Journey Home...Pit Stop: New Zealand

Leaving Australia is so much harder than I expected it to be. I never imagined that I could feel as though I belong in more than one place, and yet I do. I love California; I have talked about it constantly since I left. But now I love Australia too. I am sitting in the Auckland Airport at the moment and as excited as I am to see my family, eat Mexican food till I burst, play with my dog, and catch up with all my friends…I can’t help thinking that it won’t be all that long until I go back. Hard as I tried I couldn’t do absolutely everything that I wanted to, and I think that secretly made me glad because it gives me a great excuse to go back.

            I tend to get very attached not only to certain places but also to people. And this experience has been no exception. Saying goodbye this morning to my two best Aussie friends was miserable. It didn’t help that we had to get up at the butt crack of dawn and that I had to do some last minute semi-stressful luggage juggling. But it would have been hard anyway. The cool thing is that I know that I have made some life-long friends; the only downside is that some of them live half way around the world. Yet another good reason that I have to go back right?!

            I have decided that traveling involves a stupid amount of sitting. To get to the airport you sit in a car, or a train or sometimes a bus. Once you’ve checked in and dodged security, you sit and wait to board. Then you board the plane and obviously sit until you land. Time for a layover…surprise! You most likely sit some more. Because unless you have a travel companion (or 11), it is too much of a hassle to walk around with all your carry-on baggage, unless maybe you plan better than I do and don’t have much carry-on baggage. And on it goes. Sitting, sitting, sitting. Have I mentioned how much I dislike sitting? I think that Ben was on to something when he used the flat escalator-ish walkways as a treadmill. In fact, I think that all airports should have treadmills. I bet everyone would be a lot less cranky about traveling if they didn’t have to sit so much. Just saying…

As silly as I feel for being so sad to leave, I would much rather feel silly and sad than not. It tells me that I truly enjoyed my experience. As my friend Courtney constantly reminds me, “it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.” Turns out this applies to places and friends, not just to a significant other. But the truth is I haven’t really lost anything and I have gained more than I can explain. So yep, I’ll take a little sadness, It just reminds me how good everything really was and gives me something to look forward to for the next time I see my friends and return to Oz.  In the meantime, Merry Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever it is you celebrate! See you soon, I’m off to defy the traveling odds and walk around in spite of my excessive carry-on baggage.

Last Few Adventures

In my head, I planned my last couple of weeks in Wollongong being nothing but beach days. In reality, it rained most days and was cloudy the days that it didn’t. I got to spend only one afternoon at the beach when the sun peaked through for a few hours. But I still enjoyed the end of my trip there. I went down to Crookwell with Courtney and Sonya for a few days, then back to the Gong. I also spent a couple days down the coast with Jack, and then again back to the Gong. It was relaxing traveling though, most days were very mellow and it was really nice to see Courtney’s and Jack’s families again before I left. The days I spent in Wollongong were fairly full with last minute errands, running on the beach, packing and re-packing, guitar hero, and saying goodbye to the friends that were still around.

Crookwell

The few days we spent in Crookwell were very mellow. Sonya and I were pretty tired from all of our traveling and we spent a lot of time hanging out on the couch working on our blogs and watching movies. One afternoon I snuck into Courtney’s brother’s soccer game and taught him a thing or two. It was a really fun 5- a – side outdoor game and I was super excited to get to play. I ended up playing against Jordy (Courtney’s bro), but it was fun to run around a bit. I felt really badly at one point though because I took a shot on goal, missed, and it hit a little girl in the face. Of course that little girl was the daughter of a close friend of Courtney’s mom. I apologized profusely and in the next play proceeded to trip over the ball and fall on my face. Instant Karma. Luckily, there were no lasting injuries on either part and other than a few jokes about it later, the whole thing was forgiven and forgotten.

Kiama, Culburra and Jervis

Luxurious sleeping quarters

One night while Jack was working in Kiama I tagged along and went exploring. I saw the Kiama blowhole, read my book in a park by the light house, saw a few friends from Campus East, chased some seagulls and sat on a swing for a bit. It was fun to see a new place, even if I did not do anything wild. Once it got dark I went and ate dinner with Jack where he works and then slept in his car until he got off.

