From Bangkok to Bali

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Bangkok and Bali

Bangkok

I arrived in Bangkok at 8:30. This gave me enough time to find a hotel, freshen up, and hit the town. I walked around aimlessly for a while just following the stream of shops by sukhumvit 19.

There is an endless line of shops selling a wide variety of items including: sex toys, hardcore porn, illegally copied movies, Viagra, weaponry, and typical touristy crap. On the side of the street is a wide selection of prostitues in all shapes and sizes. I couldn't help but feel sorry for these women and the men who were getting their attention.

After getting tired of these shops I went to an area called RCA. This is a place like Lodos in Denver or the Marina in San Francisco. It's a posh area with a series of nightclubs all playing top 40 dance music. Everyone is in trendy hip clothes and getting drunk from expensive drinks. It was interesting to see for a bit, but clearly had little else for me to experience than to see that these type of area exist all over the world.

I then went to bed to save energy for my second day in Bangkok.

In the morning I decided to check out some shopping, the Grand palace, and Big Buddha. The air in Bangkok is very polluted and has a particular smell to it that isn't entirely offensive, but certainly far from neutral. It was even more obvious to me having come from Tonsai beach.

The Grand Palace was closed off from tourists for a while so I booked a tuk tuk to take me around. Little did I know that agreeing to the cheap fare he mentioned had contractually obligate me to visit six jewelry and tailor shops for an hour. Pretending you are interested in jewelry and suits gets pretty old pretty fast, but the ride only cost me a dollar and I went pretty far.

I saw a temple and big buddha. Neither were particularly special, but I had little else to do for an hour. Eventually I made my way to the Grand Palace. The sights at Grand Palace were worth all the hassle.
The architecture is very unique. The colors and sparkles on each temple are quite amazing to see. The murals are very detailed and covered with what appears to be gold foil in certain places. The emerald Buddha sits on top an elaborate gold altar. Unfortunately they didn't allow pictures inside most of these areas.

After the adventure of the day I felt like a real Thai massage. After asking a few locals I arrived at a legit massage shop not far from my hotel. I explained that I wanted a deep hard massage. Shortly thereafter I was reminded to be careful what you ask for. The lady that gave me my massage led my upstairs to a nice room and began to really dig in.
She really let me have it! It was intense in all the right ways. Two hours and only Twenty dollars later I felt rejuvenated and ready for my trip to Bali.

I'd say that Bangkok wasn't the type of vacation for me. I'm glad I only spent a day there.

BALI

I arrived in Bali around 1 and made my way from the airport to Poppies Lane in Kuta. Even though Kuta is congested and touristy it is in a location close enough to all day trip sights. I settled in at Fat Yogi for only $23 per night.

My first two days were all spent in Kuta figuring out local prices and hanging out on the beach. Kuta is very touristy and the traffic is extremely congested. The locals all ride low powered motorcycles through the streets dangerously cutting around cars and people all the time. The lack of cross walks and seemingly all tragic laws makes it a rough place to be a pedestrian, but after a while you get tough and make it work.

While wandering around I found a local music shop. I just had to stop in to jam since I haven't touched an instrument in over four weeks. We ran through a few of my songs and it was fun to hear their inerpretation of them. I met two guys named Guntur and Okta at Kiky Shop. Guntur owns the shop and plays a mean djembe and Okta ended up being the best tour guide I could have asked for.

The next day I went surfing at Kuta reef with the guidance of Okta. The break is really far out and can only be accessed by boat. The reef break was about 6 feet and long. Unfortunately, long boards for 6' tall men are hard to find in Asia so I had to settle for a 7' 6'' board. I never managed to adjust to the board or the wave etiquette, but it was still fun to be out there. Once I was tired I waved to the boat and hitched a ride back to shore. Another passenger on the boat had a big chunk of reef in his arm and it didn't bother him in the least telling me that it's probably a more common issue than I realize.

The next day was a tour of Ubud, monkey forest, the volcano, and natural hot springs. Ubud is much more chilled out and has a plethora of wood carving shops. Monkey forest is exactly what you think it might be. Lush flora and about a hundred monkeys going wild surrounded by picture taking tourists. Monkeys are much more aggressive than I once believed. The often come right up and steal things as if they own them. One monkey stole my water bottle and I decided to just let it go. The monkeys in Uluwatu temple were even worse, but I'll get to then later.

The best part of the tour was seeing the volcano and going to the hot springs near it's base. With Okta as a guide I managed to make it inside a locals only hot spring. I felt very priviledged to be there.
I received a wonderful massage from two masseuses for only $11 usd. Lying in natural hot springs while getting a massage with a backdrop of a fishing lake and volcano was almost too much to take in. I firmly believe in this moment that I was the most relaxed Ive ever been in my life.

