Moving on from Indonesia

Two days of getting up whenever I woke up naturally, going for a run around the island, and then finding a lounge chair on the beach and not moving for 6 hours. A little time in the sun, a lot of time in the shade. Some reading, and catching up on podcasts, some zoning out to music, a little bit of napping. A lot of drinking fresh fruit juices (OMG, strawberry juice!). Generally just doing nothing.

But a bad way to close out my time in Indonesia.

Gili Trawangan was a surprising place. I want sure what to expect, but it had a pretty decent balance of Australian douchery and people just looking to relax.

Getting from the island back to Bali is...huh...well, it is something. You travel via "fast boat" organized by one of half a dozen companies. And it is a fiberglass boat with about 8 300 horsepower outboard engines on the back. And the ride is rough. Big waves and a fast ride of about 2 hours. And the windows are all shut because of the waves and the spray. Probably the second most brutal boat ride I've been on. Just a horrible puke party where you could see most everyone on the boat questioning of the visit to Trawangan was worth it.

Couple final thoughts about Indonesia...

The sheer magnitude of this place. I haven't even dented this country and I was here for 18 days. Not even close. This place is massive. And incredible. As long as you stay the hell away from South Bali. That place is tourist hell on earth.

I was a bit shocked at how dry many places were. I didn't expect so much dust and browned vegetation. I imagine this place looks a whole lot different in April after the rains.

The food on Bali was amazing. Everywhere else was merely good. I am getting tired of rice.

So much smoking. And not just the locals. You would go into a restaurant and 2/3 of the people are puffing away on cigarettes. No idea if it is a vacation thing, a consequence of the very cheap cost of tobacco (wtf, Muslims? You tax the hell out of booze because it is evil but a pack of Marlboros is less than a dollar?), or these people are all just disgusting. Likely part of it is that the US has done such a wonderful job limiting the non smokers' exposure to it, that it is just shocking to be surrounded by it here.

Touts are very aggressive here. And they don't listen when you tell them "no." Even when you tell them no several times. You really just have to relax, expect it, and enjoy the conversation with them. They will leave you alone if you waste a bit of their time only to reveal that you already have paid for a room or a taxi ride. Plus you can then see them freak out when you tell them about the amazing deal you got and they might have to adjust their pricing.

Oh, and I saw dragons. Real ones.

And a tiger shark.

Flight to Singapore tonight. Looking forward to a relaxed few days there. Waking around on Thursday for some touristy stuff. Friday morning in gonna do my best to find a spot to watch the Bears game. And other than that...I'm gonna eat. Some chili crab. Some black pepper crab. Some Chinese food, some Malaysian food, some Indian food. Just lots of food.