Kimberly's (mis)adventures in Kenya!

As you probably know by now, I am in Kenya! I am here for work but am very excited to be in my 30^th country and on my 5^th continent! This is my first time in Africa. I am here to help with trainings for work; we train medical professionals how to manage obstetric and neonatal emergencies. My journey here (of which I am currently in the midst) was going to be arduous and drawn out even if everything had gone to plan, which included three flights, a night in Dubai, a night in Nairobi and then overland transfer to our site, which would have me arriving Thursday PM after leaving Seattle Monday afternoon. But, when do things ever go as planned with me?

I flew from Seattle to Dubai on Emirates, which is a lovely flying time of 14.5 hours, which equates to pure hell aboard a small metal flying container. I have flown this flight before and wasn’t looking forward to it because it is so hard on your body. After my flight to Dubai, I overnighted in a hotel provided by Emirates before leaving the next morning for a morning flight to Nairobi.

Upon arrival in Nairobi, the plan was that I was to meet my private driver who was to have a sign with my name on it and he would be waiting at the exit. It should also be noted that the Nairobi airport recently experienced a fire (about a month ago) in the international terminal, and it is now completely unusable. As such, we exited our huge plane via the stairs and waited on the tarmac (while other planes were taking off!) for tons of buses to shuttle us all to the temporary immigration area. 

After getting through immigration and getting my luggage, I left the airport to find my driver. Except that I couldn’t find him. So I waited. And then I waited more, and then for good measure I waited some more. A very nice Kenyan shuttle driver called his number for me but he told them he didn’t know what they were talking about. They told me to get in a taxi and assured me I would be safe. I didn’t have any other options and I was tired of waiting in the beating sun, so I got in a taxi. I knew I would likely be perfectly fine, but I have been warned about being careful with taxis in Nairobi. I tried to stay alert and awake, but I was so damn tired from so much damn travel and Dramamine, that eventually my eyelids got the better of me and I fell asleep; not the best idea, I know. 

At one point he explained he was going to take shortcuts (Note: The traffic in Nairobi, also known locally as “a jam” is INSANE! I thought Mexico City was crazy, but it has NOTHING on Nairobi. There are no real apparent lanes, rules or directions on any given street). I hoped shortcuts wasn’t short for me getting robbed or worse as he was taking me through some shady ass areas of the city, so I just tried to have faith and kept thinking positive thoughts. He eventually got me to my hotel safe and sound! I finally got in contact with one of my colleagues here in Kenya who I work with in Seattle and her first words as she answered were: “OH MY GOD YOU ARE ALIVE!!!!” No one knew I took a taxi to the hotel, they only knew that I was missing for hours, lol. She said she thought I was wandering around Nairobi lost or worse. She then said if it had to happen to someone on this trip, she is glad it was me because, “you are the only one who could deal with that crazy shit.” Gotta roll with the punches!

My coworker also convinced me to bring my old cell phone from Korea and that she would get me a Kenyan simcard when she arrived and leave it at the hotel for me. Thank god for that! It allowed me (once arriving at the hotel) to communicate with the outside world. I spent the rest of my night eating pizza and watching 19 Kids and Counting on Amazon, because what else does one do after traveling for two days and arriving in Kenya?

My first full day in Nairobi (Thursday) was to have me go to two places called the Giraffe Center and Elephant Orphanage where there are TONS OF BABY ELEPHANTS!!!! I was quite excited and booked a private driver to take me to each place and then to the airport for only $60! Sweet.

My first stop was the Giraffe Center, which is home to a number of giraffes and a new-ish baby! Most are rescued from the wild as babies who are orphaned or adults who are injured, and they live the rest of their life out on the reserve. You can feed the giraffes and they take these kibble-y bit things right out of your hand!!! A giraffe tongue is like nothing I was prepared for. First off, they are unbelievably rough and freaking strong!! I can’t really adequately put into words what it felt like…but strange and a weird sensation none the less. I preferred feeding the baby as his tongue wasn’t so creepy feeling. Giraffes are such majestic animals! I have never had the opportunity to be up close and personal with them, they really are so beautiful and just amazing to watch. It was a wonderful experience. As I was leaving a group of young Kenyan school children showed up (I would say 5 or 6 years old). They were all in matching uniforms and spoke in unison when asked questions; it was so freaking cute! The main giraffe guy would ask them questions like, “How many legs do giraffes have?” In unison: “FOUR!!!!” “How many eyes?” “TWO!!!!” “How many colors do you see?” “YELLOW! BROWN! YELLOW! WHITE! YELLOW!” It was so cute, especially with their ridiculously cute Kenyan accents. I don’t care the accent, hearing it come out of a tiny little human just melts my heart and I can’t help but smile. 

