The next day we headed from Krabi to Ton Sai. At first, I thought Ton Sai was an island but the only way to access it was from a long tail boat around the corner. So we jumped on the boat heading towards Ton Sai and the Phra Nang Peninsula. This place is world famous for rock climbing and deep water solo. This is why I'm here people. The boat ride out was amazing. We pull into the beach of Ton Sai and surrounded by jacked up limestone covered in these icicle forms all over the place. The islands looking outside of Ton Sai literally pop straight up out of the water and create these magnificent pieces of land. Ton Sai is the mecca-center for rock climbers. Complete opposite of the east part of Thailand where the rocks are soft and round like play-do.
Ton Sai consisted of one main road that starts at the beach, does a big U-turn around the bay and back to the other side of the beach. Inside is much more tropical, hot, full of monkeys and loud bugs. All of the homestays were at this part. Originally, back in the day, houses were supposed to be built on the beach, but instead they wanted to build old people homes. Problem was the old people couldn't get to the beach because of how hard it is to get here. So this failed and now its full of bars. Its rad though because there is a beach next to us at Phra Nang, which is much more touristy and populated. Ton Sai was perfect for this.
On arrival we walked up the street (dirt and mud holes) in search for a bungalow to stay in. First place we found, we go. Super basic bungalow, paper thin walls, insect nets around each bed and a shower. Bungalows are really cool to look at but I think there better on the outside that what you get on the inside, but really you never hang out there. After hanging out for a while, we went in search for a deep water solo class. Not long after we found a place, booked it and was ready to go climbing the next day at 9:00 a.m.! At this point I'm pretty pumped.
That night was pretty mellow as far as going out. But we were all excited like a bunch of little kids waiting to go to Disneyland.
9:00 a.m. crept up fast. We all got up, grabbed some breakfast and arrived at the shop. Pumped up and ready to go. We each grabbed rock climbing shoes, got briefed and headed to the boat. Our group had about 10 people on it. Small enough to talk to everyone but not crowded enough when climbing.
The deep water solo wasn't actually on Ton Sai. The long tail boat drove us straight out towards these two islands called Ko Poda and Ko Yawabun. All limestone islands just like Ton Sai. We pulled up and it was exactly what the pictures looked like. Massive lava walls that drip these icicle rock formations into the water. The pictures I took doesn't even describe how big these rocks were. Our boat caption stopped for our first climb. He jumped in the water with his kayak and emptied a bowl full of chock at the starting point. The start is always the hardest. He attached a ladder at the bottom so you could start where the rock formations begin. Like I said, climbing up the ladder was the hardest. If you can get past that your good to go for a little bit.
The fist climb was pretty easy. Everyone got up to the top, or as high as you want because you have to jump when your done. This climb looked like a staircase going straight up. Except the stair cases were shooting up instead of a 45 degree angle. But lots of things to grab and was a good start. The jump into the water was probably 10-12 meters high. Right next to this spot was a way more difficult area to climb. Rock pinnacles pop out and the grips were much harder. At the bottom was another man made ladder so you can get out of the water, chock-up and continue climbing. This climb was really hard. First attempt I only got around the pinnacle but couldn't reach this tiny hole for grip. Next try I got past the that point and got a little higher but pretty much got rocked after that. So hard. it was 6B climb. Not bad for a novice. This other guy on the boat was a monkey and killed the climb. He was upside down at one spot hanging like a sleeping bat! After a couple of hours of climbing we got on the boat to get some lunch. We went around the corner to this tiny beach oasis. Unreal. Maybe 100 feet wide and caves inside to climb and explore. Our guide showed us this rock climbing wall that was more than a 30 degree angle. He climbed it effortlessly and with style. So bummed I didn't get it on camera. After eating we got back on the boat for one last climb. At this point everyone was pretty tired but when we got to this next spot I had one last kick of energy. It was the exact spot my friend told me about. He showed me video of this place and I really wanted to climb it. It starts out with this slab of limestone that pours into the ocean but is about 5-6 feet above the water. The guide jumps up there like a monkey and climbed right up to the top in a 5-10 minutes. Huge jump from the top (70 feet)
I was the second person in to try this climb. Everyone else looked really intimidated by the wall (I was too) but still wanted to try it. The first part was real hard. I had to wrap my hand around this slab and just keep climbing. I kept on going up and up and each time I looked down my knees got more and more buckled. It got to the point where I could climb higher but it was too high of a jump. So I jumped in and got defeated. Next try, I got higher and decided to go left rather than right. This was towards this huge pinnacle and a really hard climb. I got over to this pinnacle but my footwork wasn't good enough and the guide kept telling me what to do but it just never worked. I had to jump backwards into the water.
Ton Sai and deep water solo is amazing. I instantly got addicted and will be doing this again. I know for a fact that my brother would die for this place. That being said I'll be back here with him.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Krabi and Ton Sai
After a horrible day of recovering from the full moon party, jumping on and off boats and buses, we finally arrived in Krabi. The plan was to get right on a long tail boat and go straight to Ton Sai. But do the fact that we were still extremely hungover and over 8 1/2 hours of traveling we decided to stay in Krabi for the night and leave in the morning. We got dropped off at this pretty standard hotel that was called the mansion. Far from it folks, but it worked just fine. Either way, none of us had eaten for the whole day so we needed to get some food. We saw a night market so we headed down that way. Kevin, Alex, Oliver and myself turned this market into a buffet. We were ordering things left and right: crab on a stick (maybe), smoothies, Pad Thai, pancakes, more finger foods and instantly tapped out for the night. I was done for. My stomach maxed out and could barely eat anything more. This = happiness.
The slow walk back to our mansion we saw this abandoned building that looked like a hunted house or a place where a bunch of bums would hang out (well if I was a bum that's where I would be sleeping for the night). So like a bunch of idiots we convinced each other to take a tour through the building. We all slowly but surely walked up into the building, pitch black wondered around for a while. It was pretty cool but we were all wondering when the leader of the clan was going to come out of the shadows and rob us blind. I'm talking about the bum leader. There has to be one right? Yea. Anyways we got out of there once we heard a real pack of dogs start to surround the building and bark at us. This was not cool. We left and there were dogs on each corner of the street wondering what we were doing on there turf. Obviously, these dogs have some sort of disease so getting bit was not an option. We all just looked at the dogs while we walked by them, still barking at us. Quite the experience on that part. So, that called it a night for me. It was an interesting twilight experience.
Tomorrow we set sail to Ton Sai. This place is gonna be rad!
The slow walk back to our mansion we saw this abandoned building that looked like a hunted house or a place where a bunch of bums would hang out (well if I was a bum that's where I would be sleeping for the night). So like a bunch of idiots we convinced each other to take a tour through the building. We all slowly but surely walked up into the building, pitch black wondered around for a while. It was pretty cool but we were all wondering when the leader of the clan was going to come out of the shadows and rob us blind. I'm talking about the bum leader. There has to be one right? Yea. Anyways we got out of there once we heard a real pack of dogs start to surround the building and bark at us. This was not cool. We left and there were dogs on each corner of the street wondering what we were doing on there turf. Obviously, these dogs have some sort of disease so getting bit was not an option. We all just looked at the dogs while we walked by them, still barking at us. Quite the experience on that part. So, that called it a night for me. It was an interesting twilight experience.
Tomorrow we set sail to Ton Sai. This place is gonna be rad!
Monday, March 22, 2010
koh phangan
Koh Phan-gan: look it up on google, supposedly its pretty beautiful. That's what I here. I mean from what I saw it was pretty rad. All I really saw was from the pier where the boat dropped me off straight up and down some very sketchy roads to the beach of Haad Rin. This consisted of about 10 percent of the island. I know, it was a shame, but trust me my time on this beach was unforgettable (if I actually took some pictures of the place) so actually is was mostly a blur but luckily the kids I was hanging out with documented the place for what it was worth.
First day I arrived I got bombarded with Thai people asking me where I was staying, taxi, massage, etc. I had no idea where I was going but I put such a stubborn wall up that I never give into the people and what they say. Typically I nod my head and say "mio krap" (I guess this a vulgar word but it means no thank you) If you say it right they usually laugh and instantly stop bugging you. As if you know the language, so they pasture some airhead tourist that looks lost. Only, i'm usually the one that is way more lost. Anyways, I sat my bag on the ground, pulled out my book and tried to decide whether or not I wanted to stay on Haad Rin beach for the whole time. Either you stay there and party like a rock star or you go anywhere but there for a nice and relaxing time. I chose the route of a rock star, cause I am. I walked toward a taxi and noticed a bunch of people on another, I asked them if I could join, they said yes. I jumped on. The ride to the beach was really scary. Our driver seemed to have been drunk and had his foot heavy to the metal and flooring it. But for good reasons. Little that I knew, we had to pass a mountain of up and down roads just to get to the beach. Oh yea, the taxi's weren't your average taxi. It was a truck and everyone sits in the bed. If he rolled the truck, we would all die...So he floored the truck to gain momentum to get up the hills. It was a 20% grade incline and really steep. Some of the backpacks actually rolled back and we had to grab them before they fell off onto the road. Instead of a ride this was more like a roller-coaster but from a mobile circus in the middle of some run down town. So the adrenaline rush had a added punch. I enjoyed this.
40 minutes later we arrived to Haad Rin. Small town, internet cafe's everywhere, hotels cheap and expensive and lots of bars. These girls gave me a heads up and said to stay at "sun cliff resort" Its cheap and slightly off the main beach so I could sleep at night. I went straight there and got a place. One person bungalow, bathroom, balcony and a hammock. I'm already rocking and its not even nighttime. I set up shop and went to explore my surroundings like a dog. First things first I headed for the beach. Thousands of people in the water, playing soccer or just recovering from the previous night. Boats polluted the water and the amount of piss in the water was probably around 90 percent of the ocean. It was super clean. If you could imagine what the beach would be like without the people it would be really nice. I guess think of long-beach in LA. But I enjoyed this once again. Lots of people to mingle with and people watch. This is always fun.
That night was my lucky night: it was the half moon party. This means I get to hit up the half and the full moon party. Lucky me, or is it? My introduction to Haad Rin was pretty insane. At night the whole beach turns into this fire contest. Ropes get lit up and people(me) skip across it. Local people play with fire all night, every night, 365 days a year. On top of that you don't drink beer, but you drink buckets. Neon color buckets full of local liquor, the original red bull (which is pretty much crack) and sprite or a coke. These buckets send you into a whole new world. New friends were everywhere all of a sudden. haha. Like usual I found a group of kids my age and we partied all night. Maybe around 3 in the morning we headed to the half moon party. This was in "the jungle". You had to take a taxi out to get there. Easily 10,000 people were there dancing like it was a rave. Wait it was...That's the end of that story. Stories to ask me in person.
