Bali kicked my butt

I'm in the lab right now, waiting to spin down some induced cells. There's so much I could be doing, but I can't pipet and I can't think because my thumb is the size of a golf ball and throbbing like an 808 drum. So let me tell you the story of my weekend (while typing with nine fingers)...

Danny joined the Dream Team for a trip to Bali this weekend. I was feeling a little sick on Thursday, but chalked it up to a minor sore throat and cold. We touched down in Denpasar around 11:40pm on Friday night, and spent the next two hours making our way slowly through immigration and customs and paying for our 30 day Visas. We took a taxi to a guesthouse in nearby Kuta. I knew it was a surfer party town, but it was definitely not what I expected. The streets are crowded, winding, and narrow. Motorbikes zoom by in all conceivable directions, and traffic slows to a crawl when a four-wheeled vehicle tries to squeeze through. Kuta has more tattoo parlors, surf shops, and public drunkenness than I've seen in any other small town. The party was in full swing when we arrived around 2am, so we headed downtown, grabbed beers at the nearest minimart, and posted up on the sidewalk to people watch.

$1 = 11700 Rupiah = We were millionaires!

Crazy Kuta is slightly more mellow in daylight

Saturday was for surfing!! After moving our stuff to a cheaper hotel down the road, we headed to Kuta Beach, which is very popular and known for excellent breaks of all sizes. Turns out Kuta Beach is also known for hawkers, and we were immediately inundated by people trying to sell us jewelry, towels, sarongs (OK I bought one of those), and surf lessons. Did we really look like such lost, easy prey? Anyway, we took the guys with the pet monkey up on their offer for three surf boards for two hours and one surf lesson for Sarah. Nick, Danny, and I headed straight for the water, but Sarah was the first to successfully ride a full wave (yay for lessons!). After getting beaten around a bit and flashing every nearby swimmer (wrong bathing suit), I finally managed to get back in the rhythm and stand up reliably. At the end of two hours, I was sore and sunburned, sustained a big ol' shiner and cut on my eyebrow, and had my lifetime fill of seawater.

Kuta Beach

With a few hours left in the day, we decided to go snorkeling. Too bad beaches that are good for surfing are inherently terrible for swimming. We had the wonderful idea to hail a taxi with no destination in mind, just Get us to the best snorkeling beach for under $10. Welp, 15 minutes later we wind up at Nusa Dua. I'm sure it's lovely at times, but at low tide it becomes a deserted swamp. Even the single restaurant was closed, so no fruit smoothies. We hopped the next taxi back to town and went for gelato - always the best decision in times of crisis. At sunset we wandered the beach and watched hundreds of baby sea turtles be released and make their epic journey towards the water.

On the move*

Low tide at sunset*

Saturday night we avoided the raging clubs (not really our style) and headed for a popular surf bar called Espresso with a live band covering 90s grunge music. We played the card game Asshole for hours (straight through a town-wide power outage), until we all got tired of Sarah winning every time :P. After the bar, we swam in the hotel pool and met Rory from Australia. He told us wonderful stories about his travels by sailboat around the world.

Hotel balcony

On Sunday, I woke up at 11am feeling like death. I should have taken the hint, but I just thought I stayed up too late and decided to power through. We failed at finding a car hire to take us to both Ubud and Uluwatu. If we had done any research, we would have known they were in completely opposite directions. Ubud is a town in the center of the island, known for rice paddies, hilly terrain, excellent jungles, and many Hindu temples. Uluwatu is a cliff on the Bukit peninsula in the south. The views are amazing, and surfers riding the famous break "Padang Padang" are right below. But we opted for inland, and got a driver to take us to a silver-making shop, a monkey forest, a 1000 year old Hindu temple, and the town of Ubud for some wandering and shopping.

Temple entrance

One of many stone statues with crazy eyes

Xylophone?

These offerings (made of Frangipani, incense, and woven palm leaves) are created please the many Hindu gods and demons, and are found on every doorstep and street corner

I was pounced on by dozens of monkeys, which was really fun until one started ripping out my nose ring! Having monkey fingers up my nose is something I will never forget.*

By Monday morning, we were ready to head home. Bali had kicked our butts and taken our money. We were sunburned, sore, and sick. We paid to get in and get out and nearly got 150000 Rupiah swindled by some jerk at a money changing shop. But, in true Dream Team fashion, we had just enough cash left to get snacks and water at the airport. And, in true Ann fashion, I found 90000 Rupiah more in my pocket after doing laundry.

Fantastic sculpture seen en route to the airport

Oh... let's end this story full circle: the thumb! I was feeling so ill on Sunday and Monday as well. Fever, aches, swollen lymph nodes, and no energy. I thought I just had the flu and needed sleep. I slept during the afternoon on Monday, but felt even worse. Then I started to notice some throbbing and swelling in my right thumb. By the next morning it was a golf ball. I went to the NUS Health Center. They said the "flu" was probably my body fighting this infection from some minuscule cut. The doctor lysed my thumb and drained it (incredibly gross and painful) and gave me antibiotics. So it turns out I didn't necessarily get too little sleep or have too many Bintang beers (though that possibly contributed). All I needed was maybe one more shower or some antibacterial soap. My parents are probably pulling their hair out right now - sorry guys!

Moral of the story? Uh... Bali is dirty, so have some hygiene.

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Well, thanks for reading y'all! Finishing up the work week tomorrow, then headed to Borneo for more jungle adventures - stay tuned ;)

Love,
Ann


*Photo credit to Sarah S!