Kiama Blow Hole

            We left from Kiama to drive down to Jack’s house in Culburra for a couple of days. His family is renting out their home for the holidays so they are all living in a flat for a few weeks, but we got to stay in their mostly empty house. It was so tempting to run through all the rooms singing at the top of my lungs and jumping on all the beds. I managed to refrain from jumping on the beds, but we definitely did some questionably terrible singing. One night while we were there we went out to dinner with Jack’s family. After we ate, Jack and his Dad and I played a couple of games of pool. I was nice and let them win, because as I told them, I don’t trust anyone that I can beat in pool. (Had nothing to do with my pool playing abilities, of course…) I did manage to beat Jack in a game of Monopoly though. He might not exactly know that I won, because we quite in the middle of it, but I’m pretty confident that I did.

Singing in the rain

            Before returning to the Gong, Jack and I spent half a day down in Jervis Bay. Unfortunately, it was raining again so although we were looking at some of the most beautiful beaches ever, we didn’t hang out for very long. We went to 3 different beaches, looked at them, took a few pictures and jumped back in the car. Hyams Beach (the third one we went to) has some of the whitest sand around, supposedly. It looked pretty white to me! After our beach investigations we had an awesome lunch at the Pilgrim’s Market overlooking the harbor. The food was delicious and the place was funky. It was a shop and café combo with eating tables intermixed with shop tables. We drove back just after lunch so that Jack could make it to his footy training in time.

Lunch

            In spite of the disappointing weather, it ended up being a great few days. I really enjoyed spending time with Jack’s family (and Courtney's); they were very welcoming and fun to hang out with. And I managed to squeeze in another new place just before I left the country!

Nan Tien Temple

Peaceful. Groomed. Put-together. Green. Buddha. Statues galore. Fun. World’s tiniest teapot. Gratitude Bell. Intricate decorations. Elaborate prayer rooms. Grand entrance. Meditation. Love. Happiness. Walking paths. Long staircases. Lanterns. Incense. Bamboo. Prayers. Museum. Gift shop. Japanese Cherry Blossoms. Ponds. Benches. Koi Fish. No Smoking.

“When life is hard, face it.

When life is pain, learn from it.

When life is easy, plan for it.

When life is pleasing, enjoy it.”

Being as mature as we are, all of this peace and serenity ultimately led to Jack and me watching Mulan. Maybe someday we will grow up…but I wouldn’t count on it! 

Darwin and The Outback

Leaving Gold Coast, Sonya and I decided that we would put an end to our boring funk. So we did! We took a train back up to Brisbane and from there flew to Darwin. We arrived around 1 am and caught a shuttle straight to our hostel. Things were surprisingly lively for that time of night, but we were pooped so we went straight to bed.

            Our first day in Darwin we took off from the hostel to go on a self-guided walking tour and we were all excited about being in a new place. It only took us about 30 seconds to start sweating and within an hour we were completely hot and exhausted. The weather in Darwin was hot (it was around 35 degrees Celsius, which is about 95 degrees Fahrenheit) and VERY humid. We still saw a good portion of the area; the most notable was a huge park and the waterfront near the harbor. On the walk back we ended up going through an outdoor mall and we stopped in nearly every store just to take advantage of their air conditioning. We thought we were being subtle until in one place a man asked if we needed any help and only as we politely said ‘no thanks, we’re just looking’ did we look around and notice that it was all old man clothes. Busted! Luckily, he didn’t seem to care too much if we walked in and just stood under the air conditioning vent for a few minutes.

Big fella!

Termite mound

In order to explore the outback we took two trips out of Darwin. The first was to Litchfield National Park. On this tour, we stopped to look at different kinds of termite mounds. The first kind was lumpy and really tall and brown in color, while the second was flat and more of a black color. In the field of all black ones they looked sort of like tombstones, it was very eerie. We also spent a couple of hours in the morning on the Adelaide River feeding Crocodiles. I think that this was one of my favorite parts of the trip because we were down low near the water and the crocs at times were no more than a foot away from us. All that kept them from nibbling on us instead of the meat dangling over the water was a small-ish metal boat. Our guide would tie a chunk of meet to a string and use a stick to hang it out over the water. He used this to get the crocs to come up close to both sides of the boat and then even got some of them to jump out of the water to chomp on their prize. It was pretty spectacular to watch! I was very happy to be in the boat though and not in the water, I definitely would not want to be a crocodile snack! 