The next seven days were pretty much the exact same. Except I didn't go out to "the jungle". I did meet some great people though leading up to the actual full moon party. My friend Oliver that I met in OZ, later on met in Bali, ended up at Haad Rin so we partied the whole entire time. Our neighbors were from Canada and of course they sported there Canadian flag patched on the backpacks. Pretty funny, but that's what they got to do, unless they want to be associated with Americans. Tough life, huh? We hung out with Keven and Alex (Canadians) the rest of the trip. Rad dudes. One of the memorable nights was rallying up for the winter Olympics in hockey. The finals were America vs Canada. I was out numbered 3-1. They were all Canadians and the amount of American's that travel means I am a minority. We all pre-funked with buckets and partied hard on the beach until 3:15 a.m. until the finals started. We found this bar where it was all Americans/Canadians yelling at the top of there lungs at each other. At times I thought I was going to get in a fight but then the person I was yelling at just said we were playing. Of course we were, but then we would start to yell at each other again. My friend Oliver got way to excited and punched a whole in the ceiling. Haha. How the F did he get as high as the ceiling? Best part is the game went into overtime and the place went nuts. At the end, Canada made some shitty shot and won. The place literally went into a riot. The streets went crazy. Probably a good thing they won because it would have turned into a blood bath. I was pissed but didn't really care. It's just the whole competition thing. Luckily, the sunrise was just popping out over the ocean and cheered me up. This was about 6:30 a.m. Average night for Haad Rin. I didn't go to bed one time without seeing the sunrise. Maybe a couple of times, but my friend Oliver wouldn't come back till maybe 10:00 a.m. What a champ.
Full moon party: Each night leading up to the full moon, more and more people arrived to Haad Rin. That night more people than ever. Thousands of people on the streets in the day time. That night we all bought neon glowing paint and painted our whole bodies up. So fun. Bought some glow sticks and was ready to go. We got some buckets around 6 p.m. to get things going and then headed to the beach. By 9 p.m. the beach easily had 15,000 people. Bleachers were set up, scaffolding was built, and obstacles like a kids playground was set up. They set up this monkey wall that you could climb to the top of the hotel, from there you got to get a panoramic view of the whole scene. Definitely not safe, but check out the cool picture. We got the idea to go up to every girl we thought was worthy( plenty of them) and I would paint there bodies. Perfect game plan and it worked like no other. I maybe hung out with the guys for a couple of hours and lost them. Typical thing I would do, but its always on accident. I meet new people and by the time I turn around its a puzzle trying to find where and when your friends walked away. Oh well, that's the name of the game...
Next day was a struggle, incredible hang-over and we all had to catch a bus to Krabi at noon. It was about 11 and I still couldn't walk straight. I slammed all my crap into my bag and checked out. Woke Oliver up at 11:55. Barely got everything together and made it onto the taxi. Hours later as we were on the ferry these girls called one of our Sweden neighbors and said they were snoopin around in our room for things we probably left and they found Oliver's DSLR camera and a couple hundred dollars that he left in the room. Fuck, what a dumb ass. Lost forever. Our next stop was from ferry to bus. There was a store there that we all got food at. Then got on the bus. 1/2 later Oliver realized that he left his wallet at the store. Lost forever. Now he has pretty much nothing except for his passport. No money, no cards. We got to Krabi and he called his parents to wire him some money through western union....
That being said, Koh Phan-Gan is crazy. Crazy fun that is. All worth it.
First day I arrived I got bombarded with Thai people asking me where I was staying, taxi, massage, etc. I had no idea where I was going but I put such a stubborn wall up that I never give into the people and what they say. Typically I nod my head and say "mio krap" (I guess this a vulgar word but it means no thank you) If you say it right they usually laugh and instantly stop bugging you. As if you know the language, so they pasture some airhead tourist that looks lost. Only, i'm usually the one that is way more lost. Anyways, I sat my bag on the ground, pulled out my book and tried to decide whether or not I wanted to stay on Haad Rin beach for the whole time. Either you stay there and party like a rock star or you go anywhere but there for a nice and relaxing time. I chose the route of a rock star, cause I am. I walked toward a taxi and noticed a bunch of people on another, I asked them if I could join, they said yes. I jumped on. The ride to the beach was really scary. Our driver seemed to have been drunk and had his foot heavy to the metal and flooring it. But for good reasons. Little that I knew, we had to pass a mountain of up and down roads just to get to the beach. Oh yea, the taxi's weren't your average taxi. It was a truck and everyone sits in the bed. If he rolled the truck, we would all die...So he floored the truck to gain momentum to get up the hills. It was a 20% grade incline and really steep. Some of the backpacks actually rolled back and we had to grab them before they fell off onto the road. Instead of a ride this was more like a roller-coaster but from a mobile circus in the middle of some run down town. So the adrenaline rush had a added punch. I enjoyed this.
40 minutes later we arrived to Haad Rin. Small town, internet cafe's everywhere, hotels cheap and expensive and lots of bars. These girls gave me a heads up and said to stay at "sun cliff resort" Its cheap and slightly off the main beach so I could sleep at night. I went straight there and got a place. One person bungalow, bathroom, balcony and a hammock. I'm already rocking and its not even nighttime. I set up shop and went to explore my surroundings like a dog. First things first I headed for the beach. Thousands of people in the water, playing soccer or just recovering from the previous night. Boats polluted the water and the amount of piss in the water was probably around 90 percent of the ocean. It was super clean. If you could imagine what the beach would be like without the people it would be really nice. I guess think of long-beach in LA. But I enjoyed this once again. Lots of people to mingle with and people watch. This is always fun.
That night was my lucky night: it was the half moon party. This means I get to hit up the half and the full moon party. Lucky me, or is it? My introduction to Haad Rin was pretty insane. At night the whole beach turns into this fire contest. Ropes get lit up and people(me) skip across it. Local people play with fire all night, every night, 365 days a year. On top of that you don't drink beer, but you drink buckets. Neon color buckets full of local liquor, the original red bull (which is pretty much crack) and sprite or a coke. These buckets send you into a whole new world. New friends were everywhere all of a sudden. haha. Like usual I found a group of kids my age and we partied all night. Maybe around 3 in the morning we headed to the half moon party. This was in "the jungle". You had to take a taxi out to get there. Easily 10,000 people were there dancing like it was a rave. Wait it was...That's the end of that story. Stories to ask me in person.
The next seven days were pretty much the exact same. Except I didn't go out to "the jungle". I did meet some great people though leading up to the actual full moon party. My friend Oliver that I met in OZ, later on met in Bali, ended up at Haad Rin so we partied the whole entire time. Our neighbors were from Canada and of course they sported there Canadian flag patched on the backpacks. Pretty funny, but that's what they got to do, unless they want to be associated with Americans. Tough life, huh? We hung out with Keven and Alex (Canadians) the rest of the trip. Rad dudes. One of the memorable nights was rallying up for the winter Olympics in hockey. The finals were America vs Canada. I was out numbered 3-1. They were all Canadians and the amount of American's that travel means I am a minority. We all pre-funked with buckets and partied hard on the beach until 3:15 a.m. until the finals started. We found this bar where it was all Americans/Canadians yelling at the top of there lungs at each other. At times I thought I was going to get in a fight but then the person I was yelling at just said we were playing. Of course we were, but then we would start to yell at each other again. My friend Oliver got way to excited and punched a whole in the ceiling. Haha. How the F did he get as high as the ceiling? Best part is the game went into overtime and the place went nuts. At the end, Canada made some shitty shot and won. The place literally went into a riot. The streets went crazy. Probably a good thing they won because it would have turned into a blood bath. I was pissed but didn't really care. It's just the whole competition thing. Luckily, the sunrise was just popping out over the ocean and cheered me up. This was about 6:30 a.m. Average night for Haad Rin. I didn't go to bed one time without seeing the sunrise. Maybe a couple of times, but my friend Oliver wouldn't come back till maybe 10:00 a.m. What a champ.
Full moon party: Each night leading up to the full moon, more and more people arrived to Haad Rin. That night more people than ever. Thousands of people on the streets in the day time. That night we all bought neon glowing paint and painted our whole bodies up. So fun. Bought some glow sticks and was ready to go. We got some buckets around 6 p.m. to get things going and then headed to the beach. By 9 p.m. the beach easily had 15,000 people. Bleachers were set up, scaffolding was built, and obstacles like a kids playground was set up. They set up this monkey wall that you could climb to the top of the hotel, from there you got to get a panoramic view of the whole scene. Definitely not safe, but check out the cool picture. We got the idea to go up to every girl we thought was worthy( plenty of them) and I would paint there bodies. Perfect game plan and it worked like no other. I maybe hung out with the guys for a couple of hours and lost them. Typical thing I would do, but its always on accident. I meet new people and by the time I turn around its a puzzle trying to find where and when your friends walked away. Oh well, that's the name of the game...
Next day was a struggle, incredible hang-over and we all had to catch a bus to Krabi at noon. It was about 11 and I still couldn't walk straight. I slammed all my crap into my bag and checked out. Woke Oliver up at 11:55. Barely got everything together and made it onto the taxi. Hours later as we were on the ferry these girls called one of our Sweden neighbors and said they were snoopin around in our room for things we probably left and they found Oliver's DSLR camera and a couple hundred dollars that he left in the room. Fuck, what a dumb ass. Lost forever. Our next stop was from ferry to bus. There was a store there that we all got food at. Then got on the bus. 1/2 later Oliver realized that he left his wallet at the store. Lost forever. Now he has pretty much nothing except for his passport. No money, no cards. We got to Krabi and he called his parents to wire him some money through western union....
That being said, Koh Phan-Gan is crazy. Crazy fun that is. All worth it.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Koh Tao
From Bangkok I jumped on a night train. Unfortunately I got the upper bunk, meaning it was way more claustrophobic and made for tiny Asian people. I am a giant out here folks, maybe not in America but here, ahh man. I couldn't imagine being actually tall out here...Originally my train ticket was for Surat Tani, but after talking to to a bunch of people they told me to get off at Chumpon. Chumpon was the main jumping off point to get to all the islands and Surat Tani was the jump off point further south. So, I did that. On the train it was filled with Thai people and a couple travelers. I got set up with this Thia grandma lady who didn't speak a word of English but we both tried to communicate with each other. Very difficult. I was eating some food and offered it to her, she refused but later on she busted out her tupperware full of rice and goodies. She offered some to me but this time I refused. I was drinking a Chaing, give me a break. On the way down the train stopped a few times to pick up and drop off people. When this happens food carts rush in and try and sell you food and drinks. Pretty rad though. I had no idea what they were selling. Mostly it was a plastic bag filled with these cookie like treats and doused with this brown fury hairs that lay on top of it. This bag was organized like a bag of oreos and had about 12 cookies inside. The Thai lady must have loved these things because she bought 6 or 7 bags of these. She's crazy. I asked her what they were but she just smiled at me and pointed to the bag for me to buy them. Next time around I bought a bag. They were good. Weird fluffy flavor but good.
