so here i am in bangkok! its a pretty cool city - havnt really seen much yet but sofar it looks good. everything is dirt cheap like almost everywhere else in asia. but its good! the guest house im staying at is quite expensive (as far as bangkok goes) but its nice, satellite tv, big kingsize bed,HOT WATER, air conditioning....i like it. i booked tonnes of stuff yesterday to keep me occupied until jenn gets here. im flying to chiang mai tomorrow, friday i start a 3 day/2night trekking tour (i hope its not too strenuous...i havnt been 'trekking' in a LONG time)and then i have 3 seperate day tours books to go on whenever i want to. one is to visit hilltribes, one to the golden triangle, and one is on a safari i get to ride and elephant and do a bunch of other stuff - so for the 9 or so days im there ive got 5 of them accounted for. im gonna look into taking a muay thai kickboxing class one of those days and i guess spend the other days just to relax and check out chiang mai. and then when i get back on the 7th - one more night until jenny comes! im so excited! ive already got plans of what we're gonna do all thought up in my head! (hope you dont mind jenn, if youve got anything specific you want to see or do just let me know and we can work it all in!)
the street vendors here are awesome. they make your food right in front of you - i had pad thai last night for dinner, it was only 15baht (about $0.50) and really good! this morning i had a big bowl of fruit, yogurt and museli for 30baht! what a great breakfast!
im feeling much better - not so sick anymore but i have weird swollen mosquito bites that are quite sore and still itchy from when i got them 3 nights ago! the swelling has gone down...i hope they go away soon!
anyway! missing you all very much! only 6 weeks till im home! can you believe it? i cant
lovelovelove
alia
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
head cold :(
So i have managed to catch a horrible head cold! what great timing! I hate being sick....ah well just gotta suck it up i guess. i bought some cold medication...at least i think its cold medication - on the box there is a picture of a guy sneezing so im gonna give it a shot and see how it goes. but i am so diseased im sure people are looking at me weirly thinking i might have avian flu. its gonna be hard to make friends like this!!!
well, other then that - things are good. im back in lombok, leaving for bali this evening - back to bali. i think i might do some shopping ( i need to buy clean panties! i dont have time to do laundry before i go to bangkok on monday and i dont have any left!!) and prolly just some chilling out and lots of water drinking i think. maybe i'll splurge and rent a dvd player for my room and buy a pirated dvd at one of the many pirated dvd stores they have here in indonesia!
So in 2 weeks im gonna be meeting my big sister in bangkok! im SO excited you have no idea! and in a little over 1 week im going to be 23! isnt that incredible!? time flies!
ANND in less then 7 weeks i'll be home. thats just crazy. 1/2 of summer away...but thats okay, gives us the rest of the summer to catch up!
love you all! miss you all TOO MUCH!
alia
well, other then that - things are good. im back in lombok, leaving for bali this evening - back to bali. i think i might do some shopping ( i need to buy clean panties! i dont have time to do laundry before i go to bangkok on monday and i dont have any left!!) and prolly just some chilling out and lots of water drinking i think. maybe i'll splurge and rent a dvd player for my room and buy a pirated dvd at one of the many pirated dvd stores they have here in indonesia!
So in 2 weeks im gonna be meeting my big sister in bangkok! im SO excited you have no idea! and in a little over 1 week im going to be 23! isnt that incredible!? time flies!
ANND in less then 7 weeks i'll be home. thats just crazy. 1/2 of summer away...but thats okay, gives us the rest of the summer to catch up!
love you all! miss you all TOO MUCH!
alia
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
small island - *almost* total seclusion
hi guys!
