Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. The internet in Indonesia was just not good enough to upload photos and I used that as an excuse. Anyway, I’m in Hanoi now, and my time in Asia for this leg of the trip is almost done. I fly to New York City on May 11th. Anyway back to Indonesia.
I believe I left off while still sick in Kuta. We’ll I got much better fairly quickly after that thankfully, and made my way to Ubud a charming if over trafficked touristy town in the centre of Bali. For those who don’t know Bali is mostly hindu, making it somewhat unique to the rest of Indonesia, (mostly muslim or christian) Because of this Bali is home to countless lovely hindu temples and art work throughout the island, Ubud is known as the artistic centre, and it didn’t disappoint.
Now after 12 days of eating next to nothing, my strength returning was a slow process, so I didn’t do all that much in Ubud but at least I could find the energy to walk around the city and explore, meeting lots of friendly locals, chatting and joking with countless touts and seeing some incredible hindu temples. Also I found out that I’d just missed the Wedding of two Royal Family Princes and got to walk through the aftermath which consisted of countless huge neon styrofoam and wooden billboards of congratulations. It was certainly something to behold.
Many people love Ubud deeply, I didn’t immediately get that feeling, and I suspect it’s simply because I’m ten years too late, it really was immensely touristic and overcrowded, though at least it kept up it’s laid back vibe fairly effectively, still after a week on Bali my advice if you want to see more local life and less australian and international tourist development, get off Bali and check out some of the other islands.
From Ubud I booked a bus and boat transfer to Gili Air, figuring some tropical paradise might help my recovery along. I was right. And from the moment I landed on Gili Air, a tiny island just off the coast of Lombok, I knew I’d made the right choice.
I ended up spending the next 9 days, my last in Indonesia there, enjoying friendly locals, amazing food, and beautiful beaches. It was closer to the island paradise Ideal than I managed to find in thailand, and while it was certainly touristic and not authentic Indonesian life, it was done in a way that seemed to allow local life to coexist with the tourism, though in a very much changed way I suppose. (Check the culture section in a few days for musings on Western tourists in muslim cultures)
The first seven days I sank my teeth into finishing up section one of my new book, to free myself u to start the edit of Disappearing Eyes. This wen’t remarkably well, something about sitting in a tiny shaded open air bungalow looking out at a pristine beach, clear blue waters, and the mountainous coast of Lombok, seemed to free the mind and let it all come flooding out. I was thrilled with the ending to section 1 of Home and even made a good start of improving Disappearing Eyes, thanks to the suggestions of my immensely helpful beta readers. I’m hoping over the next two or three weeks I can get that edit done and start the process of submitting to publishers this summer.
The last two days in Gili Air I decided to be a little less lazy, taking consecutive all day Snorkelling trips around all three Gili’s and boy was it worth it. I spent two days straight in the ocean swimming amidst a myriad of tropical fish. Every size shape and colour imaginable seemed to dwell in the clear blue waters. Beyond the fish, and perhaps even more impressive was some of the coral along the reef, explosions of colour and life that seem utterly out of place in our world. Then there was also the huge bright blue starfish and the odd moray eel. Still, the true highlight was the sea turtles. I saw 11 all told over the two days, and several of them I was lucky enough to swim along with for a good 20 minutes, only a few feet away from them, completely alone, drifting through the waters and seeing their world. It was incredibly inspiring from a creative point of view and also just immensely enjoyable from a human point of view. I wish I could have stayed longer and repeated those two days over and over again. Here’s my collection of photos from Air, sadly I don’t have a waterproof camera so you’ll need to trust me that the snorkelling is indeed otherworldly.
On my last day in Gili Air I also got to have another moment of understanding how vast and small this world is all at once. In one day I ran into 5 people I’ve met at various points in Asia, all but one by absolute coincidence. First came running into a Canadian girl I’d met in Myanmar on Gili Meno where we stopped for lunch, then back on air I ran into a lovely Canadian couple I’d met on the boat to Gili almost a week ago, next came dinner with Leslie, one of the awesome people I first met back in Laos at the Sayaboury Elephant festival. We arranged the meeting on Facebook in this case but still the fact that several months removed from our first meeting we ended up on the same tiny island seemed incredible. Finally later that night one last acquaintance ducked his head into my dorm room inviting us to a party, a nice guy I’d met back in Kuta and again in Ubud. It was a strange series of meetings and definitely a reminder that the world isn;’t quite so vast as I like to imagine, despite the countless wonders it holds.
From Gil to Vietnam was long travels. A boat back to bali, a bus to the airport, a flight and overnight in singapore airport, (pictures below as the airport is insane) and then a flight to Vietnam and a taxi t my hostel in Hanoi where I’m now writing from. I was wiped out and my first half day in Vietnam I was certainly regretting having left Indonesia, though I did have a good time getting dinner with a bunch of fellow travellers sitting on tiny plastic chairs, praying they wouldn’t break as you also prayed one of the countless cars or motorbikes wouldn’t crash into you.
The next day, properly rested I certainly came to appreciate Vietnam a lot more. The hectic streets and vibrant life all around you reminds me a little of India which is high praise. I ended up sitting by a small lake in the middle of the city and reading for a while and was lucky enough to make a local friend who sat down beside me and asked to practice his english. As often happens it went from basic pronunciation practice to conversations about life, religion and the world. We talked for a good long while which was very nice and then I made my way back to the hostel and met up with more lovely travellers for some of the best noodles I have ever had at a little hole in the wall place down the street. I’ll be going back tonight, because they were that amazing.
In the week to come I have a long series of flights to get to NYC and a 3 day cruise through Halong Bay which should be a fitting highlight to end my time in Asia on hopefully. It’s been an incredible 6 or so months and I definitely know I’ll be back as there’s so much more in this region to explore, both in counties where I ran short on time. (India Laos, Indonesia) And countries I just didn’t have the time to see. (China, Japan, The Philippines etc.) I’m also terrified of the culture shock I’m about to get coming back to America, it should be a shocking and unsettling experience I think.
In the past two weeks I also ended up booking my flight down to south america, though I’l admit I’ve decided to take a longer than expected break at home with the idea of a few shorter trips during the break from Travel. I’ll be home in canada from may 19th (in Toronto) Until august 29th. It should be a lot of fun, and then I fly to Cartagena and let my South american journey of 12-18 months begin! Hooray!!!
