I am winding down my trip in the Philippines & after one night in Manila, I’m now headed off the grid to El Nido on Palawan Island for a few days & then doing this: http://taophilippines.com/sailing-tao-experience/ to take me island hopping for 5 days from El Nido, known for its beaches (likened to the now-overrun Boracay 20 years ago), to Coron, known for its diving. I cannot wait!! I’m going to spend another few days diving in Coron & then I’m off to Tokyo for a couple days before heading home to Chicago. There’s supposedly no electricity in El Nido from 6am-2pm daily & wifi is shit. I obviously won’t have anything on the boat for 5 days. Nacpan Beach in El Nido is ranked on several top 5-10 beach lists & just looks gorgeous on Google. The island of Palawan is called “the last frontier of the Philippines”. How dope is that!?! I think this is quite possibly the only thing that could make me excited to be leaving Vietnam & ending the trip.
Month: May 2016
Back to Vietnam… the country that stole my heart
I’ve had a wonderful time exploring all of these countries but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking, somewhat obsessively at times, for the last 2 months about getting back to Vietnam. I think it’s a combo of the people, the food & the variety of places the country has to offer. So I’m going to hit a couple spots I couldn’t squeeze in during the first 3+ weeks as well as one of my faves from round one.
As an aside… you know you’re traveling a lot when you run into 3 different couples & one solo traveler (the New Zealander from Mandalay) you’ve previously met in the Saigon airport. Three of the encounters happened in quick succession & all were venturing into Vietnam for the first time & wanted some travel advice. So I did introductions & held a sort of Vietnam travel info session at an airport coffee shop to help them plan their trips. They exchanged info in hopes of connecting later. I was going in a different direction but it was a pretty proud moment. Not gonna lie.
My first stop in Vietnam was the island of Phu Quoc, off the southern coast for some R&R on the beach for 4 days after my 1.5 week sprint through Myanmar. It was gorgeous. I had previously heard it was pretty well developed & a not-so-secret stop on the tourism circuit. Perhaps I would’ve thought that after enjoying those nearly deserted beaches on my previous jaunt north along Vietnam’s SE coast but certainly not after after having visited Bali recently. A very good indicator I was going to like it was the fact that I was the only non-local on the connecting flight from Saigon. So it’s still very much a domestic Vietnamese holiday destination. Generally, I’ve found that I really like those places. This was more of the same.
Second stop was Dalat, a city in the central highlands that provides a reprieve from the heat. While the rest of the country is sweltering, it tops out at 75 here & gets down to 69 at night. So I’m freezing of course since now I’m accustomed to 90+ degree weather. But I wanted to visit as I’ve heard lovely things. It’s nestled in the mountains with lakes & is a good spot for some serious trekking & adventure mountain biking. Since I ditched my tennis shoes in Bali in favor of some hippy pants, I didn’t come equipped with serious trekking gear & I wasn’t really feeling the land-based adventure sports, I instead focused on exploring the adorable city of Dalat. I couldn’t shake my laziness from Phu Quoc as I spent 2 full days wandering aimlessly & hopping from one quaint cafe w a great view to another, stopping to read a book & enjoy a smoothie/tea/coffee/beer. The city screams of French colonialism & there are delicious little French pastry shops everywhere that drew me in by selling macarons, my fave. Lazily touring the city, in addition to delicious meals out, was the gist of my time in Dalat & I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps I’ll be back one day & motivated to do the adventure stuff. It’s funny, other places (like KL especially) I’ve felt the need to rush through the city, knocking out all the major sites as I think subconsciously I figured I likely wouldn’t return. That is so not the case with anywhere in Vietnam. I don’t feel any pressure to knock things off someone’s supposed “top 10 things to see” list maybe bc I know deep down that I will definitely be back.
Saigon was my first repeat stop on this trip, deservedly so. It’s such a cool city. It was a welcoming feeling in a taxi headed to my hotel as I recognized landmarks & parks & intersections. Despite staying in the same area as last time, I discovered new charming areas of the city I had previously missed. I spent zero time at tourists sites. All I did was eat. And walked, wandering the city, discovering new neighborhoods, parks, cafes & pastry shops to work off the prior meal so I could look forward to the next. I had to enjoy as much of this food as possible. I had a lengthy list of restaurants to tick through as this Saigon-based couple I met 2+ months ago in Vietnam at Doc Let beach provided recommendations for the best local dining. Going off that list, I had incredible pho breakfasts (oh how I had missed those), great lunches at street food restos & perhaps the best meal of the trip so far at a lovely little hole-in-the-wall resto in a house on an alley that I never would’ve otherwise found. Absolutely delicious.
