Why Do I Travel

This coming weekend, I'm gonna go for a 2-week trip and I could barely suppress my excitement at this moment. Not only it's gonna be more of an adventure than a holiday, it also has much more significance attached to it on different levels (will elaborate on it next time). 

As usual, some elements of risk are involved here - and mind you, I'm not even talking about the unplanned risk like here, here & here- I'm talking about the kind of risk that we know for a FACT that we'd come across. To make things worse, both my boyfriend and I have been having nightmares about the trip and it really just seems like a bad omen / warning from god about the upcoming trip...

I know people around me don't understand why I would travel this way; they have asked this question so much that they had given up asking. Now, it's just 'it's so you", followed by an exasperated sigh. On hindsight, it seemed like I was indeed after the unknown and the adrenaline derived from experiencing the unknown during my younger days.These days, a lot has changed.

I no longer feel the attraction to the unknown, on the contrary, it intimidates me a little. My pretrip plan used to mean finding transport from airport to city, first night of accommodation, and deciding the place & time of return flight. THAT's ALL CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! If you were to ask me to travel that way right now, my OCD will burst through the roof for sure.

Then why am I still doing these risky travels?

I thought I was after the million-dollar scenery. But when I asked myself, so if there's two ways to reach the same mountain top - one by an aircon cable car (say for free), the other by a two-day hike, I realize I would choose the latter without hesitation. This then reveals itself to me that I am in fact subconsciously subjecting myself to demanding situations that puts my body/senses/will to some kind of test. 

It dawns on me that I have no noble reasons to travel, the reason turns out be rather narcissistic actually - I want to see myself being humbled, being intimidated, and by these emotions, pull out the weakness and smallness that's in my character to become the person that's so much more than I am currently. In other words, I want to inspire myself and foster more respect for myself from within. 

This might sound like I'm having some sort of schizophrenic obsession with my own mind, but trust me, it actually came from a place of slight self-loathing (the positive peeps called it self-motivation) and self-understanding. I know very clearly what kind of things/people impress me, and I also know it really have to go the extent of being forced into a corner with no ANY other way to get me really going on a fight. 

Think evolution, the camels didn't grow two extra humps becos being voluptuous is in trend or that they like to take small baths through the day. Societal views and personal preference can't carve real lasting changes into your body or your mind, but an intrinsic fight of will always does. 

Now back to the real shit.
So according to the Internet, the places that I will be going to look like these. 

They look crazily surreal I know but even if reality is only 50% of the above, it still looks pretty magical to me. Will try my best to stay one piece and unharmed (don't know if it's age or the crazy altitude that we'll be heading to, but I really feeling a little scared for this trip), so till then darlings ♥

Best of Bali - The Secret Beach Hopping Guide

It's literally almost a year since my last entry, and it's a bittersweet realization for me.

I've always love this space; nowhere else grants me this extent of freedom and yet knowing that my words & experiences might resonate with someone somewhere, thus drawing this tiny dotted lines between the readers and me where we become less alone in this vast entity called life. It is a beautiful knowing.

But why the hiatus then? 

To be honest, I don't know. 

I don't know what I can write about anymore. It seems as if one day monotonousness had quietly seeped through the wall cracks unannounced, and when I finally gotten around to take a good look at my life, it has already left its pungent smear on everything I have. 

I became a boring person. A person without a worthy story or conviction to tell. And the irony is, I actually warned myself about it 2 years ago on the night before my first day of work.

Today I am back here to share a beautiful short trip I had, and in return, to find the peace that only writing here brings me. Thank you for sticking around, whoever & wherever you are.

******

For a start, TripCanvas here provides a pretty comprehensive list of good beaches to explore and I followed it religiously during my stay there. Apologies for the pretentious 'secret beach' title (I rolled my eye at that as well, trust me), I mean to refer to those that are relatively less commercialized where the natural charms are still pretty much intact. Just don't know how else to describe it without sounding long-winded.

OKAY! So for your information, the beaches we went to were primarily located at the southern tip of Bali, the South Kuta & Jimbaran area. You have two reasons to go there: (1) Most of the beaches at found there, and if you are here, I would assume that's what you're after for; (2) And good news, it's touristy enough to have good hotels & eateries, but still much better than Ubud in general. Note that the following pictures are all taken by me with zero editing so what you see here is really what you'll be gettin and also becos I'm just too lazy to edit them.

So here, in no order of ranking - 

THE INCREDIBLE BEACHES IN BALI THAT WOULD LEAVE YOU IN AWE

#1 Tegal Wangi Beach

This beach was our first love in Bali. And you know what people say about first love - You just never forget them.

