Today I woke up and headed to the dive center. Out on the boat by 9am I did my first deep dive to 28.5 meters (just over 90 feet). Immediately upon reaching bottom, we saw a sea turtle, a white tip reef shark, and a sting ray. We saw about 5 more sharks on the dive (small and timid, 1-2 meters long), at at least as many turtles (one pretty massive big old guy), and I didn't die.
We were back on land by noon. After that I had some lunch and a nap in a hammock tied to palm trees on the beach. It started to get hot as the sun shifted me out of the shade, so I moved to some pillows under a grass roof cabana. At about 1:15 we did some compass and natural navigation briefing and headed out for dive #2 of the day. Not as deep this time, but we practiced navigation underwater, saw some more sharks and turtles, and a cuttlefish, which is a small squidlike creature that changes colors rapidly and dramatically. It was changing colors so fast and kind of flickering like it had electric current moving through it. It was so cool, the dive instructor and I watched it for about 15 minutes. It was hunting (this one was small maybe the size of 2 fists), glowing like a neon sign to daze its prey. Search videos for this thing right now, it was awesome.
Then I came back, hung out with my new dive family for a little while, booked a flight to Australia (I know what you were thinking, and no I am not going to be another coincidental transplant to Gili Trawangan), had some dinner, added some photos to the previous entry, wrote this entry, and am going to bed.
Since it's Saturday again tomorrow, I anticipate a similar story. The first dive will be photography practice.
So there you have it.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Taking It Easy and Challenging Myself All In One
First of all, let me say I certainly wasted almost 2 weeks in Bali when I could have been here. Once you get here, and speak to other people here you find everyone feels pretty much the same way. You also often hear the story that "I was just going to come for 3 days and now here I am 3 weeks (2 months, a year and a half) later. The dive schools suck people in because it is so much fun, and if you are able to put yourself through all the levels, which would take about 4 months total, you can then stay and be employed and then you NEVER have to leave.
Still on Gili Trawangan enjoying my first day free from diving. I arrived Tuesday Jan 25 around noon to this apparent time warp. The speed boat option from Bali pulls right up on shore after 2.5 hours crossing the Lombok Strait. We hop down into the water and walk up to the beach where we were greeted by locals promoting various accommodation locations.
I ended up finding a small place just off the main "road" which charged me 100,000 Rupiah per night (about $10). I paid for 2 nights and I am still there 5 nights later and no one has asked me for more money yet. I spoke with a guy today, and told him I plan to stay one more week from today, and he told me I could pay 80,000 per night for the rest of the time. I got a small clean room with a fan and a cold water shower that seems to be half fresh and half salt water.
There is no fresh water source on this island. All the water is brought in daily on boats from Lombok. Lombok is the larger island that is like the mainland to the Gili Islands. There are no police on the island but some island security, and apparently if there is even so much as a bar fight, the perpetrators are detained for the evening and sent away by boat the next morning. Also, available and advertised all over the island are "Magic Mushroom Milkshakes". Although the penalty for illegal drugs in Indonesia is severe (including marijuana), magic mushrooms do NOT fall in the category of illegal drugs.
After dropping off my bags I went choose a dive school to spend my time at. There are 13 dive schools on this island, which you can walk the circumference of in < 2 hours. I settled on Manta Dive, simply because I liked the atmosphere best of the 4 or 5 schools I looked at. I spoke with one of the instructors, filled out some paper work and was to report back first thing the next morning.
Today I did the circumference walk with a fellow dive student, Ollie from England. There is no paved road, and there are no cars. There are small horses that pull… well they are more like wagons than carriages. The road in the developed part of the island is partially dirt, partially cobblestone and as you exit the, umm, downtown area it becomes hard dirt road and sometimes just a sandy path. The sand is white, and the water close to shore is the beautiful turquoise you imagine it would be until underwater maybe 15 meters out is a sudden and steep ridge which makes the water change drastically to a deep ocean blue. This is the same the whole way around the island, except for one stretch where the turquoise extends more like 50+ meters.
Apparently, although just one side of the island is built up to support tourism now, every piece of land has been spoken for and with the international airport coming to Lombok soon, you can bet things are going to change around here pretty quick. Most businesses owned by Westerners who come to check up every so often. Some local food joints are family run, and the smaller cheaper homestays as well. Otherwise if it looks touristy, you can almost be sure it is not Indonesian owned.
Right now I am lounging at the dive school, which sometimes reminds me quite a bit of surfcamp. I completed my open water diving course yesterday! 2 days of pool skill practice and theory followed by 2 days of diving practice (2 dives per day) and a multiple choice exam and I did it. For the past 4 days I have spent the day here starting at 8:30 and ending around 5 with an hour and a half break in between. My instructor, Aan, is from Lombok. She is great. 4 dives didn't seem like enough so I decided to continue on to the advanced course which gets me 5 more dives in the next 3 days. I took today off, and start advanced tomorrow which is all diving and no classroom. I get a new instructor for advanced, Eddie, Aan's husband. He is from England. Many transplants here, who came to stay for a week, 5 years ago.