So after quite a trek - first from kuta, bali to denpasar airport (in bali) then waiting around for like 5 hrs then flying to lombok and then 2 nights in sengiggi beach THEN catching a boat to gili tranwangan --- here i am! lol. Something similar with the first night i came to indonesia happened when i caught the boat to gili T - a guy grabbed my bag off my shoulder and put it in the boat, and then took my other bag and put it in the boat and then helped me into the boat, he then said 'you give me 80,000rph' - this time i said 'no buddy! sorry, i didnt ask you to carry my stuff - maybe you should ask next time!' sucker. the locals were warning me about mosquitos and stuff - i had planned on buying at least bug spray anyways but i thought maybe a skeeter net would be ideal as well. so at the port i went to one of the shops and ended up paying 400,000rph for a mosquito net and bugspray with is RIDICULOUS! but he wouldnt barter any lower with me - i guess thats the price you pay for things when you buy at a port - because they know yo ucant get it anywhere else.
anyway so i got to the island - there is no motorized transport so i started walking. there are these little horsedrawn carridge things but everything is quite close together - the island is extremely small. i think it would take about an hr to walk around it. i asked a guy about accommodation and he took me to a place - said i only had to pay 60,000rph - which is a great price. it had a shower, fan, mosquito net (damnit), double bed. it looked okay at first glance so i said 'okay i'll take it' only after discovering the shower didnt work and the mosquito net had holes in it AND a big dead cockroach i decided i should find somewhere else to sleep. so i went wandering - saw lots of places for good prices but decided to splurge at this place called big bubble which is sort of a diving resort type deal. its pretty expensive 250,000rph but its very clean with free breakfast (all day!) and free coffee. id rather not be worrying about malaria while im sleeping and stuff like that. although the shower is cold. but i feel much much better
this island is super cool! its not unusual to hear roosters crowing and there are only cats on the island (no dogs!) and a few times every day you hear prayers(?) from the mosque. Lots of local people have told me how beautiful i am - i think its just cuz i have white skin - not something they're used to. i was talking to a guy who works at the place im staying and i was telling him how im going to see the sunset behind the volcano on bali today - he sort of invited himself to come. he kept saying how beautiful i am - but he has a child and is married! he also kept talking about how i have to sleep alone - and sort of implied that he could sleep with me . i said nothanks. kept talking about my 'boyfriend'. he also asked if i would be interested in hooking up with a local . 'of course not', i said 'i have a boyfriend'. why are the locals all such creeps! i might just avoid the hotel alltogether today so i dont have to go with him to the sunset. id rather go by myself anyways.
the weather is drab - very cloudy but humid. i dont think the sunset will be very nice anyways. ive got 2 more nights here i want to rent a mountain bike and ride around the island a few times. that would be cool!
ooh and every night at 7pm theres a restaurant/cinema here that plays movies as long as you buy something to eat - so i have dinner while watching the 1st movie and if the 2nd one is good i'll buy something else (2 nights ago it was ice cream, i didnt stick around for the 2nd one last night) but tonight they are playing pirates of the carribbean 3 (ugh!) followed by BLADES OF GLORY!!! im so excited to see it!
so to answer christine's question i will be home no later then aug 8th - i have been waitlisted on a flight that will get me home aug 5th but i dont know if ive been confirmed on that flight yet - or if i ever will be! so plan for aug 8th and hope for aug 5th! when is baby due? i thought it was september?
loveloveloveing you all
alia
So after quite a trek - first from kuta, bali to denpasar airport (in bali) then waiting around for like 5 hrs then flying to lombok and then 2 nights in sengiggi beach THEN catching a boat to gili tranwangan --- here i am! lol. Something similar with the first night i came to indonesia happened when i caught the boat to gili T - a guy grabbed my bag off my shoulder and put it in the boat, and then took my other bag and put it in the boat and then helped me into the boat, he then said 'you give me 80,000rph' - this time i said 'no buddy! sorry, i didnt ask you to carry my stuff - maybe you should ask next time!' sucker. the locals were warning me about mosquitos and stuff - i had planned on buying at least bug spray anyways but i thought maybe a skeeter net would be ideal as well. so at the port i went to one of the shops and ended up paying 400,000rph for a mosquito net and bugspray with is RIDICULOUS! but he wouldnt barter any lower with me - i guess thats the price you pay for things when you buy at a port - because they know yo ucant get it anywhere else.
