blissful bali

last week was lunar new years and most of asia goes on vacation, all at the same time. back in september, lindsey suggested going to bali, so we'd been planning this magical week for a while. the trip began with a ktx ride to the airport, a flight to kuala lumpur, hours wandering the airport through the rainforest and starbucks, until my final flight to bali.

i landed around 6am and was picked up by the driver from my villa. he dropped me off and i crashed in the darkness of the teakwood house. that afternoon i spent on the porch, reading, wandering the grounds, resting. that evening i ordered food from a local restaurant to be delivered, i had to repeat the address so many times because i couldn't pronounce the words correctly, but eventually the food arrived. that night, i slept early.

tuesday, i took gloria, the scooter, out for a spin to the local grocery and through some rice paddies. i had the roads to myself and i took the opportunity to drive on the left and explore some on my own.

i took a nap that evening before being picked up around 2am for a sunrise hike on mt. batur about a two hour drive away to the north east. the hike up was climbing over slippery rocks with flashlights and ten-year-old local guide. we reached the crater just before first light and found good seats for the glorious colors we were about to witness. the guides made us a breakfast of coffee, banana sandwiches, and eggs over the volcanic steam. monkeys came down the crater in herds to take part and to steal what food they could. the volcano was wonderfully green (as was all of bali) and was last active in 2000.

after the hike, we were driven back to the south of the island where i was dropped off at bali buda and waited for lindsey and her driver to pick me up from their place in the mountains to our next spot on the beach. we drove a couple of hours to south kuta, a peninsula along the bottom of bali. finding our beach hut on bingin beach was tricky. we drove back and forth and had to ask many locals for directions. eventually we found a grouping of family huts, and a path, and some steep steps that led down to the beach where we eventually we found our hut and h napping in the bed. some kiwi friends of l's joined us for two nights before jetting off on the rest of their adventure. shelby arrived that night.

thursday, our first full day as a group, we rented motorbikes and scooted off to uluwatu. a temple and some beautiful cliffs. cliffs are one of my favorite of earth's landscapes (along with mountains and forests), and these were some of the most glorious cliffs i've ever seen. we wandered among some cows and hung our feet over the edge. the temple is overrun with monkeys who will steal sunglasses and hats in return for food and treats. 

that afternoon, we biked to a beach close by at low tide. it was full of pools of warm water and we floated from each one to the next. it was a relaxing afternoon among rock formations that were tall and mighty. (we later returned during the morning while it was high tide and the waves crashed among the rocks in a magnificent way).

the last days of our trip were spent scootering, getting pulled over by corrupt indonesian police, pretending to be mermaids, watching surfers, eating beachside barbecue, going to the cashew tree for smoothies as frequently as we could, swimming in giant waves, collecting treasures, climbing cliff stairs, adventuring in a calm, blissful, perfect way. 

this trip was peaceful and good to me. being close to (and in) the beach, collecting precious things, being reminded of lake michigan, driving again (even if it was on a scooter), being with friends from high school, filling in the empty spaces and enjoying our time together, waking up early, feeling normal again. 

as a "last trip" out of my home base in korea, i couldn't have asked for a better adventure or friends to adventure with. the next time i get on a plane, i'll be headed back to the states and to the greatest state in the union. there is something so sweet in that. i'm excited for the months ahead, and the months afterwards. 

bali was blissful and magical and gloriously green. everything i needed. 

hey from chiang mai

i was home for 36 hours between arriving from taiwan and shanghai and jetting off to thailand with my friend j . she had a short vacation and i didn't want to be stuck in an empty cat-less apartment in an empty town (all the students are on break and all the foreigners are on vacation).

our journey to chiang mai was a bit of a long haul. i left my apartment at 9:30 in the morning and took a bus to cheonan. from cheonan it was a 2 hour bus ride up to the airport. we checked in and exchanged money for our 4:40pm flight to qingdao, china. did you know you can only be on mainland china in excess of 24 hours without a visa (if you don't land in one of the airports with the 72 hour transit visa)? we had two layovers in china: one was 14 hours in qingdao and one was 6 hours in kunming. they check when you land in china and when you take off. we landed in qingdao at 5pm on the 6th and flew out of kunming at 5pm on the 7th. we were in china for exactly 24 hours. it was a close one and i was nervous they weren't going to let us on the plane. phew.

we got to chiang mai at 7:30pm on wednesday and took a taxi to our hostel on nimmam soi 1. the location was awesome. it was a quaint little street full of cafes and coffee shops and art galleries. i loved it. the hostel itself was incredibly clean. our rooms were a bunkbed and about a foot on one side to move around, it was tight but cozy. woody, the owner, was kind and watched out for us, checking the buses and taxis that came to get us to make sure we were safe. i was really thankful for him.

the first day in chiang mai we wandered our little area. there were lots of leafy side streets to walk down. we started the day with smoothies and a thai massage. we hopped from cafe to coffee shop and i had a few thai iced coffees (so delicious). that night we ate at a famous restaurant on our street called "mix" and ended with a dessert called global warming that melted under fire.

