A Prayer for the Backpacker

Heavenly father, look down on us your humble obedient tourist – servants, who are doomed to travel this earth taking photos, emailing, buying souvenirs and walking around in drip dry underwear. Gives us this day divine guidance in the selection of our hostels, that we may find our reservations honored, our rooms made up and hot water from the taps. We pray that the telephones work and the lines not slow and the operators speak in our tongues.

Lead us dear lord to good, inexpensive restaurants, where the food is superb, the waiters friendly and the wine included in the price. Give us the wisdom to tip correctly in currencies we do not understand, forgive us for under tipping out of ignorance and over tipping out of fear. Make the natives love us for what we are, and not for what we can contribute to their worldly goods.

Grant us the strength to visit the museums, the cathedrals, the palaces and the castles listed in the guidebooks as “a must”. And if by any chance we skip a historic monument to take a nap after lunch, have mercy on us for our flesh is weak.

Amen

To The Gili Islands and Back

Sitting in this little coffee shop in Ubud, Indonesia I have come to the realization that everyday I start with a cup of "real" coffee leads to a better day.  The day may still be difficult, but its chances of success of increased by a certain percentage due to that cup of great coffee.  My friend Torben has a great coffee joke I think I have to tell:

A little up of a Joe and a little cup of Tea are hanging out having breakfast.  The little cup of Joe is a bit sick and has the sniffles.  The little cup of Tea says to the little cup of Joe, "Are you feeling ok you sound sick?" The little cup of Joe responds saying, "I am ok I am just a little coffee."

Ubud, and SE Asia it seems in general, is the perfect place to enjoy a great cup of coffee and therefore, I have many fantastic days!  Here you can sample all the different varieties of Indonesia coffees that are world famous such as: Sumatra, Java, and Luwak Civit Cat Coffee.  I know I wrote before about my coffee experiences in other places like Lao and Vietnam so I will move on with this post and talk about my time in Bali and Lombok Indonesia.

I recently returned from a two week trip to the tiny Gili Islands off the coast of Lombok, Indonesia; the Island next to Bali. Gili Islands are surrounded by true turquoise blue water.  Expansive coral reefs teeming with fish, turtles, manta rays, and nurse sharks encircle the shores.  It is truly paradise! I spent my two weeks learning to dive in these crystal seas.  I am proud to say my fear of the ocean is close to gone! In fact, I can not get enough of the beach now.

 Other days were spent spinning my hoops, hanging out with new friends, and swimming around Gili Air and Gili T (two of the three) Islands.  At night the food market sold fresh fish.  I found my favorite stand and every night would select the fish I wanted to eat.  The local man would slap it on the grill along with two pieces of Tempe.  It was served with rice, stir fried vegetables and a selection of sauces all for a whopping $3.50! So fresh and healthy, I cannot think of the last time, if ever, I picked the exact fish I wanted to eat that was caught the same day and ate it hot off the grill. I could have spent longer on these islands, but all good things come to an end and it was time to move on to Ubud.

Many say Ubud in the cultural city of Bali.  While it is lovely and relaxing, I would not call it representative of Balinese culture.  Instead, Ubud is a community made up of many expats who have created a terrific town full of healthy living in the hills of Bali.  Dozens of yoga studios, health food shops, boutique stores, and outdoor markets make up this small town.  The accommodation is mainly small guesthouses or homestays with the local populations. 

Surrounding Ubud is rural villages who make a wide assortment of handicrafts that are sold throughout the rest of Bali's resort towns.  Ubud may not be the cultural haven people make to out to be, but it was just the relaxing hippie ambiance I am craving for a few days after the Gili Islands