Views Ed. 8 Bali, Indonesia

New Year's Eve in Bali

            We were due to set off about 7am on a Saturday. On Friday, the night before, I got a text message from the airline saying that our flight had been rescheduled for 1:45pm instead, and we had an 11 hour layover in Malaysia. After spending the night in Malaysia, we hopped on a plane to Bali. We finished with customs and all that fun traveling stuff about 1pm. A driver was supposed to meet us. He never came. Waited until 4pm. Found a cab who would drive us the 2+ hours to get to our hotel. Checked in and reassured ourselves that the previous 40 hours would be the lowest point on the trip. 

 

            After we unpacked we inquired the concierge about tours and whatnot. We signed up for a trip to an elephant sanctuary for the following day, and a trek up a volcano at 4am on New Year's Eve.

            The elephant we rode was named Lady Gaga. Her trainer's English name was Alex. He moved from Sumatra 8 years prior to escape political corruption and a generally meager quality of life. He also joked vehemently about the elephants' meter long erections. He was quite the charmer. We had a good time with him.

  

  

Taking Pictures on an Elephant is no Easy Feat

            On the way back from the sanctuary our driver pulled over to the side of the road to show us some rice paddies. Plant particles lay suspended in the brownish green murkiness. A flock of ducks swam by to greet us.

            We woke up at 2am on New Year's Eve to get ready for our hike. The driver would pick us up about 3am, and we would arrive at the base of the volcano around 4am. It took about an hour and a half to hike up the 1717m volcano, in complete darkness, using nothing but a flashlight. Once we got to the summit we watched the sunrise.

           The sky shifted from navy blue, to increasingly softer shades as the sun rose higher and the clouds dispersed. From the top you could see the caldera at the bottom, since evolved into a lake.

We were told the peak facing opposite us was a four hour hike

            As we started making our way down, we came to the second caldera, which was situated on the opposite face of the peak we ascended. We were greeted by cheeky primates.

            The most recent eruption had taken place within the last ten years, and the path of the lava forced an entire village to move. The brown snakelike, unearthed paths are where the lava flowed. It is still in the process of being developed into farmland.

Onion Farms

Our View From Breakfast Following the Hike

Our driver insisted on showing us the rice paddies

Words Can't Describe the Contempt I Have For This Woman

            Our hotel was just down the street from the Monkey Forest. We decided to save this for last. Kiosks sold bunches of bananas for $5. They were for the monkeys. I ate them. They were good. I gave the rest to the monkeys. They were not to be trifled with.

Hear No Evil See No Evil Speak No Evil

            At some point after this picture was taken, a monkey jumped onto my backpack. He thought I had bananas in it. I did not. I did as I was instructed earlier to do, drop everything in my hands and put my hands and arms out to show the monkey I did in fact have nothing. It was at this point that I felt a warming sensation on my shoulder, followed by something wet. Then I realized I had just been pissed on by a monkey. As the monkey darted off before I could reprimand it, a flock of German tourists came waltzing by and proceeded to make fun of the entire situation. 

We rode elephants,

Hiked an active volcano.

Monkey peed on me.