anyway so i got to the island - there is no motorized transport so i started walking. there are these little horsedrawn carridge things but everything is quite close together - the island is extremely small. i think it would take about an hr to walk around it. i asked a guy about accommodation and he took me to a place - said i only had to pay 60,000rph - which is a great price. it had a shower, fan, mosquito net (damnit), double bed. it looked okay at first glance so i said 'okay i'll take it' only after discovering the shower didnt work and the mosquito net had holes in it AND a big dead cockroach i decided i should find somewhere else to sleep. so i went wandering - saw lots of places for good prices but decided to splurge at this place called big bubble which is sort of a diving resort type deal. its pretty expensive 250,000rph but its very clean with free breakfast (all day!) and free coffee. id rather not be worrying about malaria while im sleeping and stuff like that. although the shower is cold. but i feel much much better
this island is super cool! its not unusual to hear roosters crowing and there are only cats on the island (no dogs!) and a few times every day you hear prayers(?) from the mosque. Lots of local people have told me how beautiful i am - i think its just cuz i have white skin - not something they're used to. i was talking to a guy who works at the place im staying and i was telling him how im going to see the sunset behind the volcano on bali today - he sort of invited himself to come. he kept saying how beautiful i am - but he has a child and is married! he also kept talking about how i have to sleep alone - and sort of implied that he could sleep with me . i said nothanks. kept talking about my 'boyfriend'. he also asked if i would be interested in hooking up with a local . 'of course not', i said 'i have a boyfriend'. why are the locals all such creeps! i might just avoid the hotel alltogether today so i dont have to go with him to the sunset. id rather go by myself anyways.
the weather is drab - very cloudy but humid. i dont think the sunset will be very nice anyways. ive got 2 more nights here i want to rent a mountain bike and ride around the island a few times. that would be cool!
ooh and every night at 7pm theres a restaurant/cinema here that plays movies as long as you buy something to eat - so i have dinner while watching the 1st movie and if the 2nd one is good i'll buy something else (2 nights ago it was ice cream, i didnt stick around for the 2nd one last night) but tonight they are playing pirates of the carribbean 3 (ugh!) followed by BLADES OF GLORY!!! im so excited to see it!
so to answer christine's question i will be home no later then aug 8th - i have been waitlisted on a flight that will get me home aug 5th but i dont know if ive been confirmed on that flight yet - or if i ever will be! so plan for aug 8th and hope for aug 5th! when is baby due? i thought it was september?
loveloveloveing you all
alia
Thursday, June 14, 2007
dirty, cold and itchy
hi everyone!
so i tried out the mosquito net bit with my sarong - it actuallyworked out okay but the sarong wasnt breathable and i got too damn hot so i had to ditch it. i still wake up every morning with new mosquito bites! and i was warned yesterday by my tour guide (sunset tour was awesome!) that in lombok i have to becareful of malaria!!! MALARIA!!! i know its a small chance but he said to use mosquito cream...so mosquito cream and sunscreen and lotion - im going to be extremely creamy while in lombok. i think i might just pay the extra for rooms with air conditioning because aparently mosquitos can't fly when theres a/c in a room. or make sure the rooms i have have mosquito nets. but of course i'll go the extra mile and buy mosquito cream. i think you can get some here that smells like fruit yummy!
