Gado Gado

Alright time to sum up Indonesia for you. I mentioned a couple posts ago that my "to do" list there consisted of walking to the beach and sitting on it and that's pretty much what we did for a solid week. But before getting there we were able to mix in a little bit of activity.

From Cambodia we took a quick flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. No, we didn't get to meet "the prime minister of MALAYSIA!!!" like Derek Zoolander but we did get to see the tallest twin towers in the world. Other than that, KL was just a big city and way more expensive than what we've been used to (makes me worried about the shock of the dollar when I get home!) We spent a couple nights in Chinatown before flying down to Bali!Beaches, sunsets, surfers. That about sums up Kuta, Bali. Oh, and banana jaffles. Tasty little toasted sandwiches stuffed with bananas. We ate them every morning for breakfast. They taste even better when you have a sweet Conan O'Brien swoop in your hair like I do here.
Anyway, the beaches were amazing. The sunsets were gorgeous. And the surfers were hot. After spending a couple days gazing at the guys all googly-eyed, jaws dropped, we decided to participate in their little sport and give surfing a try for ourselves.


We woke up early in the morning and met up with a French guy from our guesthouse who had promised us a free lesson. Once we admitted that we had no idea what we were doing he suddenly disappeared down the beach. Well, fine then. We found a guy to rent us some boards for a few hours and when he offered us lessons for an extra cost the three of us began spelling out the random tips we've gathered from other surfers and assured each other we definitely didn't need to pay for lessons. You just paddle out, turn around, paddle really hard and stand up. Oh yeah, we totally got this.

Au contraire my good friend. This, we did not have.

Let's just say my first attempt resulted in me flipping over the board, saltwater shooting straight up my nose, my limbs flying everywhere. Eventually I ever so gracefully collided with the shore, washed up like a beached whale attached to a surf board. I stood up and looked out through the wet hair plastered across my face to see J and Georgie looking at me in shock. I gave the thumbs up to assure no permanent damage but we all decided to bring it in a little closer where the waves weren't quite as treacherous. After we did this we realized the only people out as far as we were are the local surfers. No wonder that Balinesian guy looked at us paddling out in the most amateur way possible and asked "Are you drunk?"

Despite the location change to the 'kiddy pool' of waves, I can't say we had much more success. In other words, after 3 hours I got completely blasted by about 85 waves, actually caught about 5 and barely stood up before falling over on 1. So my discovery of the day: a surfer I am not. Luckily we took it in stride and still had a hilarious time making fun of ourselves and imitating the surfer lingo as if we were pros.

After Kuta we stopped in the middle of the island for a little culture. Bali is the only part of Indonesia that is Hindu. The most obvious change we noticed was that the women were constantly giving their offerings throughout the day. We watched them present their folded banana leaves filled with crackers, flowers, and insense atop stone walls, doorways and sidewalks. Then they'd pick up a flower, dab it with some water and glide it over the offerings like a little dance. Pretty interesting to watch.

We moved on to the Gili Islands where we became official beach bums. We'd head out about 9 every morning, claim our chairs, dip in the most crystal clear ocean I've ever seen, then continue to sit for most of the day. Walking around the whole island (which you can do in about an hour and a half) was about most of the activity for the whole week other than swimming. We met some great people, snapped some good sunset shots, and ate tons of Indonesia's famous dish called 'gado gado'. And then we said 'gado gado' about 8 million times just cause it's fun.

The long-boat we took to our piece of paradise

Not a bad view for a whole weekThe beach was covered in pretty coralGotta love that sunset. . .And gotta love the old fishermen hanging out by the pier.

After Gili islands we were happy to get back to Kuta. Mostly because I felt like the beach life had gone on a little too long and I was beginning to feel guilty. But also because the island didn't always have electricity and they only had saltwater showers. Pretty sandy and salty after a week! We spent a couple more days in Kuta and then headed back to KL for a stopover on our way back to THAILAND!!! Our home away from home!

Unfortunately our goodbyes to Kuta also meant goodbye to our great friend Georgie. (We keep losing everybody!) We had to leave for our flight at 4:30am so the goodbye to 'Teacher G" was dark, literally and figuratively. I cried all the way down the street after hugging goodbye. Except I KNOW I will see her again soon. She has been such an amazing, hilarious, strong chica to travel with and a total inspiration! I can't wait to see her in South America or Denver or Seattle or wherever we meet up next! Love you GEORGIE! Backstage baby.