Hi, everyone! A slower week for once. While I have had a few mini-adventures, the main things in Sanur have been recovering from a head cold, visiting a temple, and an abandoned park. It hasn’t been my favorite week (due to being down for a few days with the illness) but there are many more weeks ahead.

This is a shorter post… for once… thank god.

A few housekeeping things:

1) I have started a podcast on Spotify called Rose Thorn Bouquet. Please check it out!
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.

Goa Gajah Temple

I didn’t mention this in my last post, but on my last full day in Ubud, I took a day trip to Goa Gajah Temple. It was only about fifteen minutes from my hostel by scooter.

Upon paying my entry fee, I was given a sarong to wear to cover my knees. Also, interestingly, women aren’t allowed to enter temple complexes if they’re on their period. Wild.

The main attraction of Goa Gajah is a cave that has religious carvings thought to have been done in the 9th century. Cool!

I wandered the temple grounds before heading into the cave. Immediately upon entering the area, I noticed stairs leading down to two separate purification pools which had koi fish in them. I walked down the steps to admire the koi and the statues across the pond.

And then, after I’d finished wandering, I took off my shoes and went into the cave. A worshipper sat at the end of the cave, clouded by billowing incense that was saturating the room. I quietly walked closer and realized there were maybe half a dozen others seated on the floor in prayer. One of the men was chanting a mantra. In the cave, there were “windows” carved, but nothing within them. Because there were people worshipping, I wasn’t able to check out all the window carvings, so I decided to walk around and come back later.

Past the temple grounds was a small walking trail leading through the jungle. The trail was rather dense, filled with mosquitoes, and I was a little concerned a snake would come out and bite me as I dodged between banana leaves. Luckily that did not happen.

The trail led to a river. I stayed for a moment and then walked through another trail which took me to a waterfall. The way the sunlight was hitting it, the waterfall reflected a tiny rainbow.

I walked another trail for maybe 20min. I thought it was taking me to a second temple (which in hindsight was a small structure that I passed by without much care) but I ended up exiting the trail and into a neighborhood.

Backtracking, I returned to the cave. This time, worship was done and I had it to myself. In one of the windows was a statue of the Hindu god Ganesh – the elephant god. After all, this was called the Elephant Cave.

I feel slightly torn about temple visits as a tourist because… well, a) there are a lot of temples you can’t even enter as a tourist, and b) I’m not practicing these faiths so they’re not even really FOR me, if that makes sense?

Uluwatu Temple

I didn’t have many particular plans in Sanur, which ended up being perfect because after arriving from Ubud, I was struck with a pretty gnarly head cold that kicked my ass for a good 36hr. I didn’t do much other than try to sleep and eat food.

Once I was recovered, I went and got a massage, went to the night market to try out some food, and also got babi guling which is a famous Balinese dish featuring roasted suckling pig. Otherwise, I walked around a bit. Sanur has a lovely beachfront with a number of restaurants and cafes, but since I have to stay out of the sun as much as possible until my tattoos are healed, I haven’t really taken advantage of it at all.

One of my main adventures was taking a day trip to Uluwatu to visit my friends David and Loris, whom I’d met on the sunrise tour a week prior. We met for lunch and they told me about what they’d been up to. They spent some time on the Gili Islands and diving at Nusa Penida, which are both items on my itinerary when I turn to Indonesia. It was nice to see them again. They are soon heading to Australia to spend a month, and then New York. They’re really bopping around the world before they relocate to Barcelona from Luxembourg. Very cool!

Once we parted ways, I took a Gojek to Uluwatu Temple, which was supposed to have lovely views of the Uluwatu cliffs and of the ocean. And it did!

There were also a bunch of monkeys hanging around the temple, which had me on edge. Signs read that hats and glasses were prohibited because the monkeys could snatch them… but other people had their hats and glasses on. I decided to risk it (because I’m blind without my glasses) and all ended up being okay.

