Home Sweet (?) Home

After almost 3 months of continuous traveling (Ottawa, Cuba, Montreal and Bali) I've finally made my way home. It's definitely a bittersweet experience. I'm very happy to be home and sleep in my own bed, and see family/friends again but sad at the same time to leave Bali. I had such an amazing experience there that it's almost feels like a let-down to be back in Vancouver. I know I'm probably suffering from post-vacation syndrome so the plan is to let things settle down...

Jakarta adventure...

On Wednesday, we left beautiful Bali and headed to Jakarta for a few days. Ever since I started planning my Bali adventure, I've wanted to go to Jakarta to explore the city so I was pretty excited to be able to fit in a trip before I went home. My thoughts? Read on..

We landed Wednesday night and met up with Rollan's dad for Kwetiaw Sapi - a beef noodle dish that is covered in a glue-like gravy. It tasted alright but all I could think of was that I was eating something that's similar to the goo that covers an alien as it bursts out of a human stomach. Ugh.

I quickly learned that Jakarta is quite known for a handful of things - malls and traffic jams being a couple of them. There are approximately 100+ malls in Jkt - everything from your super high-end shopping cities (literally) to your rinky-dinky Chinatown building. On our first day (Thurs), we hit up 2 of the larger malls - Grand Indonesia and Plaza Indonesia. Geeeze, the level of luxury in these places is ridiculous - more suited to a high end hotel than a shopping center! Over the remainder of the trip, we probably visited another 4 malls? Sigh - no more malls! And, no more traffic! I thought traffic in Bali was bad - boy was I wrong. One day, we sat in traffic for more than 4 hours!!! And that's normal! Yikes, thanks but no thanks.

@ GI

3 lane bumper to bumper traffic. Nbd

One of the more popular food dishes in Jkt is bakmi - a thick, ropey like noodle that is tossed in a secret (delicious) oil sauce and served with a side of clear broth. It was very good but we pretty much ate only that our entire trip - it's good, but not that good. And it wasn't just one place that we kept coming back to either. We ate it in a variety of places - from your chain restaurant, to a stall on the side of a street next to a sewage ditch to a tiny warung with cockroaches running around on the tables. I think I'm noodled out.


Rol, his dad and I headed out to Taman Mini one day. Taman Mini is basically an amusement park of sorts that features the architecture and culture of all the different provinces in Indonesia. And it wasn't just each province that had it's own little plot of land - the different regions within the provinces were able to showcase their culture as well. I'm glad I was able to experience a tiny snapshot of all the different place Indonesia has to offer - must come back and explore some of these cultures more fully!

@ West Sumatra (Sumatera)

Cool ladder @ East Kalimantan

Most of the buildings are built on stilts so the tigers couldn't eat the people (or so I was told)

@ South Sulawesi

@ Yogyakarta

One day Rol and I ventured out on our own. Our mission? Ride the public buses to Glodok (basically Chinatown of Jkt) and back. While we didn't ride the super sketchy metro-minis (broken down mini-vans), we did ride the main bus (that had AC thankfully). It cost 3500rp for a one way trip. All in all, the bus ride wasn't that bad. I had heard bad things about pickpockets and such but I'm happy to report that all our belongings remained intact. It's kinda cool but the main buses have a dedicated bus lane in the majority of streets - really increases the attractiveness of taking public transport as it's reliable and quick - no sitting in traffic for these buses! My only real complaint was that a lot of people on the bus decided that wearing deodorant was faux pas. Ugh, it was super smelly in there. Natural BO plus the humidity of Jkt equals a really pungent ride!

@ the bus station

Packed like sardines - smelled like sardines too

Sketchy metro-mini

One of the queues to get on the bus

Exploring a mall @ Glodok - very similar to HK

@ Cafe Batavia in Fatahillah Square - very cool decor. 17 500rp for an ice-tea though!

