Reflections

Day 302
I was up before 3 am and quickly finished packing. It was much easier to get a cab than I thought it would be. In no time I was at the airport. It was still closed but there were a lot of people around. It looked like most of them had come straight from the bar. When I did get on the flight I fell asleep instantly.

The last 29 days in Indonesia have been some of the best in my trip. Well, all except for the jungle mishap. The only reason I even did the trip was because I was a bit nervous about being on my own. I just didn't want to say it at the time. Indonesia is a place that I will definitely be returning to in the future.

The worst part of Indonesia was the garbage. No one recycles let alone uses a bin. It makes some of the most beautiful sites lose their appeal. I did find out that several NGO's are working on that so hopefully that will change in the future.

The best part was the people. They were friendly and chatty and over all just nice people. I did get a few odd questions though, one guy asked if Obama was the only black man in the US, another if everyone looks like me there.

I woke up when the plane touched down. Immigration back to Malaysia was a breeze and in no time I was at my hostel. As soon as my stuff was in the room I headed to the Thai Embassy. Since I arrived in Asia Thailand has changed it's visa rules. It used to be that you received 30 days upon arrival, now it is just 15. I'm just too tired after rushing around Indonesia to do it again. Getting a visa for Thailand will give me plenty of time to see the country. Unfortunately I got there just as the embassy was closing. A guy offered to sneak me in for 30 ringget but then he pulled the necessary paperwork out of his trunk. This felt really sketchy and I decided to just wait until the next day.

Afterwards I went back to my hotel and spent some time on the internet. When I got bored I headed to the mall for a movie. I don't like KL and I did all the things I had wanted to see here on my first trip through. This is really just killing time time.

When the movies were over I headed back and after showering I went up to the rooftop bar at the hostel. Not much was going on and soon I just went to sleep.

Out of Time

Day 301
It was time for me to head back to Kuta, this was my last day in Indonesia. Once I was packed I checked out and took my scariest motorbike ride yet to the bus station. In no time I was back in Kuta.

I went back to the same hotel I had been to before. After dumping my things I headed to the beach to repeat my days of doing nothing. When I was tired with that I picked up some food and headed to my room to watch bootlegs for the rest of the night. This was not the most interesting way to finish my time in Indonesia, but I had fun doing it!

Hey, It's my Birthday!

Day 298

I could have continued doing nothing for another week, however my Indonesian visa was ticking away and I knew that there were some things I would be unhappy to miss. It was time to go. My biggest hesitation was that it was my birthday and I was headed to a place with no nightlife. The day time sites won out and at 9 am I was on a bus to Ubud.

Once in Ubud it took me about 5 minutes to find a place to stay. The price was right and was actually just as attractive as it was in the pictures. The only problem was there there wasn't a tv and I had more bootlegs to watch.

I spent the afternoon checking out the town. It was very small but there were loads of temples and a rather dirty fountain. Everything was surronded by rice paddies. There were offerings by the dozens outside each building. I learned later on that these were to keep the local volcano from erupting. Some rather cute monkeys had gotten into some of them. During my wanderings I also managed to book a tour for the next day and get a facial.

For diner that night I had crab cakes and a steak sandwich. It was pretty yummy. The best part of the day was talking to my parents. I've grown used to homesickness and missing everyone in the same way you get used to any daily annoyance. Homesickness is annoying, not the people, just to be clear. The holidays (I consider my birthday a holiday) have been a bit tougher and the emails from friends and chatting with my parents really helped.

After a bit more time on the internet I headed back to my hotel. There wasn't really anywhere else to go. This wasn't the best birthday ever, but it was a hell of a lot better than last years and I'm sure that the next one will be even better!

The Art of Nothing

January 1 and 2, 2009
Days 296 and 297
The next two days were spent basically the same way.

After sleeping in I went to find breakfast and ran into Austin from Yogo. He told me that he was leaving that evening (both times). When breakfast was over I went for a massage (different place) and bought some bootleg dvd's. I then dropped everything off at my hotel and headed for the beach.

The beach was only about 5 mintues away. I would intermentanly lay out and get in the water. When I grew hot/tired/bored I went to the 7-11 to get food for the evening. Back at my hotel I would wash the sea away and the spend the rest of the evening I watched tv. This was do nothing heaven!

Happy New Year!

Day 295

Owen, the Enlgish guy, had an early boat and said goodbye early. I was glad to have the room to myself. I was really tired though and couldn't even be bothered to wake up for my free breakfast.