The Indonesian boatmen/dive assistants are fun to watch. Fit young men, mostly from Lombok who either commute here daily or live somewhere on the island now (I believe this is the story for almost all the employees on the island). They hang around the dive shop, loading the equipment, assisting divers in and out of the water. One drives the boat, which is wooden and battered with a long narrow hull and a couple of motors attached to the back that seem out of place, a couple sit on the bow and watch and sing ("Don't telllll me, it's not worth dying foooor..." "Bryan Adams, you know? you like?") as we sail to the dive sites, smoking their cigarettes, quiet and seemingly pensive. They go for dives every so often as well. For some reason they just have this way about them, they seem to glide along a little too cool for school.
I can't even tell you how cool it is. Not just being underwater, but learning the skills, the underwater sign language, feeling confident, practicing calm breathing, knowing that you can be almost 100ft underwater and not freak out and die (I've only made it to about 50ft so far, but 30 meters is part of the advanced course). Done properly an accident underwater is very unlikely. There are hardly any animals down there that want to hurt us unprovoked and I'm pretty sure I will see sharks at some point in the advanced dive course as almost everyone else I've spoken to has. You have to go a little deeper to see sharks than I have gone so far. There is a lot to remember, and the scariest part is not the marine wildlife.
The scariest part is lung expansion (which can only happen if you are holding your breath in ascent, which would be silly) and decompression sickness, which also happens in ascent but this happens when you ascend too quickly and do not give your body enough time to dissipate the nitrogen levels present from being under pressure. I don't fully understand why this happens, but I do know how to prevent it and really don't want to get it. If you do get decompression sickness, you will be put on the first boat to Lombok to get you into a recompression chamber as fast as possible.
Those are the scariest parts about the diving I am doing, which is also very unlikely to happen. Those things would just about only happen in a no oxygen freak out emergency ascent. Funny, the common danger in SCUBA diving is getting OUT of the water. For more advanced diving I'm sure you can find yourself all kinds of other fun dangers. Channels of current that must be followed exactly, because swimming outside the lines would put you in a down current so strong it would suck you beyond 100 meters depth in a matter of seconds, ending your story right then and there. Oh the thrill of not dying.
We saw about 6 sea turtles yesterday, a lion fish (danger, poison), a sea snake, parrot fish, lots of snapper, several scorpion fish (danger, poison), many clown fish living in sea anemones (exactly as is illustrated in Finding Nemo), trumpet fish, several kinds of butterfly fish (lots of these guys), some things ugly and brownish grey, blending in with the sea floor, some things the bright tropical colors you would expect to find. So many tiny little fish, big fish, different kinds of marine life, busy all the time just below the ocean surface.
I have developed some kind of lock jaw symptom from trying to hold the regulator (air mouthpiece) in my mouth. It happens after every dive and even happened after the pool exercises. So for the past 4 days, my jaw refuses to perform in accordance with its full potential, and I have had to force feed myself dinner through about a one inch slot between my teeth. By the morning it remedies itself just to lock up again after the first dive of the day at 8:30. I'm working on relaxing my jaw but still have not figured out how to completely prevent this.
The problem with pictures and words is they don't make you here, so really, you'll never know.
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| On the "Fast Boat" from Padangbai, Bali, to Gili Trawangan |
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| Just arrived in Gili, watch your step. |
I ended up finding a small place just off the main "road" which charged me 100,000 Rupiah per night (about $10). I paid for 2 nights and I am still there 5 nights later and no one has asked me for more money yet. I spoke with a guy today, and told him I plan to stay one more week from today, and he told me I could pay 80,000 per night for the rest of the time. I got a small clean room with a fan and a cold water shower that seems to be half fresh and half salt water.
There is no fresh water source on this island. All the water is brought in daily on boats from Lombok. Lombok is the larger island that is like the mainland to the Gili Islands. There are no police on the island but some island security, and apparently if there is even so much as a bar fight, the perpetrators are detained for the evening and sent away by boat the next morning. Also, available and advertised all over the island are "Magic Mushroom Milkshakes". Although the penalty for illegal drugs in Indonesia is severe (including marijuana), magic mushrooms do NOT fall in the category of illegal drugs. After dropping off my bags I went choose a dive school to spend my time at. There are 13 dive schools on this island, which you can walk the circumference of in < 2 hours. I settled on Manta Dive, simply because I liked the atmosphere best of the 4 or 5 schools I looked at. I spoke with one of the instructors, filled out some paper work and was to report back first thing the next morning.
