Ubud and Monkey Forest

After a few days on Gili Tranwagnaw we headed back to the island of Bali and to the cultural hot spot of Ubud. I was sunburnt to a crisp, so this was the perfect place for me, away from the beach!

I had big plans to go to galleries and maybe see a dance, but after two weeks on the road I was exhausted and instead opted for a day of shopping and a visit to the Monkey Forest.

The shopping was great and different from the shops in Kuta that we saw when we first arrived. We saw more Indonesian art and less Roxy surf ware. A trip to the Monkey Sanctuary was next on the list. We spent the afternoon walking around the beautiful temples and watching some hilarious monkeys.


Monkey Forest Road


Offerings found outside every store


In Ubud they put flowers EVERYWHERE


Naptime?


Baby Monkey


My favorite monkey picture


THEIR temple


Checking out life on the outside.


Were you going to eat that? A Monkey getting his fix from the daily offerings around the forest.

Gili Trawangan

The next stop on our trip was the small island of Gili Trawangan. It's one of three islands that have become quite popular in the last few years. They each have their own personality. Gili Air is super duper quiet and often dubbed the honeymoon island. Gili Meno is in the middle island and boasts some quiet spots but has more going on than Gili Air. Gili Trawangan, where we were headed, is the party island or backpacker's island. It wasn't so much a constant rave, but it had more going one than the other two and people our own age. Since leaving Kuta Beach we have definitely been in the minority age wise.

All three of these islands are special because they have no motorized transport. No cars, bikes or trucks. After you depart the boat your choices are to walk, bike or hire a horse and cart. The island is small and we had little problem getting around and finding accommodation. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few shots of the island.


The plush boat we took to get to the island. It was a comfy ride!


Beautiful beaches and water


Island's preferred method of transport

Bali, a taste of paradise!

After three days in Kuala Lumpur we boarded a plane for our primary destination.. Bali, Indonesia. From the airport we sped off to Kuta Beach. This area has a reputation for being the "party" beach and also the site of the 2006 bombings. Now days any decent restaurant or bar boasts a security check at the front before you get in.

In addition to party atmosphere, there were lots of shops and cafes around. We did our fair share of shopping and with the tourism industry there suffering bargains were everywhere. We came away with some cute sundresses and souvenirs to boot.

The beach wasn't the paradise we were expecting. Lots of hawkers and if you didn't have an ipod in your ear you were being hassled by someone wanting to sell you everything from tattoos to surf lessons. So, we took off two days later and headed for Lombok, a short four hour ferry ride away.


To my surprise, this was the Bali sunrise that I ordered at dinner the first night! Understated.


More Billabong than San Diego


Bombing Memorial


Leaving Bali behind for Lombok!


While we were waiting to leave this boy was swimming around and decided to have a break on the dock.


One of the ferry employees fishing for dinner.....they came up fishless at the end of the journey.

Lombok is known as the new Bali. A place less spoilt by tourism with a more relaxed atmosphere. They were right! After a hellish ordeal getting transport to the island mostly due to poor planning, we ended up at the cutest hotel with the best beachside pool.

We really did little of substance in Sengigi, the most tourist town on the island. Most of the three days we spent there were relaxing by the pool and swimming.


Beach side pool, a little bit of paradise.


Best chicken satay I have ever had in my life!


Gone fishing...


A family playing on the beach.


Batu Bolong, the Temple I wanted to visit....

KL Chinatown

In Kuala Lumpur we stayed at a hostel in Chinatown. In addition to being in the heart of the "backpackers disctrict," this part of town is where you go for your "Praha" sunglasses and "Guccii" belts.


A Chinese Budhist temple.


Durian the smelliest fruit around! It is banned from most hostels and hotels.


The street food here was ridiculous. This man is making clay-pot soup.


The night market, the smaller part.....


Satay Man

The Batu Caves and Efelumps

The next stop of our tour of KL were the Batu Caves right outside of Kuala Lumpur. The caves are a Hindu Shrine and one of the largest Hindu religious sites outside of India. We then scaled the 200+ stairs to the top to find some of the most colorful religious statues I had ever seen.

While some of the excitement was dimmed when we found out that we were not going to be able to see the main temple, because it was closed for a ceremony, we were just happy to be there before the rain came!


The major deity and the steps to the top!