The night was spent on the beach with locals playing music and watching the sun go down. There is a college close by and a ton of adventurous local students mostly hailing from Finland, Sweden, Holland and Germany. We all drank together until 10pm and then we hit some local bars near the east side of Poppies II. We all had a lot of fun and got a little too drunk, but retired at 2 so things didn't get too messy at the clubs and to save energy for the next day.

The next day we went to sunur to kite surf. The wind gods failed me and, upon arrival, I was informed this is not the season for it. Instead I went parasailing. Parasailing was kind of like an innocent teenager's first sexual experience with a call girl. Absolutely amazing for a minute, but over so quickly it makes you wonder what you just paid so much for. After only 40 seconds in the air the $25 ride was over. Cool, but kind of a rip off if you ask me.

I decided to skip the other water sports since kite surfing and wind surfing weren't possible. Instead we rode Okta's motorcycle to Uluwatu temple. This temple lies on a cliff right on the west coast with crashing waves down below. There are lots of monkeys and butterflies in the area. These monkeys are by far the most aggressive I had encountered yet.

I witnessed a monkey run on a rail, jump on a man's back and steal his expensive prescription glasses right off of his head! Then the monkey ran on top of a building and tore them to pieces for no reason other than curiosity and possibly boredom. I tried to help by throwing a banana at the monkey, but when I picked up the banana another monkey showed his angry teeth at me from a close distance while steaming in my face. Needless to say that I then let nature run it's course and the man's $200 glasses were quickly destroyed.

The views at Uluwatu Temple are breathtaking. It's a very peaceful place and I found it easy to stare off the edge an contemplate the journey of this life and where I want it to take me.

After Uluwatu we went back to the beach and watched the sunset again. For locals in Kuta this is a daily routine. They do their day job, mostly consisiting of helping tourists in some way, then come together on the beach. The locals in Bali all seemed to have a tremendous amount of heart. I could actually feel my heart getting bigger surrounded by such live and openness in the people.

The locals tend to live on $300 per month and yet seem happier than the average Americans I've met. After lots of conversations I have surmised this is the case for two main reasons: they have very little and rely on happiness through community instead of assets or status and they have a much better sense of community and sharing from their youth than Americans ever experience. I feel we should all be grateful for what we have and put things in better perspective in America. Even amenities like hot running water and not worrying about food each month seem rare in most of the remote areas I have been in.

Be grateful for all that you have and know that millions of other people have almost nothing but are still extremely loving and happy. We all have a lot to learn from locals like these in Bali.

I decided to get my PADI advanced open water dive certification while I was in Bali and picked Tulamben because of it's clear waters and shipwreck dives. This turned out to be a great decision!

Tulamben is much more relaxed than Kuta and a beautiful place. I was told that it usually isn't so full of vegetation this time of year, but it had been an unusually rainy season. I met a guy from Malaysia named Wen and we got along really well. We ended up being dive buddies and roommate for three days.

The first day was spent diving at the wreck. It is right off shore and we all walked in the water to start the dive. It started like just another dive with coral and new fish. Then the ship came within visible distance. I actually shouted "whoa" into my regulator. It was one of the amazing sights I have ever seen. It felt as if I was experiencing the world with a renewed sens of childlike wonder. The bow was enormous and full of aquatic life. Swimming through the wreck made me feel like I had the power of flight. It was actually far too much sensory information to take in and overwhlemed me. Any divers who haven't seen a shipwreck absolutely need to check one out!!

After diving I returned to Kuta to do nothing but relax and pick up the Djembe I bought from Guntur and Okta. I went out one last time to party in Kuta. It's one hell of a party around Poppies II. I met up with a fellow American from Colorado to talk about the difference between Bali and the states. Everyone at the clubs was nice and outgoing. Again it's a shame people aren't this nice in their every day lives. Vacation and this environment just seems to make people happier and more loving.

After going to the beach a few more times to reflect on the trip I boarded a plane to start me on my long journey home. I will miss SouthEast Asia for many things: It's scenery, exciting adventures, the relaxed vibe, but mostly the open hearts of the locals. I will strive to be so open hearted in my every day life and hopefully succeed in some measure. I will also attempt to be more grateful for all that I have in life and stay positive in this life. This trip has been great for my soul. I know the transition back to American culture will be awkward for a while, but I do miss a lot about home. Goodbye Asia, it's been one hell of an amazing vacation 😊

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Photos

Locals only hot springs
Lucky me :)

Diving success!
I passed and I'm an Advanced Open Water Diver!