Sarah, Anna, Erin, and I actually split our time between 3 towns on the island of Bali, part of the archipelago that makes up Indonesia. (I never thought I’d use the word archipelago in my life, but if you have the opportunity, you must seize it). We first arrived in Kuta, which I would say is the main, most crowded tourist area of Bali. It has a real surfer vibe with Quicksilver stores and other surf shops dotting the streets. The beach was fairly beautiful, although a bit overcrowded with MILLIONS of hawkers absolutely swarming us, trying to sell us henna tattoos, sarongs, massages . . .you name it. The best part was the ENORMOUS waves of the warm Indian Ocean – hence the surfers. We weren’t quite brave enough for surf lessons, but we did have a fun time splashing around, and Erin got destroyed at least once.
There was a bad, very bad part to our time in Kuta. After our first day on the beach, Anna, Sarah, Erin, and I all got some of the worst sunburns of our lives. The thing that makes these burns special besides the severity of them, was that they were received THROUGH AN UMBRELLA. Yes, that’s right. The four of us were sitting under two beach umbrellas for nearly the whole day, completely aware of our proximity to the burning equatorial sun. For future reference, UV rays can travel through beach umbrellas. Lesson learned, vacation ruined. I’m being dramatic though, we still had a fun time for our remaining 8 days in Bali. We had a fun time fully clothed, in the shade, indoors, and working our way through 4 bottles of sunscreen, hence the title of the blog. For those of you who have missed the Twilight train, the Cullens are vampires. Get it? 
The highlight of the Kuta time was probably our time with O’Brien and Kara (an avid blog follower . . . HOLLER Kara!), a couple of CIEE friends that we hadn’t seen in forever! We were lucky that our travels intersected in Bali and we had such a fun time hitting up the club with them! Bali was swarming with Australians with bleach blonde hair and absurdly tanned skin. We found them sort of overwhelming, honestly. When we went out in the evenings we were almost always the only Americans, completely ignored by these dudes and dudettes. They can consume more alcohol faster than I’ve ever seen (even after 4 years in college). And the worst part was their national chant: “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.” Ugh. In disgust, Erin tried to make up an American chant: “Bald eagles fly!” It didn’t catch on. In any case, we had a fun evening filled with a few Arak Attacks, Bintangs, and lots of dancing. 
We had had our fill of scorching and crowded Kuta after a couple of days, so after saying farewell to Kara and O’Brien, the four of us headed to Ubud, about one hour northeast of Kuta, in central(ish) Bali. Ubud is a very artsy and culturally rich town. Since Balinese New Year was approaching (more to come on that) there were lots of masks everywhere and incense offerings burning on the sidewalks. Whereas the smell of incense used to send my mind to church, it will now forever send me back to Bali. While there, we took in a really cool Balinese chanting and dancing show, known as the Kecak dance. I still need to Wikipedia some of the symbolism and meanings of this dance, but the costumes were gorgeous and ornate and the dancing was strangely mesmerizing!
There was also amazing shopping in Ubud, especially lovely dress shops. The specialty seemed to be silk dresses of varying styles, and although they weren’t ‘Thai-priced,’ Anna and I gave into temptation and each bought one. Besides shopping, eating, and staying out of the sun, we really didn’t have much of a plan for Ubud during the days. Anna jumped in and made an amazing suggestion for one of the afternoons. 
The four of us had all read the book Eat, Pray, Love, the true story of a thirty something woman named Liz Gilbert who travels the world ‘find herself.’ For part of her journey, she is living in Bali, specifically Ubud, and writes about this ancient medicine man, named Ketut Liyer, who she stays with and who sort of gives her advice and becomes one of the influential people in her life. Anna had read online that people can actually go visit Ketut, talk with him, and see what words of wisdom he has. It seemed like a good, sunless activity! We asked a few cab drivers and finally hunted him down. We arrived at his ‘complex,’ and were immediately surprised. The book made it sound like he lives on a farm or something, sort of a rural place. He may have in fact moved, we’re not quite sure. His property has a series of buildings, one of them being an open structure, with a roof, and a large bed in it. Erin is still wondering if he sleeps there at night. He was indeed very old, and very toothless, with minimal English, matching Liz’s description in the book. When we first arrived, he invited us to sit on his porch and he showed us his autographed copy of the book from Liz. He then asked Anna to read his description that Liz wrote. Here’s a clip of Anna reading to him, and him explaining how he doesn’t understand anything!
