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!
