No hurry, no rush, this is our party

 Well my last entry was two weeks ago, and while I probably should've added something half way through my Indonesia trip, it was way too crazy to even think about taking out my laptop.

Making new friends at Monkey Forest, Ubud

 I spent my last night in Bangkok with Hannah - the German girl that had been traveling with the British guys and I - and Alex - a Brit who had traveled with Hannah a few weeks prior. Hannah had been planning on doing a meditation retreat, but ended up returning to Kho San Road, and instead of praying, she ended up shopping and getting piercings with Alex and I (she actually fainted after getting her bellybutton done... scary, but hilarious). The next morning, I boarded my flight to Bali, and waited not-so-patiently for Saskia's flight to get in. For those of you who don't know, Saskia is one of my closest friends from high school. Originally from South Africa and from a worldly family, it is of no surprise that she's well traveled and always up for a new international adventure. Last summer, before I'd moved to Toronto, we were sitting in Argo Cafe in East Vancouver having lunch, and somehow schemed a plan for her to meet up with me for a couple weeks during my travels. We had traveled together before - first in Galapagos during high school, and then to San Diego as a grad trip - so neither of us were too worried about being compatible travel buddies. We decided on Indonesia and worked out dates that would match up, and before we knew it, we both had flights to Bali and had booked a liveaboard diving trip to top it off. When she finally arrived, I was overwhelmed with relief to see a familiar face, but also slightly saddened to think that I was already so far into my trip. We immediately took a taxi to Ubud - Saskia got her first taste of my bargaining obsession - which is a small town in central Bali. While Ubud is quite touristy (mostly because of the book and movie Eat, Pray, Love), it is filled with traditional Balinese culture and charm, and is a great hub for visiting local temples and rice terraces. Saskia and I didn't really have too much of a plan, but quickly found a driver to take us around to see the sights (we also realised that Balinese people have five common nicknames for Westerners to call them, meaning that almost every local we had encountered was named Nyoman). First, lush green rice terraces, then a view point of a volcano and lake, next to a coffee plantation where we sampled all different coffees and teas (including Luwak coffee, made by feeding the beans to an animal who then poops them out before the beans are grinded for consumption). We followed this up with three temples, renting sarongs at each one to cover our knees, and being asked by Indonesian tourists to pose for pictures as if we were celebrities. One of the more humorous aspects of the day was that each temple has a sign clearly stating that it is strictly forbidden for women who are menstruating to enter the temple. Apparently it brings bad luck upon the entire community. Let's just say, one of us committed very sinful acts all day long. That night, Saskia had already planned for us to attend a local dance performance, showing off Balinese theatrical costumes and makeup to tell stories of the island.
 The next day, we decided to partake in a Balinese cooking class. As I already knew, and was confirmed during my Thai cooking class, I am a mess in the kitchen. Luckily, everyone in the class took turns preparing different items, so there was minimal room for me to screw up. We made satays and curries, vegetable dishes, and fried bananas, and Saskia and I plotted to repeat the recipes for family once we'd both returned back home. We filled the rest of our day by visiting the monkey forest - a park where monkeys roam around freely and willingly climb on you looking for food - and getting cheap, but totally amazing and necessary, massages. Even after eating all day long, we still managed to feast that night, each having giant portions of delicious satay (spelled sate in Bali, the place it actually originated).

It was around this time that Saskia and I decided that instead of our trip being like "Eat, Pray, Love", we were more along the lines of "Eat, Explore, Dive"; to us, this sounded way more fascinating.

