Eat, Pray, Love, Bali...our version!

I've always wanted to go to Indonesia, especially Bali.  I remember seeing pictures in magazines and thinking it looked like one of the most beautiful places on earth.  The kind of place you think to go on your honeymoon.  Well, I didn't get married this year so I did the next best thing...I tagged along with my two good friends Helmut and Charlotte on their honeymoon! 
Now to be fair, they did invite me so it wasn't like I just crashed their honeymoon, and more importantly, this was their third honeymoon. 
So here is our trip to Indonesia, at one point or another we all felt like Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love (except me, I've never seen it...I swear!).

Julia Roberts...oh wait no that's me

I took my winter holiday in Chicago to see my family and be in one of my best friends wedding.  It had been almost 2 years since I was home, it was so great to be back.  I thought this was going to be my 2 week winter break and I was more than happy to spend it back at home with my friends and family.  After getting back to Korea and working 4 days doing my English winter camp my teacher informed me that I could work the next 2 weeks from home, lesson planning etc...  Naturally, I booked a ticket to Bali.
As it turned out, my friends who are also English teachers, and also live in the same building as me, were planning their winter vacation in Bali.  When I told them I could possibly have another 2 weeks off from school they invited me to join them (I'm pretty sure they were only half serious at this point, considering I had only been back to Korea for 2 days).  My friends, Helmut and Charlotte had only been married for a year before coming to Korea, they had taken a brief honeymoon in South Africa where they both live.  They were considering this trip to Bali somewhat of a honeymoon #3 (last summer vacation being in Thailand).  As I mentioned before, I've always thought of Bali as the perfect place for a romantic honeymoon...even if it's not necessarily your honeymoon.  I purchased my plane ticket and then booked my accommodation according to our honeymoon plans...er...vacation plans.  Everything was already researched and booked, so all I had to do was follow suit. 

Our lovely family at the Villa Mandi.  I'm sure you can see the relation.

UBUD

First group selfie...soooo yeah big night

I arrived in Bali a day after Helmut and Charlotte, who had flown in on Saturday to meet their friend Renske, also from South Africa...also a honeymoon crasher apparently. 

As seems to be the case with most times I visit a country for the first time,  I got to experience getting ripped off by a taxi driver.  They are always very nice, always wearing the biggest smiles and seem as if they are there to personally welcome me to their country., then they take all my money.  It only takes one (usually...) time to get ripped off before you learn how much and how far.  Regardless, I chalk this up to paying for a welcome committee and personal chauffeur (and in a country like Indonesia getting ripped off means maybe $30 for a 2 hr. cab ride, so if you look at it like that every taxi in Chicago is a rip off...and their smiles aren't as sincere).
Once arriving in Denpasar my personal driver escorted me to our first destination, Ubud. 

Elephant cave (not plural!)

Ubud is located about 35 km north of the airport, it has become quite the hot spot since the release of the book previously mentioned.  It's the type of place you can wonder around for days exploring the rice fields, temples and locals shops then you look at your watch you realize it's been 2 weeks!  We spent 3 days here, staying at the Villa Mandi Private Villas.  Truly amazing place to stay, 5 minutes from the town center and all the restaurants, shops and temples you can imagine.  Within the first 5 minutes of arriving I was having coffee with the manager and my personal chauffeur (who was the managers cousin) on my front porch. 
Charlotte had setup a nice little tour of and around Ubud for us the next day, so my first day was relaxing at the pool and hitting up some of the local shops (Ubud is considered one of the culture and art hubs of Bali).

Praying (for Charlotte not to yell at us)

Our day tour was perfect, it was basically one of the employees from the resort driving us around for the day, Charlotte gave him a list of where we wanted to go and off we went.  Our first stop, the Elephant Caves.

My spiritual guide giving me spiritual advice...and most likely asking for a spiritual donation.

These caves are 10 mins outside of Ubud in Goa Gajah.  The caves looking nothing like an elephant, I'm pretty sure the name comes from the nearby river (Elephant River) and I only found one cave, so not sure why it's plural.  Despite these false pretenses, It was very beautiful and you could even say mystical inside. Possibly my favorite part of the day was our stop at the Tirta Empul water temple.  Tirta Empul is a is a holy spring water temple located in Tampak Siring Village.  It is the first time I've ever experienced or seen anything like it.  If you chose to (which I did), you can enter the holy water and proceed with the prayer ceremony.  Prior to entering the spring you must meditate and make an offering to the gods.  Once you've entered the spring you make your way to all the fountains and do the following: first say an ohm 3 times, then rinse and spit the holy water 3 times, then wash your face with the holy water 3 times, then wash your head with the water 3 times, last you say a prayer.  Each fountain represents a different Hindu God, so you move along the fountains doing this each time.  It was very interesting and a little worrisome, as I was getting into the spring one of the locals told me to make sure I skipped 3 specific fountains as they were reserved for cremation, death and only people that are Hindi (boy I really hope I didn't screw that up).

