A Day in Singapore

One week ago, I took a one-day trip to Singapore to finalize my work visa. Thankfully, I had absolutely nothing to do with the process. So while the paperwork was being done inside the Singapore office, I got to go explore. Singapore is basically the exact opposite of Jakarta. Clean. Almost everyone speaks English. Clean. Reliable public transportation. Clean. Flowing traffic. Clean. I tried to make the most of my time in Singapore; I don’t know if I will ever get back. Thanks to the help of Kavitha (who was introduced to you all during my Lebaran posts) and her roommate Linda, both Singapore natives, I had a list of “must-see” things to do during my brief time in Singapore (pictured below). Thankfully, I was able to do everything that was on the list.

Here we go. I hope you like pictures.

3:40am — First alarm rings.

3:43am — Second alarm rings. Better get going because I know there is no third alarm. I always feel off throughout the day if I don’t shower in the morning, so I hop in the shower for a quick rinse and then make sure that I have all my paperwork in order that I need for the day. No breakfast, today. Kavi and Linda have told me about all the amazing food, and I plan on pigging out in Singapore.

4:15am — Leave my apartment to wait for my driver downstairs.

4:20am —Pak Alek* is my school driver for my trip to the airport. I am the only person from my apartment complex going to Singapore on this day, and, as far as I know, I am the only person from BBS getting their visa done today**.  After we take off, he gives me his phone number so that I can text him when I land at night and he can come pick me up. Very smooth ride to the airport (it is not always a smooth ride with the school drivers) even with a surprising amount of traffic for around 4:30am.

* “Sir” in Bahasa is “pak” (pronounced with a silent “k”). “Pak” is more respectful than “mister.” I learned this about my third week after calling everyone, “mister.” Now, everyone is “pak” or “bu” (meaning ma’am).

** All of us new teachers have been fairly anxious the last week or so about when we would be going to Singapore. We knew that it was right around the corner (because our initial visas expire at the end of August); we just didn’t know exactly when. I found out from our HR person via text Monday night at 5:30pm that I would be going first thing Wednesday morning. I was the first of the American/Canadian crew from PIK to go to Singapore. Why me? I have no idea.

4:55am — Dropped off at the airport.

5:10am — After checking in at the Lion Air counter and paying my 150. rupiah international airport tax*, I head to customs to get to my gate. I get through customs and now just have to wait for the boarding process to begin.

* In Indonesia, you are charged a 40. rupiah ($4) tax for domestic flights. 150. rupiah ($15) for international flights.

5:45am — Boarding begins. I am seat 32D on the flight there. The plane was a Boeing 727, so the seats were 3-3 in each row.

6:15am — wheels up ;;

8:55am — Safe landing in Singapore. It is scheduled to be a 1 hour 45 minute flight. Singapore is one time zone ahead of Jakarta, so our flight got in just ahead of schedule. Very cool descent into Singapore (pictured below: Singapore on a map of SE Asia). You can see the whole city/state/country/whatever you want to call it on your way in.

9:10am — Walk through customs and baggage claim. I was told that someone would be there to pick me up and take me to the visa office. There was no one there with a sign with my name or BBS, so I just assumed that our flight was a little early or that they were running a little late.

9:28am — Thanks to the free wifi at the Changi Airport (self-proclaimed as the “world’s best”) in Singapore, I whatsapp our HR person and check to make sure that I was being picked up. She confirms that someone should be there. After both of our attempts fail to reach Fiona, the person who was supposed to pick me up, she tells me to just grab a taxi and the school will reimburse me for it when I get back.

9:50am — I walk out of the airport to grab a taxi. Before getting in, I warn the driver that I only have 20 Singapore dollars (S$20) on me, my meal money for the day, and that I would only be able to pay that much for a ride. He says, “That will be plenty” and we head off. He was a very friendly man that made solid small-talk* with me for the 25-minute ride. The meter ended up reading S$23.00, but the guy was really cool and threw no fit just taking my S$20.

* I didn’t know what to do with myself in Singapore. I could actually communicate with people. Most people spoke a good amount of English.