yesterday was the sunset tour - it was only me and two other girls on the tour and our tour guide and driver. saw a bunch of temples, went to a rice field, and a monkey forest! it was very cool. but most places we went they wanted us tospend more money - for example. they took us to a restaurant for lunch - this restaurant cost 60,000 rupiah/plate for a buffet lunch. which is only about $7canadian dollars. but we went walking and found a local sort of outdoor food market thing and they sold this soup that had noodes and blue spagetti noodle things and some chicken ball things and a hard boiled egg in it and abunch of other stuff (it looked pretty weird, i have a picture) for only 5,000 rupiah -and a coffee for 2,000 and a pack of 3 oreo cookies for another 2,000 - and that was lunch for me! also, at the monkey forest we had this guide who took us around ( i fed the monkeys peanuts it was fun! i have video of it) and then when she was done walking around with us (it wasnt even a tour, she just followed us around adn when there was a baby monkey she would say 'EXCUSE ME!! theres a baby' she said 'i will take you to my shop'. hmm okay so she took us to her shop - showed us some stuff and i was ready to walk out but seh said 'take something for good luck' so she sold me this woodcarving of 3 monkeys hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil for 50,000 which is overpriced. but oh well. she prolly needs itmore then i do. anyway so thats how theywant you to spend more money. and every guide you talk to, every local all talk about how quiet bali is now because of the bombs. its unfortunate.
anyway - on a higher note. i do think i will end up shipping some stuff home. they have beautifulpaintings of buddha here and i want a HUGE one to send home but i think it would probabley cost more then the painting itself to send home. but i do want a teapot and i dont know....ehh we'll see. ive decided not to go surfing. im just too lazy.
other then that - nothing new....less then 2 months till i get home and less then 1 month till i get to see my big sister. looking forward to all of it!
alia
ps if i have learned anything its that to pay extra for a hot shower is definatly worth the money.
so i tried out the mosquito net bit with my sarong - it actuallyworked out okay but the sarong wasnt breathable and i got too damn hot so i had to ditch it. i still wake up every morning with new mosquito bites! and i was warned yesterday by my tour guide (sunset tour was awesome!) that in lombok i have to becareful of malaria!!! MALARIA!!! i know its a small chance but he said to use mosquito cream...so mosquito cream and sunscreen and lotion - im going to be extremely creamy while in lombok. i think i might just pay the extra for rooms with air conditioning because aparently mosquitos can't fly when theres a/c in a room. or make sure the rooms i have have mosquito nets. but of course i'll go the extra mile and buy mosquito cream. i think you can get some here that smells like fruit yummy!
yesterday was the sunset tour - it was only me and two other girls on the tour and our tour guide and driver. saw a bunch of temples, went to a rice field, and a monkey forest! it was very cool. but most places we went they wanted us tospend more money - for example. they took us to a restaurant for lunch - this restaurant cost 60,000 rupiah/plate for a buffet lunch. which is only about $7canadian dollars. but we went walking and found a local sort of outdoor food market thing and they sold this soup that had noodes and blue spagetti noodle things and some chicken ball things and a hard boiled egg in it and abunch of other stuff (it looked pretty weird, i have a picture) for only 5,000 rupiah -and a coffee for 2,000 and a pack of 3 oreo cookies for another 2,000 - and that was lunch for me! also, at the monkey forest we had this guide who took us around ( i fed the monkeys peanuts it was fun! i have video of it) and then when she was done walking around with us (it wasnt even a tour, she just followed us around adn when there was a baby monkey she would say 'EXCUSE ME!! theres a baby' she said 'i will take you to my shop'. hmm okay so she took us to her shop - showed us some stuff and i was ready to walk out but seh said 'take something for good luck' so she sold me this woodcarving of 3 monkeys hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil for 50,000 which is overpriced. but oh well. she prolly needs itmore then i do. anyway so thats how theywant you to spend more money. and every guide you talk to, every local all talk about how quiet bali is now because of the bombs. its unfortunate.
anyway - on a higher note. i do think i will end up shipping some stuff home. they have beautifulpaintings of buddha here and i want a HUGE one to send home but i think it would probabley cost more then the painting itself to send home. but i do want a teapot and i dont know....ehh we'll see. ive decided not to go surfing. im just too lazy.
other then that - nothing new....less then 2 months till i get home and less then 1 month till i get to see my big sister. looking forward to all of it!
alia
ps if i have learned anything its that to pay extra for a hot shower is definatly worth the money.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
itchy!!!
