Hello f & f :) Anyone who is still reading–thank you. Welcome to almost the final installment of this amazing trip I’ve been on. I’ve been in Bali now for the past 3 weeks and I am just realizing how overwhelming this all is to continually shift, change, to float in a new culture, sleep somewhere new every other night….and to do it without my favorite people around, my family and friends….travelling alone is both amazing and tiring!! As I told Mom, I realize that I have only made one single phone call on this whole trip. Most travellers have cell phones and are talking to their friends every day! For me, though, I think it’s been better to have the intensity of processing everything in my own mind. Anyway, so here I am in Bali. Let’s get to it. I spent the first 2 nights in utter Bali Hell, Kuta Beach. It was like LA meets Bali. Overdeveloped beach central, with a zillion cheap souvenir shops packed door-to-door the entire length of the beach and the whole place filled with clubs and 20-year-olds here to party and surf. NO thanks!! The people at my hotel were rude, the “included” breakfast sucked and on the second day I woke up with about 20, maybe 40, bedbug bites all around my torso. I immediately ditched the beach scene and headed up into the green hills to Ubud, Bali’s new-age spiritual center. A few minutes after getting off the bus, I was wandering down the street with my backpack on and this cool, kind of hippie New Zealander woman pulls up on her scooter, “Hey are you looking for a place to stay? Hop on!” She took me to a nice family place with a few bungalows, got me a great price, then took me to her guy who rented me a scooter, meanwhile pointing out all the great organic vegetarian places to eat in town! Yeah! I knew I had found my people.
delicious comfort at the kafe
After 9 months of eating rice and noodles, I found the most incredibly delicious veggie food at the new-age social central, the Kafe. I got completely sucked in by the uber-healthy deliciousness and stayed in Ubud for 10 days, every day going to the Kafe, sometimes twice a day! Had many chats with very interesting people there, including meeting an amazing Australian surfer in his 50s, who did a little soul alignment on me. Yup, he read my chakras and then gave them a spin. Not joking. Was both a great experience, and also a funny story (for later). He also talked casually about surfing Ulu Watu, Bali’s biggest wave, at 3-4 times overhead. (It would be like saying he went out on the biggest day at Mavericks.) (I googled him and found his bio in the Surfline who’s who.) Most of the time at the Kafe, I thought I might’ve been in Marin, except then I’d go back to my bungalow and see the mom making all these little palm leaf ornaments, to put in their family temple, for offerings to the gods. She showed me how and I practiced making them with her and her granddaughter. Yup, Bali, not Marin.
making offerings
It turns out that I was just in time for a major holiday in Bali, Gulangan Day, which is kind of like their Christmas (but without the tree, presents and snow). More of a spiritual thing. So, my days in Ubud were filled with riding the scooter around the country roads, walking through the lush, green rice fields (could not get the photo straight, please look sideways), and exploring the local temples.
riding the scooter in my sarong
rice fields
I came upon this parade just randomly as I was riding around, so I pulled over and took this photo. Just out in the village. They were playing this barong music and have this two-person costumed beast in the middle, scaring people. It wasn’t really a parade, no one was on the side watching, just people walking together, to where? the temple? I don’t know, I watched for a while, then kept going….
barong parade
I went to one big Balinese temple, called Tirta Empul. At this temple, you do a bathing ritual, in your sarong, where you dunk yourself under a whole row of 12 fountains. You have to go from one and then get in line for the next to get blessed under each fountain. So I decided to join in and get some blessings, make some prayers for the future of our children and the planet. It was late late afternoon and the water was *cold*. My lips were blue when I got out. But my family made me a big pot of tea when I got home :)
gettting holy at tirta empul
Finally, I tore myself away from the comfort of Ubud and the delicious fresh vegetables and coffee. I got on the scooter and decided to explore Bali! My first day, I rode a couple hours, all uphill, to the base of one of Bali’s three big volcanos, Gunung Batur. After I got my room, I ran into a supernice Indian guy that I had met in Ubud, who was in the room next to mine! Nice. Well, the big deal on Gunung Batur is to get a guided trek up to the top for sunrise. I read in the Lonely Planet that some people said they did it easily without guides, but during the day….it’s just through the trees, then open volcanic ridge, only two hours up. Well, being the wilderness survivalist that I am, I decided, no, I did not need to pay $25-$30 to have someone show me how to hike up some trail!! (Plus I got in late in the day, a bit too late to plan.) My friend Samir, had already booked and paid. We scoped out the trail in the evening, but weren’t totally sure which one…..so knowing that the groups all start at 4:00, I got up at 3:30, got my flashlight and bottle of water, and stealthily walked to where we thought the trail started, near the guide shop….and I quietly waited in the dark. Just when I thought that maybe I was too late, I saw a line of 4 flashlights, bobbing along in the darkness. I started following them up the trail, keeping my distance, most of the time hiking in the dark, using my flashlight only when totally necessary and then covering it with my shirt to dim its light. When they stopped to rest, I stopped a bit behind and would duck down to make sure they didn’t see me with their flashlights. I started totally getting into my role and completely laughing about me being…who? some kind of James Bond, Mission Impossible girl….Well, as we got higher and out onto the ridge, all you could hear was the faroff sounds of dogs barking and roosters crowing in the village below, with the stars in full bloom overhead. The sunrise was totally incredible. In the photo below, the big shadow in the sunlight on the left is from another volcano on the nearby island of Lombok, and what looks like a shadow behind the mountain is really a second, even bigger mountain. And that’s a big beautiful lake in the photo too!
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sunrise on gunung batur
At the top, I saw Samir, who was so happy that I made it! And he so generously shared his cup of coffee and sandwich that the guides made in their little shack at the top. Was totally funny. There were actually a few people and guides, so I kind of blended in. A couple guides suspiciously asked me, “So, where is your guide?” Me, with a little smile, “Oh, my guide is my heart.”
at the top!
