Road Trip and Cell Phone (Feb. 3, 2015)

It was a fantastic day today. Yulia came around 9 am to pick up Reza and me, to go to a lovely temple by a lake, about an hour’s drive away. Reza got a call late last night and wasn’t able to join us, as he had some business to take care of during the day and didn’t know how long it would take. So Yulia and I took off on our own, which was kind of nice as well. It gave us some time to get to know each other, without another person around.

We saw some lovely, mountain scenery on our drive up to Bedugul, which was the area where the temple was. There were lots of strawberry fields and rice paddies to see on the way up. It kind of reminded me a bit of the drive up to Dalat, in Vietnam.

On drive up

Same

Same

Bedugal Temple

     

Same

Lake at Bedugal

   

Once there, we looked around the temple on the lake. It’s kind of cool, as there is a Hindu Temple, right beside a Buddhist Temple, and up the hill just a bit, was a Muslim Mosque. The three places of worship, right next to one another, seem so right, without stress. The grounds for the two temples right on the lake, were amazing.

On grounds of temple

Me

Yulia and me

Sue rides a pig

Owls for my momma

After we finished there, we decided to go for a drive to see the Botanical Gardens, which was  about two kilometres further. We stopped for lunch at a cute little roadside restaurant where we were the only ones there, but had a lovely and inexpensive meal. I had Nasi Campur, and Yulia had Me Goreng. That’s noodles with egg and some other meats. Mine was that mixture of rice, and veggies and meats, with Tempe. It was really good. We had regular tea with sugar, over ice with our meals.

Nasi Campur lunch

Other parts of it

Lunch restaurant

Then we made our way to the Botanical Gardens, and wow, were they ever great. The Gardens were huge, had several areas with special greenery in them, and many many rolling hills that overlooked the lake. It was so peaceful and gorgeous that we walked, took photos, and hung out for several hours, before heading back to Denpasar. We were going to meet Reza for supper there.

On our drive back, I started asking Yulia about the cost of cell phones and data packages in Indonesia, as it was starting to become a bit more difficult here, than it was in other places, not having a phone. In any case, we chatted about this, met up with Reza, and took a look at several cell phone places. I just wanted something simple, that would be able to support texting, calling and GPS capabilities as there are so many islands here, and if I am going to explore in this country for a couple of months, which I think I will, I kind of need a method to communicate with others around me. I will contact more people through CS, and often they ask for a cell number in order to text and communicate. 

Anyway, the long story is that after spending $70, I now have a brand new Samsung Galaxy Young 2 cell phone and enough data to last for two months, plus extra. These type of phones are incredibly cheap here, though I wish the IPhone was cheap here, because that is the one I really desire, and will investigate when I’m home. I think I will use this phone for the rest of my trip, then perhaps sell it before leaving. It was so inexpensive, that I don’t mind keeping it or getting rid of it. For that price, I am cool with it and it will help me a lot to have 3G when the WiFi is so sketchy and unreliable. 

My new phone

Yulia and Reza were really knowledgable and helpful with this adventure and it was incredible to see how they do cellular here. It is so different than it is in Canada and way less expensive for the data packages. In any case, that was my day, and now I am equipped with a phone for the rest of my trip. It is a lot more convenient, yes J, you were right…..lol. Plus when I’m out and about, I can use the GPS capabilities to find out where I’m going or where I am.

After we found the phone, we went for supper, and had a barbecued pork feast. It is called Beby Guling which means pork that has been rotisserie style. They do the whole pig, and it’s usually a baby pig. They take off the various pieces and some is crispy skin, tender meat, spicy meat, or other ways they do the pork. It’s really good.

After dinner, we were all pretty spent, and Yulia got on her way, as did Reza and I. I slept like a log and was very happy with the great day I spent with new friends. They are so very kind to help me with the phone, take care of me, and ensure that I have things to do, and ways to get around.