so i got eaten alive while sleeping last night - ive got about 12-15 skeeter bites (i counted) and they're making me CRAZYY!!! i think tonight i will make myself a mosquito net out of my sarong....lets hope it works...
went rafting today! im SO burnt out after it. phew it was a long day . early rising - met 4 australian guys (2 were older, mid 40's id say and 2 younger prolly 17-19) on the shuttle to the river. they were all really nice. the country side of bali is GORGEOUS! we saw rice patty fields and drove past cockfights and cool stuff liek that. everythign is so green and lush! took a efw pictures.
the rafting boats consisted of 4 riders and a guide. the 3 guys who i rode with were all from hongkong and had obviously done nothign like this before. tey were weak paddlers and everytime our guide said 'paddle forward' they would lightly flip the water back with their paddles like little girls!
it was alot of fun tho - got free lunch out of it. sat with the 4 ozzies for lunch they were very nice. we talked about all the weird native animals they eat.
anyway - tomorrow is sunset tour. im looking forward to it
OH AND THEY HAVE A STARBUCKS HERE!!!! im totally buying a starbucks mug that says 'bali' on it im PUMPED
love u x a mil
alia
ps i would mail stuff home mom but i dont know how well i trust theri postal service....you dont trust what they have in their tattoo parlours, i dont trust whats behind the counter at the post office
love you!
went rafting today! im SO burnt out after it. phew it was a long day . early rising - met 4 australian guys (2 were older, mid 40's id say and 2 younger prolly 17-19) on the shuttle to the river. they were all really nice. the country side of bali is GORGEOUS! we saw rice patty fields and drove past cockfights and cool stuff liek that. everythign is so green and lush! took a efw pictures.
the rafting boats consisted of 4 riders and a guide. the 3 guys who i rode with were all from hongkong and had obviously done nothign like this before. tey were weak paddlers and everytime our guide said 'paddle forward' they would lightly flip the water back with their paddles like little girls!
it was alot of fun tho - got free lunch out of it. sat with the 4 ozzies for lunch they were very nice. we talked about all the weird native animals they eat.
anyway - tomorrow is sunset tour. im looking forward to it
OH AND THEY HAVE A STARBUCKS HERE!!!! im totally buying a starbucks mug that says 'bali' on it im PUMPED
love u x a mil
alia
ps i would mail stuff home mom but i dont know how well i trust theri postal service....you dont trust what they have in their tattoo parlours, i dont trust whats behind the counter at the post office
love you!
Monday, June 11, 2007
happy in kuta!
So i booked it out of my resort - i put a bit of charges on my credit card from room service etc but it worked out to about $67 for the whole 10 days./ thats not bad! every night room service!? and a 3.5hr spa retriet! pretty darn good if youask me. this morning the water wasnt working (nice, fancy resort huh? i think not) so i couldnt shower so just checked out, hopped in a first available 'transport' van and told him to take me to 'hotel sorga' which is right near the beach (yes! i saw the beach! its not so fantastic....during the dayanyways - its supposed to be beautiful at sunset) and is pretty much teh same thing that i was in before. bigger pool though - free breakfast! cold showers and just a fan - no tv but im in a room by myself. so its different then a hostel but thats alright - i can live with it. and only 75 000 /night plus 10% hotel tax but i think it works out to something like $12/night maybe? i dunno but thats pretty darn good. im really happy here.
