How I ended up on the other side of the world is still somewhat a mystery! I woke up one day, thinking, "I need a vacation!" and 24 hours later, I had purchased a plane ticket to Bali! Thanks to my good pal, Lauren (she had already planned her own 30 day vacation), I had the perfect destination to a tropical climate during the midst of one of our coldest winters on record!
I arrived in Bali around 8am on Saturday morning . {Compared to my last solo international flight} getting through immigration and customs was a breeze!! I guess it helps that English is spoken widely in Bali.... But I paid my visa, and was in and out in about 30 minutes! I quickly got my money exchanged, ((I SOOOOO wish I would have gotten a picture of my 47million Indonesian Rupiah!....talk about Ballin!)) and was in a cab on my way to meet Lauren in Seminyak. I was in the cab for about 20 minutes, and the whole time my blood pressure was sky high! The roads are the size of our sidewalks, and 80% of the people drive little scooters, and there are absolutely no rules to the road. It was terrifying. I just knew we were going to nail a person on a scooter, but alas everyone survived unscathed.
I got to the hotel before just 10am and got checked in. Right away I was blown away by the kindness and service of the Balinese people! I stayed at the beautiful
Bali Ayu Hotel & Villas, and from my first moment there they went above and beyond to be of service in every way! Before I got to my own room, I was able to track down Lauren...(it wasn't really that hard :) It was SOOOOO exciting to see her and meet her friend, Elizabeth! Elizabeth is from New Zealand, and is a co-worker with Lauren in South Korea. I freshened up a bit, and then it was adventure time. We had a fresh raw/vegan lunch at
Earth Cafe and then this Colorado girl made haste to the beach!
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| YAY! Reunited with Lauren! First Beach Pic!! |
We walked around and I took in the sights, and we then went for an afternoon at the spa! It was much needed after traveling for 30 hours! I had the strangest massage of my life.... there was no sheet to cover me up, (which considering it was 90 degrees, it wasn't
that weird....) until it was time for me to roll over onto my back. The first few seconds were awkward when I realized I was just going to be pretty much naked on the table, and it got more awkward when she gave me a very thorough *
ahem* breast massage. {{Blushes}}. But ya know, I went with it. I figured, "
when in bali..." I just pretended it was normal, and hoped she didn't catch my wide-eyed moment of fear when she started in on the girls. After the massage, she drew a bath with oil and rose petals. It was the strangest 90 minutes, but it cost me about $28 bucks. Worth it.
After our spa treatment, we went to Bikram yoga.
Jiwa Bikram is an awesome little studio right next to our hotel. Lauren and Elizabeth were already regular members, but it was fun to be the newbie in the class! With such energetic and encouraging instructors, by the end of my sessions, I felt like a bikram pro :) If you've never done bikram before, [my preferred and usual yoga practice is vinyasa] you're in for a workout for sure! It was hard-core poses, sweating it out in a 105 degree room for 90 minutes (midway through my first class I thought I might pass out!!) But we followed up with a refreshing coconut water post class and I felt like quite the bad-ass :)
We finished up the evening with a lovely Indonesian dinner. Man, that was a good first day in Bali, and that night I slept like a little lamb.
[January 26]
On Sunday, we started out the day by taking a Balinese cooking class! It was four hours of awesome. We made absolutely everything home-made from scratch, and I'm talking down to the herbs and spice blends, mixing and mashing in a mortar and pestle.
We made a home-made peanut sauce for our gado-gado (a traditional Balinese salad) Mi-Goreng (a noodle dish) sambal (a tomato based sauce that's eaten on anything and everything) and a fish and chicken dish that was wrapped and steamed inside of banana leaves. A Bali-tamale, if you will :)
One thing I learned very early on, is that pancakes are very popular in Bali! Mostly banana pancakes, but in our cooking class we made coconut pancakes. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing they were!! A vanilla crepe, filled with fresh coconut and drizzled with cane syrup. Wow. We were all pretty much in a food coma by the end of the class. So we had a little lie-down (a New Zealand phrase that I adopted from Elizabeth :) and had another sweat-out at Bikram. After a refreshing shower (every shower I took in Bali was cold....) We went out for cocktails at the Ku De Ta. It was so lovely having a girls night out, drinking piña coladas and watching the beautiful sun set on the water. This real life is amazing sometimes.
