Untitled Blog Post #4

5/12/13

I haven’t written for awhile, which probably means I’m happy, since I generally write when I’m sad. Bad mistake on my part all. I apologize for that. I’m on the brink of being done with this semester, I have my winter break trip planned (as least as much as I want to) and I made some superb new friends. I’m back to being absolutely content and blissful with my life. No telling what the future holds!

8/12/13

“Are you happy Dp?” –Angie

“ Yep.”- Me with biggest grin ever.

This is sure to end badly.

11/12/13

I feel vulnerable in the best way possible. My eyes are open, my heart is whole, and I’m ready to put it on my sleeve. Look out world.

21/12/13

Fall hard, fall fast. All the concerns I seemed to have a month ago are now what I love the most. The differences, the confusion, the discovery, the teetering into the sure fire path of unknown life. I know who I am and I’m ready to risk her.

 7/1/14

It’s strange to watch someone live out the life you had planned with them with someone else. It feels good to know that we both got what we actually wanted. Life is good.

13/1/14

Listening to old music with new feelings attached. It’s odd. And WONDERFUL!

15/1/14

In the last few days I have reached the realization that Minneapolis may never be my permanent home again. I’m doing a surprisingly calm job of taking that in. Seriously. I’m proud of my ability to not have a serious freak out about this one. We’ll see how that continues. You may say my opinion is being swayed, but I think in reality I’m just realizing that it will never be the same, and I will never be the same. I cannot have the same relationship I had with it before. Who knows where I’m going to end up. Oh life, you are crazy.

24/1/14

I’m exhausted. This was my first week back with the students, I worked minimum hours 7-4 and yet I am so exhausted. However, I will suffice this by saying that I am bursting with happiness and cannot stop smiling. My life is so incredible, and I cannot believe how lucky I am to have landed where I have. I spent last Sunday at the Ritz Carlton sipping on martinis and eating delicious cheese and steak. Currently there are a lot of floods in Jakarta, but I’m fortunate enough to not have been affect by them in the slightest. Right now I just feel like the luckiest girl in the entire world.

brunch

Feels like Lightning

I’m sitting in a garden in the middle of a small Island off of Bali and my brain cannot get out of itself. I feel like I’m half missing, and not fully enjoying this vacation as I should be. So it’s time to get all of these mumble jumbled feelings out on a page.

I met a boy. We are complete opposites in almost every way. He is salty hair, rum drinking, trance listening, beach loving Aussie, and I’m a forest loving, cold weather, whiskey drinking, bluegrass listening American girl.

The only thing we can seem to agree on is that life is not meant to be wasted, and we both want to live it the best we can. And that breakfast is the best meal of the day. He is fantastic and makes me feel out of this world happy. I feel like I cannot stop smiling. 

So when I first started thinking I was ready to date I disclosed 5 fears to my small blog followers of the world. I’m now going to tell you why they no longer bother me.

1. I felt like any guy I met wouldn’t know the real me. However, any guy who is interested in me in any capacity is going to know the real me. He will know I drink whiskey, love beer, am a huge bluegrass music fan, and that I would wake up in the middle of the night to check the packer score. It’s simply not possible to know me and not know these things. Sure he won’t get to see me dance my ass off at a bluegrass concert, but you have to take what you can get and make the most of it.
2. Oh yes, The fear of the future. When you are living abroad it is highly unlikely you will meet someone who already has their future figured out. As long as you are both open to discussion, changes, and maybe some sacrifices along the way you can figure it out. Dreams are mergeable, in most cases, and best of all you get to create new ones together. Isn’t that what relationships are all about?
3. I don’t remember how to make a relationship work. What does it matter? Any relationship I have certainly isn’t going to be the same as any of the ones of the past. Honesty and communication is all you need. Honestly communicate with me about what you want and we will work it out. Be real about who you are and I’ll be real back.
4. Cultural differences. Ah, yes. This one is still a bit scary and tough for me, but ultimately it is currently what I’m loving the most. I’m learning so much! Australian words, foods, politics. This is part of why I’m living abroad, so that I can learn new things and explore these differences. I might get to explore a whole different side of the world with a guide who knows all about it.
5. Someone is bound to get hurt. This is a risk. My heart just got whole about a year ago. Do I want to risk breaking it again? You bet. What fun would life be without risks, and if the risks make you happier along the way, then all the more reason to do it!

