Heading to Bali and First Day

I arrived in Bali after about 36 hours of traveling. Each leg of the journey had its own adventures. From CLT to SFO, I was sitting next to a man named Ken. It turns out that Ken lives in Saint Augustine and used to own a dive shop there. He also lead dive trips around the world. I found this quite fascinating since Linda, the leader of this Bali retreat, is also a huge diver who moved to Belize just so she could scuba dive every day. Anyway, Ken relieved my first-flight jitters and we talked for the whole six hours. He is a graphic designer and has even done work designing prototypes for new Apple accessory products. He showed me some of his work and it made me realize how much I still don’t know about the Adobe creative suite products. It’s amazing to see how someone can design something in 3D on a computer, or make a flat picture come to life. He also works one day a week as a diver at Disney! He works in the huge shark/fish tank at EPCOT. He said next time Matt and I go down, he’ll swipe us in! I love meeting really awesome strangers on planes!

After that I had a 3 hour layover in SFO waiting for Linda to arrive. I was very tired by this point, as it was after midnight (my time). The long leg was next – from SFO to Hong Kong – about 14 hours. I was window seat, Linda was aisle and there was a Chinese man in between us. I got this crazy looking neck support contraption online and after eating a pretty large and decent meal, I tried to get some sleep. Well, let me just say, this crazy neck thing works! I slept for 5.5 hours! I couldn’t believe it. Then I watched a half of Dirty Dancing before getting too tired and falling back asleep for a little bit. There was another meal during that time as well. Finally, there was breakfast and we arrived in Hong Kong at 7 am local time. It really didn’t feel as dreadfully long as I was expecting.

We had an hour layover in Hong Kong before heading to Singapore. I may have slept a little on that flight and watched half of Dr. Strange...or maybe all. I can’t remember. That’s how delirious I was. In Singapore we had a 3 hour layover and we got to explore the airport a bit. Oh my goodness is it beautiful! Linda and I first found a lovely Butterfly sanctuary where we spent a few minutes being surrounded by gorgeous butterflies. Then there were coy fish ponds and GIANT living flower gardens. There was even a napping area with comfy lounge chairs.

The last leg of our journey put us in Bali about 7 p.m. local time on Saturday night (which is 6 a.m. EST). I had left Charlotte on Thursday evening. That was pretty trippy. Our luggage came very quickly and a driver from our hotel was there to meet us. Another retreat-goer, Kim, was with us at this point as well.

We quickly learned on the way to the airport that driving in Bali is not for the faint of heart. Most of the roads are only one lane in each direction. There are no medians, often no sidewalks and no police. Oh, and usually no traffic lights. It’s every man for himself. There is lots of honking, with different types of honks meaning different things. One quick honk means, “I’m going around you so don’t swerve into me” and a longer honk means “You’re an idiot” and two quick honks means “Hey, I know you.” There are more, but those are the only ones I have deciphered so far. It was 1.5 hours to the Alam Indah hotel in Ubud where we were staying. We all thought we may die about 4 times on the way, especially when two trucks were passing a car in the other lane and were heading straight for us in our lane. We missed each other by a few inches I’m pretty sure. That was a long honk moment for our driver.

A typical site on Bali roads

We arrived at the Alam Indah and we immediately noticed the peace and serenity surrounding us. It was such a different feeling from the roads. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and kind. They brought us delicious mixed juice (fresh) and put our bags in our rooms (and carried them up a BUNCH of steps from where the car park is). Linda and I were staying in the Rambutan Suite which is two stories. Downstairs there is a twin sized bed, a small living area and a door that goes to the open air bathroom. (This means the shower is open to the sky above. It is freaking gorgeous. Upstairs there is a queen sized bed surrounded by a ton of windows and it opens up to a large balcony with a daybed and table. From here you can see into the Monkey Forest next door and over the gorgeous gardens of the Alam Indah hotel. We also have a porch downstairs with daybed and table. Every morning, the monkeys come onto the porches and balconies to eat the offerings that the staff leave there. But I’m getting ahead of myself. That night, we took showers in our beautiful bathroom, looking up at the stars, and went to bed.

