Inclined to Recline: Final Day in Asia

The final day in Bali started with a thunderstorm at 6am. So far on this trip, I have been the first one up everyday, and M has been the second one up. This day was no different. I sat outside, waited for the sun to come up, and took pictures for this blog. Unfortunately, M has been feeling very sick and may even have a fever. Boo. After breakfast, we headed out to our Air Asia (whose branding looks too much like Virgin Airlines) flight to Singapore. We met a little Indian girl name Aroha (or, as M says, how Japanese people say Aloha) who was very eager to speak to us in the airport. Unfortunately, we were in transit for the entire Manny Pacquiao fight, but we were really glad he won!



We still had a few hours of sightseeing to do. When we landed in Singapore, we had an aggressive plan of Din Tai Fung for lunch/dinner, the roof top bar at Swissotel, seeing the Raffles and getting Kopi C and toast at Ya Kun Kaya Toast in 4 hours with Alex, V's bf. M and Matt stayed home because she needed rest. At Din Tai Fung, we ordered a ton of food as a proper send off (thanks V & Alex!!!!) complete with 2 types of soup dumplings, beef noodles (our first beef on the trip), pork chop fried rice and a Mummy's Day Cake served with a carnation!



On the 12 hour leg to Frankfurt, M&A were able to sit next to each other. T&I could not sit next to each other, but we sat right behind each other. About 2 hours into the flight, I decide to take a nap. Suddenly I feel a heavy rocking of my chair. The girl who is sitting next to me and I decide to un-recline our chair. When we turn around, the girl behind her (next to T) was asleep on her fold-out table. My neighbor asked if she should recline her chair. I told her, just do it gently, but yes she should recline it. She reclined it halfway and the girl who is sleeping gets so upset that she begins punching the seat aggressively! T had a look of horror on her face, realizing she is sitting next to "crazy." On a 12-hour flight, I am not sure why "crazy" expects anyone NOT to recline their chair back. The German man who is sitting next to me turns around and declares, "Stop that! You are acting like a child!" The girl had no defense for her crazy behavior. T&I decided at Frankfurt that we must get away from this person and asked to change seats, which we did.


We finally get to JFK at 11AM on Monday and Anthony picks M&I up. Since A lives in NYC, she just took the Airtrain to the subway. I miss those kinds of conveniences! T had another flight to head back to Chicago in the evening. M had been craving a burger, so when Anthony got to the airport, he took us to a burger place in Somerville... yum! It made us feel so good, but we were so tired from traveling that we decided to take a nap at home. I set my alarm to 4:30PM to take a 1 hour nap. However, I only woke up when M knocked on my door at 7PM! We slept for nearly 4 hours! We were in trouble for the rest of the night... After a shower, M headed back to Wilmington. Our whirlwind Asian vacation had come to an end :(

Dreamland Beach & Body Works Spa

We dedicated a "beach day" for A, who had been wanting one all week. M decided to kick it up a few more levels by taking surfing lessons. We met up at Dreamland Beach after getting a new driver for the day since Wayan was already booked. It was the sunniest day all week, as it stormed heavily the night before. We laid out leisurely, having paid 100k rp for 4 chairs. Women kept coming by to offer massages or boogie boards but we rejected. The one beach side restaurant served up some nasi goreng with egg, so we had lunch on the beach. As busloads of Indonesian and other tourists flooded the beach, we decided to head to our next destination, the Uluwatu store for the hand-woven lace products that M had been wanting to buy.
 

After the stop, M & I went to our 6pm facial treatment, as V, T, & A took a break at Ku De Ta. Their 2 hour scrub/bath appointment began at 7. Once M&I were done, we separately headed to our exfoliating scrub/flower bath. V and T were the next ones who completed their treatment. They quickly informed us that they were led to do their spa appointment together! And, with no warning from the spa staff. I couldn't help but laugh at the awkward American, but normal Asian, experience.
 