So I’m diving in, head first. There brain. Now please, go enjoy your vacation.

Bittersweet Symphony: I Almost Cried in an Airport Starbucks

So I am heading back home after 3 weeks of traveling and I can actually say that I’m REALLY happy to be going HOME. That is right I’m referring to Jakarta as HOME! My trip was fantastic and I was able to make awesome memories and have incredible experiences, but overall it was a very difficult 3 weeks emotionally for many reasons.

 It was really strange to meet up with old friends in new places. I spent a lot of the trip reminding them, and being reminded of how awesome our travels were last year, and I’m pretty sure it made me ridiculously homesick for Albania and the Balkans. The freedom of travel, the inexpensiveness, and the open-minded people we met along the way. Nothing will ever compare to this version of traveling, so I just have to get it out of my mind. Pass it off as a phenomenal life experience and get ready to have new and different ones.

Being with my old friends has proven what I already knew: Jakarta has already changed who I am as a person a lot. I cannot exactly pinpoint the differences, but I know they are there.

hello new me....

Indonesia has also changed who my friends are as well. We are still friends, and get along in a very special way, but they way we interacted just felt different and foreign to me. This is one of the great benefits and downfalls of the life I live. I meet great people, but constantly have to say goodbye to them knowing that our relationship will never be the same as it is in that moment. I had a similar experience when I met my brother last year for Christmas. Being in Europe with him after 5 months of life apart was different than our relationship of meeting up for bloody marys on Sunday, which was different from the relationship we had when we lived together. So goes life.

I'll just steamroll to the Balkans... 

I also have to say goodbye knowing that a PLACE will never be the same again. I want to go back and travel the Balkans so badly, and yet I know it will not be the same because I will be a different person, traveling with different friends, and the world will have transformed it into yet another tourist area, rather than a place to marvel at beauty.

At the same point, I can go into any trip knowing that it will not be boring and there will be something new to experience along the way. I can marvel at how places and people change and grow for the better.

Life is such a bittersweet symphony.

I had one very major distraction on the trip, and I’m not going to say it was a bad distraction, but I probably could have put my phone away a lot more, to experience the world around me. I feel slightly awful about how much I was texting, but I also really enjoyed being able to stay in contact with the world using my smart phone, especially around the holidays. I’m not sure what I would have done without it actually. My timing for meeting awesome people is off, or maybe really good? Can't decide. 

I made the major mistake of thinking that I’d love to just hang in Surabaya, rather than going directly home, when I got done traveling Bali. I felt extremely in limbo, halfway home, because I was with familiar people in a place that felt similar to Jakarta, but I was not quite back to myself. If there is anything worse than wanting to go home, it is wanting to go home, but already feeling like you are kind of there. Very confusing. Needless to say I ended up switching flights and leaving a day early, unable to handle the oddity of it anymore.

I'll just follow the trail home....

So now I’m sitting in the Surabaya airport, nearly in tears, thinking about the fact that I don’t know when I’ll see my boys again, but also looking really forward to arriving back home to see my friends in Jakarta. Somewhere wrapped up in the emotions are my wishes that I could have been back in America to cuddle up in some blankets and watch the packer game with my brother, and the emotions of wishing I had spent the last 3 weeks in the Balkans. How can a girl be lucky enough to have so many homes and so many families?

I'll follow my heart HOME! 

Gili T and Kuta Bali: Golf

After a very relaxing morning on Gili Air we were ready to head somewhere with a little more to do. We hopped on a 30 minute boat to Gili T, known for it’s parties filled with crazy Australian dudes. I felt extremely motion sick on the boat, for unknown reasons, but luckily the ride was short. Once off the boat we ended up walking around quite a bit to find our hostel. You see, the problem is all the hostel names have the word “backpacker” in them so when we would say “Le Grand Gili Backpacker hostel” all people would hear is backpacker hostel, so we kept getting pointed in the wrong direction. Eventually we made it, but it seems they were extremely disorganized as there had been so many walk in bookings, and so many people want to stay for longer, we ended up getting split up in fan rooms instead of being together in air con rooms. Only for one night, which would soon turn into the worst night ever.

