#Dutakestheworld: Borneo

It was a short flight from Kuala Lumpur to Borneo (about two hours I think) I was specifically going to Sarawak to meet up with one of my good friends Cole who was finishing up his Fulbright year in a small town called Bau. He's one of the first friends I ever made in college and an adventure buddy of mine since 2010. It's crazy to think how six years later we were both in another country together for a few days. It was surreal for both of us. He picked me up from one of the smallest airports i've ever been in besides the one in Yogya. ^.^ We headed to the waterfront, where we walked on the boardwalk and ate some delicious food and explored the corners of this town that really made it special. There was one point where it looked like Chinatown. I'm beginning to realize that there is a version of Chinatown in every country in the world and I get excited every time I see one. After a few hours of exploration, we saw a cat statue (btw Kuching means cat in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia) and stopped by one of Cole's favorite places to eat. REAL street food. There was a cool set up, you would pick a table then order at one of the "vendors", I'm calling it that because I don't remember what to call it. Then they bring it to your table. Mind you, they spoke no English whatsoever AND some didn't even speak Bahasa. It was a fun experience. I was nervous when I was ordering because it was pretty hard to communicate.
The food was delicious. We had some dumplings and this really tasty eggplant dish. The tea there is a bit different. It's sweet, but you can definitely taste the caffeine in it. The next morning we ate some more and had breakfast at another food court Cole goes to a lot. We had a dish called Laksa Sarawak and some telur (eggs). The laksa was full of so much flavor with tamarind served with shrimp and a rich creamy coconut curry sauce and it had a bit of a kick to it. It's a mix of Chinese and Malaysian cuisine and I would definitely eat that a lot if I lived there. After that we headed to this Buddhist village. It was so peaceful because we were the only people there besides a few people doing maintenance. We walked around and it seemed like there were a few spots that were still being worked on. Seeing the process of how the village is being built was a beautiful sight to see. Once we finished up at the village, we went to the fairy cave in Bau. When you arrive, you just pay a small fee for entrance and go up a four story staircase. It gets pretty dark inside and the steps were slippery, but it was definitely a sight to see once you get to the cave.
I didn't expect it to be so massive inside and to see all of the vegetation that I saw along the limestone. The fairy cave is one of two popular caves to see in Bau including the wind cave. It was a pretty eventful day so we had some more food for lunch then dinner. I had the most delicious mie/mee (noodles) for dinner. I totally forgot the name of the dish, but it was like emperor noodles or something like that and I wish I could have some right now. The NEXT day I tagged along Cole's class field trip to the Matang Wildlife center. It was fun to watch the kids do activities learning about conservation and the importance of wildlife. We had a tour around the center where the animals are taken care of and played some games outside. The class even adopted an orangutan! I had a blast. My flight was around 7 and we were leaving the center at 4 so I was pretty worried about missing my flight. We booked it from Cole's house to the airport and I made it 30 minutes before. Good times. It was definitely an adventure in Borneo and i'm grateful to have awesome friends like Cole to explore the world with. Thanks again! NEXT STOP: JAPAN!

Here are some pictures from my trip to Borneo:

