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.

The path leading to my Ubud private villa

There is an obvious penis obsession in Ubud. I would argue the entire world is a bit too obsessed & could do with some women in charge but nowhere has it been more obvious as there are penis-shaped & inspired tchotchkes for sale everywhere. At least these can be used to open bottles. I inquired about the obsession (of course I did) & apparently, they are symbols for good luck as in Hindu, the penis represents the supreme god (of course it does). I was told some men even wear these charms around their neck. I would argue perhaps they’re over-compensating for something but I still would’ve loved to see that.

… or “beer koozies” as we like to call them

Tiered rice paddies along the pretty drive from Ubud to Amed

View from the lookout of Gili Selang & the jukung lineup on the beach

Nusa Dua viewpoint from hike off my beach

https://youtu.be/5cOblroHy9k

For the Andaman Sea, skip Thailand & visit Langkawi, Malaysia

So while the Andaman Sea Thai islands were a bit overrun w tourists, all one needs to do is head a bit south to the Malaysian island of Langkawi. It’s actually 190 different islands but dominated by one main island as most are uninhabited. It’s real lovely & quiet. Datai Bay, on the main island & locale of my hotel, is listed as top 10 beaches in world by National Geographic & it’s the prettiest, widest, longest, nicest one I’ve seen yet. It also seems to have the most wildlife as monkeys are everywhere as are those damn monitor lizards, which I’m getting very accustomed to & don’t even bat an eye when I encounter them now. This rare, nearly endangered, flying monkey species called the colugo come out at night & I’ve been lucky enough to watch them fly from tree to tree over dinner. I spent the week relaxing, kayaking, paddle boarding, reading & treating myself to decent (but still Malaysian) food & a couple spa treatments. Real tough week.

It’s not everyday you have a sign on your patio door warning you to close it due to monkeys. Yes, they’re around.

This warning sign is on the other side of the path circling the pools. You’d think it was a joke but no, one was chillin 5 feet from me in the trees while I was laying in a sun lounger. It’s like they’re NBD anymore. I met guests who ran into 2 large wild boars the other night. After 7pm, brown bats begin dive bombing towards your head “inside” the open-air resort. And this is a 5-star luxury accommodation… or animal kingdom. It’s freaking wild. Literally.

My view from the best mani/pedi of my life. Sitting outside in open air w a great breeze, overlooking the Andaman Sea & monkeys w their babies playing in the trees. Pretty fabulous.

A good read on Cambodia

I just finished “Cambodia’s Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land” by Joel Brinkley, a Stanford journalism prof, former NY Times reporter/editor & Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for his work during fall of Khmer Rouge. It investigates the country & its people & how history has impacted the modern day state. You know, some light reading during my travels. Haha. I’m not going to lie, it’s a frustrating read at times & one that I had to periodically put down bc I was pretty disgusted w some of its revelations. But I kept coming back as it’s a fascinating read into the Cambodia culture & the current still-sickening state of its political environment. Even while visiting the country, I was unaware of some of the more recent history & this book really puts some things I saw into perspective. I would consider myself a relatively informed person & yet living in our shielded US-centric society, I was blissfully unaware of the sad state of affairs still plaguing today’s Cambodia. A few of you previously commented you wish you had learned more about it so I thought I’d recommend the read.

What, am I 12 again?

So the last few days of my Koh Tao diving, my right ear seemed to fill w water & subsequently refused to empty. I at first ignored the problem, innocently probed Anna for a solution when it wouldn’t go away (bottle of saline), & then remained silent & suffered, even with the onset of pain bc no chance in hell I was missing out on my last dives. I just found myself saying “what?” a lot when out w the crew at night bc it was clogged & I couldn’t hear for shit. I knew it was swimmers ear based on prior experience when I was 12 during Okoboji or Myrtle Beach family vacas (but I thankfully didn’t have it nearly as bad as Sar). I’m guessing it was somehow related to my ears equalizing while descending during diving as they aren’t accustomed to that bc I haven’t had swimmers ear in 25 years. I knew I had to take care of it in Malaysia & I also knew it was going to dampen my water activity level. I was now going to be the chick who refuses to get her hair wet in the sea/pool. I fg hate those lame chicks. But I figure it’s only 2 days & then I’m back to my old self… so says the medical assistant I saw who prescribed me drops, antibiotic & ibuprofen all for a whopping 30 ringgit (USD $7). Worth every penny.