Second swimming hole

            We stopped for lunch at a very beautiful waterfall that we couldn’t swim in. During the dry season I think it is open for swimming, but during the wet (which is while we were there) crocodiles show up so swimming is no longer a good idea. After lunch we stopped at two waterfalls that we did get to swim in. The first was two large waterfalls that fell into one big swimming hole and the second was a series of pools with small falls in between. The second one was my favorite; it had a decent sized jumping rock that was really fun.We ended the day by watching a beautiful sunset over the ocean.

First swimming hole

Sunset

The other tour that we did was a two-day deal out to Kakadu National Park. This was our big adventure that we had been looking forward to for weeks and it certainly lived up to our expectations!

Mary River/ Billabong

            The tour left at 6:00 am and I packed all that I would need for the 2 day journey into a purple flowery pillowcase, which didn’t exactly make me feel like a daring explorer, but it was easier than carrying my whole pack. We drove a lot throughout the day, but never for more than about and hour and a half at a time. Our first stop was again to see termite mounds. Although Sonya and I had seen them before, it was still interesting because the new tour guide had some different things to say about them. After the termites, we went on a river cruise on the Mary river/billabong (a billabong is not only a clothing company, but also a permanent body of water). I’m  not super in to birds, but we saw some really cool ones on the river. We also got to pick giant leaves and wear them as hats. As they dry they form to your head and provide lots of shade!

Aboriginal Rock Painting

Nadab Lookout

After lunch we went on a walk in Ubirr to see amazing Aboriginal rock paintings. Our guide, Rosie, told us aboriginal stories that accompanied the paintings along the way. I would re-tell them here, but I don’t remember all the details. I can tell you that they were very interesting though! The way that Aboriginals share stories is by telling the simplest version possible, so even though the stories sound like children’s bedtime stories, each has a message that described some aspect of the Aboriginal way of life. We had to hide out under one of the larger overhangs for a while to wait out a thunderstorm. Somehow I didn’t get any shelter and got soaked, but I didn’t mind because it meant that I wasn’t hot and sweaty for once. Once the storm passed, we walked up to the Nadab Lookout, which had an unobstructed 360 degree view  of the whole area. The view was honestly breathtaking and incredible. Sonya and I both agreed that it was one of our favorite places in all of our Australia travels. The same storm that had passed over us was still visible in the distance and we were able to see the lightning striking in the distance. It was also the perfect location for some cheesy tourist photos.

The only downside to being in the outback so far was all the flies! They were beyond obnoxious, but luckily we had been forewarned and brought along some mosquito nets. I could put up with them much better when they weren’t in my face.

            After the Nadab Lookout was the Bardedjilidji bush walk through sandstone rocks. It was a nice walk, but I can only get excited about a few rocks before they all start to look the same. It was a nice stretch for the legs, but I was still more excited about the lookout than the sandstone. That night we stayed at the tour company’s camp which was equipped with showers, cabin tents and a kitchen tent. We dined on pasta with meat sauce and after showers headed to bed early.

            The next morning we were up again at 5 am for brekky, sandwich packing, and a quick camp clean up. We got to spend the day swimming in two different waterfalls again. It never gets old!

            The first one was really fun, the waterfall was tall and the water deep. The pool was big enough to be satisfying to swim across a couple of times. We spent a good amount of time also just lounging on some rocks in the cool water and talking with the other people in our group. There were 16 of us plus our guide, Rosie, and people were from all over. There were 4 Americans (including Sonya and Me), some French, an Italian, and English girl, and several Germans. It was fun talking to people from all over. It was also one of the only times we encountered fellow Americans on our journey.

Fall with the Freshwater Croc (can sorta see him)

            When we arrived at the second waterfall we discovered a freshwater croc cruising around the pool. We all sat there and watched it for a while debating whether or not to swim. In theory, it is ok to swim with the freshwater variety because they are smaller and if they bite you it is compared to a dog bite. Still pretty intimidating though! And to add to the hesitance, someone spotted a snake in the water tangled in some tree roots. Rosie declared it to not be poisonous but we were still suspicious. Eventually the croc went under water and we one-by-one ventured into the water. I opted to quickly jump in and swim across to a rock, sat for a few minutes then quickly swam back and jumped out. I stayed only in the areas where I could see the water. Still counts though, I can say I swam with a croc!

            Unfortunately, swimming was the last tour activity, after that it was a long drive back to Darwin.

Random Darwin Thought: Sonya pointed out that it would be a terrible place for a honeymoon because it’s so hot and humid that all you do is sweat all the time. Not the most attractive state to be in.