#Dutakestheworld: Taiwan and Malaysia

I can't believe its almost been an entire month since my travels. Well, back in September I spent a few weeks back in Southeast Asia, but this time in some new countries. I explored Taiwan for a bit and had amazing dim sum and boba. The food there is absolutely phenomenal. I was so caught up with the excitement of travel, I barely took ANY pictures while I was there.The atmosphere seems just as busy as Jakarta, but a bit calmer in my opinion. I didn't see as much traffic as Indonesia, but there are a lot of people walking around town, well at least while I was in Taipei. I was only there for a day, but it was definitely a memorable place that I definitely have to visit again. My next stop was Malaysia, but more specifically Kuala Lumpur. I planned this trip for months and I was excited to stay in a new country for a few days to explore it in all its glory. I planned everything from how I would be able to get my Indonesian phone to work there and the route from the airport to my hostel. I will definitely talk more about the amazing hostel I stayed in, but that's for another post. 
For a few days I stayed in Kuala Lumpur. KL is the national capital of Malaysia and one of its largest cities as well. Bahasa Malaysia is the main language spoken and what I found amazing was the fact that it is quite similar to Bahasa Indonesia. So while I was there I was actually able to communicate with locals and pass as someone from Indonesia. I would have to thank ILCIC at Universitas Sanata Dharma for their help in my language skills. My first day there I was pretty exhausted because of the plane ride, being jet lagged and all of the transportation getting to the hostel. Once I got all of my energy back I got to see Bukit Bintang. It's a famous area for shopping and eating and just to see in general as a tourist. There were so many foreigners it was like being in back in Malioboro. I went to this sky bar where you could see the Petronas towers and the Kuala Lumpur tower. The Petronas twin towers are the tallest twin towers in the world with 88 floors. It was amazing being able to see them during sunset and then at night. I can't wait to go back. 
The next day was Malaysian Independence day and I was able to get an early morning hike in and to my amazement I climbed and summited the largest and longest quartz ridge in the world. A friend I met from the hostel took me on his bike at five in the morning and it was pitch black when we started. I was sweating so hard because of the humidity and of how rigorous the hike was. The sights were insane. I could see the entire city in its beauty and we were lucky to have such "great" weather. When my friend said it was great it was because it wasn't raining. After all of the cuts and bruises I accumulated because of climbing that rock we finally headed down the "easy" path (meaning the slippery and muddy downhill path). Once we got to the bottom of the mountain I was astonished looking at how high up we really climbed. I felt so accomplished. Afterwards we had some delicious traditional Malaysian cuisine. Street food is my favorite kind of food to try because I believe its an important way to learn the roots of each country with their traditional food that locals will stand by. 
By the time we got back to the hostel I was totally exhausted. My body hurt in every way and it was barely the afternoon. After a long nap, I explore the city some more and met up with some  people I met at the hostel earlier and we just walked all around the city. It was a similar version to Chinatown in LA/SF, but just a whole different vibe. We were just having a good time eating street food and bar hopping. It was definitely good times. By the time I got home it was way passed my bedtime and right before I knocked out hard I met some girls that were roommates in the hostel and we talked for some time about our travels. I met up with one of them the next morning and we decided to go to Batu caves together. Batu caves is a one of the famous places in Malaysia to visit because of its limestone caves and second tallest status of a Hindu deity, which is also has the tallest Murugan statue in the world.
After we finished the 272 steps up to see the caves we were definitely in awe of its beauty. We took an Uber back to the hostel and I had a delicious brunch at the restaurant called LOKL to get ready for my flight in the late afternoon to head to Borneo. I met a lovely woman that was living in Bali for a year that was starting her own business for swim wear. We got to talking and ended up making our way to the airport together. I had an amazing experience in KL and I can't wait to go back and explore some more. Here are some pictures of my adventures in Taiwan and Malaysia. Next stop: BORNEO!

 

 

It's been a while..

It has definitely been a while since i've posted anything. Since i've been home i've been doing my best to focus on myself with hiking, biking, going out with friends and keeping my every day busy here in Los Angeles. I recently (when I mean recently I mean about 4 months ago) went through a break up before I left for Indonesia and it was definitely a hard thing to even come to terms with. I was with him for almost five years and throughout those years I learned a lot about not only myself, but what a long term relationship can teach you in so many ways. When I officially came home from my four months of traveling it finally hit me that I didn't have that someone to come home to anymore. That person that I would be excited to tell all of my stories to and spend almost every day with either going out to get ice cream or just laughing over some meme we saw earlier over dinner wouldn't be there anymore. These last few weeks being home were hard and painful to even think about, but my family and friends have taught me how to accept the fact that everything does happen for a reason. I am a lot stronger now and I just wanted to thank everyone that has helped me through all of this with your advice and love. I am forever grateful for all of you. 