went for a walk today to inquire about going to lombok and gili islands - found out some good news it seems pretty easy to get to and from the islands - for a cost of course but nothing too bad i think it was 140,000 to go to senggigi (which is the port i want to go into when going to lombok) thats one way so about $30 - pretty good but it takes a while. flights i think are somewhere around 350,000 anyway i have some time to decide and i only have to book 1 day ahead
did some more walking around and inquired about daytours. i approached one 'touring office' and asked about their tours. but they only did chartered tours 'how many ppl?' he asked 'just me!' i said. so he said he could do a tour for me - one driver, one guide and me.....i thought that would be pretty boring. im not interested in having a private tour to be honest so i looked around some more. and met this really nice guy named Manggo (not his real name, he told me his real name is too confusing so just to call him Manggo) and he told me about all these great ORGANIZED tours that they do...but minimum booking is 2 people!!! ooh but its okay he says, his friend found someone who is also travelling alone and i am going on a sunset tour on thursday! yay! something to do! i get to see a bit of the island! and, tomorrow - because i will have nothing to do tomorrow, i also booked through mango a rafting tour - he said it was amazing and 'if you think its bullshit! you come let me know!' it includes lunch and all the safety equiptment, everything! so im really excited for that too - to get to actually do something is going to be nice. and i think for the 3 remaining days i have here in kuta i will surf. take my 3 days surfing lessons then head over to lombok and gili islands to sunbake in the sand and get stoned off mushrooms! (haha just kidding ma! i swear!) so im really really excited about what the next few days are bringing!
missing you all so much!
love you
alia
went for a walk today to inquire about going to lombok and gili islands - found out some good news it seems pretty easy to get to and from the islands - for a cost of course but nothing too bad i think it was 140,000 to go to senggigi (which is the port i want to go into when going to lombok) thats one way so about $30 - pretty good but it takes a while. flights i think are somewhere around 350,000 anyway i have some time to decide and i only have to book 1 day ahead
did some more walking around and inquired about daytours. i approached one 'touring office' and asked about their tours. but they only did chartered tours 'how many ppl?' he asked 'just me!' i said. so he said he could do a tour for me - one driver, one guide and me.....i thought that would be pretty boring. im not interested in having a private tour to be honest so i looked around some more. and met this really nice guy named Manggo (not his real name, he told me his real name is too confusing so just to call him Manggo) and he told me about all these great ORGANIZED tours that they do...but minimum booking is 2 people!!! ooh but its okay he says, his friend found someone who is also travelling alone and i am going on a sunset tour on thursday! yay! something to do! i get to see a bit of the island! and, tomorrow - because i will have nothing to do tomorrow, i also booked through mango a rafting tour - he said it was amazing and 'if you think its bullshit! you come let me know!' it includes lunch and all the safety equiptment, everything! so im really excited for that too - to get to actually do something is going to be nice. and i think for the 3 remaining days i have here in kuta i will surf. take my 3 days surfing lessons then head over to lombok and gili islands to sunbake in the sand and get stoned off mushrooms! (haha just kidding ma! i swear!) so im really really excited about what the next few days are bringing!
missing you all so much!
love you
alia
hello darling! where you go? need transport?
yep thats what everyone says to me as i walk down the street from my resort, around the corner to the internet cafe - every morning. soemtime between 9:30 and 11 am. These indonesians often recognize me and if ive been walking around the area a bit that day they say 'hey ive seen you 3 times today already!? where you going?are you lost?'. This morning, they noticed my shorts that say 'CSI: Las Vegas' on them and started calling me 'las vegas'. I came back this afternoon to create this post and 'hello las vegas! you need transport?' - i swear im asked about 10 times a day if i need transport.
but they are all extremely friendly people. i wandered into an alley yesterday looking for a 2nd hand bookstore and one guy asked me 'hey! where you go?' he didnt have a motorbike with him so i told him 'just looking around' coming to a dead end i turned around and walked back the other way, past him again. he approached me and asked me my name and told me his (i forget his, they're names are so hard to pronounce) and he told me where a bookstore was but it was too far. so i told him i was going to go back to the resort. he was going the same way so we walked together. he told me a bunch of stuff - i couldnt really understand much of it but he talked and talked. i think he told me that he built a statue! i thought that was cool. when we came to where he was going a differnt way he said 'it was so nice to meet you aleesha from canada - have great travels!' and he took off. not trying to sell me anything, just wanted to walk and talk his heart out. kind of a relief when most of what i am getting from indonesians is that they want you to buy whatever it is they are selling
bali for shopping is INCREDIBLE! i think i may come back here someday just to do a huge shopping trip. i want a HUGE buddha painting but it wont fit in my backpack, and i want a gorgeous ceramic tea set (the tea pot is in the shape of a fish, and the handle is made of bamboo!) but it'll break. beautiful bedding, lamps, jewlery, its all so beautiful and CHEAP!!! next time i come im bringing empty bags.