View from our Alam Indah balcony

Door to our hut in Ubud

The next morning we awoke to the most beautiful sight. When we opened the curtains of the upstairs room, all we could see was greenery and flowers and trees. It was breath-taking. When we left our room to head over for breakfast, we saw some monkeys being chased off the grounds by men with slingshots whose sole purpose is to chase away monkeys. Lol But they are no dummies. Each morning, every Balinese woman makes hundreds of little offering baskets out of palm leaves and fills them with flowers and often rice or other small food. They are then set all around the property. The monkeys just scatter until someone isn’t looking and then sneak in and tear apart/eat another offering.

Alam Indah breakfast spread

I left for an open air breakfast in the “lobby” of the hotel (a huge porch). Linda was in the bathroom and heard something. “Did you forget something?” she called, thinking I’d returned. When no reply came, she went into the living space and there sat a large monkey eating fruit out of the fruit bowl on the table. (I’d mistakenly left the doors open when I left in the hopes of getting a breeze into the warm room). The monkey looked up at Linda with one hand still in the fruit bowl. She moved to get her camera, but he thought she was going to chase him away, so he looked at her, looked at the fruit, grabbed one more piece, and ran out the door. He then sat on the porch peeling a piece until she came out and he took off, again thinking she was going to try to take his stolen goods. The Alam Indah staff told us we must not keep our doors open if there is any food they may smell.

Hello there little friend...

The food was spectacular – fresh fruit juice, fruit salad, yogurt with granola, a large variety of eggs and crepes, and fresh breads as well as coffees and teas. We immediately fell in love with the overly accommodating staff who will do anything in their power to make you happy.

our outdoor bathroom!

After breakfast, Linda, Kim and I went to the Ubud market. This is basically a GIANT outdoor Black Lion or flea market. There are hundreds of vendors – most of whom sell essentially the same stuff, namely: wood carvings, woven baskets, sarongs, dresses, kimonos, bags/purses, hats and sandals. There were also spices, paintings and jewelry. Oh, and a ridiculous number of falic key chains, bottle openers, etc. Apparently, they think these wooden carved things are funny for tourists, and have no other purpose than to amuse said tourists.

More resort views

We were looking for sarongs for the women coming on the retreat because you have to wear them in order to enter temples. Anyway, we found some really pretty ones with sashes for a good price since we were buying 7, and after the lady had the money in her hand, she followed us out of her little stall and started tapping the money on everyone else’s goods. Finally we asked her what she was doing and she said she was blessing her friends so they would have good look too. Haha. This was an action repeated every time we bought anything at the market. It was pretty funny.

Ubud market

The hotel (which offered free transfer to and from the center of Ubud) let us check out a little late, and our driver arrived at 1 p.m. having already picked up 2 of the other retreat-goers, Lisa and Traci. The five of us then made the 3.5 hour drive to the Poinciana Resort on the north shore of Bali in the town of Timbok. The drive was fairly treacherous as we went over the mountains on tiny little roads where drivers had to take their lives in their hands to pass one another. Although I think if we did it again now, it may not phase me. I always sit up front since I get motion sick, so I’ve more or less gotten past the abject terror that Balinese driving initially inspires. I do have to say as a side note, however, that it is so incredibly dangerous for the people here. Most of them drive motorbikes – I’m talking THOUSANDS of motorbikes weaving in and out of the trucks and cars and vans like mosquitoes. Also, motorbikes can go either direction on the road – so they can be passing you on both sides – one coming toward you, the other going past you. They carry everything on their motorbikes, one of the most common sites was entire families: the dad driving with a baby in one arm, the mom on the back holding two more kids. Or just one parent and a child or two. This was the most concerning to all of us, as they could easily be killed in this lawless, light-less traffic landscape. There were also men with tons and tons of stuff on the back of their motorbikes. Like, the entire contents of one of the market stalls. It was actually rather impressive. One guy probably had 15 stools, 10 buckets, 5 mops, dozens of toys, a bunch of pillows and random other stuff all miraculously strapped up behind him on his bike.

Anyway, upon arrival at the Poinciana, Linda and I got massages (the first of many this trip). The massage tables were out under a little cabana near the ocean where you could hear the ocean breeze. It was heavenly. The last two ladies, Nicole and Kelly, arrived about 8:15 pm and we all ate a delicious dinner together. The Poinciana provided all of our meals and I found out that I really like a lot of Balinese food. They do tons of fresh fruit and fruit juices, chicken and fish, rice and vegetables.