I have lost count how many times we have visited this baby after the first time – we even relocated to a hotel that’s 5 minutes ride away from here, and we drop by at least once per day at sunrise, sunset, mid-day or whenever we liked. The natural potholes are found along the beach, where the incoming waves came massaging and frolicking your body while you enjoy the A-class view. Though there’s only a short stretch of beach, I’d say the ‘natural Jacuzzi’ is enough a reason for you to check out this place.

There were barely any signs when we were there last year end, but a huge hotel was under construction nearby so it should a matter of time before the crowd takes over. Two piece of advice over here: First, go during the low tides so the potholes would still be accessible; Second, the steps down and the rocks nearby are rather sharp, so make sure you have a small torchlight when visiting during sunrise or sunset.

On this note, let me give you a secret tip that we have found out ourselves – If you are going during sunset, stay for a bit longer till the skies turn dark and go check out the rocks at the right end of the beach. Fireflies would be blinking their magic over there.

Verdict: AT LEAST a quick visit on the way to/from the airport. Make sure it's low tide first.  (< This is me trying very hard to suppress my bias)  

#2 Melasti Beach

Another of our all time favorite, which means we've lost count again on the number of times where we looked at each other and went, "Hmm, Melasti?" 

We caught our first Bali sunrise here, and it gave me extra kick to feel the soft golden sun slowly heating up mt skin and the earth around, while thinking that if it was any other Monday, I would probably be on my way to beat the morning train crowd and fighting the weekend hangover.

Also, we had the most epic Nasi Campur in our lives there becos dining literally over a cliff to turquoise waters and golden sun?? That's some James Bond shit there.

One little note: Unfortunately, the gravels there weren't very butt-friendly. So remember to grab a mat or prepared to get some unsightly marks on your peachie.

Verdict: MUST VISIT!!!

#3 Balangan Beach

One morning, we dragged our asses to this place after spending yet another sunrise at Tegal Wangi. Even though the two beaches seem pretty close on the map, but the ride there turned out to be longer than expected due to the small winding roads in between.

The cliff overlooking the beach does offer beautiful scenery, but to be honest we didn't enjoy ourselves very much over there. I know, Bali beaches had spoilt us way too much. If given a chance again, I would choose to go there during lower tides instead,and I suppose it would be quite a decent after-dinner stroll location since the beach stretches out pretty long.

Verdict: Visit ONLY if you were nearby or have extra time to kill

#4 Dreamland Beach

With a fancy name as such (and in English!), you should know that this beach is more or less commercialised by now and by no means a secret beach anymore. The reason why I still include it here is becos the surrounding rows of resort bungalows seemed to have wayyyy passed its glory days, and more like on the brink of becoming the next haunted hot spot.

To be honest, I had zero expectation on my way there, and that was further affirmed when the only way to get to the beach was this litt

le path sandwiched in between rusty stalls and foul algae pond.

BUT HELL NO BABY I COULDN’T BE MORE WRONG.

It might not be the most beautiful Bali beach that I went to, but it’s HANDS DOWN THE MOST FUN BEACH FOR SURE.

The waves were CRAZY HUGE, reaching to almost 3m just before it crashed against the beach. We went into the waves, and before we realised, we’ve been bodysurfing the waves, tumbling, rolling, flipping violently under the current for a good 2 hours.

IT. WAS. FREAKING. FUN. OMG.

The only reason we stopped was becos we were genuinely physically tired after all the bodysurfing and also the merciless Bali sun started beating down as usual by 930am.

  

Verdict: I know not everyone would understand fun as 2 hours of risking drowning/scrapping your knees & palms/losing half a toenail/having saltwater coming out from both your mouth and nose in 3m waves, but IF that’s your cup of tea saltwater, you SIMPLY CANT miss this place! 

#EXTRA: Pandawan Beach & Nusa Dua Beach 

On the note of secret beach, let me digress for a while and throw in these two very commercialized and well-known beaches over here briefly. Just to you know, to give you more reasons to appreciate the ‘secret beaches’.

Pandawan was the first beach we visited during our trip, becos it was very near our hotel and during my last visit to Bali some years back, I was very mesmerized by its beauty back then. But I knew things couldn’t be more different when we saw dozens of gigantic construction cranes before we even see the beach itself. The entrance fee and the busloads of tourists streaming in endlessly from all directions just added to the list of turn-offs.

Really, the most interesting thing that happened over there was me taking a nap, traumatizing playing with a baby crab, and chancing upon a world record of the most number of paragliders in action.