Then he told us he would ‘read’ our faces and palms. It turns out that Anna and I both have beautiful eyebrows, noses, ears, sweet lips (Anna’s are sweet like sugar, but mine are sweet like honey), we are both going to live to be 100 years old, we are both very respected but both impatient. Neither of us will have arthritis or get in bad car accidents. Both of us will have very good and happy marriages, with no quarreling and no divorce. What a coincidence! Oh, but don’t think that Ketut repeats the same thing to everyone, because Anna will have 2 children and I will have 3. So it turns out that the fame has gone to dear Ketut’s head and he’s sort of running a bit of a scam. Oh and he provided us with business cards, yes BUSINESS CARDS, advertising his medicine man services, homestay, as well as a few other services he offers that I can’t remember. What an entrepreneur! The best part is that he tried to charge us $25 dollars a piece . . . an enormous amount of money in Indonesia. We had read online that any money given is a donation, and $5 dollars is standard. So we collected $15, gave it to him, and bolted. I know, I know, what a horrible thing to do, right? But Ketut is trying to take advantage of poor tourists and I’m on a tight travel budget. He was very sweet and adorable, very funny, but someone needs to talk to him about taking it easy on the tourists (especially the young backpacking girls, because their backpacks are filled with chotch, not money!
After Ubud, we said goodbye to Anna, who was returning to Hua Hin to get ready to teach summer school (ewww). Sarah, Erin and I headed about 3 hours north of Ubud to the coastal town of Lovina for the next 5 days. When I say town, I mean town.
Lovina was extremely small, there was nothing except guesthouses and a few tiny warungs (restaurants) in the vicinity of our homestay. We were technically staying outside the main town of Lovina, in a small fishing village called Anturan. It has black sand beaches (beautiful, but HOT HOT HOT) with chickens running around on them. A rainbow of colorful fishing boats lined the shore. We were staying at ‘Mr. Gede’s Homestay.’ 
When we first arrived, Mr. Gede (pronounced geh-DAY) told us some traditional Hindu tales while we sipped our ‘welcome drinks’ and then informed us that it was Balinese New Year the next day. We had been aware of this already, and had been told that there is no transportation anywhere on the island on this day. We asked Mr Gede if there was any sort of ceremony we could attend and he told us about the giant parade that was taking place that very evening in town. “But,” he explained, “you must wear sarong. You have sarong?” Sarah and I didn’t, so he drove us into town to buy some traditional Indonesian sarongs, (which might be good for table cloths when we get home . . .). We walked to the village for the parade that evening, and it just wasn’t quite what I expected. First, it was all villagers, with maybe only a small handful of white people. Much to our dismay, nobody (except the old grandmas) was wearing a sarong. Mr Gede, what are you trying to pull here? Maybe he has a deal with the sarong seller. 
We got a ton of strange looks and sketchy comments from some locals. But luckily found a very sweet Balinese girl who invited us to sit with her and her sister. 
She explained to me about the tradition as we watched the parade. The Balinese create these large monsters, called Agung, which represent evil. They are sort of similar to parade floats. The Agung are marched through the town, and then burned to represent killing the evil spirits, to create good luck for the coming year. The parade was so interesting and lots of fun, even though I felt stupid in my sarong.
The next day, because it was Balinese New Year, nobody on the entire island of Bali was allowed to leave their hotels, guesthouses, or places of residence. Luckily Mr. Gede is right on a beach, so we spent the day reading, (‘eating books’ as Erin calls it,) and swimming. Although, I will say that I got awfully sick of Mr. Gede’s food. Sidenote: The food in Bali really wasn’t that great compared to the other food we’ve been eating. Lots of bones in things that I didn’t even know had bones. That night, we weren’t allowed to have lights on. Apparently patrol boats circle the island and if any lights are on the night of the holiday, the homeowner is given an enormous fine. We had to sit in the dark, with only the small glow from a tiny tea light, eating dinner with all the other guests at the homestay. Needless to say, we went to bed early.