10:15am — Walk through the doors of the visa office. I hand them my visa, the sheet of paper I am supposed to give them, and the money from BBS for the processing. After taking a quick photo of me and being told that I need to be back there by 4:45pm, my time in Singapore begins.

10:25am — I walk directly across the street from the visa office into Chinatown. There are several large malls in Chinatown (pictured below) and that is the best place to exchange your money. I brought $140 USD with me just to be safe, but that turned out to be way more than enough. I initially exchange $100 USD at a rate of 1.26. Online, I had read that the current rate was 1.27, so I was pleased (the way I thought of the rate all day was 5 Singapore dollars = 4 US dollars).

  

10:35am — After briefly walking around the first mall, I asked a couple different people where the best place to get Chinese food from a coffee shop (where I had been told to eat) was. They both said that across the street there were a lot of different places to get good grub. I cross the street and go up to the second floor where I see a lot of different stalls with food in them (pictured below).

I had been told that they do not look the nicest, but the food is amazing and it is very cheap. The first food item I was told to try in Chinatown was the roasted chicken rice. I found a place that sold it, and got a small portion for S$2.50. Right next door, I saw a little pastry shop that was selling curry puffs for S$0.80. My friend Christian (the one from KU also teaching in Jakarta) has raved about curry puffs and I had never tried one. I figured now was as good a time as any. After buying a Coke for S$1.10, I sat down for my first feast of the day (pictured below: Chinese food; pastry stand).

The food did not disappoint. It was incredible. Upon finishing, I start to head for the exit with every intent on my next stop being to see the iconic Merlion. As I am walking out of the food area, I notice a stall called, “Granny’s Pancake” where it was selling peanut butter pancakes for S$0.80 (pictured below).

It was too enticing to pass up. It was, also, delicious.

11:10am — Kavi gave me her Singapore public transportation pass for the day so that I wouldn’t have to hassle with putting money on a card. The first time I used it was getting on a bus from Chinatown to go see the Merlion. On the bus, I met a nice elderly Chinese man named Tony who helped guide me in the right direction. Thankfully, Singapore is a very easy city to navigate, so I would have been fine without his help. But the convenience of someone telling you exactly where you need to go was nice. After getting off the bus, I had a little bit of a walk before reaching the Merlion. I saw a pick-up cricket game in the park with the skyscrapers in the background (pictured below).

It was a very cool scene that made me smile and realize how incredible it is that I am seeing/experiencing all the things I am during my time abroad.

11:35am — Reach the Merlion (pictured below: back of Merlion with the Marina Bay Sands in the background; front of Merlion with skyscrapers in background). I had heard that the Merlion was a very touristy thing to do and it wasn't that cool, but...I am a tourist and I enjoyed it. With the bay right there, the Marina Bay Sands in the background, and the skyscrapers behind it, I thought it was pretty awesome. And the Merlion itself was really cool, too.

11:38am — Meet a nice fellow from Turkey who is also in Singapore for the day. We alternate taking photos of each other with each other’s iPhones. He was a very nice guy who was more-or-less in the same boat as me for the day (pictures taken by my Turkish friend of me at the Merlion below).

11:47am —Start my walk to the Marina Bay Sands.

12:05pm — Arrive at the Marina Bay Sands (pictured below).

The cost of admission to the top of the Marina Bay Sands is S$20. I paid and then got in the elevator with 5 gentlemen from the Baltimore area. They are part of a private flight crew and were off to Tokyo the next day (pictured below: elevator).

12:10pm — Reach the top (pictured below). It was a very cool view of the city.

The hotel also has an infinity pool, but that area was only for hotel guests (pictured below).

12:35pm — Head back down the elevator to continue my tour of Singapore.

12:40pm — Start walking to my nearest subway station to catch the subway to Little India.

12:53pm —

Big Gulp, huh…

Also at 7/11 in Singapore is a stadium nacho cheese-style dispenser of mashed potatoes (pictured below). As tempting as it was, I did not try them.

12:59pm — On my way to the MRT (subway) station I see the world’s largest McDonald’s coin donation bowl (pictured below).

