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The Island of Nusa Penida

31/3/2015

 
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Broken beach                                                                                     The main road and major intersection

If you would like to see what Bali was like in the 1970s, which is when my mum 1st came here, then Nusa Penida is the place for you. It's a great little island to explore and have fun adventures on and there's some stunning sites to go and see.

It's only 30 minutes away from Sanur by a fast boat and costs around $30 Australian return. You can go from Sanur, Benoa Harbor or Padang Bai. Sanur's very easy for us because we live there. Don't wear long pants if you go because when getting on to the boat you must wade out into the ocean. 



The Balinese Hindu's believe that Nusa Penida is a place of enchantment and evil power.  It is the home of Jero Gede Macaling, a giant demon King who is believed to spread disease, floods and evilness. There are a few temples dedicated to him including Pura Dalem Penetaran Ped, that houses a shrine that is believed to be a source of power for those who do black magic.  People also pray there if they are seeking protection from sickness and evil.

The whole island is made of lime stone and there's only 40,000 people living there. You won't see many tourists there and hardly any cars. 

The roads on the island are very rough and narrow and in places also quite steep and scary. However at times it was very pretty because the jungle would almost overgrow the road. The roads were really steep at some points because they don't go around the edge of the island, they go inland, up the mountains and then back down to the coast.  You will see some unusual sights such as the body in the photo at the end of my blog, on the side of the road.

Most people get around the island by motor bike. But to do this you need to have good skills on a bike because most of the roads on Penida are really bad. However you can also hire a car and driver for $50 a day, which we did, but a lot of the time we didn't go faster than 10kms an hour because of the rough roads.

The first place that we went to was Crystal Bay. Crystal Bay is my favorite place on Penida.  The beach is beautiful and they have small warungs (cafes) and a toilet.  The marine life & coral there is so gorgeous and I loved how there were separate little islands that you could swim out to. If the tide is high enough you can climb up onto the stairs and walk onto the island. The water was also crystal clear and warm.  Namaste hotel is close by so you can go there for nice aussie type food.

The next place that we went to was the cliffs above Broken beach but you can't get down to the beach from there. So you can't swim at Broken beach unless you go by boat but the view is amazing. However if you do go by car it is quite a drive there over a mostly dirt track that goes past sheer cliff drops. It took us about 1 hour to get to from Crystal Bay.

The next place we visited was the Temeling watefall, swimming holes.  We drove for another hour on a bumpy dirt track to get there and then our driver stopped the car and said we had to walk.  He said the walk was 1.6km but it was actually about 2.5km. And it was mostly down steep hills and massive stairs. So you really need to be pretty fit to do this and take lots of water.  The path was good for most of the way, quite lovely really walking through the rainforest and past limestone cliffs, just steep. Then we had to go back up hill which was even worse. There were two water holes, both were salt water and women could go in both but men could only use the bigger one.  The water holes were so nice and cool to swim in and located down near the beach. A tip here is to do as much of the track as you can, coming back up, on a motor bike to cut down the amount of walking. If you have a driver or guide, they could organise this for you.

The next day we went for a snorkel at the beach in front of Ring Sameton Inn, where we stayed, on the North of the island. There were seaweed farms close to the shore and sea snakes out where we were swimming. We didn't want to swim over them so mum walked along the beach and found a local seaweed farmer who didn't speak English.  But we were able to negotiate a price for him to take us out in his rowing  boat. Once we got out past the seaweed the water was crystal clear and coral was beautiful. The currents were quite strong so we jumped out and drifted along the ocean while the boat followed us. 

Because we were only on the island for the weekend we didn't have enough time to explore everything it had to offer. So we will definitely be going back there soon and doing the other things that we couldn't do the first time. One thing that I really wanted to do was to swim with the manta rays. You can go out on a boat, dive in and swim with them.

One last thing that I really loved was getting to ride a motor bike. Mum and dad agreed to it because the island is a safe place to learn on because there's almost no traffic. And our hotel had a very long driveway. It only costs $5 a day to hire a motor bike.


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Dead body on the side of the road

Bali Governor says Kill all Street Dogs

22/3/2015

 
Mum thinks that when you look into the eyes of a Bali street dog you can see their soul. When I look at this dog in the photo  (a street dog that lives across the road)  i see that he's scared of humans, sad and hungry.
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I’m sad and shocked that I feel the need to write about this…. I love Bali street dogs, they have such amazing personalities. They have to fight everyday for survival, find food and water, there’s no love and warmth in their life. They are so badly treated but yet they can have such an amazing affect on your life. Some people call them Bali heritage dogs and lots of expats here love them.

When I read an article in our local Bali paper where Bali’s Governor said everyone should start killing street dogs, I couldn't believe it! This is what the article said……….