The following day, we woke up to at 5:30 for a sunrise dolphin hunt and snorkel. We rode in a TINY boat to spot the famous Lovina dolphins. We did see a few, but our boat kept breaking down so we kind of missed out on a lot of the action. There were a ton of other boats out there, and the drivers just sort of chase the dolphins so the tourists can sneak a peek. It sounds pretty malicious, but no dolphins are harmed and I think they must be used to it by now. After our pretty frustrating dolphin hunt, we headed to a coral reef to snorkel! It was my first time snorkeling and it was SUCH a blast! We saw such a variety of interesting critters down there: huge blue starfish, gorgeous fish of every color imaginable, and the amazing coral! The best part was that to get back in our boat, which had no ladder, and very steep sides, Sarah and I didn’t quite have the arm strength to lift ourselves, so the driver literally stuck his hands under our armpits and lifted us into the boat from the water. With my extra rice poundage, this was no small task, but clearly the dude has been hitting up the Lovina gym.
We spent the next couple days lounging, reading, swimming in the Bali Sea, peeling our skin off, and visiting with Mr. Gede. One night we met a couple of Americans who had needed a place to sleep and stumbled upon our village during their motorbike exploration of the island. They were in complete shock that we had intentionally come to the town for a part of our vacation and kept cracking jokes about “lovely Lovina” and “livin’ Lovina loca.” Was it what I expected Bali to be like? No. But it was a unique and worthwhile experience just the same! It was completely relaxing, a great way to recharge, and we really got a chance to know the locals and experience Balinese culture.
On our way back to the south and the airport, we stopped at Mt. Batur, a large volcano on the island.
An amazing 10 days, sunburn or no sunburn. 
As you know, we're home now, but we'll continue to post the final blogs to bring this thing to a proper close!
Although the departure from Thailand was soul-crushing, the grand adventure around Southeast Asia continues! We touched down in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, Tuesday afternoon. Why Cambodia? Well we wanted to venture to at least one more country in the northern part of Southeast Asia . . .if that makes sense. We had narrowed it down to Laos, Cambodia, or Vietnam. We ruled out Laos after talking to some crazy hippie Chiang Mai backpackers who informed us that the country has very little unique culture, there’s not much there that’s very different than northern Thailand, and it’s basically just a good place to get wasted and drink ‘shroom shakes. I’ll take a pass on the ‘shrooms. Tickets to Cambodia were cheaper than tickets to Vietnam, so that settled it. 
I didn’t really know much about Cambodia before coming. Everything I knew about the country I learned from Phil, the host of the Amazing Race. I’m pretty sure he’s referred to Phnom Penh as ‘the bustling capital of Cambodia,’ but that’s all I retained. I also knew that Angkor Wat is in Cambodia, so it was thrown on the list of things to do.
First impressions – Poverty is much more noticeable and prevalent than in Thailand. I’m talking naked babies, children without shoes, begging for money, sleeping under newspapers, trash everywhere along the streets, the whole nine yards. In Phnom Penh there was quite a trash/waste stench, which when combined with the extreme heat, (100-110 during the day) is enough to make you a little nauseous. There were some beautiful parts of the city as well. Ornate palaces, wats, and statues were scattered around. Along the river, there were a scattering of lovely cafes. Although I must mention that the French influence is not nearly as strong as I anticipated, (Cambodia was colonized by France – you can Google those dates if you’d like). I was expecting crepes on every corner! Every now and then there was a restaurant called “La Maison,” or something of that nature, but those years of high school and college French went to waste yet again. Although it is such an impoverished city, things in Phnom Penh were not nearly as cheap as we’d like. Cambodia uses the USD in addition to their own money, the riel ($1 = 4,000 riel) which I assume is an effort to cater to tourists, or something like that. But this meant we were spending $4-$5 on a meal, or $1 on a water. 150 baht for dinner?!? It’s ludicrous! Mais, c’est la vie.
We spent our one full day in the city learning about the tragic, very recent, history of Cambodia. Well . . .after getting a little shopping in at the Russian Market, of course. (Still not sure why it’s called the ‘Russian Market’ but it certainly did a number on my wallet. Silk scarves + jewelry + Emily’s February salary = not a good mix). We then continued our tuk tuk tour of the city, visiting ‘The Killing Fields’ just outside the city, and Tuol Sleng prison, (a former school,) both of which have been transformed into memorials and museums. They detail the gruesome atrocities brought on by the Khmer Rouge, the extremist communist party that ruled Cambodia from 1976-1980. Thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured, and killed, mostly intellectuals, city-dwellers, and other people whose ideas differed from those of the Khmer Rouge. The exhibits were hard to see, but the thing that got to me most was the display of the photographed faces of those people who had been imprisoned and most likely killed at Toul Sleng, several of whom were children, some only babies. The most shocking part of it was that it was happening only 30 years ago! It was a sad, but enlightening day to say the least.
