I'll take you in my backpack

12/31/17 I woke up this morning, feeling not like the other mornings in Bali. Like someone throw me a Xanax and quick!  An intense morose feeling had crept into my body and I was trying to balance that while also appreciating the last moments that I had on this precious island. I thoroughly enjoyed my last delicious (cooked/prepared for me) breakfast. Have I mentioned that fruit?! I surely will not forget that fruit! I enjoyed a conversation with Ogy talking about his wedding, my stay here and how it was so wonderful because of him, his family, the villa, and wishing him well on his upcoming wedding. Sadly Made couldn't take me to the airport to drop me off, his in laws became ill and he had to tend to them, he sent me a message late in the evening letting me know, so I had a new person transporting me. Perhaps for the better. I'm not certain that my heart could take the sadness of saying goodbye to my sweet friend. I think the Universe knows how to take care of yo...

12/19/17 Today started off like any other day in Bali, breakfast cooked for me. I'm seriously never leaving. The key to my heart is directly correlated with food! Today Nyoman had to take his car for repairs so it was just Made (he's been the driver the entire time I've been in Bali). Made doesn't speak a lot of English, but he tries, and is super nice. Made and Nyoman bring fruits every single day to try, then some for snacks later in the day. The fruit to try today was this pictured below (later to be determined through some broken communication back and forth and some googling to be Salak, Balinese snake fruit). It's delicious and tastes to me like many different things. I made a video (before the death of my GoPro in the canyon) on my first impressions. First stop for the day was the Hidden Canyon (also referred to from google searches as the Sacred Canyon of Sukawati, but the sign said Hidden Canyon Neji Guwang when we arrived). Here was the expectati...

8/12/17-8/14/17 So I had the opportunity for a nice little staycation and I won't lie, I was shitting my pants a little thinking about it because camping really isn't my jam! When I think of camping I think of a 3 star hotel type setting! But, since it's basically paradise, and camping on the beach, I figured I would give this a go. I'm so glad that I did, it was an amazing opportunity! I'm so glad that I did! The snorkeling was beyond any words that I can put onto paper! Ok so the not so glamorous part of it: the bugs and the heat. I won't spend too much time on that because there is SO much positive to touch on that it truly outweighed these two things, yes even for me, the person who hates being too hot and doesn't like bugs! I will never ever be able to properly describe the snorkeling. "Amazing" is doing it a disservice. When you have the ability to snorkel with sea turtles every single day, multiple times a day, you truly have to...

7/13/16 I'm not sure how you begin a post about an experience like this so I think I'll start by giving a little background about the epic Fuji-san. A volcano in Japan, it was officially registered as a World Heritage Site in June of 2013. It stands 3776.24m (12,389 ft) high and is the highest peak in Japan. It is considered one of three holy mountains (along with Mt Tate and Mt Haku). More than 200,000 climb to the summit of Fuji each year. The last eruption was in 1707-08 but in 2000/2001 there was increased seismic activity under the volcano, raising concerns about a possible reawakening. So let's get down to it! We arrived via highway express bus, it dumps you at the 5th station, where everyone starts their ascent. Now that I look back at that I had no idea what I was getting into (thankfully). It was pouring down rain when we got off of the bus so it was a quick dash into one of the shops to get our gear on and everything straightened out, purchase our sticks an...

8/9/15 Didn't sleep well at all. So many ants. When I finally did get to sleep I was able to sleep until 7am. That's the latest I've slept to date. Definitely was looking forward to getting breakfast and getting into the city and to my hotel.  My final breakfast at the Chai Lai, I must say I've never eaten so much rice. The staff was so sweet and kind there I will definitely miss that personal and "home" feel that you don't get in larger hotels.  I took a songthaew from the Chai Lai into the city (Chiang Mai) to my next hotel (De Lanna). I was quite early so my room wasn't ready. I walked through the old town for a bit, had a delicious lemon soft serve to cool me off, then headed back to the hotel where I had hired a driver to take me to the Tiger Kingdom.  I was so reluctant to do this. On one hand I really wanted to see the Tigers (and hold the babies) but on the other hand I was super concerned about the well being and treatm...

8/6/15 I must have been exhausted, I slept in. To most people that's like 10 or 11, to me that's 5:45am! I was able to catch up on some of my online teaching stuff (which has normally been keeping me up super late at night!) and take it easy (rather than rush) to make it to breakfast, which again was delicious! Breakfast buffets can be hit or miss, usually they offer the same exact thing day in and day out. This one switches it up daily! I love that! After a nice relaxing breakfast it was time to pack up, check out, and head to the airport for my flight to Chiang Mai. To say that I was looking forward to this part of my trip was a huge understatement. I'm staying at an Elephant Reserve, where literally I can walk onto my balcony, enjoy a morning cup of coffee, and have elephants walking along, or bathing in the water. I may never leave. It's an eco hotel (that part may make me a little nervous...I'm an AC 4-5 star kind of gal, when I read about the rooms having ...

8/8/15 Sleep was nearly impossible with the various nature sounds. The roosters internal clocks are WAY off. The dogs on the property barked outside of my door in the middle of the night and kept me up, starting again very early in the morning. Then there are the eleventy billion bits I have on my body something on my foot I'm chalking up to ants or some kind of poisonous plant. All in all I think the relaxing lazy day is much needed! I had to switch rooms today from the riverview to one up in the elephant camp.  I went down for breakfast and just kind oflounged around for most of the morning. I crossed the crazy suspension bridge to the other side of the river and spent some time playing with a young elephant.  The Mahout even got him to give me a big kiss on the cheek with his trunk. Today was room switch day so I lounged around at the cafe (Internet has been down since last night) and read some on my iPad (kindle app).  I feel like I've exhausted the things to do here ...

8/7/15 Well I didn't get much sleep. I was pretty hot. The nature sounds were really relaxing (especially the rain) but I was never really cooling off.  I wish I had brought a flashlight with me. The bathroom is a separate are (I have my own but it's around the corner from my room and locked so having a flashlight would have been helpful for after dark potty runs! This morning I woke up to the dogs waiting for me outside of my room. I thought how sweet it was, then I noticed that one of them pissed on my shoes I had left outside the door. I'm not see that we can be friends anymore.  I woke up early to go on an elephant trek. Not sure what I was expecting but it was pretty amazing. And exhausting because well I didn't want to die. I engaged every single muscle trying to hold on for dear life! My elephants name was Sibuea (so?) she is 48 years old. She was a bit of a sassy pants. From time to time she would spray dirt up from hertrunk at me, I couldn't help but think ...