Best ribs in Bali/the world Naughty Nuri's

I'd like to make a quick side note, at this point in the trip (and only this point) the boys did get separated from the girls (I'd also like to point out it was mainly because I was praying for so long), so we waited by the car for them and had a few beers.  After about 45 minutes Charlotte came walking...no storming around the corner with smoke coming from her ears.  The girls had been waiting for us at the entrance the whole time and they were not happy about it.  English is not Charlotte's first language, but I can assure you, she can certainly cuss like it is!

Professional coffee drinker...pinky out

The Luwak aka the coffee pooper

Rice Terrace, pictures never do them justice

Our next stop was a coffee tour where the worlds most expensive (supposedly) coffee is made.  The tour was short and sweet, the best part of the tour was when they explain how the worlds most expensive coffee is made.  I will save you the suspense...it's made from poop!  Here's how this goes down, the Luwak (an Asian possum/cat type thing) eats the coffee cherry beans, inside their stomach the beans are fermented (a bunch of coffee jargon about peptides and amino acids and what not), the Luwak makes a number 2 and it's collected by the farmers (no joke it looks like a Baby Ruth bar...sorry if that's your candy bar of choice, but it looks like you are eating Luwak poo!).  The coffee itself is pretty good (this is coming from someone who drinks insta coffee every morning, so take that for what it's worth).  We sampled a bunch of the coffees and they were all very good (except the ginseng coffee).  This is also the place where I tried the infamous Balinese liquor Arak!  This is the one and only time I tried it because if it's not made correctly you will have the worst stomach pains of your life.  If they really didn't make it correctly you will die (in the literal sense).
 I thought it spoke immensely about our group dynamics when our team decided I should be the one to try the Arak...

Beers and Volcanoes

To make sure I kept the Arak buzz going, and to settle my nerves (I had just drank poo coffee and an alcohol made in someones backyard that could potentially kill me) we stopped for a beer in Kintamani.  Nothing settles the nerves like having a beer in front of a live volcano.  We finished off the day with lunch at the beautiful Tegalalang rice terraces and a quick swim at the local waterfall.  Ubud is is awesome...you should go!  Next stop, the beach!

NUSA ISLANDS

Seaweed farming

We headed off the southeast coast of Bali where the Nusa Islands are located (Lembongan, Ceningan and Penida).  We stayed at the Le Pirate Beach Club in Nusa Ceningan, I highly recommend you do the same if you have the chance.  It has really nice accommodations (one of the coolest bathrooms I've experienced, it's all outside in your backyard covered by a half roof.  Shower and take care of your business while basking in the sun.), some of the best food on the island, a great pool and by far the best soundtrack in all of Bali (maybe Indonesia...maybe the world).

When Helmut got out of line we sent him to his cave

Sweet sweet Bali heat!

We rented scooters for the 4 days we were staying and cruised between the islands at our leisure.  Scooters are a great, cheap way to travel around small islands and are a blast to ride (until you throw your passenger off and/or run over the foot of a innocent Chinese bystander...generally speaking of course).  We stayed on the quieter smaller island of Nusa Ceningan.  The main attraction on our island and our first stop on the scooters was cliff jumping.  The scenery from the cliffs are breathtaking, jumping from the 13 meter cliffs will take your breath away.  Helmut and I weren't sure if we should even take the plunge as one of the locals stressed numerous times it was very dangerous and NOT to do it.  I actually would have been fine not jumping, until this little Dutch girl showed up and walked right off the cliff without hesitation.  Obviously to secure our manhood and self respect we had to jump...freaking Dutch!
The islands are very mellow and you quickly find yourself emerged into the island lifestyle.  The only things we really had to plan was where to eat, what beach to visit and where to watch the sunset every night (which by the way you DO NOT ask the locals.  Locals only point you to the direction of their friends establishments, no matter the question.)
For example:
Me: "Where can we see a nice sunset?"
Local:  "Oh the Roof Top Bar is great"
Me:  "Thanks, where is a good place to snorkel?"
Local: "The Roof Top Bar also has a great beach and coral reefs that put the Great Barrier to shame"
Me:  "Um, I doubt that but o.k.  Where is a good place to see the sunrise?"
Local:  "Actually the Roof Top Bar has spectacular views for the sunrise."
Me:  "Wait a second..."