In between our two tours we went to Crocosaurus Cove where we got to:

            Hold a baby croc!

            Watch them feed really big fish

            Watch them feed an olive python (a very large snake) and lizards

            Learn Darwin’s war history

            Hold a smaller olive python and 2 kinds of lizards

            Look at all the animal exhibits and watch them feed all the big and baby crocs (it was much more exciting in the wild)

           

Baby Croc

It was a really small, but fun place where we could come and go throughout the day in order to see all the interesting feedings and talks, but not have to eat the expensive café food ourselves. It was a day well spent. 

Gold Coast

The Gold Coast was surprisingly boring. You would think that a place called Surfer’s Paradise would be, well, Paradise. It turns out that paradise is not only kind of boring, but also verrrryyyy expensive. Who knew?? We had one action-packed day at the Currumbin Wildlife sanctuary and the rest were mellow and relaxing laid-back days.

At the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary we watched the freshwater crocs get fed, hung out with kangaroos, watched the baby koalas do a weigh-in, rode around on a funny little train, fed lorikeets, watched aboriginal dancing, and ogled at many interesting creatures. The crocs were probably the coolest, but the koalas were the cutest. It may seem cliché and over done to like them best, but they really are just so stinkin’ cute. They look like the kind of fluffy little teddy bear that every kid (and secretly everyone else) wants to cuddle. We saw one jump from on tree branch to another, which is extremely active for a koala. The rest of them were sleeping for the majority of the time that we were there. Apparently, all they really do is eat, sleep and well, procreate if ya know what I mean.

The crocodiles that were fed were the freshwater fellas, which are MUCH smaller than the saltwater dwellers. Even the little guys have some power though. Sometimes when they went for the meat that was dangled over their enclosure, they would miss and their jaws would snap together. The sound that this makes is super loud and very intimidating. It’s exciting and wild when they are on the other side of a reinforced fence, but if I heard it in the wild I would certainly not hang around.

Fun Fact: It only takes about 90 pounds of force to break a human bone. The Saltwater croc at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary can produce around 3,000 lbs. WOWIE!

The aboriginal dancing was really interesting. They did several short dances, each of which has a specific purpose or message. The only two I remember specifically are the welcome and the see ya later (my words not theirs) dances. But all of them were really interesting. There were two male and one female dancer, accompanied by a guy who alternated between playing the didgeridoo and the drums while singing. I am always fascinated by the didgeridoo, I can’t get over circle breathing and how they can play continuously for so long. Its nuts! They also make an impressive array of different sounds, always catches me off guard how much they can do with a hollow tube of wood.

The days that we didn’t spend at the wildlife sanctuary involved some beach time, a lot of reading, an attempt at a bike ride (it started storming and we struggled in the wind), many trips to the grocery store for snacks, long walks, window-shopping (someday I’ll be able to afford to travel AND shop), one funny night out on the town with a new English friend, and one trip to the local movie theater. We saw Ides of March; I’m not super in to political movies, but it was pretty good.

My overall opinion of Gold Coast is that it is a beautiful place, but not one that I will soon go back to. I’m glad I saw it, but I think that I saw what I needed to there and that I can check it off my list. Having so much free time there taught me how much I dislike too much free time. In the future I think I will be happier either planning more to do or shortening the amount of time in places like that. The hard part is not really knowing what a place will truly be like until you get there. I suppose that’s where research and relying on word of mouth from other travelers fits in.

Byron Bay

 potential future home

I LOVED Byron Bay. And by loved I mean that I was house shopping within the first few hours that I was there because I think it would be an amazing place to live someday. The beach was not humongous, but not too small and has a really nice vibe. There was a lot of open space, but also some cool rocks to explore and it was great for running on (nice and flat). The town itself is pretty small and has a funky, hippy feel to it. Lots of cool people and cool shops in the main area, sprinkled with a couple of parks and a nice path for walking and running. We got free food one afternoon in one of the parks near our hostel. It was a BBQ sponsored by a church youth group. We were there during schoolies, which is when all the newly graduated high school seniors go out and party (because the drinking age is 18) and the church group had a tent set up on the beach for schoolies to come if they needed sober space and snacks. There were a couple of interesting performances and then the members of the church group walked around and mingled with all of the freeloaders that showed up for the food. We talked to a really nice girl from Delaware for a few minutes and then gracefully moved on. Sonya and I had a lot of fun looking in the shops; there was tons of funky jewelry and funny clothes.