Taking in our fate at a market in Bima

 Our next destination for the trip was to Labuan Bajo on Flores Island, where we had booked our diving trip. In an effort to save a few bucks, we'd booked our flight on Merpati, a cheap local airliner that was blacklisted in pretty much every other country. After a strange landing filled with unusual noises and odd pressure changes, we were ushered into a waiting area where Saskia and I assumed we were placed while they unloaded our baggage. Thirty minutes later, Saskia went to look at a map and discovered that we weren't actually in Labuan Bajo, and that we had somehow missed that we'd made an emergency landing in Bima, a town on the island of Sumbawa, just west of Flores.After some research and eavesdropping, we found out that we'd made an emergency landing and that the breaking system was broken. Five hours later they finally decided that we'd have to stay in Bima for the night, and threw us in cabs to a hotel for the night. Saskia and I were obviously panicked about potentially missing our boat, but after a phone call, found out that we would actually still make the boat. We saw this as a blessing in disguise and set out to explore Bima.
 Dressed appropriately in proper t-shirts and long sarongs, we wandered to the Sultan's Palace and through the streets and marketplace. Saskia's guidebook suggested that Bima was an awful town with nothing to see, and where locals were rude and unwelcoming. We found quite the opposite. It immediately became apparent that tourists did not come here, and seeing two young white girls was somewhat shocking. We were basically celebrities that everyone wanted to talk to, and pose for pictures (perfect since Saskia and I took the opportunity to do some street photography). Everyone was curious, yet extremely welcoming and friendly, greeting us as if we had blessed them with our presence. In the end, Saskia and I were the ones who felt blessed - blessed that we'd had this odd turn of events that had resulted in such a genuine experience.

Sunset over Komodo Island

Best dive buddy a girl could ask for

 After a shaky plane ride, we finally touched down in Labuan Bajo and headed for the dive shop. While waiting for the boat, we quicky found a spa and indulged yet again in some fabulous massages, and of course spent hours using wifi ( it has unfortunately become my guilty pleasure on this trip). We then boarded the giant sailboat called the Jaya and set out for Komodo. The crew was filled with interesting characters and backgrounds: a crazy New Yorker couple and their friend, a young Aussie couple, a French father and son accompanied by a friend, a young Dutch guy with Indonesian heritage, and a young New Yorker backpacker, Mike. We also had several divemasters, including Diego who was Saskia and my instructor for our advanced course, and funny enough, happened to have instructed Kim, a girl I'd met in my first few nights in Thailand. The boat was beautiful; Saskia and I had our own room (which quickly turned into a cyclone of clothing), there was a seating area for meals and a lounging area on the deck for sunbathing, and outdoor sleeping, which we fully took advantage of. For three days, we would wake up, have a coffee, dive, eat breakfast, dive again, eat lunch, dive again, then dinner (or dive again, as we did on our second day with a night dive). We also got some breaks for snorkeling, a hike up a small island to watch the sunset, and of course, to visit Komodo National Park to see wild komodo dragons. Saskia and I also received intermittent lessons for our course. While some people on the boat probably immediately notice our high energy level, we were more than happy to show our enthusiasm and goof off a bit for the sake of having a good time. Well apparently, a good attitude pays off because Saskia and I had some of the most successful dives. Every dive got better and better; first we saw a couple sharks, then we lost count of how many sharks and sea turtles, and then we saw seven manta rays on one dive, with one of them swimming right over us. Even our divemaster took out his regulator to mouth "What the fuck". It was truly incredible. We also got our first taste of a deep dive, where we both suffered a bit of narcosis (underwater drunkenness), and got slightly goofy, messing up our underwater numbers game and having an submerged laughing fit through our regulators. We also fell slightly inlove with one of the divemasters, Marcel - a local from Flores who had somehow done over 800 dives in two and a half years - who was so adorable every time he did our briefings, routinely stating "No hurry, no rush, this is our party". When our three days were finished, the group met up for a parting dinner. We had also invited Mike to join us for our trek up Rinjani on Lombok, meaning that he would be traveling with us for a few more days. We decided to stay in Flores for one more day, and Marcel offered to show us around on motorbikes. I, of course, wanted to drive my own, and Saskia rode on the back of Mike's. Well, my two days of prior experience in Vietnam meant nothing on the roads of Flores. It was a constant snaking road through the mountains filled with gravel and potholes. When we got close to the waterfall, we turned onto a dirt road full of bumps and even log bridges. I wasn't doing half bad until I got stuck on some rocks going uphill and rammed myself into a bush...I opted to ride with Marcel the rest of the way. On the way back, however, I was a little shaken up and managed to fall off my bike when going down a tight corner with another bike coming up over some gravel. I was totally fine (except a slightly sore foot), but learned my lesson that motorbikes cannot be mastered in a period of a couple days. Besides that, the waterfall was beautiful and a local cut up some fresh coconuts for us on the way back, letting us take in the local village.



