Bali is a land of honeymooners, expat surfers, and those on the verge of a life crisis seeking to find truth through coconut drinks and heavy meditation. I, obviously, am the latter although I am hoping to transform myself into a happy go lucky surfer over the next few weeks.
I originally booked my trip to participate in a women's surf-yoga-spa retreat in the southern beach of Seminyak. However, after a breakup, job resignation, and turning 30, I decided that i needed a bit more time for adventure. Thus I find myself in Ubud, the island's cultural center, land of woodworking, monkey forests, and amazing Indonesian cuisine.
Rather that give a paragraph by paragraph account of my stay to date, I thought I'd put my consultant skills to use and provide you the highlights in numerical bullet points.
Bali Observations
1. Bali is full of shining happy people. The Balinese are some of the friendliest and funniest people i have met. Okay, okay, perhaps they just want our money, but their nature is so warm no one really minds any hidden agenda. My first night I arrived in Legion (a beach town) and made friends instantly. I even received a new first name--Putu which means 'First'. The Balinese have a simple naming structure--One, Two, Three Four, in the order of the birth. If there is a fifth child, they start the cycle all voer again with "One." I am the first in my Family, so known as Putu or Put as my new friends call me.
2. Monkeys are aggressive. And they shriek. In the Monkey forest of Ubud the monkeys are so well fed they will attack any tourist that looks like he/she may have a banana somewhere. And that was not a sexual reference--they will crawl all over you hoping to find a banana in even the gap between your sneaker and sock. I met some tourists with a particularly negative monkey experience and now they are deathly afraid to go within 20 feet of them. This is difficult to do in Bali--monkeys are practically common citizens.
3. Bali is a mecca for the adventure traveler. Despite popular belief that all there is to do in Bali is lay by the beach, the island hosts a multitude of experiences from elephant riding to rice paddy cycling to volcano trekking at dawn.
4. Volcano trekking at dawn is a painful experience. This morning I woke up at 2.30am to hop into a 3am shuttle to take me and three other hikers to Mt Batar. For some reason, everytime I do a volcano trek in a foreign land at some ungodly hour, I am accompanied by French women. Seriously, the notion that all they do is dress elegant and eat croissants is all wrong. At 4 am when we arrived at the volcano base for the ascent I tried my best to impress them with my language skills I use on other unsuspecting French hikers. However all I could mutter between steep steps was "Je suis bouree" which means 'I am drunk." I couldn't remember the phrase for 'i am so tired I am going to fall face first in the mud and never get up." Hopefully they understood. After 2 hours of hiking in pitch dark, one hour of waiting at the top in the freezing cold for the sun to come up, it finally hit 6.30am and a bright light appeared. It was glorious. Like the Hindu gods themselves were welcoming us to their land. Pink and orange filled the sky and illuminated the crater, small farms, and seashore below. Unfortunately, the fog rolled in after 2.5 minutes and we could see nothing for the next hour while our tour guides tried to make us feel better with food. Little chance. We were served damp banana sandwiches on wonder bread for breakfast. Not really a good choice as monkeys came out from the hills and the crater itself to shriek at us and demand banana bits.
5. Bali is the fountain of youth. Perhaps I have turned into a shiny happy person myself because everyone thinks I am 20 years old. Lovely. They say smiling causes wrinkles, but my face is much smoother as a result of non stop grinning.
6. Two weeks is not enough time to enjoy all Bali offers. How am I going to choose between a cooking class here in Ubud or returning to Legion to meet up with a French Canadian with whom I have a standing bartering competition with? (ex. who can get the carved mask for the cheapest...I think he doesn't stand a chance to my haggling skills but I did cave in the markets today and spent a fortune for an umbrella due to a sudden downpour. Damn the laws of supply and demand). And damn the rain---its been pouring for three hours now.
All the bullets for now--off to yoga. I'll let you know if downward dog is any different in this part of the world......
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