Hey, everyone! Greetings from Bali, where I’ve been for the past ten days. Other than a day trip to Nusa Penida, I haven’t been doing too much this week. My Australian friend and ex-roommate Kory, came to join me in Bali, and we spent majority of our time in Kuta eating, getting massages, and relaxing. It has been a nice change from the constant go-go-go that comes with travel.

A few housekeeping things:

1) I have started a podcast on Spotify. Please check it out! I’m going to try to add new episodes every two weeks or so.
2) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
3) I have recently finished the first draft of my latest novel, The Death of Duncan Lee. I’ve sent it out to some friends to get feedback and I’m really excited to have it done(ish) finally. If you haven’t read it already, the link to my first book, Eclipse Me can be found here.

Reuniting with Kory

After arriving in Kuta, Bali, I didn’t want to do much of anything. I had gotten to the Manila airport 6pm the night before, my flight was at 3.45am, and when I arrived at my hotel around 8am, all I wanted to do was take a nap. So that’s what I did. I spent the days leading up to Kory’s arrival mostly just hanging out inside.

On the street my hotel was on, there were a number of massage parlors. Every time I would pass one by, all the staff members, seated outside, would ask, “Massage?” One of them said to me, “50,” which is 50,000 Indonesian rupiah, which is… $3 USD. I couldn’t believe it. After dinner, I returned and decided to get a back massage, which, with tip included, was all of $6. It was a bizarre experience. The masseuse literally climbed on the table and was squatted over me for the duration of the massage haha. It was certainly a deep-tissue massage and it felt amazing. Massage #1: success.

Because Kuta Beach faces west, I was able to enjoy the sun setting during my time in Kuta. On my second night, I walked to the beach, listened to music, and watched the sunset. Kids were flying kites – a simple pastime that was really adorable to witness. There are a lot of people flying kites here in Bali. Who would’ve thought? As the sun started to dip closer to the horizon, I noticed little bats beginning to make their nightly voyage. I was tickled. While I’d seen some in the Philippines, I haven’t seen bats in a big way since Australia.

The evening before Kory arrived, I walked along the beachfront, which hosts a ton of art and souvenir stalls. It also passes by a number of hotels, restaurants, and a mall. While walking, I noticed a group getting ready to do a performance. I continued to walk along the beachfront, watching bats fly around the area searching for food. When I walked back, the performance had just started.

There was a dragon composed of two people, people twirling fire, people “breathing” fire, and more. It was a really entertaining, free performance. Throughout the performance, Balinese music played over the loudspeakers. Very cool to witness!

The next morning, I checked out of my hotel and switched over to the one I’d be staying with Kory. He wouldn’t be arriving until late in the evening. I spent much of the day relaxing and anticipating his arrival. We hadn’t seen each other in two years, since I’d left Perth, Australia. We’d continually told one another we would be meeting up in Bali one day, and that day finally arrived.

It was so nice to see him. Taller and with darker eyebrows than I’d remembered, we were suddenly hugging in the doorway. With a box of Tim-Tams before me, we spent the next few hours catching up. We didn’t get to bed until after 1am.

Another reason Kory was in Bali was to get some dental work done. The next morning, he went to the dentist. I kept myself entertained and, later, we got lunch at Stadium, a place Kory tends to go to when in Bali. We returned to Stadium on another night because they had chimichangas that were to die for. So good.

Part of the reason we stopped in that area was to chat with a tour operator to see about doing a day trip to Nusa Penida. It was about $70 USD and was an all day affair. Pick-up, drop-off, lunch included, as well as a snorkel tour and a drive around the island to various attractions. Kory originally didn’t want to go because he’s afraid of sharks, but when I told him I’d be going, he decided to join me. I told him I’d protect him from the sharks (lol).

I think we had a nap, then went for dinner in the evening. We had an early rise the next day, so we went to bed.

Nusa Penida

Part of the reason I wanted to go to Nusa Penida is that they have a popular spot for seeing manta rays. Another reason was that, since I was planning to get tattoos in a few days, I wouldn’t be able to be in the water for 2-4 weeks. I wanted to at least get some Indonesian snorkeling in.

The van picked us up a little after 7am and we drove an hour to the ferry. We befriended a Russian who was also on the tour and chatted with him for some time. Majority of the day was a “hurry up and wait” situation.” An hour in the car, 40min in the ferry, waiting to collect our snorkeling gear and get a briefing, waiting to get on the boat, waiting for lunch, waiting, waiting, waiting. It wasn’t too bad, but it was a really long day.

Our first stop of the day was Manta Bay, where mantas are occasionally seen. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize Manta Point was the place we really wanted to get to, which had a much higher success rate of manta sightings, but our tour wasn’t going there. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any mantas at Manta Bay. The water was pretty choppy. I’ve heard the currents in Indonesia can be really intense, so I was a bit worried for Kory but he did fine.

