Goodbye Bali, hello Bangkok!
Our month in Bali was the longest stay in any one location so far on our travels, and it was a good test of the whole “slow travel” methodology that we wanted to be about. There were benefits (you get used to one grocery store, meet your neighbors, get plugged in local groups and a
Day trip to Northern Bali
On Sunday we took a day trip away from Sanur to a very different part of Bali. Our gardener Nyoman invited us to the place where he grew up, in the north. I didn’t realize quite *how* north it was but we’ll get to that. We rented a car and driver for the day, as it’s quite cheap and there’s no way we would drive in Bali. Because guess what? Their license laws are very lax.
Indonesian cooking class
Last week I took a cooking class in order to learn how to make some classic Indonesian dishes. If you’re ever in the Sanur area, I’d highly recommend it – Bamboo Shoots cooking school. They picked us up early in the morning and took us to the morning market. Because it’s the slow season, it was just me, two French women and a lady on a holiday by herself from Australia.
Second week in Bali
Sorry for taking so long to post. It started out tough – Matt battled his sinus infection on bad sleep for about 8 days before it finally went away on its own, about the time we were preparing to road-test our new insurance at a clinic. During that time we didn’t leave the house much. Between the sickness, taking care of the dogs, and Matt’s work, we didn’t have but a handful of hours to get out together. It has been on me to get out and scout out interesting places, and I had a big drop in morale at first. I knew this would happen at some point, I just didn’t want it to happen HERE.
Beautiful Bali
So far Bali has been pretty extraordinary. We arrived here a little nervous on Saturday night, having realized right before we boarded our plane that Indonesia requires an exit ticket upon arrival. Many countries aren’t so stringent, merely asking you how long you intend to stay, but some require you to have a plane/train/etc ticket already booked to leave their country so that they can ensure it’s within the visa time limits. In Indonesia, a tourist visa is 30 days or less. Every day beyond that, you pay a fine. At 60 days, you face up to 5 years in prison. Their website also informed us that drug traffickers will be given the death penalty. Indonesia does not mess around.
Gong xi fa cai!
…is Mandarin for “Happy New Year!” and is said when we celebrate the Lunar New Year, which started February 8th. This is beginning of the Year of the Monkey. We’ve been spending the last three days with my friend Stephanie’s family.
As I’d mentioned earlier, Chinese New Year is a mass exodus home for Chinese people to their home to see relatives and loved ones. Since Malaysia is 22% Chinese, there are a quite a few people here celebrating.
The next stop
So we’ve arrived in Johor Bahru, which is in the south of Malaysia right near Singapore. Tonight we will participate in our first Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner, a special meal kicking off the celebrations and a reunion meal for family members. The transportation isn’t quite so gummed up as what’s going on in China, but it’s such a serious undertaking for all Chinese people that it’s the largest annual people migration on earth.
There’s no crying in Thai massage
We’re wrapping up our time in KL and will be leaving on Sunday morning. It’s been a quieter week since we’ve run out of most of the things we wanted to pay to see, and it’s also nice to take it slow. I took Matt to a Thai massage studio that focused on foot reflexology, and we both got a foot massage for an embarrassingly cheap price. I think in the US, most massages are meant to just be comfortable and relaxing. Not here. This Vietnamese guy beat the crap out of our legs and feet. There were times it felt really nice, but other times where you’re gripping the side of the chair and thinking “man this hurts, but if I say anything I’ll sound like a weak American”.
The national sport of Malaysia is probably eating.
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday evening. We’ll here for 9 days total, a long time in one city but there’s quite a bit to do here (and eat) so we’ll have plenty to fill our time. We’re staying near the popular Bukit Bintang neighborhood, where you’re just as likely to run into a tourist or expat as you are a local. If you move past the waiters begging you to come inside their overpriced European and American pubs and restaurants, you can quickly arrive at places like Jalan Alor, where equally pushy hawkers compete to draw you into their open air eateries where the real food of Malaysia can be experienced.
Kyoto and Osaka
I’m going to cram a few days update into one post because there were a couple days in Kyoto where the most we did was get out for lunch since I wasn’t feeling well. But those days of vegging out and watching movies (Independence Day! Will Smith! Aliens! ‘Murica!) paid off and we did get to get out on our last day and see Gion District in Kyoto before leaving.