Bali: an Anti-depressant

The hardest part of living abroad is, without a doubt, being literally half a world away from the majority of our loved ones. Conversely, one of the best aspects of expat life is having ready access to exotic locales and cheap airfare.
Having said good-bye to my Mom at the beginning of July, with no plans on the calendar for when I will see her next, I was definitely ready for something to elevate my mood. Good thing we had a family trip to Bali planned. It was a perfect anti-depressant.
We started our adventure in Canggu, on the southwestern coast. Our accomodations were beautiful, a pool-villa within a half mile of the sea.

We walked to the shore to visit the restaurants there and check out the surf and passed some interesting temples along the way. Most of the temples are built out of the black volcanic rock of this volcanic island, lending a very dramatic flair.

The waves are too strong on this side of the island for swimming but we watched a lot of surfers and managed to get a bit wet, too.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch, seaside.

Hansel and Gretel follow the breadcrumbs back to the Villa at the end of the day.

Most of our time in Canggu was spent relaxing, while I prepared for and participated in the ocean swim, to be discussed in a later post. After 4 nights of bliss in the beautiful pool villa, we hired a driver and headed inland to the rice fields, stopping first to visit Pura Tanah Lot, the "Land-Sea Temple", one of seven sea temples surrounding the Balinese coast.

Each of the sea temples is supposed to be visible from one to the next. Accessible by foot only at the lowest tide, this one in particular is said to be guarded from evil spirits and intruders by sea snakes. Thank goodness we didn't see any. 

Pura Batu Balong, beyond, another cliffside temple farther along the inlet.

Pura Batu Balong up close.

The view to Pura Tanah Lot, from Pura Batu Balong.

And no Asian vacation is complete without taking pictures of people taking pictures of the kids. We don't have these photos in our American vacation pics!

Known for it's lush terraced rice fields, we were eager to move inland to Belimbing, to our hotel with it's carefully chosen "rice field view". The following morning we toured the surrounding area with a guide from our hotel. It was chilly enough to need sweatshirts at first! 

The numerous varieties of plants and fruits that we encountered along the way is simply amazing. We tasted raw cacao, either yellow or red when it is ripe. It tasted sweet, a bit like gummy bears but I still couldn't convince the kids to try it.

We walked under banana, mangosteen, papaya, passionfruit (known locally as marquessa), Jackfruit, durian, and Bali kiwi trees. We passed coffee plants, cassava, Taro, nangka (a local spice), and clove plants. Unfortunately the salak, or snake fruit tree, did not have fruit on it so I couldn't get any pictures of that. We saw sugar palms, the plant used to make the local "Akar" liquor. Conrad is intrigued with the nutmeg fruit.

Watch out for falling coconuts!

The kids enjoyed poking their walking sticks in the canals along the way.

Once we reached the rice fields the view was stunning with scattered cloud cover on Mount Batur in the distance, one of Bali's most active volcanoes.

A handmade temple, with offerings in thanksgiving of the harvest.

The route back took us through the property of another guesthouse with beautiful gardens.

Beautiful gardens and pet bats. Yes, bats. I guess they don't have a mosquito problem!

A well deserved rest on our terrace after the trek, followed by a dip in the pool.

The air in Belimbing was clear and cool, and very refreshing. Our time there was very relaxing and I would highly recommend a stay at the Cempaka for anyone considering a visit.

But wait, don't go to Bali... come to Chiang Mai and visit us first! We're only in Bali to make up for the fact that we miss you all~