***
Nusa Dua Beach, like Dreamland Beach, is surrounded by resorts and hotels. But unlike Dreamland Beach, the hotels there are your legit 5-star chains (e.g. Novotel) and tourists (many) actually stayed there. It was a little confusing navigating through the hotel compound, but the beach turned out pretty decent.

I read online that you could see the seaweed farms in a distance from this beach, but I personally didn’t see any when I was there. We napped on the hotel sandbags and here’s a tip here on how to avoid being stopped by hotel staff - Just sit down and use your phone/talk to each other like you are an ACTUAL hotel guest. Or even better, pretend you two are arguing. No one will ever go out of their way to interrupt a quarrelling couple. Not sure why, but it works every single time, trust me.

   

We did have a good time drifting in the waves after that tho. The sand was very comfortably soft, and the shallow beach extended out quite far, so you actually get to walk out quite a bit while enjoying some waves pushing you up and down gently.

Apparently having my Pocahontas moment here with these hotel squirrels 

Verdict: Nusa Dua is okay, offers more than just a plain walk along the beach. And the mild bodysurfing might be more acceptable for most. On the other hand, Pandawan? Well, do yourselves a favour, don’t go there. And oh, we also passed by another the highly popular Jimbaran Beach for like a dozen times. We weren’t enticed, barely slowed down even. 

Now back to the interesting stuff.
#5 (SECRET) Beach

This place is a personal serendipity close to heart and I apologize in advance for wanting to keep the location a secret for now. As a clarification, the ENTIRE 20km plus of East Coast of Bali is ALL black sand beach so and there are many turns along the highway where you can turn in to. But this particular segment, it's just so special to me.

So years ago when I visited Bali for the first time, I chanced upon this exact place absolutely randomly while riding back from East Bali. Years later, I came back to East Bali thinking that there's JUST NO WAY I could find back the same beach again. But god is a funny person, and that day, (s)he was extra kind to me. 

We took a GENUINE random turn from the highway and suddenly, everything started to look familiar and I just went 'oh god, no way...." 

Just so you know, I was jumping with joy the first time I came to this place cos it was just so beautiful. But this time, it was the utmost STUNNING sunset of our lives and I was just made speechless by its splendor. And I've got some pictures to prove it.


Looking at this just brought me back to the moment where I just stood there, facing that purely majestic sun with my open mouth.

And you'd think black sand beach must be coarse, but these couldn't be anymore finer.

The sun was exceptionally huge that day, and it put on such a show going down I almost wanted to applaud for having a treat to it. 

We were like busy feeling grateful and wanting to catch the last few rays for a photo when suddenly..

...the sky turned into the most alluring shade of pink and peach I've ever seen till this date...

...and it just kept getting prettier...

...till it took one last shot and gave us the perfect curtain call that we couldn't even dream of

Thank you Bali, thank you.

Like said, all the photos here are unedited/unadjusted, basically just as raw as the moment I pressed on that shutter button. If you think the photos are amazing, just imagine being surrounded 360 degree in it.

Verdict: You have to go. Find a little stretch of the black sand beach and make your own very special memories there.  

#5 Nyang Nyang Beach
 Out of all, Nyang Nyang beach was the hardest to get to. It's not near any town and there's a looooong flight of crooked stairs to overcome before you could get to the beach. Then again, it won't be a secret beach if it's pretty and also super accessible right?

One thing to note, there's a major hotel under construction right before the start of the stairs. A lady would offer to bring you down to the beach for a small fee (we presumed that she must be the wife of a construction worker here, trying to earn some bucks while waiting for her husband to knock off), so just decline politely and go around the hotel and you'd see the stairs there.

You know you are at the right place when you couldn't spot a single soul from miles away.

When the scenery is on point, but you aren't dressed for the beach look.

Yes Nyang Nyang beach is a beau, but it has more magic than that. On the glistering soft beach, there lies two mysterious shipwrecks out of the blue, jarring but even more captivating.

As you can see here, there are genuine shipwrecks and not some lameass commercial mock wrecks. It was a mystifying feeling climbing it and seeing the ocean from there. 


What caused the shipwreck? Who's the crew? What kind of scenery did they witness from my spot? Did anyone get hurt? Where's the rest of the ship? 

Nyang Nyang beach is a secret beach with a secret. 
Go experience that secret before they convert it into a restaurant or god knows what.

Verdict: How many people can claim they have board a shipwreck before? Go there and you'll be one of the lucky few.

