Nusa Lemongan:::island of sun, fun &...seaweed farming!!

We took a boat over to a small neighboring island, Nusa Lemongan. It was a very peaceful island, not much to do but snorkel, scuba (which was joe's thing), read books in cool shady places:::unless you are a local- where you spend every minute the tide is out planting & harvesting seaweed. Since there was not much else going on I will share the whole wonderful world of seaweed farming with you all (because I know you are dying to learn about it)

me not so happy about being on a little boat going for hours into the deep sea...
me much happier realizing the trip was less than an hour and I can see land!!!
the sunset view from our room
our beautiful feet in the marble rye sand
scuba joe joe and his dive master who apparently was very wild with his poking stick
down at the bottoms of the sea

and at last the fabulous world of seaweed::
here you can see how they actually mark off their individual plots

some areas are easier to get to, while others require a boat and snorkel to retrieve the weed
locals and their whole familys out gathering





the seaweed industry is very advanced technologically speaking


they start them young around here

and finally a view of the various species drying, this takes up nearly all land space in the villages...if only we had a smellocam (let's just say it won't be the next yankee candle scent)

candikuning:::botanical gardens, floating temples-genuine & fakes, & giant corn cob

On our way down from the mountains we stopped in Candikuning, a small lake town with a huge botanical garden as its claim to fame.

inside of the botanical gardens

a view inside of the iris nursery

the statues in this hindu nation are quite different than those at home

me standing in the belly of a giant tree with more trunks than I have fingers

our lakeside bungalows on the hillmy favorite find yet::: a somewhat forgotten giant cob of corn
joe working hard on our sunrise canoe ride to a temple on the lake
the temple was very interesting though it apparently is not really floating...and the sun is across the lake....perhaps getting up at the buttcrack of dawn was not necessary

a more astounding and actually "floating" temple- Pura Tanah Lotthis interesting little island/hindu temple is the most photographed in Indonesia- very understandable...

other things to photograph at tanah lot if you are a chinese tourist...me--as a group of older aisan women asked to have their picture taken with white little me...very strange...

munduk::mountains, jungles, waterfalls & coffee beans

We rented a car and took a trip into the mountains of central Bali. The road on the way up was curvy, crazy and at a constant incline--the traffic, though lighter, was just as crazy coming around those winding mountain turns. The views however were amazing-- hills of stepped rice paddies, beautiful flowers, coffee covered mountains, and valleys of dense jungle.

not far from our hotel was a small coffee processing plant and restaurant- I was surprised to see that seem to process coffee beans in the same fashion they have for hundreds of years.

we then took a small trek to a lake through a dense jungle. The view was very serene and the boats were very primitive to say the least.

the temple at the lake was very old and a great study of proportions and patterns.


on our drive out of the lake we spotted the "plastic pyramid" made completely out of waste plastic in an effort to show modern problems against the environment

the camera caught a rare sight of a caucasious predator hiding behind a flowering bush
the trees are amazing sculptures of trunks woven with branches and vines and flowering trees

a short walk from the road yielded a nice chain of waterfalls

unfortunately most of our visit at the falls was during a down pour-- hence me taking on the role of rain-shelter-plastic-holder
the paths to falls were paved but when the rain comes they are very slick and steep terrain

valentines day

for valentines day we took a day trip to a east coach beach to watch the more hard core surfers hit some big waves- which was pretty amazing having just found out how exhausting the sport can be. We drove their by way of our trusty moped--it was however somewhat of a long trip for a place where the only rule of the road is to watch your knees as you get passed by 3 vehicles in a 1.5 lane road!!

the small "village" was located a top cliff a few hundred feet above the beach

- the views were spectacular

once we climbed down 3,847 steps to the beach we climbed through some caves to get to a more private beach on the otherside that some fellow travelers tipped us off on (we did not however get notice that we needed to watch the tide as we might not make it out for awhile...we barely made it without having to swim!!)
joe in the waterjoe in a cave


me taking a picture of myself in a cave

later that night we went to a morrocan restaurant for some valentines day feasting. the space was very beautiful as there were tons of morrocan lanterns and stainglass pendant lights hanging from the ceiling which gave light to all the gold, silks, and interesting metal and wood carvings.
joe and i partaking in a little melon flavored after dinner hookah
the glowing interior

bali::: kuta beaches-etc.

Arriving in Bali, especially after the nightmare of Bangkok was absolute heaven. Beautiful beaches, cheap amazing food, and plenty of crazy people.

my first dip in the beach- and one of the many bali "public" dogs
joe and the classic palm tree pic
ahh..the both of us getting our feet wet
and at last...the crazy old lady who took off her top, dug a whole in the five hundred
degree sand and turned herself into a dutch oven...

she then attempted to meditate and "exfoliate" the last 107 years of tanning off her

wrinkley old skin....strange- yet very amusing

a beautiful sunset clashing with a stormy night

(which actually skipped over our part of the island)

a sideways picture of joe and our surfing instructor

ultimos:: a five star place anyway you cut it where you can get a

five course filet mignon dinner for less than six bucks!!!!