After that amazing hike, Samir and I rode our scooters together on a long day ride over to the east coast of Bali. On the way, we stopped off at the biggest temple in Bali, Pura Besakih, where he wore a manly sarong, required temple wear for both men and women. We rode through rain, then dark, lost each other on the road for a while!, but finally made it down to the small town of Amed. Amed is known for it’s diving and snorkeling, so I was excited to commune with the underwater world, but not Samir, after a day, he headed off. There are no waves in Amed, just flat blue-green clear water over coral reefs and I have to say, on those days, I felt that I liked snorkeling even MORE than surfing. I’m sure you guys have snorkeled, but all I can say is what a TRIP. It’s like where the ocean meets the air is this dividing line of the two biggest worlds on the planet. And that other world is CRAZY!!! I thought I was in a Star Trek episode most of the time, looking at all the shapes and colors of the lifeforms underwater. Some of those fish are just INCREDIBLE!!!!! The graceful wispy-ness of the white, yellow and black angel fish, who are scooting about in pairs, with their pals….the aloofness of the longlong skinny snouted loner fish who seemed to constantly be scoping me out….the big schools of fish, me wondering how do they even know who to swim with?….they don’t have mirrors under there? Hard to verbalize how incredible it all seemed to me. This was totally a highlight of my trip. No underwater photos though.
Another aspect of this trip, the beautiful kids…..the kids in Indonesia are, as children around the world are, adorable. Sweet and sassy. I spent a few hours with these girls, who lived next door to the little bungalow I was staying in. They were selling necklaces that they made from beads and sequins, for 5000 rupiah each, 50 cents. I shopped, admired the merchandise and bought one from each. We had fun with the English-Indonesian dictionary, looking up words, them teaching me some things. Boy: anak laki-laki. Girl: anak perempuan. (Wow, Indonesian is complicated I thought!) I drew up a checker board on a napkin and we found red and black lava rocks and I taught them how to play checkers. We replaced the tiny rocks with big ones for the queens. They look so serious in the photo, but very giggly in real life. I learned the word for “silly” in Indonesian and this has actually come in handy several times now. Lucu.
me & cute cute girls
Funny how things happen when you are alone….In the afternoon, after snorkeling, I was riding around the backroads of Amed, and pulled over on this tiny road to take a photo of the rice fields. Immediately two local guys pull over to talk to me. The usual. Where you from? How long you stay Bali? Where you stay? You alone? You have boyfriend, married? Me, yes I have boyfriend, he is back at hotel. One of the guys told me that there was a big ceremony in the temple at their village that night, further up the road, and he invited me to come. Well, I couldn’t turn that down, so later I showered, put on my templewear, sarong and sash and rode my scooter up to the village. Well, it was totally great. It was very awkward being there, as it felt like being at a big family reunion where you’re the only one who’s not part of the family and everyone’s just wondering who invited you. People were not unfriendly, but didn’t go out of their way to talk to me, well, except for a few young guys (of course. where you from, how long you stay bali, you alone? etc etc). (actually sometimes i wanted to tell them “i could be your MOTHER!”) Anyway, I could hardly take photos, as it seemed totally rude and out of place. I managed a few, but you’ll have to wait for the slideshow. They also played a lot of gamelan music, which was totally beautiful and ethereal, and I did get some video of it! Then I ran into the guy who invited me and he was like “Oh, you are alone?” Me, “Um, oh yes!! Boyfriend at hotel, not feel good…sick, yes, sick.” I actually saw that same guy the next day, a third time, and he was like, you are alone? Me, again, OHhhhh Yeah!! Boyfriend stilllll sick….Most of the time, actually I have always just said Yes, I am alone, when people ask, because I want them to know, yes, it’s okay, women travel alone and I am happy and fine! Funny, that when most women say, Oh you alone? no husband? And I say No, no husband, they all say, with this knowing look, Oh! Better!! Just funny.
Well, after Amed, I rode my scooter around the outer east coast road, Bali’s Highway 1. It was pretty amazing, twisty and turny and some long steep downhills that made me pray that the brakes would not suddenly stop working! The road wound all through small villages, people living a rough life in the dry, arid, volcanic landscape that is east Bali. Unfortunately, my camera was out of batteries for the ride! Plus, a bit hard to ride and shoot photos. Lots of kids yelling hello! out to me, women walking on the side of the road with big bundles balanced on their heads…chickens, baby pigs and goats running across the road!
Finally made it to my next stop on the coast, Candidasa, but was back into expensive Bali tourist world. So after one night, I headed down the road to Padangbai, a more laidback port town, for another day of snorkeling. One more night later, and I thought, hmmm, time to find some surf on this trip. Back on the scooter and went for a LONG ride, where I concentrated harder than ever, trying to hang in the Indonesian driving scene, where a zillion motorbikes and cars are vying for position to pass slow-moving trucks on narrow roads, while avoiding all the motorbikes passing from the other direction. I was thinking about how flimsy our skin is as a protectant. Then I’d watch grandma whiz by me by with two kids casually hanging on behind her.
Finally I’ve found a spot to hang and surf for a few days. I’m now staying at a little shack right on the white sand beach of Balangan. It’s 4 curvy, fun miles off the main road, so pretty laid back scene out there. Big cliff, more blue green clear water over reef, some fun waves, buff surfer bodies and blazing sun. Banana pancakes and big juicy fruit salad for breakfast every morning! Sleeping with the sound of waves crashing. Am going to spend my last days in Bali here. Then one last night in Ubud, where I left most of my stuff. Then, everyone, I’m heading on to my next major destination! The United States. I heard it’s cool.
Love and more love, Allison