For our final stop of the day, we went to Cafe Bali, which looked very much like an Anthropologie store. The others opted for pasta, as we have had nothing but Asian food all week. I got a banana leaf steamed fish dish with rice. For dessert, M ordered a chocolate lava cake to end her meal, and I ordered a seemingly benign choice of apple tart with ice cream. Unfortunately, this was just a pie crust with baked apple sauce! At least the vanilla bean ice cream was good.
 
Instead of going out, we decided to walk back home and drink our beer and the last of our pear vodka. T and I bought a Bintang and San Mig Light on the first night but saved them for the last night. It's so hard to believe the honeymoon is almost over :(

Lesson Learned: Do Not Carry a Plastic Bag in a Monkey Forest

I am forever changed by this day and it has nothing to do with the spiritual journey that people typically seek out in Bali. I was attacked by a monkey at the monkey forest in Ubud. For $2, you too can be harassed and picked at by a monkey. Here's what happened. When we got out of the car, V wisely advised: no hats, no sunglasses, no food or water, and clutch your belongings. I transferred my things to a plastic bag because I didn't want monkey poop on my purse. We entered the gate and immediately see a monkey from afar perched at the end where the path first turns. As T, V and I approach it with our cameras, he turns his attention from the little boy that is trying to feed him and begins to walk towards us.T clutches my arm as V commands us, "don't act scared, act normal, don't act scared!" The monkey (with a Mohawk) increased his speed and began running right to us... to me! T releases my arm and the monkey grabbed my forearm as I try to clutch my plastic bag. I was looking right at him, as I spun him around and around to release him. He was basically clinging onto me with his hands while his feet tried to tear up the plastic bag he thought contained food. I happened to glance at A and M a few yards behind who are clearly disturbed by what is happening, have their mouths wide open and decide to turn around towards the entrance as I spin this monkey around. He finally lets go, with a piece of plastic torn out from below me. When he realized that I basically had bug spray, hand sanitizer, tissues and a camera case with zero food, he left me alone. We quickly stuffed the contents into V's bag for security. We proceeded to find crazies who were encouraging the monkeys' aggressive behavior with food and taunts. One stupid lady must have held bananas in her purse because these monkeys wanted it. When it wasn't fun for her anymore to have monkey butt on her head and claws trying to grab everything, her husband literally tried to swat them off with his baseball cap. Not cool. We proceeded through the forest quickly, as we were clearly outnumbered by monkeys of allsizes.
  
Since we were in Ubud, we located our first must-eat destination, Ibu Oka. Ibu Oka is famous for their suckling pig, which is brushed with coconut water and loaded with spices. We ordered $4 plates of the good stuff (with skin). I happened to forget my camera forthis part of the trip since I was so disoriented by the monkey experience. For $4, you really can't beat this meal. I did like eating on the floor with my shoesoff, too.
 

After lunch, we drove to some of the local rice terraces for pictures and then went back to the center of town for some shopping. Haggling here is definitely different than anywhere I have been. For example, I walked into a shop to buy a little Buddha, and the seller tells me it is 75k RP, which is about $6, "but you can go lower"! I bargained down to $5 because I was willing to pay it, but I have never seen a seller try to encourage me to buy at a lower price so soon. After more souvenir shopping, we had about an hour until Wayan had to be back near Seminyak.
  

With our spare time, we decided to go "see" the Yoga Barn, which we read about having drop-in classes. When we got there, we realize that it is virtually next to Bebek Bengil: Dirty Duck Diner, another must-eat locale. Walking to the barn, we leave the main street and notice that behind the bustle of all these buildings and traffic are beautiful rice paddies, very serene. The lady at the Yoga Barn informed us that they have a community yoga session at 6pm (in 20 minutes!) and it's free :) T, M and I decide that the yoga class timing was meant to be and decide to stay in Ubud for a few more hours. V & A decide to drive back to the villa with Wayan, but only after grabbing some Bebek Bengil to go.
  