1:01pm — Right before entering the MRT station, I meet a very nice Chinese girl who has been living in Singapore since she was in 2^nd grade. She was very sweet and helped outline exactly what I needed to do to get to Little India. I was still drinking my Big Gulp (Fanta Orange) when getting on the subway. I see this sign (pictured below).

The Big Gulp quickly went into my backpack. The subway was very clean and was not too crowded (pictured below).

1:15pm — Make subway transfer from red line to purple line.

1:26pm — Get off at Little India (pictured below).

1:38pm — After walking around for a little bit, I see this pub (pictured below).

I ask if they have wifi and he said that they did. I sit down at the bar and order a Mac’s Brewery Great White Cloudy Wheat Beer from Australia (pictured below).

It was very tasty and was a great way to relax after going non-stop my first 3 hours in Singapore. I also wanted to get reconnected to wifi because I had not been connected since leaving the airport. I wanted to let our HR person know that I was all taken care of. I also wanted to send a couple of pics to my mom and let her know that I was still alive. I think my mom is used to me being out of contact for random amounts of time, and I think she knows that I can take care of myself in any situation. I think.

2:14pm — After finishing my brew, I head back to the main road in Little India to find Komala’s. I asked several people where it was and they all knew exactly where the restaurant was located. I asked one of them if it was good food. He replied, “The best, Jerry. The best.” (Okay, he just said, “The best.”)

2:24pm — Waiting for the signal to cross the street, I see cops writing people tickets for jaywalking (pictured below).

Kavi told me that the cops are everywhere in Singapore. She said that most times they are not in uniform and are acting undercover. She said that locals need to be under the assumption that they are being watched at all times.

2:28pm — Go into Komala’s (pictured below).

Per Kavi’s advice, I order the masala dosai (a pancake wrapped around potato and a few other veggies) for S$3.20, garlic naan for S$2.80, and a mango lassi (mango drink that was a cross between juice and a smoothie) for S$3.50.

2:32pm — Food arrives (pictured below).

Incredible. I was one fat bule after this meal. Two large meals that were absolutely out of this world. The dosai came with three different dipping sauces: orange, green/brown, and white. The orange was easily my favorite. It was very spicy and had a lot of flavor to it.

2:48pm — Finished eating. Pay my S$9.50 and head out.

2:52pm — Walk around Little India some more.

2:59pm — Hop back on the subway to head back to Chinatown.

3:13pm (ooh, I like that number sequence) — Get off the subway at Chinatown (pictured below).

Walk around the mall some more to try and work off some of the amazing food I had eaten.

3:31pm — “Hi, my name is Matt.”

“Hi, Matt.”

“I, uh, never really thought that it was a problem, but I guess you could say I have been a sneakerhead since the fall of 2011…”

I walked into a shoe store at the mall that had a very good collection of basketball shoes (pictured below).

(love the Cool Greys)

(wish they would have had some of the crazier Bron colorways)

(Mamba has some sick designs, but they are all low-cut)

The prices were way worse than in the States, so there was no chance of me buying any, but it was still fun to check out.

4:05pm — Enter the mall that I began my day at.

4:17pm — Sit down to enjoy a Tiger beer, Singapore’s finest (pictured below).

It was not nearly as good as the Australian beer I had earlier in the day. It was average: just your everyday lager.

4:34pm — Start walking back to the visa office.

4:41pm — Get my visa. Fiona comes and picks us* up right after 5:00pm.

* There were two Indian teachers from the other Jakarta BBS campus that were getting their visas done last Wednesday as well. I had no idea they were going. They had no idea I was going. Apparently it was not finalized with the visa office that I would be going last Wednesday, either. That is what led to them leaving the airport without me. If anything, I’m glad this happened to me and not anyone else. It was not a big deal at all and I was still able to see everything that I wanted to in Singapore.

5:42pm — Walk through security at the airport.

6:21pm — Text a fellow BBS teacher that had asked me to get a bottle of alcohol for them while at the duty-free shop (“What is duty?” “What’s duty? It’s duty”). Alcohol is much cheaper in Singapore and apparently that is a very popular move as the majority of my flight back boarded with a bottle in their hand. The few times I drink, I prefer beer, so I was more than happy to hook them up.