As I was leaving, another school group of similarly aged children showed up and every single one of them shook my hand or gave me a high five! It was adorable. They were mostly speaking Swahili to me, which I of course don’t understand, but there were a few, “Hello!” and “Nice to meet you!” I said hello, hi, or nice to meet you to all 30 or so of them. It was just a really wonderful and happy experience. I left with my heart very happy and a smile on my face. 

After the Giraffe Center we headed to the Elephant Orphanage. I was so excited for this place! I freaking love elephants, and baby elephants? Just stop. Too much cuteness. I knew it would be cuteness overload and such an exciting thing, but I had no idea. 

The orphanage is only open to the public one hour every day to protect the babies. It is a very reputable place and most of their babies have been victims of poaching via losing their mother’s. Heartbreaking! Each baby is assigned a keeper and they have the same person for the three years they are in the nursery. They have 24 hour care so that they get milk every 3 hours just as they would if they were with their mothers.

The nursery is broken up into babies under one, one – two, and two – three years old. After age three, they spend the next five years on a reserve, adjusting to the wild and eventually are released and become part of a heard.

The first group to come out was three tiny babies that were all under one. My god. I cannot explain the cuteness as they galloped uncoordinatedly down the hill towards us (they were in an area roped off from us and were with their keepers). They were only out for about 10 minutes and the keepers were showing them how to put dirt on themselves to protect their skin from the sun. This is something that in the wild their mother teaches them (and does for the first year of life) so here the keepers do it. Ridiculously cute doesn’t really convey the cuteness overload that was happening. They were so TINY! I just wanted to hug them and love them forever. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. The keepers and babies are clearly bonded and love each other.

After the “baby babies” left, out came the “waddlers” as I called them (one – two years old). There were 27 of them. Good lord those baby elephants coming down the hill was ridiculously cute!! There were so many and they were clearly excited because they knew it was bottle and play time!! They each got two bottles from their keeper and then played in the mud and with soccer balls. They were out the longest, around 30 minutes. Watching them play was literally one of the most amazing moments of my entire life. I kept remember thinking, “This is amazing, this will always be one of my favorite days.” It was just magical and so precious. Drinking water and spraying it and watching them put dirt on their own backs (they had clearly mastered this skill unlike with the baby babies). There was a mud pit and some would just totally submerge themselves in it. It was fascinating to see all of their different personalities and some of the dominant elephants in the group. 

Just the day before an elephant had been added to the “waddler” group. She had been rescued and had been found standing over her mother’s dead body. Ugh. So unbelievably sad!! Just devastating. If you read about it, it is well established and known that elephants mourn just as humans do, and will stand over their loved one’s body for days and each year when they pass the spot will visibly mourn that loss through crying, jumping, laying down where they died and etc.. This particular baby was SO skinny! She was also a different gray color than all of the other guys because her pigment had changed because she went so long without food and had been sunburned : ( Her keeper was next to her almost the whole time because a big fat guy kept picking on her. I know it is part of nature but was so sad to watch. There was one elephant she kept cuddling with and rubbing up against who didn’t seem to mind, it was nice to see she had already made a little elephant friend.

After the waddlers left, the toddlers (2 -3 years old) came out. These guys were HUGE!!!! There were only 7 of the big guys. It was crazy to see the size difference between the waddlers and toddlers. There was also a marked difference in behaviors; more independent, more forceful around wanting food and clearly more stubborn when they were prevented from fighting or going somewhere (like into the crowd). Just like human toddlers : )

It was a wonderful day. Like I said, one of my favorites. If you ever have the opportunity to come to Nairobi, please, please, please, stop by this place. It sounds cliché, but is literally life-changing. My heart left very full, it was a very cathartic experience for me. 

My next stop was the airport. Once at the airport I realized I somehow messed up counting my money and had spent too much on damn elephant statues and didn’t have enough to pay my driver! SHIT. Thankfully his company has an account with my work so the rest will be charged to that. However, that left me with zero cash and no ATM exists in the domestic terminal of the airport. I thought, oh well, I will be in Kisumu in a few hours, it is fine. The plan was to fly out at 3:00 to Kisimu (in Western Kenya) and then take a two hour overland shuttle to Kakamega, where we are holding trainings. Kisumu is not a very safe city so it was very important that I arrived before it got dark so I could travel overland in the daylight.

