Not so glamorous

While I know it may seem as though I have been rubbing my trip to Indonesia in all of your faces with my pictures and descriptions of the magnificent beaches, cheap rooms, awesome views, fun treks, massages, and excellent food, my trip was not as glamorous as I may have portrayed it at times. After all I did go to Indonesia, and like any third world country, there are some amenities that you should simply not expect when you travel outside of the US or any other well established country. At times it was frustrating, while other times were so ridiculous that we couldn't do anything but laugh at our misfortune.

In short, I present you with a summary of some of the many odd things that happened on our trip. May you find just as much pleasure as I did frustration.

• Our hostel decided to fumigate the area while we are all laying by the pool with no warning. Hello smoke bomb. 
• While traveling to the Gili T island, one of the pumps on the speed boat was not working. In order to fix the problem, one Indonesian man laid on his stomach and reached his hand into the motor room (engine still running, duhhh...) and began shoveling water out in buckets while the other Indonesian crew member held his feet from sliding head first into the engine room. Safety first! 
• Our speed boat ran out of gas on the way to the Gili T island (same trip, mind you). For a solid thirty minutes we were stranded in the middle of the ocean-- one man shoveling water out of the pump room and another refilling the gas. Ya imagine that. I think I was high off fumes for the rest of the day. 
• Last note on the speed boat trip (my favorite, obviously) they oversold the number of returning tickets. The concept of business in Indonesia-- Goal: just sell as many tickets as people are willing to buy. Solution when the boat hits its occupancy: well sorry about it! We were forced to buy tickets from another company because my friend had a flight to catch the next morning. And no, you don't get your money back. 
• The sunrise hike up the volcano: getting picked up at 2 in the morning to wait for the sun to rise 4 hours later. Makes perfect sense. 
• Sunrise hike up the volcano cost $40. Selling point: includes tour guide, flashlights, breakfast, and transportation. Um so ya it included one tiny flashlight and two hard boiled eggs. You had to pay extra if you wanted hot coffee. 

Plus a number of other things that I am sure you can imagine went wrong, but that is the fun of going to places like Indonesia. If you can't learn to live with brushing things of your shoulder, you'll end up carrying a load full of bricks by yourself across the finish line.

The American Dream

Every time I travel to a third world country, I experience a huge culture shock with respect to work ethic and drive. I am indifferent as to which work ethic is "better"-- the die hard, animalistic drive of America or the lazy and oblivious work ethic of third world counties. Nevertheless, going to a third world country never ceases to shock me to the point of questioning the way the American society functions. 

As a recent college graduate who has blindly walked the plank into the ocean filled with killer whales, I have a new found respect for working parents. I barely have enough time to take care of myself during the week. I cannot even to begin to imagine how draining it would be to come home to a house full of kids in desperate need of attention and food. 

When its broken down, there are 168 hours we have to spend in one week:

• 40 hours of which are spent at work (24% of our time)
• Assuming a 30 minute commute to work, we spend another 5 hours just driving to work, leaving us with 123 hours 
• According to doctors orders, another 6.5 hours a week (30 min/day) should be spent exercising, leaving us with 119.5 hours
• Taking into the consideration of all the time we spend on everyday life obligations (eating, showering, shaving, dressing, going to the bathroom, etc), we are down to 98 hours 
• (30 min/meal * 3 meals/day) + additional 30 min for dinner
• 1.5 hours/day showering, shaving, dressing, going to the bathroom
• Lastly, we need sleep. Pretending we have enough time to get the full 8 hours of recommended sleep each night, we are left with 42 hours

42 hours of freedom. 25 hours of which are spent on the weekend, leaving us with 3.5 a day during the week. And mind you this does not include household chores such as laundry, grocery shopping, washing dishes, getting gas, going to the doctor, etc. 

For every hour we work, we earn one hour of free time, which begs the question: what are we really working for? Are we working to live or living to work? 

Zombies of the first world

As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill. 

Helen Keller 

The beauty of going to a third world country is that it is not yet wounded by its own skill. The skills and technology we have developed in first world countries have unfortunately stripped us of nearly every innate survival skill we once knew. We struggle to experience life itself-- to think critically, to communicate, and to reason. When everything is just a click away, it would seem that all we have left to do is to live, but yet, we are slowly dying. 

Our goal is to maximize our time and efficiency. We are constantly developing our technology so that we have the fastest phones, can navigate through the web faster via apps, and can avoid getting lost or sitting in traffic by using google maps. In all this effort to maximize our time we forget the very reason driving us to save it-- our family, our friends, our lives. 

Their goal, on the other hand, is to spend time wisely. There is no sense of urgency. So long as your are enjoying your time, what else is there for you to accomplish that day? Dinner in Indonesia always lasted at least 2 hours. The waiters never pressed us for our bill, and even when we requested it, they did not bring it promptly. The mentality is completely different than that in the United States. For instance, if a person in the U.S were to walk into a coffee shop, buy a coffee, and then linger around for three hours, chances are that the barista would make him or her buy another drink. If not the barista, then the free wifi connection would surely prompt the customer to buy another drink. That is a scenario I think we are all quite frankly a little too accustomed to in the U.S; that, however, is not the case in Indonesia. 