#6 Pantai Gunung Payung

On the morning of our departure day, we decided to hop to a new beach and see what we could find there. And as like before, Bali never disappoints.

The way to the beach was a little fancy (I'm sensing a hotel/resort springing up nearby soon), buuuuuuuut there's quite some flights of stairs to reach the beach, so at least the lazy ones won't be coming here too soon.

LOOK AT THAT MILLION DOLLAR VIEW

Saw this peculiar pattern on the sand and was wandering how it was made when my dear boy suddenly jumped off and said 'OMG MUST BE SNAKE!!!'

This place has the CLEAREST water we've seen throughout Bali and it's super swim-friendly.

The scenery was sooo good but all this boy could be concerned with was the snakes. 

Verdict:If you are looking for sun tanning and swimming in solitude, this baby would be just the place you're looking for. Bring your own water and food cos there's no facilities nearby.
******

That's all folks! Hope this post has just sprinkled some wanderlust glitters onto you. Go create your own Bali stories, good luck.  

Taiwan Trip (FINAL CHAPTER): Hitchhiking

So I'm finally here writing my last post of my Taiwan trip, and it was also one of my fondest memories - the hitchhiking journeys! Just a note, it was my ever first REAL hitchhiking experience -you know, the thumbs up way- if you don't count some earlier times where ppl were nice enough to stop and offer tof give me a lift. 

And guest what, I was lucky enough hit the hitchhikers' utmost heaven - TAIWAN.

There's no public transport from Cingjing to Hehuanshan. So after an epic night sleeping outside a garage, we managed to get our first lift from "Little Mouse". It's indicated here as the red line. 

#1 Hike: Little Mouse

It was two guys going for their ever first hike and were just excited as we were. They were going to the East Peak and we were going to the North, but they offered to send us all the way there despite having to make a detour themselves. 

The reason behind the name "Little Mouse" was because it left a very deep impression on me when they said '@' as little mouse when we were exchanging email addresses. Like literally, forexample[little mouse]gmail.com. And they said it with a total straight face I just died laughing. 

#2 Hike: Scary Night

Imagine this place sans the light and with even more fog. 

It was under such circumstance that we fortunately managed to get a hike from a couple returning from Hualien (ie. the east) to Taichung (ie. the west).

I would think we were looking super dubious, emerging out of the fog in the dark with huge backpacks and weird clothes. I was surprised that they were even willing to stop at all! They cleared their backseats for us and only dropped us off when they found the only hotel in that whole region. How fortunate that was!

#3 Hike: Tribal Culture Enthusiast

The next day, we got our third hitchhike along this road to catch a bus from Central Taiwan to the East. As you can see, it's definitely NOT the best place to stop a car, but people were still willing to stop for us. This time, it turned out to be a couple who were very much enthusiastic about the Taiwan indigenous tribes and their culture. They shared many places for us to check out, but sadly those places were all out of our planned route. 

#4 Hike: Cheng Cheng

The car that had stopped for us at the spot was a family having their day out on the weekend. There were two kids in the car, one was the son and the other was the cousin. The kids became fascinated with Q instantly, cos I guess his 'browness' seemed exotic to them. 

So they started trying to have an English conversation with him while ignoring my conversation to them in mandarin. The son, Cheng Cheng, started by saying 'Hello', and the cousin followed with 'How are you? What's your name?'. So Q naturally answered and tried to teach him what to answer back. Cheng Cheng was the younger boy and was constantly sneaking shy peeks at Q while sitting with his mom in the passenger seat. Halfway through, he suddenly started wiping tears from his face and he looked so sad as he wormed himself back to his mother's arms.

It turned out that he was upset cos he really wanted to converse in English with Q, but he's just lost at words and seeing his cousin doing better than him made him felt rather lousy about himself. Our hearts were like melting when we heard that cos THAT was the precious innocence of a child right there.

#5 Hike: Tourist Bus

Yes it's right, an empty tourist bus on its to Kaohsiung to pick out a Japanese tour group actually stopped for us and drove us a good 60km down the East Coast Line.

Reason? Cos the driver said he understand that public buses along the East Coast generally take very long to come and we would have to wait under the blazing sun if he doesnt stop for us.

THANK YOU YALL VERY VERY KIND TAIWANESE!

#6 Hike: Lady going for meeting

We were along a very deserted stretch of the 'highway', after leaving a surfer town called Donghe. A lady who was going to Taitung city for meeting stopped for us and started telling us about what food to check out in Taitung. After days and days of 7-Eleven instant noodles, we were totally salivating over the thought of FOOD FOOD. 

