Ayutthaya, Thailand (March 21st 2017)

After three weeks in Bali we came back to Thailand again. On March 14th we flew Malaysia Airlines from Denpasar to Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur. We spent the next few days in Ayutthaya before moving on to Koh Samui.

We had never been to Ayutthaya and it has been on our hit list for a long time. Ayutthaya is a city about 80 kilometers north of Bangkok. It was once the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, and a prosperous international trading centre. Today, the ruins of the old city make up an archaeological site that contains palaces, Buddhist temples, monasteries and statues.

We stayed at the Baifern Homestay which was located right next to the ruins. It was nice to be in walking distance of everything we wanted to see; however, the sun was still hot, the air was dry and once again we really felt the heat.

While in Ayutthaya we explored the area around Wat Phra Si Samphet and Wat Maha That and we marveled at Ratchaburana which we thought had a striking resemblance to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

We learned how the Burmese destroyed the city in 1767 and why most of the Buddha statues are now headless. Most of the heads were cut off by looters and many were sold to private collectors from the United States and Europe.

We saw the famous Bhudda head in the roots of a tree which is one of the most recognizable images from Thailand.

Nobody knows for sure how the Buddha head became entwined in the roots of the tree. One theory suggests that the tree simply grew around the Buddha head during the period when the temple lay abandoned and overgrown. Another theory is that a thief moved the Buddha head away from the main temple to hide it.

These days elephants still walk the streets of Ayutthaya, but instead of warriors on their backs they carry camera-wielding tourists with silly grins on their faces.

We'd like to think it’s part of a responsible conservation effort to care for these gentle giants. Anyway, we had fun feeding some of the elephants and yes even going for a ride.

On Friday March 17th we flew back to Koh Samui to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day and  spend our last week in Thailand. 

Kuta - Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia (March 14th. 2017)

The more you travel, the more you come to the realization that wherever you go the vast majority of people are kind. We have met some great friends from around the world and have been continuously  amazed at how good most people are wherever we go.

Unfortunately, there is a very tiny percentage of people who are not so nice. For whatever reason they take advantage of other people and when travelling in a foreign land you are sometimes more vulnerable to these shady characters. From getting overcharged on cab rides to fake police, travel scams exist the world over.

Some things can be done to reduce the risks while travelling. For us these things include trying to travel as lightly as possible. That way our covered backpacks can be attached to us at all times and leave our hands free. We make a practice of separating our valuables and having copies of important documents like our passports.

We try to do research on our new destination and mentally prepare ourselves for places known to have higher levels of hassle. We always try to arrive in a new city midday and have a set plan on how we will get where we are going. When we do get lost, we try our best to still walk with confidence until we find a good place to stop.

We also try to blend in as much as possible or at least not stand out too much and we never accept any free offers of anything on the street. Usually they are timeshare schemes  and are a sure way to waste valuable time.

By practicing these habits along with keeping in regular contact with family and friends you can reduce some of the risks and scams associated with travel. Reducing risks and scams is the key since there is no way to completely eliminate them.

On Friday March 10th we got ripped off at a so called "authorized" currency exchange place in Seminyak.  Changing money is a necessary part of travel and the process can vary as much as the countries. Generally it is fairly straightforward but not always. Nations like Loas, Vietnam and Indonesia have very low value currencies and that fact alone makes the process a little more challenging.  A Canadian loonie won't buy you much these days but it sure goes a lot further than some monetary units.

In Indonesia, we were getting an exchange rate of 13,360 Indonesian Rupiah to $1.00 US Dollar in Ubud.  On the Gili Islands we got 13,000 IDR which was acceptable considering where we were. Once arriving in the Bali hub area of Kuta and Seminyak we were seeing rates from 13,200 IDR to as high as 14,000 IDR.

We decided to change $300 USD at a place near our hotel that had a good rate of 13,790 IDR. We went into the small shop, which happened to be tucked in between a massage parlor and small store selling knick-knacks.

The man made a few jokes and proceeded to take out bundles of 50,000 IDR notes. A 50,000 note is equal to about $5.00 CDN.

He started counting 50,000 IDR notes in stacks consisting of one million IDR per stack, which he laid on the counter. Both Jueun and I counted after him and placed the piles in cross stacks. As you can tell we were being pretty careful or at least we thought we were.

At this stage there were 4 stacks of 50,000 IDR equaling 4 million IDR. He then proceeded to count out some smaller bills which worked out to an amount slightly higher than what we should have received. He asked if we had change to make up the difference. While I looked for a couple of small notes, a woman from the massage parlor next door spoke to us from behind, "After.. change money...you have massage."  We replied, "No thank-you" as the guy restacked our money in what was now a sizeable pile which we put away and went on our merry way.

