Bandung: Day 2 - October 2012

     On the second day, we actually one of the other teachers join us on the trip (Eduardo). He decided that he needed to get out of Jakarta, so he came to Bandung to join us on our mini trip. He got there pretty early, but we didn't not get going until way later than we should have. Oh well, we still had time to do quite a bit. The first thing we needed to do was try and find a driver for the day. We called one place and they were all booked, but we did find one when we called the second place. He didn't speak much English, but that was okay. We had our phrasebook. That thing has come in handy so much. 

     We didn't end up leaving until around Noon. One of the Chinese teachers, Fanita, slept for so long! I couldn't believe how much she slept on the trip. I think she may have been the last one to get ready for the day. Our first stop on our adventure for the day was the volcano! I was told before we left for Bandung that the volcano was due to erupt anytime. Awesome, but they were still letting people up to view it. I am glad that I didn't have to hike up to the top of this one like we did in Bali. We were actually able to drive all the way to the top. When we got up there, we got out of the van and walked around. There was so much steam coming out of the volcano. It probably was going to erupt at any time! Right when we got out, there were guys trying to sell us stuff. You just kind of have to ignore them and shoo them away. 

     The view was so amazing. I had never seen anything like it before, but I was looking down into the volcano. I guess you are able to walk down into the crater of the volcano, but I think they had it closed off so people couldn't do that. Amber, the Chinese girls and Eduardo all rode on horses for a bit around the volcano. I didn't really want to, so I just waited for them and took some pictures. They had a Lady Gaga horse! Haha, the horse had pink hair and her name was actually Gaga. Of course we just had to get pictures taken with her. We took a lot of pictures together and then walked around to all the little shops that they had up on the volcano. They had some interesting little shops with things that you could buy like carvings and paintings. 

     It was starting to get dark, so we decided we should probably get going. We asked our driver in the best Bahasa that we could if he recommended another place for us to go. The other place that we wanted to go to was closed. He recommended going to the hot springs, so we all agreed. We had been wanting to see the hot springs anyway, but the ones that we wanted to go to were closed. He knew another place that would still be open. 

     We got to the place and we paid the entry fee. We walked past an area that looked like a locker room, and we all just kind of looked at each other. I guess people actually came there to swim in the hot springs. We didn't really think anything of it, but when we got out there, all we saw was a pool! We walked around a little more and we didn't see anything else. We were so confused. We asked the other people at the pool, "di mana hot springs?" They pointed to the pool. What!? Yep, that's what we went to see. We were a little disappointed at first, but then we walked over by the pool and dipped our feet in. Wowzers, was it hot! Haha. It took me awhile to be able to put my legs in all the way. I don't know how some people were bathing in it completely? It was actually quite relaxing, and we learned that it is one of the nicest hot springs in Bandung, because they have turned it into a pool. They are able to take care of it. 

     After the hot springs, we had the driver take us to this restaurant called Kampung Daun. We had heard it was in the valley of the mountains and that it was very nice. Well, they were right. I loved the place. We got there and it was a lit driveway up to the restaurant. It was so pretty. When we got there, they showed us to our little hut where we would be eating. You ate outside in a little hut that was dimly lit. The food prices were decent and it was really good. Amber ordered some sate that was delicious! I had some strawberry tea, pasta and of course some cheesecake for dessert. Our driver actually ate with us too, because we had to pay for his meal. Usually the cost of your driver doesn't include their meal so you have to provide one. He didn't really seem to want to sit with us, but we wanted him to. They probably aren't used to people asking them to eat with them. We really enjoyed the meal and the conversation. We even included the driver and asked him some questions in Bahasa using our phrasebook. He was a very nice guy, and he seemed to enjoy himself. 

     After we were finished eating, it was time to go back to the hotel. The drive was about an hour or so to get back. That was the end of our little mini trip. 

     The next morning we all got up, and checked out of our hotel. We decided to check out a little restaurant called Nannys Pavillon for breakfast. It was recommended by another teacher from the school. It was a pancake house, so they had a ton of different types of pancakes that you could get, but it seemed to all be served with ice cream. They did have some pasta and appetizers that you could order too, so I ordered some food and shared it with Eduardo.

     We went to the mall where our transportation would be picking us up to go back to Jakarta. It took us forever to get back. We came upon an accident where a truck had been completely crushed. Then we came upon another one on the side of the road. We think that because of the rain, there were accidents. Then when we got closer to Jakarta, the traffic got bad. I slept most of the time, so it went by quickly. 