7:40pm — Start boarding for our trip home. I am seat 36F on this flight.

8:35pm — Finally back away from the gate after having a “pressure issue.”

9:25pm — Land in Jakarta (remember the 1-hour time difference).

9:32pm — Get in line for my visa approval.

9:41pm — Told that I don’t have the correct paperwork that they gave me (they didn’t) on the plane.

9:45pm — Back in line to be approved.

9:52pm — Approved.

9:53pm — Call Pak Alek to let him know that I am headed for the exit and that he can come pick me up whenever he gets the chance. He informs me that he is sick and has sent someone else to come get me.

10:01pm — Three nice gentlemen greet me after walking through the airport exit and ask, “Bina Bangsa?” That’s me.

10:04pm — In the van headed home.

10:37pm — Home.

Lebaran Holiday: Part III of III

Here is how the end of my Lebaran Holiday went down. Hope you enjoy.

Day 10 — The morning of Day 10 marked the last time that we had a place to call home on Gili T. We were unable to book the speed boat back to Bali on Day 10, so we were scheduled to return on Day 11. This meant that we were without a bed for the night: much worse things have happened.

We all slept in and eventually got up and got all of our things packed away. We all went to a restaurant on the beach for brunch; I had the breakfast burrito. It, like all the other meals on the island, was fantastic. After that, Aaron and Trevor (who were spending one more night on Gili T) were nice enough to let us throw our bags in their room for the day/night. Aaron, Eli, Nate, and I ended up walking along the south end of Gili T that afternoon to take in the beach one last time. It was our last day on Gili T, and we wanted to enjoy as much of the good food as possible, so we ended up eating two dinners: one entrée of fish and chips and one entrée of fish curry. I really cannot stress how good the food was on this vacation.

After having a few Bintangs at the Thai restaurant, we meandered down to Aaron’s hotel room. The floor was tile, but he said we were more than welcome to sleep there if we wanted. Eli and I decided that we would do that instead of trying to find a comfortable place on the beach. I still don’t know if we made the right decision. It was a pretty brutal night of sleep, but nothing too bad.

Day 11 — I woke up really early on Day 11 from my night of “sleep” and went walking along the beach before our speed boat left at 11:00am to take us back to Bali. I did not quite make it to the beach in time to see the sunrise, but I did still get to see some amazing views of the sun rising with the mountains on Lombok in the background (pictured below).

We boarded the speed boat back to Bali without Nate. He had already made plans to go to Lombok and try surfing with some other BBS teachers for a few days. I was so tired from the vacation that I slept through the entire trip (which is no small feat with how rocky the waves were that day). Once we reached Bali, Amy, Eli, and Kavitha headed to the airport to try and fly back to Jakarta (Amy and Kavi) and Semarang (Eli). Cory and I decided that since we still had 5 days until we absolutely had to be back in Jakarta, we would go visit Malang and see what Brad’s home city was all about. For $27, we got on a van that took us from Bali all the way to Malang (pictured below: outside of van; inside of van).

The chairs were surprisingly comfortable; they were very similar to Village bus seats—there were just only 9 of them. The 3 of us took up the 3 seats in the back row. We started our trek around 6:00pm. Brad said that the trip from Malang to Bali (he took the same bus to start the vacation) took him about 16 hours. Cory and I had prepared for a long trip, but we were excited for the experience and the cheap price. About 2 hours into our journey, we stopped at a Chinese restaurant for our complimentary meal where they had set up a buffet of fried noodles, steamed rice, veggies, and chicken (pictured below).

We climbed back into the van and continued driving through Bali. Once we reached the western tip of Bali, we jumped on a ferry that shuttled us back to the east end of Java Island. The seats were comfortable enough and we were tired enough that the 3 of us slept almost the entire trip. All I remember about the ferry was the van backing on to the ship, parking, me passing out again, and me waking up as we left the ship. I have no idea how long the ferry ride was, but it could not have been longer than 90 minutes (that is a total guess). Once we got back on the road, I fell asleep again. The next thing I knew, we were in Malang approaching Brad’s house (he lives in a large house with fellow BBS teachers in Malang). We arrived in Malang around 5:00am. Given the one-hour time change, the trip only took about 12 hours. Very fast. We got to Brad’s place and rested for about an hour and a half more before starting our time in Malang.