As I was checking in, there were like 5 gate agents huddle around the computer looking at my reservation quizzically. I asked if there was a problem, and they all said no. They gave me my boarding pass and told me my boarding time was 4:40 (it was 1:30) and I said, “What?!? I am on the 3:00 flight to Kisumu. They said, “no, that flight is,”closed.” I asked for clarification as to what the hell that meant and they just kept saying closed and that the next flight was at 4:40. Ok….so I called my colleague (a Kenyan travel agent arranged all of our domestic travel) and she was as puzzled as I was and also freaking out as I was because this would now get me into Kisumu much too late to travel overland to Kakamega that night due to the danger with driving in the dark and would mean overnighting in a fairly dangerous and unstable city. Thank god I just bought all of these stone elephants and wood giraffes that I can use as weapons!!

She suggested I go attempt to buy a ticket on another airline. Unfortunately, there were no other flights between now and then!!! After many frantic phone calls, it was decided that they only course of action available to us was for me to take the flight and I would have to overnight in Kisumu. It took a couple additional calls to figure out where I could stay that was safe and who could pick me up and take me to the hotel. Eventually a known driver was found to take me to a hotel that is safe to stay in. As she explained to me: “TIK: This is Kenya” Which was hilarious to me because that is exactly what people say about crazy shit in Korea! I can’t even tell you how many times I said, “TIK, TIK” while leaving in Korea.

After figuring all of the crazy cluster f*ck out, I walked my ass way over to the international terminal (They are not connected) to get cash so I could eat. I should also mention I am fairly certain I got mild heat stroke at the elephant orphanage (was standing in the direct sun, and it is very, very hot here). I felt like shit, like I was going to throw up and had a terrible headache. I got some money, and then proceeded to buy a Coke, bag of chips and chocolate croissant as they were the only vegetarian items. The croissant was disgusting and was thrown away after one spit out bite, the chips were ok. I am now thankfully feeling much better and am writing this from the tiny ass domestic departures “lounge” in Nairobi. I had three hours to kill, so I thought what better to do than blog about my crazy (mis)adventures?!?

I would like to say, that Kenya is a wonderful place. The people here are probably the most friendly I have encountered anywhere in the world. Everyone is so helpful and greets me. I have never felt unsafe (except going through the etch-a-sketchy neighborhoods with the taxi driver, but that was unnecessary) and have thoroughly enjoyed my short time here thus far. I understand why so many people fall in love with this place. Don’t worry family, I have no plans to relocate! 

Even with the insanity that has been my afternoon, I am still kicking. Sometimes crazy shit happens (in life and in travel) and you just have to roll with it. I could get bogged down with the details and freak the hell out being stressed out and worried, but why? What is the point? It will get me nowhere. There was a moment while I was walking with my food, I was hot as shit, felt like puking, had a migraine and was tired. I thought, “This fucking sucks.” I immediately corrected myself and reminded myself it could be worse and to be grateful for this amazing experience very few get to have. We rarely have control over what happens to us, but we do have control over how we react to it and how we think about it. The mind is a powerful thing, choose different thoughts.

Life is too short, just learn to roll or you will never make it out alive. I never would have had one of my most favorite experiences ever without the craziness that is Kenya, life is all about tradeoffs. It (life) is also short and guaranteed to no one, I refuse to let fear get the better of me and prevent me from experiencing everything I want to experience (many people assumed I would cancel my trip after the shootingsin Nairobi last month). As my colleague said, TIK, I say TIT (ha!) as well, as in ‘This Is Travel’, particularly in developing countries. Things are nearly guaranteed to go wrong, particularly when I am involved. There will be delays, things will get screwed up and I will likely puke at some point, but ya know what? This is traveling, this is my life, and I love it. 

Stay tuned…

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I wrote the above portion of this blog entry in the airport waiting to take off for Kisimu. I am now on the other side of the crazy ass evening that happened and am at the site we are working at! It only took 5 days for me to get to Kakamega, Keyna; but here I am!!

I arrived at my hotel and shortly after received a security briefing call; my first official security brief! Many people might have been freaking out hearing the information I was hearing, but I was more excited. I guess that is why I do what I do, this stuff excites me instead of scares me. There is no place for Nervous Nellies in Kenya! I was essentially told that the city I am in has become increasingly unstable in the past few months (I wasn’t supposed to be here, just fly in and leave) and that there has actually been a few murders and bad robberies right on the street I was on---crazy! I was only called in an abundance of caution and as I was in a gated hotel for the night and literally being escorted out of the city with two Kenyans, I wasn’t in the slightest bit worried. Needless to say, I survived to tell the tale.