The bridge is all fun and games until people get their feet run over!

One of the coolest memories I have here is riding home during the sunset one evening, it must have been a holiday or some sort of holy day because there were prayers being played over the loudspeakers throughout the entire island.  We were cruising down these small back roads surrounded by temples and local Indonesian houses (which look like mini temples themselves), the sky was blasting orange, purple and pink over the horizon and the heat was slapping you in face.  For whatever reason it just felt like I always imagined it should be, and I remember thinking at the time, everything at that moment was perfect.
Sadly our time on the Nusa Islands were coming to an end.  Sadly, the 4 days we were at Le Pirate we charged everything to our room, so everything that seemed free at the time was now nicely listed and stapled together on 3 page bill  (this was just my bill...sadly).  Here's a piece of advice free of charge, if you have the option do not spend 4 days charging everything to your room, pay as you go.  You can thank me later for that one.
Our next stop, the lovely Gili Islands.

Don't be fooled...that coconut is full of rum

Bali scrabble champions of the world

Before we move on, I would like to dedicate this little part of the blog to Renske Fourie.  Renske, first and foremost, sorry again for the bike incident (please send me the bill for any surgical knee repairs you go through).  I really appreciate the shoulder massages you gave while on the back of my scooter, despite the third degree sunburn I had.  You are a heck of a scrabble player and would most likely win every time if you worked on your cheating skills (sorry Helmut, we might as well let them know).  I think you were a real trooper on this trip.  It was a pleasure to meet you and spend time with you in this amazing place.  You also made a great 4th wheel on our honeymoon.

Before or after the great scooter accident of 2016?  We don't really know, things have been a blur since.

 AMED

 From Nusa we headed north to Amed which is a little dive town on the northeast coast of Bali.  This town was 1st and pretty much only a dive town.  We stayed at the Kembali Villas on the beach, which were very nice and fairly cheap for what they were.  You could see the ocean from your bed, you could see beautiful fish and coral from the beach, and everywhere you walk if you look up you can see the volcano Agung.  Every other shop was a dive shop, since it's been a life long quest to become certified I stopped in every dive shop in Amed.  Strangely, three quarters of the dive shops were run by the French or Dutch.  I was taken a little aback by this at first, then realized everything in Amed was pretty much owned by either the French or Dutch (still a little confused by this).  Unfortunately we were only in town for a night, so there would be no time for the scuba (this time).  We were off for another island adventure, it was time to head east to the Gili Islands.

View from my bed, I've had worse

Beers with the owner, The Dutchman...because I can't remember his name

GILI ISLANDS

From Seri Resort...at the crack of dawn

Found some lovebirds on the beach

 We had a easy travel morning going from Amed to Gili Trawangan to Gili Meno.  These islands (there are 3 total) are off the east coast of Bali and are actually apart of Lombok.  Gili Trawangan is supposedly one of the biggest party destinations in Indonesia, Helmut had read this and only told me as we were on the boat from Trawangan to our island, Meno (it was a smart and calculated play by Helmut...and I applaud you for that).  We were to spend the next three days on a little island paradise which we basically had to ourselves.  We stayed at the Seri Resort, known for it's white sands, turquoise bays, serene beach life and of course the sea turtles.
It really did feel like we had the island to ourselves.  One day we walked around the island (takes about an hour) and we maybe passed 4 other tourists.  Any restaurant we decided to eat at we would be the only customers...for the entire night (usually).  We took advantage of having an island to ourselves, spending the days on the beach and in the pool.  From the beach in front of our hotel we saw plenty of fish, eels, a shark, and sea turtles...not too shabby.

Me and my Island

We still decided to take a boat out one of the days and do some snorkeling, mostly because we knew Helmut would get sea sick and it would make for good pictures.  It was an extremely relaxing 3 days, lounging by the pool and beach, having a nice seafood dinner every night and finishing the nights off with a few beers by the sea.  By the third day we had really acclimated to the island life, we walked slower, talked slower and at one point Charlotte was speaking fluent Indonesian (Bahasa).  We decided after our time on the islands it was time to head back to the mainland and Amed...for some SCUBA!

This guy..