Guess who's back from Southeast Asia!

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Well, it has been a fantastic two weeks back in SE Asia and I miss it already. I've been home for a little less than a week already and it does feel good to be home. For two weeks I spent my time in Taiwan, Malaysia, Borneo (Malaysia) and Japan. It was amazing visiting a few friends that are living there now and I am so grateful I was able to visit all of these places in the first place. I have taken WAY too many pictures and i'm excited to share them with all of you. It's going to take some time because I took a few thousand and I have to go through them. I have a few things I want to post about my travels from my journal and that'll happen in the next few days. 

Being home

It's been over a week since I've been back home in Los Angeles and nothing's really changed since I left. Everyone has either left their job, gotten a new job, been promoted or living the post grad life like myself. I'm really missing Indonesia, especially the people and I'm realizing how much I've changed since I've arrived. I've mostly been home reading and researching grad schools, jobs and places to travel in the future. It does feel really nice to relax for a bit before I leave for Southeast Asia again for a few weeks. I just have this yearning to go to work or do something especially because of how busy I was almost EVERY SINGLE DAY in Indonesia. As I sit here in my new favorite spot near my house eating frozen yogurt and people watching, I'm remembering the many reasons why I love being from LA. Everyone is mostly friendly and the air might not be pristine, but the amazing variety of foods and attractions make up for it. Being in the car is another thing I'm so used to here, making a trip to get boba or all you can eat Korean bbq a full on hour long road trip. The cool breeze that comes after 6 pm in the summer and the 30 minute drive to the beach are things I'm always grateful for. We Angelinos do take most of these "little things" for granted, but every once in a while it's in our wandering minds. I will always remember driving down PCH and walking around Santa Monica Pier riding the roller coaster and ferris wheel watching the sun go down and hearing those ocean waves. There are always places like this around the world, but this is where I will always call home. 

Our last week in Indonesia

For our last week here in Yogyakarta, we had such a busy schedule with our final exams, presentations, video assignments and internship assignments. It was a pretty crazy schedule, but I do like being busy. After our final we had two going away parties, one from ILCIC (The language program from our university) and one from USINDO. For ILCIC were amazing performances and we received beautiful going away gifts. For our farewell dinner we invited our host families, internship friends, teacher and tutors. I was the MC with my friend Vinia and we had a live gamelan performance, dancing and "fireworks" (sparklers and huge confetti poppers). It was an amazing last hurrah from the program. Some of us stayed up all night talking and some had a long day ahead of them the next day to finish packing and such.

Since we were spending our last 4 days in Jakarta for a post program evaluation, I spent my last full day in Yogyakarta exploring the city one last time. I walked all around my neighborhood and had my last street food meal, then I went to the movies and watched my first Indonesian movie, Rudy Habibie, with one of my friends, Adit. It was an amazing film that was based on a true story of the former third president of Indonesia, his love life and passion for Indonesia at a young age in the 1960s. We ended up getting some donuts and meeting up with Mba Vinia and found out later that one of our friends in the program was in the hospital so we visited her in the hospital and were up until 1 am. Once I got home I had to finalize all of my belongings and stayed up all night because my flight was at 5 am and we had to get to the airport around 4:30 am. 

After all of our goodbyes we left Yogya together and arrived in Jakarta around 7 am. We had a strict itinerary set up for us already so we met with a few Non-profits and had a few meetings after that. We visited this beautiful cathedral nearby and visited the largest mosque in Southeast Asia right across the street from it. We were treated like VIPs being brought into so many beautiful areas of the mosque getting a tour and learning so much about what happens there. After dinner we were all pretty exhausted. After some needed rest, the next day was a fun day for exploring where we went to the the national monument and had a great discussion with students from Universitas Indonesia. We talked about politics, economics, education and even tourism. 

