Bali. Unlike much of southeast Asia, Bali has been on my travel radar for as long as I can remember. In my mind it was a romantic place, a shangri la, where people got married and honeymooned. A place of incredible beauty, full of culture, paradise. Though I wasn’t expecting all of the above, it is difficult to uproot preconceptions once planted. I had heard enough times that Ubud was over touristed and seriously lacking any resemblance of true Balinese culture. But people still flock there, there must be a reason, right? Continue reading
Author Archives: Jessica
From Java to Bali: A Culture Shock
Ubud, not Kuta, of which I took no pictures.
I lived in L.A. before coming on this trip. While I wouldn’t say I enjoyed Beverly Hills or West L.A. In general, minus the beach and excellent food of course, I had grown accustomed to witnessing the over the top lifestyle that prevails there. But I wasn’t prepared for Kuta. Continue reading
Downtime in Yogykarta
Sitting in a cab at a traffic light, I’m watching the red numbers count down from an impossibly high number while the meter spins mercilessly upwards. We haven’t had many bad days, if any really, but today, today is a bad day.Who has two minute red lights anyway? It started at 3:45am when we woke up for our flight after a sleepless night thanks to our dorm mates drunken debauchery, then barely making our flight despite leaving earlier than our hotel recomended.The day spiraled from there, with an accumulation of small things made large by their temporal connection. Continue reading
Getting Scuba Certified in Koh Tao
Koh Tao, in Thailand’s gulf is the second most popular place in the world to get scuba certified (behind, naturally, Australia). Though it is a tiny speck of an island thousand descend every year, many for the world class diving. It’s also absurdly cheap (almost half of what most US certifiers cost). So, I forgo the postcard perfect beaches one associates with Thailand to finally get myself scuba certified. Continue reading



