After taking a boat, bus and cab to Padang Padang beach and checking the availabilities at 3 hotels we finally found somewhere that fit into our budget. We'd read good things about this beach which was supposed to be famous for its surf breaks. We got to the hotel late, paid the cabdriver and soon realized that where we were was a place where you absolutely needed a car or a motorbike, which we did not have. There was really nothing around our hotel and we were feeling kind of ill from the gas fumes on the boat and the bumpy bus ride so went back to our room early. The next morning we got up early since it was our last day on the beach. We had breakfast (fried rice with chicken and egg for me, nasi goreng the Idonesian specialty, and a fruit plate and pressed sandwich for Katie). We were one of the first people on the beach and were a bit disappointed by its size. The beach was small and surrounded by cliffs, and was beautiful. The surf breaks were far out and not very visible so we didn't get to see too many surfers in action. We saw many people jump on their boards and paddle out but because of all the cliffs we didn't really see them take the waves. Katie decided she wanted to deal with her money situation (basically she had none) and we were told that the closest ATM was 6km away. Too bad we didn't have money to take a cab 6km. After stressing out a bit (mostly on my part, Katie usually doesn't stress much) Katie found a money exchange and changed in some American $ for Indonesian Rupiah. Now we had just enough money to pay the cab the next day and eat dinner that night. We stayed on the beach most of the afternoon and I finished my 5th book of the trip (The Girl in the Picture, a non-fiction story about Kim Phuc, a famous Vietnamese war symbol). Once the sun started to set we walked the 10 minutes back to our hotel and had a dinner. We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to see Uluwatu, but we found out that to get to the famous breaks there you had to swim on a board through a cave which was recommended for advanced surfers only. We didn't have money or a car so we opted not to go. We ended the night by watching yet another True Blood episode (I was captivated, Katie fell asleep within 10 minutes) and the next morning we packed up and headed to the airport. Bali was a beautiful island, and the next time we visit (hopefully with a little more cash in our wallets) we'll know to rent a car so we can really explore.
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| Tubes at Padang Padang Beach |
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| Sunset at Padang Padang |
Bangkok
We arrived in Bangkok after a layover in Jakarta (and having to pay another 150,000 Rupiah to leave the country bringing the bill to 55$ just to fly in and out). We cabbed to Khoasan Road for one last night out in BKK. We stayed again at Rambuttri Village, and this time had to pay a little more for a twin room because they only had ones with TV and fridge this time. We dropped off our bags and headed out for some Tom Yum soup, but not before Katie stopped off at the clinic to get some meds for yet another rash acquired in the lovely land of Asia (I think if we stay here any longer we'll slowly die off). We actually dressed up so that we could go for a drink at the famous Lebua State Tower rooftop bar, little did we know that flip flops (the only form of footwear we've worn for the past 6 weeks) were not considered "fashionable" and we were denied entrance to the bar. The lady kindly told us that they were open until 1AM and we could come back when we had on nicer shoes. After looking around a few streets and realizing there was nowhere to get such aforementioned shoes we gave up and went back to Khaosan. Katie immediately felt sick and we decided that Bangkok was giving us the cold shoulder and we called it a night. A few hours later, around 4am the same stomach pains Katie suffered from hit me and I was in and out of sleep until 9am. What a fairytale ending to our trip. Regardless, we were still happy to be back in Thailand and had developed a softening of our hatred towards Bangkok.
On our last day in the big city we went to our favorite Thai place for a pork omelet and fruit plate and waited out a light rain shower. We went back to our room, packed our bags for the last time and checked out of our last hotel. The next bed we'll sleep in will be our own. Now only 8 hours to kill before the shuttle bus to the airport picks us up. Bangkok -> Helsinki -> London -> Montreal. Should be home by Friday night at 9pm.
Little did we know, once arriving at the airport to check in, we found out that we're being re-routed to London and skipping our Helsinki layover. This is great news after we had been dreading the 3 flights. The 12 hours to London wasn't so bad and Katie and I mostly slept through the night. After getting to London we set our watches back 6 hours and waited out the 12 hour layover for our flight to Montreal. The flight to Montreal came and went and here we are, back home in Montreal. Asia, you've been a wonderful place to explore and I look forward to the next time I see you.
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| Chang |
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| Last night on Khaosan Rd. |
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