 In our mission to leave Flores more smoothly than we'd come to it, I dropped the ball. I had accidentally booked our flights for the wrong month, and we were stuck buying tickets directly before our flights in an attempt to get to Lombok as early as possible. Twelve hours later, we had found our way to a hotel in Praya, Lombok, and had organized a ride to the base of Rinjani.
 We began our trek extra early, getting picked up at 5 am, and heading up the mountain by a few hours later. The hike was grueling at times, but the occasional sighting of monkeys and the sounds of the jungle kept it interesting. When we arrived at the top nine hours later, we were greeted with a gorgeous late-afternoon view of the giant volcanic crater, the lake, and the small crater that had formed in the middle. After settling into our tents, we watched the sunset behind the surrounding layer of clouds, had an early dinner, and gladly went straight to bed.
 The following morning was a leisurely descent down the mountain, followed by a long car ride to our stop for the night, Sengigi, a small beachtown on the west coast of Lombok. After traveling with Mike for about a week, Saskia and I continued on our own back to Bali.
 We decided to head to Ahmed, a small quiet town on the east coast, close to a shipwreck that we had been hoping to dive. We asked our driver to drop us off in the town centre, so that we could search for accommodation, and the first place he could pull over was right infront of Uyah Lodge, a beautiful beachside ecolodge. We decided to look at a room, and despite the price, we were immediately sold - Saskia by the modern, dreamlike decor of the room, me by the two swimming pools right outside our door. Needless to say, the next two nights were extremely relaxing.

Testing out the muscles on Rinjani

 We immediately found a dive company, and headed to the wreck the next morning. While we knew our standards had been set extremely high by our dives in Komodo, we didn't expect to be quite as disappointed as we were. It was mostly because our divemaster treated the dive more as a tourist photoshoot than a dive, but also because the wreck was crammed with divers. If I was any kind of fish, that is the last place I'd want to be, and it was made pretty clear when our divemaster went right up to a sea turtle and let off a flash straight into its eyes. Saskia and I finished our day with our own photoshoot by the pool, playing around with her underwater camera. After spa visits, tanning by the pool, and lots of food, it was time to part ways. I was off to Australia, and Saskia was staying in Ahmed for a couple days (where Mike was planning on joining her). After a giant hug, I headed off to the airport.

Wreck Diving in Bali

 Right now, I'm seated in the airport in Darwin, Australia. After what I hope will be a somewhat decent sleep on an airport couch, I'm headed to Cairns to meet up with Steph for the last leg of my trip. I have now officially been to ten countries on my trip (Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Australia). For the past few days, the idea of going home has become extremely daunting and stressful. I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I found out when I was in Laos that I was accepted into Ryerson for my Master's degree in Professional Communications. In the meantime, I've also been put on the reserve list for entrance into a similar program at the London School of Economics. I have three months when I get home to Vancouver to save up and figure out what the next year is going to look like for me, but because I'm in a bit of a transition and my life has been divided across the country, I feel like there's no solidarity when I get home. Everything will continue to feel like limbo until I get settled in the fall. And what if I go to London? Then I've got a whole new adventure ahead of me with a million unknowns. I'm trying to shed the fear of returning to reality, and hold on to the excitement of seeing family and friends, but I have a feeling it might be hard for me to do that until I'm boarded on that final flight home. Maybe this is just one of those moments in life where I need to calm down and say to myself "No hurry, no rush, this is our party".
*many photos courtesy of Saskia Nowicki!!!