I finally arrived at site mid-day and the three colleagues waiting for me were very happy to see that I was alive! They were all puzzled as to how I could be in such high spirits. One literally asked if I was anxious or had experienced a panic attack after everything, which seemed crazy to me, but anyways…I just shrugged and said, “It takes a lot to rattle me while abroad. I think living in Nicaragua greatly heightened all normal reactions to stressful or scary stuff.” But, also? TIK and TIT, shit happens.

Now that I am in very rural Kenya (I am in the Western part of the country) food has been a struggle. I was already warned of this and brought literally over five pounds of food. Some people might think that is ridiculous, but I am a vegetarian and cannot eat a lot of foods. My coworker who has spent a considerable amount of time here during the past few years working on our project highly encouraged me to bring food, lol. Lunch was something called Ooogali (that is spelled phonetically, I have no idea how to spell it), which is like a cornmeal made into something resembling grainy mashed potatoes, without a lot of flavor, with a side of something I can’t remember the name of that was like a spongy flat bread type thing (the only thing I finished) and a green vegetable mixed with something my super taster mouth just couldn’t handle. I topped off my lunch with nuts I brought. The Ooogali is not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination, but not the worst thing I’ve had, the flat bread was pretty good and the greens were unbearable to my mouth. I am told I will eat this again, everyday. Yay!

As I write, it sounds like there is a monsoon happening outside! I haven’t heard rain like this since Nicaragua. Those instantaneous rainstorms that erupt in the tropics, love it. Kenya reminds me very much of Nicaragua, from its overall level of development, the countryside, and the very happy and welcoming people. It is making me miss it very much. 

Tomorrow we are all off to a place called the Kakamega forest to explore! It will be nice to see more of the countryside of Kenya.

Off to dinner…wish me luck!

Beautiful Bali

My journey to Bali was quite stressful, so as a result, I arrived just relived that I was actually here when I was supposed to be! I was immediately surprised at Bali’s overall level of development. It reminds me a lot of Central America, with many parts being very undeveloped and impoverished. Considering the amount of money Indonesia has (more than any Central American country), I was pretty surprised. Working in public health and having just come from Women Deliver, I kept wondering, what is the health system is like here? What about their indicators around maternal health, how many maternal or neonatal mortalities do they have here? I quickly tried to get into vacation mode and out of public health mode, but this mode seems to stay with me wherever I go! My driver from the hotel greeted me with water and an extremely cold and wet, aloe soaked towel. Heaven. Bali is HOT! And HUMID! Even more so than KL, and probably more than Central America. 

The 90 minute trip to the hotel in Ubud (Side note: Ubud is where Elizabeth Gilbert lived in Eat, Pray, Love, and where Julia Roberts goes in the movie) was entertaining. I swear we nearly ran over at least 100 motorcyclists and dogs, though my driver didn’t seem to bat an eye. We followed many a dump trucks full of garbage and random shit, with PEOPLE piled on top of them, completely open on the sides to falling on, you know, THE HIGHWAY! It was crazy. One guy was even asleep sitting on top of a pile of mattresses!

We arrived at the hotel and I was immediately in love. It is just gorgeous. Google Seran Indah hotel Ubud, if you are interested. I was welcomed with a ‘welcome drink’ and was told I could just pay in the morning since I was clearly tired. How nice! I made my way to my room, where another cold and aloe-soaked towel awaited me, and was treated to sounds of crickets, birds and other things along the way. This hotel is definitely a more ‘romantic’ place, mainly full of couples. My bed was made up with towel swans, flowers and netting. Example of romantic couple-dom stuff: The keys here all have key chains that say ‘his’ or ‘hers’. For whatever reason, I was given a HIS key! LMAO! Oh well. I got to my room and passed out. The extreme stress and Dramamine combo knocked me right out.

I awoke in the morning and headed for breakfast, which comes with the hotel. Seeing the grounds of the hotel in the light of day blew me away. This was also really my first time seeing Ubud, as I had arrived in the dark. Steps outside of my door are beautiful rice paddies that seemingly go on forever. The grounds are meticulously groomed and gorgeous. Breakfast consisted of made to order Balinese fried rice, roasted tomatoes, Balinese pineapple pancakes, and other assorted items. It was delicious! I have been blown away by the food both in KL and here in Bali. Yum, yum, yum!