Gili T is known for it's sea turtles. 

We went out in search of places to eat and things to do and soon discovered that unless you are a diver there really isn’t much to do other than party. There were lots of parties listed so we quickly decided on one to go to for the night and had a light dinner of sushi and “salad” which was actually curry. As it was 8:30 at this point Scott and Robert decided to take a nap before heading out at 11. I knew if I went to sleep I would not be getting up, so my plan was to sit online and hope that I would have enough energy to stay awake until they were ready to go out. Lucky for me the cool thing about hostels is that you meet lots of new people, and since I was staying in a dorm room with 5 people I didn’t know I was able to meet 3 right away. Caroline and Becky were here, traveling just after graduation from high school in Germany. They had already been to Burma (which they claimed was boring, a sure sign I shouldn’t have been hanging with them) Thailand, and were planning to head to Australia, Chile, and Argentina next. They had met Reese(from Whales), in Thailand, and he was on this way to Australia to find a job. They were heading out to the same party, with several stops to be made on the way and asked if I wanted to join. I gladly excepted, figuring that I’d be able to find stimulating enough conversation with people I met along the way and a few beers as well. Another girl from France, who was also staying in our room, decided to join us at the last minute.

We headed to Gili T Backpackers hostel (one of them) and had 2 large beers there, and then moved on with our small group to the beer gardens. This place had the best live music I have ever heard in Indonesia. They band was rocking, the singer actually had a good voice and they brought a kick ass trumpet player on the stage for a few songs. Once the band took a break we went to the Irish bar for 50% off cocktails for girls and I chugged a long island, before we finally made it to the black moon party. It was alright. We danced. I had a gin and tonic. I met a few people. We sat on the beach. We went home.

Now at this point I was not hammered by any standard. I was drunk, but perfectly capable of finding the way home, texting coherently, and even managed to take a shower and brush my teeth before climbing into my top bunk. I woke up, at some point, and had to pee. So I hopped down from the bunk, and at some point while I was on the toilet the world started to spin and I got hot. Very, very hot. I managed to make it back to my room, but could not get up to my bed. I sat on the cement floor trying to cool off. The room just kept spinning and I was dripping, no, let me rephrase, pouring in sweat. I wanted my water, but that was, of course, on my top bunk bed, and there was no way for me to get at it. I honestly thought I was going to die, alone, on the hostel floor. Surely this was dengue fever, and I was not going to make it to any kind of medical assistance, let alone comfort before my death. Eventually I decided I had to get my water, so I climbed up to the bed, still dripping and lay flat, sprawled under the fan, and sipped the water the best I could. I tried desperately to sip on water, but this just made me feel like I was going to hurl, as everything was still spinning around and around me. I kept thinking that if I closed my eyes and fell asleep I wouldn’t wake up.

Eventually I did manage to sleepish, and woke up in the morning still feeling feverish, but better. I hopped out of bed to fill my water bottle and then managed to check the packer score. Only to find out we were trailing and there were only a few minutes left. Then, at that moment I got a text from Becky saying we had won! Woohooo! Playoff s for us! I spent the morning laying around trying to sleep. When I actually got up at noon I felt loads better, and managed to shower and was then starving. I messaged the boys to find out where they were and met them for a small lunch of salad, and salami/veggie wrap.

We spent the rest of the day walking around, playing cards at the hostel, and eventually heading out to watch the sunset, which sucked because it was too overcast. We were also able to switch to an air conditioned hostel room, where we could all be together! Then we went to a fancy Italian restaurant for dinner, and it was delicious. Thin crusted pizza, and homemade pasta. We made plans to go back for dessert the following day since we were all too full that night.

awful sunset picture....

