So a quick note to say that I am presently in South West France about to start the Camino. I have a flight on Oct 6 to Nepal, so I have that long to go 500 miles (496.1 to be exact). I have a few posts on my phone (but no wireless so far in these small towns). It is beautiful here, with rolling green hills and nice old buildings. Looking forward to many days of walking…..
Aug
31
– 2 good friends (thanks mbrown and dbill for hanging out with me)
– 5 dives
– 1 mola mola
– 3 boat transports (the longest being 5+ hours)
– 1 bad boat cruise (see past post)
– 2 islands with dragons
– 1 medical clinic
– multiple scooter rides
– 2 Indonesian airlines
– many new friends
– too much bintang
– 5 beaches
– lots of good food (and some crapy food)
– 24 hours of solitaire on my phone
Aug
29
So I am mostly through the book epl and I suggest it to those who have not read it. I have laughed out loud and cried, so it must be good.
What I find interesting in my self looking ways is that I also would like to get some clarity on life from this trip I am on. I truely am excited about just walking Spain next month alone. Yes it’s not a ashram in India but it’s my small step in that direction.
I also find some humor in being the anti elizabeth Gilbert. She ends in indonesia I almost began there. She starts her journey with a divorce, I start mine with a wedding. I also am starting the Bali section of the book on my last day here.
I am missing my wife and sending her love constantly with my heart. Tomorrow I start a new journey and I am excited/scared to get on the plane to Paris.
Aug
29
A major driver for dbill to want to come to Indonesia is to see the great Komodo dragon. The are LARGE molitor lizzards that live on two islands east of lombock. There are a few ways to get there, but the moat adventurous is to take a boat. This four day cruise is a great way to travel, see the dragons, and get to some of the beat diving on the world. Or so we thought.
I have attached a picture.
imagine if you will 9 people, slim pads to sleep on and a hole in the floor for a bathroom. No shower (not even a pump to the sea) and 18 hours straight of heavy seas. So multiple sea sickness later we still have 3 days to go.
Good things, we saw manta rays while snorkeling, Komodo dragons and had good company.
We could have stayed for free on the boat for a fourth night but opted to purchase a hotel instead.
Aug
28
After our time on lembongan which included a dove that showed us the malo malo fish (which is quite big) and the frog fish (which was quite green/yellow and looked like a rock) we met back up with Melanie going to the gillis. The gillis are 3 small islands off the coast of lombock (next to Bali). We even were lucky enough to book travel were we met Mel on the 5+ hour boat ride there. After the long trip we rented a villa (with pool) with our new friend camala (or something. Some yoga name. People cab guess what I thought of this and I called her —a lot the whole time).
Gilli T ( or party Island ) is quite an interesting place. We ate sushi dove and hung out at our pool and the beach. All in all it was a great few days of drinking beer (bintang of course) listening to music and relaxing in the sun.
Aug
28
I might have already written this but the just show up and find a room ha not worked 100% as planed on this trip. It seems that the heavy austrailian contingent of travelers are here for vacation.
So dbill and I show up in lembingan (a small island off of Bali) on a four o’clock boat with “supposedly” a hotel reservation. Seems we discussed the room and never confirmed it. So our first night we were lucky enough to stay in the medical center. The put two cots into a room that came complete with blood on the wall. We also had there local festival and a slaughtered goat out in front of our room that evening. (a night that I am very glad susan is not with me).
Anyway we had a great time on the island and everything always worksbout in travel ( even if you sleep in a medical center).
Aug
18
So every 6 months the people of Bali have a religious festival that celebrates the fight between good and evil (black and white clothes represent this) with, after 7 days, good wins.
To celebrate this they kill a pig (I didn’t personally here this but it is said you can hear the screams) and have a pig roast.
The good? The satay we had was excellent.
The bad? Everything shuts down on wed and there is no diving.
The interesting? Well dbill and I didn’t really work through a confermation process on the way to our current island location. Seems we never confirmed and most of the island was booked. They graciously put two beds in the medical room (complete with blood stains on the wall) and we slept there. Returning last night, this “room” is behind the resort and we found the locals chopping up pig entrails and bamboo. Well this morning I am happy they did as the Satay was awesome.
The name of this festival? We don’t know. Of occurs every 6 months and starts with a G.
Aug
17
So I have now had 2 interesting conversations (and countless with dbill) about the changing role of the backpacker and their computer.
It seems that many a backpacker is now carrying a laptop around and bringing the computer to the local cafe instead of a book. Don’t get me wrong the book is way more prevalent, however I am very surprised at the amount of them present here in Bali. Even much more so since I never even thought of bringing one and neither dbill or I are carrrying one.
Melanie made the point about people liking their apps like aim and downloaded email. Also she bought ten DVD for a dollar and watches movies on those lonely nights (she also has her astrology app in case someone needs a reading)
I know jim vh will hate me for this but I must sing the praises of the iPhone here. While a ton lighter, I do have my suduko aim solitaire blog currency flashlight phrasebook safari all in my palm. It’s perfect for this type of thing. I have not bought a DVD yet (from iTunes) and I am sure it will cost more than ten cents however I would suggest that this is the perfect device for a dorky traveler (or as it seems today, any traveler)
Aug
16
So after hearing that question every five seconds while in Ubud, we finally needed to leave. So we headed off to the beach town of Sanur. Once avian things were a little packed as we struggled to find a placento stay.
We found a ok place on the beach for too much $$ (at least for here) and my first impression is how happy that susan and I went to bora bora instead. I am happy I am here, however more happy I got to experience French poly with her.
Aug
15
MONKEY!!!!
I can best explain Ubud as playa del carmen 8-10 years ago. A mixture of really cheap and then suddenly a Polo store. Luckily food and massages are still cheap. The food is really good while the massages are hit or miss. Dbill got 3 yesterday, so you know we are roughing it. I guess this is my relaxation before the long hikes.
Tomorrow we leave for some smaller beach town and some diving. Books and lots of quite seem perfect and calming right now. During the honeymoon I was definatley more charged with work. While I still wonder what is going on with my friends there, I haven’t spent a whole night up thinking of new computer programs to write since I’ve been in Bali. I guess that is progress.
The telephone being easily accessibly is a great perk. The more I drink the greater possibilty susan gets a call :). I haven’t received the first bill yet, that should be an eye opener. I guess I’ll have to stay with the cheap food and beer so I can spent all my money with AT&T.
Btw eat pray love ends in ubud
The Wiggen's Travels 