While we were in Indonesia, the five of us embraced this concept of time as best we could. Each night we would go out to dinner and patiently wait an hour for our food to be brought out. In the meantime, we casually sipped on our 32 oz. Bintangs, played cars, laughed, conversed, and even debated. We embraced the unfamiliar circumstances of sitting patiently and soberly enjoying company. We got into sort of a routine: drink a beer, place an order, talk, and wait. When we could no longer ignore the howling of our stomachs, we resorted to cards. This had been our routine until the night we decided to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner(...in Bali, I know-- right? The boys were sick of eating vegetables and wanted something heartier. I was perfectly satisfied with my veggies, rice, and chili sauce). Not only did this restaurant serve pasta and pizza in Bali, but it also offered free wifi. This time when we sat down there was no beers, no laughing, and no cards. Instead we sat in silence as we mindlessly logged onto our Facebook or instagram, checked our e-mail, and looked up sports stats on ESPN. Just like that we were all instantly hypnotized by the free wifi. Zombies of the first world.

One of the most beautiful things about going to a third world country is that it forces us to detach from our phones and our gadgets and actually experience life, love, and friendship. For that, I will always have a reason to return. 

My Trip in Pictures (Indonesia)

After 18 hours of traveling, I finally land in Bali, Indonesia. And of course, first things first: I hit the streets of Kuta for a night out on the town.

Kuta is not a place you want to stay for longer than a day. It's kind of like Tijuana-- a place where you go to buy really cheap souvenirs and fake nikes or to party. After spending two nights in Kuta (one night too many) we were ready for something a little more mellow, so we headed off to Bingin beach. Bingin beach is much more of the typical Bali. It's very quiet and relaxing, filled with beautiful beaches and die hard surfers. 

We had to walk down some gnarly steps to get to our $25 a night room...

...but it was totally worth it. 

Padang Padang Beach, Bingin

Ulu Watu, Bingin 

Oh and in case you are wondering what kind of view $25 gets you, this is it.

Bingin was great. We would wake up in the morning for some yoga, then go down to the beach and eat breakfast at one of the shacks right on the water (usually fresh fruit and fresh squeezed fruit juice...so delicious and refreshing!), lay out on the beach all day, get a $5 hour long massage, and then end the night with dinner on the water. One night we had this awesome candelit dinner on the beach where they caught fresh fish and cooked it right in front of us. 

The shacks on bingin beach. 

 I was obsessed with the fresh fruit juices and large coconuts!! 

We spent four days at Bingin beach, and by the last day we were all sunned out so we headed to the mountains in Ubud. Ubud is beautiful with its temples and traditional Hindu architecture. The scenery is luscious and green as it is tucked up in the mountains. It's full of culture and incredible vibes. It's a well known spot for retreats since there are yoga studios on practically every corner, restaurants that focus on whole foods and detoxifying the body, and ornate temples. For me, something felt so right about being in Ubud. It's a place that seemed impossible to feel anything but calm, collected, and content. 

Rice paddies in Ubud

While we were in Ubud we took a sunrise hike to the top of the volcano, which was fun but lets just say quite the experience. First we got picked up at 2 am in the morning, which was totally unnecessary considering we made it to the top of the volcano two hours before the sunrise. Second being the dumb Californians we are, we wore shorts and tank tops. Bad idea anytime you are hiking up a volcano, what were we thinking? So for two hours we sat in freezing anticipation for the sun to rise, and just as it hit 6am...fog rolled in and we couldn't see a damn thing. Fortunately, we were all delirious and able to laugh at most of our misfortunes. In the end, the trek was fun and I would do it again (but I would rent the $5 jacket that we were too stingy to rent!). 

Seriously? 

I was able to quickly snap one photo in between the rolling fog

Freezing our asses off

The Trek

It was well worth it when it finally cleared up 

Post trek, our cab driver was nice enough to take us to a coffee plantation for a much needed caffeine kick. We had the opportunity to see how the coffee was made and taste a variety of Bali coffees (including ginger coffee..my favorite!)

Coffee flight 

Our last stop in Indonesia before heading back to Kuta for our departures was The Gilis. Gili T is a tiny island with no motorized vehicles that takes less than an hour to run around (exactly 40 minutes). It's very touristy but laid back. Gili T is obviously just one big beach but it was beautiful with spectacularly clear water. There we snorkled (and the fish were the most beautiful fish I have ever seen and I am not exaggerating! If only I had an underwater camera for proof), did stand up paddle boarding, and watched the sunset while sitting on bean bags and drinking sangria. It was the perfect way to end a long two week vacation. 

It doesn't get much better than posting up in one of these shacks while having a drink and watching the sunset

The last thing worth mentioning about Indonesia is the food. I am obsessed with the food in Bali! It is so much more flavorful than I anticipated. Apart from the fresh fruit and juices, which are to die for don't get me wrong (and only $1 or less even!), the traditional food was rich in spices and included lots of fresh vegetables. While I was there I became addicted to their hot sauce Asli (which you will most likely be receiving as a souvenir). For those of you who know me well, I am a newbie when it comes to hot sauces, so for me to rant and rave about it means it must be good. It was so good that at one point on the trip I was sweating and crying because my mouth was on fire but I kept adding hot sauce to my food, but I digress... The typical meal is called nasi campur, which is awesome because there is a variety of things to choose from. It's basically like a buffet style. They hand you a plate of rice and get to choose as many side toppings as you would like (the options are almost overwhelming because everything is so good: corn fritters, vegetable fritters, vegetables, tofu, curry, chicken, pretty much anything and everything you ever wanted). 

I'm kicking myself because I did not take any pictures of our dinners while I was there! This is what I could find on google, but it doesn't nearly do it justice. 

The assortment of sides to choose from may look something like this. 

All in all it was a great trip spent with great company...Cheers!

P.S. Stay tuned- more stories and adventures from Indonesia to come, but I just wanted to get this out for you who are dying to hear about my trip.