After arriving back at the hostel I introduced myself to one of the men in our hostel (I was with 5 boys) and promptly passed out in my bed.

The next morning we woke up and spent some time enjoying breakfast, followed by deciding to walk the entire perimeter of the island. This was very relaxing and we were lucky that it was a cloudy day, early morning, and therefore slightly cooler. I ate a light lunch of pumpkin soup as we had signed up for a BBQ at our hostel, including food, that was supposed to start at 3. Scott and Robert took naps while I skyped and about an hour later Robert informed me that the BBQ was starting, which it wasn’t. Mostly we spent until about 7:30 just waiting around for food, playing cards and getting acquainted with our roommates. The food was really delicious when it was finally done, but unfortunately it was too late to count as helpful to my already upset tummy, and left me feeling overly full.

Thong Trees.....or Flip Flop trees. Trying....

I wasn’t able to drink anything for the majority of the night. We bought tickets to the biggest island on the party, which had some famous DJ from Europe. I don’t know much about that kind of music except that I typically don’t enjoy it unless I’m drunk. After a few drinks out we ended up back at the hostel to play derts (no it isn’t pronounced darts) and then went to the party. I squishing in through the gates, and then got to dance for awhile. We watched the midnight fireworks from the beach and got to see a boat catch fire and the waiters devise a plan to put the fire out. It was quite exciting. I continued to dance, and have beer poured on me, and get winked at my random dudes, and get smooshed in the crowd, all while it was raining and I had intense stomach cramps. At about 1:45 I gave up and just said screw it and went to bed.  Ya’ll know how much I hate crowds, and this one felt like the worst summerfest crowd I had ever been in.

The next day I woke up at around 7, and having nothing to do decided to venture out to do a little bit of shopping, followed by getting a manicure/pedicure, which was promptly ruined by my search for my cell phone in my bag. I ate a delicious burger and fries with the boys and we spent our day lounging at the hostel playing cards and reading, and eventually headed out for a late night Indian dinner. Early to bed for the night as we had to get up decently early to pack and catch our noon boat.

Unfortunately there had been a serious misunderstanding when I asked the man we purchased our tickets from if we needed to call to confirm the time and date and he responded with no. When we arrived at the dock they informed us that both the noon and 3 o’clock boat were full, but that we would be able to make it on the 5 o’clock. We were quite angry as this meant our evening plans in Bali were shot, so we opted to day drink at the Irish bar and played copious amounts of golf while doing so.

First tournament of golf, and 2nd double whiskey. 

At 4 we headed to wait for the boat and enjoyed a beer and ice cream along the shore. The boat ride was incredibly fast and I spent it listening to my iPod in complete leisure at the way the music and my life were making me feel. When we arrived at the harbor in Bali I had to pee so badly that I squat in a corner while a man took pictures of my on his blackberry. Oh well! One thing about me is that I can pee anywhere I don’t care what people think. I spent my time on the bus in a similar fashion to the boat, but when we were dropped off on the street our hostel was on(apparently) life went downhill. We had to walk in the rain down the street for quite a while, and though we continued to ask where “Gong Corner Guesthouse” was it can be assumed everyone just pointed in whatever direction they chose. Eventually we found out we were on the wrong road and would have to double back. Upon finally arriving I was still in a good mood, and ready to go out. That is, until I was informed that there were two guesthouses with the same name and we were at the wrong one. So we kept walking and eventually found the correct one, where they tried to give us the wrong room type. Anger was surmounting, and as Robert had a headache Scott and I walked to the main road to find some food since we hadn’t really eaten since 10am other than our ice cream.

Salad and some pizza and life was better, until we arrived back at the guesthouse to shower and the tap broke. The water was pouring into the room from the bathroom and so at 11pm we had to deal with this instead of sleeping.

We spent our final day of the journey bumming around Kuta, Bali, while eating and drinking in an expensive restaurant while playing more cards. Once at the airport our flight was delayed several hours, and there was nothing to do.

There really is nothing like 2 awful days of traveling to make you realize how ready you are to be among the comforts of home.