On our last full day in Indonesia we explored the city some more and walked around, went to starbucks and watched Suicide Squad. It was amazing, especially for only $1.90. I've definitely seen way to many movies here, but it's totally worth it. We met up at this Spanish tapas restaurant called POR QUE NO for our last dinner together. We talked about every part of the program and what to improve on and celebrated our last night together with some delicious food and drinks with REFILLS. Yes, that's right, refills. I emphasize on this because in Indonesia there really isn't a such thing as refills. Alright well, enough of that rant. It was an amazing last night. After we took some cabs to the hotel we all met up in the lobby/bar area and sat on the couches and talked for hours. Some of us were leaving at 3 am anyway (I was one of those people) so we wanted to stay up all night so we didn't oversleep. 

It honestly still hasn't hit me yet that i'm about to leave Indonesia after these last three months of calling this place home. I have all of these mixed emotions of sadness and being excited to see my family back in the U.S., but I can honestly say that I think i've taken advantage of all of the time i've had here since day one. From all of the trips we've taken to all of the language classes and tutoring sessions, I can leave this place with so much more insight. This summer has been one I will cherish for the rest of my life. It's been an unforgettable experience here and i'm so grateful for all of the people i've met and the beautiful memories we made. This isn't goodbye, it's see you later.

Below are some pictures from my last week in Indonesia (click on the picture to make it larger):

My weekend in Bromo

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Since i've been in Indonesia (for almost three months now), I've been wanting to explore the beautiful area where Mt. Bromo resides. I've been talking about it for a few weeks with some of my friends and we finally set a date. The train alone took almost 10 hours to get to Probolinggo (the area of Mount Bromo) from Jogja and it was only bearable because of the people I got to sit with. We left around 7 am and arrived around 5, but it took about an hour to get to the village we were staying in and bargaining took quite some time to talk down the prices for transportation to get where we were going. When we arrived you could see so many stars and the weather felt amazing, like being back home (Los Angeles) during October. The air was so brisk and I didn't sweat the moment I got out of the car. We stayed in a small village near Mt. Bromo called Ngadirejo with a family that are farmers. Waking up to so much greenery was a sight for sore eyes. Even going for walks around the village felt so welcoming with everyone greeting you like they already knew you.
On our first night we had to sleep pretty early, around 10 pm, because we had to wake up at 2 am to catch sunrise. So worth it. Even though I was pretty exhausted, I jumped into the back of this jeep half awake and for about an hour we headed to Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. It was pretty insane how much the price difference was between a local and foreigner (Rp. 250.000 vs. Rp. 26.000). That's about $2 vs $20. Anyways, we all "passed" for locals so it was fine. After being dropped off, we walked up the mountain for 20-30 minutes and arrived to our sightseeing destination. There were so many people, but we ended up finding a nice quiet spot with a nice view of the mountains. Once sunrise started some of us moved around to see the main view of it, but it was difficult for a bit to get around because of so many people taking pictures. As I squeezed my way through the crowd I met some nice people from Switzerland, Germany and Singapore. Then there were some not so nice people, but I just ignored them and got all of the shots that I wanted anyways. 
After about an hour, the fog finally cleared and you could see the entire view in all its glory. I honestly can't describe how beautiful this was. Even pictures couldn't do this place justice. I was speechless and I didn't want to leave. You could see the mist around the crater and the fog moving constantly and the way the light was hitting everything was unbelievable. I recommend everyone to come here and experience it because it is completely worth it. After ALL of the photos were taken we headed back to the Jeep (We realized it was only 7 am and that was pretty crazy). We headed to the Kawah Gunung Bromo (Bromo Volcano Crater) and its a nice medium hike up to the top to see the crater in its entirety. I actually felt pretty sick halfway through the hike so I had to head back and lay down. My friends said it was pretty intense and took some parkour to get up there so i'm pretty glad I went back when I did. 
Bukit Teletabis (Teletubies Hill) was our next stop and it was a short drive from the crater. It was another beautiful serene view to just take in. You could frolic all day long if you wanted, but we were all pretty exhausted. We headed back home, stopped once to take some more pictures and finally arrived back to our village. It was only 11:30 am and we all just wanted to sleep. I knocked out pretty hard and didn't wake up until about 2 pm. Having barely any internet was pretty relaxing so we played card games and heads up which was pretty entertaining for a while and then went for a nice walk around the village. Played some more games and I headed to bed early once again because I was still pretty tired. I woke up at 5 am to watch the sun rise and went back to bed, but woke up to I don't even know what at 7 am and just relaxed around the house for a bit. We had our breakfast, got cleaned up and went for another walk. And again, so relaxing. The sun hitting your face, the cool breeze against your skin and just having nice small talk with your friends, it was really great. We headed back to the train station by bus and caught an angkot (another kind of bus, but way smaller and only Rp. 5000/$.38). We actually arrived in Yogyakarta earlier than I thought we would get there compared to on the way to Bromo. Once we arrived we had to eat and get some satay and it totally hit the spot. It was another amazing weekend spent here in Indonesia and I can't wait to come back. 

