Day 1:
Early early morning
today. I was up at 5:15 to catch a cab to the train station (so early the buses
weren’t running yet), train to the airport and fly to Bali. Well, what an
adventure I had. The train was delayed 3 times. When I got to the airport, I
didn’t have my ticket printed properly, the attendant almost didn’t find my
student visa, and thought my passport as expiring (don’t worry everyone, it’s
good until Oct. 2013). Off to security
next. My backpack goes through the scanner twice before needing to be emptied
and put through again. Then OF COURSE I get “randomly selected" for extra
screening/bomb testing…EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! So I got the full bomb test and pat
down in the side room.
So after finally
making it through to the departures area, my flight got “delayed with no known
departure time due to engineering issues”. It ended up being delayed about an
hour. Finally on to the flight and there are no TV’s for a 6 hour international
flight. Low budget airlines take a whole new meaning in Australia. When we land
in Bali, you have to purchase your visa, wait through customs, and then go
through quarantine. All went smoothly, but my visa number here is “lucky
666”…correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s not a lucky number.
After this I walked
out to the overwhelming heat and humidity to find the cab driver for the hotel.
A long ride back through lots of construction I finally got to the hotel. And
my luck finally changed. I check in and
discover that the single rooms were all booked so I got upgraded to a double
room. The second bedroom is locked, but it means I have a bigger living room
and kitchen area. An excellent end to a long day.
Day 2:
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| Streets of Seminyak, motorbikes already! |
For those of you
who have been on a sunny vacation with me, you know how intense I am. My normal
routine of sleeping in as long as I can goes out the window and I’m up at the
crack of dawn to have breakfast and hit the sun. So I did just that. I was up
before 7 for breakfast. Buffet’s always make me anxious until I know how they
run, but this one is small and simple. After breakfast I put on my bathing suit
and headed back up to the roof to enjoy the rays.
Holy heat! It’s hot
in Bali!!! Cloudy though. After a few rotations I decided I should take
advantage of this cloudy day to explore Seminyak (the local community I’m in).
I took the shuttle in and I explored the town. Another typical Asian town -
busy streets, lots of people, lots of mopeds with the horns beeping loudly. Not
as cheapy cheapy as I thought, so I’ll explore some more in the next few days
before I make any purchases.
Back to the hotel
to catch some more sun since the clouds broke. I love staying in hotels because
it becomes an excuse to go to the gym. There’s also a lovely sauna. Nothing
like a good sweat to clear your head. Spent the evening looking at things to do
in the coming days, and a few TV shows before heading for an early bed. The sun
takes a lot out of me.
Day 3:
Another sunny day
in Bali. A few cloudy periods, but I think my skin is thankful for that. I
slept in a little bitter today because I wasn’t feeling great. Suffering from a
minor case of “Bali Belly”. But I powered through it and got up to the roof for
breakfast. After breakfast I went down to the pool for some rays. I took a
break for lunch and TV to avoid the hottest sun.
I headed back down
after lunch and finished the afternoon in and out of the pool with a good book
and mojito – or should I say “MO-JEE-TOE”. English is not great here, but it’s
better than my Indonesian.
I’m spending the
evening relaxing with old movies and $1 coolers. Can’t complain.
Day 4:
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Kuta Beach
|
Another beautiful
day in Bali. I did a little sunning after breakfast, but had to go down town to
change some money over before my tour tomorrow and I decided to venture off a
little more and hit up the markets. SO GREAT! Everything you could want. Very
cheapy cheapy! Since I don’t have Maura here to barter for me, I had to get
good at it fast. I got some great deals too. After blowing a little more than I
had planned, I headed back to the hotel for some more sun before hitting the
gym and sauna. Sitting around reading for the evening. Hope everything at home
is going well.
Day 5:
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| The Barong or Good Spirit |
Today was a
beautiful day. Today I discovered Bali. At first, I was hesitant to go
exploring on my own, but I read lots of reviews and I found myself a driver –
Ketut, a cute Balinese man a few years older than myself. I got picked up at
the hotel around 8 and we spent the day touring Bali. I went to see a
traditional dance about the good and evil in the world. I was reminded why I
love the theatre – the ability to portray thoughts with movement and the tone
of your voice. Even though I didn’t understand the language I could understand
what was being portrayed. After that we headed off to the artisan villages. In Bali
everyone with the same occupation lives together. So all the weavers live in
one cluster, all the silversmiths live in another. These are the two I saw. I
was taken in and shown how they make traditional Batiks and silver jewellery.
Very cool.
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| Rice Terraces |
After this I got to walk around a traditional Balinese household.