Kuala Lumpur super tourist

I only planned limited time in KL, primarily bc I didn’t hear great reviews of the city, it’s only 115 years old & I wasn’t super psyched to see another typical big Asian city (hence why I ruled out Singapore, Tokyo, etc in favor of smaller less oft-traveled places). But I did want to visit some Malaysian islands & flight times from S Thailand were such that I was going to spend a night in KL anyways, so I extended it a bit to check out the city. Seemed like a waste otherwise. Due to the limited time, I played super tourist while in town in order to check off all of the key tourist sites. I figured out the underground & monorail system in short order so I could hop stops around the city & yet still spent hours upon hours walking the city. In 2 brief days, I had it figured out & decided I liked the city but the food left something to be desired. Fellow travelers had raved about Malaysian food but I think perhaps it was primarily due to the variety & availability of international cuisines as Malaysia is home to not only Malays, but also a significant number of Chinese & Indians (but that fails to explain the Red Lobster & Longhorn Steakhouse in the mega mall across the street). I of course tried the traditional curry laksa & it was good but traditional Malay restos were pretty hard to come by so I had to do some searching. Oh well. The city sites were impressive including the 60s-chic National Mosque, a cool Central Market & the jaw dropping Petronas Towers (tallest twin towers in the world & tallest overall building until 2004). I usually am not floored by skyscrapers but I found them to be even more gorgeous from the outside than their stunning views from the 41st floor skybridge & 86th floor lookout. The people were lovely & the hotel concierge, front desk & valets were very concerned about my enjoyment of the city & were quite helpful w directions & advice (they seemed a bit protective of single white female solo traveler & also impressed at my whirlwind tours). It felt nice being back in a Muslim country, first time since Turkey a few years back, as I forgot how much I loved hearing the mosques’ calls to worship throughout the day & as an early morning wake up call. Overall… pleasantly surprised & a totally worthwhile stopover.

KL in the morning light. The view to which I awoke each day. Not bad.

Craziest looking mosque I’ve ever seen. I loved it.

I walked around in 95+ degree weather in pants, a short sleeve black tee & toted a long scarf to be respectful of Muslim traditions & hopefully gain entrance to the mosque. What a waste. Unless you were wearing a full burkha, you had to don this costume. Pretty dope.

So turns out, I am totally obsessed w 60s style architecture, even in mosques. Apologize for overload.

This pic was taken on my stroll through the lovely Perdana Botanical Gardens. Immediately after this, I passed a sign asking that you refrain from feeding the monkeys. As I was laughing to myself at the thought of running into monkeys in downtown KL, I rounded the corner only to run face-to-face into, not a monkey, but a giant mf lizard (similar to pic I posted in Koh Pha Ngan) immediately in my path. It glanced at me, I froze & w a flick of its tongue, it scampered into the trees. Hysterical.

Famous Chinese temple. There’s some weird shit in there. Like painted statues of massively big breasted women & women w mustaches… both pretty atypical in my temple-touring experience. I did happen upon the temple at an opportune time as there was some sort of ceremony wherein painted naked men walked around only in waist towels lighting candles & incense everywhere while this crazy quartet band feverishly played oversized drums & bamboo horns. I felt pretty lucky.

Merdeka Square, locale of Malaysia’s independence from who else but GB.

Foreground is Merdeka Square but you can see KL Tower & Petronas Towers in background.

Farewell to Thailand

After 30 days in Southern Thailand, my visa is up & while I’m a bit bummed to be leaving, I’m super excited at what lies ahead. I’m very pleased w the time I spent there… less than a week on the Andaman Sea side & 3.5 weeks exploring the Gulf of Thailand islands Koh Pha Ngan & Koh Tao (I skipped the largest, Koh Samui, but to catch flights as it’s a bit touristy). Met great people on both islands & promised Bottle Beach & my Roctopus dive shop I’d be back at some point. I’m hopping a flight to Kuala Lumpur & going to do a relatively quick sprint through that city hitting the highlights before I head to a Malaysian island for some much needed luxury & pampering bc believe it or not, I was super busy, relatively speaking, on Koh Tao with all the diving so I’m in need of some R&R. I know, poor me.

