March 3, 2024

Last day in Bali and we got up early so we could have breakfast before our guide Kadek picked us up. There was a little more of a sunrise this am but not much.

We checked out after breakfast and I confess when they presented the bill for the room for 2 nights, 5 spa treatments and some pool drinks and we saw the number 11,000,000 it was hard to stay calm and realize that this was a very reasonable price for everything.

Kadek was right on time and off we went for another full day of touring. Our first stop was the Pura Push Mega temple which was preparing for a festival that evening. We had to cover our knees again.

Yup there we are in more “skirts”

The men do all the food preparation and the cooking.

After the temple visit we went to Tegenungan waterfall. There are several view points but you could also take the stairs all the way down and get a better view. There were lots of people swimming in the falls.

The falls from the top view point.

There were also several photo stops along the way.One looked like a bird’s nest. You had to stand in line for the photo opportunity but it moved fast.

Kathy posing.

At the bottom Kathy saw a water dragon and lots of monkeys but they stayed away from everyone unlike the Temple monkeys.

The water dragon. Same family as the Komodo dragon but does not get that big.We thought it looked like a baby dinosaur.

By the time we got back up to the top I was drenched in sweat. We were glad to get in the air-conditioned car to cool off on our way to our next stop which was the Ubud rice terraces which is a Unesco world heritage site.

The terraces where they grow rice.

At this site they also had lots of places to take pictures. One of the things they had was a swing that swings out over the terraces and they take your pictures while doing it. They charge extra for it and I was unsure if I could do it or not so Kathy went first and then I gave it a shot.

Swinging over the rice terraces.

They had a few of the farmers with their baskets that offered photo opportunities. You could hold the rice baskets and wear the hat. We opted not to but lots of people did.

They need to fix their “L” on their Bali sign

A stream hidden by the ferns More views of the terraces Several cafes offer great views

We walked around for about an hour before heading back to the car.

All of the streets are lined with shops selling all kinds of things.

After the rice terraces we went to eat lunch. We went to a place that caters to tourists and our guide said that local eateries would probably not have the same standards as American restaurants. We did see other folks from the boat there and all on private tours like we were.

We opted for some Indonesian noodles for lunch and they were excellent.

Our bill for lunch.

After the lunch we went to the the coffee factory to see how the Kopi Luwak (cat poop coffee) is made. It is unique coffee that is made from the poop of the Palm Civits or Luwaks which is in the cat family. Looked more like a possum to us and they are nocturnal.

A sleeping Luwak

The Luwaks are in the wild and they eat the coffee beans and then people go around and collect the poop. The poop is then washed and beans separated and shelled and then dried, roasted and ground.

Kathy roasting and grinding the coffee

After the tour they offer you a flight of coffee and tea. Kathy opted for coffee and I the tea. Kathy also decided to try the “poop” coffee which was 4 dollars. Our guide had told us that he did not like the coffee and described it as sour. After trying it she said that was a great description.

Our flight of coffee and teas

I really liked the Mango tea and the Lemon grass tea so we bought some of that but no coffee. While we were at the tasting the Tallahassee folks came by. We seem to run into them everywhere even if not a boat tour.

After the coffee stop we had a long drive back to town and there were still a couple more stops that Kadek wanted us to go to.

The blue dot is where we were and the red X is where the boat was docked.

We stopped at a souvenir shop and there was not much there but we picked up a couple of things. The next and last stop was to a silver and gold factory. We thought they were going to do some sort of demonstration but turns out is was a giant show room with tons of all different kinds of jewelry. We went in thinking we were not going to buy anything but the prices were cheap and we managed to find a few trinkets.

We made it back to the boat by 6:30 after a very busy 3 days. Kadek was a wonderful guide and if/when we come back to Bali we will definitely give him a call. For his guiding and driving services for 2 days we paid less than 1 ships excursion.

Our guide/driver Kadek

We made it back in time for our friend Micheal’s birthday party on the pool deck where we were having a pizza party.

The birthday boy is on the far end on the right.

When we got back to our room they had given us the tour descriptions for the beginning of our Africa adventure. They are offering several safaris but all 1 day safaris and you really spend very little time in the game parks. True to their word all the day safaris were included so no extra charge. They also offered a 5 night safari and Victoria falls option and so we signed up for that as one of our choices. It was a little pricey but who knows when/if we will be back this way again. We are also on the waiting list for the Taj Mahal overland trip which is 5 nights and 6 days. I think I mentioned before that originally we did not sign up for it since we had been years ago but then when they announced the itinerary changes they added some more days and more things to see so we went ahead and put our name on the waiting list so we shall see.

Lastly we were told that 18 people got off in Bali and more will get off in our next big stop of Vietnam. Still unsure how many getting off.

We have 1 day at sea and then Semarang Java, Indonesia where we have an all day tour planned of a Unesco temple.