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| Take It Easy |
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| Island Goat |
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| Lunch Time |
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| Goats Take Naps In Palm Tree Shade Too |
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| Practice Pool |
Right now I am lounging at the dive school, which sometimes reminds me quite a bit of surfcamp. I completed my open water diving course yesterday! 2 days of pool skill practice and theory followed by 2 days of diving practice (2 dives per day) and a multiple choice exam and I did it. For the past 4 days I have spent the day here starting at 8:30 and ending around 5 with an hour and a half break in between. My instructor, Aan, is from Lombok. She is great. 4 dives didn't seem like enough so I decided to continue on to the advanced course which gets me 5 more dives in the next 3 days. I took today off, and start advanced tomorrow which is all diving and no classroom. I get a new instructor for advanced, Eddie, Aan's husband. He is from England. Many transplants here, who came to stay for a week, 5 years ago.
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| Boatmen |
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| Gearing Up, Heading Out |
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| Dive School Kitty, Used to Bait the Sharks |
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| This Guy Will Teach You How To Stay Safe 30 Meters Underwater |
We saw about 6 sea turtles yesterday, a lion fish (danger, poison), a sea snake, parrot fish, lots of snapper, several scorpion fish (danger, poison), many clown fish living in sea anemones (exactly as is illustrated in Finding Nemo), trumpet fish, several kinds of butterfly fish (lots of these guys), some things ugly and brownish grey, blending in with the sea floor, some things the bright tropical colors you would expect to find. So many tiny little fish, big fish, different kinds of marine life, busy all the time just below the ocean surface.
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| Post-Dive Nap |
The problem with pictures and words is they don't make you here, so really, you'll never know.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Island In The Sun
Made it safely to Gili Trawangan. Start my SCUBA course tomorrow. Not much internet for the next week or so, but will update every few days to confirm survival.
And Photos
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| That's a Kitty after a snowstorm in Syracuse. |
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| Dinner the first night in Jimbaran |
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| Restaurant |
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| That's for Uncle Bruce, if you're out there somewhere. Fresh caught red snapper. Jimbaran- fishing village. |
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| The pool, Puri Bambu, Jimbaran |
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| Balcony Puri Bambu |
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| Market, Ubud |
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| I went for a walk. Where does it go? One way to find out. |
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| That's his full time job. |
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| That's where I'm going. |
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| Looks a lot like where I came from. |
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| Rice Fields |
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| Maybe they know the way. |
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| Hitch a ride. |
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| Someone told me there was a temple this way. |
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| But a rock and a river will do just fine. |
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| My guide for the day. |
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| Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave) The name is misleading. |
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| I fell down. |
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| Rice fields before another temple. |
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| More temple. I feel like I should care about this stuff. |
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| It does make for nice photos though. |
Sunday, January 23, 2011
A Good Fish
Still in Ubud. Thinking about Eat, Pray, Love, which is hard not to do here.
Ever since I told people I am going on a would tour the comments about that book have been never ending. Then of course I decided to start in Bali, with my South American "romantic male companion" no less, and naturally the comments persisted. While I do understand why people make the correlation, I would like to take this time to say a few things about it.
First of all, I thought of this 10 years before this lady ever even thought outside the suburbs. Of course I was 12 years old at the time, which delayed the trip for a while, but it was certainly my idea first (and probably someone else's before that). Second, the book sucks; as in is not a good piece of literature. Entertaining at times, but ultimately reads somewhat like a self-help romance novel.
What is funny though, is how right now, here in Ubud, I am literally mirroring the end of her story. She finished her year abroad in Bali, where she found a South American Prince Charming and fell in love. So ends her book, as though the entire point of a year of introspection was more valid now that she could again find someone to be with. I, on the other hand, started my travels with Bali, where I lost my South American Prince Charming, and fell out of love.
Sounds tragic at first and seems like she got the better end of the deal, but a closer look and a little further analysis proves my situation to be much more promising in the next chapter.
She has to end her book there, because what comes next? "Then we moved to New Jersey where we bought a house in a gated community. Lately I have been falling asleep on the couch, and I can not for the life of me get Felipe to do the goddamn dishes." (Seriously though, I'm pretty sure they moved to New Jersey afterwards.)
Luckily for me, New Jersey does not come next and I've still got the whole world and a lot of story ahead.
Don't get me wrong, "in-love" is nice and all, but far too often mistaken for something much more final and definite than it really is. It certainly is not an answer to any question and in fact, seems to just create a whole lot more. That being said, I certainly do recommend it from time to time to anyone.
Nevertheless, I will not deny I am a little bit (or a lot) heartbroken at the moment. I have uncovered a "poem" I wrote last time I was heartbroken, which doesn't exactly describe the situation now, but it does capture some of the same feelings. Plus, I like this thing that I wrote a lot for some reason and would like to post it here anyway. I also do not feel like writing another melancholy poem.
So:
A Good Fish
I’m a good fish, you told me.
Lost in translation somewhere.
“Maria, you’re a good fish.”
So you bait your hook.
And you tease me
With your appealing lure
You tease me
With your shining façade
I investigate with caution, and swim away
Turning back I see
It was still there
A second inspection
Cautious
It was still there
Again I check
Did you give up?
It was still there.
I bite
You tug
Caught!