Songkran

So I’m a lucky girl in that I get to celebrate 2 New Years this year. I must say, I do prefer it Thai style. The Thai celebrate their new year with water festivals, I’m guessing driven by the hot April temperatures, originated by people honoring their elders by spraying water on them and now (d)evolved into massive water gun/bucket fights. I had an inkling of what I was in for when my daily stop at 7-11 to buy a big water the day before Songkran revealed employees preparing by plastic-wrapping cash registers & electronic screens. It wasn’t even safe inside. That & the fact that everyone in town was selling massive water guns. Since I’d taken the plunge & signed up for my advanced diving course w the best (& coolest) dive shop on the island, I was graciously included in their Songkran festivities which involved “meeting at 10am at the beach wearing little more than a bikini with money for beers in a plastic bag & nothing more”. I was told “don’t even think about bringing your phone” so unfortunately, there’s no pictures documenting the mayhem so you’re going to have to take my word for it. Not long after it started, I was tossed into the pool by my advanced dive instructor, whom I just met (a dreamy tall Aussie). Every single person seemed armed & ready to take down innocent bystanders w a few pumps of their water gun or bucket tosses. I waited an hour & adopted an abandoned water gun for the day. It definitely brings out the kid in you. This is my kinda New Years celebration.

Diving… finally

I have wanted to learn how to dive for what seems like fucking ever. There have been several past vacations where the opportunity presented itself but my travel companions were uninterested so we opted for snorkeling. Which I love. No disparagement to the snorkeling population. But there’s just something about the idea of diving down to explore this different world & being totally reliant on a silly little aluminum air canister & related life sustaining accessories. I do love a rush. So traveling by myself to such insanely great dive locales including the island of Koh Tao that, despite its minuscule size, registers more divers worldwide than any other place given the numerous highly rated dive shops, it was a no-brainer to sign up to do my open water certification down to 20m. Given all the dive shops, Koh Tao is a highly competitive market, especially in the low season, so I got a great deal.
Clearly not a lot of pics taken as the dive boats are very wet little operations. The 2 Dutch girls in my course wanted to pay for a video of our final dives so while this isn’t something I’d typically do (reminded me of a boring wedding video no one ever rewatches), I joined the pool as it made it pretty cheap. I’ve already watched it twice as it highlights the fantastic marine life we saw that my niece & nephews will love.

All kitted up & headed to dive site so ready to dive upon arrival. A little different from our relaxing boating in Chicago.

Here’s the video link. Password is “scuba”. Warning… It’s a lot of cheese. Tell the kiddos I’m swimming right after Anna, my instructor, who is this badass gorgeous blonde-hair blue-eyed chick w an octopus tattoo arm sleeve from Sweden. We bonded. I loved it so much, I signed up to do the advanced open water course down to 30m. I am now, happily, a diver.

https://vimeo.com/162408469

My new German family in Bottle Beach

I had a rough plan to spend 3 nights in Bottle Beach. I ended up doubling that. I would’ve stayed longer but for the first time, I had actually made plans & signed up for a diving course on the smaller island of Koh Tao to the north. Plans. Oh well. I made the most of my time there. Bc it’s such a small place, many of the people who visit really become a little family. Well the cool people at least. There’s 3 other “resorts” on the island but people-in-the-know all ended up at my “resort’s” resto for the food, atmosphere & attention/entertainment of Babu & Ming (Babu’s mini me). The gatherings of those in-the-know people revealed that Bottle Beach just so happens to be a little German colony. Not really of course but those Germans sure are on the cutting edge of cheap, gorgeous, little-discovered gems as nearly everyone I met was from Germany. I ended up hanging for dinner, poker, beers & convo every night w a great group of 10 Germans ranging from two 22 year old girls who just finished a bartending school in Phuket to a 60 year old retiree who makes his home for 6 mos of the year in Turkey & travels the other 6 mos (he’d been at Bottle Beach for 4 weeks already). It was a fun bunch. My fave was a couple from Munich, Julia & Nils, ages 26 & 32, respectively. We talked Babu into leading a hike up to the cove’s viewpoint & also into planning a longboat tour for all of us (Babu included) of Koh Pan Ngan bc, believe it or not after 2+ weeks on the island, there were still coves & beaches I hadn’t seen. Hugs all around upon departure as well as an exchange of digits (now I’m on what’s app apparently courtesy of Julia) & a promise of visits (I have my fair share of places in Munich to crash while a hilarious tatted German named Sky & his gf (Julia deuce) may be crashing w me next summer in Chicago). The more the merrier I guess. Perhaps what I may miss most about Bottle Beach is the nightly domino matches Babu & I shared after dinner service wound down & it was just the regulars left. Not typical dominos – these were triangles & the dots
were multi-colored so it was quite a bit more difficult. He kindly offered me the game when I was leaving but I had to decline as I couldn’t afford the space in my pack, but I will definitely be seeking it out on Amazon when I return. Would be a great addition to lazy afternoons at Big Star.

Babu, who we kindly termed “jungle man” overlooking the view. I didn’t have the guts to walk along the peak to the farthest point of the viewpoint. No one did. But Babu kicked off his shoes & scampered across with my camera in hand to capture the view below.