It was only after getting back to our hotel did we realize that sizeable pile was not the size it should be. At some point when I was making change or the decoy lady from behind spoke he must have taken back some of the money equaling about $100 CDN. Now you would think that any idiot would notice if a hundred dollars was missing , but remember it was a pile of cash made of bills that equalled $5 each and we had just counted it. Anyway, we had been scammed. He got us good but we couldn't quite narrow it down to exactly how he did it.

We tried to replay the events over and over in our minds. We knew there was nothing that could be done about getting our money back. Reporting it was pointless and would only waste our time. The event did leave us feeling both annoyed and embarrassed, not to mention short on money.

According to trip adviser and other sites on line these dodgy money changers have been operating for years. They use distractions by asking the customer to make change or look at the calculator away from his hands, and it gets more confusing when dealing with smaller denominations. People get mesmerized by all the zeros and the David Copperfield speed hand movements.

Our advice is to be very leary of rates that look too good to be true, places that try to use only smaller denominations and always, ALWAYS be the last one to count the money before you put it away.

After a few days we considered it a good lesson learned and we may have just forgotten about the whole thing; however, we still needed to change more money.  I'm not sure if it was curiosity or pride but for whatever reason we went back to the exact same spot to change one more hundred dollar bill.

This time it was only $100. He told us we should change more. We said we didn't want to. He used the exact same style to count his bills. We both counted them as well. He asked us if we could make small change again. We said no. Like clockwork distraction lady came in and spoke to us again. This time we didn't acknowledge her at all.

He now said he could make the right change and placed it on the pile.  At this stage Jueun started counting the total again and it was here where things got really bizarre. He tried to stop her by placing one hand on the money. "No" he said," you are counting too fast, count it slowly". She put her other hand on the pile and said, "Ok. Let me count it slowly." He then tried to grab it back by putting his other hand on the stack. "Slowly" he repeated. While this Rupiah tug of war was going on our original hundred dollar bill was still sitting on the desk and I had had enough. I grabbed it, Jueun let the Indonesian money go and we walked out. He followed us out but when I lifted my phone to snap a picture he quickly ducked out of sight.

Obviously he had somehow already tampered with the cash or he was going to try another trick. We will never know for sure; however, we had seen enough of this crooked magician's money show. It reminded me of a scene from a looney tunes cartoon and I couldn't help but think, Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us...

We shook our heads and walked a few meters down the road to the next place and changed our money in a completely normal manner.

When travelling for a long time you have to expect you will have some bad experiences from time to time. It's like a travel tax you need to calculate into the cost of the trip. There are ways to help cut your losses but the fact is there are dangers everywhere.  The important thing is to not take unnecessary risks even when you are willing to take chances for things which you really care about.  For us travelling is worth that risk or the travel tax you sometimes have to pay. As the saying goes, "A ship in harbour is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.” 

During our time around Seminyak and Kuta Beach we saw the busier, louder, wilder side of Bali. We were able to go to the world famous surfing beaches, the Bali bombing memorial site and one day we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Our money changing experience in Seminyak was a good lesson for us; however, it certainly won't change our opinion about travel, Indonesia or the kindness and honesty of most people everywhere. 

"Good people aren't hard to find:
They're right around the corner,
At the end of the line, it's true!"

- Great Big Sea

The Gili Islands, Indonesia (March 11th 2017)

Friday, March 3rd, we were up early and had breakfast at 6:30 am. After saying goodbye to our homestay family we walked out to the road and met our ride at 7:00 am. Our mini bus driver made a couple more stops around Ubud and then along with the music of Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi we made our way to the port in Padangbai. After a little wait here we were on our way to the Gili Islands.

The Gili Islands are a group of 3 tiny islands,  Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air, in Indonesia, near the coast of Lombok.

Each Island has its own character. Trawangan, known as Gili T is the most developed, Gili Air has the strongest local character and Meno, in the middle, is simply a desert island getaway.

These miniscule islands are known for their white sandy beaches and coconut palm trees. They're also famous for their coral reefs and superb scuba diving.

The boat stopped at Gili T before we continued on to Gili Air. We arrived there about 11:30 am. We walked passed the "chidomos" which are traditional horse drawn carriages and headed inland to the Si Pitung Bungalows.

These bungalows are nestled amongst the palm trees near the centre of the island. Except for chickens, the sound of passing horses and the call to prayer, we were pretty much left in silence. It was a nice spot and we ended up staying there for three nights.