You got me
Proudly you boast your success
But only for a moment
Because the hook tore my lip
Just a regular fish after all
Not able to withstand the piercing power of sharpened steel
Now I’m flailing on the ground
Defenseless out of the water
Much less attractive, wounded and vulnerable
Many more fish in the sea
Mary-kate says: this world is vast and it is completely open to you and your adventure.....so leaving one persons arms is really like....going to your own welcome party, and everyone is happy you've arrived! World Tour 2011!!!!!!!
And that is why I keep her close.
Everything is going to be OK, and reminds me of this quote which wikipedia tells me is a Persian proverb: This too shall pass.
Ever since I told people I am going on a would tour the comments about that book have been never ending. Then of course I decided to start in Bali, with my South American "romantic male companion" no less, and naturally the comments persisted. While I do understand why people make the correlation, I would like to take this time to say a few things about it.
First of all, I thought of this 10 years before this lady ever even thought outside the suburbs. Of course I was 12 years old at the time, which delayed the trip for a while, but it was certainly my idea first (and probably someone else's before that). Second, the book sucks; as in is not a good piece of literature. Entertaining at times, but ultimately reads somewhat like a self-help romance novel.
What is funny though, is how right now, here in Ubud, I am literally mirroring the end of her story. She finished her year abroad in Bali, where she found a South American Prince Charming and fell in love. So ends her book, as though the entire point of a year of introspection was more valid now that she could again find someone to be with. I, on the other hand, started my travels with Bali, where I lost my South American Prince Charming, and fell out of love.
Sounds tragic at first and seems like she got the better end of the deal, but a closer look and a little further analysis proves my situation to be much more promising in the next chapter.
She has to end her book there, because what comes next? "Then we moved to New Jersey where we bought a house in a gated community. Lately I have been falling asleep on the couch, and I can not for the life of me get Felipe to do the goddamn dishes." (Seriously though, I'm pretty sure they moved to New Jersey afterwards.)
Luckily for me, New Jersey does not come next and I've still got the whole world and a lot of story ahead.
Don't get me wrong, "in-love" is nice and all, but far too often mistaken for something much more final and definite than it really is. It certainly is not an answer to any question and in fact, seems to just create a whole lot more. That being said, I certainly do recommend it from time to time to anyone.
Nevertheless, I will not deny I am a little bit (or a lot) heartbroken at the moment. I have uncovered a "poem" I wrote last time I was heartbroken, which doesn't exactly describe the situation now, but it does capture some of the same feelings. Plus, I like this thing that I wrote a lot for some reason and would like to post it here anyway. I also do not feel like writing another melancholy poem.
So:
A Good Fish
I’m a good fish, you told me.
Lost in translation somewhere.
“Maria, you’re a good fish.”
So you bait your hook.
And you tease me
With your appealing lure
You tease me
With your shining façade
I investigate with caution, and swim away
Turning back I see
It was still there
A second inspection
Cautious
It was still there
Again I check
Did you give up?
It was still there.
I bite
You tug
Caught!
You got me
Proudly you boast your success
But only for a moment
Because the hook tore my lip
Just a regular fish after all
Not able to withstand the piercing power of sharpened steel
Now I’m flailing on the ground
Defenseless out of the water
Much less attractive, wounded and vulnerable
Many more fish in the sea
Mary-kate says: this world is vast and it is completely open to you and your adventure.....so leaving one persons arms is really like....going to your own welcome party, and everyone is happy you've arrived! World Tour 2011!!!!!!!
And that is why I keep her close.
Everything is going to be OK, and reminds me of this quote which wikipedia tells me is a Persian proverb: This too shall pass.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Keep On Keepin' On
Hey there Party People!
In Ubud here, staying in an adorable Bungalow compound called Sania's House. Currently I am down the street at a local bar/restaurant with a Saturday night blues band ensemble. It actually is Saturday today!
I am enjoying a large Bintang which is an Indonesian Pilsner. I like beer and sunshine =).
Speaking of sunshine, I was told this was the rainy season and let me tell you this has got NOTHING on the rainy Costa Rican adventure Mary-Kate and I survived. Of course I'm pretty sure that was a hurricane that was actually a nation wide natural disaster. It has been mostly sunny with light showers here for the most part. It does go from rainy to sunny to rainy to sunny pretty quickly, but I have yet to see hours of downpour which is what I expected.
I got an email confirming that I was granted the Australia working holiday visa.
I'm trying to think of the most interesting thing I've seen here so far and its hard. I'm feeling like I have not been as adventurous as I'd like to be. Ubud is strange to me because it is unbelievable how it has been taken over by Europeans, Americans, and Australians. It seems like less Australians here than in the beach areas of the island. There are clearly lots of tourists, but also a very large ex-pat community. A lot of the local businesses clearly have a strong western influence. Menu items in restaurants are catered to fit the expectations of white people on vacation. Prices are still pretty low, but higher than you'd expect. Everything is really nice, and there is a spa/resort/homestay/bungalow complex every 30 feet, and I am not exaggerating.