Gili Air: Storm

Our next stopover point for the trip was Gili Air. You’ll be surprised to find out, based on the title, that the skies were perfectly blue the whole time I was there. I was looking the most forward to this portion of the trip. The main reason being that the island is completely walk able in 90 minutes and there are no motorized vehicles allowed. I was excited to do some self-exploration here. Are you kidding me? Somewhere I could walk around and not get honked at/almost run over by cars? I was looking very forward to finding some nice places to read and write.

dirt paths

After arriving at our hostel I left pretty quickly, taking my bike (free rental with the bungalow rental) and taking random turns at every dirt path I met. I had no idea where I was going, but what did I care? I had nowhere to be, and no one to answer to. I came across many a wild, but tame animal, lots of Indonesians doing farm work/cooking, and a few men carrying machetes who said “Siang!” (good afternoon) as I passed. Eventually I came to a beach on the other side of the island and decided that this would be the perfect place to have a beer as my lunch for the day (I had previously stopped for gelato.) I asked for a large Bintang at a random bar, because this one had some nice shaded bungalows overlooking the beach where I could sit and read. They said the large Bintang wasn’t cold, so I began looking in their fridge and what should I see but Storm beer!

So a little side note to explain my excitement: Being me, when I first began researching Indonesia I researched the beer. No surprise there. I found this beer rating site and on it the Storm Iron Stout had the highest rating of all Indonesian made beers. It had even won international awards. So, of course I’ve been looking for it since I arrived. No success in Jakarta, but I did manage to find the Storm IPA which was delicious. The problem is that the bar I found it at only had 2 left, and I drank them both. I’ve been asking all over since then, but everywhere seems to be out. I did some research online and found a forum that said that the company has recently gone out of business. I was very depressed. A girl can really only drink so much pilsner before wanting to swear off beer completely.

Storm IPA!

Since I saw it in the fridge at this random bar, on this random beach, on this random island, I decided to try the Stout. Being a Stout fan and all, I have to say I did not enjoy it. Mostly because the beach is the complete wrong setting for such a heavy beer. Lucky for me, I had seen several other kinds in the fridge so I asked for an IPA. They did not have it. I was starting to lose hope. The white guy behind me said he’d have it later that night. I mentioned I was a huge beer fan, particularly of IPA and he responded by saying I must be a very smart girl and introducing himself as the co-owner of the Storm Brewing company. He told me about the 5 beers they brewed, and I decided to try a bronze ale. He of course yelled at the poor Indonesian bartender for not serving it in a glass the way it was meant to be served.

We had a nice chat about the beers, how they are brewed (all natural) and about the law suit they are currently going through. I asked if the company was shutting down and he informed that it is not likely. Mostly he said I would see Storm beer disappear for 3-6 months, and then hopefully it would re-emerge. Can you say relief. I might be able to go to a bar and drink a decent beer in a few months! Robert ended up finding me and low and behold, the guy is also a DJ, and him and Robert had tons to talk about. After trying all of the beer I’d have to say that the Bronze is my favorite. What the Storm IPA lacks in flavor is made up for in this hoppy red ale. Yummy!

Enjoying my beer in the water

After a few more beers I realized I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and it was now 5:00pm, so Robert and I made the best of our slightly goofy bike ride back to the bungalow to pick up Scott for dinner. We ended up eating at a very chill place and all getting delicious prawns, rice, and veggies. It was a satisfying meal but I was still starving since I hadn’t really eaten all day. I opted to head back to the beach joint for 2 cold IPAs. We rode the bikes home in the pitch black under the stars. I almost wiped out a few times, mostly because I was slightly intoxicated, but also because I kept wanting to look up at the stars.

sunset

The following morning I woke up with a migraine, after listing to pounding trance music from a distance until late into the night, and not being able to sleep. I pounded water, drank a coffee, put on my suit, and headed out to find breakfast. I ate in a bungalow along the shore and had a veggie omelet and orange juice for about $4. We are talking fresh squeezed orange juice here, by the way. I managed to bike almost the entire perimeter of the island, stopping to take pictures, and to walk it through the super sandy spots, in about an hour. I sat at a bar and drank a fresh bloody mary (they cut the tomatoes in front of me, and blended them to make juice) and read. Then, I needed more water, so I went back to the hostel and skyped with my mom, had a bit of me time to write, and then went to meet Scott and Robert for lunch.

should have named this bike....

