Week 26: Nausea in Indonesia

Indonesia was fun! Minus the nausea and food poisoning. I had a good time learning about the art and culture of Bali, but transit and food didn't always treat me well.

On Monday, I woke up early and was picked up by the shuttle to the port to the island to the bridge to the hotel. Lots of steps. I fell out of the shuttle while getting out at one point, but the transit was otherwise okay. After maybe three and a half hours or so, I finally made it to the hotel on Nusa Ceningan and met up with the other Kinmen ETA!

After lunch, we scootered to the mangrove forest on the neighboring island for a tour. The forest was wonderfully peaceful. It was just the other ETA and me, our guide, and the forest. Also another tourist who was kayaking around, but we didn't see him often. Since the forest was dark and quiet, the other ETA and I spent the boat ride enjoying the atmosphere. We also saw some little crabs near the trees' roots, some of which had bright blue bodies, some of which had bright orange claws.

Our next stop after the mangrove forest was a beach called Dream Beach, then a rocky cliffside dubbed the Devil's Tears. I couldn't get over how incredibly blue the waters were—even the darkest patches of sea shimmered with jewel tones. As the waves swelled into the caves beneath the cliffs, the sea spray would hiss like dragon breath, and the entire ocean would froth. Watching the waves crash against the jagged cliffs at the Devil's Tears was both mesmerizing and terrifying.

After the other ETA and I explored the cliffs some more, we went back to Dream Beach for some snacks, which included some excellent gelato and a sleeve of Blackpink Oreos. The two of us walked to a nearby spa afterwards, then got aloe vera facials. I'd never been to a spa before, so admittedly getting used to someone touching my face at first was a bit weird, but I had a good time. I've never been that relaxed before! Honestly, I was so relaxed that I think I fell asleep at one point (oops).

For dinner, the two of us ate at a restaurant overlooking the bay with the boats, then went swimming at our hotel. It was a wonderfully chill day, unlike the next.

On Tuesday, the two of us woke up early for breakfast, then went snorkeling with manta rays. Amazing concept. Not so great experience. We went to three different spots to snorkel, and the first had enormous waves. I had never gone snorkeling before, and the guides didn't give us much advice, so I didn't end up jumping in at first. Unfortunately, this wasn't a great choice, because the waves were so large and the boat was so small that I spent the next two or so hours being violently seasick. I would consider the entire experience my own personal hell.

The most enjoyable part of the experience was when I chose to jump in at the last snorkeling spot and just float around. The water was so bright and clear that I could see some of the turtles, fish, and coral even from the surface.

I spent a good couple of hours after that recovering back at the hotel, where we had lunch, then the other ETA and I checked out and headed to our next hotel. As before, we spent a few hours being shuttled from hotel to port to ferry to port to hotel, but I didn't mind turning my brain off a bit.

The rest of the evening was relatively lowkey after our big snorkeling and transit day. We just relaxed at our homestay, then called some other ETAs before heading to sleep. Unfortunately, even when I laid down, I could still feel the rocking of the boat from earlier.

The two of us woke up early again for a UNESCO Heritage Site tour the next day. It was only the two of us, our tour guide, and a friendly German college student. Our first site was Pura Taman Ayun, which is a temple that's belonged to the same royal family for generations. We learned a great deal about the religious architecture, art, and color symbolism of the temple from our tour guide.

We next made a pit stop at a coffee plantation, where we learned about the coffee (and chocolate) making process. After trying a variety of teas and coffees, we also saw an Asian palm civet. According to our guide, the civet is central to the production of luwak coffee, which has a milder flavor than some other coffees due to the process of the civets digesting and excreting the coffee beans. Interesting.

Our tour stopped next at Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, which is a temple on a lake at the foot of some mountains, then the Jatiluwih rice terraces. The latter was enormous, beautiful, and abundantly green. While walking around, our tour group marveled at the beauty of the terraces and the mountains rising behind them. Between the terraces and the Devil's Tears, I'm not sure which part was more beautiful.