Inle Lake… a reprieve from the Myanmar heat
It was a balmy 90 degrees at Inle Lake, a large lake at 3,000 ft elevation surrounded by mountains, so it felt fantastic compared to the 100+ temps I’ve enjoyed in the rest of Myanmar. You can stay on the lake in luxury stilted houses but I read that it was real quiet & few options given no motors are allowed on the lake after 6pm. So I instead opted to stay in Nyaung Shwe, the biggest (yet still pretty small) city in the area. My lovely hotel was located right on the river leading to the lake so boats hired for the day to tour the lake pick up right at the hotel’s dock for only a 15-minute picturesque ride to the lake. Even after seeing the beautiful lake, I was very pleased w the decision bc I had several great options at night in town.
I did a full day lake tour & it was lovely but a whole lot of sun. I saw several little villages on winding inlets, stilted houses, floating gardens growing tomatoes & eggplant, a market, silversmith shop, lotus & silk weaving, a couple pagodas, etc. I took a long boat jetty which was noisy but somehow relaxing at the same time… the relaxing part was probably due more to the stunning, massive & sprawling Inle Lake bordered on both sides by mountain ranges. You could easily spend 3 days on the lake exploring it. I spent one.
At stop 2, it became obvious I was on a similar route as 2 girls in another boat. They were just a bit ahead of me so we’d always chat at the stops. At a combo cigarette rolling & lunch stop, they were seated already & hollered out to me to join them. So I had great company for lunch. The girls, from Spain & Poland, had recently completed a 10-day meditation retreat in Yangon, met there & became “fast friends”. I commented how funny it was they grew so close yet didn’t speak until the 1.5 weeks were up. I’m not sure that had previously occurred to them but they got a good chuckle. They were real sweet & both ending extended trips shortly. So we had a long lunch & then made plans to meet up later that night. I was thrilled at the idea of cool dinner companions & more convo! While I have really enjoyed traveling alone & constantly meeting new people, I obviously find myself alone quite a bit. Even when you meet new people, many interactions tend to be fleeting & surface level – you can get to know someone only so well in a couple days . I’ve found that more recently I’m especially enjoying companionship, even if temporary. While I can certainly be a loner & enjoy solo time, I find I’m missing meaningful social interactions with those I love. It’s a long drawn out way of saying that I’m missing you all very much (well, most of you anyways).
My 2nd full day there, I took a hotel trek mountain bike for a tour of the Inle lake area. I biked through Nyaung Shwe & then 1/4 around the largest portion of the lake, through villages, a forest reserve in the hills (good for the legs), coffee/snack stop, then flagged down a jetty driver & he loaded my bike & took me to the other side of the lake where I biked the last 1/4 through other villages & stopping briefly at a hot spring (it was still 90 degrees), before back to the hotel & town for a late lunch. It was about a 6-hour trip, so much fun & a nice perspective of the lake.
I then caught a tuk-tuk up to a vineyard in the mountains overlooking the lake. Supposedly one of the best spots in the area to watch the sun setting over the mountains beyond Inle lake. Had some wine & read my book while waiting for it & it did not disappoint. The sunset. The wine (sauv blanc) was decent but I was there for the sunset. I somehow ended up sitting next to a bunch of French wine snobs. At least that’s what I thought at first as one dude was dominating their conversation. I soon realized it was definitely one French wine snob accompanied by a random mix of others including one super posh guaranteed-American guy who proclaimed his best experience w foie gras was paired w Doritos. My eavesdropping was a dead giveaway after my audible shudder in response to this comment…oh well. I was rescued by an adorable couple, or at least a guy & girl who recently only met yet seemed like they’d be an adorable couple, as they joined my table to watch yet another gorgeous Myanmar sunset & engage in a really nice conversation. It was a wonderful evening & a great last night in Myanmar.