            We stayed in Byron for 2 nights and one full day. Sonya and I spent part of that day lounging on the beach. It was perfect beach weather: warm but not too hot and the water felt nice, but Sonya wouldn’t go in because of the jellyfish. Can’t really blame her though, those suckers were everywhere. While we were getting our tan on, we saw a few other girls who had lived with us at Campus East, so we hung out with them for a while. We cruised around on our own in the afternoon, Sonya took a nap and I went for a run, and then met up with those girls again later that night. One of them had a friend from home living in Byron Bay so we all ended up at his house (after getting only slightly lost). The friend was doing a different study abroad program that was specific to Environmental Studies majors. He was living in a house of about 10 Americans who were all in the same program. Instead of being tied to one university they had been traveling with a group around the country and doing environmental things. It sounded pretty cool. They seemed pretty excited to have all of us there hanging out too, because they had been stuck with each other for several months and were very interested in talking to some different people.

            Being the grannies that we are, Sonya and had a fairly early night and got up early the next day to catch the greyhound bus to head back to the Gold Coast. Byron is definitely somewhere that I will visit again when I get the chance (and the money!).

Brisbane

If I were to be a businesswoman and want to live in a city, Brisbane would be a really nice place to live. There were lots of people in suits and nice clothes roaming about and a coffee shop on every other corner. As a tourist however, it was a difficult place to hang out. There was not a whole lot that was terribly exciting for exploration purposes. It also didn’t help that it was raining non-stop while we were there. 

            By this point Miles and Scott had both left and it was just Sonya and me. We set out on the walking tour of the city thinking that it would take most of the day. We rode the free bus all the way around its loop once just to see where it went. This only took about 15 minutes. We saw Anzac square, walked down by the river, and cruised through the botanic gardens. Unfortunately, what we had thought would be an all day city sight-seeing tour only took about an hour and a half. So we found a mall and a grocery store where we could get some lunch. Since it was Thanksgiving at home we had chicken, veggies and tater tots instead of PB&J.

After lunch we walked around a bit more and shopped a teeny bit (couldn’t shop much because we had limited back pack space and funds). To take up some time we went a saw the movie Immortals too. It was made by the same people as 300, so there were really good looking guys with lots of muscles and a lot of blood and guts. Perfect for a rainy day!  That night we dined on top ramen and hung out at the hostel. Definitely not one of the more exciting places we visited. 

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

One fish

Two fish

Red fish

Blue Fish

Cairns! 

Ready to go!

Scott, Sonya, Miles, and me

One of the coolest things that I have ever done is scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef. A few days after final exams ended Sonya, Miles, Scott and I flew to Cairns for scuba and snorkeling adventures. We rented an underwater camera to document the whole thing. Our trip went out in the morning and started with some sun baking out on the top of the boat. A short way into the boat ride they called us all inside for the scuba briefing. It was miserably hot and crowded in the small room where they talked to us. I thought poor Sonya was going to yak. They won’t over the basic rules and regulations for scuba diving and then split us up into groups to go into the water. The instructors took us down in groups of four, which was perfect! After a little manipulation, the four of us got to go in the same group.

            Since none of us are scuba certified we did an introductory dive, which meant that we were only allowed to go as deep as 8 meters and had to be with the instructor the entire time. It may sound like it is not as fun as being certified and having more freedom under the water, but it was awesome! It was a fantastic way to try it out without having to pay a few hundred bucks to get certified. So when it was our group’s turn, we suited up in sting suits (it was jelly fish season) and scuba gear and jumped in the water. We submerged just at the end of the boat to practice clearing our masks and taking our regulators (the bit that you breathe through) in and out. These are the two skills that are considered necessary for an intro dive. Once we could do both of these and were comfortable clearing our ears, down we went!

            If you don’t know how far 8 meters is (don’t feel badly, I certainly didn’t) it is about 26 feet, which was plenty deep enough to get down to the ocean floor in the area that we were exploring. I had a little trouble getting my ears to clear, which was uncomfortable, but other than that it was AMAZING. I have always thought that it would be really cool to be a fish, because I love how it feels to sit under the water and now I could actually breathe while I sat under there! The fish on the reef were just what I expected too, mostly flashy and bright-colored.

