the island. I'll tell you about a trip to one of them, or rather Batur volcano : ) The locals have the so-called Kintamani tour.
It begins with a visit to the Barong dance (a mythical creature personifies the spirit of goodness). Very colorful performance, be sure to take a printout of the script at the entrance, otherwise you will not understand anything; ) The dance tells about the classical struggle between good and evil. Good symbolizes this very Barong, and evil is the mythical creature Randa.
Produce rituals from small to large.
Passing between the villages, endless rice fields and terraces open up. Tropical forests, humid, dense air, you will have no time to sleep on the trip.
And here we are in Cheluka. The tour starts with a visit to the jewelry production shop. Here you can get acquainted with the full cycle of jewelry production, from soldering to polishing. And feel the spirit of Asian manufactories. After that we go to the store. In some places there are very beautiful and original products. Plastic cards are accepted for payment.
Next stop is Ubud village. Village of Wood Carvers. Indeed, with a capital letter, in their hands the tree turns into masterpieces, paintings, statues, masks. There he bought a Barong mask (next to the essence of good they sell the mask of Randa - the essence of evil, the local houses themselves will never hang it and I do not recommend you take it - the mask of Randa).
Further, the path lies to the Batur volcano, but in front of it we drop into coffee plantations. Where they offered various varieties of coffee, tea and cocoa for tasting. Also spec. offer - luwak coffee. Known primarily for a specific processing method. The main role in the processing of coffee beans is played by a small animal musang. Which eats coffee beans, digests them partially, while the grains undergo fermentation and exit; ) we get an elite variety of coffee - Coffee Luwak
After tasting coffee, standing on the terrace and admiring the tropics after a downpour (coffee mixed with intoxicating dense tropical air is such a force, I recommend it), I go for a walk in the garden. Here you can see how coffee, ginger, papaya grows. At the exit I go to a store where you can buy your favorite coffee, cocoa and other fussies.
On the way to the volcano, we get into a terrible, insanely terrible tropical downpour, visibility is 30 meters, it becomes cool.
Climbing up to the observation deck, except for the fog mixed with armfuls of water falling from the sky, nothing was visible ...After having lunch in a restaurant, a little upset that such a path had been done in vain, we set off back to Nusa Dua. On the way, stopping in Tagallang to look at the chic rice terraces, they are really chic.
Further, our path lay in the monkey forest (Monkey forest). Worth a visit if it's on the way. You will be met by a beautiful Balinese temple (just don’t step on the dragon - it is sacred to them, they will be very upset, my guide warned me about this in advance), macaques rush all over the territory (by the way, not as aggressive as in Uluwatu, but still be on the lookout) , on the territory of this institution there is a huge Banyan (this is a whole living system, it grows through numerous aerial roots that descend from the tops of the crown and take root reaching the ground, thus obtaining a powerful system of trunks.
For the Balinese, this tree is sacred).
Having taken a picture with monkeys and a banyan, I go to the hotel.
I must say that I still got to the Batur volcano and to the lake and saw it, but more on that later; )
Near the island of Bali is the island of Nusa Penida, near which there are chic dive sites, two of which I visited.
Arriving in Bali, I phoned two Russian dive centers that put up an immodest price tag for diving and equipment rental (I only dragged from my hydration, mask, regulator, because I didn’t want to fly into the hellish advantage in our redneck airlines like NordWind).
Well, first things first. At the appointed time, I was picked up from the hotel and taken to the dive center (Sanur district). After reviewing my logbook and cards, they gave out equipment for rent. After that, they loaded the clothes into the car and left for the port.
By the way, they have cylinders under Yoke, so if you have the correct DIN regulator, then you need an adapter, I rented it out for free at the dive center.
In the port we were met by a boat and a team that transferred things from the car to the boat, which ferried us to the boat. The boat is small but quite comfortable and fast two engines. In about 40 minutes we got to the first dive site - Manta Point. The green shores of Nusa Penida hang over the ocean.
The geographical location of Bali and this island at the junction of two oceans - the Pacific and the Indian. There is sometimes a strong current in this area, which carries a large amount of plankton and, accordingly, attracts living creatures to this area.