Route from river to lake
https://youtu.be/v10RasIvWEs
Interesting fisherman rowing technique
https://youtu.be/LjwouAwgZ18
Floating gardens
https://youtu.be/Mz1GtvOHQig
Swimming kids hamming it up
Bagan, Myanmar rivals Angkor
Bagan is known for its 2,000 ancient stone Buddhist temples remaining from past civilizations. By the time I reached Bagan, I was pretty templed out. But I’d heard & read such amazing things, I geared up for a big two days. My introduction was a 5am sunrise viewing atop a temple overlooking hundreds of other temples. My first taste of Bagan was simply stunning & just what I needed to get excited. During the day, I toured until about 12pm, stopped for lunch & then headed back to the hotel for a break from the sun, a rest & some pool time bc it was 108-110 degrees. I’ve never been in a hotter environment (including the Middle East) & Yangon & Mandalay’s scorching hot stone pagodas had nothing on Bagan.
I’d start again at 4pm when the heat starts to break & continue through sunset. I watched what I proclaimed to be the prettiest sunset I’d ever seen in my life atop a different temple w 3 funny German guys while overlooking hundreds of temples (again), the Ayeyarwaddy River & the mountains in the background…along w a red-bursting ridiculous setting sun. I know I’m one for superlatives & sometimes I tend to exaggerate a bit, but it really was spectacular. The Germans agreed w me on that & the fact that Bagan certainly rivals Angkor in Cambodia, which is currently the biggest tourist draw in all of SE Asia (for now). Angkor temples were generally bigger (although there are a handful at Bagan that would rival their size) but they are much more spread out so at most, you can see one other temple at the same time. Here in Bagan, the temples are clustered and literally everywhere you look, you can see several. So I think it rivals it in beauty but from a historical perspective, I’m sure it lags behind. While the ages are similar, it seems to me the Myanmar military government has taken some shortcuts in restoring the temples & also made some pretty blatant money grabs before losing power including laying down a golf course & luxury resort in the midst of the temples as well as erecting an eyesore viewing tower at a 10k kyat access charge (I’m unsure who would possibly pay to do this when there are stunning views atop many authentic temples but clearly uninformed tourists do so & line their pockets). This is all on top of a 25k kyat “archaeological” fee you pay upon arrival. I’m more than happy to pay this as long as the money is funneled to the purported cause. Oh well, I have hopes they’ll sort out these kinks under the new government.
The food in Bagan was the best yet in Myanmar which, in hindsight, didn’t really surprise me that much as Bagan is probably the number one tourist destination in Myanmar so the related industry is that much more developed. Gives me great hope for the rest of the country as it’s just a matter of time. I relied heavily on Trip Advisor recommendations for good local Burmese food restos & had quite a bit of success as I enjoyed some great curries & other local dishes at a few different spots within walking distance of my hotel. I’ve found, however, that the food, including the curries, tend to be sweet vs spicy. And I’m a girl who loves her spice. So while I found some good local food, it’s just not exactly to my taste. But no food poisoning yet. Knock on wood.
Mandalay, Myanmar is all about the people (& monks!)
If Yangon introduced me to the country, then Mandalay really introduced me to the people. I stayed double the time in Mandalay, the former Myanmar capital & supposed cultural heart of the country. The city is home to 1 million people & has a different feel to it than Yangon… smaller, dustier, motorbike-crazed & real sweet. The locals just openly stare at me wherever I go. I can’t really blame them. There’s very few other white people around & I think they’re newly thrilled to share their country w foreigners. Perhaps the blatant staring would make some feel awkward. I just flash them a big smile, say “hello” & throw ’em a Burmese greeting & they burst into a wide grin & giggles & if they know a lick of English, they immediately approach me for conversation. Hearing I’m from the US evokes an even wider grin & an “Obama. I love Obama. He’s visited Myanmar 2 times.” On a few occasions, I’ve even heard a twist… “Obama. Jordan” to which I tell them I live in Chicago & they are both from Chicago. Jaws agape. Each day I hired a taxi driver for the day to tour the city as the key sites are very spread out & it was 103 degrees. I’m typically pretty efficient viewing sites, in & out & on to the next as it’s just me at my own pace so there’s no lingering. My efficiency took a big hit in Mandalay. I was stopped everywhere I went, multiple times, by locals to chat & take photos. I think I posed in more photos than I took & I take a shitload of them. I go over big with females of most ages. I’m real popular w teenage & university age males. This includes my favorite men of the cloth. Myanmar monks are, BY FAR, my favorite. In my brief experience, I’ve found that in other countries, monks tend to keep to their own kind. You see monks interacting & hanging w other monks; you rarely see outsiders breaking into the inner circle. That is so not the case in Myanmar. These guys are super social, hanging w other non-monk-locals & even, dare I say, socializing w me. They approach me just the same, ask for photos & I in turn ask questions too (where they live? Are they in university? When’s the last time you ate today? Are you allowed to have girlfriends? Etc). The bravado they summoned to ask an initial question & request a photo typically fades quickly & they fall into awkward giggles. But there have been amazing exceptions.
