Rating
:  (
4.9 ) ( 83 votes )
Bali, continued
Padangbai, Indonesia
Sep 04, 2003 06:02
Pros:
amazing place, nice people,
impressive variety of fish
Cons:
none
Bali continues to amaze...We left Ubud, the "artist capital"
of Bali in favor of Lovina, famous for black sand beaches and dolphin
watching. It was a needed relief from the constant hot of Ubud,
and the breeze from the water reached our bungalow's porch so that
we could sit and read without melting. The dolphin watching was
definitely worth the money (about $4), as long as you can get past
the guilt of going out in a boat for the sole purpose of incessantly
stalking some of Mother Nature's innocent creatures as they try
to have breakfast. Phil is getting pretty good at the artistic digital
photography; artistic in the "unique composition" sense,
not the "it's not porn! I'm an artist!" sense. Really,
Mom, I mean it...
After crashing in Lovina for a couple of days, the constant sound
of "Transport? Maybe tomorrow?" drove us to the sanctuary
of Tirta Gangaa, the site of the royal Water Palace. That was almost
movie-perfect. We swam in a huge pool, which was fed by spring water
channeled through the mouths of these incredible stone sculptures.
It was magical; not even my cynical humor can argue that. We stayed
at the Hotel Rijasa, just across the road from the pools; the guesthouse
owner was so incredibly pushy that I expected him to lie under our
beds all night just so that he could begin badgering us as soon
as we woke up. I think he was trying to sell us his kidney as we
jumped into a bemo for our current spot: Padangbai.
The hawkers are less insistent here, maybe because there are many
more tourists than in Lovina. Don't need to analyze why, I am just
appreciating the reprieve... We went snorkelling today off a beach
just east of town called Blue Lagoon (no glimpse of Brooke Shields
ANYWHERE), and it was so cool that we decided to stay another day
to go again tomorrow; the reef is pristine, and the variety of fish
was impressive. We saw a huge parrotfish eat a part that was probably
vital to it's owner at some recent point, and two trumpetfish just
hanging out in the current, as well as about a thousand carnival-colored
fish that swam past. As if the snorkelling wasn't enough to make
our day, we took a path opposite the Blue Lagoon road to the peninsula,
down to the lava beach, and explored for a long time. There were
pools of water in indentations that had whole ecosystems, and we
saw skinny legged starfish, and a Jetsons-like spiky sea anenome,
and a flat, transparent thing the size of a band-aid that moved
by rippling it's edges like lettuce. I think after snorkelling again
tomorrow we are going back to the lava pools for some creature watching.
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