I miss Bali

I seriously do miss it.

First of all, it was amazing and unforgettable. And secondly, it's been pretty rough since I got back almost two weeks ago. Actually, it started with the flight home from Bali. I took a red-eye flight that left at 12:45 from Bali and was supposed to land in Seoul at 9:30 am and be at work by 2 pm. I was actually able to sleep a good amount on the plane which is unusual for me, so I thought I'd be okay for work that day - except we ended up having to land at Jeju Island, which is off the southern tip of Korea, because of bad weather in Seoul. We sat on the tarmac for three and a half hours and didn't arrive in Seoul until 1:30 pm. Definitely didn't make my first class...whooops.
So I was back in Seoul and the kiddies, and then a case of food poisoning the first weekend I was back...awesome. Work has also been pretty hectic because I'm teaching an intensive speaking class in the mornings during the winter vacation. Kids don't play during winter vacation here...they go to more academies, it's kind of sad. Grad school apps have also been kicking my ass - four in, one more to go! Why oh why do they all require different enough personal statements that I can't just write one for. Needless to say, I'm tiiired. But enough bitching - to Bali!

So, so unbelievably fantastic. The trip can be broken up into three parts - the three different hostels and cities we stayed in.

1. Buitan - A tiny, very non-touristy village near Candi dasa, where we stayed in an amazing little hostel run by a family, and stayed in semi-tree houses.

How the mofo do I rotate pictures on blogger!?!!

Ah, that's better. We slept in the top, and hung out and relaxed in the open area at the bottom. We had outdoor bathrooms too! And it was so so cheap.

With travel buddy Sarah, on New Years where we celebrated with the other people at the hostel and a bunch of locals and danced in the pouring rain at midnight!

In Buitan, we basically took it easy and had lazy vacation days with some fun excursions. I went snorkeling, got a massage, and rode on the back of a motorbike for the first time! A local named Dodod also professed his love for me on New Year's Eve after knowing me for about three hours and speaking about 10 words to me in broken English. Sorry Dodod, but no, I won't be spending the night with you on the beach.

2. Ubud, the cultural center of Bali - more touristy but also more exciting and just different. We stayed in another great hostel, with views of rice paddies and a great location.

We got our cultural fill in and around Ubud, and we went to a couple of temples and saw a volcano and these amazing rice terraces.

Travel buddies! Sarah, Me, Meredith, Jen, and Emily. We attracted stares everywhere we went because we were a group of 5 single girls - most of the other tourists seemed to be couples and families. Oh yeah, and we had to wear sarongs to the temples. Also, women aren't allowed to go into the temples if they're menstruating. Seriously, the signs said it.

The rice terraces...pretty amazing.

Me and monkey. We went to a Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud. Monkeys were just...there, roaming free, jumping on you if you had food, and there were a lot of them!

This is before we were even officially in the sanctuary. If I were a monkey, I think I'd get pretty sick of bananas.

We went to a jazz restaurant/club one night to listen to some live music and splurge a bit on yummy food...and wine. I'm just sayin' hi!

3. Nusa Dua - uber-resort-touristy area. We actually stayed about 10 minutes away from actual Nusa Dua, but I can't remember the city's name. Unlike all of our past travel experiences, we decided to really splurge and rent a villa! It was amaaaaazing!!

Three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a big living room/dining area, kitchen, pool, gardens, a butler, cook, 2 houseboys, and a driver were all included in the villa. holy moly! There were glasses of welcome champagne waiting for us when we got there...

The pool and outdoor gazebo area.

sigh. This bed was awesome

We were across the street from the beach. The bright blue, white sand, idyllic beach. I totally burned! We got a free water sport with our villa - I went parasailing! It was fun, but really short. We also got free massages at our villa, which were amazing.

We took a little trip to Kuta beach and watched the sunset. Summed up the whole trip, awesome.