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!