Day one was spent in Mandalay proper visiting the sites including your standard pagodas, the old royal palace & Mandalay Hill, the highest point in the city reached by climbing 1,700+ stairs or a taxi up a switchback road (clearly I opted for the latter bc it was HOT). In a pagoda at the top of Mandalay Hill w a beautiful view of the city, I ran into a chick from New Zealand. I almost stopped dead in my tracks when I saw another solo female traveler & she did the same. We instantly came together & started talking about our trips & experiences & routes. I was going to call it a day before I saw her but then she invited me to do some additional stops at a tapestry shop & silk shop so we used my driver to do so. Found out she was still recovering from food poisoning courtesy of Myanmar food. She’s the 3rd person I’ve heard this from. You’d think that would make me cautious & perhaps take her up on her offer to hang out & eat boring rice & water that night. But no, I thanked her for the time & we exchanged info to hopefully meet up in Vietnam later, but despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, perhaps against my better judgment & most certainly rolling the dice, I was still going to dive into Myanmar cuisine. I never broadcast to you folks bc it’s my blog & not Amy’s & I didn’t want to speak for her but she did give me her blessing to reveal that she came down w a brutal case of food poisoning in Laos. It took her out of commission for a couple days & she almost considered skipping her flight to Cambodia. Thankfully she made it but was still in pretty bad shape. And the real interesting thing about it is that we ate the same goddam thing that night at dinner. Shared every little thing. So whatever sent her system into hysterics, I enjoyed both going down & thereafter. A similar experience has happened to Amy before so we agreed that perhaps she is super sensitive to something while I may have a stomach made of steel. I would’ve hoped teleportation would be my superhero power (although lately being an omni-linguist seems pretty dope too) but a steel stomach isn’t that bad I guess, as much as I like to eat. So bring on Myanmar cuisine I say (& fingers crossed). I gave it my best shot in Mandalay, after average-at-best food in Yangon, but restaurants were hard to come by & food was average. The new de facto president announced she’d oversee the construction of over 1,100 hotels in the next few years to boost tourism. I’m hoping restaurants will soon follow.
I spent day two touring 4 ancient cities surrounding Mandalay. Stops included yet more pagodas (closing in on my saturation level), another great hilltop viewpoint & a real special treat at a local monastery. This monastery allows visitors to enter & witness a ceremony & then a lunch procession. We are talking like 1,200 monks participating in this ceremony. A girl’s dream. Sunset was spent on a 200 year-old teak bridge, the longest in the world. I found a spot to take it in, took a seat & read but was often interrupted by fans wanting my photo. Haha.
Overall… I really enjoyed Mandalay but the people made the city.
A couple videos of Mandalay morning traffic rush
https://youtu.be/GGIQU0Gh3Jc
https://youtu.be/5zyfqwVYsW4
Video of monk ceremony
https://youtu.be/yxpZyPb2S14
Monks prepping rice for meal
Monk meal procession
Myanmar first impressions & Yangon
I flew into Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, well after sundown so it was a pretty dark drive into the city but I already really liked what I saw. The city was alive w locals outside in parks along the lake & jammed into casual street food restaurants eating, drinking, socializing & watching football. They just seemed to be chilling & enjoying their time. It seemed silly how noteworthy it was but then I remembered how most locals I’ve come across work nonstop & eat at home to save money so it was refreshing to see a ton of people out enjoying themselves. Very positive first impression & made me excited to explore the city of 7-8 million people. I didn’t realize it was quite so big. Now that I’ve seen the traffic, I believe it. In central Yangon, only police & government security are allowed motorbikes but that certainly doesn’t mean people walk & public transportation is non-existent. Everyone has cars & traffic is gridlocked at all hours of the day. The city could use some motorbikes to free up that gridlock.
As cabs are plentiful & bc it was nearly 100 Fahrenheit & it’s a massive city w massive tourists sites spread out, I just taxied from site to site. It had been awhile since I’ve played super tourist (maybe 3 weeks since KL) & far longer since I’d been watting/temple-ing/pagoda-ing but I was going to be back at it in Myanmar. Touring included visiting the biggest pagoda in the world which was just stunning & enormous w a lot of ground to cover outside. Out of respect for Buddha, shoes must come off prior to entering so walking barefoot around the complex in 100 degree heat on scorching hot marble kept me moving pretty quickly. Of course I picked the hottest month to visit. Perfect.