Bandung: Day 1 - October 2012

     We had a week holiday in October from school, so we decided to take a mini vacation. I was invited to go to Thailand with some of the other teachers, but I didn't really want to spend a lot of money on a hotel and a plane ticket. Amber and I got a few of the Chinese teachers to come with us on our trip. Many people have been to Bandung, so it was easy to plan. We just had to ask other teachers at school where they recommended us to go. A lot of people actually go to Bandung as a day trip because it is so close. It is a popular place to go, because this is where all the good, cheap shopping is. We thought we had to check it out. We got my friend Lana, a local Indonesian, to help us book our bus tickets to go. You only had to pay about $8 (US) for a one way ticket. The trip there was only about two hours, so that's not bad at all.

     We arrived there very early in the morning. We stayed at a hotel called Scarlet Hotel in the Dago area. It was a very nice hotel that included free breakfast for us in the morning. We actually didn't reserve a room, so we got to pick one out when we got there. It was very quiet, as there were not many people staying there. 

Amber is loving the beds :) 

This is the view from the shower...haha. Don't worry there was a curtain. 

     After we got all settled in, off we went for our day of shopping. We decided to do shopping on the first day and sights on the second day. We saw a McDonald's on the way, so we decided to get lunch. After lunch, we started walking down the street. We didn't quite know where we were going, but that was the way that everyone was telling us to go. We were walking along and we weren't really seeing anything, so we started to ask people along the way in our horrible Bahasa Indonesia. We must have been going in the right direction, because not long after, we came to a bunch of stores that were outlets. We stopped at one outlet store and then decided to take a taksi to some of the bigger outlet stores that we had heard of. 

     As we were riding in the taksi, we saw that the street we were on, was lined with outlet stores. We just hadn't walked far enough yet. The driver of the taksi took us to one of the big outlet stores. We looked around for awhile and some of the girls found shoes and bags to buy. After that, we got a taksi and went to another mall called Paris Van Java. Amber and I got the craziest cab driver in Bandung I think. He didn't speak much English, so we were using our phrasebook. Amber decided to look at the "Talking" section. It had questions that you could ask people just to make small talk. Haha, one of the questions that she asked him was if he had any children. Apparently he thought that meant that Amber wanted to reproduce with him. Haha, moving on. We started to ask him other questions. He was just a cooky driver. He asked us if we wanted to go to the club with him and go dancing later that night. Poor drivers, they must get so bored, they have to find their entertainment somehow. It sure occupied us on the way there. 

     After we got there, we walked around and did a little shopping. Amber and I found this really good bubble tea place. I ordered a fruity tea, with fruit bubbles. It was the best bubble tea I had ever had. So delicious! :) We didn't really stay in that mall for very long, because we didn't really find much and we wanted to go a mall called Rumah Mode, which means "house of style" in Bahasa Indonesia. Finding a taksi to get there was a little harder. Amber did a good job of practicing her Bahasa and asked a worker at a restaurant to help us. For some reason when we called to get a taksi, they wouldn't answer, so he tried for us. He was finally able to get us a taksi so that we could leave. 

     Rumah Mode was just one big store that had a lot of clothes in it that were so cheap! I didn't really find anything that I liked, but the other girls bought quite a few things. I guess I am just picky. We stayed at that store until they were closing. We were getting hungry so we decided to try and take a cab to a restaurant that we had heard about.

     Well, that was the longest cab ride! We went all the way to the other side of town thinking that it was the right way, when we were only about 5 minutes from the restaurant to begin with. The driver drove us all the way back through town to the restaurant to have it be closed! Poor guy. We asked him if he had any suggestions as to where we should go, so he took us to a Pasta Warung near our hotel. The food was pretty good, although we didn't get as much food as we thought we were going to.

     After we got done eating, we actually took one of the little buses back to our hotel. It was a fun little experience. We have seen buses just like it in Jakarta, but we had never taken one. You always see them jammed packed with people sitting on the benches in the bus. They probably should only fit about eight or so people, but of course they fit more. This is Indonesia. Since it was getting late, there wasn't anyone in this bus. It only cost us 20 cents to take a ride on this bus. It is just a rickety little bus that seemed like it wasn't going to make it up the hills. I'm glad we did! 

     After we got home, we were all pretty tired, so we went to bed after watching a little tv.     

Padang Padang Beach and Uluwatu: Bali

     We decided to check out the temple, Uluwatu in Bali. We were told that the best time to go is at sunset to watch the traditional dance that they have there every night. We knew there was a beach nearby, so we decided to chill there for the day while waiting. It was a little ways from our hotel, so we took a taksi there. The guy dropped us off, and we weren't really sure where we were going. We found the stairs that took us down to the beach. We had to walk through a tight space between two rocks to get down to the beach. It was pretty neat. Of course, people were trying to fit through the tunnel more than one person at a time and it just wasn't working too well. We had to stop quite often to let someone through. 