The place I am in is modest and very pleasant with beautiful wooden door frames and an overly friendly and warm staff, which I am pretty sure is a large family. Puppies run around the entire complex, and when I wake up in the morning there is a thermos of hot tea and cups on my table on my balcony. Spotty internet is also available, and warm water but poor water pressure, all for about $25 a night.
This band is making me wanna bop my head. In the next couple of days I plan to take a 4 hour Balinese bike tour, and also hike a volcano to see the sunrise and hopefully that will satisfy some of my restlessness. After that I am off to the Gili Islands to get underwater and follow some fish around for no other reason than to creep them out.
I will try to take and upload more photos. I'm sorry that I suck at that, and also that I do not try to hard to put these words and paragraphs together in a way that is more fluid, cohesive and coherent, but maybe you should just take what you can get.
Oh yeah, romantic male companions are (as I already knew but for some reason had momentarily forgotten) overrated. No worries about that, everything is going just as it should.
Love you, miss you.
Maria
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| Bungalow Balcony, Sania's House |
I am enjoying a large Bintang which is an Indonesian Pilsner. I like beer and sunshine =).
Speaking of sunshine, I was told this was the rainy season and let me tell you this has got NOTHING on the rainy Costa Rican adventure Mary-Kate and I survived. Of course I'm pretty sure that was a hurricane that was actually a nation wide natural disaster. It has been mostly sunny with light showers here for the most part. It does go from rainy to sunny to rainy to sunny pretty quickly, but I have yet to see hours of downpour which is what I expected.
I got an email confirming that I was granted the Australia working holiday visa.
I'm trying to think of the most interesting thing I've seen here so far and its hard. I'm feeling like I have not been as adventurous as I'd like to be. Ubud is strange to me because it is unbelievable how it has been taken over by Europeans, Americans, and Australians. It seems like less Australians here than in the beach areas of the island. There are clearly lots of tourists, but also a very large ex-pat community. A lot of the local businesses clearly have a strong western influence. Menu items in restaurants are catered to fit the expectations of white people on vacation. Prices are still pretty low, but higher than you'd expect. Everything is really nice, and there is a spa/resort/homestay/bungalow complex every 30 feet, and I am not exaggerating.
The place I am in is modest and very pleasant with beautiful wooden door frames and an overly friendly and warm staff, which I am pretty sure is a large family. Puppies run around the entire complex, and when I wake up in the morning there is a thermos of hot tea and cups on my table on my balcony. Spotty internet is also available, and warm water but poor water pressure, all for about $25 a night.
This band is making me wanna bop my head. In the next couple of days I plan to take a 4 hour Balinese bike tour, and also hike a volcano to see the sunrise and hopefully that will satisfy some of my restlessness. After that I am off to the Gili Islands to get underwater and follow some fish around for no other reason than to creep them out.
I will try to take and upload more photos. I'm sorry that I suck at that, and also that I do not try to hard to put these words and paragraphs together in a way that is more fluid, cohesive and coherent, but maybe you should just take what you can get.
Oh yeah, romantic male companions are (as I already knew but for some reason had momentarily forgotten) overrated. No worries about that, everything is going just as it should.
Love you, miss you.
Maria
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Every Day Is Saturday
Today is Saturday. Like everyday. Yesterday was Saturday too. And so was the day before that.
So 2 Saturday's ago we motorbiked our way to Ubud, which you can read about and watch about in the best selling novel and Hollywood film, Eat, Pray, Love. It is a small town pretty much in the center of the island, home to rice fields, a pretty strong western influence, Yoga retreats (mostly run by Westerners), lots of arts and shopping and plenty of beautiful accommodations. We are still staying at the Puri Bambu in Jimbaran until Saturday, 2 days from now.
Today we went back to Padang Padang and surfed and hung out for a few hours. The waves were small, there were not more than 10 people out there at any time, and for a while there were just 3 of us. Small but perfect and fun for me, pretty long rides, joy in my heart. I haven't been in the water in at least 8 months, and it was great. I had some good rides and a lot of fun. The water was warm but so was the sun and now I am in pain. Its a pretty bad sunburn, you'd think I'd know better by now.
Oh yeah, and my camera miraculously started working again.
Sittin on a dock of a bay. Watching the tide roll away.
So 2 Saturday's ago we motorbiked our way to Ubud, which you can read about and watch about in the best selling novel and Hollywood film, Eat, Pray, Love. It is a small town pretty much in the center of the island, home to rice fields, a pretty strong western influence, Yoga retreats (mostly run by Westerners), lots of arts and shopping and plenty of beautiful accommodations. We are still staying at the Puri Bambu in Jimbaran until Saturday, 2 days from now.
Today we went back to Padang Padang and surfed and hung out for a few hours. The waves were small, there were not more than 10 people out there at any time, and for a while there were just 3 of us. Small but perfect and fun for me, pretty long rides, joy in my heart. I haven't been in the water in at least 8 months, and it was great. I had some good rides and a lot of fun. The water was warm but so was the sun and now I am in pain. Its a pretty bad sunburn, you'd think I'd know better by now.