The market was lovely & unlike other cities, it seems to be frequented largely by locals as there just aren’t that many foreign tourists. I stumbled upon a couple seemingly serious bidding wars amongst crowds of 20+ women for what looked to be school uniforms. Lots of jewelry including locally mined jade & other gemstones as well as normal market fare including clothing & silk shops. One thing that stood out was the locals’ dress. Both men & women wear longyis, traditional Myanmar dress whereby a large piece of silk fabric is wrapped around their waist & worn as a long ankle-length skirt. Women’s styles seem to be nicely tailored w a zipper to take out the bulk while men wrap theirs a couple times & tie it off w a cool knot in the front. Young kids wear shorts but starting about 10 & up, they were longyis – men usually with a short sleeve collared shirt tucked into them. I gotta say, I think it looks pretty sharp & if I wasn’t traveling by backpack, I’d make room for that gorgeous piece of fabric and I’d certainly opt for the men’s version.
Prior to traveling to Myanmar, I was worried about access to cash. SE Asia in general is a cash-only marketplace weo flights of course & pre-booked hotels; although, you get a much better deal if you pay cash at hotels which is exactly what I did for 2 weeks in Koh Tao, & periodically since, after I had booked 3 initial nights. I’ve heard & read that Myanmar takes it to another level but actually getting access to cash is supposedly issue no 1. My Lonely Planet travel book, published less than 2 years ago, indicates the only way to get cash is to change crisp USD. I was real short on USD & certainly didn’t have any crisp bills. The other option they list was one single hotel in all of Yangon (& the country) that will give you an advance against your credit card for a measly 12% fee. No thanks. I’d met a couple travelers in the last month who have visited & picked their brains about highlights as well as this supposed cash issue. They both said there was an ATM at the Yangon airport but that was it for the country so get whatever cash you need there. Worries alleviated, I applied for a Visa & then booked my flights. The travelers exaggerated a bit bc upon arrival in Yangon, in addition to the ATM at the airport, where I maxed out my bank’s daily limit which seems to annoyingly fluctuate country-by-country, I also noted a couple other ATMs at banks while touring the city. But I was taking no chances as I maxed out my withdrawals on day two as well. You’d think Myanmar is super cheap bc the tourism floodgates haven’t yet opened, but I’ve found its actually the most expensive SE Asia mainland country (so excluding Malaysia & Bali, Indonesia) in which I’ve traveled so far & apparently that’s due to the current lack of competition which should solve itself in the next few years. So I took out a bunch of cash. The bummer? Imagine going to an ATM, pulling out $500 & the machine shoots out 75% of it in $4 bills & the remainder in $8 bills. I’m now carrying around a wallet that would rival Costanza. Good thing I don’t have to sit on it bc I don’t need any more back problems. But even beyond that, money is a funny thing here. When shopping at the market, they quote prices as $1 USD & treat 1,000 kyats the same even though I can exchange 1,000 kyats for $0.80 so you come out ahead if paying in local currency.
While I was worried about access to cash, I was somehow less worried about the ruling military dictatorship that’s been in power for over 50 years, refugee crises as recent as 2011 & per the State dept’s warnings, ongoing ethnic strife in the Southern coastal regions preventing me from traveling to what looks like the longest most amazing coastline bordering on the Bay of Bengal & the Andaman Sea (for my next trip). The good guys (actually a kick ass woman & former 20-yr political prisoner) dominated the general election in November & just officially took over in April, ending the rule of the military junta & word on the street is the military chief is cooperating with the ongoing transition. Good thing is I noticed no visible military presence that I was fully expecting as the military is still very powerful. But the city seems to be a vibrant, thriving place w local businesses doing well & people by far the nicest I’ve met on the trip.
Bottom line… I had a great time visiting Yangon & am thrilled w the feel of Myanmar but I’ve heard the good stuff is up north so I’m excited to keep moving.
