The Magic of Phi Phi Island

There have been so many wonderful times and memories made on this once in a life time trip so far, but few that are so special and wonderful that they make it into my top 10 moments or top 5. I cant really say, I just remember those times crystal clear and never want to forget them. Being here on Phi Phi island has been so fantastic so far its hard to put into words how amazing they are i just know i never want to forget them. I also want to be able to remember the feeling of  being compeltely happy at those moments with not a care in the world. 

Phi Phi has this effect on people making it so easy to forget what day and time it is. We were only suppose to stay for 4 nights and ended up staying 7 nights. 

To start we took a tuk tuk to the ferry dock, then took the 1 1/2 hour ferry ridde over to Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee)

Once we got off the boat we walked toward our hostel (Apache's hostel). Since our hostel was right on the beach we walked along the water with all our bags as we pasted people already drinking at other bars and hostels along the beach and playing in the sand. Ourr hostel was great for location but wasn't the best sleeping conditions. We ended up only staying there 2 nights. We shared a 12 person dorm for $450 baht a night and the new place we found on day 3 was $400 a night but we had our own room and bathroom attached. PP house was the new place and wasn't right on the beach but still close only a 5 minute walk to the beach. 

the photos above are our view from our first hostel. Waking up to this view was amazing!

This dorm was also right next to Stones bar which became our favorite place to hang out at night. 

The tide comes in and out so much that all the water in the pics is gone for a few hours during the day and people can walk out on the sand super far. Boats that pull up in high tide need to wait to leave until the tide comes back in. It is funny to see the boats sitting on the sand waiting for the water to come back in. 

After checking in we meet some great people who we ended up becoming good friends with. Saket (from India, who also became our sort of guru), Marawan (from Egypt) and Vladimir (from bosnia, but says he is American because he lives in NYC). We ended up drinking at the bar next to our Hostel called Stones bar. Little did we know we would like it so much we would go there every night... almost. 

Stoned bar almost deserves its own post, but it is not easily put into words how amazing it was. You could lay in these chairs right on the water and at the same time they had fire dancers every night. They were so good, even this little boy who was maybe 5 could fire dance so well. At  the bar you could order buckets of alcohol or splifs. They also had food open till late, with the best bannana nutella pancakes I have ever had. One night Saket came over with 2 of them and suprised us, we were so happy!

Since our first night there was also Jess's birthday at midnight we obviously had to celebrate! Jess, and the guys and me got drinks at Stoned then went to a few other bars on the beach. We went down a street with all kinds of food, however it didnt take long for me and Jess to notice the bamboo tattoo shop. Jess stopped there trying to decide if she was going to do it. Marawan and me went to the bar to get shots... who would of thought that you could get shots to go! haha only in phi phi. We brought shots back for everyone and took them at the tattoo parlor. As saket talked through the pros and the cons Jess and I decided to both get them. The one German guy in our group just sat down and waited for us haha he thought we were crazy. Big thanks to Saket and Marawan for being great support and distractions for us during the process. I ended up getting 4 dots on my hand and Jess got a positive sign on hers. 

After tattoos, we all danced on the beach. It is definatly one night I will never forget.

The next day was a struggle. I woke up later than Jess, once I got up I found Jess already on the beach laying with a smoothy in hand haha the proper way to start a birthday. 

After Breakfast we got some pedicures, manicures and messages. It came out to be $30 total so worth the money. After we took a nap, got dinner and went out again. 

Chang local beer.

Phi Phi to be continued... 

Bali: Ubud

Right as we arrived in Ubud many different people stuck there heads in the windows asking if you needed rides or a place to stay. We decided to go with one guy for a place to stay since we originally didnt have one. He took us there on his moped/scooter. Jess went first, it was so funny seeing her with all her stuff on this little scooter haha backpack and all. 

We stayed at Ubud Permi right near the monkey forest. It seemed really nice upon arrival. We stayed there for 2 nights. The first morning monkeys were being so loud outside running and jumping from roof to roof. We walked out side to see and they were every where, mind you this was 6am. There was also one of the employees shooting monkeys with a sling shot haha. The second night Jess had a cockroach in her bed... not fun! It wasn't the cleanest place we stayed but it had a nice pool, wifi and breakfast included. When talking with some girls staying there also, they were moving to a new place because the night before there was a rat climbing on the wall in there room. I was happy we only stayed 2 nights and were leaving the day all this rat and cockroach business happened. 

