Adventures in South Korea

Day 303: So we know its been awhile, and fallen into the trap of becoming lazy bloggers, but we hope the awesomeness that is Bali came make up for all that. Needless to say our Bali vacation, although short, was one of the best vacations we've ever been on. The beaches, the surfing, the people, and an almost endless supply of interesting things to photograph made it a trip we won't ever forget. Lets start at our hotel, Mercure, right on Kuta beach, one of the most happening spots in all of Bali. We were not disappointed...

And a sweet infinity pool over looking the ocean perfect for a good photo opp...

We chose to stay at Kuta beach because we read it had beautiful sunsets, and was a great spot for surfing...

As beautiful as it was, we were amazed at the size of the jellyfish some local kids were pulling out of the water...

Although, that didn't stop me (Brandon) from enjoying the waves...

The first day we decided to walk the entire beach, and we got a chance to interact with some of the colorful locals and see some Balinese culture firsthand...

This guy was playing a card game where the loser puts a clothespin around their neck, I guess he wasn't very good at it...

At one point, while Shay was in the bathroom, this guy was pretty insistent on selling me a woman's beach hat. Luckily for me, my big head wouldn't fit any of the hats, but you gotta love his enthusiasm...

.... and his persistence.

We found it interesting to see these offerings literally everywhere on the island. We were told they are offered three times a day to give back to the Gods what has been given to them. It's based on gratitude for the richness of life, pretty cool concept if you ask me...

After our walk we organized an afternoon trip to a turtle sanctuary on a nearby island...

This turtle was seriously heavy and he kept slapping my hands with his flippers. The trainer said the day before a lady got startled by the slaps and she dropped him, so he gave me fair warning to hold on tight...

He then took us to see this python which was pretty intense. Luckily his mouth was taped shut or I'm not sure I would have volunteered for this one...

Shay held the snake too, but it must've smelled her fear because it quickly tried to wrap itself around her neck. The trainer calmly and quickly removed him and we continued on to the other animals...

We chatted with our guide over some drinks and by then we were ready to go home, so our driver got the boat ready and we headed back to the hotel. Before we left we met this adorable girl having dinner, we don't think she wanted to be interrupted though...

That night we planned our trip to the Bali Safari park, where we read you could interact with a baby orangutang. Now that's not the only reason why Shay wanted to come to Bali, but it was definitely a deciding factor...

This was truly one of the greatest animal experiences we've ever had. We got there early so there were no crowds, and we basically got 15 uninterrupted minutes with this loveable primate...

It's hard to see in the photo, but she was so playful she actually took my Ray Bans and tried to put them on her face. She got bored with them and swiftly broke them in two, luckily fake Ray Bans are like a second currency in Bali so they were easily replaced. We kept the broken ones as keep-sake of this amazing experience. Here's our adoption photo...

After that we saw a pretty funny animal show and we moved on to the safari. It was a bit of a bumpy ride, but we still managed to snap a few good shots...

After that, went we checked out the white tiger exhibit, where Shay nicely captured the intensity of this beautiful animal. Feels like it should have " Focus " or "Vision" underneath it like the ones you see in business offices...

The lovebirds sent us off with a farewell kiss and we were onto our next stop, dreamland beach...

This beach was breathtaking and the surfers were top notch...

We wish we could've stayed longer but we were trying to catch the sunset at Uluwatu, a temple famous for its sunsets and aggressive monkeys...

Our guide warned us to leave our sunglasses in the car, and now we understand why. They had a pretty good system actually. Steal tourists' flip flops, jewelry, sunglasses, etc. and then trade it back to the people running the temple for food. Then the tourists tip the people for getting there stuff back, brilliant!

Our guide kept us safe and we were happy to pay the $5 for peace of mind. He also took our point and shoot and took some great photos so we felt like we got our moneys worth. As the sun went down we see why people come here in big numbers, the view was stunning...

We came back and did some shopping on Poppies Lane at night. We also stumbled across this amazing little Italian restaurant run by a guy straight from Sicily. The food was so good he had a wall of celebrities who had visited this place and sang his praises, after eating it we could see why...

The next day our friend Patrick met us at our hotel real early for a full day adventures which started at a place called Sanur famous for its sunrise...

Then we moved on to a traditional Bali house where a family lived to get a more authentic look at Balinese living.

The family was kind and welcoming, and our driver Kadek translated for us. They had an outdoor kitchen, chickens, 2 large pigs, and even a small temple. The father was pretty sweet with his son, too. We then headed to an organic coffee plantation...

This woman and her family had been growing coffee for a few generations on the island. Their speciality was Kopi Luwak, one of the world's most expensive coffees because it is made from the coffee beans eaten by a civet( a mix of jungle cat and a lemur). Apparently something magical happens in that digestive tract because once they poop it out (and it's cleaned) the coffee can sell for up to $50 a cup in some parts of the world. I had to at least experience it for myself. It was a strong cup of coffee, with an interesting aroma, but it was a little bitter for my liking...

We said our goodbyes and were off to another temple. At this temple we were all given sarongs to wear out of respect.We had good timing I guess because we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves...

By this time we were all getting hungry, so our driver recommended a spot with a nice view he knew. We didn't know we were in for a view of a lifetime. The buffet wasn't half bad either...

It was actually an active volcano with a beautiful lake beside it, and next time we come back, we'd like to explore this area a little more. Our next stop was the famous terraced Bali rice fields that you might remember from Eat, Pray, Love...

The best part may have been meeting these two young boys, about 15 and 12, who offered to be our guides down the slippery and narrow rice fields. On the way down, we talked about life in Bali, and then they asked if we knew Justin Bieber. Amazing, half around the world, and these two kids are singing " Baby, Baby, Baby, Oooohhh", all the way down. We guess Bieber fever has hit Bali too...

They couldn't have been nicer, so as they walked us back to our vans, we said some sincere but cliched words of advice " Stay in school, and do your best ", and gave them a little money for their time. They were super appreciative and we exchanged hugs and high fives before we left. As our day winded down we headed to a market in Ubud, another place that has become a tourist magnet thanks to Eat, Pray, Love. The people there were amazing...

It was just a fun place to do some shopping and mingle with all of the interesting Balinese people...

That night when we got back to Kuta, we took Patrick to the Italian restaurant we mentioned before and we had a feast...

On our last day we decided to just hang out around Kuta beach, lounge by our pool, and do some surfing...

And as always, Shay found an adorable stray puppy and quickly made friends...

After watching the sunset, we got dressed up and went for a nice dinner with Patrick for our last night...

In the morning we had our driver Kadek, take us to check out the sunrise at Sanur for one last hurrah before leaving for the airport...

As we said, this was one of our best vacations, and it felt like a second honeymoon as well. We'll never forget our time in Bali and we hope to be back soon. We hope you all had an amazing summer, and we miss you all.

With Love From South Korea,
Brandon & Shayna xo