Monday, January 21, 2013

Bali: dangerous surf conditions, kebays, and Uluwatu

I feel like I really cheated Kadek's sister out of a learning opportunity.

The night we got back from Ubud, her younger sister asked me to help her with her homework.  She was supposed to transcribe into English a 3 minute audio clip.  I took me a couple of minutes and Kadek said her sister would have been up all night doing it.  The audio clip was actually really channeling.  It seemed to be a clip form National Geographic or other documentary, and had complex sentences and words like "subterranean" and "tectonic plates" .  We laughed about how impressed her teacher was going to be when she read it.


The next morning, I didn't get up until late.  Kadek bought me Burbur Ayam Javanese for breakfast.  Its a porridge with chicken.

Then we set out on her motorbike for Kuta beach.  It was time for surfing lesson #2.

I actually found my same instructor when we got to the beach!  I was really excited to work with him again.  But then he said that the waves were very dangerous that morning and it would be better in the evening.  It was a shame since my flight to Manila was that evening at 5:45pm.  I appreciated he didn't take my money and have me surf with rough waves.

So Kadek took me on a tour of the island.  We went to Padang Beach, famous for its international surfing competitions.



I saw a Western girl there, probably in her mid twenties, surfing by herself.  She left when we left and I saw her drive away on her own on a motorbike.  How incredible is that!  I love how traveling opens up my eyes to people doing really cool things in their life.  Its very inspiring.  One of these days I too want to learn how to drive a motorbike.  And I also want to become a better swimmer.

We stopped to get sucking pig, a pig cook at age 2-6 weeks old.  It was served with the meat, fried skin, and fried blood.  I did try the blood but to me it didn't have much taste.

We went back to Kadek's house to change for Uluwatu.  I thought we were just going to take off our swimsuits but then Kadek took out her kebays!  She lent me her pink one which had a beautiful floral trimming.  I felt so bad for wearing it since didn't even shower that morning (I was still feeling very clean after the purification ceremony) but she said it was ok!  We then drove to Uluwatu, one of several sea temples in Bali.  Uluwatu is one of nine directional temples meant to protect Bali from evil spirits.









Neither of us brought a watch and when we asked someone for the time it was almost 3pm.  As we exited the temple, a monkey climbed on her shoulder and snatched her glasses!  The monkey ran with it into the forest.  I was at a loss of what to do.  The closer we went to the monkey, the more it ran away.  We could see that it was chewing up her glasses.  Eventually, a temple worker came and was able to get the glasses from the monkey.  Kadek was very lucky that they were only a little scratched.

We hurried back to her house for me to shower, change, and pack.  Since it was just us, I had to be the one holding my luggage on her motorbike on the way to the airport.  I lifted my luggage one behind her and put it in my lap. I said, "I'm so Asian!"  as we sped away with my luggage on my lap.

Kakek parked and walked with me all the way to my gate.  She gave me a small book and a magnet.

I was off to Manila.


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