The cave was as breath taking as some of the statues


colorful statues




Another large deity next to the caves


One of the Cave Monkeys

Last stop in Kuala Lumpur was the Elephant Sanctuary. We had a great tour guide that seemed to get us all the perks. We were given an awesome elephant ride and our own time to swim with baby elephants in the river. Amazing.


It's bath time!


This little guy is less than a year old and had his foot ripped off by a trap.


It's no lie....elephants LOVE peanuts


Getting clean in the river

Deerland was the next stop on the tour. It turned out to be this place that was used for breeding deer meet and then one day the owner decided that he wanted to make it a park and give up selling deer meet. We saw few visitors and had lots of interactions with the animals in comparison to the US zoos I have been to.


One of the deer climbed on top of me to get to the potatoes we were feeding them. I then had hoof prints on me for the rest of the day.


Interesting fact. Ostriches are only scared of things that are taller than them.


Ten seconds later this bear turned his head and clawed my face to pieces.....just kidding...he was too interested in his coconut.. thank god..

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Vacation, Whoop!

So, I finished my one year contract on February 21st and took off on a two week vacation to Malaysia and Indonesia with Lauren, the friend from college I started this whole Korean adventure with.

Our first stop was Kuala Lumpur to break up the travel, save some money on airfare and see another country. I loved the city. After a year of Korea it was nice to see diversity in all things, people and culture especially. It was my first experience in a islamic nation. Seeing the other, more common, side of Islam than the stories portrayed in the US news was encouraging. The city possesed many grand mosques it was hard to keep their names right or have pictures of all of them, but the most notably one was..


This is the National Mosque. It is one of the few open to foreigners. The prayer room was huge and everything was so pretty and well taken care of. I have heard from a few friends that the tour guides are quite pushy. Maybe everyone had a day off when we were there, because we were just given robes and then the freedom to roam...


The HUGE prayer room

Me in my temple garb

As you can see my skin is probably the whitest its ever been. Its hard to get sun in Korea. Koreans think of being tan as something only a dirty laborer or a person to that affect would have, so there aren't many opportunities to sit out in the sun without getting weird looks. When I handed the woman my purple robe she and the woman at the gift store started laughing. She then grabbed my arm and said that my skin was soooooo white. I can't tell you how happy I was to be leaving for the beach the next day.

Next we went to the Butterfly Sanctuary. It was beautiful and green. Taking a picture of a butterfly is quite the challenge, but I got a few good ones!


The best shot I got of a butterfly!

Pretty huge Koi fish, there were tons of them!


Beautiful Malaysian flowers

Next, we stopped at the Petronas Towers. They are pretty amazing and the headquarters of the The Petronas Corporations, a petroleum company. I guess most of the world knows this because they seem to work in countries and waters all over the world, but they don't do business in the U.S. So, before I sat through their 15 minute PR video I had no idea they were an oil company.


Islamic inspired architecture


A later night shot of the towers, A little blurry, but still cool!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our Happy Christmas Cake!

These last few months I have definitely settled in to life as an expat. Each day feels more routine and familiar, which may sound bad, but after the constant newness of arriving in Korea, it is a welcome change. Slowly, but surely I am checking tourist stops off my list. The most notable being at trip to Ainnesworld. What's that you ask? It's a theme park that contains miniature world monuments and an entire world vacation can be staged in one afternoon.


Stone Henge


My horrible jumping picture. But we started a trend. Koreans all over the place were jumping off anything they could find!


LESSON LEARNED. Always check what you are putting your face through BEFORE you take the picture.

Another Korea only experience was our trip to the dog cafe. Matt and Lindsay happened upon this gem one day while they were strolling the Incheon waterfront. At this establishment you can buy beer, coffee, and soda all while petting dogs and cats. Strange, yes.


This is Lindsay with her love, Cinnamon.

Christmas abroad is hard. However, finding a group of similarly situated people to bide the time with softens the blow. So, a group of us bought tickets to the foreigner xmas party at our local and had a blast. We entered a bracketed paper, rock, scissor tournament and Nate won! We split the winnings and enjoyed a fun night eating cake and playing games. Not too bad for being thousands of miles away from home.


Nate's winning moment.


The take!

So, there really isn't much else to report. I am just living the life and waiting for the weather to get better, so sight seeing won't be such an endeavor. I have five weeks until I head off to Bali and Kuala Lumpur, so around that time I should have more to report!