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Well Hello again!
Its been a while, but im sure by now you have all realized not to expect weekly updates..
Im sure you noticed in the location of this entry that i have now left Australia. Traveling to Indonesia was a surprisingly short journey. I arrived in Denpasar (Bali) late at night and made my way through customs. The Indonesian customs has been given a bad rep among travelers to be a long waiting pain to get though. but i was off the plane, obtained a visa, collected my luggage, went through customs and was standing out side at the taxi stand in 15 mins. so for that reason i cant agree with anything i have heard negative about it.
Bali is still struggling to get back on its feet, after the horrible bombings that occurred here a while back. Driving to Kuta beach from the airport the tourists seemed to outnumber the locals. I found a room without to much trouble (while reminding myself to off load a couple kg from my backpack...) set my bag in the room and went for a wander. the streets were buzzing, the bars over flowing, i
found myself a safe haven, and internet cafe to let everyone back home i had made it here safely.
I went back to my room after emailing mum and checking out a couple websites on Bali tourism. Fell asleep very quickly only to awake in a slight panic. It was the strangest most haunting feeling because my first thought was that i was back in India, the room scarcely the same as those i spent months in 2 years ago. Just as soon as i panicked i obviously gained composure and was excited to scope out the city.
Later that afternoon i packed my bags and got a taksi (thats how they spell taxi here) and headed up to Candi dasa (pronounced Chandi deesa). its a very quiet town off the backpacker path and i found a room with an ocean view and a beautiful garden. spent 4 nights there enjoying the peace and quiet, one day hiring a driver to take me around to see the sites in the area. 2 Hindu temples (the island is 90% Hindu) and a "white sand beach" which had black sand (go figure), i enjoyed sitting in the back
of his car and peering out the window at the villages set into the base of volcanoes and the never ending forests of palm trees over any of our destinations..
When it was time to leave Candi dasa i headed to Ubud. Its a small town in inland Bali that is absolutely beautiful. i found a great room that included an amazing breakfast and only had 3 rooms. the family that ran the guesthouse were amazingly friendly. one afternoon i came home to find one of the daughters working on homework and asking me for help with the English portion...i loved living with them.
i spent 5 days in Ubud. most of those wandering the city eating amazing Indonesian food, writing in my journal and reading a new novel i picked up. Ubud has a famous monkey forest at the end of the main street, Monkey Forest Rd (surprisingly). It was strange to me because i hadn't seen one monkey in Bali yet but as soon as you enter the forest they are everywhere. People feeding them bananas by hand and looking at all the ancient rock temples hidden amongst extremely old fig trees... the baby
monkeys were very cute in a alien sort of way....
Ubud is known for its shopping, the Monkey forest and its wood carving. In particular there is one street that leads out of the town with about 300 + workshops of wood carvers, carving anything and EVERYTHING. I would have loved to have bought something, but its would be much to hard to carry around with me for the next couple months...
My last full day in Ubud i went on another adventure up to the largest volcano and to another couple Hindu temples. On the way we stopped in a local town to see them growing rice on what is known famously in the area as the rice terrace. it was breath taking. 2 sides of a very large canyon completely lush with bright green rice paddies in an endless shelf like arrangement.
Came back to Kuta 3 days ago now. Its an extremely busy city filled with surfers and tourists. the room i am staying in is only about 5 mins from the most amazing beach i have ever seen (sorry Australia) and its always packed with sun tanners and yep, surfers.... 😊 I
have spent the last 3 days on the beach and wandering the city getting the darkest tan i have ever had.... today is a day out of the sun, getting things done, this blog entry, a trip to the chemist and sending a package home...
I wish i could say that this entry will be accompanied with photos but the internet is just to slow here and i would be sitting here for hours waiting for them to upload. so they will have to wait until im in Thailand, only 2 days now!!!
Thinking about all of you a lot this week. Feeling like it has been a long time since i was in my own bed, having coffee with my mum in the morning or meeting my friends at East is east for lunch..... I hope all is well with everyone, i would love to hear from you....
danicavp2@gmail.com
love. love. love.
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Pam
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so crazy that you mention east is east....charisse and i just went there for dinner a couple days ago. the last time i was there was with you and avneet before my first tattoo session. crazy! can't wait to see the photos, love ya!