Bali

Bali surprised me with it's size and depth. I expected a small island with limited sightseeing opportunities, but I was pleasantly mistaken.

Bali is roughly twice the size of Oahu, but home to four million people, with a delta of roads that wind their way up the sides of the multiple volcanic mountains with many small villages along the way. Not many big highways, not a lot of clear road signs. So travel can be tricky and confusing. Most people hire a driver or a tour bus to take them anywhere substantially out of town. But I'm not most people. I rented a motorbike. And I used it.

Points of interest are abundant, from ancient temples, to tropical bird sanctuaries, to hot springs. I had a happy hopelessness that I certainly wouldn't see nearly all of it.

Here is a rundown of some sights I managed to lay eyes on:

Ubud Monkey Forest

I didn't have to travel far to see some wildlife. My villa was located on Monkey Forest Road which is named for the cool monkey preserve located smack in the middle of Ubud. There are no cages. No fences. The monkeys, Balanese long-tailed macaques, just roam free in this park. I'm not sure why they don't wander off into town. Nothing's keeping them from doing so, except the constant supply of potatoes and bananas getting handed to them in the park. I guess that's enough.

I've never really been surrounded by monkeys before. I was a little uneasy at first. There are a lot of them. Everywhere.

They are sort of human-like in their facial expressions. It was a little eery. But they were pretty docile for the most part. As I walked by them, they would look me up and down to see what I was carrying. This is because ladies sell small bananas to tourist on their way into the forest.

They didn't, however, appear to be warning people that those bananas are like crack to the monkeys. If they see you have some, they will bum rush you. They'll ask nicely for about three seconds. If you hold out on them, they'll take matters into their own opposable-thumbed hands. I saw one girl get mugged. First a monkey climbed onto her back trying to grab one. She screamed, but for some reason she wouldn't give it to him. Probably just too shocked. I yelled, "Give. Him. A. Banana!" It worked. But soon after, another monkey held out his had demanding another one. She gave it to him. But he didn't leave. He pocketed that one and demanded the rest. She hesitated briefly, then capitulated - and the bully scampered off with the whole mother load.

But it was all in good fun. If you were banana free, they more or less ignored you and went about their monkey business: grooming their friends for bugs, playing king of the dirt heap, eating, or napping.

Lake Batur

Anytime someone says "hot springs," I pretty much have my pen out scribbling directions before they finish their next sentence. Chad said he had been to some volcanic hot springs at the lake just below Mount Batur after he had done a sunrise hike there a couple weeks before. He wanted to head back up there again with me, but the day we were supposed to go, something came up and I was on my own.

It would be a bit more of an adventure heading up the mountain alone, but I didn't have many extra days to wait around, so I went for it.

I bought a road map, but really the only directions were: Take the road out of Ubud that heads uphill. Keep going uphill until you get to the rim of the volcano. Then look for the big lake in the crater. Find hot springs near lake.

Heading out of town I noted all of the homes and business displaying their wares along the road. It became clear to me how much of the local economy is based in arts and crafts. Each building had a different specialty. Some had hand carved furniture; some had big wooden cats; some were galleries with paintings hanging; some made ceramics. It appeared this was more than just an island of rice farmers and hotel folk. Art is a real part of their culture and economy.

After an hour or so of driving uphill I realized my super-fuel-efficient scooter was likely to run out of gas, and I hadn't seen any gas stations for awhile. It was getting more and more rural. I began to realize why many homes had glass bottles of yellowish liquid on display. They are the country gas stations. Convenient ones too. The Absolut Vodka bottle of unleaded gasoline proves that it's exactly one liter. Fifty cents, and I had bought myself another hour on the road.

As I neared the top of the mountain, a man frantically waved me down to stop. He yelled, "Police! Police!" He wanted to warn me that there was a police roadblock ahead. They are known to cite tourists for driving without a proper international driver's license. I told him it was ok. I had a proper license. But he insisted that I follow him on a shortcut around the roadblock. I figured it couldn't hurt so I went with him. I wanted to trust him, but after a half mile or so I thought maybe it wasn't such a great plan.

He didn't bring me to an ambush - just a tourist restaurant where he'd presumably collect some kind of commission for my patronage. I went into the restaurant but didn't really feel like eating there and headed out. He got upset, but I wasn't interested in anything more he had to say. I just headed for the lake.

The road down the rim of the caldera toward the lake was super steep and full of hairpin switchbacks. I had to be careful of my speed, careful of sand in the road, careful of other cars and trucks. But it didn't take long to get down to lake level where I hit a T in the road. I didn't expect a choice here. There were signs pointing in both directions and some men sitting under the sign. I hesitated just long enough, before riding off to the left, to indicate to them I might be lost... and so picked up another interested local who caught up to me on his bike and asked me to stop.