Day 12 — Brad, Cory, and I went adventuring around Malang our first morning there. We went walking for a while until we saw a travel agency where Cory and I hoped we would be able to book a flight/train/something back to Jakarta. Malang is about a 2-hour drive from Surabaya (the second largest city in Indonesia) and we were able to book a flight from there to Jakarta for $52. After walking around some more, we stumbled upon this throw-back restaurant that looked like it was straight out of the 50s. For $4 I had an amazing sandwich (pictured below) that had (from top to bottom): shredded cheese, fresh slice of bread, onions and honey mustard, fresh slice of bread, grilled chicken and tomatoes, fresh slice of bread, roast beef and lettuce, fresh slice of bread.

After lunch, we went to a mall in Malang. I had my first difficulty with my phone during the vacation, but there was a very nice young woman at the mall who helped me get everything up and running again. Cory was excited because he was able to get a good deal on a large backpack meant for camping/hiking. After the mall, we went to a grocery store to buy food for that evening. We got some ground beef for burgers and a few other snacks. Brad and Cory were our chefs for the evening and did a phenomenal job with the burgers. They mashed onions into the beef patties and did it right by melting the cheese onto the burgers on the grill (pictured below: Cory and Brad grilling).

The meal was lovely and it was a great time to sit around and chat with some great people. One of the second-year teachers from our school, Ryan, was visiting a fellow Filipino friend in Malang at the same time, so we were able to hang out with him. I had spent some time with Ryan before, but not a whole lot. He is a great dude and it was awesome getting to know him better during my time in Malang.

Day 13 — We had planned for Day 13 to be of the relaxed variety, so we went to another mall in Malang hoping to grab some grub and then maybe catch a movie. I thought that there were no other white people (“bule” is the term for white person in Bahasa Indonesian) in Jakarta, but there really were no other white people in Malang. The fact that there were 3 bules at the mall together blew people’s minds. The glances/stares/photo requests are still fun for me, but I can sense myself starting to get a little annoyed with them. It will be interesting to see how long it is until I get really annoyed with the attention. Anyway, the movies available at the mall were awful. I don’t even remember any of their titles. So we went walking along the streets of Malang (pictured below).

There were a lot of individual stores on the streets and I gave in to my Indonesian addiction—buying soccer jerseys. I bought a Barca jersey for $3 (pictured below).

After walking around for a while, we stumbled upon a college campus in Malang. We went walking around and none of the buildings seemed too interesting. We ducked our heads into a couple of buildings, but they were your typical campus buildings: just a lot of offices. One man came up and started a conversation with us. Usually if someone speaks no English there is about 15-seconds where they talk, we listen with blank looks on our faces, and then they leave. This guy, speaking nothing but Bahasa, just kept talking. He was talking for a good 4 minutes while the whole time we are standing there saying, “Maaf, saya tida bisa Bahasa Indonesian” (Sorry, I don’t speak Bahasa Indonesian). It was quite humorous.

That night, Brad took us to a place called KL Express. It was a really chill place where there was a live band and we could sit around drinking beers and smoking some hookah. For this hookah, we got cappuccino flavored. I can’t really decide if I liked it or not, but it had a distinct cappuccino flavor which I thought was pretty cool. Anyway, the plan was for us to hang and eventually get some food there. None of the stuff there looked particularly appetizing, so we just sat there and drank one-too-many Bali Hais before calling a taxi home. Earlier in the day, Brad and Cory had wanted to grab some McDonald’s at the mall, but the only McDonald’s at the mall served only ice cream treats (not a rare occurrence at Indonesian malls). So Brad had the play of the night by asking the taxi driver to stop by a McDonald’s on the way back to his place. I lasted almost 7 weeks in Indonesia without getting any American fast-food (sans the KFC that the school has provided for us twice). But I do have to say, the BigMac and fries were very tasty (pictured below).

