After a few days in Hong Kong, we took a short 5 hour flight to Denpasar, Indonesia. Desitination: Bali.
We booked a quiet but incredibly luxurious resort in Nusa Dua, a haven for honeymooners and what seemed a lot like couples on a last ditch attempt to save their relationship (long story).
We booked a quiet but incredibly luxurious resort in Nusa Dua, a haven for honeymooners and what seemed a lot like couples on a last ditch attempt to save their relationship (long story).
I must caveat this post by saying the purpose of this trip was rest and relaxation over culture and exploration. So leaving the resort was definitely not a priority. At least not in the daytime. Daytime was premium tanning time for my companions.
We were coerced by our travel agent into booking two expeditions, one to see the dolphins and the other to visit some of the local merchants and tradespeople in Ubud.
Dolphin spotting started at 6AM.
We were lucky, the water was calm, the weather was clear, and the dolphins came out to play. Out of 100+ attempts, I managed to get these two shots of a family of bottlenose dolphins.
On our second expedition, we took a half day road trip to Ubud to visit a selection of pre-planned tourist activities. I was most looking forward to seeing the infamous rice terraced fields but sadly we arrived just after the harvest. We did manage to find a random rice patch whose owner was still procrastinating.
Next we visited an artist collective to check out some of the local talents. The amount of detail these guys work with is crazy and so intricate!
I loved that he was using the palm of his hand as his palette. Apparently some of these works take a few months to complete. I got all up in his face and he remained unperturbed.
Then we went to a local Luwak factory. Luwak coffee is coffee produced by the luwak animals eating coffee beans, digesting them, and then pooping them out where they are then cleaned and processed. I tried some, tasted like coffee. In fairness, I'm a latte drinker but the "long black" drinkers enjoyed the flavours.
We got a tour of the owner's compound (wealthy Balinese homes are purpose built with temples at the centre). The owner had a pet monkey who was just delightful.
Last stop of the day was an artisan collective where apprentices and local tradesmen learn to create sculptures out of different types of wood.
After a long long day, we returned to the comforts of the resort and managed to catch the last of the sunset. The tide on our beach was out from around 3 - 8 every day which was a bit of a shame but the with the light I couldn't resist trying to capture it.
Walking along, I spotted 2 fishermen who we saw every day as soon as the tide went out. They looked so mesmerizing, really made me wish I was a braver photographer and had gone further into the water to capture them.
Magical.
xxs