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| V & Elizabeth selfie :) |
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| [Don't mind my double jointed elbow :/ ] |
[January 27]
Monday morning, we geared up with a hearty breakfast before we went surfing. Yes, surfing! I've always been a little afraid of the ocean, but I wasn't going to let my fear hold me back from trying new things! We taxied to another beach in Kuta, and before I was ready, it was surfboard in my hands and heading down to the water. Ms. Lauren Kuehster was already a seasoned pro with her first lesson behind her, so she was in the advanced group. Elizabeth and I were in the beginner class with two other chaps from England and Norway. We had a quick crash course on the sand on "how to stand up on the board" and that was pretty much it before we were thrown to the sharks.
It was absolutely terrifying and exhilarating all at once! I actually did get up on my board several times! {{I also definitely wiped out more than a fair amount of times, too...}} They made me wear a shirt that was way too small, so between my shirt rolling up on me the whole time, and being taken out by waves, I was a hot mess by the end of the morning! We were in the water only for a couple of hours, but by the end of the morning, I was completely exhausted! Mostly from fighting the sea the opposite direction to get back out. I could tell I was getting sloppy and falling a lot more, the longer the morning wore on, so I was very happy when the class was over. Thankfully, my instructors at
Up2U Surf School were pretty gracious and forgiving of my bad form and lack of coordination on the board. (If only I were as gracious with myself ;) It was pretty darn awesome, though! I really can't believe that I was surfing in Bali. haha. It's quite funny, really.
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| He's yelling at me, "Stand UP!" |
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| OMG am I really doing this?! |
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| Feeling like a pro! |
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| Bagus! |
After a shower and a lie-down, we went on an adventure! We hired a cab driver named Tony, and he drove us around to all the best spots. We toured some Hindu temples, which were really beautiful. The first temple we went to was Taman Ayun (Royal Family Temple). This lovely place was peaceful and stunning. The details in the carvings were exquisite.
We also went to a Monkey Forest which is one of the funniest things I've ever done! You really have to watch out for those little buggars! They will just hop right up on your shoulder, and steal your sunglasses and earrings! We had a funny tour guide who informed us, "Monkeys are not like people. They don't have jobs or money. They steal things so they can trade for food." It was hilarious.
Why, thank you for informing me. hahaha. But the monkeys really are so damn cute! There were lots of new born babies! I just wanted to cuddle one, but we weren't allowed to touch them.
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| I forgot to mention the giant creepy bats... |
That evening, we went to
Tanah Lot, which is a beautiful temple on a tiny little island. It was wildly crowded, but we found a great little cafe where we had some pancakes and Bintangs (very popular local Balinese pilsners) and watch the sunset over Tanah Lot. After sunset, it was an hour long ride back home, where we talked to Tony about Balinese culture, and finished the ride by singing "Country Roads" by John Denver, per Tony's request (it was his favorite American song.) It was a lovely day :)
[January 28]
Tuesday morning it was early to rise. Lauren and I said goodbye to Elizabeth and Seminyak, as we began part of our next adventure. We were off to the Gili Islands!! We met up with a few more of Lauren's colleagues from S. Korea, and we hopped on a bus to the harbor. We drove from the west coast of Bali, to the east coast. I was so excited for this new adventure, but this day was the start of a bad time for me, only to get worse. My first 4 days in Bali were the most exciting and wonderful days I've had, but the next four days, proved to be a bit of a turnaround. [...to be continued...]
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| Goodbye, Elizabeth! |
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| at the harbor |
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| excited for our next adventure! |
I was at DIA bright and early thursday morning and was off to LA! I had just enough of a layover to find the mini-spa and got a quick mani before flying off to Japan. It was a long 12 hour flight to Tokyo, and I sat next to the sweetest little Japanese couple! The woman's name was Kitanishi, and she & her husband were going back home from a trip to Vegas. I had so much fun learning about her and her husband. They had been married for 42 years. She taught me a few Japanese words and I felt set when we got to Tokyo! I had a 4 hour layover so I made some new friends (A woman from Germany and a girl from NYC) and we had dinner together at a lovely Japanese restaurant! I really would love to go back to Tokyo! Unfortunately my layover was from 10pm-1:30am, so I didn't get to see the city, but I know I need to go back! I think I have a new love for Japan. I wandered around the airport to some various stores and bought some fun stuff :)