After listening to the briefing and gathering equipment, we began the dive. Having descended literally a meter in the water column, I saw a graceful huge manta!
She emerged from the water column, gracefully, slowly, looking at her it seems that she is flying, occasionally flapping her black wings. We hung in the water column watching this beautiful creature, soon she returned back to the darkness of the ocean, and we continued to dive. Literally five minutes later, about a dozen manta rays, white and black, swirled above and below us. They circled around, made it possible to swim up to them at arm's length. All dive groups, which abound on this dive site, hung in the water column and watched this performance, literally without moving ...At the very surface, a white manta ray of unrealistic sizes could be seen, apparently sunbathing.
According to the dive, the depth at this site is 20 meters, strong currents are observed in places, a breakdown wave is also observed, in connection with this, visibility in places drops to 10 meters due to the same temperature from 28 to 23 degrees.
After MantaPoint, we moved to the Crystal Bay dive site (10-15 minutes transition), having lunch, sunbathing and throwing the balloons, we went to look for the Moon fish (Mola Mola, Sun Fish).
The visibility on this dive site is really crystal clear. Corals are in excellent condition. Unfortunately, we did not meet the expected mola. But despite this, the dive turned out to be colorful and magical.
The next program on the list is a visit to one of the most beautiful places (in my opinion) Ulan Danu Temple on Lake Bratan.
The road takes two or three hours from Nusa Dua and at the entrance to the lake offers gorgeous panoramic views. In good, clear weather, even Agung is perfectly visible.
The temple is really located right in the lake. Against the backdrop of an extinct volcano. Next to the temple there are Buddhist complexes, a Muslim mosque. The territory is very beautiful and well-groomed, as, in principle, all the temple complexes on the island.
Having examined Ulan Danu, we set off to explore Tanah Lot, on the way stopping for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the endless rice terraces - such colors take your breath away.
Tanah Lot is one of the important sea temples in Bali. Built on a rock protruding from the water near the ocean shore. At high tide, the temple is surrounded on all sides by waves that wash black, volcanic sand breaking on huge black, volcanic stones. Access to Tanah Lot (as well as to many temples) is allowed only to believers, so we can only admire this beauty at the foot. The geographical location of the temple is the southwest coast, so there are gorgeous sunsets here!
On this one more sightseeing day is over and I went to the hotel.
The next couple of days were dominated by beach holidays, in the format of breakfast - beach - lunch - beach - dinner, wine (in the bali collection in the grocery store you can really find decent Australian and New Zealand wines) and evening cult (and not very cult) programs : )
I will tell you more about one of the evening cult programs - a visit to Kuta. Kuta is a place for youth recreation, during the day it is a mecca of surfers, a bunch of shops with souvenirs and specialized for surfers, and in the evening it turns into one big party filled with people in all possible cheerful moods, in the back streets they will offer "miracle drinks" and "slippers", and on the street legian are noisy parties. In general, in any case, it is worth visiting even if you are not a supporter of such a holiday.
Well, from what I planned, the Batur volcano still remained, I am making a second trip to meet him!
It was worth it -
After reviewing most of what I had planned, I spent the rest of the days in the company of established friends on the beach. The beach is incomparable and in the early morning hours, gently meets the freshness of the ocean, enveloping everyone with air like a blanket. It is incomparable and dynamic during the day, forcing everyone, without exception, to get into the water to freshen up, to swing on the waves, all of them, from small to large. And it is incomparable in the evening, night hours ...
But no matter how much I wanted to leave, the day came when they posted the lists for a flight to Yekaterinburg, and then - suitcases, transfer to the airport, a flight delay and a chic Duty Free at the Bali airport, a chic selection of worthy wines, aged red wines from Shiraz grapes and thin Crispy white wines from Sauvignon Blanc. As a result, the whole company pretty much drank, we merrily and kindly plunged into the plane, and I woke up already when the 6-hour flight was behind me.
None of those sitting next to me wanted to think and discuss the reality that was approaching at a speed of 900 km / h ...
Not the first time in exotic countries, but I have never had such a vacation. Will I go back there again? Of course, because there are still so many interesting and untested things left.
Some part of my consciousness remained on the island, preventing me from entering my usual life in Perm. . .