After Manta Bay, we stopped at two other snorkeling spots – Crystal Bay and another which I can’t remember the name of. It was lovely! The visibility was incredible and there were a lot of fish. We saw a small garden eel, some massive triggerfish, and a lot of other cuties. Unfortunately, our time in the water was rather brief. I think it was all of ten minutes at each spot. Because I love to snorkel, I prefer to be in the water for much longer – where I can enter a sort of meditative zone and follow where the fish want me to go.

One of the guides was taking photos and video of us, so… spam of me in my element below:

Once we’d finished our snorkel adventure, we hopped in a van and drove to get lunch. Lunch was mediocre and pretty light – I was definitely starving by dinner time.

Afterwards, we stopped at a viewpoint to see Broken Bay and then Angel’s Billabong. Kory taught me that “billabong” is an Australian word. A billabong is essentially the remnants of what used to be a river or larger body of water. The billabong was neat because it was this crystal clear, still water, in an elevated area, with the ferocious ocean waves crashing right next to it. (Kory and I were laughing because there were a BUNCH of Instagram Chicks taking photos, all basically wearing the same dress and in heels. We were like… how did they walk here in these heels? It was very rugged, uneven terrain to do the light hike to the billabong.)

As we were walking back to the van and looking at the ocean, Kory spotted a manta ray down in the water below. Good spotting, Kory! The sighting was so fast, I couldn’t manage a photo.

Broken Bay was really nice, too. It had a cool little beach and an archway that people on jet skis were riding through.

The highlight of the day was Kelingking Beach. Before we got to the viewpoint, I was baffled to see… “a monkey!” And then “another monkey!” And then Kory pointed out that there were three sorting through the garbage right below us on the stairs. WHAT?

This was certainly the closest I’d ever been to wild monkeys before. They were all over. They were so cute but I was also worried one of them would bite me. At times, one of the monkeys would pass right by my ankles. Just one little chomp and… rabies?!

The viewpoint of the Kelingking Beach was awesome. The waves lapping over the sand made for a rich, teal color. It was a gorgeous sight. In the foreground, I had monkeys playing in the trees, and in the background I had a beautiful peninsula with a gorgeous beach.

The stairs leading down to the beach were incredibly steep and because we were on a guided tour, we weren’t allotted time to hike down. I don’t know that I would even want to. My thighs were really feeling it after hiking only five minutes down the stairs. I think my legs would have turned to jelly had I hiked down/up the entire thing. Not this time!

After Kelingking, we returned to the van and made our way back to the ferry. At times, the roads were treacherous. It was honestly a 4WD experience, with gravelly, bumpy roads where our heads were swiveling like bobbleheads. Not the most pleasant experience haha.

Eventually, we got back to our hotel and then went to Cafe Sardinia for dinner. The evening temperatures, like most nights in Bali, were perfect. Not hot, not cold. It just felt like nothing. Live music was playing while Kory and I gorged ourselves on food. We have been a nice pairing because we have been eating HARD while together. I usually have a light lunch and then binge for dinner – and the two of us were really binging. At one point, Kory ate two pastas LOL.

Tattoo Day

The next day, Kory and I went to Sea Circus for breakfast. He had been once before and said it was a very colorful, Instagrammable restaurant with delicious food. It was about 20min away by car. I had been craving some breakfast food so I got pancakes and Kory got eggs benedict. The restaurant was very cute! I’m glad Kory suggested it.

Afterwards, Kory did some shopping. We realized we were near our tattoo artist’s shop, so we decided to pay Tika a visit. She was finishing up someone’s tattoo so we hung around. After the customer left, Tika talked with us about the tattoos we were going to be getting. I’m glad we met her beforehand because I was a little hesitant, since it’s been so long since I got a tattoo.

A few days later, we returned to Tika’s shop to get our tattoos. I originally was only going to get one, but decided to splurge since there was another idea I’d been interested in getting for about a year. Tika tattooed me first, which only took an hour, and then moved on to Kory, who took an additional nine hours. He got A LOT of tattoos that day.

Tika started with my wrist tattoo, which says AR3664. This is nerdy, but… it is the number of the solar region that spit out a solar flare that gave the world one of the strongest solar storms in 20 years, last May. While I’d seen aurora a number of times prior to this solar storm, this was the first time I’d ever been able to see some color to the naked eye, so I wanted to commemorate that moment. It also was a special part of my time living in Queenstown, so I wanted to do it for that reason, too.

My other tattoo is a bit more meaningful and something I’ve been wanting to get done for many years. When I was getting sober and about to check in to rehab, my dad had shared with me something his dad once said to him about getting through tough times, which was, “You have to grab the bull by the horns.” I’ve kept that in my head since then. I decided to add a butterfly for my mom, who also has a butterfly tattoo. And of course, a sunflower which represents my growth and sobriety. I am so happy with it! Tika did an excellent job honoring my drawing. It looks as if I’d drawn it on my arm. Very cool.