I knew if I stopped for him, he'd probably want something from me. But I kind of needed his help. Indeed, he whipped out a small box filled with drawings. He said he is an artist and he'd like me to check out his work. He wasn't super clean and seemed like he could use some money. He said he knew the hot springs and would take me there.

Normally I'm not big on buying lots of things when I'm traveling. But in this case I had a reason. We could help each other. The drawings were actually very nice. I wasn't totally convinced he really drew them, but considering the artisan culture here it seemed entirely possible. I picked a drawing of two characters, Jayaprana and Layonsari, from a Romeo and Juliet-type story I heard from a local that week. He packed it carefully and lovingly into a torn piece of cardboard so it wouldn't get bent up in my bag, and then escorted me to the Toya Devasya hot springs.

The hot springs are developed, not the natural kind I found in Washington. The warm water feeds into some small pools in a resort-style pool area with a view of Lake Batur. Soaking in that mineral water was a relaxing way to recover from the long ride up and the resort seemed like a good place to stay if one wanted to spend a few days exploring the volcano.

Me. I'd just be happy to find my way home, which I did, and I only got lost three or four times.

Green School

I met Stara in Ubud. She's a teacher from California and had come out to Bali to see about possibly working at Green School, an experiment in high-quality progressive education with green values and architecture - or as our tour guide put it, "more than just a hippy school in the jungle."

They give guided tours twice a week after school hours, and Stara, who had been volunteering there, invited me over to check it out.

I had lost track of time that afternoon and didn't really leave myself enough time to make it considering I hadn't been there before. But miraculously, I remembered enough of the directions and just barely arrived in time for the tour.

The kids were all just leaving for the day and all seemed very relaxed and shiny. I signed in and Stara ushered me into the already-started presentation.

I felt like I was going on a tour of Jurassic Park. The grounds were stunning. Towering bamboo structures surrounded by green jungle. Everything is made of bamboo, including all of the custom made classroom furniture. It is one of best green building materials because of its strength and how fast it grows back after harvest. The beautiful main building is the largest bamboo structure in Asia. It's no surprise that they have won some prestigious architectural awards.

We checked out their zoo where they are protecting endangered species, and the gardens the students maintain to provide their own daily lunches. They have a water vortex, an ingenious way to harness electricity from the river running through the school. Even a mud wrestling arena.

It's an impressive show of motivation to make all of that happen in such a remote place.

I was pleased to see what happens when you combine lofty ideals and tons of human energy.

Tirta Gangga

Chad and I managed to get one road trip in together. He wanted to check out Tirta Gangga, a water temple built by a former king in the northeast mountains. On the way, we'd swing by a nice little-known beach he had seen once before.

After about an hour and a half we somehow found the lovely little beach and bumped our motorbikes down the rocky, muddy road to the secret place .

It reminded me of my beloved Thong Nai Pan Noi, but it was a little overcast, and the beach was lined with warungs waiting for us to sit down and patronize their businesses.

I was happy to sit down and have a refreshing drink and a swim after the long ride. We took a dip and then plopped down on some some lounge chairs. But then... drip... drip... drip... uh oh.

We ran for cover, and so did the stray dogs, as the sky opened up and poured down rain.

It stopped after a bit, but the day was flying by, so we headed back out to get to the water temple.

Tirta Gangga is another example of Balinese building prowess. If there is one thing they know, it is how to sculpt a lush landscape to maximize the use of water and create an enjoyable space. Kids were playing and swimming in one section while Chad and I walked an in-pool labyrinth and admired the exotic plants in the garden.

But the journey was so long to get here that the day was already almost over. We had to start thinking about the ride home.

A guy from the beach had tipped us off to a scenic ride back to Ubud. I kind of suspected it would take even longer than the ride up. But what the heck. Why not see some new scenery.

I'm glad we did. Because this was one of the most spectacular rides I made during my entire stay. We weaved through small villages and up along winding mountain roads; through unimaginable jungle valleys carved into rice terraces; much of this while the sun was setting over it all.

We relied heavily on the kindness of strangers. Every time we came to a fork in the road and stopped, a local person would approach us and ask where we wanted to go, and point us in the right direction. Sometimes they'd say "follow me!" and lead us out of the maze.

It was a great experience for me and galvanized my appreciation for the Balinese people and their lovely home.

Terima Kasih to the Balinese, my new favorite people.