On Thursday we hopped a bus to Siem Reap (the town where Angkor Wat lies) and after five hours of lovely farm and plantation scenery we had arrived. The town is extremely touristy and also much more scenic than Phnom Penh. However, the extreme, in-your-face poverty still exists. You can’t even walk through the market without being bombarded by someone, often a child, either selling something or simply begging for money, crying “Lady! Lady! Lady! Lady! I need moneyyyy.” After dinner and drinks on Thursday evening, we were suckered into buying 2 containers of Similac baby milk at the 7-11 by a couple of small children, each with an infant slung around their backs. How can you say no to these kids and still live with yourself? A couple of British brothers we were with shook their heads at us as we held the children’s hands and accompanied them into the store. “You know, those are probably a couple of the richest kids in this town,” the Brit pointed out to me. But as Erin says, even if those kids sell the milk and it’s all a scam . . .someone is going to get baby milk. “And,” we informed our pessimistic Brits, “now we’re going to heaven.” Since then, I’ve also bought a bracelet from a young girl who informed me that if I bought one she would tell me the president of the United States and the capital of the United States. She got an A+. Erin bought 4. I’ve officially found Erin’s soft spot: impoverished Cambodian children, especially those with small heads. 
Angkor Wat is an ancient temple, I believe dating back to the 12th century, (we didn’t have a tour guide and there were very little informational signs so my facts are lacking). You may remember our Sukhothai entry? – well Sukhothai is sort of the Thai version of Angkor Wat, although Angkor Wat crushes it in nearly every department. The ruins are much more expansive, and some of the “jungle ruins,” those where the trees are sort of eating away at the structures, were even used in the filming of Tomb Raider! Very cool. It's all very Indiana Jones-esque and Erin and I feel like we are contestants on 'Legends of the Hidden Temple.' (Remember that show, all you children of the 90's?) We were taken from temple to temple by tuk tuk, driven by an adorable man that works for our hotel. He basically just chose which ruins to take us to, and we trusted him completely. He also pointed us to which food stands to eat at, and would nap while we visited the temples. He was pretty adorable. The only pitfall occurred when we got a flat tire on our way to a far off, more removed site. We had to sit at the home of some rural Cambodian residents while our buddy went to change the tire. We played "This Little Piggy" with the kids and watched the little naked baby take a cold "bath," screaming his head off while Mom poured cold water on him. I sort of wish I could have gotten one of those baths.
We sweltered away under the beating Cambodian sun, climbing, photographing, and exploring the ancient temples. The catchphrase of Siem Reap seems to be "It's so hot." We've heard it about a million times from our tuk tuk driver, children begging for money, waiters, security guards at the temple - everyone! I'm unsure whether these people are actually hot, or whether it's a line reserved for the tourists. The only downfall (besides the heat) was the fact that there were many tour groups swarming the temples . . .I almost felt as though the little Japanese women were preparing to pillage and ransack the remains. They were extremely pushy and didn’t seem to have much consideration for the other tourists. Because of this, our timer shots were lacking. Not only is it sort of embarrassing to take a timer shot when there are a lot of people around, you are just sort of limited in space and opportunities. Our timer shots sort of turned into weird pseudo-candids. In any case, the National Heritage Site is extremely beautiful and interesting, although perhaps a bit difficult to appreciate when you feel like you may lose consciousness at any moment. Don’t worry, Mom, I drank lots of water and used my bug spray.
Oh and last night we got the infamous fish massage . . .SOOOO TICKLISH, I almost died. But for $2 we got our dead skin eaten by fish, an Anchor beer, and a complimentary neck and shoulder massage (done by a human). Never again, though . . .
We have safely touched down in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and have met up with some of my old Emmanuel crew, Sarah and Anna. Very exciting! I'm already having big city culture shock after all our time in Hangchat and visiting ruins! If our luck with the free wifi continues, so will the blogs! 