Day 14 — We slept in on our last day in Malang. We didn't have to be back to Brad’s place until 5:00pm to catch our ride to the Surabaya airport with Ryan (who was flying out at a similar time on a different airline). For lunch, we went to the local golf club where there is a very nice restaurant tucked into a gorgeous little area (pictured below).

The food there was terrific and it was a great way to sit back and relax with two good friends. It is crazy to think that I have known Brad since the UNI Fair, and that we never get to see each other because he is in East Java and I am in West Java. It is also crazy to think that I have known Cory for just under 2 months, and that I have been able to bond so well with him and experience so many awesome things in our short time together.

Cory and I got into the car that was going to shuttle us to the Surabaya airport and settled in for a long night of travel. The countryside around Malang is amazing. The city is surrounded by mountains, and the scene got even more beautiful on our ride to the airport (pictured below).

We got to the airport very early. We arrived around 7:00pm and our flight wasn’t until 10:30. It was another good chance to chat with Ryan and get to know him and his story a little better. We parted ways right at 10:00 and headed for our gates. Ryan’s flight had no trouble, but Cory and I were not as fortunate. Our flight ended up being delayed until 12:30am. The flight on the way to Bali to begin the trip was on time and the seat was plenty big enough for me to sit comfortably. Our Lion Air flight home was delayed and may have been the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been on an airplane. It was only a 1 hour and 20 minute flight, so it was nothing that was unbearable, but it certainly made me happy to be home when we finally got back to our apartment shortly after 3:00am.

I know I sound like a broken record player, but I am so blessed and so fortunate to be in the situation that I am. I have been surrounded by amazing people and been able to see a lot of amazing things in Indonesia, so far. I was skyping with my mom the other night and I told her, “Mom, this is crazy. I only get to do this (what I have experienced so far) 11 more times. I can’t believe 2 months have already passed.”

It is back to business in Jakarta, now. I was spoiled only teaching the first 3 weeks of school before a 2-week break. Now, I have 7 weeks of doing what brought me to this amazing country before I depart on my next adventure. As always, thank you so much for reading and keeping up on my whereabouts. It means so much to me to have everyone’s support while I am here.

God Bless!

Lebaran Holiday: Part II of III

Hello, friends. I just got back to my apartment after a fun one-day trip to Singapore to finish up my work visa. There will be a separate blog post (with lots of pictures) dedicated to my day in Singapore in the near future. Until then, I hope you enjoy reading about my time on the Gili Islands.

Day 4 — To reach the Gili Islands, you either have to take a slow boat (ferry), speed boat, or be Burt Reynolds or something and have a helicopter. We took the speed boat. The boat ride takes almost exactly 2 hours and got pretty rough at times, but nothing too bad. The speed boat had an area on the roof where you could sit during the trip. Nate and I thought that this was a tremendous idea and started off the trip up top (pictured below).

They did warn us that we might get wet. However, we got drenched. I was still, stupidly, in my jeans instead of shorts. Overall, it was still worth the rush of being on top of the boat and the cool views we got from up there.

As we start to, and do, dock in Gili Trawangan*, this is what we see (pictured below).

*There are 3 Gili Islands off the northwest corner of Lombok. Lombok is the island directly to the east of Bali (pictured below: map). The 3 Gili Islands from west to east: Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air. Gili Trawangan is the busy island where there are parties at night and lots of restaurants. Gili Meno and Gili Air are much more reserved and more-or-less couple getaway spots.

The only thing that Bali had on Gili T was that Gili T’s beaches were very rocky and there was a lot of washed up coral. There were still some solid beach spots and it was a tremendous place to nongkrong (chill/hang out) for a week (pictured below: me on Gili T’s beach). In the picture below, the mountains in the background are on Lombok. Very cool view.