Yoga class, overlooking the rice paddies and the semi-outdoor setting during sunset was out of this world. The lesson learned on this session was to make the most out of our practice so we can make the most of our time here on this island and this Earth. Yoga allowed us to push ourselves physically and mentally. Therefore, we had no problem splurging at dinner :) The staff at Bebek Bengil brought us to the best table in the house. But we couldn't actually see anything. T, M, and I sat comfortably drinking Bintang beer, eating dirty duck rice, salad and crispy duck with our favorite: Balinese sauce! We were just very thankful for the amazing moments we have been able to spend together, still in wonder of all the world we have left to see!

Hello Bali! First Day in Paradise

Continuing the jetlag extremes, M, A and I got up around 5am after getting to bed around 1am. Shortly thereafter, T joined us and V continued to sleep. Unlike the rest of us, V had a full day of work and travel the day before. Plus, Bali is in the same time zone as Singapore. I got a skype call from my bf and was just so happy to hear his voice. The 12-hour difference has made it difficult to connect. Anyway, the girls and I headed to breakfast at the villa and took pics of the surroundings. Outside the villa walls is much more developed than I expected but the natural smell of Bali (can't tell if it is from coconut trees, the various food offerings sprinkled throughout the island for the gods, or another plant) permeates throughout. A few of us took a quick dip around the pool in our villa. We then got ready for our day trip in the Southern part of Bali.
 
Our driver Wayan picked us up around 12:30pm and he took us to the sea and rock temple called Tanah Lot. The various temples were constructed by carving the large rock structures and some are only accessible in low tide.  By paying a few rupiah, we got blessed, which included getting rice put on our foreheads and necks and receiving a flower for our hair. By 2pm, we were craving lunch but had no reasonable time to stop, so we just headed to our next destination, Jimbaran beach for dinner.
  

The hotel made reservations for us at a restaurant called Ganesha, but honestly it could have been any on the strip since they were all very similar.  V&I took the job of picking the fishes for dinner. At this part of town, you simply pick your seafood, they weigh it, you choose how you want it cooked (grilled, fried or broiled) and you pay per kilo. We kinda went crazy with the ordering. We ended up getting about 1kilo each of jumbo prawn, clams, giant squid, and red snapper. They served us some rice, greens and sauces (yum, Bali sauce and chili sauce!) and we watched the sun start to come down from our beach-side table. We only spent about $25 each but we probably could have bargained for a lower price.
  
Our next destination was the infamous Rock Bar, which is situated on a cliff overlooking the water. We only had 1 hour until Wayan had to pick us up to get to our next appointment so it was quite possibly the shortest trip to that bar ever. First of all, you walk through fountains, pools and stores to get to the entrance. Then you must wait on a line to get to the 8-person capacity elevator/incline to get down to the bar. Once you make it down, you must put your party on a guest list for a table. It didn't help that we tried to get in at sundown, one of the most popular times of the day. As soon as we got to our table, we ordered our $15 drinks (a little bit better than Singapore drink prices but ridiclously expensive by Bali standards), took pics and soaked up the atmosphere in about 20 minutes.
  
Our next destination was the spa Jari Menari for our 90-minute massage appoinmtment. All the masseuses here are men, which is unsettling at first but you can't even tell once the massage starts. M spotted a giant cockroach in the shower stall... yikes! But it was otherwise a smooth experience. I rarely get massages and when I do, I am way too tense to enjoy it. Even though the deep tissue stuff was never completely comfortable, I still managed to fall asleep in the final moments. When I was done, I found out that A and M also fell asleep. We walked home from our exhausting and fulfilling day, thankful and completely relaxed. :)

Pulling a "Barcelona"

Tuesday was the longest day of our lives, after being up 22 hours. So, it was no surprise that when V and Matt went to work (after V took a conference call from her kitchen) the rest of us slept through our alarm until 1pm! T&I had that same experience in Barcelona and even talked about it before it happened. We had grand plans of going to din Tai fung for soup dumplings, high tea at raffles and little India but the plans went down the drain thanks to exhaustion of traveling. We had to leave the apartment at 2pm to catch our flight to Bali, Indonesia, which we barely made.
  
