Ubud - not in a nutshell

I've been in Ubud for 5 days and I love the atmosphere.
It's so relaxed and you realize there's no reason to stress - apart from maybe the Balinese men asking you if you need a motorbike taxi every 20m (even if you're on one yourself) and the shop owners saying hello and trying to get you to buy something - it's really relaxed :P


I have to admit I have slacked on cultural activities.
I preferred watching the monkeys in monkey forest from afar and being in Asia for so long means I have had my share of temples.


Bali in general consists of temples. Home stays and hotels are built around temples and I did not do any of the tours to any cultural sights.
I did want to see the volcano and rice fields but driving to beaches I saw so many beautiful rice fields and the volcano I think I enjoyed these in my own way.
People are relaxed but there's quite a few elitist yoga/hippie and health freaks - I've avoided that entire cult.


Have just enjoyed the beaches, Juan and James company and am re energized and ready to leave and party and taint this healthy temple of a body :)


I'm heading to the islands and reason for this is that everything in Ubud closes around midnight and CP Lounge seems to be the only place open late. So if you want to go out, choices are limited as people here like to get up early for freakishly early yoga sessions it seems :)


As for the Balinese, I learned quite a bit from the expats living here.
Tourists like James got pulled over onthe scooter and told that his international drivers license is not international at all - just to get a bribe of 2 million Rupiah. If not he'd have had to appear in court in 8 days.
The only other solution is driving past and hoping the police don't follow you according to Juan but we realized being in a car they don't pull you over.


If you rent a car make sure to mention this as the rental agency will offer to help you deal with this by having the police call them.


There are quite a lot of other examples, most common that Balinese nearly ever give you the correct change back in try to slip some in their pocket.
Out of principal I always demand the correct change back and in several cases the Balinese get really pissed off because you bring it up.
Had an argument with a cab driver cause he didn't give me the correct change back and then he told me he thought it was tip.


Being in Eat Pray Love spirit and constantly getting ripped off ruins is just some what but just head into a rice field and you'll forget these small sorrows again ;)


As for places to check out:
I enjoyed Laughing Buddha, CP Lounge, Bar Luna (Tuesdays & Thursdays).
On the same street as Bar Luna there's really good and cheap Indonesian food - worth checking out!


Cafes & restaurants: Cafe Clear, Kafe, Taco Casa & Grill (Mexican), Bridge's (French), Sari Organic

Random temple...one of many beautiful sights in Ubud

Driving to Amed

Stopping by Vincents's for dinner

Ubud Monkey temple. Refused to go in. I know monkeys from Kenya and they're evil lil bastards!!

Seminyak, Bali

Arrived in Bali after an all night out in Bangkok with Latifa & Kevin and it was really overcast - not a surprise as it's rain season..


Seminyak's beaches were a disappointment as all the rubbish from the ocean gets blown on to the shore by the wind but I was fortunate to meet 2 locals through ASmallWorld who have been taking me around and showing me the nicest beaches - all on the east coast though.


While in Seminyak I spent my time lounging at Ku De Ta and got sunburnt while enjoying fabulous cocktails like their lemongrass & lychee martini, the cucumber & elderflower collins and had the best tuna loin so far :P
Metis I heard could be worth a visit if you want something more upscale and like French food.
Tried Balinese food at Made's Warung but left for Ubud after 2 days and rafting in Rendang which was fun though it was mainly the guide doing the paddling - so not much exercise for me!


I decided to head to Ubud as my friend James happened to be there too and one of the people I met in Seminyak offered I could stay in their villa for free.
How could I refuse such a generous offer?!!


Next post - Ubud :)

Metis - Chinese NYE decoration

Best tune I've had at Ku de Ta. Bless those amazing cocktails too!

Metis - French upscale restaurant...rather pricey for Bali..