We got to our hotel and the people there were super chill. Suh was the guy who ran the place and he was a great host. He and his staff were very friendly and nice the whole time. Eli, Nate, and I went walking around that afternoon and found a place to play some table tennis. I used to joke in college that I was only good at 2 things in life: FIFA and ping pong. I have only lost 1 game in Indonesia so far—to Nate. He is good competition. Very solid player with a style similar to mine. Once the school year becomes more routine, I hope that he and I are able to sneak down during some periods we both have off to play some table tennis during the day. Nate and I engaged in several battles during the week. I came out on top, but he is a worthy opponent and we had some good times around the table.

Day 5 — Not a whole lot to report on Day 5. Amy, Bardley, and I all brought our own snorkeling masks, so we went into the water and did our own mini-snorkel. Saw some decent coral and some decent fish. In the afternoon and evening, a few of us went to a bar and had some beers while relaxing. The whole gang wanted to go to this large market area for dinner, but I had seen a place advertising “Gili’s best fish and chips.” For some reason this had stood out to me and I wanted to go try them. I accompanied the group to the market where I had a lovely appetizer with the rest of the group (pictured below: grilled corn on the cob coated in buttery goodness that surely took no less than 4 days off my life).

After the group sat down for their meal, I headed up the main road to order the fish and chips. We all know how this goes: you build something up in your mind to a level where it never lives up to hype. Well, this was the rare time when it still exceeded my expectations. They were fantastic (pictured below).

I met up with the others after the meal at a bar and we saw the start of the big Muslim parade that was taking place that night. That day was the last day of Ramadan and the Muslims on the island had a big parade. The parade lasted all night, including screaming children from the mosque speakers going non-stop until about 3:30am. Around 2:00, I went out and talked with one of the hotel staff. What are they saying? What do they keep screaming about? His response, “Oh... Allah is good. Allah is big. You know, the usual.”

Day 6 — Nate and I had seen a bunch of places on the main drag that will take you snorkeling on each of the 3 islands for 100. rupiah (remember: the “.” replaces the “,” so that is 100 000 rupiah or $10). Nate had never been snorkeling before and I am a huge fan, so the two of us went out on our own to snorkel for the day. It was a great time (pictured below: me on the boat; Nate climbing into the boat).

The snorkeling was fantastic. The first spot, off of Gili T, had some great coral and some beautiful fish. The second spot had a really cool drop-off where you could see coral that was about 3 or 4 meters below you and then a fairly steep drop to darkness. I did not see any turtles at this site the first time we stopped there on this day. A few people in our boat said they had, so I was a little disappointed I did not. The boat stopped for lunch on Gili A and, by popular demand, we stopped again at the place where the turtles had been spotted on the way back to Gili T. I saw two different sea turtles on this dive and it was awesome. One turtle was swimming directly below me (about 3 meters) for a solid 3-4 minutes. Very cool. Nate got right up to one of them and had a great experience for his first time snorkeling.

We met a couple different pairs of girls that were really cool: one pair from the US teaching in South Korea and the other pair from London. We also met a French family (there was an unusually large percentage of French people on Gili T) on the boat and their son went underneath the boat so those on the boat could see him through the glass bottom. I thought it looked cool, so I snapped a pic. I then got the family’s email address and sent them the photo right then and there. Nothing outstanding, but just a cool reminder of how awesome technology can be (pictured below: French kid who was insanely good in the water).

Day 7 — Bardley and I decided to go walk around the south tip of Gili T on Day 7. The island is small enough that it would probably take about 3 hours at a casual walk to get all the way around. Bards and I decided to go down to the southern tip and just kick it for the day. I am very fortunate to have met Brad (I just feel bad calling him Bardley so many times). He is a great dude that I randomly met at the UNI Fair where I got the job with BBS. I had his number from the fair and we were able to text each other questions/concerns we had about the upcoming move. We also found out that we would have been totes BFFs in college if we had crossed paths sooner. We enjoyed each other’s company during the afternoon and enjoyed a peaceful spot to chill and talk (pictured below: Brad nongkrong).