Baracuda

            After scuba diving, we stripped down to just our snorkel gear and jumped back out. I have never been a huge fan of snorkeling. I think the whole idea of floating on the surface with my back exposed made me uncomfortable. Not to mention I am usually cold and shivering within about 5 minutes. But the water temp on the reef was perfect and for some reason, after scuba diving I was much more comfortable with the snorkeling. We goofed around for quite a while chasing fish and taking lots of cheesy photos and videos. I think it’s safe to say that we had the most fun out of anyone out there that day. After lunch the boat stopped at another good spot and while other people went scuba diving, or rode in a helicopter, we went snorkeling again. It was just as fun as the first place just with new fishy friends. I won’t go into detail describing each and every fish, I’ll just mention my one barracuda friend. I first saw him from the boat and had to ask one the snorkel instructor guys what kind of fish the big fella was. He was still hanging around by the time we got back in the water, so I chased after him to take a few photos. I thought he was super cool while I was the one chasing him, but as soon as he turned around and started coming after me I got a little freaked out. I swam really quickly back to the boat. I laughed about it later, but at the time it was pretty startling, especially when he got close enough for me to see his pointy little teeth.

View from the Promenade

The Lagoon

            The rest of our time in Cairns was fairly uneventful. We went out one night to the club attached to the hostel we were staying at (Gilligan’s) to watch jelly wrestling. Gilligan's was a party-oriented hostel that always had some sort of drinking-related activity going on. We chose to be spectators in most of them rather than participating. Australian Jelly is the equivalent to our Jell-O. Turns out jelly wrestling is not nearly as cool as we thought it would be. It’s actually just pretty trashy and dumb. We called it a night as soon as it was over. There is not much to do in Cairns other than party and go out on the reef. The beach is inaccessible because there are too many jelly fish (and sometimes crocodiles) to go swimming. There is a nice walk along the edge of the water called the promenade, and a cool swimming pool called the lagoon. We hung around the lagoon a fair bit because it was too hot to be outside and not be near water. We also swam in and laid by the pool at Gilligan’s. Overall, Cairns was not terribly exciting, but the time on the reef more than made up for it.

Miles and Me

This picture just makes me laugh. Miles didn't bring a towel, so he used his blanket...

Bali

I suppose I will tell you about the rest of our Bali adventure as well, seeing as I did do more than just mess with my hair.

Sunset in Kuta 

Overall impression of Bali: Hectic. They thrive on tourism, so when you walk through the markets, every one wants you to come to THEIR stall and buy THEIR goods, and they are not quiet or shy about it. This results in a lot of people yelling at you to buy their stuff all at once, even if you aren’t even shopping.

And beautiful. The beaches stretch on for days; the water is clear, blue, and lined with palm trees; the rice paddies are vast and green; the sunsets over the ocean bright red and orange; and the temples are draped in orange and yellow. Overall, Bali was colorful and exciting!

Places we went: Kuta, Ubud, Seminyak, Nusa Dua.

Accommodation:

Everything in Bali is cheap so we got to stay in nice hotels. We felt very spoiled after sleeping in spaceships and hostels! The rooms were all really nice; sometimes we had connecting rooms, shared a big room or just completely separate. Most of the hotels also had sweet pools, which we spent a fair amount of time in because it was so stinkin’ hot! The coolest hotel was in Ubud. It didn’t have air conditioning, which was tough, but it had a very rugged and tropical feel to it. There was a good-sized room downstairs and a bedroom upstairs and we had two rooms connected. The bathrooms were the best part though, they had walls and a roof but they were outside! So when we showered it sort of felt like we were showering in the jungle.

Activities:

Shopping: We did lots of shopping through the markets. Everything is really cheap over there so it was one of the few places where I felt like I could shop.

Fish nibbling on our feet. So weird. 

Cheap Massages: 15 dollars for over 2 hours. We had the little fish eat the dead skin off of our feet. I don’t know that I liked it; it tickled a little too much. Then they did a full body massage, body scrub and facial. Possibly the only time I’ll ever be able to afford such treatment, it was quite nice! (Minus the trouble I had sitting still for 2 hours).

Riding elephants: I was really excited to go ride elephants, but when we got there I saw that the elephants were chained to the ground, and it made me feel really sad/guilty. It was so unnatural and mean.