And Taitung really turned out to be such a LOVELY place. With SUCH good food god. See here for what went down over there for us. 

#6 & 7 Hike: KINDEST Person EVER

Here's the most EPIC hitchhike we've had in Taiwan and it definitely ended our trip in the best way it could ever be. 

So it all started at the outskirts of the Taitung city, with my dear boy over here getting slightly grumpy over the blazing sun and the sheer heat that was baking us alive.

It was after a while when a Honda stopped for us. It was funny cos they actually stopped like 10 meters away, and after a few seconds, they reversed a little too swiftly back to us, just like in cartoons. Anyw, it was a couple in their twenties taking a few days to drive around Taiwan. They told us that it was their very first time stopping to pick up hitchhikers and how amazing that was! I mean like we weren't the best dressed ppl around (not even close I know), and I am sure the sweating didn't help either. So how nice they still stopped despite our shabbiness and all ahhahah :D

Our plan was to hitchhike from Taitung to Kaohsiung, but that's a real long way (see the red line in the map above). So we decided to stop along the way to grab a bite and explore some place before getting on again, so that's naturally goodbye to that very kind couple. 

Guess where was our stop..Hint: there are two numbers in the shop's name. 

Taiwanese 7-Eleven has the best yogurt!

Look out for this particular one (come in both Black and Blue, I personally preferred the black one) and it tastes extra nice on hot days. 

We were having our break when I suddenly realised that I left my cap in the couple's car and I was so upset cos that cap had come a long way with me through so many of my travels. 

:(

I started to look through my photos for my last pic in it so I could use it during its memorial ceremony later. And here's the pic. 

We then went on for a while before giving up soon again at the start of the mountain road. Yea I know, we were pretty spoiled by all the nice people by then. We barely stood for 3min when a truck came and stopped before we even managed to stick up our thumbs. 

It was at this EXACT spot above that we met the kindest Taiwanese we've crossed path - Guan Qing. 

Guan Qing is in his early twenties and has been helping his father to run their construction business for several years. He was just returning home to Kaohsiung after completing a project in Taitung (hence the lack of space and Q having to cutely squeeze himself at the back along with the equipment hahaha). 

He was very matured for his age, and he shared so much about how Taiwan's current political dynamic would affect SME like his, how unwilling youngsters were when it comes putting in effort and hardwork, what were the historical uses of places along the way, how he grew up under the indigenous culture... It was so refreshing hearing about someone's experience and opinions that was much different from our own's, and I didn't know I've missed that until that then. 

It was a 3-hour drive and when we were just entering Kaohsiung city, we decided to stop over at (yet another) 7-Eleven to grab some drink.

And guess what!?

WE MET THE PREVIOUS COUPLE WHO GAVE US A LIFT!

What were the chances right!! And over here they were asking Guan Qing (the guy on the high stool) about places of interest in Kaohsiung hahah.

So yup, my dear dear cap was once again back to my head:)))) See! What's meant to be yours will always be yours, even if you had changed car and drove on for 3 hours.

And that's not the end of the story.

Guan Qing brought us to a hotel where he thought was convenient and affordable, before heading back home. We bid goodbye but the hotel turned out to be full and a little shabby, so we wandered along the roads for a good 30 min before finally finding one to settle in. 

That was when I realised I left my water bottle in Guan Qing's car.

HAHAHHAH I know I can really forgettable at times, ESPECIALLY when it comes to stuff that I hold in my hands. Anyway, I wasn't very affected cos you know, it's just a water bottle so it's like, 'oh ok, too bad then'.

BUTTTTT Quan Qing called me on FB the moment I connected to the hotel's WIFI and it turned out that he noticed my water bottle when he reached home and he rmb how happy I was to find back my cap which I thought I had lost. So he decided to return it back to us and he went back to the hotel where he dropped us, just to find out that we didn't stay there in the end. And SOOOOMEHOW he found THE hotel that we were staying in cos it happened to be owned by the same chain as the one he left us at. He was just downstairs our hotel when he finally got through my phone.

 He even pasted a postcard on the bottle cos he wanted us to keep a piece of memory of Taiwan from him. HOW SWEET WAS THAT?!?!

Yup, that's Quan Qing. 

The legendary KINDEST person we met in Taiwan.

This was another postcard he mailed to Singapore a while back when he went on a holiday with his girlfriend.

I am so speechless at the extent of kindness by this person. God bless this kind, kind child.

So that's it, our every pleasant hitchhiking experience in Taiwan. 

We couldn't thank you and your kind people more Taiwan!