Checking out the wildlife @ Fatahillah Square

Another thing that Jkt is known for is its party scene. Lots of clubs, bars, and karoke lounges to satisfy any appetite (and if you're looking for a more seedy scene, lots of brothels too!). On Friday night, we met up with Rol's 2 friends Art and his cousin Kama and his gf Rica. I actually met Art back during the Olympics so it was nice to see a familiar face. We headed to Blowfish where a friend of Kama's was celebrating her birthday. Oh yeah, this friend? Her family owns Ayana Resort (where Rock Bar is). Freaking redic. All in all, I had an amazing time at Blowfish - it was so much fun!! The music was the best I've heard in a very long time. Mostly hip-hop with a little old-school and top 40 thrown in. I felt like I was in one of my favorite dance movies. Although the crowd was a little wack (very cliquey and snobby) I did manage to meet a UBC student who was trying to get into commerce - random! On Saturday night, we went to Alexis (jealous Ros?) with Art and Kama. The scene is very different from anything I've ever partied in. The music wasn't that great and the crowd was uh, interesting but I still had fun. And I'm glad I finally got to experience the 'wonders' of Alexis - although I'm pretty sure I'm of the wrong gender to fully enjoy them. From Alexis, Rol and I headed to Millennium - a pitch black, seedy club that was blaring tribal music. Needless to say, we headed home pretty quickly after that!

One of the bars @ Blowfish

A bottle of JW and a few drinks later... Rol, Art and I

Getting ready for a night of shenanigans

Outside Alexis

Rol's dad dropped us off at the airport Sunday night (after a day of hanging out with him in malls - what else?). Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:20pm but we were still sitting at the gate by 9pm. We finally boarded and everything was pretty smooth until we tried to land in Bali. We were going in for the landing when we hit the ground hard(!) and suddenly started ascending again. The weather conditions (lighting and thunderstorm) were making it unsafe for us to land! Despite that, our captain tried to land again. This time, we didn't even make it to the ground before we pulled back up. All the ups and downs were reeking havoc on my poor stomach - glad I didn't chunder all over Rol! We finally headed to Surabaya - a city in Java about a 30min flight from Bali to wait out the storm. Hours later, we all filed back in the plane and this time landed successfully in Bali - at 4am. Our original arrival time? 10:02pm. The price you pay to be back in paradise...

The ill-fated flight

While I'm glad that I got to have a Jkt adventure, I'm ecstatic to be back in Bali. It just felt like home coming back here. This place has a very special place in my heart!

Hangin 10

I've finally gone surfing. Rol and I met up with his friend Allen at Kuta Beach. Allen has surfed for almost 50 years and offered to take us out and give us a few pointers. We met him at post 2 where we met one of his closest friends (and possibly one of Kuta's more famous personalities) Marcello (who was featured in an episode of Bondi Rescue - a popular Australian TV show). We took his longboard and Allen's shortboard and headed out to the white water. Although I haven't been surfing in ages, I managed to get up a few times. For whatever reason, I find surfing way easier than snowboarding - less painful too :) Glad I'm finally able to cross this off my list of things to do!

Marcello on the right

A few pictures...

@ The Cave - a lil empty

Sexy he/she @ Facebar

Busting out to Simply the best

View from our hotel restaurant in Munduk

Breakfast - sticky black rice pudding with palm syrup and coconut

Rain, rain go away... it looked like this the majority of our stay

When the sun comes out.. scenery on our way home

Simply the best..

Last weekend was one of opposites – Friday was fun-filled while Saturday and Sunday was nap-filled.

On Friday, we decided to go out (dumb mistake considering our plans for Sat/Sun). Our first stop was The Cave – a bar on Jl. Petitenget that literally looks like a cave. I’m not sure if we were early (it was around 11pm) or if it was the lack of signage indicating that this place existed but the venue was dead empty! The only other people in the place besides us were the bartenders! After a bintang, we headed to Black Dog (Tippi’s place). Although we had lots of fun the last time we were there, we weren’t really feeling it this time around. It could be because everyone was glued to the World Cup game but there was a definitely a different vibe in the place. We got out of there pretty quick and headed to Jl. Dyana Pura – basically gay street! There’s a collection of bars/clubs that are all right next to each other. Each venue is pretty small in size but large in craziness! We hit up Facebar, Bali Joe and Mixwell and each place was absolutely bumping – jam packed with people (mostly men), great music, half time shows and drag queens to keep the party-goers entertained. There was even a drag queen that was busting out to Simply the Best – she was pretty great! These are great places to go if you’re looking to have fun and dance to great music – I had a great time! Of course we couldn’t end the night off there so we headed to Paddy’s and SkyGarden (where else?). All in all, a great night!