I was trying to stay out of the frame as Babu took a pic of Julia but he is a troublemaker.

Thansadet beach… I’d stay here next time

Yes, that’s a rather large Komodo dragon out for a swim in still water near mangroves

Mae Head Beach & Koh Ma island… best snorkling on the island.

I found my paradise… rustic paradise, but paradise for sure

It took me 7 weeks to find it, & it was a bit of a tease, but I definitely found my paradise. I’ve been trying to come to Bottle Beach on the north side of Ko Pha Ngan for a good week but the “storm” that rolled into the island prevented it. The storm wasn’t a storm like we think about it bc it was still sunny & gorgeous, the winds just picked up quite a lot which prevented longboats from accessing a few beaches, one of which is Bottle Beach, only accessible by boat. So I slowly made my way around the island biding my time. Finally the waves subsided & I was given the go-ahead so I booked a bungalow.
It was a gorgeous 20 minute ride to Bottle Beach from Thong Nai Pan Yai beach along a rocky seaside cliff on one side & nothing but blue water on the other. Didn’t see another boat on the way there. Around a turn & this gorgeous white strip of sand emerges from the rocks in a little protected bay. It’s a pretty small beach lined w a whole lot of nothing but beach bungalows. I hopped out of the longboat in nearly waist-high water as the captain gently eased my backpack down to me & I thankfully avoided any dunking of the pack (& for the umpteenth time this trip, I was thankful to have a backpack vs an obnoxious roller suitcase).
Babu, the “hotel” manager, greeted me as I walked up the beach with a big hello & a blunt in his hand, that he put out & placed behind his ear. As if I had any doubts before, I was assured this was going to be an awfully chill place. We chatted, turns out he’s from Burma so I promised to pick his brain later about that, & he walked me to my bungalow with no check of a passport or any other formalities. It’s locked w a padlock & is as cute as can be. For $11 a night. I think I failed to mention that. And by cute, I mean cute in a very rustic way. The room is barely bigger than the bed w storage below for packs. The bathroom has a toilet, flushed by a pail of water from a bucket filled by a nearby spigot which also serves as the sink, & a shower (cold water naturally) that uses the same drain as the spigot. A serious mosquito net is provided which is fantastic given I’m definitely sleeping w the window open & fan blowing for airflow. There’s one white plastic chair for me on my porch & I acquiesced when Babu offered to hang a hammock for me. Haha. Love me some hammock time.
I hadn’t bothered to eat yet that day as I opted for a massage over lunch prior to the longboat, so I headed down to the restaurant for a salad to find the sweetest beach side restaurant w various shaded & sunny seating options. It’s combined w reception & includes a bar, a pool table, decent sound system & tunes, & a few staffers lingering & smoking. Up to this point, I hadn’t seen weed anywhere. I had smelled it a couple times while biking through cities but the guidebooks put the fear of God into you threatening 15+ years in prison for a minor mj offense if you can’t buy off the local authorities/Thai mafia & hinting there are undercover police lurking in tourists zones & working w the sellers to bust you. So that’s apparently not the case here. Haha
Babu sat down to chat w me while I ate a spicy seafood salad & enjoyed a couple Chang beers (beers here are USD $2 so no place is perfect but they have to make money somehow) & that’s when it really got good. We talked about life histories & what do you know? Babu tried to be a monk TWICE in Burma & couldn’t cut it so bailed. Is this for fucking real!?!?!?!!! He made it 7 days when he was 27 & 9 days when he was 29. Apparently there’s a lot of fasting involved. You are awakened at 5:45am w a gong, put on your robes & walk the city barefoot asking for alms (yep, I saw this in Laos), then you return to shower & prepare food, eat at 7am but no talking allowed, clean the kitchen for an hour, walk the city again, eat at 11am, clean & then no eating allowed again after noon. Every day. Buddhism doesn’t frown upon smoking as monks are allowed to smoke (cigarettes not ganja), so those Cambodian monks we saw smoking on holiday in Halong Bay were not in violation of their code, Amy. All Babu could do was smoke cigs until he again got to eat at 7am. Apparently he couldn’t cut it (twice) bc he was so goddam hungry & I told him perhaps he wasn’t meant to be a monk after all bc he now works in paradise, eats whenever he wants to & seems to enjoy the marijuana. He laughed & agreed & then proceeded to make me the sweetest little rose pinky ring made from 2 plastic straws folded & fused together w his lighter.
I’m in love w this place & it’s only been 3 hours.