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Published: June 18th 2010
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Angkor Wat
My One and only photo of this most wonder...hey at least i saw it with my own two eyes. Breakfast in Cambodia, lunch in Malaysia and Dinner with a friend from New York in Bali.
So my travels have landed me in paradise in Bali, Indonesia.
Sad to report that I have had to leave my Bostonian via LA friends Tim and Jaime who are now traveling alone again on their honeymoon in Vietnam, what is a honeymoon without a third wheel.
Cambodia was a bit of a blur. I know Angkor Wat is a place that people put on their bucket lists and I can technically say that I have been there but not really. Upon arrival in Siem Reap I experienced my first bout of stomach sickness which landed me in hospital at 3:30 AM (thanks to nurses Jaime and Tim). Nothing serious but the bill on that one, thank God for travelers insurance (I hope).
Jaime and Tim went out and explored the ancient city and reported back to me. I missed some great photos but the trek would have landed me in the hospital for good. I did manage to get up the nerve to try to see a sunrise which I lasted all of 30 minutes. But again I can say
Us at Ku de Ta
We couldn't get enough of this place...made us miss the girls. that I have been to Angkor Wat and I have A photo to prove it.
The next day I left to make my way to Bali to meet up with my good friend from NYC Leigh. After spending 4 hours in Kuala Lumpar airport I was ready for a pool and a properly made martini.
Leigh searched high and low for hotels and finally her friend from OZ came through with a super cute villa in the town Seminyak. The photos don’t do it justice. So we headed out to explore. We found an awesome lounge on the beach called Ku de Ta….with it’s panoramic view of the beach and the sunsets are what postcards are made from. Here I finally found my first martini in 2.5 months. It was of course 170,000 rupi ($17.00) but it was worth every penny. So needless to say my backpacking days were on a slight hold at least for the evening.
We spent the next couple of days with our new friends from Tony’s, Michael from Melbourne and DJ a local Balinese dancer (who was super sweet and had the BODY of a dancer, wowzer!!!). They along with the lovely
This is how Leigh spent her morning....
After seeing the ocean at low, low tide the night before we wondered, hmmmm.... and sure enough the next day Weather.bokser found this..... ladies of leisure from Sydney were our unofficial tour guides to all that must be seen and eaten in Seminyak. This included a great sushi restaurant, the local grocery store to stock up on the basis, Ke de Ta, and of course Mixwell which is the gayest of gay bars with some of the most beautiful male tranny’s doing Missy Elliott and Lady Gaga better than the originals, sadly we left our cameras at home for this one, dumb move on my part.
We took the next few days to explore the island via moto which is like riding a bike on the wrong side of a very narrow highway with no signs, no lights, no right of way for anyone and tons of toxic exhaust fumes, it was awesome. We finally ended up on a road that was closed to traffic, yes just me and Leigh on a highway ALONE…why you ask. Well the president was coming through and we being New Yorkers pushed our way through fully armed machine carrying security guards with the plight of “our hotel is that way” Tarmakasee (which is thank you in Bali)….they figured it was easier to let us pass then
I have no idea what to do with it any more....
This is all natural all the time.....no more creamy crack for me.... to explain how to go around.
After that we needed another jump in our fresh water pool and a massage. So after our poolside foot massages we headed to Body Works for a real rub down. Leigh got a cream bath for her mane of hair and I got a facial, once again all for the low, low price of $15USD.
So we then headed up North to start our Eat, Pray, Love adventure.
We are now in the most beautiful of villages called Ubud, the setting for Elizabeth Gilbert’s book. We went to see her medicine man yesterday Ketut Liyer, which is it seems is the thing to do if you are in your 30’s, single and secretly looking for your own Felipe. After reading some reviews we were prepared for what he might predict. We were right on the money. I am going to live to be a 100 years hold, I am very happy, I have lips like sugar, I am strong, I am a very LUCKY lady, I will have 2 to 3 babies….now which of these do you really think are TRUE. It was very cool to actually meet him he is a
OMG we are in Bali....
We were so stoked that our new found city was even better than the last....it just keep getting better and better and better. And the juices are, well there are no words. character who is cleaning up after all of the hype from the book complete with business cards and asking for a $20 donation. Our next stop on the tour will be to go and see Wayan the restaurant, medicine woman. We’ll report back on that encounter on the next entry. But again we have read up on her as well and the story seems to be about the same. I can’t imagine what it will be like here once the movie comes out.
On our next adventure we headed over to Monkey Forest to see the ever so cute but still wild Balinese Macaques. I bought a bunch of bananas which was immediately stolen by a 2 year old cleverly hiding next to the table, THEIF I yelled. He proceeded to sit in front of me all cute and innocent and eat away. The guide grab the other remaining bananas which I quickly put in my bag for safe keeping…BIG, HUGE…MISTAKE. We continued on the path meeting up with some Canadians girls who warned us about the Do’s and Don’t of the forest. Don’t tease them, the males are aggressive and bite, don’t hide any food and give them
Rice Terraces
Amazing agriculture architecture. space. After hearing this I removed the bananas from my bag as they also mentioned that the males are known for grabbing bags thinking there is food inside. After about minutes we continued on our way right into a large male who mistook my purse for a feeding bag. He grabbed it off my next and we proceeded to play tug of war with my purse. I was winning the fight until he bared his fangs and came after me. I then dropped my bag and started clapping at him to release it, that just pissed him off. He hissed at me again and started taking my bag over the wall to God knows where…one of the forest guides showed up with about 2 dozen bananas as a peace offering to release my bag. I then turned to Leigh to say “did you get that…do you get a picture?” and her reply was….” Are you freaking nuts I was praying and yelling for help and I didn’t get a damn picture”….we soon left the park both shaking and sweating with fear and swearing…”f*cking monkey took my bag….”
Our villa here is again NUTS, I know there is another more
He looks all cute and cuddly...
but damn thing 5 minutes later was stealing my bag... adult word for this most amazing place but I can’t think of one. I am sitting by the pool now as I write this and just taking in the sounds of the palm trees, the rolling river below and gazing out over the rice terraces. This is the one place that I wish all of my girls could be at. We would of course be kicked out of this quite oasis but it would be well worth it. We have made new friends of course Eli 13 and Julian 9 from Montana who are traveling with their parents for 3 months….both boys are adorable and we get along great as we all wear our diving masks in the pool, Leigh gets a kick out of watching the 3 adolescences in the pool hamming it up.
So we’ll be here for a few more days before heading even further south to the Gili Islands and maybe to Komodo island to see some real life dragons. It looks like Leigh will be joining me in Australia for a few months working on the Sydney Fashion Festival, funny how 2 weeks for her has turned into 3 months.
Ciao from paradise!
Our new paradise...
Leigh on the steps of our new backyard in Ubud, Bali. Jealous? yeah you should be!
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Abbe
non-member comment
OMG!
WOW ladies... This is quite the journey and I don't know if you can see me from there, but I look like the Green Lantern- because of my ENVY! LIVE IT UP and enjoy this experience. It is truly once in a lifetime and i wish I was on this journey with you both. Lei lei- I miss you. I went to call like a hundred times already and Nicole, I hope to see you again! xoxooxxo be safe ladies! xoxoxoxoxo from BROOKLYN