Later on I asked one of the workers when the stop for Chumpon was and if he could wake me when we arrived. It was at 3:15 a.m. and there is no intercom on when and what stop your at, so you gotta be on point and ready to go when they stop. I fell asleep, woke up in a frantic, the guy didn't wake me up. He was passed out in-between the box carts layered in pillows and blankets like he was having a private slumber party. I woke him up. Got ready and jumped off the train. From there waited a few hours for the bus to take us to the pier. From there to Koh Tao. Lots of traveling in one night, about a whole day. On the ferry I met this chick Andre-Anne from Quebec. She was a French-Canadian. This girl has been traveling by bike since Vietnam! Hard as nails and non-shelon when we were talking about it. Made it sound like it wasn't a big deal. On top of that the bike was in horrible shape. Not even a road bike but a mountain bike. She did this for a reason to blend in with the crowd so the bike wouldn't get stolen. Anyways we ended up looking for accommodation together and going to the same scuba diving shop.
As we arrive in Koh Tao it struck me with amazement, white sand beaches filled with large bulky craters that pile on top of one another like play-doh. Some of the rock formations didn't even make sense, it's like the rocks were just balancing on top of each other and if you pushed them they would crumble down the mountain. Regardless, one incredible site to see. I consider this place paradise but each place I go to I say that, so I'll just put it in my top 10.
Andre and I got off the ferry and searched for a room. Luckily this guy sold us on accommodation so we got a free taxi ride to the dive shop. I ended up getting a 10 dive package and they paid for my bungalow. Which was right on the sand and epic view of this point called the Buddha rock.
First day of diving I soon realized that I signed up with a French boat. Everyone (20 + people) were all French. Lots of which couldn't speak English. Then there was me, only American that can only speak one language. Typical American. Oh well, we all got along great and the diving was insane. Saw lots of bull sharks, schools of barracuda, coral, fish I don't even know the names of and more. One of the dives we got surrounded by a school of fish (easily 2000 fish) covered us 360 degrees. I started to swim left and right to catch them but no luck.
Last dive I had I made the decision to do a night dive. I've been wanting to do a night dive since day one and this was my opportunity, so I jumped on it. Kinda nervous going into it. All they give you is a torch and that's it. When we decent-ed into the unknown you see pretty much nothing. Whatever you point at is what you see. So the dive was very slow. You couldn't see the reef until a couple feet away so you had to be careful. The hardest part about a night dive was keeping the right buoyancy. You have no depth reception so we were bumping into each other left and right. Each time the dive master found something we would all get close, but would constantly hit each others tanks together. Some things we saw were flat worms, blow-fish, stingrays, and oh the plankton. We all sat at the bottom of the ocean, turned the lights off and this bright florescent plankton sparkled everywhere you moved your hands at. So cool. That was one of the best parts of the night dive. As we came up toward the surface all you could see was black, then all of a sudden you pop out of the water and see stars surrounding you. This was quite the site. Night diving was amazing and highly recommend it. So glad I made that decision. Tomorrow, I head to koh phangan for the full moon party. What will happen here?
Later on I asked one of the workers when the stop for Chumpon was and if he could wake me when we arrived. It was at 3:15 a.m. and there is no intercom on when and what stop your at, so you gotta be on point and ready to go when they stop. I fell asleep, woke up in a frantic, the guy didn't wake me up. He was passed out in-between the box carts layered in pillows and blankets like he was having a private slumber party. I woke him up. Got ready and jumped off the train. From there waited a few hours for the bus to take us to the pier. From there to Koh Tao. Lots of traveling in one night, about a whole day. On the ferry I met this chick Andre-Anne from Quebec. She was a French-Canadian. This girl has been traveling by bike since Vietnam! Hard as nails and non-shelon when we were talking about it. Made it sound like it wasn't a big deal. On top of that the bike was in horrible shape. Not even a road bike but a mountain bike. She did this for a reason to blend in with the crowd so the bike wouldn't get stolen. Anyways we ended up looking for accommodation together and going to the same scuba diving shop.
As we arrive in Koh Tao it struck me with amazement, white sand beaches filled with large bulky craters that pile on top of one another like play-doh. Some of the rock formations didn't even make sense, it's like the rocks were just balancing on top of each other and if you pushed them they would crumble down the mountain. Regardless, one incredible site to see. I consider this place paradise but each place I go to I say that, so I'll just put it in my top 10.
Andre and I got off the ferry and searched for a room. Luckily this guy sold us on accommodation so we got a free taxi ride to the dive shop. I ended up getting a 10 dive package and they paid for my bungalow. Which was right on the sand and epic view of this point called the Buddha rock.
First day of diving I soon realized that I signed up with a French boat. Everyone (20 + people) were all French. Lots of which couldn't speak English. Then there was me, only American that can only speak one language. Typical American. Oh well, we all got along great and the diving was insane. Saw lots of bull sharks, schools of barracuda, coral, fish I don't even know the names of and more. One of the dives we got surrounded by a school of fish (easily 2000 fish) covered us 360 degrees. I started to swim left and right to catch them but no luck.
Last dive I had I made the decision to do a night dive. I've been wanting to do a night dive since day one and this was my opportunity, so I jumped on it. Kinda nervous going into it. All they give you is a torch and that's it. When we decent-ed into the unknown you see pretty much nothing. Whatever you point at is what you see. So the dive was very slow. You couldn't see the reef until a couple feet away so you had to be careful. The hardest part about a night dive was keeping the right buoyancy. You have no depth reception so we were bumping into each other left and right. Each time the dive master found something we would all get close, but would constantly hit each others tanks together. Some things we saw were flat worms, blow-fish, stingrays, and oh the plankton. We all sat at the bottom of the ocean, turned the lights off and this bright florescent plankton sparkled everywhere you moved your hands at. So cool. That was one of the best parts of the night dive. As we came up toward the surface all you could see was black, then all of a sudden you pop out of the water and see stars surrounding you. This was quite the site. Night diving was amazing and highly recommend it. So glad I made that decision. Tomorrow, I head to koh phangan for the full moon party. What will happen here?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thialand: Bangkok
Well, Bangkok is crazy. I mean crazy. Outrageous amounts of people flooded with tourism left and right. Anyways, the first day I arrived in Bangkok I walked past customs (which is a huge joke, I walked right by everyone, didn't even get asked how long I was staying for or anything) walked past all the limousine cars, past the taxis and straight towards the bus. I knew of one place that I was going to go to in Bangkok and that was Th Khao San road. This area is known for backpackers so I thought that would fit perfect for me. The bus ride from the airport to Bangkok is around a 45 minute drive but the traffic was insane. It took us about 2 1/2 hours just to get into the city. We were stopped at this traffic light for at least 45 minutes. It was ridiculous. This girl I met from Finland and I decided to jump off the bus and walk to Th Khao San road. We didn't even know where it was but the bus would not move so we had no choice. So we walked, asked people and got pointed in the right direction. The roads are like highways but the width of a hamburger. Meaning there really wide and full of cars and tuk tuks. In the middle has statues, billboards and shrines of the king of Thailand. This guy is the real deal and everyone loves him. He is everywhere and all the pictures taking of him looks like he is depressed and in a serious daydream session. Regardless, the people love this guy...Okay off track. We crossed the streets and found the road we were looking for. This place was picture perfect from the movie "The Beach." Drunken people everywhere, Tuk Tuks weaving in and out of people, street food left and right and little kids selling you crappy jewelry. I actually really enjoyed this place. So, we walked down the strip looking for a room to stay in. We asked maybe 4 places and then picked a room. Super cheap, low budget room with a fan in the middle and that's it. Which is fine with me. We both wanted to explore and you never hang out in the room anyways.
That night we walked around, got some of the best pad Thai I have ever had from the street market and grabbed some beers at a bar. Its funny because the bars advertise "strong drinks" "we don't check ID" "coolest beer in Thailand" etc. So you get sucked into these places and buy drinks. Worst part is or maybe the best part are these little Thai kids who come in and try and sell you jewelry. They speak perfect English, German, french, you name it. All for the cause of business and selling there gear. This girl would give you a flower and you have to rock, paper, scissor for it. If you win, you get to keep it, but the girl is a damn cheater I tell you and won every time, so you would have to pay or just push her off like I did. You kinda kick em and say scram and they leave for a couple of minutes and then they come back. Little rug rats who have game that's for sure.
Next day we decided to explore different temples. So we asked around and was told to find a yellow tuk tuk (a tuk tuk is just a scooter that has a wagon attached to the back side). We easily found one and started to negotiate a price for what we wanted. 20 baht for 2 hours. We headed off but each place he took us to was closed and each time we stopped he brought us to either a jewelry shop or a suit store to buy stuff. We straight up got scammed. We told him to take us to the buss station but instead he dropped us off exactly where we started. Its bullonie I tell you but whatever.
This is where things got interesting. We went to the bus stop where all the locals go to get transportation. Every five minutes or so you would see a bus slowly make a California stop and then skitter off once again to the next stop. In that spit second where the bus slows down is when 10 or so people rush and jump on the bus before it runs them over. It was quite a site I must say. We asked around to know which number bus we needed to get on to go to Siame Square. Soon enough we saw the number and got in position to run and jump on the bus. Within seconds we got on the bus almost getting trampled over like roadkill. Inside the bus was jam packed. I was neck to neck with people and each stop people would pin pong in and out of people to jump out of the bus. Problem is for us we didn't even know when to get off! Finally someone knew English and they would show us the way. At this point we are smack down in the middle of Bangkok city. Everywhere you look is a skyscraper with cars honking left and right, pollution everywhere and lots and lots of food.
We found Siame Square (huge malls, hot items, and any electronic device or accessory you can think of for dirt cheap) The malls here are massive. All at least 7 stories tall and take up the size of a casino in Las Vegas. This was the one place in Bangkok that was actually really clean inside and out. Movie theaters inside, car dealerships, you name it. The rest of the day we just walked around looking at stuff. After that we got on the bus again and went to China town. This place was even more packed than anywhere else yet. It was the day before the Chinese new year and things were hectic. Hung out there for a bit and headed home. Great first day in Bangkok: got scammed, jumped on the local bus and saw more useful and useless things in one area ever. Awesome.
Next day I headed off to the grand palace. I didn't realize if but I walked in there with shorts on and you have to wear pants to enter, so I rented some gear and went inside. The temples here were amazing. All gold, hand painted narrative stories, incredible architecture and detail. Every piece was detailed down to the bone. There was one section where you could go inside but no photography. First thing I did was take a picture and i got a great shot of the security guard pointing right at the camera. I hung out at the grand palace for a couple of hours and then headed back to my room to pack things up. That night I had to catch a night train down to Chumpon to later on catch a ferry to the island Koh Tao. Bangkok was cool, but way too jam packed for me. I need something else. Goodbye Bangkok, here I come Koh Tao and paradise beaches.