Oh yeah, and my camera miraculously started working again.
Sittin on a dock of a bay. Watching the tide roll away.
Friday, January 14, 2011
To Infinity and Beyond
We started the fun proper at SFO right off the bat. Checking in to our flight, China Airlines told us they could not allow us to board because we had no return or onward flight booked from Indonesia. They insisted Indonesian customs was very strict about this and did not want to be held responsible for our deportation upon arrival.
Thinking fast, we told them we would sign online and buy an onward ticket. We didn't have return or onward tickets because we planned to get to Bali, play around for a while and then decide when and where to go next. I can't imagine we are the first and only people who have ever tried this and found it pretty hard to believe that Indonesian customs would be too worried about us. Nonetheless, China Airlines was overly concerned about our return ticket and was sticking to their guns.
We quickly found $80 one-way tickets from Jakarta to Kuala Lampur and bought them on Orbitz. With the confirmation page still on the screen we returned to the airline check-in, proud of ourselves and hopeful. Well, we had not received the confirmation email yet, and the confirmation page did not show our names or enough flight information to satisfy the manager on duty at the check-in counter. We scrambled around on the internet some more, and we able to pull up the "My Trips" page of Orbitz which showed us that the reservation to Malaysia had been canceled already without explanation. This cancellation page, however, showed more information about the flight and date and had our names listed. Unfortunately the words "Trip Cancelled" were branded across the top of the page. Clever, crafty and resourceful, Facundo took a screen shot of the page, photoshopped out any information the suggested the reservations were not good, we returned to the China Airlines manager, showed him our false documents, and were given boarding passes and 22 hours to think about what we had done.
Well, 22 hours later we arrived at the airport in Bali, purchased our 30 day visas, and cruised thru customs without even so much as a bag check.
I'm sitting on the 2nd floor breakfast buffet balcony at the Hotel Puri Bambu, overlooking the pool and surrounded by tropical vegetation and birds. A rooster crows over and over again, and has been doing so for quite some time now. It's about 730am, and he's certainly been at it for over an hour. It was still dark when I first noticed. I'm basically wide awake and restless. I began stirring very early this morning after a very busy day yesterday that had me sound asleep by 10:30 last night.
Yesterday we rented a small motorbike, costing us about $6 for 24 hours. Right now we are in Jimbaran, which is a relatively quiet fisherman's village just south of the airport and at the northern end of the South Bali Bukit Peninsula. Accommodations here are absolutely wonderful, but certainly a little more expensive than I want to spend as a daily rate on average.
So, we rented the motor bike and went exploring for a place to live for a week or a month or whatever we decide. First we headed south. Leaving Jimbaran there was a good amount of traffic on the main roads, and I promise you of anything I have ever done in my life, and I don't live the most reserved or cautious lifestyle, riding these motorbikes around on streets the seem to have very loose interpretations of traffic laws is probably the most life-threatening activity I have ever taken part in. The further south we got, however, the more open roads we found. The southwest part of the peninsula is very green and open and the shoreline seems to be lined with rocks and cliffs and bluffs. We were headed in the direction of Ulu Watu which I would say is a good 20km from Jimbaran. We ended up finding Padang Padang beach, which is a small secluded cove beach with large rock cliffs encasing a patch of white sand. Friendly waves break about 100 meters out, weathered Balinese try to sell you sarongs, illegal DVDs, and food from a dirty grill with picnic tables under a canopy.
After a dip in the Indian Ocean, we hopped back on the motorbike and went to explore the towns just north of the airport which had more traffic, more tourists, more shopping, more congestion, and just overall a lot more chaos. We barely made it to the first corner of the first town before we decided that this was not really for us. If the objective is to drink heavily and partake in general debauchery at a lower cost than your home country, then this is surely the place to be. Already exhausted, sunburnt, and on edge from navigating a motor bike through the crowded renegade streets may not have helped to sell us on Kuta or Seminyak. Whatever the case, we quickly gave up and made our way back to the Puri Bambu which is where I am now, at the 2nd floor balcony breakfast buffet, about to get a $5 hour long massage. It is now 8:15.
Oh yeah, and somehow my camera is broken already. I would. Cameras and cell phones simply are not safe with me.
Wish you were here.
Thinking fast, we told them we would sign online and buy an onward ticket. We didn't have return or onward tickets because we planned to get to Bali, play around for a while and then decide when and where to go next. I can't imagine we are the first and only people who have ever tried this and found it pretty hard to believe that Indonesian customs would be too worried about us. Nonetheless, China Airlines was overly concerned about our return ticket and was sticking to their guns.