The first day in Ubud we walked around. We got dinner at this amazing restaurant called Art Cafe. Jess and I both agreed it was the best meal we have had since we left for our trip. We had the most amazing vegetable pizza and margaritas. I  got the burrito bandito and jess got a salad both were amazing! I was so happy after i thought i might poop out a rainbow, ok maybe thats a bit intense but the food was so great. We walked around a little more then happened to run into our friend Sandra from Canada who we meet at the pool earlier in the day. We got a drink with her at a local bar/restaurant. At the restaurant  guys came in and joined out couch area where we were sitting. Dewa a local came and sat next to me. He knew the guys that were playing in the band on stage. Dewa was awesome, he had dreads and tattoos all over his face and arms. All the tattoos on his face he did himself, quite crazy. I might of some how had a little crush on him haha. He also did paintings for a living and we exchanged numbers because he invited us to go with him to a waterfall the next day with another guy from Germany. We didn't go because we wanted to try and get to Gili islands. 

The next day we walked around more and went to the yoga barn to sign up for some classes. I bought 3 for 300,000 rupiah like $10 a class kind of expensive but it was an amazing place and yoga is something u need to do in Ubud. We also ate at there restaurant which was all natural healthy food. it was amazing!! Everything was super fresh and healthy for you. 

Of course after eating we did our yoga class. It was fun it was a beginner class and probably my least favorite out of the 3 i did, but still wonderful. The studio was amazing you felt like you were in a tree house. it was a big circular upstairs studio all open to the out doors with trees all around you. 

After yoga we got dinner haha we went to Maha a place where Sandra told us to go because there are bunnies in the court yard and she said you feel like you are in alice inn wonderland. The food was still good not as good as art cafe but still good. 

Then we decided to go to the rice terraces to see them at sunset. They were pretty cool.

On our way to more rice terraces our trip took a turn for the worse. We accidentally took a wrong turn and walked down a private driveway. It kinda looked like a temple or something because it was a nice gate and stuff, minus the 2 dogs barking at us. They were at the other side of the car park as we approached the open gates, but there are so many dogs in bali that bark all the time so we didnt think much of it. We walked a little closer and as we realized they were barking at us and getting up from where they were we kinda just stopped. Then they started running at us, Jess told me to walk away slowly so they wouldnt feel threatened. I turned my back to walk away slowly. Jess just continued to walk backwards. I felt the dogs getting really close. All of the sudden i felt one bite down on my ankle. I just froze i was so scared, I thought for sure i  would have 4 puncture holes and blood everywhere, it hurt so bad. Jess and I just stood there for about a minute which felt like 4-5 minutes. We just didnt know what to do, there were still right next to us growling and we didnt want them to attack again. I was just trying to hold back tears and tell myself i was fine and not scared (since dogs sense fear). All of the sudden a lady walking down the correct path the the rice terraces saw the situation and talked us through it. I really dont know what we would of done if she didnt appear. She said she was very confident that neither of the dogs had rabies. we slowly walked away in shock that that happened and continued to the rice terraces. My ankle was not as bad as it felt thank god, however it still broke the skin and was bleeding. 

On our way home we walked into a local shop with all natural remedies. He quickly took us to the clinic 3 shops away from him. 

The clinic was an experience of its own haha. Lets just say it wouldn't meet health code in America haha. There were ants on the floor, geckos running all over the walls and flies. I sat down on a medical table and let the nurse clean my wound out. She scrubbed at it for like 5-10 minutes it was so uncomfortable and hurt! I tried to swipe an ant off my leg so it wouldn't go into the open wound and she told me not to move or touch anything hahaha.... I have never experience anything like it before. Then she put a little iodine on it and sent me on my way. No bandage or anything. We ended up getting a taxi after because i had to be back at yoga barn for my night meditation and Jess needed to sleep because she had to leave at 2 am to go on a tour to climb a volcano. 

