Golden Week 2008: Part One-Taipei and Bali

*Big Sigh*...So, my last paid vacation here in Japan is over. This past Golden Week we were given 10 DAYS off, so we decided to go big and do it right. Travelling to all of these new places, I always find myself saying again and again, that I had the "time of my life" and "we didn't want to leave..." but it's always true. It's so awesome getting to see and discover different places, but our heart is always broken when we have to leave. We make ourselves feel better by vowing to return one day, but we know in the back of our head that there is a good possibility that we won't. This trip to Bali especially hit us hard because we were lucky enough to make some pretty good friends while we were there. They did everything for us simply because they wanted to make sure that we left with only great things to say about Bali to our friends. Get ready for a lot of pictures!


lana picking out good eats in taipei


spring rolls



crazy shilin night market

a few reasons why i love taipei



shave ice w/peanuts, beans, and other stuff

watermelon milk...we need this in the US

the most awesome shave ice ever

hello kitty nursery in taipei airport



yay! denpasar airport :) we're here!

bought my visa

when we arrived in denpasar it was smooth sailing...it's such a tiny airport, it reminds me of hilo. the hotel has a pick up service so there was a driver waiting for us holding a sign at the arrival gate. when we got into our hotel room, we were so excited...it was a really nice place for only 20 dollars a night!


haha stupid wind

goofing around


saturday-yen, sunday-new taiwan dollar (den), monday-rupiah

sunset-kuta beach





there were a lot of beautiful restaurants lining kuta beach


do you see that blue light? crazy yah?


then there were two lights!

discovery shopping center...where our story begins

our first try at some balinese food...

The story goes, we didn't know where to eat so we ended up eating in the shopping center's food court. It was just pretty bad indonesian fast food haha. So we're eating outside in the food court, and it over looks the beach. On the beach we see this restaurant that has these pretty little cabanas where you can sit in and have dinner. We were bummed that we hadn't seen it earlier, but just said we'd return the next day. After we were done with our food, we decided to walk down and just check out the menu. While we were there the guy who was the host was asking if we wanted to eat there, but we told him we already ate. He said we could come in and just have some drinks if we weren't hungry. Since Bali's economy is based on tourism, and Kuta is the foreigner gathering place, we were just sick of taxi's beeping, shop owners hollering, and so we just had our guard up not to trust anybody because they just wanted our money.

Anyway, we decide to sit down in the cabanas and have a bottle of wine because we didn't have anything else to do. The host and our waiter turned out to be really funny, honest guys and we had a lot of fun just talking story with them. When they had found out that it was our first night and first time to Bali, he startest suggesting all these things that we do. We later found out that the manager of that restaurant was also the manager of this other club called Musro, and that they all go work there after they're finished at the restaurant so we decided to tag along.


oyke (oh-ee-ka) the host

our crazy waiter who couldn't pronounce "andrea"

the live band at Musro...these guys rocked. we went to see them two nights in a row!

kuta's craziest nightclub "bounty"

oyke's friends are the dj's there

day 2

hotel pool

gas station

golf course

uluwatu-blue point (one of bali's most famous surfing spots)



renting boards






lana's battle scars

i got away with just a bunch of bruises

uluwatu sunset



much better indonesian food

that night we ended up at musro again, and then the guy on the left is the manager of the restaurant and musro, and he used to be the manager at hard rock cafe, so we went to hard rock to check out their live band, and they turned out to be pretty impressive!

we got used to riding these things everywhere!

day 3- oyke rented a car and he and his friend drove us around sightseeing all day!!! we just had to pay for the car and gas which came out to be like 15 dollars for the car and 10 dollars for gas :) i seriously don't know how we got so lucky...

first stop is Tanah Lot temple





field worker

next stop was Alaske Daton monkey temple



making friends


this monkey seriously came out of nowhere and landed on her head....i was dying laughing...

can you see all the bats hanging from the trees?

the gang

next-Taman Ayun Park, Tabanan

offerings

lotus







rawr







she was so cute i bought a watermelon from her

the guys were nice enough to take us to ubud to our next hotel - hotel tjampuhan which is 2 hours outside of kuta

view from our balcony



hotel tjampuhan is nestled deep in the forests of ubud. it's funny because you go to sleep to the sound of the river, frogs croaking, crickets ringing, and geckos squeeking...and people pay lots of money to stay here and relax...i just felt like i was at grandma hiura's house!




the hotel spa




the hotel rooms


hotel worker




BINTANG! what the locals drink...:)

fajitas!

that night we went to go check out the kecak dancing





day 4-breakfast buffet



the dining hall

our key...is it the same mom?

Tegallalang Rice Terrace




After Tegallalang we headed toward one of the more popular temples in central Bali. I lost the paper that had the name of this place :/ sorry...We got really lucky because there was a service going on, and so it was packed with local families all dressed up carrying loads of fruit, food, and clothes on their heads.




i love the offerings, they are spread out all over the ground everywhere...they're so colorful!


hello!

talent



cleansing before going into the temple, similar to how japanese wash their hands and wave the smoke over their head before going to pray. balinese people have the similar belief that you don't go to pray unless you're clean. for that same reason women aren't allowed inside during menstruation.






service

probably my favorite shot of the trip

lake batur




mount batur

our last bite of indo food...this was at a restaurant with a good view of mount batur

balinese rice wine (sake)...tasted like expired kikoman shoyu

watermelon juice

dessert-fried banana with black rice and coconut milk...sooo ono!

drive back to kuta

dinner at segara...the cabana restaurant where we met all of our new friends

these are oyke's co-workers...oyke is taking the picture

we helped the guys clean up...it was pretty cool we got to cruise inside discovery mall (bali's biggest shopping center) after it was all shut down.

stacking chairs in the mall...just like at iges!

one last night at hard rock

dj booth in bounty

driving to the airport...this was my view for most of the trips sitting behind the driver


saying goodbye at the airport

goodbye denpasar...i seriously cried on the plane...bali was an amazing place, but i think it was mostly because of all the new friends we made. it was way too short.


back to taipei

it sucked to leave. it was heartbreaking. i want to go back already. it was one of the best trips ever haha i say that everytime i know. but it's true! next stop taipei then osaka.