I wasn’t able to go inside the worship areas of the temple, but it was still neat to see. Located at the top of a hill, at the edge of a cliff… it was a pretty great area for a temple to exist. I stopped at a few lookout points to admire the ocean and the cliffs. I could smell the ocean, even from as high up as I was. “Soon enough,” I told the ocean. SOON ENOUGH.

Uluwatu Temple does Kecak performances in the evenings but because it was still early afternoon and I’d had my fill, I decided to return to Sanur. Plus, it was a little over an hour by scooter and traffic had picked up.

The Abandoned Bali Festival Park

Because Sanur is eastern facing, I decided to wake up for sunrise one day. I woke to my alarm, got ready, and walked 10min to the beach. The sky had already lightened to a sepia color and I chastised myself for waking up too late. But the sun still hadn’t rose. At the beach, I admired Mount Agung. Bats, in a frenzy to get one last meal before the sun arrived, flew overhead.

I was thinking I wouldn’t see the sun because it was pretty cloudy along the horizon. But, to my surprise, there it was. It was very brief, before being obscured by clouds as it rose higher, but it was definitely visible. I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun rise directly over the ocean. Have I ever? Definitely on K’gari Island in Australia, but that was pretty masked by the clouds. I’ll have to make it a priority at some point in the future. A clear day, ideally.

My final adventure in Sanur was checking out Bali Festival Park, which was a theme park built in the 90s that was abandoned before it even opened to the public. I don’t think I’ve ever gone to one of these abandoned spots before, so I decided to check it out.

Surprisingly, the park was still “cared for” in a sense. I had to pay a 20,000 rupiah ticket (like $2 USD) before I could enter. It seems like locals keep the main paths clean, so it can remain an attraction.

The two main draws of the abandoned park is:

1) it has graffiti EVERYWHERE
2) nature has started to reclaim the park

I was the only person walking through the area since it was quite early in the morning and to be honest… it was kind of creepy at times. Not really while walking along the trail, but when exploring the rooms of a building – oof! With vines and foliage growing throughout the area, I was concerned about snakes, but also it just had kind of a “haunted” vibe to it, especially because some of the graffiti pieces were pretty spooky and twisted.

I loved it, though. What an awesome place with so much graffiti. So many different styles. A lot of really talented graffiti artists in Bali!

I must have walked around for over an hour, checking out all the different spots.

There was one building that had a room with a partially exposed roof. A bat flew in and hung upside down, heading to bed for the night. I wish I’d brought my camera so I could share a picture of it. However, when I return to Indonesia, I’ll be heading to a bat temple… which has a ton of bats. I’ll definitely bring my camera there!

Once I’d checked out every spot in the abandoned park, I returned to my hostel to take a nap. I had woken up very early… and I deserved sleep, damn it! So, that’s what I did.

Miscellaneous

Since being in Bali, Sanur has provided me with some of the best meals, surprisingly enough. Especially the babi guling spots. MAN, is that a good dish. I’ve found that when ordering Indonesian food in both Kuta and Ubud, it wasn’t very spicy. Very toned down for the westerners. But in Sanur, I’ve found some spots with a lot of flavor and a nice amount of heat, too. Just was I was looking for. I’m glad my brother Dan kept pushing babi guling on me because otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have tried it. And I would have been missing out! I haven’t taken a picture of the babi guling dishes, but I will try to do so in the future. Basically, it’s a lot of pork and then some sides.

Special shoutout to Rainbow Warung, which ended up being one of my favorite meals in Bali so far. I got fuyunghai, which is an Indonesian-styled omelette. And then also got some kind of pork dish that was cooked in a soy-sauce sort of thing. VERY good.

Art of the Week

Not completely pleased with this one. The idea in my head seemed so cool, but I think the way I arranged the shapes just didn’t match the idea I initially planned. Sigh. That’s okay. I haven’t been feeling very creative lately. I’ll write more on that in the section below.

Reflections

There is a lot going on in this little brain of mine. I’ve been in a slight funk the last couple days. It’s not very intense – a subtle feeling, but it is there. I’m able to understand it, though, and so I’ll break it down.