Meditation that night was amazing! You get there and sign in then you put on this all natural bug repellant they home make haha i am not sure whats in it but it was like a thick milky color but a lotion. It seemed to work however because i didn't have many bug bites. After you apply the lotion they call you one by one upstairs. Its hard to put into words the atmosphere upstairs. Again it was in the open circular studio, mats were in a crescent with pillows and blankets. The instructor sat in the front of the room, cross legged, eyes closed meditating, with 2 gongs hanging next to him and gold bowls in front of him. He wore a long red dress/toga/sarong thing he had perfect dreads all tied up in a big bun on his head. Everyone else entered one by one no talking at all. you just sat and mimicked the instructor. Once everyone entered the instructor when through how the evening would go. He talked about how meditation with gongs is suppose to heal the body and soul with its high frequencies. He also said people can get up and do whatever there bodies need to do during meditation just without any noise, like dance or walk around haha. He also created a shape in the middle on the crescent with papers. Then we all laid down and he came around with oil he rubbed (quite virtuously) on your forehead. It smelled like Vicks vapor rub, but it opened all senses. then meditation began. It was quite amazing. toward the middle he actually went from person to person with the gong and would hit it right behind you so your whole body vibrated then moved it side to side. funny to talk about now but felt right at the time. it was my favorite part actually haha after he mentions you can stay as long as you need. most people lingered so i did also, i think some people fell asleep, it was an hour long class. I got up and walked home because it was already 10:30pm. 

That night i had a hard time sleeping thinking about my leg. I woke up early to go to sunrise vinyasa at the temple again. I got there at 6:50am. The temple and studio were becoming my new home and i didnt mind haha. Morning vinyasa was pretty intense butt felt great. Later in the day my body was so sore from the sudden constant yoga i was doing. After the class i had an amazing breakfast at the yoga barn restaurant. Then walked back to wait for Jess to come back form her volcano climb. The pictures looked amazing! I am a little jealous i didnt go however yoga and meditation were also amazing. An employee of the guest house took me back on his scooter to the house/ temple where the dogs were at that bit me. I was terrified to go back but really wanted to see if it had a collar or if someone was there that could tell me if it had its rabies shot. There were no dogs as we entered the gates but soon enough they both darted out at us. I just yelled go go go like i was on a high speed chase. i was so scared i had both legs up haha. The driver told me they are not stray dogs and belong to the temple and are looked after so they probably have there shots. However I didn't want to risk anything and had a taxi take me to the hospital, the accredited hospital in Kuta. 

Quick shout out to my mom for taking up her whole day with research and phone calls to hospitals and research on shots and procedures in bali and Thailand! Love you!

I went to BIMC hospital in Kuta. The hospital was so nice and clean, defiantly way better than the clinic, i got 2 shots, medicine and bandages.  My taxi driver even waited for me so i could have a ride back to my home stay in Kuta. I gave the taxi driver $35 dollars to drive me 50 minutes from Ubud to the hospital wait for me and the hospital and drive me 30 more minutes to my home stay, so worth it! 

Once I got back to the Waringin home stay i paid a lady $3 dollars to do both mine and jess's laundry, she even ironed and folded it all! I splurged on myself and got a burger at Hard Rock Cafe, which cost so much compared to what we were spending. The bill came to $20 dollars for a burger and a small water! Upon leaving i was asked to donate to the hungry kinds of bali... of course i had to after my nice expensive meal. Then I went back and waited for Jess.

In the morning our taxi picked me and Jess up. We stopped at the post office to send some things home before the airport. Jess was able to pay $100 and send home a huge box! I sent home a small box for $50 because they had to send it by air mail... o well at least it was weight removed from my bag. Upon exiting the bali airport we had to pay a $20 airport tax...whatever that was, but we had to take money out of the atm. Jess realized later that she forgot her card in the machine, she ran back to find it but it was gone. We boarded our flight in route for a 7 hour lay over in Singapore then Phuket Thailand.

Bali: Kuta

We arrived in Bali very early in the morning. so we stayed at the airport for a few hours to us the free WiFi and get breakfast. Then we bargained with a taxi for a ride to our home stay. We stayed at Waringin guest house, on Poppies 1 Kuta. It was suggested suggested by our friend Johnny who we meet in Byron Bay. He put us in contact with Ketut via facebook. We ended up paying $8 a night each. We got a private room, view of the pool, our own bathroom/shower, free Wifi and breakfast in the am. Such a great deal the only down side was no AC, but we managed. Johnny told us not to pay more than 100,000 rupiah for a taxi ride there. Of course at first the driver tried to get 400,000, then went down to 200,000 when we said no way! We still got him to go down to 100,000, thank god Johnny told us how much to pay, otherwise they get yeah. 