After breakfast, I set off for town. My hotel is about a 25 minute walk from ‘downtown’ Ubud. I chose this location purposefully, as pictures of the grounds at the hotel lured me in. I am very glad I did. The little area I am staying in is very tranquil and relaxing. I made my way to town through the winding streets, and passed tons of MONKEYS! Monkeys monkeys everywhere! Baby monkeys, Mama monkeys, fat Grandpa monkeys, tons of monkeys! So freaking cute! I love monkeys; I could watch them for hours. I checked out a palace in Ubud and a few temples. Absolutely stunning and gorgeous. The intricate detailed work just blows my mind. I also found a Starbucks. Amidst the century old temples and houses, I found a Starbucks. I guess you just can’t escape them! I caved and got a frappuchino. The sun was beating down and I was tired. What is a Seattle girl to do?

After Starbucks, I spent some time shopping in the local market before heading back to the hotel. I have decided that Bali is going to take all of my money. The shopping here is fantastic! It is also really cheap. Beautiful carvings from wood or stone, colorful scarves and sarongs, gorgeous silver jewelry, and lots of great artwork.  

After shopping, I hit the pool at the hotel and enjoyed a book and a drink while waiting for my massage. I got a massage as a part of my ‘lover’s package’ haha. That was the actual name of the package I booked! The massage tent was poolside and only had a shear curtain surrounding it. Before the massage even started I wondered if I was going to undress there, if I would just wear my bathing suit, or how it would work. It turns out, she wanted me to undress, there, on the table, in plain view of the pool. I think she saw my discomfort and then instructed me to keep my ‘bathing suit underwear’ on and take the top off. I awkwardly removed my top without trying to expose myself, and just pretended I was European, rather than an uptight prude American, lol. After all, the pool was full of Europeans who wouldn’t blink at a topless woman by the pool. I enjoyed my massage to the sounds of fountains, birds and other jungle-y sounds.

After my massage, I headed back into town by way of the ‘Monkey Forest’. This is why there were so many monkeys everywhere. I spent a lot of time in the forest, taking pictures of the monos (the Spanish word for monkeys), and just enjoying them interact with each other. There were TONS of little babies strapped around their mamas. Monkeys (and all primates) are so human-like in their mannerisms. It just fascinates me to watch them. They ate potatoes, bananas and coconuts. They held pieces of food in between their toes for safe keeping from the other monkeys while eating pieces with their hands. They picked fleas and other assorted goodies off of each other and flung from one branch to the next. It really was a fun afternoon! After the monos, I shopped some more! It is hard to say no, lol.

I am often asked what were the best, or my most favorite places, I have been. My shortlist usually includes Amergris Caye, Belize; San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua; Barcelona, Spain; Lake Como, Italy; NYC; and Disneyland (yes, Disneyland). Bali will absolutely make that shortlist. This place is beautiful and serene. I’ve wanted to come here for as long as I have been traveling, but have never made it here because of the cost in getting here and the time involved. Thanks to work, both the cost and time were covered, and I knew when I found out that I was going to KL, that I would be going to Bali. It has definitely been one of those surreal moments, something you have imagined for as long as you can remember, finally happening. 

When I started researching Bali I found out there was whitewater rafting, and I knew immediately that I would be doing it! Kristina and I went whitewater rafting years back in Costa Rica and I was hooked! I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie, particularly when it comes to water activigties. Our rafting experience was a bit crazy (is that suprising?) but extremely fun and adrenaline-inducing! I was hoping for a repeat. I actually struggled for weeks beforehand finding any tour operator that would accept me as a solo traveler as part of a tour. It was very strange to me that no one seemed to be able to accommodate my single status. I have done a lot of travel alone in various parts of the world, and while I have always had varying reactions to my traveling alone (look for a blog on traveling alone soon), I’ve never been denied a tour or service of any kind. I finally found a tour company that would take me and booked the rafting for my second day in Ubud.