After landing, we picked up our visas and headed to our paradise villa called Villa Seminyak. First impressions of Bali: there is a distinct, sweet, coconut-like smell in the air. Some poor children on the street beg for money, like every other third world country. We watched one little girl carrying a baby reject coins from a tourist by throwing them to the ground. She was upset that it wasn't enough, I guess.  But since we are "millionaires" in indonesia, perhaps a few coins are literally worth nothing. After getting searched for explosions in our vehicle and drinking some guava juice, we checked in and decided to eat a late dinner before V showed up from her latest flight.  We ate at Made's Waring and had our first Nasi Goreng ( fried rice) of the trip. We ordered a ton of food after skipping meals all day and running through the singapore airport. Other food included a Balinese sticky rice dish, chicken satay, balinese duck, salad, seafood with veggies, and probably more I am forgetting. The total was about $10 per person. Things are ridiculously cheap in Bali. We went back to the apartment to meet V, yay! She had to work that day but managed to get on a later flight. We were so happy to be reunited and planned the first day of our Bali adventure...

Our Singapore Fling

Sunday night, M met me at my parents' house for a farewell dinner. Dad loaded us up on delicious shrimp, steak, mussels & chorizo and salad before heading to JFK to meet A&T. Because we have perfect timing, we arrived at the same time. Before midnight we were off to our first leg of the Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore with a layover in Frankfurt. Luckily, I sat with a lovely girl from indonesia who told me all about things to do in Bali and her interesting life.
  
After 20+ hours flying with a baby crying the ENTIRE way, we FINALLY make it to sunny, balmy Singapore on a tuesday morning. Wait, what happened to Monday? We get to V & Matt's apartment around 7 or 8 am and the first thing they say is "did you hear that we got bin laden?!" Apparently we were oblivous to the biggest news in america!
   
So after a quick catch-up, V went to work, and we all got much needed showers. We then proceeded to a hospital food court that surprisingly had options like noodles, roast duck, milk tea, MR. BEAN and starbucks! We are easily impressed :-)  After that, we unsuccessfully tried to locate the local monastary but got lost and ended up perusing some fruit and flower markets. At noon, Matt took us to the monastary but we were much too sweaty to really enjoy it. It was beautiful, especially the sleeping buddha. We took the cab to Newton Circus next on a mission to eat bbq stingray! They prepared it with a spicy bbq sauce and the ray was surprisingly light.
   

We proceeded to the marina bay via MRT, the singapore subway system. Since we were up since 4am, we were so tired and desperately needed caffeine. After a quick stop at the (coffee) bean bistro at the marina bay sands, we proceeded to check out the stores like botega veneta, shanghai tang, shu uemura, etc. We then met up with matt again at a bar called overeasy. May I add that matt aka cinnamon has acquired quite a swagger in singapore? You can see it in his walk and his briefcase, which he carried around all day :-) 

   
V then met us up at Jumbo seafood in clarke quay where she ordered up 2 types of crab for us. Black pepper crab and the famous chili crab. Our old favorite bartender, P, from the Green Cafe in Ithaca surprised us by showing up, too! Her bf met us in the center near the fountain and the giant phallic speakers. We go to the pump station for more cocktails & beer (please note: drinks in sing are so $$$$!). The highlight was the pinoy band that sang all covers and invited the audience to sing! We got V's special request "don't stop believing" and A&T sang "Proud Mary" (if they upset me, I will no doubt post the video ;) We got home by 2am but our poor hosts had to get up the next morning. It was an exhausting 22-hour Tuesday especially since we completely missed Monday!