sanur, bali

Our next (and final) destination was Sanur, which was about 30 minutes from Ubud.  I would guess it’s one of the better beaches to visit on the island because it really wasn’t that touristy.  We had heard that Kuta was packed with people so we opted for another place.  It was easy to find empty areas on the beach, the water was calm, and we were barely bothered by ladies offering massages and manicures.  I’m sure it would have been terrible in a more crowded area.

More good food.

The first of many creature finds.  The tide gets really low in the late afternoon, so some of the group went hunting for gross-looking animals.

Algae-covered crab.

Starfish.

So weird looking!

The tide goes down really low.  These little tents had been in the water a few hours earlier.

They just stand there all day fishing.

More starfish.

Big statue in the middle of the road.

Justin bought a kite.

What are they doing?

Oh, they are just turning Ryan into a mermaid.

My friends are talented.

At our hotel.

Big blurry statue.

Our last night.

Dessert!  So good.  I ate a lot this week if you can’t tell.

I also had maybe ten banana milkshakes while in Bali.  I need to buy a blender so I can continue drinking them daily.

We got umbrellas and chairs for $1/day.

The Witherspoons, whose contract just ended and they went onward to Australia and New Zealand when we came home.  They’ll be back in Korea in a couple months, but it will be weird at work without them :/

Goodbye, beach.

Last dinner and banana milkshake.

ubud, bali

I was waiting to post Bali pics because there are SO many.  Ubud has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world, with such an interesting culture.  It is rather touristy, but not nearly as bad as the major beach areas.  We stayed on the edge of town, so we saw a lot of Balinese people and countryside there.  I really really loved it, even though it rained the whole time we were there.  I want to go back so badly.  No picture could ever come close to properly showing how amazing it is there.

We stayed in paradise for $15/night.  I can’t believe how inexpensive this trip was.

Where I slept.

The place where we stayed was hidden back in the middle of a rice field.

The island was created by volcanic explosions, so it has an interesting landscape.  It’s pretty much covered in terraced rice fields like this.

First stop: Sacred Monkey Forest.  Word of warning to those interested in visiting: don’t buy the bananas unless you have travel insurance that would cover potential rabid bites.  The monkeys are cute, but dirrrty.

Joy getting attacked by a monkey.  This happened a lot on our trip—in KL and here.

There’s a temple inside the monkey forest.

I loved the architecture in Bali.

The girls: Joy, Sharon, Karissa, me, and Kenna.

Sharon getting jumped by a monkey for her yellow flower.  They also stole a yellow bag of tissues out of her bag and proceeded to tear it apart and eat it.

The boys: Tae, Ryan, and Justin.

Enjoying getting his tummy rubbed.

We were basically in a rain forest with huge and awesome old trees.

My first Indonesian meal.  So good, and of course, very cheap.  I also had my first of many banana milkshakes here.

The whole city had beautiful flowers everywhere.

On the walk back to our hotel.

My first steak in over three years.  It was delicious and all of this plus a salad was about $8.  Nom nom nom.

All over Bali, people put these little flower offerings with incense at the entrance to every place.  I definitely accidently stepped on one because they are literally everywhere.

We saw a Balinese dance.  Definitely a tourist attraction, but I still enjoyed it a lot.

While traveling in between cities, there are a ton of statues lining the roads.  Also, being in a car in Bali is terrifying.

8 days in southeast asia:

I only spent 400 USD while living and eating like a queen.  Compare that to roughly the same amount for 3.5 days in Japan, where we stayed in crappy hostels and had to seek out cheap food.

I took 461 pictures!

I probably gained a couple pounds stuffing my face with delicious Chinese, Singaporean, and Indonesian food.  The Western food in Bali was also super cheap, so we took advantage of that and ate a couple steaks and burgers since they are so expensive in Seoul.

I had an amazing time and can’t think about facing reality and the start of intensive classes tomorrow.  Pictures will come…