Bali Bali Bali! It was more of the EAT part of Eat Pray
Love for us, but it was sure scrumptious indeed! Sooooo great to be with my mom
and brother, and I loved all the Hindu temples and cultural quarks, but maybe I
am a lil biased… the beaches in the Philippines are better! And sooooo much
less crowded. The amount of tourist and traffic was suffocating, really not
what we expected, but overall it was another amazing adventure. We stayed on Lembongan
Island for the first 3 days, it really felt like the Philippines because it is
still fairly underdeveloped and rural. Matthew and I surfed with Agus Frimanto
there, who was a pro junior surfer in Hawaii, same age as Matthew. Next, we
went scuba diving with some puffers, triggerfish, and crazy currents. Of course,
we also got in a good fix of trashy Honey Boo Boo and Bondi Vet air-conditioned
TV time... which just might have been what I was looking forward to most about
the trip.
Our meal experiences were the highlight. We ate at a
beautiful restaurant called Panorama on Lembongan that looked over the whole
island. Bali has 2 main cheap beers, Bali Hai and Bintang, both of which are
exponentially better than all the San Mig products here in the Philippines! We
then stayed on Sanur Beach in Bali for the next few days, it was very nice, and
we stumbled upon a wonderland of religious statues, orchids, and loaded aussies
who were staying at this snazzy place. We had a lovely seafood dinner under the
sunset on Jimbaran beach, and one of the best meals of my life at Three Monkeys
in Sanur, funny as it would have it, everything we ate at most of the places
turned out to be vegetarian… toasted ricotta ravioli, pumpkin feta bruschetta,
marinated olives, hazelnut salad, pumpkin ravioli, and to drink: ginger
margarita (mom), passion fruit cocktail (me), and matt with his 21st
birthday absinth. (He did not seem affected by it much besides unconsciously
stomping on all of the street offering baskets as per usual… typical. We
watched a spectacular Barong Show at one of the temples, acting out one of the
Hindu stories of good and evil. It was so awesomely weird and wonderful, just
as expected. Ubud was the coolest town, where the most famous Monkey Forest is.
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| Barong Show |
The Monkey Forest was a debacle within itself, of course
the crazy monkeys would sniff out the most vulnerable of our group… my innocent
momma. Before she knew what had hit her, a monkey was on her shoulders stealing
her Maui Jim shades. I felt just as much worried concern as amusement, but we
should have seen that coming, good thing there were human monkey guards lurking
around just for these very situations, and she got the glasses back, but not
without a fight. All over Bali were really cool silver making places, wood
carving, and paintings. A very artsy place indeed. We also went to visit one of
the farms where they make “kopi luwak,” the coffee made with civet (wild cat)
poop. It is one of the most expensive coffees in the world. We gave it a try…
not bad! The most exciting part of that tour though might have been petting the
GIANT bat... then watching it lick its own giant bat balls… Disgusting yet
fascinating. The next day, Matt and I
attempted to go surfing again on Kuta beach, the world-famous surfing place,
but the waves were too big for us and smashed all of the confidence and pride that
we had gained from doing so well on Lembongan. Our last meal was the most
delightful. It was actually the partner resto of our favorite Three Monkeys,
but it was in another city, that Ubud. It took a lot of searching to find it
and just at the point when we were most ravished and grumpy, we stumbled upon
it. It was totally secluded and so cute. We drank sauvignon blanc and ate
eggplant parmesan, four cheese pizza, gnocci, and watched cute ducks chase each
other in a lovely quiet nook right next to the hectic streets of Ubud. My kinda
perfect meal!!! Fabulous. The whole trip could have only been better if we had
our adored Faja with us!
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| Making Kopi Luwak! |
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| Yikes! |
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| No Biggie. |
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| The Dreamer. |
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| Panorama at Lembongan |
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| Jimbaran Beach |
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| The Last Lovely Lunch! |
Since Mom and Matt were leaving at midnight and my flight
was not until 8 AM, I stayed one more night at a cheaper but clean looking
place… and get this… woke up to a cockroach sneaking down my pants. Not a
pleasant wake up, but a very fitting wake-up call back into the reality of my
Peace Corps volunteer life. Now it is back to the grind of 10-hour
sweat-drenched school days. I have lost most all of my patience and motivation,
but I am trying to stay positive in this home stretch. BUTTT another short
vacation has saved my sanity! It was Philippines Independence Day last Friday,
so some friends and I went to the island of Boracay for the long weekend. It
was amazinggg white sand, gorgeous water, full of foreigners and new cool
friends! We listened to the best reggae I have ever heard while smoking hookah
on the beach, so magical. We stayed in a 10 person strong house with other
Australian volunteers from the north of the Philippines (one bathroom, no
mirror, no flush (tabo only) toilet… yea we are still in the Philippines,
thanks for the reminder) but it was really fun to have a big group. Staying in
a house with a lot of people is the only way we could afford this place! One of
the nights we went to a “Full Moon Party” at this place called Area 51. So so
weird. Can’t really put it into writing… too many people on drugs… too much techno… and too many schwarzenegger Austrian/Russian types dancing shirtless on bars. Needless to
say, that was a one-time only needed experience!
It rained every afternoon, but it was even more fun swimming
in the waves and the storm, and it would clear up and be sunny within an hour.
Windsurfing is really big in Boracay and we really really wanted to try, but it
took hours of training and was way too expensive anyways. BUT! While Karla, Meli,
and I were swimming, the best wind surfer on the island rode by us trying to
show-off. Meli told me to joke and ask
if we could get a ride, and sure enough, he said, “Ok, let’s give it a try!”
Then, one by one, we each piggy backed him while he steered the kite to lift us
up and flyyyyy up up and awayyy. Sometimes it pays to be a girl, haha. It was
soooo fun, and didn’t cost us a thing!!! Well, except maybe our dignity, we probably
looked completely ridiculous… I know I looked like a tarsier hanging on for
dear life, but so worth it. That weekend was another perfect break from the
tedious month of school stressful teaching reality, more reasons why I am so
grateful to have been placed in the Philippines were these tropical vacation
escapes are possible.
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| The Daily Storm |
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| Mason Jar Long Islands! |
DAUIN NIPA HUT UPDATE: My pup, Pepper, had her own puppies!!!
I am not even biased, they are the cutest puppies ever.
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| The Dweebs. |
It is my 25th birthday
next week. So weird and happening toooo fast. I found the coolest rainbow layered cake in the city though, so my PC friends
are in for a treat, and we will all retreat to "Koo Koo's Nest" for the weekend.. Then in July I will be doing resource volunteer work, in
August is our Close of Service Conference, then I make my way home on September
17th… can’t believe it, bring on the finale Philippines! Cheers!