I woke bright and early to head out on my whitewater rafting adventure! The driver upon seeing my status (alone) inquired as to where ‘everyone’ was. Friends? Boyfriend? Family? No one? Nope…just me! “Oh, you so lonely!” LOL! This was a theme that was repeated all throughout the day and tour. I believe they were confusing lonely with alone. Or maybe they weren’t. When we got to the actual rafts, the guides were literally bewildered with what the hell to do with me (lonely me). You sit two per row in a boat, and it seemed I was the only solo rafter in nearly 100 people. Are you kidding me?!? There were other groups of individuals, surely there had to be an odd number of people somewhere! My guide kept a tight rein on me, continually making sure I was in his sight (he did this with no one else, I think because I was ‘lonely’). This humored me greatly. This might annoy the shit out of some people or cause them embarrassment, but I have spent far too much time traveling alone to let it even get to me anymore. The most hilarious thing of it all, was the vast majority of everyone I talked to had never been out of their respective countries before Bali (most were Australians)! And the guides were worried about Lonely Kimberly. HA! I kept being called: “LONELY GIRL WHERE ARE YOU?!” Whenever the guide lost track of me. I shit you not, ‘lonely girl’. When they finally found a raft for me (lonely girl sat on a row all to herself) they yelled, “LONELY GIRL, THIS IS YOUR RAFT!” People gave me pitiful looks throughout this ‘ordeal’ but I really couldn’t have cared less! All par for the course when you are one of those random people that travels and vacations alone! I’d much prefer to be there rafting (alone, but not lonely) then at home.

I knew from seeing the river that this rafting would NOT be like Costa Rica’s. The ‘rapids’ were none existent. It would be more like canoeing leisurely in a raft. Most people seemed relieved at this, I was super bummed! Rafting was indeed much like I thought it would be upon seeing the river; slow and lazy. Baby rapids on occasion. There were a few exhilarating moments, but altogether it wasn’t that great.  One of the only heart-pounding moments was when our guide took our raft and shoved us under a waterfall! I sort of assumed this was coming, it was done to us in Costa Rica as well. If you’ve never been directly under a waterfall, then you wouldn’t know how it feels. Being directly under a waterfall feels like a bunch of heavy shit is falling on you, and some people have a tendency to freak out. As I have no fear of the water, I was laughing hysterically. The only other two women (with their husbands) on the rafts cried. Maybe the guides should have been more worried about the non-lonely women…

After my disappointing rafting adventure, I spent my afternoon lounging at the pool, reading and just relaxing. It was another wonderful day in paradise!

For my last full day in Ubud, I decided to book a bike tour, even knowing there may be risk that I was ‘lonely’ the entire time. Before leaving, I had similarly tried to book a tour, to no avail due to my Lonely/Alone status. I gave up and ended up finding one FINALLY while in Ubud. The hotel called multiple places until one finally agreed to take Lonely Kimberly. It turned out to be me and a couple (Bali is full of couples on their honeymoons). Since it was just the three of us, the guide asked us if we would prefer a downhill tour (most tours drive you up to the top of the island and you bike down, so that essentially anyone can do the tour) or if we wanted an adventurous tour? We all agreed adventurous and that we could physically handle it as we were all individuals who work out on a regular basis. I wanted to do a bike tour to see the famous rice paddies. While I knew there would be some ‘adventure’ to it, I imagined I would be idly biking through the rice paddies, relaxed, breeze blowing through my hair.

It of course, did NOT happen like that.

I kind of forgot how hot Bali is when booking the tour. Even though we left in the morning, we were to ride through the hottest part of the day (that particular day neared 100 and nearly 100% humidity). The beginning of the bike ride was exactly as I imagined; we biked through verdant and beautiful rice paddies, stopping often for pictures. It was great to see the countryside outside of the city. The poverty was striking and omnipresent. After about an hour, the guide asked us if we would prefer the easy route or more adventurous from here on out. Let me tell you: If a Balinese cycling guide who is in unbelievable shape asks you whether to take the easy or adventurous route: TAKE THE FUCKING EASY ROUTE. We all agreed adventurous, we were excited!

That.was.a.mistake.

The next three hours of my life were with no question, the hardest thing I have ever physically done in my life. Hands down much harder than my triathlon. I wondered why our bikes had bigger tires than any bike I had ever seen. I soon found out. To traverse the rocky mountain hills we would be traversing up and down. And to later help us plow through 10 km of jungle 6-inch deep mud trails.

It was hot. No, it was fucking hot. Sun beating down on us, no cloud cover, no breeze. Instead of my hair blowing in the wind it was plastered to my forehead with sweat. We ran out of water around 1/3 of the way. It was almost 100 degrees!! You could literally see the sweat pouring off the lone guy (other than the guide) on this hellacious, I mean exciting, Balinese cycling adventure. 

We encountered mud that was impossible to pass through on the bikes. We had to dismount and walk them through the mud. And by walk, I mean push with all of your might and lean your entire bodyweight into them to move the pieces of shit, while ankle deep in mud. Imagine any movie you have seen about the Oregon Trail when those wagon guys are out pushing the wagon wheels through mud. Imagine that, except with me, pushing a bike, through the damn jungle. We all fell multiple times. The shittiest part about it that the only way through this nightmare was to keep going. There were no roads for a car to come rescue us. It was this or I sat in the jungle mud forever. We kept pushing on.

