We drove the bike up over the mountains to the other side of Bali. It was incredibly scenic and the mountains, especially around the lakes, were one of our favorite places so far.
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I didn’t bring a single piece of warm clothing to Bali - no pants, no jacket or sweater. I would have been fine if we hadn’t made a motorbike trip over the mountains at nightfall!
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It got pretty cold toward the top, so I bought a fake leather jacket for $8. We ended up staying in the mountains for several nights, as it was just too beautiful, so the jacket came in handy.
There are creatures everywhere in Bali. During the few days we spent in Manduk, we were visited by a bat that flew right into our room! Fun, Fun!
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Ryan Eliason is a professional life and business coach. You are reading his personal blog. Subscribe here. Also, see his professional blog for bite-sized business building tips and lifestyle design strategies. Download your FREE audio seminar and workbook on How To Have The Best Year of Your Business and Your Life.
There are ancient temples, many of them still in use, everywhere in Bali.
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Each one has a unique energy and sometimes that energy is very powerful. The location is sometimes as impressive as the temple itself.
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Men are required to wear a sarong (a large cloth wrap) inside the temples. This may be your one chance to see me wearing what looks similar to a dress, so enjoy! Hehehe
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Ryan Eliason is a professional life and business coach. You are reading his personal blog. Subscribe here. Also, see his professional blog for bite-sized business building tips and lifestyle design strategies. Download your FREE audio seminar and workbook on How To Have The Best Year of Your Business and Your Life.
We’re currently staying on the mellow north shore of Bali in an area called Lovina. We’ve spent several days not doing a whole lot - getting massages, exploring different restaurants, swimming in the pool, etc.
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It’s very nice here, but we’ve found the local vendors quite aggressive and annoying. I’ve been all over the world, and I’ve experienced this before, but this is on another level! I’m sure there are worse places, but this is enough to really get on my nerves! Sometimes we take the motorbike just to go a couple of blocks, because we won’t get hassled to buy a dolphin cruise, move to a new hotel, or any number of other things they are selling.
One massage therapist handed us his flyer, which had a bunch of nice quotes about the quality of his work. I might have contacted him later to schedule if he hadn’t hung out by our table waiting for us to finish eating so he could continue his sales pitch. “Pushy” would be a nice way of putting it. Here’s a video from some local fisherman pulling in their catch for the evening.
---Ryan Eliason is a professional life and business coach. You are reading his personal blog. Subscribe here. Also, see his professional blog for bite-sized business building tips and lifestyle design strategies. Download your FREE audio seminar and workbook on How To Have The Best Year of Your Business and Your Life.
Nok and I rented a motorcycle for $3.50 US per day for the remaining 19 days of our time in Bali. Bali is small enough that we can drive ourselves anywhere we want to go. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to get around.
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There are no really good maps here. Most of them leave out many smaller streets and turns. So we’ve been lost as much as we’ve known where we were. But that’s part of the fun! It’s good to have an end in mind, but in the end, the journey is what matters.
We consolidated our stuff into one backpack and we take turns driving, while the passenger wears the pack. Nok is a good driver, as she’s been driving a motorbike in crazy Chiang Ming traffic since she was 15.
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Ryan Eliason is a professional life and business coach. You are reading his personal blog. Subscribe here. Also, see his professional blog for bite-sized business building tips and lifestyle design strategies. Download your FREE audio seminar and workbook on How To Have The Best Year of Your Business and Your Life.
Dance is an important part of the Balinese culture and religious ceremonies. You can find dance performances everywhere. The dancers and the live music that accompanies them, are really quite interesting. The costumes are elaborate and the stories, while confusing to the untrained eye, communicate an amusing sense of drama.
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We especially enjoyed the female dancers, who sometimes isolate their heads from the rest of their bodies, while doing this captivating thing with their eyes.
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We were fortunate to be in Ubud during the annual celebration of the main temple. This entailed three days of performances and ceremonies.
Ryan Eliason is a professional life and business coach. You are reading his personal blog. Subscribe here. Also, see his professional blog for bite-sized business building tips and lifestyle design strategies. Download your FREE audio seminar and workbook on How To Have The Best Year of Your Business and Your Life.
The food in Bali is delicious and affordable. However, Nok and I are totally spoiled coming from Thailand. Food is to Thailand, like art is to Bali. Plus, almost everybody eats out in Thailand, and the vendors make their profit from a large number of sales, rather than a big mark-up. This makes food surprisingly cheap in Thailand.
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We’re paying 2-3 times as much for food in Bali. However, we’re mostly eating in restaurants geared to tourists. Gusti and Gustu took us to one of the local eateries (not for tourists) and it was some of the tastiest food we’ve had, and it was only $1.50 per person.
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Pictured here are two popular and tasty dishes we’ve seen on almost every menu. Nasi Campur and Gado Gado.
---Ryan Eliason is a professional life and business coach. You are reading his personal blog. Subscribe here. Also, see his professional blog for bite-sized business building tips and lifestyle design strategies. Download your FREE audio seminar and workbook on How To Have The Best Year of Your Business and Your Life.
When we arrived from Thailand we went straight to Ubud and checked into Mandia Bungalows on Monkey Forest Road.
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Ubud is the main center for art in Bali, and Bali is just oozing art everywhere you look - from the abundant dance performances that tell spiritual stories, to the unique music, paintings, stone carvings, and elegantly designed and decorated furniture, walls, ceilings, door frames, etc.
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Ubud is quite friendly for tourists, yet still has a local feel and culture, unlike some of the beach areas that seem more “made for tourists”.
We liked Ubud. It’s a little bit up in the mountains, so it’s cooler at night. Mandia Bungalows were only 150,000 Rupiah, which is about $17 US. They were simple, yet stylish, and the banana pancakes, which came with the “included” breakfast, were the best we’ve tasted yet! That’s probably because they were made by Gusti, the Manager, who became a fast friend.
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Gusti and his close friend Gustu joined us for a long chat on our front porch the first night. The next morning we awoke to a coconut tree being trimmed and harvested in front of our bungalow. I enjoyed my first fresh coconut milk of the trip - Yummmm!!
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Ryan Eliason is a professional life and business coach. You are reading his personal blog. Subscribe here. Also, see his professional blog for bite-sized business building tips and lifestyle design strategies. Download your FREE audio seminar and workbook on How To Have The Best Year of Your Business and Your Life.
This 2.5 minute video was taken during our mini-vacation to the small town of Pai - about 3 hours from Chiang Mai by bus. On the way up to the waterfall we stopped to say hello to a rather large buffalo cooling himself off in the mud.
---Ryan Eliason is a professional life and business coach. You are reading his personal blog. Subscribe here. Also, see his professional blog for bite-sized business building tips and lifestyle design strategies. Download your FREE audio seminar and workbook on How To Have The Best Year of Your Business and Your Life.