Peace, sorry for the late blog folks
That night we walked around, got some of the best pad Thai I have ever had from the street market and grabbed some beers at a bar. Its funny because the bars advertise "strong drinks" "we don't check ID" "coolest beer in Thailand" etc. So you get sucked into these places and buy drinks. Worst part is or maybe the best part are these little Thai kids who come in and try and sell you jewelry. They speak perfect English, German, french, you name it. All for the cause of business and selling there gear. This girl would give you a flower and you have to rock, paper, scissor for it. If you win, you get to keep it, but the girl is a damn cheater I tell you and won every time, so you would have to pay or just push her off like I did. You kinda kick em and say scram and they leave for a couple of minutes and then they come back. Little rug rats who have game that's for sure.
Next day we decided to explore different temples. So we asked around and was told to find a yellow tuk tuk (a tuk tuk is just a scooter that has a wagon attached to the back side). We easily found one and started to negotiate a price for what we wanted. 20 baht for 2 hours. We headed off but each place he took us to was closed and each time we stopped he brought us to either a jewelry shop or a suit store to buy stuff. We straight up got scammed. We told him to take us to the buss station but instead he dropped us off exactly where we started. Its bullonie I tell you but whatever.
This is where things got interesting. We went to the bus stop where all the locals go to get transportation. Every five minutes or so you would see a bus slowly make a California stop and then skitter off once again to the next stop. In that spit second where the bus slows down is when 10 or so people rush and jump on the bus before it runs them over. It was quite a site I must say. We asked around to know which number bus we needed to get on to go to Siame Square. Soon enough we saw the number and got in position to run and jump on the bus. Within seconds we got on the bus almost getting trampled over like roadkill. Inside the bus was jam packed. I was neck to neck with people and each stop people would pin pong in and out of people to jump out of the bus. Problem is for us we didn't even know when to get off! Finally someone knew English and they would show us the way. At this point we are smack down in the middle of Bangkok city. Everywhere you look is a skyscraper with cars honking left and right, pollution everywhere and lots and lots of food.
We found Siame Square (huge malls, hot items, and any electronic device or accessory you can think of for dirt cheap) The malls here are massive. All at least 7 stories tall and take up the size of a casino in Las Vegas. This was the one place in Bangkok that was actually really clean inside and out. Movie theaters inside, car dealerships, you name it. The rest of the day we just walked around looking at stuff. After that we got on the bus again and went to China town. This place was even more packed than anywhere else yet. It was the day before the Chinese new year and things were hectic. Hung out there for a bit and headed home. Great first day in Bangkok: got scammed, jumped on the local bus and saw more useful and useless things in one area ever. Awesome.
Next day I headed off to the grand palace. I didn't realize if but I walked in there with shorts on and you have to wear pants to enter, so I rented some gear and went inside. The temples here were amazing. All gold, hand painted narrative stories, incredible architecture and detail. Every piece was detailed down to the bone. There was one section where you could go inside but no photography. First thing I did was take a picture and i got a great shot of the security guard pointing right at the camera. I hung out at the grand palace for a couple of hours and then headed back to my room to pack things up. That night I had to catch a night train down to Chumpon to later on catch a ferry to the island Koh Tao. Bangkok was cool, but way too jam packed for me. I need something else. Goodbye Bangkok, here I come Koh Tao and paradise beaches.
Peace, sorry for the late blog folks
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Bali trip ending
Okay, just to clear some things up. I asked some friends around Kuta Beach Resort (where I have been staying) and my friend Eddy told me that any time you see an accident you just walk away and never help. The exact opposite of what I did last week when trying to help a motorcycle accident. He told me that when you try and help a local they will flip the situation around and blame everything on you. I'm a westerner and they think I have millions of dollars, so if they blame it on me, I can pay for the hospital bill. What a bunch of suckers I tell you. Blasphemy! Oh well, I learned my lesson and I will never help a soul again (just joking but I guess not a local). I know, I'm an ass hole.
Well, my time in Bali is about over. I've been here for almost a month and packing my bags and heading to Thailand. I'm getting pretty excited for this trip. Lots of my friends have been there and have been telling me places to go, things to see, etc. Only problem is its like telling someone where to go in Vegas. You get there and there are too many things to do. So, I've made the smallest itinerary possible and I'm sure that will disappear right when I get into Bangkok. Which is fine with me. That is how the trip has been this whole time and its worked out fantastic.
The past 3 weeks have been all surfing like you probably know by now. My friend Eddy and the group of friends from England live to surf. Two of the friends are pro surfers. Since I have been staying in Suka Beach Inn I have become good friends with these guys and girls. Luckily, they have been taking me surfing and showing me surf spots that I couldn't find/heard of. One of the places is called Canggu. This drive takes about 30 minutes but cuts left and right into random streets, unpaved roads and mind blowing rice terraces that surround you on this trail. Truly amazing drive that you get to do while on the search for some waves. When you least suspect it, the rice pattys end and opens up into this small beach. On top, they built this small pier that overlooks the ocean. Its surrounded by some restaurants and usually filled with people at sunset to watch surfers and eat some food. Great atmosphere and environment. The beach itself is pretty cool. It offers a reef and sand break. Depending on the swell you can pick and choose where you want to go. Problem is this break is filled with sea urchin, so if you accidentally stand up in shallow water your probably gonna get stung. On top of that the water is filled with this stinging sea lice. Those don't hurt but sting constantly and are a nuisance. Anyways the past week there has been really good. Sweet waves, warm water and good people. Definitely recommend going to this break.
Besides that the day is pretty standard like I have said before. I've yet to talk about the food out here though ( I think). Lots and lots of rice and noodles. A favorite of mine is Mie Goreng. Its oyster sauce, noodles, green veggies and some other stuff that I have no idea what they put in. Maybe is chicken? I donno but it tasted great. Other food that I have been eating at least twice a day are these buffet style restaurants. You walk up and pick and choose what kind of food you want. Typically, I get white rice, potatoes, corn, prawns (deep fried and they leave the whole entire body still attached, shell and everything, there really good!), veggies, curry, etc. The list really goes on and its dirt cheap for this food. Super good. I have eaten at this place every single day since I have been here.
What else, oh yea. I was at this club the other night. Might I add it was free drinks all night for us westerners, and was dancing with some random girls and noticed this super old guy, I'm guessing around 80, no joke and dancing the night away. I mean, he was that guy. He was the life of the club. Arms pumping in the air, beer in the other hand and his legs were moving like Michael Jackson. I was blown away. I couldn't even dance anymore. He took all my moves and remixed them into better ones. Oh well, it made my night and I laughed so hard I almost poo-ed all that mie-go-wrong right out of me. Well, I guess I did anyway b/c it happens quite often after I eat this food.
Some other things I haven't talked about are the people in Bali. There nice, really nice but they gotta make a living out here and that results in me not liking lots of them. Every 10 feet someone asks you if you want transport, bintang, tattoo, etc. My favorite one is that all of them have these trades. There magicians. If you say no to transport then they start to offer everything you can imagin. They probably do surgery folks! Not even kidding. I'll be wearing my sunglasses and this guy will grab your arm and be like "sunglasses? you want sunglasses?" I get so confused b/c he knows I have them on.
There are these steps that I have been hanging out at. Its right outside a convenience store and lots of people hang out here at night to have some bintangs (beer) and then go out to the club. Right across the street is covered in run down stores that sell t-shirts, etc. Stuff you don't need, get it? But this one guy, everyday sits outside and points his lazer pointer and ignites his taser. It scares the ba-jee-bees out of people. Sometimes, at night I have seen him go up to guys and actually shock them with the taser! Messed up. I'm sure its on the lowest settings but still, if he did that to me he would have heard what a sailor sounds like and maybe a fist in his eye. But that would take me to jail so I wouldn't do that.
So overall, Bali has treated me so well. I now know the whole island like the back of my hand, really well. I got lost left and right and but I could show you this island in the best way possible. Kuta is filled with small random alleyways that are shortcuts to the surrounding roads. I know them folks. I could even be a guide of some sort but that would make me one of those locals and its too much competition for me to handle. I'll stick with being a tourist. I've eaten some amazing fruit, met some great new friends and have experienced a culture like no other. Can't say I'll miss the hecklers at the shops and the lack of art stores (I'm running out of pens and supplies) but I will truly miss the island of Bali. Next time I come here I will explore more of the thousand islands of Indonesia.
Next stop: Thailand! Bali is just a warm up for what Bangkok will be like.
P.S.
My iPhone just bugged out on me and got stuck on the apple logo when rebooting. It will stay there for hours and not do anything. I asked around to see if there was a apple store and got pointed to "central" where there is a mall. Far from a mall but I did walk by this tiny stand that sold phones: this was the apple store. I showed the guy my problem and he pointed me to his real store out in Denpasar. I drove out there, found the real mac store and asked the workers how to solve my problem. They had no idea, said there tech guy works tomorrow and to come in the next day. From there I went on Google, in the store and figured out how to fix the problem. Why did I go to the Mac store when there is Google. Oh well, now i'm sitting here trying to restore my phone and download the update which is a big file. It says it will take 4 hours to download. What a drag. Hopefully this works...
Well, my time in Bali is about over. I've been here for almost a month and packing my bags and heading to Thailand. I'm getting pretty excited for this trip. Lots of my friends have been there and have been telling me places to go, things to see, etc. Only problem is its like telling someone where to go in Vegas. You get there and there are too many things to do. So, I've made the smallest itinerary possible and I'm sure that will disappear right when I get into Bangkok. Which is fine with me. That is how the trip has been this whole time and its worked out fantastic.
The past 3 weeks have been all surfing like you probably know by now. My friend Eddy and the group of friends from England live to surf. Two of the friends are pro surfers. Since I have been staying in Suka Beach Inn I have become good friends with these guys and girls. Luckily, they have been taking me surfing and showing me surf spots that I couldn't find/heard of. One of the places is called Canggu. This drive takes about 30 minutes but cuts left and right into random streets, unpaved roads and mind blowing rice terraces that surround you on this trail. Truly amazing drive that you get to do while on the search for some waves. When you least suspect it, the rice pattys end and opens up into this small beach. On top, they built this small pier that overlooks the ocean. Its surrounded by some restaurants and usually filled with people at sunset to watch surfers and eat some food. Great atmosphere and environment. The beach itself is pretty cool. It offers a reef and sand break. Depending on the swell you can pick and choose where you want to go. Problem is this break is filled with sea urchin, so if you accidentally stand up in shallow water your probably gonna get stung. On top of that the water is filled with this stinging sea lice. Those don't hurt but sting constantly and are a nuisance. Anyways the past week there has been really good. Sweet waves, warm water and good people. Definitely recommend going to this break.