Eventually we left the jungle and muddy trails, and came to extremely rocky and treacherous looking trails. I started to panic a bit. I was already physically exhausted and I had no confidence about my riding skills on those rocks. Not only was the ‘trail’ rocky, it was BANKED! An intense mountain biker I am NOT! I had to walk much of this (as did everyone else) but fared better than I thought. After biking on the rocks for quite some time and starting to think I had the hang of it, the trail narrowed to around 4 inches, banked, full of huge rocks, with a water ditch/canal thing on the side, flanked by brick walls. I can’t even really describe the area which we were biking through, because I didn’t understand the purposes of this area.

Anyways. You get the picture. At one point, my tire slipped. I saw what was coming. I tried to regain my balance but as the trail was banked (and full of rocks) I continued to skid. I knew there was no regaining control of the bike. The only place I was headed was straight for the water ditch. I tried to slow my speed as much as possible to avoid a full on crazy ass collision with the brick wall and somehow, miracles upon miracles, I wedged myself PERFECTLY in the damn ditch. It was just slightly less wide then my bike tire and I angled it perfectly so I stopped in the ditch, with the ass end of the bike in the air, my head against the brick wall. There was no impact, I was completely unhurt. I was, however, fucking stuck as shit. I was literally on the bike, resting against the brick wall, head down, with the rear wheel of the bike in the air, defying physics and shit or something like that. The guide had to pull my bike out while I was still ON the bike (I still have no idea how he managed) and I simultaneously jumped. 

The couple after I was back on solid ground were like, “That was so scary! But also so cool! I wish we had gotten a picture, but it was too scary at the time!!” I too wish they had gotten a picture, LMAO! What an experience. I hope you get the visual, because I am sure I was a sight to be seen. Oh, and remember, I was covered in mud as well.

The rest of the journey seemed calm in comparison to the treacherous jungle and physics-defying biking. After we got back to the hotel I consumed a large adult beverage and jumped in the pool! I was so happy to be off the damned bike! The moral of this story is to never choose the ‘adventurous’ tour unless you are a legit, BMX mountain biker. If not, you may end up stuck in a ditch or Rambo style crawling your ass through mud, while pushing a bike. 

After some time relaxing by the pool and recharging my batteries and recovering from my unexpected extreme biking, I had the last activity I had planned in Ubud in the afternoon. While at Women Deliver, we had met a midwife, who in the childbirth world is quite ‘famous’. She started a birth center in Bali about 20 years ago and has become quite a vocal person for childbirth, maternal mortality and utilizing midwives. In 2011, she was named CNNs hero of the year. While I was in Korea and sort of floundering as to what I was going to with my life, I considered moving to Bali to apprentice with her to become a midwife. While I am very glad I didn’t choose that route (direct practice isn’t the route in maternal health that is right for me, I discovered as a Doula), I was still nonetheless to extremely excited to see the birth center as it is a place I have known about for years. When I remembered at the conference that the birth center was in Ubud and that I was going to Ubud in just a few days, I hoped I could go. I told the midwife I would be in Ubud and she invited me to come! Very exciting stuff for me.

Unfortunately Robin wasn’t at the birth center while I was there, she was out attending a delivery, but a midwife apprentice who I also met at Women Deliver was also there. She showed me around the birth center, explained how it works and we talked about how my organization I work for could potentially partner with them. It was a great few hours! Wonderful to see how midwife supported childbirth is conducted in another country. Seeing how birth is carried out in different places is always of interest to me, and it was really great to include this last-minute addition to my trip!

Ubud was one of the most relaxing times I have ever experienced while traveling. Even though it included a few stressful and physically exhausting times, for the most part I just sat back by the pool, read, drank fruity cocktails, spent my time wandering the town and enjoying paradise. It is every bit relaxing and beautiful as you imagine it to be if you are familiar with it. The people are some of the warmest and most welcoming and kind people I have ever encountered anywhere in the world. They have a genuine interest in getting to know you and talking to you and will go out of their way to help you when you appear to be lost or have a question. I highly recommend adding Bali, particularly Ubud, to your list of places to travel. It is absolutely worth the 25-30 hours it takes to travel to. Even though upfront the cost of the flights would be more expensive (and require a longer time commitment) than to a place like say, Hawaii, I think in the end you end up spending less money and having a nicer vacation due to Bali’s extremely low-prices. Don’t think a place like Bali is out of reach, look into it, you won’t be disappointed!