A few hours later, we got up and headed out the door to Munduk – a village in the mountains that was a 3.5 hour drive away. Definitely wasn’t fun after having such a late night – in fact, there were times during the ride that I almost fell asleep – very dangerous if you’re on the back of a bike holding on! Munduk is famous for their waterfalls, coffee plantations and hiking trails through their lush scenery. However, we didn’t see any of that! Our entire trip consisted of being rained in and napping – I’m not sure what it was but we were both extraordinarly exhausted all day Sat and Sun. In fact, our days went like this: wake up for breakfast, nap, wake up for lunch, nap, wake up for dinner and go to bed. Oh well, that just means I need to schedule a trip back to really experience all that Munduk has to offer!

Pictures to come (current internet connection is super slow)..

Tanah Lot

I finally made it to the highly loved (or highly hated) Tanah Lot to watch the sunset – the iconic seaside temple on a rock. Not much of the temple has its original parts – everything from the temple itself to the rock it sits on has been renovated and refurbished. There were tourist crowds and crowds of hawkers selling everything from religious artefacts to a holy snake. We sat at one of the cliff-side restaurants to maximize our viewpoint and I must say that I’m very glad that I finally came – the sunset was beautiful! Check out a few photos below.

A little crowded...

Rol and Hieu navigating the crowds

Holy snake anyone? Please, no dirty jokes..

You can get blessed at the holy spring at the bottom of the temple...

Waiting for the sunset

Beautiful...

It's my birthday and I'll ...

Turning 24 was a bittersweet experience for me. To me, being 24 years old signifies that I'm old - I'm only 1 year away from being halfway to 50! Yikes! And yes, I know I'm being slightly irrational but still... Also, despite celebrating in paradise, I was definitely lonely for the company of a few people back home. Rol, Mike and Hieu were real sports though and made my birthday a really fun day.

We started off by driving to Gianyar for my favourite meal – babi guling @ Warung Pande. Yes, I made 3 people drive about 1-1.5 hrs to get lunch but it’s my birthday so I’m allowed to make demands like that ;) After the requisite nap time, we headed to Mie 88 for a quick dinner before heading to my favourite spot in Bali – Hu’u bar. Seriously, the ambiance at Hu’u Bar is pretty hard to beat. Hundreds of candles + great space + great drinks + smooth jazz = 2 thumbs up from me. A few rounds later, we headed to club row for some quality dancing. After a pit-stop at Paddy’s (a must) and Bounty’s, we ended up at SkyGarden where we stayed til the wee hours of the morning.

Thank you to everyone for their birthday wishes and love – I’m truly blessed to have so many amazing people in my life! xoxo

Our babi guling lunch.. yummm

Chilling @ Hu'u Bar

Mike's fav. drink - jager bombs!

Some creepy old Aussie (who smelled strongly of B.O) @ rooftop of SkyGarden. He loved Hieu..

... so much that he started to take his clothes off for him!!! Lol, we all ran away when this started to happen

@ SkyGarden

Tick Tock

I’m finding as I get closer to my departure date that time is speeding up. I can’t believe it’s already been a week since my last post!

The last week has been pretty relaxed and quiet. On Saturday, we checked out this local club in Denpasar called Akasaka. On our way there, it started raining cats and dogs so we ended up arriving looking like drowned rats - very attractive. This place was uh, interesting. We walked in to discover that it was about 98% men in there and that I was 1 of 3 women in attendance that wasn't a hooker! Needless to say that I won't be back anytime soon.

Two friends from Vancouver (Hieu and Mike, my boss) arrived on Sunday and Monday. It's been fun getting them acquainted with Bali - I feel like I know so much when in reality I know very little about Bali still!