Besides that the day is pretty standard like I have said before. I've yet to talk about the food out here though ( I think). Lots and lots of rice and noodles. A favorite of mine is Mie Goreng. Its oyster sauce, noodles, green veggies and some other stuff that I have no idea what they put in. Maybe is chicken? I donno but it tasted great. Other food that I have been eating at least twice a day are these buffet style restaurants. You walk up and pick and choose what kind of food you want. Typically, I get white rice, potatoes, corn, prawns (deep fried and they leave the whole entire body still attached, shell and everything, there really good!), veggies, curry, etc. The list really goes on and its dirt cheap for this food. Super good. I have eaten at this place every single day since I have been here.
What else, oh yea. I was at this club the other night. Might I add it was free drinks all night for us westerners, and was dancing with some random girls and noticed this super old guy, I'm guessing around 80, no joke and dancing the night away. I mean, he was that guy. He was the life of the club. Arms pumping in the air, beer in the other hand and his legs were moving like Michael Jackson. I was blown away. I couldn't even dance anymore. He took all my moves and remixed them into better ones. Oh well, it made my night and I laughed so hard I almost poo-ed all that mie-go-wrong right out of me. Well, I guess I did anyway b/c it happens quite often after I eat this food.
Some other things I haven't talked about are the people in Bali. There nice, really nice but they gotta make a living out here and that results in me not liking lots of them. Every 10 feet someone asks you if you want transport, bintang, tattoo, etc. My favorite one is that all of them have these trades. There magicians. If you say no to transport then they start to offer everything you can imagin. They probably do surgery folks! Not even kidding. I'll be wearing my sunglasses and this guy will grab your arm and be like "sunglasses? you want sunglasses?" I get so confused b/c he knows I have them on.
There are these steps that I have been hanging out at. Its right outside a convenience store and lots of people hang out here at night to have some bintangs (beer) and then go out to the club. Right across the street is covered in run down stores that sell t-shirts, etc. Stuff you don't need, get it? But this one guy, everyday sits outside and points his lazer pointer and ignites his taser. It scares the ba-jee-bees out of people. Sometimes, at night I have seen him go up to guys and actually shock them with the taser! Messed up. I'm sure its on the lowest settings but still, if he did that to me he would have heard what a sailor sounds like and maybe a fist in his eye. But that would take me to jail so I wouldn't do that.
So overall, Bali has treated me so well. I now know the whole island like the back of my hand, really well. I got lost left and right and but I could show you this island in the best way possible. Kuta is filled with small random alleyways that are shortcuts to the surrounding roads. I know them folks. I could even be a guide of some sort but that would make me one of those locals and its too much competition for me to handle. I'll stick with being a tourist. I've eaten some amazing fruit, met some great new friends and have experienced a culture like no other. Can't say I'll miss the hecklers at the shops and the lack of art stores (I'm running out of pens and supplies) but I will truly miss the island of Bali. Next time I come here I will explore more of the thousand islands of Indonesia.
Next stop: Thailand! Bali is just a warm up for what Bangkok will be like.
P.S.
My iPhone just bugged out on me and got stuck on the apple logo when rebooting. It will stay there for hours and not do anything. I asked around to see if there was a apple store and got pointed to "central" where there is a mall. Far from a mall but I did walk by this tiny stand that sold phones: this was the apple store. I showed the guy my problem and he pointed me to his real store out in Denpasar. I drove out there, found the real mac store and asked the workers how to solve my problem. They had no idea, said there tech guy works tomorrow and to come in the next day. From there I went on Google, in the store and figured out how to fix the problem. Why did I go to the Mac store when there is Google. Oh well, now i'm sitting here trying to restore my phone and download the update which is a big file. It says it will take 4 hours to download. What a drag. Hopefully this works...
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Bali update people
Hello everyone. So, really nothing has happened since last I talked to you. I'm still in Kuta and have been hanging out here since I made my trip around Bali. Kuta is like a small Vegas. Its none stop party if you want to but still quite in certain areas if you want to relax. For me, I'm kinda broke so I haven't been hitting up the nightlife every night like some people.
My daily routine has gone something like this:
wake up around 8 a.m., get my all included breakfast for free at the lobby, drink my tea (yes folks I have started to drink tea, but only because they mix up instant coffee and it taste like chalk) but don't hate on me and say English people have rubbed off on me when I come home. Then grab my surfboard and drive to the east or west side for a morning surf. Stay in the water for a couple of hours and then make my way back to Kuta where I get lunch at this super rad restaurant next door to my place. This restaurant looks like street market food but its stationary and has tables to sit at. You go up to the lady like a buffet style. She grabs rice and you order random amounts of food that you don't know what your eating. I figured out most of the stuff like omelets, mie goreng (noodles) curry sauce, prawns, beans and sometimes chicken but they charge a lot more for that. The cost today for lunch was 11 rupiah. Which is about $1.10. Not bad people. Great deals here.
After I eat I have just been relaxing and hanging out with new friends. The rumors are true about Bali: you don't get a whole lot done here. Lots of lounging. The past few days I have started to sketch up new t-shirt designs for Youthrunner and hopefully they will be out here soon.
Oh yea, I met up with one of my friends from couchsurfing in Australia. He has been traveling pretty much the same direction I am and he arrived in Bali last wee. We got a double room so the price is cut in half to $5 a night. Which is pretty tight. Cool kid. We've just been surfing everyday.
As far as adventures go besides just surfing everyday in Kuta, this Balinese girl text messaged me last night about a couchsurfing event. She said it was a full moonlight party out in Ubud. It sounded like a good time so me and Oliver (new roommate) met up with Irene and we walked down the street to this gas station where a bunch of other couchsurfers were gathering to get rides out to Ubud. We got there and met people from around the world. It sound like an interesting event and we both wanted to back out since it was in Ubud (1.5 hr drive) but we ended up going anyways.
While we were driving we got lost many many times in Ubud. These people had no idea where we were going and neither did I. Hours later of asking people we found this random cafe in the middle of some amazing rice patty fields. The cafe was built purely out of bamboo and straw. Some of the main structure of bamboo was as thick as a large basketball! We were also surrounded by green rice terraces (but it was dark so pictures couldn't capture the moment). The cafe had over 20 couchsurfers just mingling and talking to everyone. It was very mellow. Too mellow for me and that's hard to come by. I smooozed around and got to get to know some people but was pretty much ready to go home the instant we got there. The crowd was much older than me and Oliver and it just wasn't my scene.
It got to around 12:30 and I was def ready to go. It was almost like me tugging on my dad when I was a kid to leave, but I had to do that part in my head. We finally got in with another car that was leaving but they were going to Denpasar. Whatever, we left with them anyways and would figure out how to get to Kuta from there. This is where things got interesting. 10 minutes into the drive there was a huge bike accident ahead. First instinct was to get out of the car and see what was going on. I got out, ran over to the crash site and saw some awefull things. One guy was fully knocked out, covered in blood and probably dead while the other guy was also covered in blood but was have some serious convulsions. This other guy was trying to move the bike out of the road. I went to help him. I grabbed the steering wheel but the whole piece came off. I had this piece in my hand while the bike was still laying on the ground. We both grabbed what we could and pushed it off the road.
By the way, this is all within 30 seconds. I turned around and the car that I was with turned around and started to drive away! I started to run back to the car to jump in. They were in complete panic mode and wanted to get out of there. They thought we were going to get robbed but clearly two people were seriously injured. The car was still parked and I looked back at the accident. Two guys grabbed one of the injured guys and moved him off the road so traffic could keep moving. It was so messed up. They were more concerned about getting this piece of body off the road rather than wait for the ambulance to save his life. By moving him they probably paralyzed him.
Were in the car and I'm yelling at these people on why were leaving and how we need to get help. They didn't know what to do but they thought we were in danger. Not at all. I convince them to go to the hospital to tell a doctor about what happened. We later found one and told the doctor. He was really non-shelon about the situation and said "OK, well be there soon" moving extra slow like he didn't care. This is the difference between a 3rd world country and America. You don't move the body and the ambulance would be there in minutes to save you.
This situation really opened my eyes on how injury out here may leave you in the dust. Its like people didn't care on what happened. I still don't know what to think about the situation but I may have seen a couple of dead bodies for the first time in my life, hopefully not.
Later on we got a taxi cab from Denpasar back to Kuta.
Besides that, I have still been loving life and just surfing everyday. Today, the waves got bigger and I exchanged the board that I had for a bigger wave board. The surf was good but the riptide and current was horrible. I was paddling in the same place for most of the session. Got a good workout that's for sure.
My plan is to stay in Kuta for the rest of my trip, start to work a lot more and prepare myself for Thailand and SE Asia.
-Sean
My daily routine has gone something like this:
wake up around 8 a.m., get my all included breakfast for free at the lobby, drink my tea (yes folks I have started to drink tea, but only because they mix up instant coffee and it taste like chalk) but don't hate on me and say English people have rubbed off on me when I come home. Then grab my surfboard and drive to the east or west side for a morning surf. Stay in the water for a couple of hours and then make my way back to Kuta where I get lunch at this super rad restaurant next door to my place. This restaurant looks like street market food but its stationary and has tables to sit at. You go up to the lady like a buffet style. She grabs rice and you order random amounts of food that you don't know what your eating. I figured out most of the stuff like omelets, mie goreng (noodles) curry sauce, prawns, beans and sometimes chicken but they charge a lot more for that. The cost today for lunch was 11 rupiah. Which is about $1.10. Not bad people. Great deals here.
After I eat I have just been relaxing and hanging out with new friends. The rumors are true about Bali: you don't get a whole lot done here. Lots of lounging. The past few days I have started to sketch up new t-shirt designs for Youthrunner and hopefully they will be out here soon.
Oh yea, I met up with one of my friends from couchsurfing in Australia. He has been traveling pretty much the same direction I am and he arrived in Bali last wee. We got a double room so the price is cut in half to $5 a night. Which is pretty tight. Cool kid. We've just been surfing everyday.
As far as adventures go besides just surfing everyday in Kuta, this Balinese girl text messaged me last night about a couchsurfing event. She said it was a full moonlight party out in Ubud. It sounded like a good time so me and Oliver (new roommate) met up with Irene and we walked down the street to this gas station where a bunch of other couchsurfers were gathering to get rides out to Ubud. We got there and met people from around the world. It sound like an interesting event and we both wanted to back out since it was in Ubud (1.5 hr drive) but we ended up going anyways.
While we were driving we got lost many many times in Ubud. These people had no idea where we were going and neither did I. Hours later of asking people we found this random cafe in the middle of some amazing rice patty fields. The cafe was built purely out of bamboo and straw. Some of the main structure of bamboo was as thick as a large basketball! We were also surrounded by green rice terraces (but it was dark so pictures couldn't capture the moment). The cafe had over 20 couchsurfers just mingling and talking to everyone. It was very mellow. Too mellow for me and that's hard to come by. I smooozed around and got to get to know some people but was pretty much ready to go home the instant we got there. The crowd was much older than me and Oliver and it just wasn't my scene.
