Turtles!

We went down to the main kuta beach area today to visit the Bali Sea Turtle Society (BSTS) (BSTS facebook page). The centre finds the turtle eggs laid on the beach and transfers them to the protected turtle hatchery, that looks like a giant turtle. This gives the little guys a better chance of surviving until they hatch and can be released to the sea.





This is not the regular nesting season for turtles but a clutch of Olive Ridley turtles just hatched this week. This turtle grows to an average adult length of 70 cms.


As a way to build awareness, solicit conservation donations and generally entertain tourists, you can release your own turtle. J and I of course decided to release two turtles. I named mine Tony and J named his lazy. True to his name, Lazy was the last to make it to the water when we released all the turtles. A total of 79 baby turtles were safely released into the ocean.






These little ones face a dangerous journey to adulthood. This journey is compounded by human pollution and garbage. As I stroll the beach much of the garbage I see is plastic bags, cigarette butts and straws. Please reduce plastic use, recycle, don't litter and invest in reusable shopping bags and straws such as these lovely stainless steel straws.




“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” ― Chief Seattle

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Ants in the pants

Yesterday we had a very full itinerary. We hired a driver and went to Uluwatu temple, Uluwatu cave and Padang Padang beach. The Uluwatu temple is full of macaque monkeys, much like the ones in Ubud forest. The Uluwatu monkeys seem a little more mischievous than the ones in Ubud. Almost immediately one jumped up on J's shoulder and another grabbed my shorts and bit the hem. However, they are undeniably adorable.


We trekked down the sketchiest stairs ever to get the cave that opens out to Uluwatu beach area. The area is mostly full of people surfing further off shore but the cave area itself was beautiful to view. The stairs were stone and concrete and one narrow section was elevated in mid air with no rails on either side. There are the extra obstacles of avoiding the little Hindu basket offerings, called Canang Sarileft here and there (stairs, sidewalks, entrances etc). "Canang Sari is one of Daily Balinese hindus people offerings. Canang Sari is made from young yellow palm leafs, Flowers, and foodstuff an art form assosiated with every ritual in Bali. Balinese believe in the forces of the invisible worlds dictates that offerings be created with a spirit of thankfulness and loving attention to detail. Balinese always offering Canang sari every day, except there are some one death around village." quote source: http://www.nakbali.com/canang-sari-daily-ritual-offering/

Check out this video of Uluwatu Cave to see the amazing cave and dodgy stairs. As J says the best stuff is often at the end of a lot of stairs. We enjoyed lunch over looking the ocean on the cliff on the other side of the cave.


We stopped off at Padang Padang Beach. The sheltered cove was amazing and we just had to swim in it. Unfortunately there were no changing rooms so we ducked into the bush and changed into our swimsuits. Thankfully no people, or monkeys, stumbled upon us.

After our full day we spent the evening watching some tv and eating almonds. As we were eating I noticed an ant on the duvet, and then another, and then a whole troupe. The almonds that J was feeding to me we're out of a bag completely full of ants. It's really our fault since we broke the rule of no food storage in the room. Last time we broke the rule in a hut in the Andaman's in India we had a cockroach invasion. So we dumped the almonds into the garbage out side our room, in the attached outdoor shower. I watched them march out of the bin, thousands in single file, each one with a tiny almond crumb. This morning J dried off with the towel after his shower. Unfortunately it was covered in ants, one of which bit him. I call it ants in the pants but really there were no pants at all.

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Back in Bali!

We are staying in kuta area of Bali for a month. A few years ago we visited Indonesia for 5 weeks and the Bali section of our trip was spent mostly in scenic Ubud. This time around we are staying near the surf area so J can learn to surf. We will also take some boat trips out to snorkel. Kuta has a lot of mixed reviews as it is quite busy, crowded and noisy but it's also convenient with countless restaurants and shops, and right near the beach where beginners can learn surfing. This blogger has a nice article on the benefits of kuta beach; Kuta; surf beach for the everyman
We are staying at the new Kayun Hostel. It's convenient and has some good amenities; pool, free wifi, free breakfast, rooms with attached bath, comfy beds, and modern decor.
Just two days in and the food has been terrific. We have had two delicious Lebanese meals. The picture below shows the yummy mezza plate I had for the cost of $3.80 Canadian.


We also ate at the lovely Little Green Cafe. We had a veggie burger (ball shaped) with two salads and cake for dessert.


We attempted to locate another vegetarian restaurant today but that is when we discovered that the address numbers are random and not in order. So we will try again tomorrow knowing which landmark is near it. However we did get a chance to see some pretty rice paddies and cute cows.


We ran into some cranky tourists who were not kind to the locals during the landing procedures. They argued very rudely with the visa on arrival people suggesting that the visa was not required and aggressively demanding their change once they finally paid. A quick Internet search of course would reveal to travelers that a visa is in fact required for most, the cost and they fact that you are supposed to have exact change. I wanted to say something but J reminded me that it would not help the situation. I am reminded of the quote “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. ” ― Wayne W. Dyer. I was still harboring some ill feelings towards these tourists when I had a timely reminder of the importance of metta in a huffington post article; Don't put anyone out of your heart. And then I ran across this graffiti near the beach.


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