My last few days in Bali were spent in a beach town, Seminyak. I will always make time for the beach if there is one around. Spending the day at the beach is one of my absolutely favorite things to do in life; it is the easiest way for me to recharge my batteries. I only had two days, but intended to make the most of them. 

I spent my first afternoon on a private tour (only $55 for a 4 hour private tour!!) going around to a few area temples, another monkey forest and going to a site I really wanted to see: Tanah Lot. The other temples and the monkey forest were ok, but not anything I would write home about. In fact, this particularly monkey forest made me quite uncomfortable. It was a stark contrast to the monkey forest in Ubud, where the monkeys are clearly well fed and cared for, and have an entire jungle at their disposal. This monkey forest only had rice for the monkeys to eat and they looked skinny and were EXTRMELY aggressive. There were even cages around that were clearly used at times for the monkeys. After a few minutes I decided this place didn’t sit well with me and I asked to leave.

After the monkey forest we headed for Tanah Lot, via stopping to get me some bananas. I asked the guide if there was a place I could get some bananas, and he kindly obliged and made sure I got them! He even paid for part of them because I didn’t have small enough change (I of course later paid him back). Fruit grown in the tropics, and picked ripe, is a rare treat that I urge anyone to try if they are in a country near or along the equator. It is so much sweeter with an entirely different texture. I got an entire bunch of baby bananas (around 12) for less than $.30 cents! What a deal.

Everyone in Bali flocks to Tanah Lot to be there as the sun goes down. It is also a temple for Hindus, and is an important religious site. The site was as beautiful as it seemed in the pictures. While waiting for the sun to set, I found a pair of cute dogs, appearing to be mother and baby. There was a large group of Japanese students on a tour at Tanah Lot. They were all TERRIFIED of these two dogs (they were playing together) and kept getting up and moving away from them, some screaming. I had a bag of chips and started feeding the dogs. They were clearly pets, as they were well cared for and were wearing collars. The dogs of course LOVED the chips! The unexpected result, however, was that the entire huge group of students were in awe that I was feeding chips to these dogs that had caused such fear a few minutes ago in them. With each chip the dogs crunched down there was a wave of, “OOOOHHH AWWWW!!!” with tons of cameras flashing. I thought it was quite funny. This went on for a good ten minutes and the dogs and I became quite the celebrities for a short while.

I spent my very last day in Bali on the beach. I had been looking forward to some beach time for quite some time! The beaches were gorgeous and fairly deserted. I parked myself at a beach chair with an umbrella and spent 6 or 7 hours laying on the beach, jumping waves and getting fried. I didn’t think I would be out all day, and forgot to bring extra sunscreen with me. Woops! I had applied some at the hotel, but proceeded to get nice and toasty. 

Jumping waves and rolling in the surf is one of my favorite things to do at the beach. There were definitely waves here! Tons of surfers. I perfected my crazy wave jumping with my daily beach trips in Nicaragua while living there. At one point after coming back in one of the local surfers came up to me and was like, “I thought I was going to have to go out there and get you. You looked crazy out there, but you always popped back up.” LOL! I have literally no fear of water, which sometimes works against me in prompting me to do crazy shit in the water. I am still alive though!

I watched the sun go down on the beach and took lots of pictures. It was really a wonderful day, even though I got quite burned!

I will remember Bali as one of the most amazing weeks of my life. It was everything I had hoped it to be and everything I imagined it to be. Relaxing and chilling out in paradise isn’t a bad way to spend a week! I definitely needed it after all of the weeks and months leading up to the conference at work, which involved extremely long hours and large amounts of stress. 

After my relaxing week in Bali, I was gearing up for a typically Kimberly crazy travel itinerary. My plan was to leave Bali early Thursday morning, arrive in Singapore an hour later, see the city and do the same thing again in the morning. I had a late night flight on Friday from Singapore back to KL, where I would catch my flight to Dubai, and would include spending Friday night in the airport. Saturday would be spent flying to Dubai, and then having half a day there to explore the city, followed by leaving Sunday back to Seattle. What a crazy whirlwind couple of days I had planned! I foresaw the sleep deprivation and wondered why I chose to do this. Kristina explained to me before I left, “Because you’re Kimberly. And that’s what you do. You have to see as many countries as possible.”

Ahh, yes. That’s right. She knows me well. Stay tuned!