     When we got down to the beach, we saw lots of vendors that were selling t-shirts, sarongs, and food. We hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we checked out the places while walking by. We walked around for a little bit trying to find a place to set our towels where we could save spots for the rest of our friends that were supposed to be coming. Little did we know, they got dropped off in a different spot of the beach and we never found them. We thought the beach was small because it was surrounded by a lot of large "rocks". I guess there were other parts that you could go to, but you couldn't swim there. We were able to swim at the area we were in. I couldn't believe how clear the water was. You could see right to the bottom! It was kind of tricky walking out to the water, because there were lots of rocks. You had to try and find a good spot, or just swim, so you didn't hurt your feet. We relaxed on the beach for quite awhile before we left to go to the temple.

     

     It was impossible for us to find a taksi to get to the temple. We would find one, and this guy would send it away! We were so mad. We found out that the beach had it's own transport that you had to pay for to go to Uluwatu. Of course, they would send taksis away. We even tried to call a taksi and they told us that they wouldn't come to that beach and pick us up. I guess if you wanted a taksi, you needed to walk away from the beach and find one. Anyway, we took the beach transport, which was only one way.

     When we got to the temple, they made us all put on a wrap because of the clothes that we were wearing. We were all in our swimming suits with just shorts and tank tops on. You have to be dressed properly to go into the temple. Sadly, the sunset dance was sold out, but the view of the sun going down was amazing. It was like you were watching the sun sink into the ocean. After the sun was completely down, we walked around the temple and checked it out. The others had left already since they missed the dance. I think they were all getting tired, but they missed an amazing view of the sunset. There were monkeys at this temple as well, but not nearly as many as there were in Monkey Forest. 

     Luckily, when we went to leave, we found a taksi. I guess you were supposed to have your taksi driver sit and wait for you while you tour the temple. Well, we didn't have one to begin with so we couldn't do that. The driver was a really nice guy. He said, "I just knew there would be some girls looking for a taksi, so I just stayed." Haha. We're lucky that he did. There was a traffic jam (macet in Bahasa) on the way home, so it took us awhile. We didn't really mind since we were in no hurry. 

Potato Head: Bali

   
     One of the nights that we were in Bali, we went to this restaurant called Potato Head. It was very fancy and right on the ocean. All of us girls wore dresses, also because we were planning on going out after eating. When we got there, there was a huge line of people waiting to get in. Good thing we had made a reservation. We were able to get right in. I should have known that it was going to be expensive, but wow! It's Bali, so I guess I shouldn't have expected it to be cheap. I ordered a drink, which probably cost me about $10 (US), and a meal that cost me about $20 (US). I tried to find something affordable, but good on the menu. I ended up getting a sandwich, which was delicious. I was happy to know that I was getting a good meal for what I was paying for it. We sat around and talked, before we moved to the lower part of the bar. They had an area that had a pool in this beach club. If you wanted to sit on a couch, you had to rent it for like $50 (US)!! We definitely didn't want to do that, so we went and found some seats over by the bar.
     It was dark already so we decided to go and check out the ocean. I could not believe it! It was so beautiful at night. I was standing in the Indian Ocean in Bali at night. We played around in the water, took some pictures and just enjoyed our time. The air was fresh, and you could see the moon and the stars in the sky. It was so much different than being in Jakarta at night. I had never appreciated being able to see the stars and the moon as much as I did then.

     

     As we walked back up to the beach club, there was a small stream of water flowing through where you would wash the sand from your feet. We went and sat back down at our seats, and ordered a few drinks. We met a couple of Australians that decided to come and talk to us. I can't remember their names, but they were interesting. They were in Bali for the holiday, which was not surprising. It is the place to be for the Australians. They invited us to a party that they were going to later and we thought, why not? They decided to get up and start talking to some other people and then they never came back. Oh well, we decided we were going to do our own thing. We decided to leave and find another place to go out. 

     We had to take two cabs, because some of the others went back to the hotel to get money. Danna and I took one together and we got a little lost. We were dropped off in the wrong spot, which is another story that isn't really worth telling. Anyway, Danna and I had to try and ask people for directions to get to where we were going. We didn't want to pay to take a cab again, because we were so close to where we needed to be. I programmed the address of where we were supposed to be going into my phone and we started to walk. I don't know how much I will listen to my GPS on my phone again. It took us down some dark backstreets that I probably would not have been safe walking on by myself. I felt a little scared walking even with Danna. We passed a lot of Magic Mushroom places where guys sitting around outside tried to get our attention. We just kept on going. Finally, we made it to where we needed to be to meet up with the others.

