Bali Day 2

I've been sleeping like a ton of bricks. I'm catching up from all this nights of only getting five hours of sleep bookend by twelve hour shifts. 

Today we headed out for a tour of the island. We hired a cheerful driver, Kadee, who showed us around. 

The first stop was to the beautiful temple, Taman Ayun, and its surrounding grounds. There was a sign at the front prohibiting entry to women who are currently menstruating.

The second stop was to a beautiful terraced rice plantation, Jati Luwih, some 2,000, or so, feet above sea level. It was exceptionally beautiful. We followed a irrigation-canal-wall to a small waterfall surrounded by brilliant green foliage. 

Next we enjoyed a very delicious, although very expensive, buffet lunch. Of course by U.S. standards lunch was reasonable but for Bali standards we got gouged. Last evenings dinner, for seven  of us, was around US$24 TOTAL. lunch today was around US$80. 

After lunch we climbed higher and ascended to the temple by the lake, Bedugal Ulundanu. It is a beautiful location for a temple. 

We then headed back toward sea level. On the way down our driver asked us if we wanted to stop at a coffee plantation. I screamed YES. Upon arrival at the plantation we were escorted back into the woods to a picnic table adorned with small jars of coffees and teas. Bali, of course, is known for their coffee, but there is a particular emphasis on the delicacy of poop coffee. The beans are ingested by a mongoose which then poops the beans out, they are roasted, grinned, brewed then enjoyed. I found the flavor to be nice, but the finish was smooth. It was a nice coffee, but not worth the IR400,000 (US$40) they wanted for a half pound. Overall we sampled close to fifteen or so coffees and teas. The favorites were coconut coffee and the ginger tea. The caffeine sampling session was really awesome!

After we got our buzz on we headed for another temple, Tanah Lot. The highlight of this temple was the Magnum Gold ice cream bars Matt, James and I enjoyed; vanilla ice cream dipped in dark chocolate, then dipped in salted caramel. There was a very large python resting on a chair as well. This was very unnerving for me, but was even more unnerving for Matt. I can't believe I know someone who is more afraid of snakes than I am. 

Amy, Mike and I, still high from the hour and a half full body massage we got the night before, we're plotting to get back for another massage. We were unsuccessful. Instead we headed out for dinner. Dinner was excellent. We enjoyed some great food and some cold local shit pilsner beer. I've had more beer in the last two days than I've had in the last month. I've had four beers. 

We ended the evening pool-side relaxing, chatting, enjoying.