I had a delicious veggie wrap and salad and pineapple juice for $5. Where is the food culture in Jakarta? I need more than Nasi Goreng world!

After watching the sea for a few hours while Scott and Robert played chess I decided to head home to do some serious writing. I was really needing this me time after 12 days, and I was desperate for time to write. Perfect afternoon in the garden. Just me, my thoughts, some music, coffee, and the occasional interruption by the world’s cutest person ever sending me text messages.

Then I decided to head back out to do a little more exploring, grab an ice cream and watch the sunset, however this was quickly interrupted by a teeny tiny bit of rain. I biked back to the hostel and opted to lay in the hammock and read until it was time for dinner. We took the back roads back to a restaurant and sat and played cards while we sipped on drinks and ate food. Eventually I was tired enough to leave the gang and head home. After my scary bike ride in the dark (I was not slightly intoxicated and thus largely aware of the darkness that encompassed me) I got through the gate only to realize I had no key. Lucky for me the owner was doing some late night gardening work and ran and got the spare while I sat and looked at stars. Once inside I almost immediately passed out.

Breakfast!

The following morning I woke up, did some reading, ate breakfast with Scott and Robert and got ready to journey on, to legendary Gili Trawangan.  

Kuta beach Lombok: Happy Super Fun Day

Getting to Kuta, Lombok was a bit of a hassle, mostly because it ended up costing us more than we thought it would. Our hotel was pretty gross, and the sink was being held apart by ducked taped, but we figured we could make it work. Once we arrived we put on our beach gear and headed to the beach, stopping along the way for some delicious seafood lunch. The beach was met with swarming herds of Indonesians attempting to sell us things. We did end up buying some deliciously sweet coconut lime drinks, and after sitting for a few short minutes Robert went in for a swim. I was looking around and noticed I was the only Bule girl in sight and all the other women were either swimming fully clothed or not swimming at all. So I opted to simply cut my losses and swim in my dress. It felt a bit ridiculous, but also kind of cool, and on the plus side, the dress was then wet and cool for the rest of the evening, however you all know how I feel about sitting in salt water. Gross!

Christmas morning breakfast!

We stopped at a cool surfer bar for some cocktails, and I indulged in a double espresso. On the way home I stopped off to indulge some more and purchased an $18 bottle of wine. I figured it was Christmas day, and Christmas day deserved wine. Back at the hotel I took a look in the mirror and realized I was actually insanely sun burnt, so I opted to save the majority of the wine and began chugging a few liters of water.

I sat on the balcony and skyped (the internet connection wasn’t the best) while Robert and Scott swam in the pool. After an hour or so we decided to head to dinner and stopped at Sunset café, which had rave reviews for their beef burgers, which, regrettably were unavailable for whatever reason, so I had some yummy pasta instead. We watched bats fly around our heads, the sunset, and stared intently as geckos ate their prey. At this point we were all exhausted and had no idea how we were going to make it to our Christmas day skype sessions that evening. We all did, though we struggled to stay awake, chugging on insane amounts of water as we waited.

Awesome tree!

The next morning was super happy fun day! We went back to the surfer bar and had some delicious morning smoothies and then headed up the coast to find a beach to relax on for the rest of the day. After some serious trekking through the sand (I say this because the walk was almost as bad as hiking Bromo), we managed to find a shady spot to relax and explore. The morning was filled with staring at clouds, discovering critters, giggling contentedly and re-applying drastic amounts of sunscreen. The sandy sunscreen application was my least favorite part, and I’m sure my facial expressions as I rubbed it in were hilarious.

Our beach for the day!