While Tika did my tattoos, her assistant was touching up some of Kory’s old ones. Once Tika had finished with me, she took over for Kory. We didn’t leave the tattoo parlor until 8.30pm! We were both starving. After stopping home, we went to get food.

Building Up a Massage Tolerance

Other than the Nusa Penida tour and getting tattoos, Kory and I had one other main objective: massages. And boy, did we get a lot of them.

At first it was just full body massages. Then we tried hot stone massages (which were nice but not really my thing – I prefer hands). Another day, Kory got a four-hand massage (two masseurs), while I got one focusing on just my back and shoulders, which was divine.

We got so many massages that we started to build up a tolerance to it. It was like, how can I get my next fix because this isn’t feeling as amazing as it did the first time hahaha.

We even tried another massage parlor, Sharon Spa. This one had one of my favorite masseurs. He didn’t massage too deeply, like I prefer, but he had my scalp tingling various points throughout the massage. I decided to return to him another day to get a 2 hr massage, which was my grand finale massage prior to getting tattoos. Amazing!

I feel very lucky that I’ve been able to splurge and pamper myself the past week in Kuta. At times, I did feel kind of bored, because I’m used to exploring and going on adventures, but it’s something that my body really needed. I had to do a bit of relaxation for a while. And hey, now I’m extremely ready to continue the adventure!

Miscellaneous

Smoking is allowed at restaurants in Bali! It has been a long time since I’ve seen that. Wild.

And also, incense is burning everywhere. Which… I love. And my family would, too.

One day, I decided to get some custom button-down shirts made. I was waiting for Kory to withdraw money at the ATM and saw a tailor across the street. I decided to see what was up. They were very affordable, just about $20 USD a shirt, and I was looking for some new gear to match the warmer weather. I’m really happy with them – they’re beautiful patterns and colors. And only a three day turnaround!

I was walking around the beachfront one evening and when I looked to my left at one point, I was surprised to see that a yellow boa constrictor was laying on a table looking towards the sidewalk. And… a massive iguana. And… some kind of furry animal that I have no idea what it was. It ended up being a pop-up event outside a hotel. On my walk back, I saw people taking photos with the snakes wrapped around their arms, necks, etc. WILD.

Kory’s massive wad of Indonesian rupiah below.

I haven’t really explained just how exhausting the constant questions in Bali can be. When walking down the street and passing shops, you’re asked incessantly, “Braids? Massage? Tattoo? Bike? Bike-bike? Taxi?” It is non-stop. When Kory was doing dental work and I was on my own, I would just have my headphones on… but other times, it felt non-stop. One night, I was pretty hangry and all the questions got to be too much. I think four people asked us within 20 seconds if we wanted a bike, and I just screamed, “AHH!!!!!” Hahaha.

One funny thing though was that there was a tourist who asked one of the massage ladies, “you want massage?” flipping the tables on them. It didn’t come off as rude at all, just a funny exchange. “Yeah,” one of them said.

Some sunsets above.

And some more funny… I can’t remember the context, but at one point, Kory said to me, “I have to find a rich husband… or die.” He had me cracking up.

There was one evening where we went for dinner and it started pouring rain outside. I kept turning around to watch it. By the time we left, it had nearly stopped. We walked home, watching the scooters and cars drive through the flooded streets. It was a simple thing, but it was beautiful and very memorable for me. I explained to Kory how sometimes it’s small moments like this that really stand out for me.

Art of the Week

A few fun things to share!

I drew the doll below for Kory the day before his tattoo. He said he wanted a faceless doll and gave me a reference photo to use. Tika did a really incredible job bringing it to life in tattoo-version! Also, two drawings that Kory got tattooed shortly after I left Perth. He got them touched up. Fun!

Reflections

I titled this post Bogans in Bali because… there are a lot of bogans in Bali. I joked with Kory that there were more bogans here than I’d seen during my year in Australia. Kory shot back with – yeah, because they’re all HERE. But as we’ve learned…. “the truth is bogans are everywhere.” (You could maybe even say that Kory and I were the bogans in Bali.)

Kuta is an area in Bali that absolutely caters to tourists. There are tattoo shops, massage parlors, and souvenir shops on every street. And there are many of them. So I feel like I haven’t really seen Bali yet. Kory left this morning and I took a Grab up to Ubud, where I’ll be for the next week. Already, it feels calmer than Kuta. There are a lot of cool nearby attractions, so I’m looking forward to checking them out over the next several days.

It was strange to be parting ways with Kory. Alone, again. It’s not bad – I like to be alone. But it is a sort of feeling of acknowledgment, I suppose. I’ve mentioned it with Jasper, with Gene, and now again with Kory. In Kory’s case, I will be seeing him soon. I have a couple of weeks more in Bali, then I will be – SURPRISE – popping over to Perth for a little over 10 days. Then I will return to Indonesia, once my tattoo is healed, to check out some other islands and do all the water activities that I won’t be able to do currently.

Until next time, sending you all my love. x