Eat Pray Love in Bali

(Gado Gado)

We've been on this journey for about four and a half months and its been a journey of self exploration, learning more about who we are and about the world. Each country has taught us something new, sometimes through trying experiences, and sometimes in moments of pure bliss. Bali thus far has encompassed eating, praying, and loving ourselves (in the form of self love).

First I want to talk about the food. Bali offers an array of raw vegan and vegetarian treats; smoothie bowls, gluten free options, superfood salads, and dairy free ice cream made with sol? What is even better is the local Indonesian eats. Being vegetarians limits our ability to try everything, but we've found some incredible dishes. The top favorite so far is Gado Gado which is basically a salad with without being tossed and all of the ingredients separated on the plate. Its made up of cooked cabbage and other mixed vegetables, boiled egg, tofu, tempeh, and a creamy peanut sauce to go over it all.

The last post talked about yoga a little bit, but we try to take yoga if its offered. Meditation has helped through the good and bad times, and I've found a true sense of connection with myself and others through it. Sometimes it can be energizing and other times reduce stress.

Last but not least, self love. Taking time everyday to get exercise, swim in the ocean, feed our bodies nutritious food, journal, and read is so important. You have to love yourself before you can truly love others.

Gili Trawangan

From our hotel near Denpasar International Airport we took an hour mini bus ride to Padang Bai to catch the fast boat to the miniature island of Gili Trawagan. The ferry station was busy and we waited a while for our fast boat to arrive. The boat ride was about an hour and pretty bumpy and hot. When we first arrived on the beach along the strip of bars and restaurants we weren't entirely sure what we had gotten ourselves into. Our first impression was that it was a party destination; which is somewhat true, but never judge a book by its cover.

We absolutely LOVE these islands and frequently feel like we're in a fairy tale. Gili Trawagan is only six square miles and you can bike around the entire thing in about thirty minutes. We run almost everyday and we can get around the whole thing in 4.36 miles according to our Nike Run app. They don't have cars, only bikes and horse drawn carriages (which we don't ride because we feel bad for the horses), baby goats, butterflies, kittens, chickens and their chicks, calves, delicious vegetarian food, and yoga galore. Since we've been here we've taken classes at Gili Yoga and The Yoga Place. Our favorite is The Yoga Place, they have a great hatha yoga class and The Garden Café restaurant is delicious. Fresh salads, smoothies, sandwiches, veggie burger, chia cups, its basically a vegetarians dream.

A great yoga class, followed by mouth watering food, a $7 massage, and swimming n turquoise water...life is good on Gili Trawangan.

The locals are truly lovely people. Seeing their smiling faces everyday is uplifting. Each morning when we watch the sunrise there are the same amount of locals watching the sunrise as tourists. To live somewhere and still appreciate a sunrise everyday is pretty special. In our everyday lives we tend to forget to stop and notice these natural beautiful wonders and miracles of our home, so to see that was refreshing and a great reminder to stop and smell the flowers.

Farewell Thailand

The trek from Phuket to Bali was relatively painless twelve hours. We flew with Malindo Air, and it was amazing. They gave us a meal, pillows, blankets, and they even played movies; not to mention it smelled like a new car inside the airplane. Phuket and all of Thailand will always hold a special place in our hearts, it was our home base in SE Asia, but after a couple of weeks we are ready for another adventure. When we arrived at the Denpasar International Airport in Bali we couldn't find our hotel shuttle due to the massive crowd that was swarming the arrivals gate (apparently someone famous was showing up). The cab ride was expensive for going such a short distance, 150,000 rupiah, which is roughly $11.00 USD to go less than 3km. We arrived at the Radiant Hotel and Spa exhausted and ready for bed.

The next day we had our first hospital visit of the trip. You have to admit nearly five months without any major injuries or catastrophes is pretty impressive. Haley has Grave's Disease and she couldn't get her heart rate down. A number of things could have caused it but the doctors chalked it up to caffeine and a vitamin deficiency. If you're ever in Bali near the airport the staff at BIMC is amazing. They see you very quickly and are knowledgeable and kind. A quick ECG and a prescription for vitamin B12 later we were back at the hotel.  We decided to stay an extra night in Bali before heading to Gili Trawagan just in case anything happened. It turned out to be a lovely evening spent in the hotel spa getting a sauna, soak, massage, facial, and body scrub for $20 USD. If you are ever flying out of Bali and need accommodations near the airport stay at the Radiant Hotel & Spa, and do take advantage of their great spa!