The Balinese are a Hindu population so they are very spiritual people. Their
houses are arranged as a group of buildings instead of connected rooms. There’s
the grandparents house, the families house(s), the ceremony building, the
temple, the kitchen and the bathroom. It
was a moving experience. After the house we went to the monkey forest. We
walked through the bush and saw some beautiful trees and adorable monkeys. I
was able to put on a sarong and go into the inner temple too. We headed off to
see the rice terraces. At first I wasn’t too keen on it, but after seeing it
I’m glad I did. Not only is it beautiful to look at, but the concept is really
cool too. They plant their rice in tiers to help protect it from being washed
away during the wet season. Apparently, farmers have come from all over the
world to learn about it. Finally, we headed off to Tanah Lot temple. This is
one of the most famous temples in Bali. It’s a seaside temple and we were lucky
we hit it at low tide so I could walk all the way up to it (it’s on almost an
island that you can’t get to when the tide is high). It was so beautiful. The
architecture of it, the area, everything. I was even able to get blessed by
some older Hindu men. It meant getting rice stuck to my forehead, but I’ll try
anything for prosperity. It was an incredible experience. I even found a couple pieces of beach glass. I
bet there full of lots of goodness.
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| Tanah Lot Temple after being blessed |
After a long an
exhausting day, I am back at the hotel and ready for bed. I had an incredible
day, with an incredible guide. Friends,
if you are ever in Bali and looking for a tour guide. I have the best one for
you.
Night! Ni Wayan
Alex Musial
In Bali there are 4
basic names given to children in birth order Wayan, Kadek, Nyoman and Ketut.
The “Ni” indicates female, and “I” would indicate male. I wish we had something
like that, maybe I wouldn’t get so many “Mr. Musial’s”
Day 6:
Took the morning to
sleep in after the adventure of a day I had yesterday. I also had a slight case
of Bali Belly and wanted to let it pass. After a quick breakfast I went in to
Seminyak to get a new pair of sunnies (since mine broke right before my tour
yesterday and I wore them with one piece to put behind an ear) and a few more
trinkets before hitting the pool. Spent the day lying in the sun and swimming
in the pool. Met some lovely lads from Sydney and some more families from Aus
as well. I think my Canadian accent is a novelty for them. Strange, but better
than going mute this week on my own.
Back in my room now
and I’ve been watching some movies, sippin’ a “Bintang”* and enjoying some
quiet.
*Bintang – a local
Bali beer that everyone is drinking and wearing the shirts for (and yes I
bought the tank top in purple), but it’s not very good. When in Rome I guess.
Day 7:
My last day to
fully relax in Bali and I just spent it enjoying myself and all that is here
before hitting the harsh reality that is the last big go at uni. I haven’t even
checked my uni email in a week – I fear for what lies ahead of me.
I spent the evening
curled in with a book by one of my favourite authors, Nicholas Sparks (author
of The Notebook, A Walk to Remember). I was sadly disappointed with the last
chapter, almost ruining the story. I will pick up another of his books again,
but I don’t recommend Safe Haven my friends.
Day 8/9:
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| Everyone loves McDonalds and Starbucks |
It’s always a
production to get home. I had a beautiful day by the pool today before heading
back to Australia. I took the redeye to Sydney before heading to Brisbane.
Sounds easy enough. Well let me tell you. The Bali airport is run in sections
and it takes forever to get where you’re going. First, through security just to
get in. Then to the desk to check in, but if you’re on time like me, you’re
apparently too early and you have to wait before your airline gets set up. Then
you pay your departure tax, and through customs. After customs you can peruse
the duty free or snag a free drink at the samples bar. Then you think you can
head to your gate to just relax. WRONG! There are only a few gates so they
section them off and only let you in 30 minutes before your flight boards. So
you have to wait outside the gate until the 30-minute prior mark. When it
finally is time, you have to go through security, again.
I was so exhausted
by this point, of course there weren’t any seats left. So I’m curled up in a corner
with an unused cell phone so I called the house hoping that someone was up.
Quick chat with mom and dad after a week of talking to myself to avoid going
mute was really nice. Next was the
six-hour flight to Sydney. I have long tights on and a sweater, but I was still
freezing. Is it bad that I didn’t mind the lady beside me leaning on me because
she was warm? Still, I froze and tossed and turned all night. No free TV, no
unread books and an inflight magazine I had already read meant a long flight.
Landing in Sydney, I have never been so excited for a customs line-up. I still
have flashbacks of my first arrival to this airport eight months ago. I am a much happier and well-travelled
individual now, thank god!
Oh, guess who got
bomb test, AGAIN!!!
Ironically, the two-hour
flight to Brisbane had free TV so it went by quite quickly. I used up all my
free Internet on the train before it even left the airport, but I popped on a
movie and was in Helensvale before I knew it and was on the bus to Parkwood.
After all that, I walked through my door 22 hours after leaving the hotel in Bali.
Too exhausted to cook, ordering pizza was the best money spent in a long time.
I caught myself up on some TV (Grey’s without McSteamy, I don’t know what this
is going to be like) and went to sleep. 14 hours later I woke up and have spent
the day catching up on Uni work. Thrilling I know. I’ll stop now before I bore
you all with threats of an aging population on the sport industry or the
differences between hosting your meeting at a hotel vs. a convention centre.
Thanks for following
my adventures. xx