Reunited and it feels so good #DCfam #521

So out of all of the places in the world you wouldn't think that one of your close friends from when you were living in Washington, D.C. would be in the same country as you thousands of miles away from home. My friend Yuri was one of my 5 other roommates that I had when I was living in the East Coast and I can still remember all of the awesome memories we had exploring all over the district. We haven't seen each other in almost a year and a half besides social media ofcourse and it was really amazing catching up here in Yogyakarta. Yuri is currently volunteering for Habitat for Humanity for two weeks helping build homes for local villages in the area and I happen to be a 20 minute drive away from where she's staying. Since we had some free time this weekend we decided to go caving and cave tubing a few hours away from the city. We went to Goa Jomblang (Jomblang cave) and were descended into one of the biggest caves i've ever seen in person. It was muddy, Jurassic Park style, and I almost ate it a few times because of how slippery it was down there. The tunnel itself is 250 meters long. The fact that it was pitch black was pretty normal and what was cool was that there were actual man made stone steps to lead you to the end of the cave. Once you get to the end you know you're there because there is this beautiful beaming light coming from the ceiling. It was absolutely breathtaking. We walked around, got our pictures and just explored for a bit. Afterwards we got a free meal. I mean for Rp. 450.000 (About $37) it better come with something. It was delicious and Yuri and I made some new friends from Singapore on the way to our next stop, Kalisuci. This is the place where we went cave tubing. It's a minimum of five people per group or you have to pay for five people anyways and we were lucky to join our new friends. The water was a lot lower than normal so there sadly weren't any rapids and so we constantly were walking over rocks to keep moving through the caves. Overall, it was still a blast. After getting cleaned up and another free meal we actually headed to Bukit Bintang (Star Hill), a famous area to see the city lights at night and it was definitely a sight to see. We had dinner with our new friends and enjoyed some surprise fireworks. Another beautiful weekend crossed off the list here in Indonesia. 

#DutakesINDO #USINDOSS2016: Field Trip 3

Today we had a pretty eventful day of adventures around Central Java. We visited 3 locations:

(1) Gunung Merapi (Merapi Mountain)