 The first thing we did was feed the elephants. I got excited all over again when they walked about 6 elephants up to a small fence and we got to feed them. I was feeding a big one on the end while Sonya took photos. All of the sudden the elephant I was feeding swung her trunk at me and knocked me right off of my feet! I fell pretty hard onto the cement, but made out with just a small scrape on my knee. Startled the heck out of me though. I was embarrassed too because everyone heard me fall and all the older ladies in our group were all concerned and fussy. As one of the guys that works cleaned off my knee, he told me that I shouldn’t have teased that particular elephant because she was pregnant. Well, sorrrrrrryyyy! How was I supposed to know she was hormonal? And I’m not sure how to “tease” an elephant; did she hear me say that she looked fat??

Lechip, Sonya and Me

            After the feeding incident, we watched the elephants put on a show, they sat when they were told, kicked soccer balls, answered math problems, walked in circles…the usual circus tricks. It was entertaining, but all very showy. After the show we got to ride them. Each elephant held two people so Sonya and I rode together. We sat up on a seat on the elephant’s back while one of the guys that worked there sat on the head to guide the elephant around the trail. Our elephant’s name was Lechip and I was happy that he was a boy and therefore had no chance of being pregnant and hormonal. Made me feel much safer. We chose to ride at night, which was very cool and peaceful, but we hadn’t really thought about the fact that you can’t see much when it’s dark…woops. It was still pretty sweet, they had some lights lining the path so we could see some of our surroundings, just not a whole lot. After the ride we ate a delicious buffet dinner overlooking a pond in the elephant’s enclosure area. The food was excellent.

Yoga:  My two favorite Bali activities were Yoga and walking through rice paddies. We found place called the Yoga Barn to take a yoga class in Ubud. We got there plenty early, but found out the Power Yoga class that we wanted to take was at a different location. We got some pathetic directions and wandered the street for a while looking for it. We had almost given up when a nice Australian couple helped us out. It was just further down the street that we were on. We got there just after it started and the instructor was happy to let us join.

            It was easily one of the best yoga classes that I have ever taken. It was in a big open pavilion just off the road. I don’t like complete silence, so I welcomed the background noise that came from the street. Like I said, it was a power yoga class, so along with the normal poses and sequences, we also got to work on forearm stands and hand stands. It was a very relaxed and fun atmosphere. We were encouraged to work on things that we find challenging and had input in which poses we worked on as opposed to following a predetermined routine.

            The instructor was an American named Denise and she was covered in tattoos. I found it interesting that although she was all inked up, I only ever looked at her face. She had such a bright and friendly personality that I could not tell you what a single one of her tattoos were. I left yoga feeling on top of the world. I felt clear headed, relaxed, content and completely happy. Reminded me to slow down and enjoy what was around me instead of rushing from one thing to another.

            While Kim and I did yoga, the other girls took a cooking class at the hotel. One of the cooks took them to the market to buy all the ingredients and then back to the hotel to cook lunch. They were finishing just as we got back from yoga, which was perfect because then we go to help eat the lunch! I think they were a bit disappointed with the class because they said it was more of them watching the cook do all the work than actually getting to cook themselves. (I was glad I chose yoga instead.)

One of the many statues 

Walk through the rice paddies: As I said, my other favorite activity was the walk through the rice paddies. We paid $20 each for a private guide to take us on a half-day adventure. We first did some sightseeing through Ubud on the way out to the paddies. They have really epic statues in Bali towns; they are HUGE and all white. Everything else is usually either very green or sort of brown and dirty, and then all of the sudden you are confronted with ginormous white horses and men towering above the car. They create a very stark contrast.

            We walked through the paddies next. I’m not sure exactly how long we spent walking, but it was probably around 2 hours. Everything was so green; it was absolutely beautiful. Our guide’s name was Ry and he was a goofball. In the first five minutes he swiped a snake out of a tree, swung it around, and launched it out in the rice. He kept telling us throughout the walk to be careful over the small bridges (which were usually a very small log) and to have good balance. Of course, over one bridge just as he was saying this, he slipped and ate it. Couldn’t have been better timing and since he wasn’t hurt, it was very funny. He wasn’t the only one who fell; I think Emilia and Kelsey also fell at least once each. Very clumsy crew.

Green Rice Paddies 

Farmers in their home

            Nestled in between the rice fields were farmers homes, one of which we visited. By our standards, it would have been considered just a hut shared with several cows and a couple of pigs (and the smells that accompany both). Their bed was little more than a shelf. It was a complete eye opener to see how primitively (I hope that’s the right word) they lived. They were very gracious in welcoming us in to look around and offered us a snack of the rice and coconut variety. Ry told us to tip them before we left so we gave them a small note as we walked out. It wouldn’t have been more than a few cents to us, but that is how much he recommended. That in itself was another eye opener. The change that we might find under the couch was enough to put a huge smile on their faces. It was incredibly humbling.