It got to around 12:30 and I was def ready to go. It was almost like me tugging on my dad when I was a kid to leave, but I had to do that part in my head. We finally got in with another car that was leaving but they were going to Denpasar. Whatever, we left with them anyways and would figure out how to get to Kuta from there. This is where things got interesting. 10 minutes into the drive there was a huge bike accident ahead. First instinct was to get out of the car and see what was going on. I got out, ran over to the crash site and saw some awefull things. One guy was fully knocked out, covered in blood and probably dead while the other guy was also covered in blood but was have some serious convulsions. This other guy was trying to move the bike out of the road. I went to help him. I grabbed the steering wheel but the whole piece came off. I had this piece in my hand while the bike was still laying on the ground. We both grabbed what we could and pushed it off the road.
By the way, this is all within 30 seconds. I turned around and the car that I was with turned around and started to drive away! I started to run back to the car to jump in. They were in complete panic mode and wanted to get out of there. They thought we were going to get robbed but clearly two people were seriously injured. The car was still parked and I looked back at the accident. Two guys grabbed one of the injured guys and moved him off the road so traffic could keep moving. It was so messed up. They were more concerned about getting this piece of body off the road rather than wait for the ambulance to save his life. By moving him they probably paralyzed him.
Were in the car and I'm yelling at these people on why were leaving and how we need to get help. They didn't know what to do but they thought we were in danger. Not at all. I convince them to go to the hospital to tell a doctor about what happened. We later found one and told the doctor. He was really non-shelon about the situation and said "OK, well be there soon" moving extra slow like he didn't care. This is the difference between a 3rd world country and America. You don't move the body and the ambulance would be there in minutes to save you.
This situation really opened my eyes on how injury out here may leave you in the dust. Its like people didn't care on what happened. I still don't know what to think about the situation but I may have seen a couple of dead bodies for the first time in my life, hopefully not.
Later on we got a taxi cab from Denpasar back to Kuta.
Besides that, I have still been loving life and just surfing everyday. Today, the waves got bigger and I exchanged the board that I had for a bigger wave board. The surf was good but the riptide and current was horrible. I was paddling in the same place for most of the session. Got a good workout that's for sure.
My plan is to stay in Kuta for the rest of my trip, start to work a lot more and prepare myself for Thailand and SE Asia.
-Sean
Saturday, January 23, 2010
West Bali
My trip took me west from Lovina towards Gilimanuk. Gilimanuk is where you would jump on a ferry to go to Java. The drive here was pretty mellow. It was all along the coast so you got to see bits and pieces of the ocean. Sometimes there were large craters in the mountains near by but nothing like you would see in Oregon. I arrived in the town and went to the ferry. I was temped to jump boat but held back. I was on a mission to do the whole island. That will have to be for the next trip out here. So, I head south now towards Seminyak and Kuta. This drive took quite a while. The roads were pretty straight and didn't take that many pictures. It was really cool but I already took a bunch of pictures of rice patties so I didn't need anymore. I ended up in Kuta and found a homestay. My plan now is to surf for the rest of the trip, and I have been doing that so far. Kuta is the big city and full of tourist. Its over populated and everyone has a scooter including me. At first I thought there were too many people, but Kuta has grown on me. I now really like it. Each place to surf though is a drive. Kuta has a beach but its flat because its rainy season and the waves are all on the east side (Kuta is west). Bali is quite the place.
Until next time folks...I'm trying hard to get pictures up but Internet here is even slower than OZ.
Until next time folks...I'm trying hard to get pictures up but Internet here is even slower than OZ.
Lovina
I got to the town Singaraja. Singaraja was about 10 minutes east of Lovina. I pulled over to check out this harbor and this guy on a scooter asked me where I was going. Pretty much everyone does. I told him Lovina. He said he works at this homestay and I should check it out. Okay, so I followed him there. It was pretty rad spot. Right on the beach and full of people. I booked the room and ended up staying there for a couple of days. Ended up making friends with all the workers and showing me a good time. The second day I was there I decided to make a road trip up into the mountains and check it out. Bali is known for being a tropical island but up top was freezing raining. After an all day drive up the mountains I finally arrived and my hands were purple and hands looks like brains. I pulled off the road to get some coffee and warm up. It didn't do anything. I guess I got used to the warm weather and I just got reminded of what its like back home in the winter time. Regardless, the drive was well worth it. More rice patties and up top the mountain lied two lakes and another town in between both of them. I drove to the town and was searching for a fruit market. The book that I have says that this town is known for producing wild strawberries that only grow here. Luckily there was a huge fruit market here. I pulled off and started to bard er with fruit stands for the best deal. I played dumb and acted like I have never seen any of the fruit so I could try them. Actually about half of it I tried in Sidemen but the other half was here that I hadn't tried yet. I ended up buy a bag full of assorted fruit to take home, including the strawberries.
On my way back up the hill I picked a different route to take me home. But at this time I was in the middle of the clouds and couldn't see anything. On top of that it started to pour down rain. Cold and miserable I drove slow down the windy road. Warmer and warmer it got and finally I broke through the clouds to a whole new land of rice terraces! It was quite the site. I instantly forgot about being cold. I kept driving and later on pulling over to take pictures. I felt like such a tourist but was the only one up north. People come to Bali and only stay in Kuta. They never leave to explore so the part of the island is untouched. I heard there was a hot springs at the bottom of the hill so that was on the agenda of what to do next. By the time I got down there it was really hot again. At this point I was really lost and in the middle of no where. There was a lot of traffic down here and I kept looking for a place to pull off to ask someone for directions. Like a complete idiot I saw some guy and pulled over right away, not even looking where I was going. I caught a patch gravel and my bike hearled me over to my face hitting the ground. I got up fine but was bleeding on my arm and legs. The guy got up real quick and ran off to get his family for help. They all rushed over to see if I was okay. They started to put some sort of ointment on my hands where it was bleeding. But truly I was okay. I had the map in my hands trying to communicate with them but they were worried about my health. I was worried about the bike and me paying a fine. Honestly I was completely fine. It must have looked way worse that it came out but luckily I was wearing my helmet or it could have been much worse. Its not like I'm a bad driver and driving really fast, it was just this patch of gravel that caught me off guard. Anyways the guy told me that the hot springs were really hard to find and he would take me there. He got on his dirt bike and I followed him there. We arrived to this oasis and I thanked him and took off. If it wasn't for my crash I wouldn't have found this hot springs. Weird how things work.
Inside was a huge pool. The upper deck was the warmest and colder beyond each lower level. The first level had 6 or so dragon statchue's spilling out hot water into the pool. Pretty neat. I jumped in and watched little kids do flip into the pool as I just stuck my face into this fountain of hot water. It was nice, then I left. Another hot spring but this time it was in a tropical island. Never would have thought the need for a hot springs would happen. It did and now I can check it off the list.
I made it back to Lovina in my homestay safe and sound. That night the sunset was unreal. The pictures I got were great. I met this couple from Germany and we ended up hanging out all night. We went and got food at the street market. Things here are even cheaper, but come with consequence. Definitely the only white people here. We stood very tall compared to the locals. After talking for hours we ended up closing the place down. People started to look at us like we were having too much fun. Kinda like Denny's late night. So we left. I asked them if they do facebook so we could keep in contact but they call facebook, fukbook. I will never see these people again. Cheers.
Next day I left to head west to check out the rest of the island.
On my way back up the hill I picked a different route to take me home. But at this time I was in the middle of the clouds and couldn't see anything. On top of that it started to pour down rain. Cold and miserable I drove slow down the windy road. Warmer and warmer it got and finally I broke through the clouds to a whole new land of rice terraces! It was quite the site. I instantly forgot about being cold. I kept driving and later on pulling over to take pictures. I felt like such a tourist but was the only one up north. People come to Bali and only stay in Kuta. They never leave to explore so the part of the island is untouched. I heard there was a hot springs at the bottom of the hill so that was on the agenda of what to do next. By the time I got down there it was really hot again. At this point I was really lost and in the middle of no where. There was a lot of traffic down here and I kept looking for a place to pull off to ask someone for directions. Like a complete idiot I saw some guy and pulled over right away, not even looking where I was going. I caught a patch gravel and my bike hearled me over to my face hitting the ground. I got up fine but was bleeding on my arm and legs. The guy got up real quick and ran off to get his family for help. They all rushed over to see if I was okay. They started to put some sort of ointment on my hands where it was bleeding. But truly I was okay. I had the map in my hands trying to communicate with them but they were worried about my health. I was worried about the bike and me paying a fine. Honestly I was completely fine. It must have looked way worse that it came out but luckily I was wearing my helmet or it could have been much worse. Its not like I'm a bad driver and driving really fast, it was just this patch of gravel that caught me off guard. Anyways the guy told me that the hot springs were really hard to find and he would take me there. He got on his dirt bike and I followed him there. We arrived to this oasis and I thanked him and took off. If it wasn't for my crash I wouldn't have found this hot springs. Weird how things work.
Inside was a huge pool. The upper deck was the warmest and colder beyond each lower level. The first level had 6 or so dragon statchue's spilling out hot water into the pool. Pretty neat. I jumped in and watched little kids do flip into the pool as I just stuck my face into this fountain of hot water. It was nice, then I left. Another hot spring but this time it was in a tropical island. Never would have thought the need for a hot springs would happen. It did and now I can check it off the list.
I made it back to Lovina in my homestay safe and sound. That night the sunset was unreal. The pictures I got were great. I met this couple from Germany and we ended up hanging out all night. We went and got food at the street market. Things here are even cheaper, but come with consequence. Definitely the only white people here. We stood very tall compared to the locals. After talking for hours we ended up closing the place down. People started to look at us like we were having too much fun. Kinda like Denny's late night. So we left. I asked them if they do facebook so we could keep in contact but they call facebook, fukbook. I will never see these people again. Cheers.
Next day I left to head west to check out the rest of the island.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Bali: travels around the island
Okay, where to start...
Day one: I got on my scooter and headed north towards Ubud. Ubud (ooo-bud (like the dog)). The drive was supposed to be around 45 minutes north towards the center of the island. Alex gave me simple directions: take a right at the McDonald's and go straight. I somehow took a right and headed south. I'm a dumb ass. 15 minutes later I realized the signs said that I was headed towards Kuta (south). So I turned around and headed north towards the real Ubud. 1 hours later I arrived in Ubud and then right through it without even knowing it was a town. So 1/2 after I arrived in the town I actually turned around because I passed it. Wow. The thing about Bali is that the whole entire road leading to Ubud is filled with these little stores neck to neck selling stuff so you don't actually know where one town ends and the next begins. So the drive leading up to Ubud had a huge culture change. Bali is known for having a different culture in each city, and there right. Ubud had lots of wood working and craftsmanship on every corner. I mean, this is where all the product comes from. On top of that the people act slightly different. Much more relaxed and all dressed up in Balinese outerwear.