Ventiane, Laos to Bangkok by bus

You know how they say "Bus leaves at 17:00"
If you're one of those impatient people or punctual and you expect 17 means 17, let me run you through the actual schedule:


- Bus pick up at 17:43 from my hotel
- Arrive at immigration check out 18:46
- Waiting for last minute passengers 19:35
- Cross border/immigrate to Thailand 19:55
- Driving to Bangkok 20:11


Arrival in BKK at 6am and a Tuk tuk driver trying to rip you off that your hotel is very far away when it's a 3min walk. Thankful for iPhone and wifi ;)


didn't do much cultural in BKK but met up with friend's at the Banyan Vertigo bar (apart from the view rather overrated) and had an amazing Swedish oil massage (Thai style meaning pain) at Charlie's on Khao San road.


Won't say much more as I don't know enough to share anything relevant so just a couple of pics :)

Latifa & Kevin <3

Vientiane in a nutshell

Underwhelming.
Didn't have expectations coming here and I was still amazed by how devoid or bereft of character and atmosphere this place is.


Had checked up lonely planet's top 10 things to do here and it's somewhat of a joke.
Skip Talat Sao mall. It's a mall with hardly any retail stores and I'm not sure how that ranks under top 10.


Putaxai or the Victory Gate was in central Vientiane but the Buddha park (only thing I wanted to see) was too far out for my 24hrs in Vientiane.


Ate at Yulala cafe and Vieng Sawan the latter being the only highlight and it was basically Vietnamese food and ended at a mixed Lao/expat bar called Bor Pen Yung which was "nice"


Don't like speaking badly of places but if you can, skip Vientiane and don't waste your money on a hotel :/


Unfortunately I'm pretty excited to get on a 12hr bus ride to Bangkok after these 24hrs :)

Temples are pretty right? 

Only landmark worth seeing in our 24hrs there

Will was hungry. So were we...but were we pouting? :)

Vang Vieng, tubing and alcohol

Soooo..my temporary travel companion Liv and I were rather skeptical about Vang Vieng as it basically sounded like spring break. We had to pass Vang Vieng on out way south and booked 2 nights at Pans house for 25000kip in one of their bamboo bungalows.


The 4hr drive from Luang Prabang is a very fast, bumpy, scary but beautiful drive. I recommend it!


First evening - tired and sober we disliked the drunk teens and bars. Was too overwhelming.


Day 1 - Tubing
Was SO much fun. Apart from the landscape I fell in love with, tubing was a lot more chill.
If you didn't like the bar/music or people, you just floated to the next.
People were more chill during the day and we welcomed all the free shots, beer ping pong etc.


Day 2 - The blue lagoon
I'd take a scooter or walk next time. The roads in Laos aren't dirt roads but more like stone roads.. ;)
Took around 30min but we unfortunately fell for one scam. A big yellow sign claiming to be the blue lagoon distracted us from tfe actual correct sign and we ended up coming to a murky lagoon that underwhelmed us. Fortunately we were only half scammed as we paid 5000kip instead of 10000kip each ;)
Once we got there - sweating from our bumpy bike ride, we jumped right in and chilled there.


Day 3 - Tubing again


We had to attempt to tube down the entire river. As you lose your deposit if the tube isn't returned by 18:00 we started off earlier and with some friends who joined us in VV.


Unfortunately like the second night, we didn't want to go out to party/drinking again so there was little to do as all restaurants close 23:30-00:00 and our guest house had no wifi.
Only draw back in VV!


Here a sum up in video!


Anyway, going to have a second shower in my TILED bathroom, meet up some folks here in Ventiane and check out the night life before heading to Bangkok tomorrow in yet another sleeping bus ;)

PS:
Price for tubing 55000kip + 60000kip deposit.
Bus Vang Vieng-Ventiane departing at 9:00/13:30 50000kip

Biggest chocolate cake slice ever :)

First bar at tubing central

And another bar...

Biking to the lagoon

As warned - it took us a while to find, but the one and only Blue Lagoon everyone talks about. Ice cold water, Koi fish and caves if you wish to venture...

The drive to and from Vang Vieng was breathtaking...