Fresh coconut water! 

            Towards the end of the adventure, we walked up a man shimmying up a palm tree and tossing down coconuts. We were invited to sit at the bottom of the tree (out of the drop-zone) and Ry split the coconuts open for us to drink the water. I have never tasted anything so fresh and pure. Makes the coconut water I buy from Trader Joes seem like a bit of a joke. It is hard to capture how epic it was here, re-telling it now just does not do it justice.

            After the rice paddies, we stopped at a black sand beach (the sand was really shiny) and a couple of temples. The temples were interesting. They are decorated with lots of yellow and orange and are bright and cheery looking. They are filled with statues of little men with various facial expressions, as well as larger statues of all kinds of beings and animals. To get in, we had to pay a small donation to get a sash to wear as a skirt.  It was fun to walk around, but very hot (and we were getting hungry), so we did not end up staying very long.

Monkeys 

Entrance to one of the biggest temples  

Monkey Forest: there is a monkey sanctuary in Ubud where you can go feed wild monkeys… of course we went. It was only a couple of dollars to get in and to buy a bunch of small bananas. Calling them “wild” monkeys is slightly misleading; they are clearly conditioned to being fed by tourists and are very assertive in getting bananas. One of them tried to grab my bag right off my shoulder within seconds of walking in. Another monkey lunged at Kim with his teeth bared, one jumped on Emilia’s back and a few climbed all over Sonya. Seems that all of us had some kind of animal incident. My elephant experience was a big reminder that even tame animals can catch you off guard, so I mostly kept my distance and as soon as they grabbed any banana I quickly backed away. It was really fun to walk around the jungly-looking paths with monkeys hanging out everywhere.

Monkey Friend

            Surfing: The last day we were there Sonya and I drove a hard bargain and rented a surfboard for a short time. We charged out and caught a good few waves before packing up our stuff to leave. Although it would have been fun to surf the whole day away, we were happy to at least have a taste of the Bali waves. The sun was out and the water was warm. I always love being able to surf without a wetsuit!

            As a side note, the beach was the perfect place to watch the sunset…except for the last day when it was cloudy and we could see absolutely nothing. 

The people: Our group was made up of five girls: Sonya, Kim, Emilia, Kelsey and myself. I was a little nervous about traveling with all girls, but we couldn’t have had a better group. Even though not everyone knew each other before we left, we had no drama and everyone got along really well.

People in Bali were really friendly. I was worried at first about taking pictures of them working in the fields and in their villages because it felt very rude and invasive. But one of our guides told us that they usually don’t mind. I always felt better when I asked first, and I was rarely turned down when I did. I don’t think I would like very much if someone started taking photos of me going about my daily life, but their lifestyles and ways of living are so different from ours that it was hard not to. The Balinese people were very excited to have American tourists. They kept telling us to go back to the states and tell all of our friends and families to go to Bali. Turns out they found us just as interesting and several of them even wanted pictures with us. Made me feel better about asking for pictures with them.

Fruit galore 

Food: My favorite food in Bali was the fruit. Nearly everywhere we went served fresh banana, watermelon, grapes, and papaya with lime. It was DELICIOUS! We also tried some new fruits that I can’t remember the names of. It was also very inexpensive to eat out, we bought lunch and dinner meals for easily under $5. It was so cheap that we felt like we could get food AND a drink, and sometimes even dessert! My favorite place that we ate was a restaurant that was on the beach. As in our feet were in the sand under the table. They also had beanbags that you could lounge around in, so we sat in those to eat dessert and digest for a big after dinner.

I'm a Millionaire!

Money: their currency is such that for the first (and in all likelihood, last ) time we were all millionaires! Woohoo! It is amazing how much you can spend even when everything is so cheap. It adds up so quickly.

Like most of the trips I have been on, it is impossible to capture it all in a blog. I have several more Bali stories to share, but they may have to wait till later. I do feel like I should mention that we went to Bali during our study week before finals. It seemed like too good of a travel opportunity to pass up, so I completed all of my study guides before I left and took them with me. I would be lying if I said I studied very much (which is ok to admit now since I passed all of my exams), but I have photographic proof that I studied at least once in the pool in Nusa Dua…It wasn’t staged at all…

See, I'm studying!