When I did get up I went for breakfast at a place that served Western food. I also went for a massage. There are spas every three feet here and an hours massage is only about $5 and very affordable. I was slightly weirded out though when I realized that the woman giving me a massage had an awful lot of facial hair. It wasn't a woman.

When my massage was over I spend a few hours just wandering around and checking out the town. I saw the bomb memorial and lots of decorated alters and even bought some sovieners. When I went back to my hotel I rented a dvd player and some dvds from my hotel to kill the time until midnight. While I was walking back a little kid had some sort of claw mask toy and chased me with it until he managed to pinch my butt. His family members looked embarassed but I just laughed and took his picture with it.

Around 9 pm I decided to heard out. It was New Years after all. At the first bar I went to I met some nices Aussies. I ended up sending the rest of the evening with them. For midnight we headed out to the main square. There were some fireworks but it was all rather anti climatic for what I had expected. After midnight everyone went to a club but it wasn't really my scene so I headed back to my hotel to sleep. I couldn't believe that it was 2009, where in the world did 2008 go?

Before Sunrise

Day 294

My alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 3:30 am. Quickly I had myself dressed in the warmest clothes I owned and was ready to leave. After about a 30 minute drive through invisible terrain we parked and walked the last ten minutes or so to the top. I managed to get myself a good spot at the railing when someone randomly walked away.

A first light I began taking picture after picture. I figured the more I took the higher chance I would have of getting something really nice. In less than 30 minutes I took over 100 pictures. Digital cameras are the best. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Once the sun was up I tried to wait for the other people in my group, but every two seconds I was being asked to pose for a photo. 5 am is not my most photogenic time and eventually I just went down anyway to get away. I hadn't paid any attention to where the jeep was or what it looked liked. When I got to the end of the cars I hadn't recognized anyone and stood there for some time. I got bored after a while and I was really very cold. I walked back up a bit and quickly found the group that I was with.

I hadn't know it when I booked the tour but on the way back down we had a chance to climb up one of the craters. This is definitely a must do before breakfast. For about $6 you could ride a horse, but you would be lead by some guy and the horses looked really skinny, I just couldn't put money towards that. Due to this I walked. I really have no idea how I did this. I was tired and hungry and the terrain was a bit rough. The stairs were a bit thin and despite the fact that they were clearly divided into up and down lanes people were in the wrong one and getting angry when they couldn't get through. Up top the smell of sulfur made it hard to breath but the view was fantastic.

After everyone had eaten breakfast and paced we went back down the mountain. The driver had been in a horrible mood the day before but this somehow changed and he stopped on the way down for photo ops.

When I had booked these transfers I was told that I would be in an 8 seater van. The first part was and I was a bit surprized to see that the second part would be done by a big bus. The bus was about 1.5 hours late and when it did show up they had over sold it and I didn't have a seat. The bus was also beyond packed with five seats instead of the normal 4 seats in each row. After much discussion they decided to have a woman who wasn't going very far take a cab and for me to take her seat. These seats must have been made for 3 feet tall 50 pound pygmies. There is just no way a typical adult is meant to fit. The only saving grace was that I was so tired I could have slept through anything. I didn't wake until 3 hours into the trip when we stopped for food.

After a few hours it began to pour. I felt really bad for the people on motor bikes and push bikes, but even worse for the lateness of the bus. The rain had stopped by the time we reached the ferry. It was nice to have some space to myself. I fell asleep right away. After the ferry I opted to stay on to Despensar. I was a bit surprised and miffed when everyone got cabs to Ubud. I had wanted to share, but no one was going to Kuta.

Several of the cab drivers refused to take me to Kuta, they told me that all of the hotels were full. I refused to believe this and after some persistence found a guy who didn't rip me off too much. After wandering for about 30 minutes I was finding that all of the hotels were full. It was about 1 am when I met up with an English guy also looking for a room. We began to look together and eventually found a couple of Aussies to search with. We got lucky and managed to find two rooms, but I was sharing with the English guy. It sure beat being on the streets though.

The four of us decided to grab a beer and we walked out to the main street. On the way we ran into a couple who had a hold on one of our rooms but was late in claiming it. I felt a bit bad, but there were two of them and there is only one of me. If I get stuck for a night that would be really bad. The main street was a mess of prostitutes, drunks and beggars. I hadn't seen many adults or children begging in all of Indonesia and this really surprised me. At the second bar the bartender refused to give me my change and night stopped being fun. I went back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.