Farewell Bali! I will miss your beautiful people, wonderful warungs, carefully homemade offerings, statues and intricate detail you put into every piece of art you make. I will probably be okay without your roosters and geckos waking me up, taxi drivers pleading 'pleeassee' when you tell them 'no thank you', and market merchants grabbing your arms as you walk past them but am sure I have more of the same coming my way in the next 4 months. I'm pretty sure my anxiety will go down when I no longer have to ride shotgun on your crazy roads, but pretty certain there is no serenity like your gardens and rice paddies. Goodbye little baby asleep on mother's lap as she sits sidesaddle on the family mo-ped competing with six others to pass a big truck. Farewell to the two sweet nanas at my house- the one who always talked to me and wore blue and the other who had the most beautiful toothless smile and always wore purple. See ya later black sand beaches, volcanoes and cheeky monkies. You are what makes Bali the beautiful little island it is and are the things I will remember most.
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Been flying for close to an hour now and think I have about three more to go. Just got ripped off by the AirAsia ladies that charged me double when I gave them US dollars and they gave me back baht for my peanut butter crackers... Bad karma for them I hope. (Note to all those taking Asian discount airlines: they are cheap but charge for every little thing so pack some food. It's a 4 hour flight and they charge an absurd amount for any snack or drink.) Another fantastic experience about AirAsia that is new to me: they have been playing music since I first got on and I am pretty certain that every third song has been Michael Jackson. Bizarre. Sitting next to two Aussie teens that look like they belong in Boreal's or A51's park with their shaggy hair, tank jersies and flat brim hats. I'm also pretty certain someone is smoking a cigarette right now and I would be very interested to know if that's allowed. Other than that, just hanging about 30,000 ft in the air somewhere in Asia on the Asian version of Virgin airlines.
Spent my last day in Bali yesterday eating mangos till I thought I would vomit, talking to my family at the homestay- love them all- loading up on the last of my fave Ubud food- gado gado from Sen San and chocolate ice cream mousse from the juice bar- and trying (and failing) to haggle for a taxi ride to the airport. Found some guy to do it for a good price but when I was trying to give him directions to the homestay he was being really mean to me for not knowing the street names better. Got fed up, told him no deal and walked away... Fail.
My family ended up hooking me up with a driver named Yoyo who drove me for the same price. Though he gave me a guilt trip the whole time because he was giving me such a good deal that he wouldn't be making any money (a story you here every single time you are haggling for a better price). After a night of little sleep though, I just wasn't that concerned. It is amazing how little you spend when you are camped out in a town for a bit- it's the traveling days that drain your bank account. Between a 50.000 rupiah raise on the departure tax, the taxi, the overpriced snacks on your four hour flight over lunchtime and converting your money over, this day has cost me the same as three days of just exploring Ubud- and I haven't even checked into the hotel yet. Oh well... So it goes.
Met this cute little ball of sunshine girl, Katie, who has also been traveling around souteast Asia recently. She's from Laos, has been in Australia for the past ten years and is going to London for a two year work visa. Love meeting all these other world travelers!
It was sad to leave Bali and say goodbye to my cute little family, but it was hard to be too disappointed when I knew I was getting to meet up with Andy as soon as I left. After his long work trip to China being all engineer-ish and stuff, I think he is looking forward to a much-needed vacation as well! I get in around 3pm and Andy flies in around 11pm so will have some time to chill out in our air conditioned hotel (a rare luxury!) and catch up on some sleep... Think I had so much going through my head last night that I really didn't sleep more than 3 hours.
That's all for now. If your reading this, I'm safe and sound in Bangkok!
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