Tuesday, January 18, 2011

un-BALI-vable

Dining on the beach-the perfect ending to a perfect day!

My one day in Bali was absolutely incredible! After a short one and a half hour flight from Dili, I arrived in Denpasar at 11 a.m. Two Italian sisters (one named Sr. Paola has lived in East Timor for the past 20 years) accompanied me. They were heading onto Jakarta after their stay in Bali. I was very grateful for their company. They arranged for us to board at a Salesian convent in Denpasar which was just minutes away from the airport. Sr. Paola also planned the activities for the day, which was a welcome relief for me.
We bought fruit and bread from a roadside stand on our way to the convent, and dined on sweet mangoes, tomatoes and roast beef sandwiches for lunch.

In the afternoon, one of the sisters at the convent served as our chauffer and drove us to a temple along the seashore. Although Sr. Paola speaks Tetum and a little English, whenever I asked her a question in either language, she never seemed to know what I was saying or asking. It was very frustrating! Thus, I had very limited information as to where we were going, what we were doing, how far away anything was, etc. I expected we would walk to the temple. We drove. I thought it would be a quick trip. The drive was more than 1 hour! I didn’t mind; it was a great way to see a lot of Bali in the limited time I had. I am getting pretty used to receiving very little information and being OK with that. Sometimes (or ALL the time if you live in East Timor) you just have to go with the flow.

So, how to describe Bali? It is very…oriental. Almost every building, whether it was a home, shop or business, had a thatched roof. Along our drive I saw dozens of small temples, and statues of gods and goddesses. We drove down narrow streets lined with dozens of vendors selling food, clothing, souvenirs and knick knacks. We also drove on larger streets with heavy traffic and stoplights (which are very rare in East Timor). There are more motorcycles and motorscooters on the roads than cars. They precariously weave and zig zag in and out of traffic, and bunch up in between vehicles at stoplights. Vehicle drivers must be VERY careful not to hit one of them.  I don’t know how there aren’t more accidents. Although the scooters are small, I saw families of 4 or 5 riding on some, a passenger on another scooter carrying 2 metal ladders, and a lady carrying several clear plastic bags filled with fabric. She looked like she could barely hold onto all of it!

We passed through the urban downtown of Denpasar and I saw several restaurants and furniture stores, as well as stores selling surfboards, glass and wooden crafts. I was happy to see some businesses I recognized from the United States-Circle K gas station, McDonald’s, KFC, and even an A&W Restaurant! The road on the last leg of our trip wound through rice fields, which was really very scenic.

The temple grounds were packed with tourists from all over the world, and I heard many different languages being spoken. Upon entering the temple compound, you had to walk half a mile or so to the coastline. The road downhill to the coast was packed with small souvenir shops selling “I Love Bali” t-shirts, hats, bags, magnets, stickers, etc. It was difficult for me to grasp the concept of rupiahs. How could something relatively inexpensive cost 200,000 rupiahs? I didn’t have a conversion calculator on my phone, so I was very confused as to how much everything cost. I didn’t see anything that particularly caught my eye, so, while I took a lot of pictures, I didn’t buy any souvenirs.

We reached the coastline and the view was breathtaking. There were signs warning it was “High Tide”, and the water was slamming against the rocks just a few feet from where the tourists were allowed to stand. A group of a dozen Chinese tourists tried to take a picture on a large rock, but their attempt was interrupted by a huge wave that splashed up on it-they only narrowly escaped! Interestingly, I took more photos of the cliffs, beach, rocks and ocean than I did of temple buildings. I kept wondering when we would see the temples up close. I then remembered reading previously that many temples do not allow access to tourists. This was the case here. Therefore, I got several pictures of the outside of the temples, but none from inside. Oh well, at least the scenery was really beautiful.

After exploring, we stopped in a café for refreshments. As we approached our table, I laughed when I saw some diners sipping from coconuts-this is something I had only seen on t.v., although apparently it is common among natives in East Timor as well. I was elated when Sr. Paola asked me if I would like to try some coconut myself! I eagerly agreed, not knowing that she meant I would get my very own coconut! These coconuts were huge (easily the size of a size 4 soccer ball), and I didn’t even know if I would like the taste! I had tried coconut milk at the convent in Venilale once, but it was sweetened and served in a glass.  I hesitantly took my first sip, trying to play it cool so the sisters wouldn’t know how concerned I was about liking it. The liquid was clear and was relatively tasteless. I breathed a sigh of relief-I could definitely drink this! Now I just had to worry about finishing the whole thing! I couldn’t help but smile as I sat there at the café drinking straight from a coconut along with 3 others sisters. I recalled that last year at this time I was flying to New York for my last semester of college. I never imagined that a year from then I would be soaking up the sun, exploring temples and sipping from coconuts in Bali. God is so good!

There was a fee to use the restroom, and thankfully, after drinking ALL of my coconut juice, I didn’t have to go. I did worry that I might not be able to make the long ride home, though.  We didn’t head straight back to the convent after our excursion. Instead, we stopped at a relatively plain looking restaurant with seafood displayed on its porch. I didn’t care what the place looked like-I was excited to get the chance to eat seafood! To my surprise, we were escorted through the restaurant, out the back and onto the beach! We were seated at a table just a few feet from where the waves splashed onto the shore! What a spectacular view! There was a nice island breeze and the sun was just setting. We were in paradise!

The sisters discussed what to order amongst themselves, but I had no idea what they requested. They either spoke in Italian or Indonesian, neither of which I speak. I DID hear the word calamari, and although I am not a picky eater, I REALLY don’t like that dish. I hoped we weren’t getting any of that. No one asked for my input, so I just decided to count my blessings instead of focus on the fact we might be eating something unappetizing to me.

Within a few minutes, we received spicy soup and peanuts as appetizers. I choked a little as I tried to swallow the first spicy spoonful, but managed to do so without drawing any attention to myself. Although it was spicy, it was soooo good! The shelled peanuts really complimented the soup and helped to counteract its spice.

Before long, our dinner was served. A basket of rice was brought out, along with 2 small bowls of a green vegetable (it appeared to be kanko) and a platter of fried calamari (I don’t mind calamari if it’s fried)! It looked good, but I had my doubts as to whether this would really be enough food to satisfy all 4 of us. I should have known the sisters didn’t order just 1 dish to share…they ordered 3! Promptly, two more dishes were brought out. One platter contained two very large, grilled red snapper fish, and the other platter had spicy jumbo prawns! I was so excited! Now I wondered how we would EVER manage to eat all of the food in front of us! Pineapple, melon and watermelon slices were served for dessert! Everything was absolutely delicious…Yum!

As we dined, we were treated to a spectacular sunset. At nightfall, bright fireworks shot off from nearby and flickered over the ocean before fading into the darkness. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

All too soon, we had eaten EVERYTHING on the table! Thoroughly stuffed, we waddled back to the car and headed to the convent. I couldn’t believe my time in Bali was already over! At least it had been a wonderful day!

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