Free breakfast: banana "pancakes", fruit and tea

Our driver didnt bring us right to the home stay because the roads were so small and he was worried about his car... however much bigger cars were able to get through. I think he was just annoyed we didnt give him as much as he wanted. We had like a 10 minute walk to our home stay. 

once we checked in we walked around the markets, everyone is selling the same things and literally beg you to walk into there store normally for "good luck". I really didnt like that part at all, but hey its how they make a living. Honestly i bought a fan from a lady just because i felt so bad for her, she begged so much she must have been desperate and the fan was 2,000 rupiah which is 20 cents so I got one. 

Jess shopping at the market

Chloe

Gateway to heaven on kuta beach

After we got dinner/lunch at a bar. The food was so bad, but we ate it anyways. However we did try Bintang, the local beer. It was ok it just tasted like a light beer. After we walked around a little more, for some reason we turned down a $12 package for a pedicure, mani and 1 hour message haha. We were so tired and i was just tired of being bombarded by the merchants. 

The next day we booked a tour though this couple, they ended up being really nice and we went through them for rides to get around Bali. The tour was to GWK, dedicated to the Hindu god Wisnu. It is made out of limestone. Garuda is a mythical bird and Wisnu's cccompanion.

Up by the statue a man asked me to follow him to the holy spring, so Jess and I did. I really had no idea what it was all about. This guy made us kneel in front of a shrine kinda thing. Then he moved some rocks revealing a hole in the ground. he said a prayer and blessed us with holy water, then stuck rice on our foreheads. 

After he asked for a donation, half of me felt like it was a scam and the other half felt like it was real. So I donated a little money. Then it got weird, he asked if we had boy friends. When I said no he asked if i like Balinese guys... it got weirder from there when he asked if i wanted him to be my boyfriend and asked where i was staying so he could come to the room later. We just laughed and walked away, i cant believe he said all that in such a holy place even if it wasnt at the holy spring it would still creep me out. 

After we walked to the next statue Garuda Mythical bird.

Then we went to a show that was being put on, we only caught the end of it. After we grabbed a few pics with the performers. Once we walked away a group like 8 older men from india maybe asked if they could get pictures with Jess and I. This wasn't the first time on our trip guys have asked to get photos with us. I am not sure why, it is kindaa strange. However of course we didn't say no, and each of them needed to get a photo with us. I was laughing like Jess I didn't know we were in the show, because I felt like the girls dressed up who were in the show. Then we left, it wasn't my favorite place we went plus entry was kinda expensive (100,000 rupiah/$10).

From there we went to Dreamland Beach. It wasn't what I expected. Of course again being bombarded with street merchants and old ladys pestering you on the beach to give you a message for money. The beach was also right next to this smelly swamp. The water was pretty nice, but other than that I wouldn't go again.

From there we went to a coffee plantation which i loved. A girl showed us around and walked us through the different stages of a coffee bean cycle. she also showed us the mongoos they collect the poop of these mongoos and make coffee from it. It is a deliciously and very expensive called luwak coffee. Apparently it has healing properties for the human stomach and digestive track.  

after the tour we were able to try all the teas and coffees they sell. there were so many good teas and coffees, i wanted to buy them all but they were a little pricy. I ended up getting 2 different kinds. 

Our next stop was uluwatu. It is a temple on the top of a cliff. When we got there we had to put on sarongs (if your legs were showing). on our walk to the temple there were monkeys everywhere. there was even an announcement on the loud speakers telling people to contact the police if a monkey takes there stuff.... not sure what the police can do about it haha. Jess keep having to take her glasses on and off haha. The view from the temple was so pretty and it was sunset which made it  even better. 

After the temple we attended a traditional fire dance/show. The stadium was packed with people and even though it was outside it was still so hot. The show itself was ok it was pretty cool to see traditional costumes and such, however it was an hour long of chanting. 

The next day we headed to Ubud we took a bus there for 60,000 rupiah.

In bali they put fresh flowers outside each door way every morning with rice and an incent it's part of there religion.