Eventually we all got hungry and had to eat some food. Opting to take the road over the sandy beach, we soon were dripping with sweat and had to stop to get ice cream, and soon after choose the nearest restaurant to chug a fresh fruit juice and indulge in pizza and burgers. Yummy! We were perfectly fine to hang at the hotel the rest of the afternoon lounging by the poolside and sipping on drinks. When we reached hunger again we headed to a nearby woodfire pizza place and I devoured a whole pizza. The 100 meter walk home was exhausting enough to make us all ready for bed at about 8:00pm. It is incredible what sunshine can do to your body.

Rocking like a sink, sinking like a rock!

Ubud, Bali: High Five Alive!

Once again, we had to wake up super duper early to travel. Our ride to the airport did not show up on time, so we ended up calling a taxi, which was easy enough. We arrived with plenty of time to check in, have a double espresso and baked item, and still sit and relax for a bit. Our plane was incredibly scary, and small. They had to attach propellers and before we took off I told Scott and Robert that if they survived and I didn’t they should tell my family that I loved them. It was actually way better than I thought, but I was thankful to arrive, and was equally thankful that my bag was the first off the luggage cart. "High Five Alive!" Our driver was waiting with my name on a piece of paper and we were quickly escorted to his van and on the road.

coffee plantation....not the actual one, but still beautiful!

Along the way he asked us the usual questions about where we were from, what our plans were, and also attempted to sell himself as a driver for us for the next few days. We started asking about some of the places we could see, and when he mentioned the coffee plantation we all showed immediate interest. He mentioned Kopi Lukwak, and then agreed to take us there, no cost. After a brief tour of an example plantation where lots of spices and fruit trees were growing, we got to taste their different flavored teas and coffees and we all sampled Luwak coffee for 50,000 rupiah (5USD). It was made in a very different fashion at this place as opposed to the place in Jogjakarta and I felt like it was very scientific. We stopped at the gift shop, and I was proud of myself for buying absolutely nothing, and not falling into a tourist trap!

Upon arrival at our hostel we all began speaking in awe of the extreme splendor of the greenery. I seriously felt like I was in a temple from the moment I walked in. Our room was quite large and we had a nice small table over looking the gardens. Immediately all I wanted to do was sit, drink coffee, and read/write in this spot. Good thing the boys were on board.

Since we had been up for about 8 hours we were getting quite hungry so we went in search of food. All my body was craving was veggies and fruit and luckily I was able to get an Avocado juice, and salad, which was followed by some honey dew slush, all for about $5. I was already thinking I could live here and then we started exploring other random hostels/homestay’s gardens. It’s great because you can walk in anywhere and explore, and no one bothers you. I seriously wanted to ask “Berapah” (how much?) for ones of the tree houses I saw. I could easily spend the rest of my life here, just walking around the streets, and taking trips to the forests and fields a few hours away. We stopped at the supermarket to buy a kettle ($3) wine ($13) a bit of fruit (40 cents) some yogurt for my tummy (40cents) and some other random necessities such as mixers for our liter of gin, and water.

Exploring my future dining room. (Roberts picture)

Upon arriving back at the hostel we made coffee, chatted about our plans for our time here and smoked a few cigarettes. (I’d be lying if I said I didn’t buy a few packs on this trip.) Then we opened the wine and put on some music to read and write to.

Eventually we left to get some dinner and on the way managed to stop at several bars/cafes for various coffees and drinks. It felt like a typical Robert, Scott and Tiara day of drinking/exploring, which was just what I wanted. One of our stops included a view overlooking rice fields.

Eventually we opted to return back to our hostel to start drinking our large bottle of gin. “Starting” led to nearly finishing the entire bottle in one night, plus after already having several drinks together, while out. It was just what I needed as we discussed everything going on in our lives and I got lots of good advice. It was ultimately the perfect night for the three of us to have together.

Crazy tree. All those things hanging down are roots!

I woke up decently early the next morning to find my computer completely dead, and was unable to turn it on. With a frustrating start to the day we tried to troubleshoot a bit, but I opted to not let it ruin the day, and soon after enjoying our delivered tea and breakfast on our balcony (I KNOW!!!!) we headed to the Monkey Forest. Basically there were tons of monkeys in the trees and on the streets eating breakfast. Some points were scary as the monkeys tend to think if you reach for anything (camera, tissue, chapstick) it means you have food you would like to give them.

yummy!

