After 2 very active days in Ubud, I decided to take a few days to relax in Kuta. You may have heard of Kuta beach; besides being one of the popular tourist spots in Bali with a long beachfront, surfing, 5-star resorts, and top-notch restaurants, it was the target of terrorist bombing in 2002 and 2005. The effects of those events are seen even today, with many police visible throughout the area and bomb inspections on all cars going into major facilities such as hotels. I walked along the … [Read more...]
September 15, 2013 1 Comment
September 13, 2013 5 Comments
9/12-9/13 – Day 7 to 8 – Exploring Ubud, biking in rural Bali, … and ending up at the hospital
"Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants." -- Benjamin Franklin // My German friend and I woke up and hired a driver to take us around Bali island for the day. We arranged the driver through our hotel, and it turned out he was the brother-in-law of the hotel owner. Such was our introduction into the importance of family and community to Balinese people, which I'll discuss in a different … [Read more...]
September 9, 2013 2 Comments
9/9 – Day 4 – Amazing temples and a painful massage – Yogyakarta, Indonesia
On Monday I woke up to my alarm going off at 3:30am -- I was getting up early for a sunrise tour of two temples in the area, Borobudur and Prambanan. As Borobudur is one of the few regions in Indonesia with maleria, I was wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt despite a very hot weather forecast. A German couple I met who was staying at my hostel were also on the tour, and we sat around complaining about it being early until our driver came. Upon getting picked up we drove out to a view … [Read more...]
September 7, 2013 3 Comments
9/7 – Day 2 – Balik art school, water castle, Ramayana ballet – Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Yogyakarta is still under rule by a sultan. So, the next morning I decided to pay a visit to his palace, which is located near the city center and open to tours. Despite it being very hot out, I decided to walk. Along the way I met a German couple who were also there to see the palace. Unfortunately, we were informed that the temple was closed that morning to visitors, but the extremely helpful employee proceeded to spend 10 minutes providing advice on other areas to explore and see during … [Read more...]
September 6, 2013 10 Comments
Day 1 – Singapore to Yogyakarta, Indonesia
I departed Singapore last Friday (Sep 6). At my employer, I turned in my laptop and company credit card. At my hotel, I piled up my work clothes in my room with a note -- "I no longer need these clothes; please feel free to keep, donate, or throw out." I took breakfast for the last time in my hotel, grabbing a newspaper to get the latest update on the Syria situation and reading about the flooding that had occured yesterday in northern Singapore (away from but not far from where I was staying … [Read more...]