First thing I did in town was follow these signs to this monkey forest. This was a direct route that I knew for sure that I was in Ubud. So that was a relief. I finally arrived at this monkey sanchuary and walked in. Right away there were 10 or so monkeys at the entrance awaiting some bananas. So cool! I kept walking and more and more monkeys popped out to greet me and see what was going on. I mean this was a monkey forest so there had to be tons of them. You knowthe jungle book ? Yea that's what I was living in. Large Balinese stone stachue's filled with enormous trees that have thousands of vines hanging from them. You could easily swing like Tarzan here.
So, I walked around for a couple of hours hanging out with the monkeys. One time, I got real up close and personal with this baby monkey and he grabbed my hand and tried to take the camera. I got a great shot of this, but there was no chance he was going to take my G11.
I finally left this place in pursuit for a homestay to crash for the night. For some reason when I'm driving this scooter I loose all visibility for homestays. All I see are bungalows and there way more expensive to rent. I took some random alleyways to find some homestays and found nothing. Finally, I gave up and went into a bungalow hotel and asked them how much and/or if they knew of a homestay that would be cheap to stay for the night. The manager took me down the street, into a sketchy back alleyway, down a trail and into this oasis of homestays. At first I thought it was a joke but I checked out the rooms and instantly booked it. Although it was down this weird entrance I sort of liked it.
At this time, I took a shower and headed out to check out the town and get some food. Upon walking I found this open grass field where some little kids were playing soccer. Naturally, I busted out my camera and snapped some shots. So far this town has noticeably fewer white people than Sanur and Kuta. I probably saw 30 white people here.
That night I went to a Balinese dance show. I really had no idea what to expect but I entered this temple and found a Balinese band playing drums and different sets of dancers going to the beat. They would move to each thump to the melody. If they would move there arms one way, there eyes would look the opposite. It was really interested. Each set lasted about 10 minutes. So, I can check that off the list.
Next morning, I woke up to coffee and tea awaiting for me at my table right outside the steps. The owner came up to me and we chatted for a bit and then he offered to make me breakfast. He later came out with this amazing Balinese omelet and a fruit platter of fruit I have never seen before. What a quality breakfast this guy made. I ate and then pulled out my map to see where to head off next. He helped me with directions.
Onward bound I went. Into the mist and sunlight I went. Aimlessly driving into nomads land. The goal for the day was to make multiple site seeing stops and end up in Tulamben. So my first stop was Semarapura. This town was just a pass through city so I can get to Sidemen (sid-a-min) Sidemen was up deep in the mountains and was known for amazing hiking trails all over the mountains. The drive up was a slow go. The roads turned like "S's" and reminded me of the Mazda commercials when they say "zoom zoom". Anyways I got to the top and ended up in this shot down slum village. It was all little stores and fruit stands. At first I drove through the town pretty slow to get a feel for it and then parked my bike to wonder around and talk to the city folk. Up in the woods here I stuck out like white minority or something. Well I was. Everyone was starring at me with smiles and little kids would run up to you, giggle and then run off. It was so cool. I instantly went up to this fruit stand. I still don't have any idea what I ate but the lady would just grab a fruit that I was looking at, peel it and then feed it to me. All of them were delicacies. If you know me well enough, I love fruit and anything to do with sweet and sour is a must. This fruit stand nailed it all together and I was in flavor country. This one fruit I tried looked like snake scales, brown and very hard to the touch. The lady peeled it like an orange but inside was a huge white ball. There were different layers to it but each piece you grab looked like an garlic clove. It had a rubbery feel texture and bite but very sweet tasting. I ended up buying a bag from her for 20 cents. I sat outside on the street eating every last bit if it. Then got up and left. It was definitely a slum village but the area that they lived in was amazing. Rice terraces everywhere the eye could see and jacked up mountains full of trees. Hopefully the pictures will explain some of this.
My drive was still heading west towards Tulamben. The first town that hit the ocean was called Kusumba. All black sand and more run down shops. The first thing I saw was this huge temple. I pulled over and went for a look. Go figure I entered in this place where there was a big sign saying don't come in (mainly because you have to dress up in order to come in the temple) So they yelled at me and I went around to the entrance. Go America. I paid my 10 cents and this guy fully dressed me up in there Balinese outfit. I had this yellow and black robe that was tied around my waist followed by another piece of cloth that tied it all together, plus I had this rad necklace around my neck and of course my tank top. I was styling. So I walked in and snapped who knows how many pictures. Oh yea, the temple was called Goa Lawah. Little that I new this temple was known for there bat cave! So as I was walking around I heard all of these loud noises coming from this cave. I got closer and so thousands if not millions of bats flying all around this cave. It was crazy, it smelled like cow shit mixed with diarrhea but my pictures only capture the the Kodak moment. So you guys are kinda lucky in a way. I hung on as long as I could and got the heck out of there before I passed out from holding my breath. All in all the temple was well worth the show. Outside the temple there were plenty of hecklers trying to get me to buy stuff. Especially the guys who sell sunglasses. I mean, I'm wearing my sunglasses and there asking me to buy some. I point to my face but they still don't get that I have glasses on. Wow, there persistent, I'll give them that.
Okay, so I left and I'm heading towards Tulamben once again. So far I have been following all the directions from this rad book my cousin Kathy gave to me. The author of this book really knew what he was talking about. This next drive from Kusumba to Tulamben has been by far the best scenic drive of my life. It could have been because I was by myself, on a scooter, or because the mountains and rice patties were picture perfect and I have never seen this much vibrant green ever. This drive probably took me 3 hours to do only because I kept stopping to take pictures. Each picture sorta looks the same but its kinda what you imagine about a rice terrace. There set on a mountain range but over thousands of years of landscaping the hill they have massive level walking areas to grow the rice. Just look it up on google and you'll know what I'm talking about. The roads twisted and turned as I climbed up into the mountains. It slowly turned from sunny to overcast and a mist of rain. I really can't explain how crazy cool this drive was. It was really peaceful and you can really tell how much Balinese people love there land. The landscaping done is breathtaking.
Each time that I pulled over to take some pictures were all pretty sketchy. Bali doesn't have dedicated scenic pull offs like America so you have to make your own. The roads give little to no room to pull over to each time I had to dodge cars just to take a picture. One of the stops this Italian guy pulled over at the same stop. We were both in amazement. After talking for a few seconds we realized we were both heading to the same destination. We ended up driving down to Amed. This was another bypass town. It was pretty cool though. Really small, full of bungalows and homestays with a couple of restaurants. I got some food and of course it started to rain. I had to stay there for about an hour until it stopped. Hopefully. The instant it stopped I got up and headed out. About 20 minutes later I arrived in Tulamben. Well, actually I drove right through it because I was literally 500 meters long and no sign saying your in the town. But I figured that out and started to look for a homestay and scuba diving. I ended up staying at this place called "Ocean Sun". It was only 4 bedrooms and a restaurant. Super small. The people staying there were really nice. I ended up hanging out with these two people Dave and Sally. They were both here to scuba dive, exactly what I was there for two. We ended up finding a dive master that was going to take all of us out the next day.
Next day, bright and early we walked down to get ready to scuba. The workers fitted us and we put our gear on and walked down to the beach. Typically you get on a boat but in this situation you just go from the beach. The beach was all black but more in pebble form, not sand. We got in the water and I noticed my tank had a slight hiss noise to it. Meaning it had a tiny leek. I mentioned it to the dive master but it didn't seem much concern. We descended down looking for this old Japanese shipwreck. Right away there was wildlife everywhere. Lots of vibrant fish with cool patterns laced around them. Couple minutes later this shipwreck appeared. It took us the entire time to wrap around the boat. It was 120 meters long! We all chipped in and rented a underwater camera to take some pictures. The dive master was the photographer and later on realized it was a big mistake. Every 5 seconds he was asking us to pose for the camera and wave. It was cool at first but I really wanted pictures of the fish and reef. Whatever. By the end of the swim my tank was maybe 50 psi. This is incredibly low and I still had to wait 3 minutes to get the nitrogen out of my system. The thing I noticed was in Bali (third world country) you get what you pay for, and that is all the air in your tank. Out in Australia we had to come up to the surface at 100 psi. Making the dive pretty short. This dive was over 45 minutes! Probably the longest dive I have done. The next dive we did, the dive master was going to take us into the ship. This was really cool. Some of the holes we had to fit into barely fit our body and the tank. I got to hold the captains steering wheel. My favorite thing that I saw were these schools of eels in the sand. From far away they would all pop out there bodies from the sand about 1 ft. All synchronized with the riptide. They would be stacked next to each other, row by row. Maybe 10 in the first row and so on. Naturally I went in for a look and as I got closer, the first row would disappear back into the sand, then the second. As I backed off, they would pop right back up.
So the two dives I did were fantastic. Visibility wasn't at its best but that's because its in the wet season.
Next day I got my things packed up and ready to go. We were all sitting outside the restaurant and noticed a huge dark cloud rushing our way. 5 minutes later monsoon rains came plummeting down. I mean I've never seen rain like this. It was raining sideways and flooded the whole restaurant within minutes. Everyone had to move closer inside or you would be drenched by the rain. On top of that the thunder and lighting that was shouting out put Shiloh to shame. It was the loudest crackling and pop ever. The street outside turned into a river. I mean the whole 2 lane street was a river. 1/2 later the rain stopped and cleared up. I walked outside to look around. 500 ft down the street I noticed that the whole street had a new river that plowed through it and wiped it away. All the rain from the mountains came through the town and took out the whole street. Up closer was a huge waterfall that came rushing down off the street. All the cars around it couldn't get by. It was cool for me, Dave and Sally but everyone else was a normal thing to them. Later on when the river down down a bit from being 1 or more ft deep to 6 inches cars started to attempt to get back. All sliding out like they were driving through ice. The funniest part was when the first scooter tried to get by. Luckily he made it but he was sliding out on every turn and I thought he was gonna fall off into the waterfall. He charged through it like a bat out of hell. We all cheered him on.
We sat there for an hour of so in amazement then finally left. It was a perfect time for me to leave before the rain started again. So, I said my goodbyes to my new friends and took off. My next destination was Lovina. The north side of the island and 5 or 6 hour drive. There were no more rice patties but just all small shacks and stores the whole drive. Not too fancy.