     The bar was called The Tavern. It had really good music, and when we got there, they were having a drink special going on. You could buy a whole water bottle of a mixer. It was buy 1, get one free. We ended up paying about $3.50/water bottle. Not bad at all. They played all of the same music that would be played at any club/bar in America. We had some sketchy guys come up and start dancing with us, and we tried to get rid of them. It wasn't working very well, so we just left the dance floor until they went away. After awhile, there weren't very many people on the dance floor, so we got our whole group, plus some others that we didn't know to make a circle and start dancing. We all took turns going in the middle and dancing. It was so funny. We got so many people to join our circle, and it lasted for quite awhile. 

     When it was time to leave it was not too hard to find a cab. They are pretty much driving around everywhere waiting to pick people up. A lot of people will stay out until the sun comes up in Bali, but we went home at a fairly decent time. We were all pretty tired and ready to go home around 2:30 am. The bar was starting to clear out, and we didn't feel like going anywhere else. I will say that I did enjoy my night out in Bali. 

     One of our last nights in Bali, everyone decided to go out to the clubs/bars as a last hurrah before going home. Unfortunately, I didn't feel well. I don't know what it was. I don't know if it was something I ate, or if I was just tired, but I was not going to make it. I showered, got dressed up and everything, but I did not feel up to going by the time everyone was ready. I went straight to bed at 9 pm, and was woken up by everyone when they came home. The only thing I remember hearing was one of the girls saying, "Oh my gosh! I have a whistle in my purse!" I had no idea what she was talking about, but I went back to sleep. Of course I did find out the story behind the whistles. Apparently some Australians had these whistles at the bar and they were being annoying by blowing them to the music. Well, I guess my friends would go up to them and dance with them and steal the whistles from around their necks. My friend was proud that she was able to steal one and bring it back to the hotel with her. Haha. I guess I missed out. 

     I still had an amazing time in Bali, even though I didn't feel well that last night. I probably needed the rest anyway. 

Ubud, Bali

     While in Bali, we went to Ubud. It has a little more culture for you to see instead of the tourist, beach areas. The first place that we went to was Monkey Forest. I was told that this place was scary, because the monkeys will attack you, but I didn't really think anything of it. We were walking along, and the monkeys were all over the place! I mean they were right next to you on the pathway. Some of them were eating and others were just kind of hanging out. Before you go in there is a sign that tells you all of the "rules" of being in the Monkey Forest. Let's just say I am glad that I had all of my belongings close to me. It was a very beautiful place that you could walk around in, with the monkeys of course.
     When we got to the top of the hill near the temple there were lots of people up there. We saw one guy that was hanging onto some food and teasing the monkey. Of course, the monkey crawled right up his arm and took the food out of his hand. They are not afraid to approach you. We also saw another instance where a man and a woman had a guidebook out and one of the monkeys came and stole it from them. They are sneaky little devils. The man actually chased the monkey down over the bank into the forest to get his book back. Not long after he came back up, and he actually had gotten the book back from the monkey. Haha.
     If you sat down on the rock ledges, the monkeys would actually come and sit next to you or on your lap. There was this one guy that had a necklace on, and he had a monkey come up and sit right on his lap. The monkey sat there and played with his necklace. The monkey was so cute...so you think! There was one girl who the monkeys did not like at all. They actually bit her! They either like you or they don't, I guess.

     While I was sitting down on the ledge a monkey came over next to me, and I asked Amber to get a picture. She took my camera and she actually got two. There is no better way than to just show you what happened in the two pictures.

The monkey looks like he wants to get inside my bag. 

Attack of the monkey!

     Amber didn't even mean to take the second one. My camera took two pictures and it was like a before and after picture. I was so surprised, as you can see from the picture, when the monkey jumped on me. He jumped right on me and hopped over my shoulder. Then he ran down the bank. Haha, what an experience. I didn't sit down on the ledges anymore after that.
     As we were walking along after that, Danna, was taking a picture of a monkey that was right in front of us on the pathway. All of a sudden, a monkey comes up and jumps on her backpack and tries to grab her water bottle. Now, I don't think I would have done this, but Danna's first instinct was to grab at the monkey. Haha, she wanted to fight the monkey for her water bottle. I was just like, Danna! What are you doing?! She let go of the monkey and it had her water bottle. Then when the monkey did drop her water bottle, she was too busy taking a picture that she didn't grab it. Another monkey picked it up! One of the guys that worked there came over and distracted the monkey so that we could get the water bottle back. Of course the water bottle went inside her backpack after that.
     I have never been so close to monkeys in my life. It was quite the experience, and I do believe the lady who told me not to go there because the monkeys are scary. If you are smart though, they won't really bother you.
     We ate at a pretty good restaurant that served pork before going to the Royal Palace. When we got to the Royal Palace, we just walked around the area and checked it out. We took a lot of pictures, and we actually saw some of the Royal family coming in and out of some of the buildings. Here are some of the pictures that I took while I was there.