Indonesia

I have not travelled much, but I have to say Indonesia is an amazing place. We flew out early Christmas day into Bali. We stayed in an area called Legion. This night wasn't too crazy, just wandered around a bit and had some delicious cheap dinner. We got hassled by peddlers as we walked and ate, especially many kids trying to sell bracelets. Then we hung out at our hotel in the pool with a swim up bar for hours. Our skin was actually wrinkled by the time we got out. The next day we had to get up early to head to Gili Trawangan, a very small island. We took what they call the fast boat over, which was the worst ride I've ever been on. It had three huge motors on the back and we went full speed in the middle of the ocean with huge waves that slammed our bodies around. I took sea sickness medication and I still felt nauseous and terrified the entire hour and a half ride. It was totally worth it though because this island is extremely beautiful. There are no motor vehicles, just horse carts, bicycles, and walking. It's kind of funny that the island is also full of cats, no dogs, but many cats. They come up to you and beg while you're eating, which was annoying, but there were some cute ones. Goats, roosters, and cows were some of the other animals wandering around. We stayed at a very nice beach bungalow. The beach was only a few feet away from us and you could hear it while sleeping. I spent many hours in the hammock on our patio.


It is such a rough life waking up without an alarm clock and wondering what you will do with your day. We stayed for 7 days and most of them we snorkeled, swam and relaxed on the beach. The water is that clear turquoise color and the snorkeling was unreal. It was full of coral reefs where we saw turtles and many tropical fish I've only seen in aquariums. There were even huge schools of fish that would just swim right next to you. It was nice to float along and enjoy the scenery. Much of our time was also focused on eating. They had these huge flatbeds with pillows that you lounge at while you eat. The food was super cheap and very tasty. Although I love Korean food it was great to eat things more similar to home. They also had cheap drinks and so many fresh squeezed fruit juices. Many of the locals frequent the tattoo shop, which is also a bar. You could sit down intending to just stay for a short time and hours go by without notice. It was interesting to be in a foreign country where everyone speaks English. We met a few foreigners, but mostly hung out with the locals. Everyone is friendly and the kids are adorable. The guys there are very good looking as well. Their religion is mostly Muslim. It was strange to hear the calls to prayer several times a day coming from the temple. We had another favorite bar called Sama Sama. Every night they play live reggae music and you can chill or dance. We really didn't do that much on the island. I have never felt so relaxed and it felt great to be lazy. It wasn't until the 5th day that we rented bikes to ride around and see the rest of the island. They had a huge party for New Year's Eve which many bars participated in. There were even some fireworks set off the beach. Life is slow paced, but the days still seemed to go by too fast. I was very sad to leave because this is true paradise. You can buy a bungalow for $3000-$4000. We are thinking about going in on one.


Since none of us wanted to take the fast boat back to Bali we booked a flight from a "travel agent" on the island. We supposedly also booked a slow boat to Lombok, where the airport is, and a car to drive us around when we got there. It turned out that none of this was real and we had to find another driver to take us. None of us had much money either because the atm on the island didn't work. It was sketchy, but part of the adventure. When arriving at the airport we found out the airline wasn't even flying the whole week. The other two airlines first said they were out of tickets. Then they found us some for early morning the next day. We got extremely lucky and almost got stuck there. At least we got to spend a night in Senggigi at a nice resort. We finally got to see a beautiful sunset. We hadn't seen any because many afternoons it rained. They had some serious monsoons, with massive thunder and lightning. The next day we took the shortest flight ever, not even 30 minutes, back to Bali.


We were supposed to be in Bali 2 days, and were going to go shopping the first one. We never got to do much shopping since this day was taken from us. It was okay, but I was looking forward to buying some cheap clothes that actually fit and some gifts. We went on a tour and rented a driver for $40. He drove us around the entire day, what a deal! First he took us to an art museum in Ubud, which was cool, but we didn't ask to go there. Then we had lunch at a volcano. The drive was full of scenery, although some of the roads were a but curvy and scary. They also drive on the other side of the road, which is difficult to get used to. It was amazing to see how many people drive scooters. They women often ride sideways because they are wearing skirts. They also pack the items and people on the scooters. The whole family rides with kids and babies packed in between adults. After lunch we went to a monkey forest sanctuary where the monkeys are just roaming around in the trees. You can feed them, but I didn't buy any food. I did put my arm down though to take a picture and one just climbed up and onto my head. It sat there for awhile, I think it liked me. Maybe it knew how much I love monkeys. But then another monkey climbed on me and bit me. I'm glad it didn't break the skin. I could have spent days there, but our time was limited. We were trying to make it to Uluwatu by sunset to see a famous fire dance. It takes place on a beautiful cliff and there's a temple as well. There were also more monkeys, but these were not too nice. I walked by one and he grabbed my sunglasses so fast I couldn't believe it. I had to pay a local to get them back. They had one earpiece missing and the other one had a bite taken out of them. I wouldn't have cared, but they are prescription sunglasses. The lenses are mostly fine, so I can get the frames fixed. The fire dance was very cool to experience. Our day was nearing an end and we had just enough time to eat some dinner on the beach and catch our flight back home to Korea. It was a wonderful vacation, my best ever. But none of us wanted to leave. We went from 85 degree weather back to 15 or colder. Three out of four of us got a lovely stomach bug on return, but it was well worth it! I highly recommend a visit if you ever have the opportunity. I will definitely be returning some day!