(2) Ullen Sentalu Museum

(3) Pentingsari Tourism Village 

So, Mt. Merapi is actually an active volcano that's located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and erupts regularly. The last eruption was in 2010. It wasn't too long of a drive to get to the area where Mt. Merapi was located, but the real adventure was actually getting into these off-road yellow jeeps (*like jurassic park status) and heading up the mountain through these small villages seeing locals and seeing so much beautiful scenery. It was pretty hard on our bodies because of how insane the terrain was, but the jeeps could handle it. I actually found a welt the size of a half dollar coin on my right arm. I was freaking out cause I thought it was a mosquito bite, but it was swollen for too long to be one. The tour that we were on is actually called the lava tour because you go through the many sites where the eruption in 2010 took place. A lot of people died and it was pretty hard for me to go into certain areas because of the descriptions some guides went into detail about. Over 300 people were killed either by respiratory complications, burns or illnesses. It was a really intense part of the tour. After walking around the different sites we took a little detour up the mountain to see the beautiful cliffs. It was gorgeous. I couldn't believe where I was standing. I really can't describe it because you would have had to be there. Don't worry I have photos. Taking the yellow jeeps back was another exciting part to end the tour, but it was still pretty hardcore off-terrain. We were dropped off at the Ullen Sentalu Museum, which is a Javanese culture and art museum that displays relics and artifacts from the royal houses and kratons of Java like Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Pakaulam and Mangkunegaran. It was a beautifully built museum. It was mostly outside with greenery all around and the artifacts like batik and special portraits were placed in well air conditioned rooms for preservation. It was a relaxing part of the trip and it was informative learning about the many traditional values of royalty here in our city. After lunch, we went to Pentingsari Tourism Village and did a bunch of team building exercises with the other fellows and some coordinators of our program. It was pretty intense with certain games like taking a hula hoop and putting it around your body while holding onto someone else's hands. Overall, it was eventful and it was a nice ending to the night with a beautiful bonfire and grilled corn. I couldn't have asked for a better last field trip together. Except, for ending it with a few of us going to karaoke right afterwords and singing our hearts out. 

Traditional Indonesian Cuisine: On our own

So today we had our last day of cultural class with learning traditional Indonesian cooking. So sad. We had cook all on your own which was pretty awesome. We (Allie and I) were being tested based on what we were able to understand from the recipe because it was all in Indonesian so we broke down each recipe down and assigned each other what we wanted to work on and translate. We decided to go with Nasi Goreng (fried rice), Oseng Oseng (sauteed vegetables), klepon (pandan coconut dessert), krupuk (shrimp chips) and es jeruk manis dan nipis (sweet and sour orange juice). It was really fun having our instructors watch us the whole time. It was pretty nerve wracking, especially because it was so hot and humid without any air conditioning. ,Overall it was a fun and stressful experience, but we ended up cooking some delicious food. I'm so grateful to have had this experience here in Yogyakarta because of USINDO.

#DutakesINDO Day 8-10: Gili Trawangan & Bali

En route to Gili Trawangan (Gili T) and the fast boat from Bangsal port to GIli T took only about 20 minutes. The ocean was practically turquoise with it getting more crystal clear the closer to got to the shore. As my friend would say, it was "stupid pretty". Meaning ridiculously pretty that its way too unbelievable to be that beautiful. Walking off the port, we headed to the office where we needed to pick up our tickets for when we are heading back to Bali so we don't have to worry about it in the morning. Then we went searching for our hotel room and it was a bit of a mission. They mainly spoke Bahasa Indonesia so it was great practice. The guy that was helping with the room offered us a deal for snorkeling and we bargained and got a great deal for the both of us.

So we rested for a few hours, got our laundry done next door and headed out to snorkeling with about 20 random people and a few locals steering the glass bottom boat. It was absolutely breathtaking and I will never forget the beautiful things we saw today. I saw 5 sea turtles and so many colorful schools of fish. We did three different islands, Gili T, Gili Meno and GIli Air. All of them were unique in their own way. At GIli Meno we were in open water and we could see scuba divers all the way at the bottom of the ocean so that was fun. Gili Air was cool because we could feed the fish with little pieces of bread and all of the fish would surround you. After that we had some late lunch on GIli Air, such a tiny, but beautiful island. We met some people from the Netherlands and they were really nice so we hung out with them after our dinner with one of our friends Megan at The Beach House. Delicious food and sand on your toes cause the floor was covered with it. It was another beautiful day and night. Gili T is a whole other world compared to Bali and Lombok. Yes, there are tourists and people trying to get you to buy something that's way overpriced, but walking around passed the shops and seeing the ocean right next to you was completely different feeling, a great feeling.

