It has been over a month since I have updated my blog- here it goes. I figured this blog would contain the stories from the last month (school and Thailand) but my mid semester break in Bali changed my mind. As cheesy as it sounds, the eleven days I spent in Bali were both eye opening and life changing. For one thing, I am certain that I will never stop travelling and I also need a career one day that will allow me to do A LOT of it- bye vet school. Back to Bali: it is a magical place! The culture, environment, mountains, ocean, flowers, people, food, and attitudes, are something so special that words can’t describe. I imagined Bali to be amazing but the way that the island maintains such a high level of culture while sustaining thriving tourism, is incredible.
Just a few of the amazing flowers that are found throughout Bali
What made my experience so fantastic to start out with was
getting my PADI DIVE CERTIFICATION in Tulamben, Bali!!! This is something I
have dreamt of doing for years and it finally became a reality. Although I have very few fears in life, one of them was (past tense!) a fear of deep ocean water. I don’t
know if it’s a fear of the unknown that exists down there or what but it
frightened me a bit. I figured I may be a bit scared of diving but that was not
the case. The moment I first put the regulator in my mouth and jumped in the
water, I knew it was meant to be. It also helped that our Balinese dive
instructor Erik was awesome! I know I am getting ahead of myself but diving is
the greatest thing I have ever done in my life- nothing compares (so far). I
honestly was teaming with joy and I could have stayed underwater the entire day.
The first day of diving I got to swim right beside a 2+ meter white tip reef
shark, lion fish, stingrays, tropical fish galore, dozens of species of coral,
sea fans, sea squirts, sea slugs, seahorses- pretty much everything!!! The next
day we got to dive to 18m deep and inside a ship wreck from WWII! I got to see
a massive barracuda, eels, pumphead parrotfish, octopus, and about a million
other marine animals! When I spotted the octopus I swam down to its level and
stayed there till it went under the coral. Just staring at an animal bores some
people but there was nothing going through my head but utter bliss. I know I am
a complete nerd but diving is my new favorite thing! It even made me realize
more than ever that a career in marine bio may be exactly what I need to do!
 |
| Right before my first open water dive!!!! |
Erin, Sarah, and I taking the plunge!
Some of the incredible species we got to see!!!!!
NEMO!!!!!!
I love the anemone fish!
Us and our dive instructor, Erik :)
Sarah and I lookin' super fine...
Lionfish that we spotted!
The eye of an octopus as he hides in a coral garden
Swimming in the ship wreck!
Exotic Sea-slug!
Diving was not the only great thing…the town of Tulamben was
on the same level to me as a few of my small favorite towns in Costa Rica. The
Balinese people welcomed Erin, Sarah, and I with open arms and I certainly felt
at home. It might be bad of me to say, but while I love Malaysia, I hoped that I
could wake up in Tulamben knowing that I could stay as long as I wanted. The
Balinese people introduced us to their traditions, customs, stories, food,
music; you name it- we got immersed in it. We went to a restaurant that had a
live band- and became friends with the members. After the restaurant closed we
all sat around a table and sang songs as the band played the music. Something
as simple as sitting with seven Balinese people and making music was so special
to me. They even knew some of my favorite songs- and sang Sweet Home Alabama
for Sarah-haha.
Views from our hotel!
The dive center gave us a motorbike for the time we were
there so we got to explore the entire town (and even eat one of the best meals
I have ever consumed!). Erin, Sarah, and I squeezed onto one motor bike- of
course they made me drive- and we had a great journey! We could not drive more
than 10m without people waving to us and smiling. Everyone in Bali was happy
and had brighter smiles than I have ever seen before. We randomly picked a
small restaurant on the side of the road to eat at. What we didn’t realize is
that everything on the menu was octopus! In the same day that I got to swim
alongside an octopus, I also ate one- I am gross. But it tasted sooooo good!
Mountain vista from our "joyride" around Tulamben
View as we drove through the town :)
What's on the menu for tonight? OCTOPUS soup!