I think, mostly, this is stemming from one major thing: because I have gotten these tattoos, I have to limit both my sun exposure and my time in the water. So, no snorkeling or diving for me for another week or so. Not a big deal. But the sun part is more complicated. I have been wearing a long-sleeved shirt made of a light fabric when I go outside but it is still kind of uncomfortable since it’s hot out. Even before the tattoos, I would usually take a siesta during the hottest parts of the day, but since the tattoos, it feels like I spend way more time indoors than outdoors. And I’m not doing anything productive. Just browsing reddit, doomscrolling, watching shows, or playing Zelda. While I wait to get feedback from my book The Death of Duncan Lee, I am happy to be taking a break from writing, aside from this blog. But while I could work on art… I don’t want to. There just isn’t a spark currently. But I also NEED to have some kind of project. That kind of structure and creative stimulation is really important for me. I haven’t been feeding it, though.

In some ways, it feels like I’m on this Grand Adventure, and I’m not even doing anything a lot of the time. But that’s only temporary – it’s just until my tattoos are fully healed. But while waiting for that, I just feel like I’m in this weird limbo space where I’m eating food, and otherwise kind of waiting for each day to be over (unless I really have something planned).

And that’s one thing, too. I can’t go on a tour every single day, right. Firstly, that wouldn’t make financial sense and would quickly drain all my cash. But secondly, I don’t WANT to be doing something every single day. That’s exhausting. But I do want to be doing more than what I’ve been doing lately, and, again, because of the tattoos, I can’t.

I’m able to recognize that this is temporary. Tomorrow, I go to Australia, where it’s colder and my tattoos will be covered from the sun. And when I get back to Indonesia, they will be fully healed and I can continue on without having to consider them anymore.

Alright – so that’s one part of the current crisis. All sort of stemming from the tattoo care. So silly, isn’t it?

The second part is slightly more existential.

At times, it feels difficult to figure out what I should do next. Sometimes, it’s as simple as – where to next? in terms of which town, which country, which order to do things while traveling. In other ways, it’s a much broader and bigger question of what’s next.

I have been feeling my age lately. I am 33 now and left Chicago at 30. I know I’m still young, but I feel the sentiment that I am getting old(er). And the more time I spend away, the less time I have with… well, so many things. There are many sacrifices made when choosing to travel.

I spent a few hours the other night nostalgically going through silly, old videos I used to make with my friends as a teenager. I know that this current Travel Life will not be forever, and that decisions will need to be made regarding my future. While I love travel, I also have a craving for… a job that comes with health insurance! Regular dental cleanings! A closet to hang up my clothes! A desk to work on my art! Some kind of consistency. A space of my own, again. A place to have stable relationships and connections.

I know I’m currently traveling around the world, seeing so many incredible things, experiencing all this great food, culture, etc. But I also think about what my return to the States looks like and that feels daunting to me. Instead of a fork in the road, it looks more like a web. Me in the middle, and so many different paths I could take surrounding me. I don’t know which one that is supposed to be. Is it volunteering in Hawaii and trying to live there somehow for a year or two? (That’s the dream.) Is it California? Is it back in Chicago for a few years, getting back in my old field of work or maybe working at an airport for travel benefits without being a flight attendant? Is it Alaska for a season? Is it getting certified to teach English and moving to Korea? Is it working on a cruise ship? I just wish I could get paid to write this blog or to do my podcast or something. Then it wouldn’t matter where I am lol.

I am scared, I think, of when all this travel is finished. Because then I really need to make a decision about what I want to do. And right now, I don’t know. There are options, though. I have options! And I have some money set aside to buy me time to find the right job, etc. So that’s good. Thanks for looking out, 2022-Steven.

Anyway. That’s the existential part.

Today is my last day in Bali for now. Early tomorrow, I fly to Perth, Australia. The place where it all began. It will be good to see some familiar faces and to re-experience a place that holds such importance in my travel history. I’ll be there for about ten days and, after, I return to Indonesia for another 6-ish weeks to do all the things I haven’t been able to do because of these damn tattoos.

Until next time, sending you all my love. x