We also briefly visited a butterfly garden. I'm still not a huge fan of bugs, but I liked holding moths, butterflies, and some leaf bugs while we explored. I didn't like the beetle cave (which had spiders, yikes!) much though.

The last place we visited for the day was Tanah Lot. Tanah Lot is a temple from the tenth century that was constructed on a rocky islet only accessible at low tide. We walked along the rocks by the temple and peered at the little crabs, fish, and snails trapped in the various tide pools. The other ETA and I also saw a sacred snake and a sacred spring.

Our tour guide was wonderfully friendly, and he also bought the three of us klepon for dessert. It was a bit saltier than the klepon I'd had on Kinmen, but it was pretty good! As tiring as the day was, I had a good time chatting and exploring different parts of Bali with our tour group.

Thursday was the beginning of the end for me. I felt fine when I woke up, but I got food poisoning pretty quick from some chicken skewers I'd ordered off of Grab. I managed to feel well enough to get to Ubud, which was an hour away from our hotel. It has a reputation as the art center of Bali, but it was also incredibly tourist-y (even for Bali, which is already immensely tourist-y).

The highlight of the day was the batik class I took in Ubud. The family that offered the class was very friendly, and I liked chatting with them as I learned more about batik and living in Ubud. Apparently, the implement they use to draw with wax is made of copper and bamboo.

Since I decided to freehand a temple, the wax drawing process took much longer than expected. Much, much longer. It was calming though just to sit in the family's courtyard and chat with them. I also got to play with their dogs, one of whom was old and blind, the other of whom was energetic and sweet.

I originally wanted to see a dance at the Ubud Palace, but I ended up going home right after I dyed my batik since I felt so sick. The entire hour home was another personal hell for me, unfortunately.

Both the other ETA and I were a bit travel fatigued, so Friday was our chill day. I was also still recovering from my food poisoning. The two of us got some drinks at a cute little cafe, then checked out the Bali Museum. The museum wasn't bad, but we were scammed by a fake tour guide, unfortunately.

We then spent a while checking out a local art market, which was lovely. I got some souvenirs for my family and myself, and the other ETA got herself a tote bag and a carving of a manta ray. Then, we had lunch, then headed back to the hotel.

Our entire Saturday and most of our Sunday was spent heading back to Kinmen. We spent six hours in the Denpasar Airport on Saturday before our flight, then had a layover in Singapore at Changi Airport. Unfortunately, all the cool things like the butterfly garden, waterfall, and movie theater were closed due to it being 10pm, so we couldn't check anything out.

The next flight was from 1am to 5:30am, so we didn't sleep much on our way to Taipei. Then we slogged from Taoyuan Airport to Songshan Airport for our flight to Kinmen. Luckily, the front desk people were willing to move our flight up from 4:10pm to 9:35am, so we boarded as fast as possible, then made it back to our apartments before 11am.

After I'd gotten myself sorted, I chatted with a couple other Mr. Hong House ETAs, then rested until our hotpot reunion dinner. It was great seeing everyone again! We all recapped our travels, and it sounded like some of us had some tough times in Southeast Asia with food and whatnot but otherwise had fun. Everyone who was in Kinmen for the marathon (or 5k or other races) also told us how the races went. Apart from a minor injury, I think everyone did well.

I missed Taiwan so, so badly. As cool as Bali was, it was definitely more tourist-y than I like, and the food was hit or miss (or food poisoning). I missed Kinmen, I missed my apartment, and I missed my cohort!! I especially missed seeing my partner, who went to Thailand while I went to Indonesia.

I had fun seeing part of Southeast Asia over break, but I wish there were another week between traveling and school. I don't think anyone's ready for the new semester. At the very least, I think the second semester'll be easier than the first; I've already taught for a number of months, and I know my students. Fingers crossed it goes well!

Writer's Note: This post was originally written on Thursday, February 23rd, 2023.