For dinner, we met up with the rest of the gang at an Italian restaurant. A pleasant surprise was the 4 additional BBS friends that joined us that evening. Jeremy and Kasandra are married and had been traveling with Aaron and Trevor in Bali. They were in Gili T and we were all able to meet up and enjoy some fantastic Italian food. Eli and I split lasagna and a pizza. The pizza was out of this world. It was “double-baked with feta, ham, and spinach.” The top of the pizza was similar to a domed crust and inside was all the amazing toppings. It was similar to a calzone, but definitely deserved to be classified as a pizza.

Day 8 — After doing the southern part of the island with Brad on Day 7, Nate and I decided to do the northern part of the island on Day 8. The northern part of Gili T was very nice. The beaches are not nearly as nice as they are on the southern part, but all the good snorkeling was on the northern part of the island. Nate and I enjoyed some more quality time together and we were able to randomly bump into Amy and Kavitha for lunch. In the afternoon, the 5 of us (Eli joined us mid-meal) went to a very cool spot where you could smoke hookah and just lay on some pillows to relax (pictured below: beautiful view from the hookah bar). Hookah has never really been my thing, but it is a fun social activity and the double apple mint combo that we got was very tasty. We sat there and just relaxed for a couple of hours.

After showering at the hotel, we went to see the sunset on the south part of the island. I had heard about how beautiful the sunsets were there, so I made it a priority to see the sunset on Day 8. I had been on Gili T for a while and it was time. The images were straight out of a travel book (pictured below; #nofilter).

Few things beat a great sunset, and this was the best sunset I have seen yet. Adding to the experience was the fact that I was there with amazing people. Aaron (from Tennessee; first person I met in Chicago at the airport) joined us for this. Aaron is a great kid who is a lot of fun to be around. Trevor (from Toronto; just all-around great dude) was there as well. It was really nice to spend some time with Trevor because he is teaching in Bandung. Aaron is with me in Jakarta. After the sunset, the beach bar we were at had a guy do a “dance” with two balls of fire beside a large bonfire (pictured below). He did some cool stuff, but mostly it was a guy waving fire. That will always draw a crowd.

By recommendation of a girl that Cory met on the island, we went to a Thai place that was off the main road for dinner. She said that it was the best fish curry she had ever had. We went there and the food took forever to come out*. It was worth it, though. The curry was phenomenal (pictured below) and Nate came through big-time by having a pack of cards on him so we could be entertained while waiting on our meal (pictured below from left: Aaron, Nate, and Trevor playing cards).

*We had become accustomed to food taking a while. I would guess that 45 minutes was your average wait time for a meal on the island. The Thai place took over an hour and a half.

Now that I am reflecting on my trip, it is hard for me to say which days were better than the others. Each day was amazing and had amazing people involved. Each of these days are unique in their own way and I am very fortunate to have been blessed with great experiences and great company.

Day 9 — Nate and I had talked about doing snorkeling again and we got Aaron, Bradley, and Eli to join this time. The route was the same (no turtles, though) other than a spot off the coast of Gili A (pictured below: cool graffiti on Gili A).

There, was a scene straight out of Finding Nemo. Just incredible coral that continued forever. There were some fish there, but the real attraction was the amazing colors and different shapes of coral. I’m not sure if the coral was better than the coral I saw in Cozumel with my family, but it is definitely worth discussing (pictured below: Bradley underneath the boat).

On the boat this time we met 3 really chill German dudes. I talked a lot of soccer with one of them. We talked about different stereotypes and how we perceive people from different nations. He said that in Germany the main nation they like to “pick” on is England. I asked him what they like to make fun of British people for and he said, in the most perfect German accent, “Their girls are ugly.”

For lunch, Brad and I went to a nice Indonesian place on Gili A. Our waiter got confused when I was talking to him and thought that I said I was from America but my mom was from Indonesia. He said that I looked mixed and that he would believe that I was half Indonesian. Between this and the Shia LaBeouf comparison, I am genuinely concerned for this country’s future.

For dinner we went to the place where we had gotten hookah and ordered Indian food. I had never had naan before. It was delicious. Their curry was very good as well, but not as good as the Thai place. After dinner, we had a few beers and then called it a night. Just another great day with great people in paradise. I am so blessed.

To see how my vacation ended, check back on Saturday for Part III of III.