nimbent soi 1 | the street our hostel was on

being a tourist | chiang mai

the first coffee shop | nimmam

mapping our route | chiang mai

the second day, we went to the elephant nature park which is a sanctuary for 41 or so rescued elephants. the elephants here have been saved from illegal logging operations in myanmar, street begging in bangkok, and trekking camps in thailand. the elephants are not ridden, instead they are left to their own wanderings in the park and interact with humans on their terms. the 41 elephants have formed 5 herds, 2 have babies that roam the park as well. we began the day by feeding the elephants watermelons. it was awesome to see them use their trunks as a limb and grab the melon before sticking it in their mouth. we had a buffet lunch (the best i've ever had!) full of cooked vegetables i haven't seen in a while (or ever) and some pasta. it was such a good, good lunch. afterwards, we wandered the park on foot. approaching some of the elephants. occasionally, we had to back slowly (or quickly) away if they seemed too interested in us. finally, we bathed some of the elephants in the river. ours was a lovely girl. she stood patiently and ate her melons while we splashed her with buckets of the river water. it was fun to play around with an elephant and touch her and be around her. 

bathing our girl | elephant nature park 

feeding watermelons | elephant nature park

my pachyderm palz | elephant nature park 

old girl playing in the mud | elephant nature park 

the third and last day in chiang mai, we walked to the old part of the city to see some of the temples. there were so many! there are 36 active temples just in the old city (which is not very big). they were all unique, though, so it was cool to see the intricate designs on the outside and inside. we got some thai pants (very comfortable) and took a tuk tuk back to our part of town for dinner, packing, and early sleeps before our 6am flight to phuket.

temple | old chiang mai

wat chedi luang | old chiang mai 

tuk tuk ride home | chiang mai

we landed in phuket around 8am on sunday morning and took a mini bus down to patong where our resort was. the beach was right across the street and the hotel let us check in early so we took naps before changing clothes and heading to the rooftop pool. that evening we wandered a little ways from the hotel for dinner, but because we were so tired we crashed early. the next day, we had fresh fruit on our balcony for breakfast before going to the pool. sadly, i got quite burned this day. so we had an early dinner of pad thai and holed up for the night with some movies from the front desk. the next day, i was still burned so we sat in the shade and went to happy hour and just relaxed. that night we put our feet in the indian ocean and it was a lot warmer than i expected! it smelled salty and the breeze was fresh. it was amazing. the next early morning, i got food poisoning from some 1. street pad thai or 2. street mango smoothie, i'm not sure which was the culprit, but it was not a pleasant experience. we had to check out at noon that day and i was still not feeling well so we had a lot of time between then and our flight at 3am. we bounced between air conditioned places until the sun started going down. for the evening, we sat in the cool sand by the indian ocean, watching: the cruise ship out in the bay, people sending off floating lanterns, fireworks, and all sorts of goodness. it was a pleasant way to end the trip. 

at 8, we took a taxi to the airport and waited for our flight. we had a layover in shanghai for a couple hours where we parked it at starbucks and did puzzles. and we were in korea that night. 

indian ocean and beach | patong

view from above | patong

last sunset on the indian ocean | patong

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even though thailand beat me in the end with my burn and food poisoning, i loved it. i loved the people, the atmosphere, the elephants, the beaches. i loved the scenery and the food. i loved the thai iced coffees and little cafes. i loved the fresh fruit and smoothies. it was a great experience, one of my favorites. things to do for next time: don't have a 14 and 6 hour layover on the way there, take the train to bangkok, rent an umbrella, and spend more time swimming in the ocean. thankful for adventurous friends and an adventurous spirit and the means to take them places. thankful for energy and spontaneity and cheerfulness to get us through long layovers and nights in china. thankful for aloe and mango smoothies to cool. thankful for mornings on the hot balcony and nights in the comfy bed. thankful for the sunshine and warmth in between. 

happy january !

celebrating mud

this weekend was a celebration. a celebration of mud. in the dirtiest way possible. there was mud fondue. streams of mud. slides of mud. mud wrestling. mud dancing. mud prisons. mud. and all the human beings that showed up. turned into swamp monsters. 

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viv and i got on a bus and headed down to boryeong and daecheon beach on the west coast of korea for one of the messiest days of our summer. it was foggy. it was a tad chilly. but we were ready to get muddy.

to the left is the stage and to the right is the yellow sea  

foggy yellow sea, vampire still hiding from the sun 

 looking south

little darlings  

apparently this man is a legend and his name is kim chung hoon . he sings

 foggy fireworks

painted the whole night sky 

the next morning, freedom formation 

 they were pretty darn cool 

sunning the next day 

while vampire lifeguards were covered head to toe 

muddy jackie and muddy viv 

my mudding pals, viv and jodi, now clean

the weekend was fantastic. full of muddy people. people you couldn't recognize. people who were just people because you couldn't tell if they were male, female, asian, or foreign. people covered in mud. people playing. people dancing. people having fun. people being people. 

i always do love being a swamp monster

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