After a fun day in GIli T It was time to head back to Bali and the fast boat was definitely a beautiful way back to the island. I fell asleep on the top deck and it was smooth sailing the hour long ride through. We ended up having to take a bus from Padang Bai port to Kuta and that took a few hours. It was a lot more relaxing than that almost 5 hour ferry ride though. After that we got taxi went to our hotel and had some rest from a long day of traveling. We walked around Seminyak again and found out that Bahiana was nearby our hotel which was a nice surprise. We ended up eating at thie beautiful Italian place called Mozzarella Restaurant & Bar. Best service we have ever had in Indonesia since we've been here. They were so attentive and we got our food within 10 minutes or less. We were tired and had to wake up at 4 am so we decided to knock out early and watch Netflix. Waking up at 4 am was pretty hard and we thought there would be traffic, but there wasn't. Annoying. It's been an an amazing 10 days here and I couldn't be anymore grateful than I already am to have had this time here in Bali, Lombok and Gili T. We didn't want to leave and I was so sad to be sitting in the gate waiting area, but it was time to go home. The fun had to end some time. I can't wait to come back some day. 

#DutakesINDO Bali Day 6-7: Lombok

Day 6:
Next stop? LOMBOK! It's been 8 years since i've seen my older brother, Adam, and i'm so excited to see him and meet his wife and son. The ferry ride to Lombok from Padang Bai port in Bali only cost Rp. 40.000 ($3.05), but was almost a 5 hour trip. Pretty worth it if you ask me. We ended staying at the top deck of the boat because we had no idea on the second level there was a room with air conditioning and snacks (bummer). It was a beautiful ride though. I saw some whales and passing all of the different islands was an amazing experience. After we arrived in Lembar port we decided to eat after all of these taxi drivers kept pestering us to let them give us a ride to where we needed to go. We got through it though. We waited a little bit longer and I finally got to see my brother and his wife. They picked us up with two motorcycles and riding through Lombok to his house it was already sunset and the amount of greenery there is here is unbelievable. It was like being in a movie. There were also barely anyone on the roads. I got to meet my new nephew, Reynand. He's only 9 months old and there's another one along the way coming this fall so i'm excited. After catching up they took us to our hotel and I decided to go with my brother and his wife to celebrate the night before Lebaran. We had some opor ayam and and krupuk. yum. We were heading back to the hotel and got stuck in the parade for Lebaran and it was so crowded. We couldn't move, but the floats were so beautiful to look at. It was amazing catching up and planning out our day for the next day. 

Day 7:
It was another beautiful day here in Lombok. I went to my brother's wife's family celebration for the first day of Lebaran and had some amazing food and pastries. I got to play with Reynand for a while and we sang songs and made him laugh. After the party we planned out trip to Gili Trawangan and then picked up Carrie to head to Senggigi Beach. We ended up going to Kila Beach Resort. It has a beautiful design of huts along the beach with a nice restaurant right in front of the ocean. We had some food and drinks and then went swimming for a bit. I cut my foot on some coral, but I was fine. We watched the sunset and afterwards we went to Happy Cafe to watch a live performance and to have some great food. I had sushi and they actually had a Philadelphia roll. It was a great night to end our stay in Lombok. 
 

 

 

#DutakesINDO Bali Day 5: Seminyak

We (Carrie and I) decided to stay in for the day until around 4pm to watch the sunset at Potato Head Beach Club in Seminyak. It was definitely worth the drive. The ambiance of the entire resort is so relaxing and there weren't as many tourists as I thought there would be. They have their own private beach so after we got out drinks we relaxed on the beach and watched this gorgeous sunset. It was so peaceful and the sand between my toes was the best feeling. After sunset we walked along almost the entire beach and saw Ku De Ta, another restaurant we wanted to check out, so we had to walk all the way back and around on the regular streets to get there. It was dimly lit and the menu had this list of very unique pizzas so we had to order from it. They were the best pizzas i've ever had. And to top off the night of 4th of July there were fireworks right in front of our view of the ocean. Great way to end the night.

