INDONESIA
Indonesia | Tuesday, May 10, 2016 | 23 photos
ANNIVERSARY: ONE YEAR ON THE ROAD!!! :-)
OMG! Can't believe it's already been so long. The big day was Friday April 29th in Bali. AF was telling everyone before we left that we would end our adventure in style in Bali ... she was almost right, just sounded nice I guess! ;-)
As perhaps you've suspected, we still don't know the end date of this trip. We are realizing more & more that we need to take advantage of being "free" and nearby (relatively speaking) all these fabulous places, so, we're adding a few extra countries. Like New Zealand, we just bought tickets last week. :-)
We realized that with a regular job, we would need 30 years or more to see and experience everything we've done this past year so we want to make the most of it and keep going just a little longer. YOLO! :-)
We encourage anyone to take a long-term low budget trip around the world to discover other cultures. We have learned so much and we realize that we are so lucky in the western world. A trip around the world is the best life experience anyone can give themselves.
INDONESIA
We started in Jakarta which funny enough, ended up easier and cleaner than Manila. We then took the overnight train to Yogyakarta where we visited the largest Buddhist temple in the world called Borobudur. After we had several intense days of very very long uncomfortable all day bus rides and worse, a 3am wake-up call for the sunrise at Bromo volcano and a midnight wake-up call for sunrise at Ijen volcano. Soooo tiring but so worth it! Amazing volcanoes, so surreal and impressive!
After this volcano marathon, we totally relaxed in Bali in a nice hotel.
Then we went to neighboring Gili islands where we relaxed again and "worked" by planning part of the rest of our trip. Indonesia has really tested us, we're fed up with always getting the cheapest price!!! :-( It's too much work; research and negotiating with locals who lie and cheat. Indonesia is like being back in India/Vietnam, you can't trust anyone when it has anything to do with money, which is all the time for us: food, hotels, transportation, even taking a hike (Mister, environmental fee, $20, pay now!!). These bad experiences primarily happen to backpackers like us though, not the tourists who take short trips and are fine to spend a bit more. Good part is, we saw a lot of local life. Locals are so patient and put up with so much!! Bus breaks down, gotta wait 2 hours in the heat, not a single local complained. Crazy?! Overcrowded buses with no A/C, no problem for them. Oh btw, Indonesians love to smoke. In the bus, while driving the bus, never seen a country smoke so much!
Our last days are back again in Bali, before we fly on Sydney, Australia. The town of Ubud, Bali (famous in Julia Roberts "Eat, Pray, Love") is a charming place full of temples where one easily relaxes and eats well. Comparable of course to Chiangmai, Thailand or Luang Prabang,Laos.