Whenever we come somewhere like this it still amazes me how much travelling has changed these days thanks to the accessibility of Wifi.  Here we were on a small island in the middle of nowhere and yet we could do online banking, access Google Maps, make reservations through Expedia not to mention keep in constant contact with friends and family back home.

On the Gili Islands there are no motorized vehicles and the power was a bit hit and miss at times yet for the most part we were able to get online and connect with the world.  In 2017 high speed internet seems to be something that people assume is everywhere. In a world where often more emphasis is placed on the internet than plumbing, connectivity is now an expectation.

One evening as we sat under the stars on the beach I started to hum the music from Gilligan's Island... "No phone, no lights, no motor car, not a single luxury, like Robinson Crusoe it's primitive as can be" Then I thought about the Wifi... Just imagine what the Professor could have done with that!

Anyway, on Saturday, March 5th. we headed out to explore our little Island and check out some of the dive shops, which was the main reasons we came here.

We settled on a small dive shop called Gili Divers on Air. We liked the small size of the shop and the friendly staff. We ended up doing three dives on three separate days with them.

The first day we did Turtle Heaven close to Gili Meno, the second day we did a dive at Han's Reef close to our Island and the last day we did a dive at Bounty Wreck which was over an old sunken bardge near Gili T.

All three dives rewarded us with calm waters, little to no current, great visibility and loads of marine life.  They were probably three of the best dives we have ever done. We loved the small group atmosphere and the one day we had the dive master and the boat to ourselves.

Camilla, our young Danish dive master was great. She pointed out a lot of hidden fish and took lots of time to discuss the dives and fill in our logbooks with us.

On Monday, March 6th, we left Si Pitung and made our way up the sandy beach side path to the Pelangi Bungalows, a nice little spot we found a couple of days earlier located right on the beach.

It was a great location for snorkeling because there was a reef right out from the beach and from there we could go straight out from our bungalow.  The little reef seemed to be a magnet to marine life and we were able to see lots of fish and even a couple octopus.

One day we walked around the whole island; however, most of our time we were in the water snorkeling or diving. Each evening was spent just hanging out on the beach and listening to reggae music from the nearby beach side restaurants and bars.

On March 10th, we had a horse and carriage pick us up at 10:00 am and bring us to the pier area. We took the Ekajaya fast boat back to Bali. 

After fighting our way through the taxi touts near the pier we managed to make our way to the shuttle bus that took us to Seminyak Beach, just north of Kuta Beach where we spent our last few days in Bali.

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia (March 3rd 2017)

For Jueun and me Bali is a place that came up in one of our first ever conversations. Very early in our relationship, we discovered we shared an interest in travel and Bali was one of the first places we talked about. It took awhile for us to go but 19 years later we finally managed to make it.

Going to Bali, it was hard to not think about Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" and the final place, where in the movie, Julia Roberts went on her incredible journey in search for self fulfillment.

Now, I know the story is obviously aimed at women but I have to admit I enjoyed parts of it. After all, it is a travel memoir that included some amazing places and some great messages. A couple of quotes that stand out in my mind are,  "I want to go somewhere where I can marvel at something" and  "I am loyal and constant in my love of travel. I just don't care what it puts me through because I adore it, because it is mine."

Ubud is the cultural capital of Bali, and if I were to pick three words to describe Ubud, it would be artsy, cultural and beautiful. A visit to Ubud and its surroundings is a real must when visiting Bali.

Ubud is probably the place on Bali that has preserved its Balinese culture the most, and you can see and get a feel for the real soul of Bali here and I guess that is why the Balinese are so proud of it.

We arrived in Bali on Wednesday, February 22nd. Made, the homestay owner, picked us up at the airport in Denpasar and drove us back to his Homestay in Ubud.  When we arrived at the Nirwa Homestay it was pitch black. His wife, Ayu and other members of the family met us with flash lights at the road and helped guide us along a narrow path about 150 meters through the rice fields back to their place.

Although we couldn't see much of anything that night, when the sun came up in the morning we could see the beautiful lush surroundings we were now in.

Ubud was somewhere we really wanted to do yoga together. I have been hearing about the benefits of yoga for years and it is something Jueun has been suggesting I try. I figured what better place to jump on the yoga bandwagon than Ubud, Bali.

On Thursday, we walked over to the Ubud Yoga House and made arrangements to start our program.  This yoga studio overlooking the rice terraces was in a beautiful location and just a short walk from our homestay.