Dining in SE Asia

Food is the thread that often ties us all together. Despite language barriers, cultural differences, humans in general love to eat. One of the most exciting things when we go to a new country is to learn about their unique cuisine. While, there are many similarities in SE Asian cuisine, we have found that each country is unique. For instance Thai food is quite flavorful and spicy heavily relying on coconut and chilies while food in Myanmar was more mild and had a lot of Chinese and Indian influence. Trying the numerous delicacies from the sweet and savory giant bowls of Pho in Vietnam to the Coconut lemongrass dishes of Cambodia has been an adventure in itself. Especially as vegetarians! Attempting to learn how to say vegetarian in five languages in the last few months has been fun. While I could describe the plethora of food we have enjoyed here in SE Asia in mouth watering detail. It would be hard to do it justice. They say a photo is worth a thousand words, so we hope this video will help do it one better. Bon Appetite!   

Ngapali Beach

Ugh look at all these tourists! It's crowded here! Ever find yourself thinking something along these lines? Well we certainly do, even though we are often guilty of being those very same tourists we all want to escape. But hey great news, we have the place for all you recluse vacationers! Ngapali Beach has to be one of the most uncrowded beaches I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. I am not going to sugar coat it as I found so many travel sites and blogs do. The accommodations are incredibly expensive and it is certainly on the more shall we say "rustic side." We saw our fair share of trash being burned and floating in the sea. A couple of us got food poisoning and we had the biggest bugs known to man come visit us in our shower nightly. However, the coconut tree dotted white sandy beach and the blissfully warm waters of the Bay of Bengal are a true delight. Some days it seemed we were like Tom Hanks, marooned (although intentionally) on a deserted beach having vast stretches of sand and sun all to ourselves.

    

Bagan Myanmar

No excursion to Myanmar would indeed be complete without a trip to Bagan. This ancient city boasts over 2,000 temples still standing to this day. After seeing numerous temples in SE Asia, we thought we had seen it all. However, Bagan is uniquely breathtaking. The stark contrast of a barren red landscape dotted with an array of temples and palm trees transports you back in time. Most mornings we hopped on our bikes before sunrise. With bats flying over head in the darkness, we navigated ourselves to the best temples to catch the sunrise. After scampering up steep steps your reward is to sit and watch as the temples which are illuminated at night go from their golden light to a sherbet sun filled landscape. Seeing hot air balloons slowly rise over ancient temples while a brilliant sun blazes to life, was truly magical.

Getting there is half the battle especially in Myanmar

It sounds so blissful, bouncing around the world in a perpetual state of vacationland. While in many ways it is just that. What you may not see from the photos we share or our merry check-ins with family and friends when we exclaim "it's so beautiful here." Is the fact that getting around, especially on a backpackers budget is not always glamorous. Anytime we move destinations we generally invest 12+ hours on travel, taking numerous modes of transport from old taxis with no AC to buses and even the occasional boat.

For example, I took a 13 hour bus ride from Yangon to Nagapali beach. There was a flight offered but costing $100 compared to the $11 bus ride, my tight travel budget demanded the slow route.
In SE Asia the horn seems to be the driver's best friend. They use it at every corner, passing every dog, pedestrian and car on their way. This sharp piercing noise pared with blaring Burmese music for 13 hours straight was akin to Chinese water torture. Now comes the fun part, during the twist and turns of the dilapidated roads my fellow wary car sick travelers started using what they affectionately call "happy bags."  Several times during our journey the bus driver would pull over and they would throw buckets of water on the engine to cool it off, making me question the integrity of said engine and these rest stops boasted nothing more than outhouse squatty potties.  Oh the joys of traveling! But hey, I arrived almost $90 richer than if I had taken the plane and I got a lot of character building out of it. We get a lot of that these days and the destinations are always worth it.