We quickly found $80 one-way tickets from Jakarta to Kuala Lampur and bought them on Orbitz. With the confirmation page still on the screen we returned to the airline check-in, proud of ourselves and hopeful. Well, we had not received the confirmation email yet, and the confirmation page did not show our names or enough flight information to satisfy the manager on duty at the check-in counter. We scrambled around on the internet some more, and we able to pull up the "My Trips" page of Orbitz which showed us that the reservation to Malaysia had been canceled already without explanation. This cancellation page, however, showed more information about the flight and date and had our names listed. Unfortunately the words "Trip Cancelled" were branded across the top of the page. Clever, crafty and resourceful, Facundo took a screen shot of the page, photoshopped out any information the suggested the reservations were not good, we returned to the China Airlines manager, showed him our false documents, and were given boarding passes and 22 hours to think about what we had done.
Well, 22 hours later we arrived at the airport in Bali, purchased our 30 day visas, and cruised thru customs without even so much as a bag check.
 |
| Taiwan Layover. Facebook, Facebook, Gmail, Gmail, Facebook... |
I'm sitting on the 2nd floor breakfast buffet balcony at the Hotel Puri Bambu, overlooking the pool and surrounded by tropical vegetation and birds. A rooster crows over and over again, and has been doing so for quite some time now. It's about 730am, and he's certainly been at it for over an hour. It was still dark when I first noticed. I'm basically wide awake and restless. I began stirring very early this morning after a very busy day yesterday that had me sound asleep by 10:30 last night.Yesterday we rented a small motorbike, costing us about $6 for 24 hours. Right now we are in Jimbaran, which is a relatively quiet fisherman's village just south of the airport and at the northern end of the South Bali Bukit Peninsula. Accommodations here are absolutely wonderful, but certainly a little more expensive than I want to spend as a daily rate on average.
 | |
| Cavernous Stairway, Padang Padang. Walk into the light. |
After a dip in the Indian Ocean, we hopped back on the motorbike and went to explore the towns just north of the airport which had more traffic, more tourists, more shopping, more congestion, and just overall a lot more chaos. We barely made it to the first corner of the first town before we decided that this was not really for us. If the objective is to drink heavily and partake in general debauchery at a lower cost than your home country, then this is surely the place to be. Already exhausted, sunburnt, and on edge from navigating a motor bike through the crowded renegade streets may not have helped to sell us on Kuta or Seminyak. Whatever the case, we quickly gave up and made our way back to the Puri Bambu which is where I am now, at the 2nd floor balcony breakfast buffet, about to get a $5 hour long massage. It is now 8:15.
Oh yeah, and somehow my camera is broken already. I would. Cameras and cell phones simply are not safe with me.
Wish you were here.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Today Is The Day
Here we go! Tonight at 12:05am, so technically Wednesday, January 12, we take off for Bali.
Plans have changed a bit since I left Los Angeles 3 months ago. I originally intended to depart for Australia from the West Coast around this time, but unexpected and welcomed twists and turns are already underway and the new plan departs for Bali from San Francisco in 4 hours with Facundo.
Facundo joined me for the Act I (Road Trip) Scene III (Chicago to NY) portion of the Adventure saga. In Act II we spent a good amount of time commuting around the Northeast to spend time with each other. Somewhere in there he became part of what is now Act III (Bali) as a romantic male companion. To Be Continued.
I spent two action packed months on the East Coast, with an unbelievably rigorous traveling schedule, but I was able to relax for the last couple weeks in some state of holiday hibernation in Syracuse. I made this list at some point:
October 5 LA
October 6 San Fran
October 7 Stillwater Cove
October 8 Honeydew, CA
October 9 Portland, Or
October 10 Mt. St Helen's OR
October 11 Portland, OR
October 12 Seattle, WA (Lake City)
October 13-14 Seattle, WA (Green Lake)
October 15 Vancouver, BC
October 16-17 Lake Louise, Alberta
October 18-19 Banff Springs, Alberta
October 20 In the car Montana - North Dakota-Minnesota-Wisconsin
October 21 Chicago (Greg's House)
October 22-24 Chicago (Fairmont)
October 25 Ohio Somewhere (Random janky Motel)
October 26 Syracuse
October 27 Albany
October 28 Burlington, VT
October 29 Overnight Bus Burlington-D.C.
October 30 Overnight Car Ride D.C. to Cambridge, MA
October 31 Burlington, VT
November 1-2 Burlington, VT
November 3-5 Syracuse, NY
November 6-7 Albany, NY
November 8-10 Syracuse, NY
November 11-12 Canton, NY
November 13 Syracuse, NY
November 14 Albany
November 15-16 Syracuse, NY
November 17 Buffalo, NY
November 18 Syracuse, NY
November 19-20 New Haven, CT
November 21-23 Boston, MA
November 24-26 Westport, NY
November 27-30 Syracuse, NY
December 2-5 NYC
December 6-8 Boston, MA
December 8-12 Burlington, VT
December 12-14 Westport, NY (snowstorm trap!)
And then back to Syracuse I think. I made one more trip to visit cousins, and then Bri again in Albany for NYE. Anyway, I was busy, and I spent a lot of money.