Bali… Not just for honeymooners
I think a lot of people know people who’ve been to Bali for their honeymoon. Before visiting, I perhaps had a fear in the back of my head that it’d be me & a bunch of boring newly betrothed couples, but I’d heard great things & since I will most likely never take a honeymoon (sorry mom), I thought this was a great time to visit. I spent nearly 2 weeks exploring the island & it has a lot to offer beyond the beautiful beaches in the South it’s known for including a lush hilly interior region with lovely rice paddies & charming towns featuring hippy yogis, arts & crafts & temples as well as a Northeast coastal region dotted w picturesque fishing villages, 40+ dive sites, stunning views & few tourists. Oh yeah, & it has a TON of backpackers (so fun, social fellow travelers) who come to visit all of the above plus the great surfing. Thankfully.
First stop was Ubud in central Bali, 2 hours drive from airport. I stayed in a lovely private villa with pool overlooking a rice paddy, at a discount bc it was low season, that was a 15-minute beautiful walk into central Ubud, which I soon decided was a shoppers Mecca as it has a ton of local artisans & galleries/museums selling art, yoga gear, unique textiles, clothes, antiques & other goods. The fact that I’m traveling w a pack that I physically have to carry on my back makes it easier to refrain from overindulging when shopping but Ubud tested me. I did cut myself some slack & bought some hippy gear but still enforced my “one-in / one-out” rule & left a few things behind (who needs tennis shoes anyways?). So while it’s a charming area, it’s certainly overrun during the day w a crazy number of tourists. I think they take taxis here from the Southern beaches just for day trips. So there’s lots of traffic, autos, motorbike & foot, on tiny roads. When you’re at shops or restos, servers often ask if you’re staying in Ubud. They tend to react well if you say yes; you get a superior level of service at restaurants & often times further discounts at shops. That tells me locals have grown weary of the day-trippers as they really showed an appreciation for folks actually staying in Ubud. Once the day-trippers clear out in time to get all dolled up for some fine dining & dancing, the town slows down a bit & is much more relaxing. It’s a quiet place at night as places close down pretty early. So I’d have a nice quiet dinner & then stroll back to my villa & spend the night reading or doing trip research while listening to music & hopping in & out of my pool. Nice chill place but bc of the massive amounts of tourists that invade during the day, I sure was ready to go after day 3.
Second stop was Amed on the NE coast, a 3 hour drive from Ubud past tiered rice paddies & through the hills. Amed is a beautiful area dotted w little fishing villages featuring these cool boats called jukungs that are mini outrigger sailboats. I stayed in another beautiful place w villas on a hill overlooking the sea. Amed is known to have the best diving in Bali but few tourists so that was the plan & it delivered. My dive shop in Thailand recommended an Amed dive shop owned & operated by a former dive boat manager who was amazing & organized some cool dives where I saw a giant octopus (that we followed around for awhile), manta rays, a couple sharks (yes!!!), moray eels, etc & a cool wreck of a US ship sunk by a Japanese torpedo in WW2. I also was lucky enough to see perhaps the most beautiful view of the trip as I hopped on back of my dive pro’s motorbike & headed 30 minutes outside of Amed proper to a viewpoint on the Eastern-most point of Bali overlooking a gorgeous black sand/pebble beach lined w jukungs & the picturesque little island of Gili Selang. Stunning views.
Finally Nusa Dua, the last stop in Bali for some R&R on the beach, was a 3.5 hour drive south from Amed. I decided to skip Kuta & Seminyak… two of the most high profile spots on Bali & where everyone flocks for beaches, nightlife, etc. It’s supposedly crazy & real jammed w tourists so not quite my thing. Nusa Dua is a quieter beach locale featuring fancy resorts so I used my hotel points & it was more of the same relaxation, paddle board, kayak, reading time. While staying at luxury properties is nice, you find a certain kind of traveler – one who is relatively well off, on holiday & often still in work-mode so on email or calls while the wife, girlfriend or family is entertaining themselves on the beach. You also find the honeymooners. All of these folks are looking for total isolation both physically, as these fancy resorts are located on gorgeous remote beaches enticing you to just stay put all week long, & socially, as the guests are not looking to meet other people (& they’re also missing out on the best of Bali… these are the day-trippers if they dare to venture off their sun loungers). There aren’t too many people doing what I’m doing & staying at these joints. This clientele is very different from who you get when you stay at a mid-range place in the middle of the action. There you find fellow travelers on extended trips, often solo travelers, interested in meeting new people & who are generally in a very happy place in their life, thus inviting interesting conversation. So while I’ve used the luxury properties as a welcome break to really relax & enjoy the sea & do some trip-planning on good wifi, I strongly prefer the mid-range social hotels/guest houses as they’re a lot more fun.
Nusa Dua viewpoint from hike off my beach
amusemusings 