#DutakesINDO Bali Day 4

Time is going by way too fast and I don't want this trip to end. It was another relaxing day in Bali. Carrie and I headed to Kuta and got special massage packages. It was glorious. Almost 5 hours of being pampered with facials and milk baths for only $37? Worth it. I felt great afterwards so we walked to Kuta Beach to watch the sunset and it was so beautiful. There were a lot of people there, but it was definitely something we needed to check off our bucket list for Bali. After that we walked around and saw this beautiful new looking mall and wanted to grab something to eat. We went American style and had some Johnny Rockets. Mushroom burger for the win. They even had people dancing in between orders. Sadly they ran out of ice cream for the day so no milkshakes for us. Some more walking was done seeing all of the little shops and I bargained my way down from Rp. 450.000 to Rp. 60.000 for this cute ring that I found. Karaoke was on the next part of our itinerary and we found out there was a Happy Puppy here in Denpasar near our house. Definitely rocked our hearts out to some 90s favorites.

#DutakesINDO Bali Day 3: Ubud Monkey Forest Sanctuary

So I was attacked by a monkey today for my almost empty giant water bottle that I was carrying into the forest. That was an experience. Regardless, it was a beautiful place with SO many monkeys stealing bananas and jumping around. We saw the cutest little baby monkeys and the views weren't that bad either. I will definitely come back when I come back to Bali and bring friends. After our excursion we went shopping and walked all around to this restaurant called Bali Buda. It was delicious. They had mediterranean food and the menu was a vegan hipsters paradise. It took us a while to get a cab so we decided to head to the arts festival again near our place and my friend Carrie and I left early and went to Seminyak to see this bar/restaurant that our friend recommended called Moonlite Kitchen & Bar. It was definitely worth the trip. It's right next to the beach and had great ambiance and chill vibes. The food was another plus. We ordered pork belly dim sum tacos and martabak. So good. After that we decided to walk back to the local shops in the area and found this fun little bar called Bahiana and salsa danced all night. Couldn't have asked for a better night in Seminyak. 

#DutakesINDO Bali Days 1-2

We're in Bali and it is absolutely breathtaking. I can't even believe i'm here right now. It's been a relaxing few days here so far and we have been mainly walking around the local shops and we found Mexican food! Actual legitimate delicious Mexican food. It's been way too long. Well, we checked into out Airbnb and it is also great place to relax and swim because there's a pool and we have our own kitchen and living room. We also went to a Gamelan arts festival at the arts center nearby and it was beautiful. The performances were full of these gorgeous costumes and the music that was played was actually by an American gamelan group from Pennsylvania. After the festival we decided to get Pizza Hut and I was not disappointed, especially with that stuffed crust. ^.^

Idulfitri holiday

So to celebrate Idul Fitri here in Indonesia, we are headed to Bali this week! (Well 11 out of the 12 fellows are at least) It's my first time going to Bali and I couldn't be any more excited than I already am. Just to give a little more information on this holiday, Idulfitri (Eid al-Fitr) is what marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Everyone goes home to see their families or goes on vacation during this time of year. 

 

A field trip of our own

It was another beautiful day in Yogyakarta exploring the many beautiful temples that this home of ours possesses. Six of us from the USINDO program decided to hire a driver and go to two of some of the most famous temples: Candi Prambanan and Ratu Boko temple. They were both so beautiful and it was a relaxing trip just walking around and exploring the many temples in Prambanan and watching sunset at Ratu Boko temple. 

Meeting the King/Governor of Yogyakarta

So today we actually met with the King/Governor of Yogyakarta and it was an honor being able to discuss politics, the environment and the economy of this beautiful place we have all been calling home for almost two months now. Here are some pictures of where we had our meeting and of the King himself