What I found more fascinating than the animals was the general nature around me, and the stone statues.  The trees were large and for most you could not tell where the original trunk was as so many roots had grown in all directions. The statues were mostly of hindu gods, but all were carved to the point where I just wanted to sit and stare at them while trying to figure out the story behind them. It was very fascinating to me. We spent a few hours exploring, returned to our bar overlooking the rice paddies and had American breakfast for about $4.

Loved this statue for some reason

Post second breakfast we went back to the hostel for awhile. I took full advantage of the peaceful garden and headed out with my book and iPod. I was unable to read anything as I was falling in love with music over and over again. It is truly amazing what new people and places can do to old music. I couldn’t stop smiling and thinking about my awesome life, until eventually Robert came out and pointed out an adorable cat. We spent the next hour trying to lure the cat over towards us so we could pet it. Problematically, the neighborhood dog came over and chased the cats away, so we played with him instead. Basically we adopted him for the next hour and let him hang with us in our room while we researched what to do next.

Reading in the garden. Thanks for the great picture Robert!

We headed to an art gallery just down the road, paid our 5 dollars to get in and spend the next hours wandering around looking and Balinese art, most of it related to Hindu gods and stories. Our entrance fee also included a coffee outside next to a beautiful garden. On the way home we stopped for a Mexican dinner which was very satisfying as I was able to get a taco salad. I’ve been trying to keep up the fruits and vegetables for this trip.

On the way home we stopped to purchase another bottle of wine (I have tasted and now cannot stop!) and as it started to pour rain from the sky we stopped to get a dessert of shredded coconut filled crepes with coconut ice cream to top them off. Seriously Ubud? Stop having such delicious food!

Finally we had to make a dash for the hostel, which meant we all got completely soaked. We spent our evening scoping out our choices for the following day: Rice paddy tour, walking around and exploring, or spa. We opted to do the rice paddy tour even though it would cost us more.

We woke up the next morning and I was able to have a quick skype with my mom (thanks for letting me borrow your computer Robert!) before we headed out to meet our driver. The morning was very rainy and thus the tour was awful. We were hardly able to see anything, and we got suckered into paying 9 dollars for a disgusting buffet. This was the most I had spent on a meal in Ubud and it was, by far, the worst one. Arriving, back to the hostel at about 1:00pm and decided to head out to explore the other side of the city, which was incredible. Our main stop was the used bookstore, which was stocked decently with literature from many languages, followed by a small snack of Indian food and chai tea. 

Rice Paddy

Once home, I found my computer magically working, which was a very nice surprise. Robert and I headed out for a 2 hour spa treatment, which was by far the best spa treatment I have ever had. The massage was the perfect intensity, and was followed by a skin soothing body wrap, shower and hot bath in a bathtub filled with flower petals. This all cost me a total of $13 and left me super relaxed.

I had been eyeing up a delicious vegan restaurant a few time as we passed it, mostly because they had pumpkin soup and that sounded too good to pass up. It was a very short walk away, so we settled on heading there, sans rain coats. I had the pumpkin soup, some mushroom cream sauce pasta and a slice of delicious carrot cake. It wasn’t as good as my pumpkin soup, or the carrot cake from back home, but it was pretty satisfying overall. When we finished it was pouring rain, so we had to walk home in it as we had made the awful decision to leave our jackets at home.

Ubud was the perfect combination of my favorite parts of all the places I have lived. It had the hippie café/bar feel of Minneapolis, combined with the walk ability of Tirana and the culture of Indonesia (notice I didn’t say Jakarta) has to offer. I honestly felt like I could potentially live there for a good portion of my life, just studying Indonesian history and Hinduism while walking the streets sipping on coffee and tea, while writing.

I am in love with you Ubud!

I’ll be glad to go back with my parents when they come to visit and hopefully, as it won’t be rainy season I’ll be able to do some further explorations of northern Bali.