In the first class we learned that practicing yoga helps bring together the body and mind. It also helps manage stress, increases flexibility, muscle strength and body tone along with improving one's respiration, energy and vitality. It all sounds good to me; however, it's not that simple. The stretching, balancing and breathing is harder than it looks. Although I am not very good at it now I understand that these things take time. Like everything in life, it comes with time and practice.  No pain, no gain...

Anyway we met some great people from all over the world at the Ubud Yoga house and have some good and humorous memories from our time there.  After a couple of introductory classes we felt we were ready to practice on our own and we have been trying to keep it up ever since.

One day we walked to what is known as the Sacred Monkey forest which houses three holy temples and a band of gray long tailed Balinese Macaque. In certain areas the temples have a real Indiana Jones feel about them. Dr. Jones would have felt very much at home here. 

We had fun wandering around this cool, dense jungle area.  During our time there we saw a malay water monitor that looked about the size of a crocodile along with what seemed like no end of monkeys.

These monkeys may look cute but they can be pretty rough on each other and pretty sneaky with unexpecting tourists. At our homestay we were told that sometimes they fight with each other and the loser monkeys are banished from the area and are forced into exile in surrounding areas. These areas include the trees around our homestay. Like all refugees, I guess it is a hotly debated issue on what to do with them. 

Anyway, we spent part of our time in the forest helping one guy look for the contents of his wallet.  A quick acting monkey grabbed it out of his bag when he was getting something out and next thing he was tearing it apart as he jumped from tree to tree. In the end the guy managed to retrieve most of his important stuff except for one credit card. I wonder how he felt explaining that story to his credit card company.

We enjoyed two evenings of Balinese dance performances at open air venues with huge stone backdrops. The beautiful settings are nice; however, all attention was placed on the dancers' rythematic and robotic movements from their eyeballs to their tip toes, once the music started.

Along with the wild eyed Balinese dancers there was also a performance that included Barong, Bali's good monster. This half lion, half shaggy dog is both mischievous and fun loving.  Barong is a sacred creature in Bali and his image can be seen everywhere. He is known to be a protecter of villages and with his huge eyes and mouth, that moves to the beat of the music, he is also a very entertaining performer.

On Sunday, February 26th, we took a drive along the West coast to Pura Tanah Lot. It is one of the most famous sea temples in Bali. During low tide it is possible to walk over to the Temple however that wasn't the case when we were there.

On Wednesday, March 1st, we took another excursion to the central mountains region near the centre of Bali. Here we visited Pura Ulan Danu Bratan. This important Hindu Buddhist temple, which goes back to the 17th century, is dedicated to the goddess of water and is built on an island in lake Bratan. 

A view of this temple is one of the iconic images of Bali and it graces the cover of the Bali Lonely Planet.

We also went to the Jatiluwih Rice fields. These century old rice terraces are both beautiful to see and fascinating to learn about.

We walked along some of the paths to see the terraces close up and learn a little about the amazing ancient irrigation system. We could see up close how the water runs through interconnected channels and bamboo pipes from one field level to the next.

We also stopped by a huge waterfall where we could practically stand underneath. It was a spectacular sight and by far the most refreshing part of another stifling hot day in Bali.

Other than those few excursions and yoga we spent most of our time in Ubud close to our homestay just wandering around the rice field area where were staying.

The food was great and we found the unique flavour was a nice change for us. The barbecue chicken, pork ribs and satay along with the spicy sambal sauce had us coming back for more and more.

There was one place, located in the rice fields where the food was so delicious and the sunsets so spectacular we were almost able to accept the snakes, bats and river rats that hung out in the area.

We tried our best to be at ease with the local wildlife and took note of how comfortable the Balinese were within their natural environment.

We quickly noticed the daily offerings prepared with pride. This Balinese Hindu practice called "Canang" is carried out all over Bali. Crafted out of natural materials, a simple offering might be a few inches of a banana leaf holding a small amount of rice. 

Other offerings may be small, square, woven baskets made from coconut leaves and filled with flowers and an assortment of gifts for the Gods and topped with a single smouldering stick of incense. Once the incense goes out, an offering returns to being an earthly object - and becomes a snack for everything from monkeys to ants.

Each night we slept well under our mosquito net as we listened to what seemed like an orchestra of creatures, including birds, geckos, frogs and crickets. In my mind they were all singing in unison the praises of this Canang offering system.

We planned to stay in Ubud for a week but couldn't tear ourselves away that soon. We knew we were somewhere we could marvel at things and we extended our time here. We finally said thanks and reluctantly said good bye to Made, Ayu and the rest of our homestay family early in the morning on Friday, March 3rd.