The last night in Tulamben we hung out with our dive
instructor and Balinese friends and went to the beach to sing and play the
guitar. Before the beach I took a pit stop to see a valley between two mountains where you can see the ocean from one side and the jungle from the other. As I
stood there, I looked up at the dark sky, which normally contained hundreds of
bright stars, and all I saw was two. A few days before I was listening to the
Balinese people tell stories about their culture. The one that remained with me
the most was the fact that to the Balinese, stars are reflections of lost souls
who no longer reside on Earth. When I looked up in the night sky and saw those
two stars I was filled with the appreciation that I have for my life. I hope that doesn't sound too lame but it was a really eye opening moment for me. I realized that have so
much to be thankful for and I am so grateful to have so many adventures to go on in my life! This semester abroad, which still has half
remaining, is an experience that is priceless...
The last day in Tulamben, Sarah yelled to me and said that
there was a HUGE lizard. I figured it was maybe a couple inches bigger than the
normal ones but I still came out to see it. It was far from what I expected, if
fact it was a large male Tokay Gecko. After watching him for a while and taking
photos, I thought it would be brilliant to try and pick him up. So, I reached
down, grabbed him, and then it went sour. My left hand was bitten, hard I might
add, but I am the idiot that didn’t put him down. He then bit my right middle
finger and then a knuckle on my right hand. The last bite was hard enough that
he wouldn’t let go and had to be pried off using a knife. I didn’t scream or
make any noise during the encounter but as soon as I saw the knife, the only
thing I could do was rant to the men not to hurt the Gecko. Luckily he was fine
but my hand looked awful. The skin on my knuckle was ripped down the bone and both hands were
dripping blood. At least Sarah was awesome and helped me out :) I am glad she at least got to witness my stupidity so that it wasn't a complete waste. I don’t know how but all three bites are already perfectly
healed and I learned my lesson BIG TIME. Never again will I mess with a wild
animal like that!
The Gecko that I was defeated by...
We left that day from Ubud, a quaint and hippish town in
Bali. We stayed in home stays
pretty much the entire time left in Bali. The first night in Ubud we found a
nice home stay but they had no room for three people. While we were walking to
the next home stay, the young man came to us and said he had one room we could
stay in- his room. We made our way into the homie room with a huge king size
bed! His toothbrush, deodorant, and all his possessions where in the room. His
family was some of the nicest people I have ever met. In Ubud I got to see a
monkey temple, a traditional Balinese trance dance, ate SUSHI for the first
time in Asia, and saw beautiful rice fields! |
| Artwork at the secret garden |
View on the way to Ubud!
Traditional Balinese trance dance in Ubud!
The next stop in Bali was Uluwatu- one of the best surf
spots in the world. Sarah and I figured we would stay for a night or two but we
stayed there the entire rest of Bali. On the first day of being there we walked down
to the beach and Sarah lost a shoe. She ended up finding a small black sandal
to use as a replacement. Who would have guessed that losing a shoe would cause
you to meet some great friends? A very tan girl asked Sarah if she was missing
another black shoe- the shoe that went with the one she took. From that moment
on, we had met some awesome people! We all went to eat at Silver Fish, a bar and restaurant
above the surf, and hung out with our new friends for the next five days. We became
instant friends with three Canadian- Veronica, Tracey, and Jessica and an
Australian named Sid. What made me even more excited was that Jessica was from
the very north east of Canada and is an Eskimo! She lives in a town that has seals, whales, polar bears, wahhhhh!!! I am now friends with my first
Eskimo! By the end of the five days we referred to each other as a family- it
is amazing how much you can get to know people in such a short time. We ate
breakfast together, sang songs along with the guitar, star gazed, made homemade
Salsa, went on motorbike rides to neighboring towns in Bali, went to a pool
party, made homemade Sangria, swam in the ocean, and had tons of other adventures. We also met people from all over the world coming to surf- people from Germany, South Africa, New Zealand, Britain, Costa Rica, Morocco, you name it!
At the surf spot at Uluwatu
View from the Monkey Temple!
Wow, Uluwatu was beautiful!
Sunset with our new friends :)
Tracey, Sarah, Me, Veronica, Sid, and Jessica :)
My favorite Indonesian food! CAP-CAY!
On the car ride to Kuta :)
Last animal I got to see in Indonesia- a cute goldfish :)
Now I am back in Malaysia but I am quite certain that I will
be back in Bali in the future!
Selamat Malam! That means goodnight in Malay :)