otherwise - its my last night at the resort - i may not order room service (liek i have been every night ive been here) and make my way down to the restaurant or pool bar for dinner, have a few of the tasty looking drinks they have on the menu.
and tomorrow -- off to kuta...supposed to be beautiful sunsets on kuta beach, big surfing area and i want to do some day tours of the island. i need some more culture.
much loving for you all!
alia
but they are all extremely friendly people. i wandered into an alley yesterday looking for a 2nd hand bookstore and one guy asked me 'hey! where you go?' he didnt have a motorbike with him so i told him 'just looking around' coming to a dead end i turned around and walked back the other way, past him again. he approached me and asked me my name and told me his (i forget his, they're names are so hard to pronounce) and he told me where a bookstore was but it was too far. so i told him i was going to go back to the resort. he was going the same way so we walked together. he told me a bunch of stuff - i couldnt really understand much of it but he talked and talked. i think he told me that he built a statue! i thought that was cool. when we came to where he was going a differnt way he said 'it was so nice to meet you aleesha from canada - have great travels!' and he took off. not trying to sell me anything, just wanted to walk and talk his heart out. kind of a relief when most of what i am getting from indonesians is that they want you to buy whatever it is they are selling
bali for shopping is INCREDIBLE! i think i may come back here someday just to do a huge shopping trip. i want a HUGE buddha painting but it wont fit in my backpack, and i want a gorgeous ceramic tea set (the tea pot is in the shape of a fish, and the handle is made of bamboo!) but it'll break. beautiful bedding, lamps, jewlery, its all so beautiful and CHEAP!!! next time i come im bringing empty bags.
otherwise - its my last night at the resort - i may not order room service (liek i have been every night ive been here) and make my way down to the restaurant or pool bar for dinner, have a few of the tasty looking drinks they have on the menu.
and tomorrow -- off to kuta...supposed to be beautiful sunsets on kuta beach, big surfing area and i want to do some day tours of the island. i need some more culture.
much loving for you all!
alia
Monday, June 4, 2007
lazy dayz
So to answer my mom's question im staying at baleka beach resort in the legian area of bali. Still havent been too far from the resort - may check out the beach today...maybe not - i still have a week here. been taking it easy with poolside laying and roomservice ordering. the only thing that sucks is most tv programs are in indonesian (obviously). but there are always movies on at 10pm in english with indonesian subtitles.....but i have to wait until 10 to watch them. ah well.
other then that, nothing is new. its still hot as heck here but i am starting to tan again yay
much love
alia
other then that, nothing is new. its still hot as heck here but i am starting to tan again yay
much love
alia
Saturday, June 2, 2007
just realized...
okay so i didnt mention in my last post who the two english girls were - one girl, jennifer i met cuz she was staying in the same room as me and we met trisha who wanted to check out the new 'tooth temple'(?) so we all went together to check it out. and may 31st was buddha's birthday so there were about a million people there. i think that about covers it!
alia
alia
ba-ba-bali!