 "Clearly, Bali’s Governor is fed up with the continuing problem of rabies and untended dogs.Defending his no-nonsense stance on eliminating Bali’s free-ranging canine population, Pastika said on Saturday, January 31, 2015: “I have been protested  against by angry people from animal welfare association, asking why Bali’s Governor is ordering the elimination of dogs? My response is that Bali has 500,000 dogs and a human population of 4 million. That’s one-eighth or one dog for every eight human beings. Just imagine how difficult it is to care for (so many dogs).”
 
Pastika said that the Government of the Province of Bali has tried its best to control rabies infections resulting from attacks by free-roaming dogs.
 
Frustrated and eager to end the epidemic of rabies, Governor Pastika has finally decided that free-roaming wild dogs must be exterminated.
 
“There’s so much rabies. Our money has been depleted just to purchase rabies vaccine (VAR). Please help. If you see a free-roaming feral dog just kill it – eliminate it! Don’t allow them to roam spreading disease. This is dangerous and frightens people. I think the public must guard together,” said Pastika.
 
Perhaps responding to critics from Australia, Pastika compared the situation of dogs in Bali and Australia. He said that in Australia dogs get special care and are guaranteed a healthy diet, a healthy environment and obtain routine care that includes vaccination. Adding, “But in Bali, many (dogs) receive no care, roam freely and live in a mangy condition.”

Then this article (linked below) was put in the International New York Times on the front page about a Bali street dog being based with a brick and when that didn’t kill her they tried to drown her. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/world/beach-dogs-a-bitten-girl-and-a-roiling-debate-in-bali.html?_r=1

I don’t know what I can do as an Aussie teen living in Bali but if anyone reads this and loves dogs and can help please let me know and also contact BAWA. http://bawabali.com/  Bawa are giving Bali street dogs rabies injections and also trying to get villages to adopt the local street dogs so they become a part of their life.  I think this is a really good thing to do for everyone.



The day of the Demons (Nyepi)

22/3/2015

 
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Nyepi is a holiday that is celebrated all over Bali and it marks the day of a new Hindu year. It’s also the day where according to the Hindu religion, Yama “the master of Hell” sets free all the demons who then fly over Bali in search of humans to harm. 


For weeks before Nyepi the Balinese start making huge sculptures called Ogoh Ogohs. They purposely make them look really disfigured and ugly and some are quite scary to look at. They can sometimes be the size of a large truck. Others can be the size of dolls and can be sold for gifts. They are made to be paraded and to show the demons that there are bigger and better monsters in Bali so they’ll be scared away. 

On the day of Nyepi, from 6am Saturday to 6am Sunday Bali was in complete silence. No people, no cars, no lights, no sound........ Nothing. The airports and ports are closed for 24 hrs, and TV and radio  taken of the air. This is so that the demons think that everyone has left Bali and there are no humans here for them to harm.  

Non Hindu people including tourists  still have to follow the rules and remain in their hotels and not use TV, air con, lights or cars or anything that's noisy. 

Many people said that they enjoy Nyepi because it's the one day a year that they can enjoy the peaceful silence. Expats say that they enjoy it because it basically forces them to relax.

I think Nyepi is really fascinating because it’s unlike anything from Australia that I’ve ever seen before. But if you ever come to Bali during Nyepi make sure you don’t go outside or the demons may get you.
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Where to Go For an Interesting Saturday Morning Run in Bali

21/3/2015

 
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The Balinese work 6 days a week and if you would like to know what they do on their 7th day, they get up at 6am and go to Renon Square, which is also known as Niti Mandela.  

This is a huge park with a big monument in the suburb of Renon which is where many of the Consulates are in Bali.  It’s about a 5 minute drive from my house in Sanur. 

 I went to Renon Square  to find a group of runners called Indorunners.  I was really keen to run with them because I have been running on my own and it gets a bit lonely.   When we arrived I was amazed at how many people were already there exercising in the park.  There must have been about 4,000.  There were lots of families, kids on bikes,  couples, friends out together, old and young.  People walking their pets, even 1 man walking his ferret on a lead.  And I even saw the ex President of Indonesia SBY who was there to do the exercise class. It was the biggest exercise class I have ever seen, I think there must have been about 2000 people in it. 

There was so much energy there that I really wanted to join everyone and start running straight away.  But first I tried to find the Indorunners.  In the end I couldn’t so I did 2 laps of the park on my own.  As I was running I ran past a big group of men who were sharpening their curved knives.  They looked like they were part of a club but I cannot imagine what they might have been doing.  Maybe some sort of local fighting.  I’ll have to find out next time we go.  

Mum and dad walked around the park and really enjoyed it.  Mum said lots of people chatted to her as they walked around.  And dad literally bumped into SBY in the crowd. 

I found out later the Indorunners meet at the Circle K shop which is across from the Park.  So if you come to Bali and want a great run, amongst lots of locals in a really nice location, you might want to come and join me and run with them.  Like us you will most likely find you are the only Westerner there, which was a really big surprise to all of us.

You can find Indo runners on Facebook.

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