RTW Nomad - Part II

It's Friday and Bill and I are taking a 10-hour overnight shuttle bus from Kuta (Bali) to Surabaya (Java) in two hours. We enjoyed Bali very much, the locals were very friendly and the food was very good and cheap (my lunch was 4 fish kabobs with chips and steamed vegetables for $1.50 and a shrimp/avocado cocktail for $.90)

Since we only had 6 days in Bali, we spent one day in Kuta which is very touristic but good for shopping. Three days in Ubud relaxing, trekking and doing cultural things like going to a cremation and going to art shops. The other two days we just hired a driver/guide to take us to the major sights in the island.

We also went to Monkey Forest, a place in the center of Ubud that has four groups of monkeys for a total of about 350. The forest is beautiful and it has some temples and it's easy to spend hours playing with the monkeys.

In Ubud, Bill went rafting and I got a $100 spa package for 4 hours that included a traditional Balinese massage, a facial, an avocado hair treatment, a papaya body scrub and a nice bath with rose petals and different oils, it was absolutely wonderful. We also went to Monkey Forest, a place with some temples and as you can probably guess lots of monkeys that can be fun but very tricky (there's 350 monkeys).

We also climbed Mt. Batur, the second highest mountain in Bali (about 1,700 meters). It was a short trek, only two hours but Bill and I quickly realized how out of shape we are. We started the climb at 4:00 AM and summited at 6:00 AM to see the sunrise. Mt. Batur is a volcano so we trekked around and saw the different calderas from different eruptions. It was a really beautiful place and it's a great warm up for Mt. Kinabalu which I hope to summit in two weeks.

Bill arrived to meet me in Kuta (Bali) on Sunday. We celebrate our trip to Bali and splurged going to a fancy dinner, we went to a Cuban restaurant (that had Aussie burgers, mexican dishes, pizza and pasta, Balinese food but no Cuban food... unless you count mojitos as food ) We ordered a $16 seafood platter for two that included grilled red snapper, mahimahi, yellow fin tuna, 8 jumbo shrimp and grilled vegetables with three dipping sauces, it was one of the best meals I have had during my travels around the world.

The food is amazing and really cheap, last night I had a great dessert, some minty strawberries with caramelized orange peels and some whipped cream... the best dessert I have had in a long time. Even a plate of pasta carbonara for $2 is really good. I am also enjoying natural juices, avocado/orange and papaya/pineapple/lime.

On Monday we hired a driver/guide with a car to take us sightseeing on the central part of the island, this was $25 per person including transportation, guide and entrance fees. We went to some Hindu temples: Besakih, the court of justice and the elephant cave. We also went to a Barong dance show, that tells a story about a war between good and bad spirits.

Today is Tuesday and we are in a small town called Ubud which is know as the cultural center of Bali. This is a great place to buy crafts (I love Balinese masks so I hope to find a couple that I like for a good price), clothing, paintings, etc. We are staying at a great place for only $15 a night including breakfast. It's a nice simple room with a balcony and a view of rice terraces. We have a pool, a restaurants and a large garden to walk around.

In the afternoon we were very lucky to see a Balinese cremation. Here a cremation is a festivity, everyone is invited and there's music, offerings and food. For Hindus, a cremation is an occasion for joy and not for mourning, the burning of the corpses represents liberation of the soul so that it can attain the higher worlds and be free for reincarnation into better beings.

We were at the cremation for about three hours. Basically, people from the village meet at a Hindu temple for a ceremony. As a non-Hindu I wasn't allowed in the temple so I waited outside. Outside there is a large throne that is going to be used to transport the body to the cremation site and a large bull made of wood and cloth that will serve as the funeral pyre. There is also a parade of people with offerings that include food, flowers and incenses.

To walk two blocks carrying the large bull takes about 1.5 hours as people spin this massive bull and throne. It takes about 30-40 men to transport the throne with the body and 30-40 more to transport the bull. Once both throne and bull arrive to the cremation site the body is put into the bull (funeral pyre) and is burned.

So after 25 hours of travel I finally arrived to Bali. I arrived to my hotel at 4 pm with enough energy to take a shower and go to sleep. After 12 hours of sleep, I woke up at 4 am to read a book and waited until 8:00 am for the hotel's restaurant to open and have breakfast.

I haven't really done anything yet but I love being here. I feel so free again. I love tropical places, the vegetation, the blue skies, tropical rains, cats roaming free, a fresh pineaple/papaya/banana juice with breakfast, the weather, not using blankets at night... everything is wonderful.... except for mosquitos.

I am staying in Kuta, the most touristic town of Bali (it's just like Waikiki in Oahu). It seems pretty fun but I am glad that I am going to be here only one day and then I will me moving to the central part of the island.

I love travelling, it's like if I was made for this. I adapt so easily and I love being on the road. I also love not thinking about errands, paperwork, work, grocery lists, bills, etc. It's wonderful.

Everything is ready, my backpack is packed and it weights 30 lbs which is the limit that budget airlines will allow you to check-in without charging you hundreds of dollars for extra weight. I have done all the errands that I needed to do for the next couple of months including doing taxes

I am sad to leave my cats. I am anxious and I feel like throwing up. I am extremely happy that is my last day at my job and I know that I will be fine once I am enjoying the beaches in Bali.

I will try my best to upload some photos and write some short entries with updates on where I am and what I have been doing, but don't expect too much because it's very easy for me to get detached from everything when I am in the road.

• Join a jungle safari in Borneo
  
• Climb Mount Kinabalu
  
• Climb Krokatoa
  
• Visit the major temples in Bali and Java
  
• Dive in Philippines
  
• Meet a child that I have sponsored in the Phillipines for 5 years
  
• Swim with whale sharks
  
• Trek in the Himalayas for three weeks
  
• Take a white water kayaking class in Nepal
  
• Take a jungle safari in Nepal
  
• Visit the Taj Mahal
  
• Travel in train through India
  
• Visit Dubai
  
• Visit Petra
  
• Dive in the Red Sea (my favorite diving spot)
  
• Camp in the Wadi Rum desert under the stars
  
• Go to the city where Kahlil Gibran was born in Lebanon
  
• Go to the Jerusalem
  
• Visit friends in Europe