AMED round 2

This time I was  adamant about getting certified.  I had already done my due diligence with scouting the proper dive shop.  My decision came down to this, across the street from our villas was the biggest dive shop in the area, it also happened to the cheapest PADI.  I wanted a local dive master but they were few and far between.  The owner of Jukung Dive shop was French, he looked very much like a local, but sounded very much like a French person (which is what actually sold me).  I don't know if you have ever seen the movie "Along Came Polly," but there's a seen where Ben Stiller is on the beach and this perfectly tanned French guy walks up to him and in the perfect French accent says, "You scubaaaa?  If you scubaaaa you are ok with me."

You scubaaaa?

Well, I kept picturing this scene and laughing...out loud.  I knew straight away Sidarta and I would become fast friends.  We had only 3 days to jam through the classes so I started immediately, the day we arrived.  It was a very boring uneventful first day with about 4 hours in the classroom, which was a mattress laying on the floor with a small TV in front of it.  Not the most exhilarating first day of getting certified, but it was a step in the right direction, and Sidarta's "Along Came Polly" accent was a source of constant entertainment.
Day 2 of class was a bit better, I got to dive in the deep blue...of the pool.  I was actually pretty good at this, I have attempted to get PADI certified numerous times and have had the opportunity to dive in pools all over the world.  At this point in my life I am comfortable saying I could probably dive any pool out there.  Exciting day overall actually, half day in the pool and the other half day in the sea at Jemeluk Bay!!!  Got down to 12 meters...no asthma attacks (pretty hectic breathing though...it's weird breathing under water!) so chalk it up to a  successful day.

The old men and the sea

Day 3 was incredible!  It was the final day of class and we were doing a wreck dive.  We went to Tulamben to dive the Liberty wreck, a US Army Transport ship torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942.  It was incredible being underwater for almost an hour, swimming around this sunken Army ship, crazy fish and marine life everywhere, it truly felt like another world.  This day will do down in infamy as one of the best days ever...I finally received my PADI certification!  I probably should have announced this earlier so you could have sent your gifts...my apologies.
We didn't have much time after our 3rd day in Amed, Helmut and Charlotte had a flight at 7a.m. the next morning and mine was at 7p.m.
We decided to share a cab close to the airport and then we were parting ways for the evening.  I was going to spend one night in the Australian capital of of Bali, Kuta.  Helmut and Charolott were calling it an early evening due to their flight at the crack of dawn.

KUTA

This place is mad!  You can't walk 5 ft without someone trying to sell you something, anything...everything!  People come to Kuta for the surf and the party and it didn't take me long to figure out why.  The streets are lined with little shops, bars, restaurants and massage parlors.  Everything is cheap, and again...everything is for sale!  I checked into my hostel and went out exploring.  I took a walk down to the beach and scouted some bars and restaurants I wanted to check out later (there are plenty of options).  The beach is nice, it's a good place to surf (for me, who doesn't know how to), but there are other beaches with much better surf (not for someone like me).  I relaxed on the beach for a while, and noticed that about 80% of the people there were Australian.  In my experience, Australians like to surf and they like to party, so it made sense.

Eco Hostel

Penthouse at Eco Hostel

I spent the evening on my own personal pub crawl, I went into any bar that had beer for $3 or under and/or if they had live music.  Turned out to be a fun night, people watching, listening to music and making some new friends.  I'd like to point out that at 2a.m. I was invited to a night club with a few of the bartenders that were just getting off, I would typically take up this offer but it was a new year and I decided to start if off responsibly, I declined and went home (also, I was out of money...). 
My ride the next morning was probably the most dangerous part of the entire trip.  I paid a guy at a coffee shop to take me to the airport on his scooter.  I had my pack on and with the traffic and dodging oncoming cars I thought it would be a miracle if we made it to the airport.  Fortunately we did, lesson here kids is to just pay the extra few bucks for an actual taxi.
There's a couple good lessons in this blog so I hope you were taking notes.

Looking at the map...I'm really good at directions

Back home now in South Korea.  It's been an amazing month, being able to visit Chicago for 2 weeks, being in DJ's wedding and seeing all my friends and family, then Bali for another 2 weeks.  Holidays are sometimes a little bit crazy here, it's now Chinese New Year so we have a 5 day weekend.  At this point my life is a vacation, and I kind of like it that way.

To Helmut and Charlotte, I can't thank you enough for letting me join you on such an incredible trip.  You guys planned everything, booked everything and even made sure I kept my passport and money safe the whole time.   You guys are so great to travel with, I had an amazing time with you!  I can't wait for our next Honeymoon!  Love you guys!

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