And now its
Jan 5-9 Los Angeles, CA
Jan 9-11 San Francisco, CA
I got to see my brother's band play twice, once in Boston and once in NYC before they took off for their European tour commencing with the Trans Musicales Music Festival in Rennes, France. Ava Luna, check them out. Here is a clip from the festival with the first several minutes dedicated to none other than Brother and Band.
Dad and I got to go for another plane ride across the state of New York, which always excites me about the possibility of being my own pilot sometime.
I really love all of my people so very much, and wish I could be with everyone all the time to do everything. But, as that cannot be, I will just be grateful for the privilege to have had them for any time at all.
As for now, better bid adieu and grab my passport. Adventure Act III Scene I - commence.
Plans have changed a bit since I left Los Angeles 3 months ago. I originally intended to depart for Australia from the West Coast around this time, but unexpected and welcomed twists and turns are already underway and the new plan departs for Bali from San Francisco in 4 hours with Facundo.
Facundo joined me for the Act I (Road Trip) Scene III (Chicago to NY) portion of the Adventure saga. In Act II we spent a good amount of time commuting around the Northeast to spend time with each other. Somewhere in there he became part of what is now Act III (Bali) as a romantic male companion. To Be Continued.
I spent two action packed months on the East Coast, with an unbelievably rigorous traveling schedule, but I was able to relax for the last couple weeks in some state of holiday hibernation in Syracuse. I made this list at some point:
October 5 LA
October 6 San Fran
October 7 Stillwater Cove
October 8 Honeydew, CA
October 9 Portland, Or
October 10 Mt. St Helen's OR
October 11 Portland, OR
October 12 Seattle, WA (Lake City)
October 13-14 Seattle, WA (Green Lake)
October 15 Vancouver, BC
October 16-17 Lake Louise, Alberta
October 18-19 Banff Springs, Alberta
October 20 In the car Montana - North Dakota-Minnesota-Wisconsin
October 21 Chicago (Greg's House)
October 22-24 Chicago (Fairmont)
October 25 Ohio Somewhere (Random janky Motel)
October 26 Syracuse
October 27 Albany
October 28 Burlington, VT
October 29 Overnight Bus Burlington-D.C.
October 30 Overnight Car Ride D.C. to Cambridge, MA
October 31 Burlington, VT
November 1-2 Burlington, VT
November 3-5 Syracuse, NY
November 6-7 Albany, NY
November 8-10 Syracuse, NY
November 11-12 Canton, NY
November 13 Syracuse, NY
November 14 Albany
November 15-16 Syracuse, NY
November 17 Buffalo, NY
November 18 Syracuse, NY
November 19-20 New Haven, CT
November 21-23 Boston, MA
November 24-26 Westport, NY
November 27-30 Syracuse, NY
December 2-5 NYC
December 6-8 Boston, MA
December 8-12 Burlington, VT
December 12-14 Westport, NY (snowstorm trap!)
And then back to Syracuse I think. I made one more trip to visit cousins, and then Bri again in Albany for NYE. Anyway, I was busy, and I spent a lot of money.
And now its
Jan 5-9 Los Angeles, CA
Jan 9-11 San Francisco, CA
I got to see my brother's band play twice, once in Boston and once in NYC before they took off for their European tour commencing with the Trans Musicales Music Festival in Rennes, France. Ava Luna, check them out. Here is a clip from the festival with the first several minutes dedicated to none other than Brother and Band.
Dad and I got to go for another plane ride across the state of New York, which always excites me about the possibility of being my own pilot sometime.
I really love all of my people so very much, and wish I could be with everyone all the time to do everything. But, as that cannot be, I will just be grateful for the privilege to have had them for any time at all.
As for now, better bid adieu and grab my passport. Adventure Act III Scene I - commence.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Baby You're A Rich Man
How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?
Now that you know who you are,
What do you want to be?
Just saw The Social Network on my flight from Chicago to LA. It ended with a Beatles song and Mark repeatedly refreshing his ex-girlfriend's Facebook page. I silently, uncontrollably, genuinely clapped my hands together with childish amusement.
The movie ended and an hour and a half later I landed in Los Angeles. Kristy greeted me at the airport. I love Kristy!
I realized that I like to write when I'm moving. Traveling inspires me. Being on the go makes me feel alive!
I live for this feeling.
Snowboarding is pretty good too.
Anyway, I have to keep going. Like a shark - if I stop swimming, I die.
Now that you know who you are,
What do you want to be?
Just saw The Social Network on my flight from Chicago to LA. It ended with a Beatles song and Mark repeatedly refreshing his ex-girlfriend's Facebook page. I silently, uncontrollably, genuinely clapped my hands together with childish amusement.
The movie ended and an hour and a half later I landed in Los Angeles. Kristy greeted me at the airport. I love Kristy!
I realized that I like to write when I'm moving. Traveling inspires me. Being on the go makes me feel alive!
I live for this feeling.
Snowboarding is pretty good too.
Anyway, I have to keep going. Like a shark - if I stop swimming, I die.
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