Bali - the only kind of nature acceptable to walk in.

Here I am in beautiful Bali, Indonesia and I'm sick.  More on that later.  For now, let me entertain, or hope to entertain, you with the loveliness that is this "tiny" island in the South Pacific.

For my last and final trip in Southeast Asia, I leave.  Ironic.  I classify Bali as the South Pacific.  First, because I love that musical and wanted to say the name.  Second, because this island is so totally different from anywhere I've been in Southeast Asia that it can't be classified in the same region.  The climate is cooler, the beaches are completely changed (very similar to socal beaches, in fact), and the greenery is all unrecognizable.

On first arriving, we headed to our guesthouse, picked out by two exchange boys who had checked in the day before.  Never again will I trust 2 twenty-something boys to chose living accommodations.  Rarely, do they have any acceptable standards of living.  The place was gross, I mean the grossest place I've stayed while on exchange, but the town--Kuta--was sweet.   It's totally a beachy, party town, similar to Huntington Beach actually.

I almost immediately dropped my bags, changed, and headed for some more beach time.  The boys had decided to go to Uluwatu beach about 30 minutes south of where we were staying.  I went with them and, let me tell you, traveling on motorbike for half an hour is painful.  No one tells you that.

I was slightly disappointed by Uluwatu beach.  Not because it lacked anything in terms of beauty, but because it was my first experience at a beach where there is strictly surfing and no swimming due to geological obstacles.  We sort of sat in the water for a half an hour before getting food and leaving.  We instead chose a beach closer to Kuta for our sunset, and though it was very cloudy, it was still lovely.

Uluwatu Beach

That night we enjoyed the nightlife available in Kuta, which is impressive.  Southern Bali did not disappoint with its promise of surf, sand, and fun.  But because of the place we were staying and our previous week of beach time, myself and the other USC exchange student opted to head north to Ubud the next day for a much quieter, more relaxing experience.

Ubud is absolutely amazing.  If you've seen or read Eat, Pray, Love, that's the city she refers to.  It is my favorite city I've visited and has there's much culture, the city is bursting from the seams with it.

We arrived at our desired hotel, but they were all booked for the night, so we looked for a different place to stay.  We headed across the street and started stopping at random locations.  We found somewhere that was satisfactory and were shown two rooms there.  One, the deluxe, was 70 USD per night and out of our price range.  The other, was 55 USD and would do more than suit us for the evening.  We had to go get our bags and upon returning to the lobby were greeted by the manager or owner, I'm not sure, and invited to sit down for a talk.  Turns out, he wanted to fill the deluxe room for as long as he could and was willing to negotiate the price.  Just by being honest and saying 55 USD was our absolute limit, we got that price.  I have never experienced such a nice, honest negotiation.

And the room was amazing, let me just tell you.  We had double sliding glass doors, a white, billowing mosquito net, and a bathroom you could run laps in.  I have never been so happy or excited to enter a hotel room.  That night we just relaxed and got Mexican food.

Our Terrace

Breakfast delivered every morning.

The next day I toured the town and fell absolutely in love with it.  There are arts and crafts everywhere: paintings, art galleries, wood shops, you name it.  I also went to the Monkey Forest, which is a holy place for the Balinese.  The monkeys are considered to be descendants of something that I can't remember and were definitely more well behaved than those Lopburi monsters.

Entry to the Monkey Forest

Peaceful monkeys

Ornate carving in the Monkey Forest

Due to weather restrictions, aka it started POURING rain, I headed back and awaited the arrival of some more exchange students.  When they came I rented a bike and rode around town, visiting the market and a local palace.  However, my day was again ended when the brakes on the bicycle broke while I was going downhill.  Not cool.

Ubud Market

The following day consisted of an adventure to temples and religious sites around the area.  We visited Gunung Kwai, which is a burial site for a first millennium king and his wives.  You have to walk down 370 stairs into this beautiful valley with amazing rice fields.  However, you also have to walk up those 370 stairs, so after our first site I was exhausted.  This was also the day I started feeling sick, which added negatively to that miserable climb.

Rice paddies on the way down to Gunung Kwai

Burial site

I was surprised to find a working fountain.

Next was Tirta Empul, Bai's holiest temple.  It has an ancient pool where hot springs can be seen bubbling up.  It's also where the Balinese go to purify and cleanse themselves.  I liked it a lot.  I thought it was an interesting introduction to an Indonesian/Hindu temple.

Giant coy outside Tirta Empul

Pool with the hot springs

Hot springs

Bathing Pool

Our final stop was Goa Gajah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site nominee.  The mainly photographed place here is a cave with an ornately carved entrance depicting a demon's mouth.  What most places don't tell you is if you walk behind this huge building you can go down a few stairs and enter into this serene, nature filled, mini valley that looks exactly like what the Garden of Eden must have looked like.  I was definitely surprised and amazed at this place.  It totally blew all of my expectations out of the water.

Demon Mouth Cave

This day was made even more magical by a proposal!  Yes, an engagement took place right before my eyes and I got to help!

One of the exchange student's boyfriends had joined her for her last two months in SE Asia.  They've been dating for almost five years and she graduated this semester so the timing was definitely prime.  While I took the future fiance out to the cultural sites, my roommate in our amazing deluxe suite helped the boyfriend prepare for a precious scavenger hunt.  At the end, the two of us filmed his proposal.  It was amazing to see and I could not have been more happy for them.

The hut where he proposed!

Unfortunately, the next day proved to be extremely uneventful because the full force of my sickness hit me.  I stayed in our resort all day, drinking water and trying to feel better.  It was my last day in Ubud and I tried to rally, but I simply couldn't.

The next day, we left Ubud and the other USC exchange student was taken to the airport.  I got dropped off at a hotel near where we stayed in Kuta and am just biding my time before heading back to Bangkok tomorrow.  It's a bummer I can't do everything I wanted to do, but hey, I got to go to Bali so I can't really complain.

I'll be in Bangkok for about 24 hours and then I head HOME to the Golden State.  I am very, very excited to go home and am definitely ready, even though I know I'll want to be back in Thailand a week after returning home.  Exchange has been amazing and this trip confirmed for me that EVERYONE needs to make going to SE Asia a priority.  These places are too beautiful and too amazing to miss out on.