the last few days in singapore were very jam packed - one of the two english girls i met didnt really like me and the other girl -we asked her if she wanted to come to the zoo with us on friday and she declined, saying that she had her whole 6 days planned out and she was going to go on the 2nd last day, then she met some peopel and decided to go to the zoo with them instead! weird. oh well, we didnt like her much either -s he was very neurotic. anyways - when we went to the temple the queue was way too long so we wandered around chinatown and did some souvineer shopping - stuff is VERY cheap in singapore (as i have already said) i think i should be able to come home with a little something for everyone. because it was buddha's birthday they had a celebration going on - night market, some entertainment. i bought some origami paper and made a paper crane for charity (with some help!) and the girls bought some chip things that were kinda like prawn chips. i think i got an allergic reaction to them because after i ate them the back of my legs and bum got really itchy. i got a huge ugly rash now and i dont think i'll be able to wear a bikni for a few days - which sucks. i came here soley to work on my tan (ya right). so trisha and i (english girl) went to the zoo - it was wonderful! i got there too late last time i went so we wandered around and saw a splish splash show with penguins and manatees and stuff - very cute. then we went to the night safari and saw a 'creatures of the night show' and i think it was better then 2nd time around #1 because i got to share it with someone and #2 because i got to take my time with it. no rushing to catch a bus this time. even though by the time we got to the MRT station the one we were supposed to take back to our hostel had stopped running and we had to take a cab. it wasnt expensive though so its okay. then yesterday morning i got up, had breakfast and took the MRT to the airport. Trisha was leaving the same day but later on in the evening. When we were in chinatown she had arranged to have a chinese dress made for her! its going to be so beautiful. only $307 singapore dollars. which works out to about $212 canadian. im thinking about getting one on the way home....we'll see
Bali is nice. my first impression though was not a good one. bought a visa for bali ($25USD) and then got a cab to the hotel. it was 50,000 indonesian rupiah. the exchange is crazy. i think 50,000 rupiah is $6.00 canadian. but anyways, i queued at the taxi stand for a taxi and this guy came up beside me (not the taxi driver) and grabbed my bag - i was like, alright u can carry my bag. so he carried it to the taxi and put it in the trunk. i went to get in the cab and the guy taps me on the shoulder and says 'you give me a tip!' - i told him i didnt have any money and he said 'yes you do! give me the blue one' which is a 50,000 bill - as much as i paid for the cab! so whatever, i gave it to him. just pissed me off that i didnt even ask him to carry my bag, he just picked it up. whatever - im not going to make that mistake again. im sure i'll find lots of that kind of thing around here.
also - on my way to the hotel - the taxi driver was telling me how crap my hotel is - how its too far away from town and far away from the beach. thanks jerk, ive booked my hotel for the next 10 days and you are telling me how crap it is. way to promote your country. whatever.
im thinking about taking surfing lessons here. its about $190 american for a 5 day course. we'll see. i kinda just feel like lazing around. i also am kind of excited to check out the other parts of indonesia (ie. lombok). they sound a bit more laid back and lax.
miss you all so much! a little over 2 months till i get home!
alia
Bali is nice. my first impression though was not a good one. bought a visa for bali ($25USD) and then got a cab to the hotel. it was 50,000 indonesian rupiah. the exchange is crazy. i think 50,000 rupiah is $6.00 canadian. but anyways, i queued at the taxi stand for a taxi and this guy came up beside me (not the taxi driver) and grabbed my bag - i was like, alright u can carry my bag. so he carried it to the taxi and put it in the trunk. i went to get in the cab and the guy taps me on the shoulder and says 'you give me a tip!' - i told him i didnt have any money and he said 'yes you do! give me the blue one' which is a 50,000 bill - as much as i paid for the cab! so whatever, i gave it to him. just pissed me off that i didnt even ask him to carry my bag, he just picked it up. whatever - im not going to make that mistake again. im sure i'll find lots of that kind of thing around here.
also - on my way to the hotel - the taxi driver was telling me how crap my hotel is - how its too far away from town and far away from the beach. thanks jerk, ive booked my hotel for the next 10 days and you are telling me how crap it is. way to promote your country. whatever.
im thinking about taking surfing lessons here. its about $190 american for a 5 day course. we'll see. i kinda just feel like lazing around. i also am kind of excited to check out the other parts of indonesia (ie. lombok). they sound a bit more laid back and lax.
miss you all so much! a little over 2 months till i get home!
alia
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