Bali - part 2 of 3

DAY 3

i think it was one of my favorite days on the island. After spending the first few days in the very busy East part of the island, we hired a cab driver for the day to get us to the quiet and beautiful center of the island, the volcanoes....and a few surprise stops on our way to Kintimani :)

Like the royal family temple - if I remember the name correctly. And we stopped right on time for, guess what? A rain shower :D But we're no chicken, so ahead we went, to infinity and beyond!






As we were approching the area Kintimani and the volcano, our driver asked "waan to trrry Cat poop kofee eh? Verrry famus".......mmmmm excuse you? You said what??? Cat poop coffee?! Let's just say, his question took us a bit by surprise. But I had heard of this coffee before, Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world (read about it here), and despite Troels' shacking his head at me, we just had to stop. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, can't you see? ;) I mean, how often do you get the opportunity to drink cat poop coffee????






A little video of Soaz's encounter with Cat poop coffee - oh, and to top it off at that place, they at free tobacco that you could just roll as you pleased. Knock yourselves out, people!






When we arrived at the volcano, it was pretty cloudy.....but our driver said "luuucky you, no many clouuds today!". Yep, lucky us! The view was quite amazing though from the restaurant where we stopped for lunch.



On our way back to Emily's place, we took another road, one that took us through our first lanscapes of rice fields. I was just blown away. Hellloooowww Asia :)







Talk about one busy day! By the end of it, we were completely (cat) pooped. Ok ok. That one was too easy ;)....but hey, that's how I roll baby :D




DAY 4

Eyes had a hard time staying open that morning, so we stopped at the local Starbucks.


Another temple, another rain shower :D




And on our way to more stunning places and more rice fields.




We kept asking our driver to stop in the small small food joints on the side of the road so that we could eat like locals, but he just wouldn't do it for some reason - I think he was afraid of little sensitive western stomachs couldn't quite take it :) But at least he took us to a super quiet place, with the most amazing views. Bliss.

AND we got to testing out the oh-too-famous "Bintang effect".

Before Bintang.


Bintang.


After Bintang :D

On our way back to Emily's house in Canggu, the green goodness kept coming our way. "Got ricefields?" (r) Yep, we sure got our healthy amount of rice fields that day :D




Our attempt to stop at a Balinese hot Spring wasn't the most successful, to say the least........when we arrived some American girls were just leaving from it and whispered to me "Don't go, don't do it!" - mmmm, but of course, do I listen? Actually made me more curious about the place. Turns out they were quite right, the place was a big turn off.....but at least my dear hubby found a safe haven under the woman with the many.....what can I say :)

Bali -part 1 of 3

There are some trips that you never want to see end. And this one. This one was DEFINITELY one of them. Paradise for two weeks, the kindest of people, the best of friends. Our days went by the infinite view of ricefields, the smell of the rain showers and the taste of watermelon juice....ok, and maybe also a few Bintangs for some of us ;)

Time stopped while we were in Bali. We could hear ourselves breath and smile.

A few pictures from the beginning of our trip.

DAY 1

At one of the most famous of Bali's 2000+ temples - Pura Tanah Lot.




Trying to eascape the rain - we went to The Junction in Seminyak...little did we know that it would sorta become our "hang-out" spot that week. Oh, and can you tell by these very relaxed faces that we just came out of a Balinese massage.....mmmmm can we go back please???


Aaaaaand escaping more rain :) @ Emily's hip bar, The Potatoe Head, for some delicious cocktails.



DAY 2

A little escape to the beach. We ate at a little warung, and thought that maybe, maybe it would be a good idea to check out these ladies' sarangs....oh how wrong we were. These ladies, in dear need of customers during the low season, flocked on us, and before we knew it, Soaz and I were surrounded by 10 of them all trying to sell us something. We ended up having to escape from the beach!!


At the Uluwatu temple, where we watched the Ramayana monkey dance....and where this old lady just made my day. I found her face so beautiful I asked her if I could take her picture. She laughed and nodded.....and when I showed her the picture, she laughed even harder at her toothless grin. I don't think she had seen her face in a looooooong time :)

Olivia's first birthday party

We needed birds flying all around the living room. Lots of them. All around. Yes we did.


Oh, and we also needed flowers in our hair. Otherwise it wouldn't quite have been the same :) Everything is just better, when you have flowers in your hair.


And cupcakes. Mmmm yummi yummi cupcakes. Because you see, we were celebrating our little Olive's first birthday. And that, my friends, deserved some sweet goodness.



And did we have to force Olivia to try them? We stripped her down from most of her clothes, and mmmm, well, see for yourself......come here come here little Cupcake!

One

My little love,

I didn't think it would come that fast. Yet here we are. You're one, my pucinette.

One.


It was only a year ago.

One year filled with love. One year of morning smiles. One year holding you tight when I take to to bed at night. One year of your daddy trying to "scare" you and you, little mischief, you just plain laugh at him because you know he's just being a little silly :)


One year, and guess what? Your hair is finally growing! Well...not very fast....but you're making progress ;) Soon daddy's gonna have to stop singing his favorite song that he made up for you - "hvor er alt mit haar"...



Not to worry though, I am not the least worried about your daddy's ability to make up more songs for you :)

On the morning of your birthday, daddy and I woke up early and went up to your room to wake you up with your first " I dag er det Olivias fødselsdag". We started singing, and then we realized that you couldn't even open your eyes to see what was happening! Poor little thing, you had an eye infection and your eyelashes were stuck!!!!




But hopefully the Chokoladebolle you had for breakfast made up it :) I am pretty sure it did, you devoured it in not time, both of your fists full...good thing you only have two hands I tell you!!

Little Olive - Daddy and I, we love you oh-so-so much. And we can't wait to go on many fun adventures with you and watch you grow and become a big sister this year!

Love always, Mamma