Day one: I got on my scooter and headed north towards Ubud. Ubud (ooo-bud (like the dog)). The drive was supposed to be around 45 minutes north towards the center of the island. Alex gave me simple directions: take a right at the McDonald's and go straight. I somehow took a right and headed south. I'm a dumb ass. 15 minutes later I realized the signs said that I was headed towards Kuta (south). So I turned around and headed north towards the real Ubud. 1 hours later I arrived in Ubud and then right through it without even knowing it was a town. So 1/2 after I arrived in the town I actually turned around because I passed it. Wow. The thing about Bali is that the whole entire road leading to Ubud is filled with these little stores neck to neck selling stuff so you don't actually know where one town ends and the next begins. So the drive leading up to Ubud had a huge culture change. Bali is known for having a different culture in each city, and there right. Ubud had lots of wood working and craftsmanship on every corner. I mean, this is where all the product comes from. On top of that the people act slightly different. Much more relaxed and all dressed up in Balinese outerwear.
First thing I did in town was follow these signs to this monkey forest. This was a direct route that I knew for sure that I was in Ubud. So that was a relief. I finally arrived at this monkey sanchuary and walked in. Right away there were 10 or so monkeys at the entrance awaiting some bananas. So cool! I kept walking and more and more monkeys popped out to greet me and see what was going on. I mean this was a monkey forest so there had to be tons of them. You know
So, I walked around for a couple of hours hanging out with the monkeys. One time, I got real up close and personal with this baby monkey and he grabbed my hand and tried to take the camera. I got a great shot of this, but there was no chance he was going to take my G11.
I finally left this place in pursuit for a homestay to crash for the night. For some reason when I'm driving this scooter I loose all visibility for homestays. All I see are bungalows and there way more expensive to rent. I took some random alleyways to find some homestays and found nothing. Finally, I gave up and went into a bungalow hotel and asked them how much and/or if they knew of a homestay that would be cheap to stay for the night. The manager took me down the street, into a sketchy back alleyway, down a trail and into this oasis of homestays. At first I thought it was a joke but I checked out the rooms and instantly booked it. Although it was down this weird entrance I sort of liked it.
At this time, I took a shower and headed out to check out the town and get some food. Upon walking I found this open grass field where some little kids were playing soccer. Naturally, I busted out my camera and snapped some shots. So far this town has noticeably fewer white people than Sanur and Kuta. I probably saw 30 white people here.
That night I went to a Balinese dance show. I really had no idea what to expect but I entered this temple and found a Balinese band playing drums and different sets of dancers going to the beat. They would move to each thump to the melody. If they would move there arms one way, there eyes would look the opposite. It was really interested. Each set lasted about 10 minutes. So, I can check that off the list.
Next morning, I woke up to coffee and tea awaiting for me at my table right outside the steps. The owner came up to me and we chatted for a bit and then he offered to make me breakfast. He later came out with this amazing Balinese omelet and a fruit platter of fruit I have never seen before. What a quality breakfast this guy made. I ate and then pulled out my map to see where to head off next. He helped me with directions.
Onward bound I went. Into the mist and sunlight I went. Aimlessly driving into nomads land. The goal for the day was to make multiple site seeing stops and end up in Tulamben. So my first stop was Semarapura. This town was just a pass through city so I can get to Sidemen (sid-a-min) Sidemen was up deep in the mountains and was known for amazing hiking trails all over the mountains. The drive up was a slow go. The roads turned like "S's" and reminded me of the Mazda commercials when they say "zoom zoom". Anyways I got to the top and ended up in this shot down slum village. It was all little stores and fruit stands. At first I drove through the town pretty slow to get a feel for it and then parked my bike to wonder around and talk to the city folk. Up in the woods here I stuck out like white minority or something. Well I was. Everyone was starring at me with smiles and little kids would run up to you, giggle and then run off. It was so cool. I instantly went up to this fruit stand. I still don't have any idea what I ate but the lady would just grab a fruit that I was looking at, peel it and then feed it to me. All of them were delicacies. If you know me well enough, I love fruit and anything to do with sweet and sour is a must. This fruit stand nailed it all together and I was in flavor country. This one fruit I tried looked like snake scales, brown and very hard to the touch. The lady peeled it like an orange but inside was a huge white ball. There were different layers to it but each piece you grab looked like an garlic clove. It had a rubbery feel texture and bite but very sweet tasting. I ended up buying a bag from her for 20 cents. I sat outside on the street eating every last bit if it. Then got up and left. It was definitely a slum village but the area that they lived in was amazing. Rice terraces everywhere the eye could see and jacked up mountains full of trees. Hopefully the pictures will explain some of this.
My drive was still heading west towards Tulamben. The first town that hit the ocean was called Kusumba. All black sand and more run down shops. The first thing I saw was this huge temple. I pulled over and went for a look. Go figure I entered in this place where there was a big sign saying don't come in (mainly because you have to dress up in order to come in the temple) So they yelled at me and I went around to the entrance. Go America. I paid my 10 cents and this guy fully dressed me up in there Balinese outfit. I had this yellow and black robe that was tied around my waist followed by another piece of cloth that tied it all together, plus I had this rad necklace around my neck and of course my tank top. I was styling. So I walked in and snapped who knows how many pictures. Oh yea, the temple was called Goa Lawah. Little that I new this temple was known for there bat cave! So as I was walking around I heard all of these loud noises coming from this cave. I got closer and so thousands if not millions of bats flying all around this cave. It was crazy, it smelled like cow shit mixed with diarrhea but my pictures only capture the the Kodak moment. So you guys are kinda lucky in a way. I hung on as long as I could and got the heck out of there before I passed out from holding my breath. All in all the temple was well worth the show. Outside the temple there were plenty of hecklers trying to get me to buy stuff. Especially the guys who sell sunglasses. I mean, I'm wearing my sunglasses and there asking me to buy some. I point to my face but they still don't get that I have glasses on. Wow, there persistent, I'll give them that.
Okay, so I left and I'm heading towards Tulamben once again. So far I have been following all the directions from this rad book my cousin Kathy gave to me. The author of this book really knew what he was talking about. This next drive from Kusumba to Tulamben has been by far the best scenic drive of my life. It could have been because I was by myself, on a scooter, or because the mountains and rice patties were picture perfect and I have never seen this much vibrant green ever. This drive probably took me 3 hours to do only because I kept stopping to take pictures. Each picture sorta looks the same but its kinda what you imagine about a rice terrace. There set on a mountain range but over thousands of years of landscaping the hill they have massive level walking areas to grow the rice. Just look it up on google and you'll know what I'm talking about. The roads twisted and turned as I climbed up into the mountains. It slowly turned from sunny to overcast and a mist of rain. I really can't explain how crazy cool this drive was. It was really peaceful and you can really tell how much Balinese people love there land. The landscaping done is breathtaking.
Each time that I pulled over to take some pictures were all pretty sketchy. Bali doesn't have dedicated scenic pull offs like America so you have to make your own. The roads give little to no room to pull over to each time I had to dodge cars just to take a picture. One of the stops this Italian guy pulled over at the same stop. We were both in amazement. After talking for a few seconds we realized we were both heading to the same destination. We ended up driving down to Amed. This was another bypass town. It was pretty cool though. Really small, full of bungalows and homestays with a couple of restaurants. I got some food and of course it started to rain. I had to stay there for about an hour until it stopped. Hopefully. The instant it stopped I got up and headed out. About 20 minutes later I arrived in Tulamben. Well, actually I drove right through it because I was literally 500 meters long and no sign saying your in the town. But I figured that out and started to look for a homestay and scuba diving. I ended up staying at this place called "Ocean Sun". It was only 4 bedrooms and a restaurant. Super small. The people staying there were really nice. I ended up hanging out with these two people Dave and Sally. They were both here to scuba dive, exactly what I was there for two. We ended up finding a dive master that was going to take all of us out the next day.
Next day, bright and early we walked down to get ready to scuba. The workers fitted us and we put our gear on and walked down to the beach. Typically you get on a boat but in this situation you just go from the beach. The beach was all black but more in pebble form, not sand. We got in the water and I noticed my tank had a slight hiss noise to it. Meaning it had a tiny leek. I mentioned it to the dive master but it didn't seem much concern. We descended down looking for this old Japanese shipwreck. Right away there was wildlife everywhere. Lots of vibrant fish with cool patterns laced around them. Couple minutes later this shipwreck appeared. It took us the entire time to wrap around the boat. It was 120 meters long! We all chipped in and rented a underwater camera to take some pictures. The dive master was the photographer and later on realized it was a big mistake. Every 5 seconds he was asking us to pose for the camera and wave. It was cool at first but I really wanted pictures of the fish and reef. Whatever. By the end of the swim my tank was maybe 50 psi. This is incredibly low and I still had to wait 3 minutes to get the nitrogen out of my system. The thing I noticed was in Bali (third world country) you get what you pay for, and that is all the air in your tank. Out in Australia we had to come up to the surface at 100 psi. Making the dive pretty short. This dive was over 45 minutes! Probably the longest dive I have done. The next dive we did, the dive master was going to take us into the ship. This was really cool. Some of the holes we had to fit into barely fit our body and the tank. I got to hold the captains steering wheel. My favorite thing that I saw were these schools of eels in the sand. From far away they would all pop out there bodies from the sand about 1 ft. All synchronized with the riptide. They would be stacked next to each other, row by row. Maybe 10 in the first row and so on. Naturally I went in for a look and as I got closer, the first row would disappear back into the sand, then the second. As I backed off, they would pop right back up.
So the two dives I did were fantastic. Visibility wasn't at its best but that's because its in the wet season.
Next day I got my things packed up and ready to go. We were all sitting outside the restaurant and noticed a huge dark cloud rushing our way. 5 minutes later monsoon rains came plummeting down. I mean I've never seen rain like this. It was raining sideways and flooded the whole restaurant within minutes. Everyone had to move closer inside or you would be drenched by the rain. On top of that the thunder and lighting that was shouting out put Shiloh to shame. It was the loudest crackling and pop ever. The street outside turned into a river. I mean the whole 2 lane street was a river. 1/2 later the rain stopped and cleared up. I walked outside to look around. 500 ft down the street I noticed that the whole street had a new river that plowed through it and wiped it away. All the rain from the mountains came through the town and took out the whole street. Up closer was a huge waterfall that came rushing down off the street. All the cars around it couldn't get by. It was cool for me, Dave and Sally but everyone else was a normal thing to them. Later on when the river down down a bit from being 1 or more ft deep to 6 inches cars started to attempt to get back. All sliding out like they were driving through ice. The funniest part was when the first scooter tried to get by. Luckily he made it but he was sliding out on every turn and I thought he was gonna fall off into the waterfall. He charged through it like a bat out of hell. We all cheered him on.
We sat there for an hour of so in amazement then finally left. It was a perfect time for me to leave before the rain started again. So, I said my goodbyes to my new friends and took off. My next destination was Lovina. The north side of the island and 5 or 6 hour drive. There were no more rice patties but just all small shacks and stores the whole drive. Not too fancy.
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