Tag Archives: Travel

Travel, to the ends of the Earth

Interlude: Rice Terraces of Bali

August 21, 2013 Jonathan Lee 1 Comment

Indonesia is known for its rice paddies, and the rice terraces of Bali are especially famous. It’s really cool, how the Balinese people have taken a hillside, transformed it into a series of flat rice paddies, and then built a massive irrigation system to keep it all watered. The irrigation system of the terraced rice paddies are noteworthy enough to have been designated a UNESCO world heritage area!

There aren’t really any stories to tell about visiting the rice paddies (other than my two Swiss compatriots constantly telling dirty jokes), so enjoy these photos of the rice terraces of Bali!

This is a photo-filled and text-light post.

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Travel

Travelogue: Traveling around Bali

August 19, 2013 Jonathan Lee Leave a comment

While staying in Ubud, I hired a car and driver, and spent some time traveling around Bali, all for $35 per day including gas. Split with my two Swiss friends, that’s about $12 per day to be driven around to wherever you want to go, much cheaper than taking a pre-arranged bus tour.

Our driver was great fun too – his full-time job was actually managing an IT / electronics shop, but his brother (who managed our homestay in Ubud) roped him into coming to give us a tour and traveling around Bali. Surprisingly, it was the first time he had toured Bali, so he had a whole ton of fun.

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Travelogue: Ubud, Bali

August 16, 2013 Jonathan Lee Leave a comment

After entirely too much surfing in Kuta, I took a break to Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali. Whereas Kuta is filled to the brim with surfers and drunk Australians, this city is a more laid-back destination, with lots of European tourists.

As a result of Eat, Pray, Love book and movie (where the heroine comes to Ubud to practice Yoga and find love), this city is also filled with 30-some women fleeing from a midlife crisis and trying to find meaning in their life. I had the pleasure of chatting with one Californian gal who boasted of practicing Yoga with the very same Yoga instructor mentioned in the book, and I got the impression she had a really bad case of midlife crisis. I wonder though, was my own trip also inspired by a midlife crisis of sorts?

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Personal Reflection

Reflection: Expanding Horizons by Traveling

August 14, 2013 Jonathan Lee Leave a comment

It’s a well worn cliche, how traveling is great at expanding horizons, but I’m realizing just now how true it is.

It’s that scene from Good Will Hunting, where the professor feels at peace after realizing that even though Will has his genius and book knowledge, he has no real experience. As a graduate of one of America’s top universities, you think you’re one of the intellectual elite. Working in finance, you think you’re on top of the world. Safe within your shell, surrounded by like minded people, it’s hard to not feel like you’re on a great path in life, hard to resist feeling superior to all the other plebs.

But when you’re traveling as a backpacker, you meet people from all walks of life, each with their own story, their own hopes, their own skills. And you realize, there’s no metric you can possibly use to compare lives; people are going about their lives in a way completely alien to your pre-journey self.

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Travelogue: Kuta, Bali

August 11, 2013 Jonathan Lee Leave a comment

After my quick stopover in Singapore, I hopped on a last-minute flight to Bali, where I made a beeline for the backpacker mecca of Kuta. Twenty years ago, in the ’90s backpacker world, the most famous backpacker destinations were the three Ks – Khao San Road (Thailand), Kuta (Indonesia), and Kumatra (Nepal).

Since then, resorts, shopping centers, and restaurants have sprung up like weeds, making it into a general tourist destination, especially amongst Australians, but it’s one of the cheapest and best beginning surf spots in the world.

And like a moth to the flame, I came to Kuta.

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Travelogue: Singapore

July 31, 2013 Jonathan Lee Leave a comment

Singapore, the Lion City, food capital of Asia and a three-day stopover on my travels. Here, I planned getting myself some Singaporean / Hainanese Chicken and Rice, buying myself a Kindle, and waiting for a cheap flight to my next destination – Bali, Indonesia.

Six years ago, I spent Spring ’07 in Singapore on a study abroad program, and while I had a damn good time, if I had a chance to do it over, I would have spent more time exploring Singapore and its surrounding countries, not just on my computer playing computer games.

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Travel

Travelogue: Malacca

July 28, 2013 Jonathan Lee 1 Comment

After getting tired of the shopping in Kuala Lumpur, I hopped on a bus to Malacca (Melaka), the other UNESCO world heritage site in Malaysia. Malacca has a reputation amongst backpackers as being very boring, only worth a one-night stopover, but I found the city to be quite enjoyable and beautiful. A pity it was somewhat lacking in accommodation, or I would have stayed longer than 3 days before heading off to Singapore.

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Travelogue: Kuala Lumpur

July 25, 2013 Jonathan Lee Leave a comment

From the Perhentian Islands, I set off towards Kuala Lumpur, the (shopping) capital of Malaysia. Being a backpacker, I don’t have space for shopping, so I contented myself with enjoying some pretty amazing food (not as cheap as Penang, but more variety) and seeing some of the cultural landmarks.

Here’s a cool model of Kuala Lumpur:

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Travelogue: Perhentian Islands

July 22, 2013 Jonathan Lee

After finally sating my appetite in Penang, I took an overnight bus and ferry to the Perhentian Islands, a pair of islands with amazing scuba diving off the coast of northeast Malaysia.

The Perhentian Islands are beautiful and relatively untouched by civilization, but very touristy. Whereas places like Koh Tao have a good mix of local industry and tourism, the Perhentian Islands have only tourism – and so everything is about 50% more expensive than it should be. Absolutely beautiful, though!

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Travelogue: Penang

July 19, 2013 Jonathan Lee 1 Comment

For my first stop in Malaysia, I stayed for some time in Georgetown, the capital of Penang. As the northwestern-most state of Malaysia, Georgetown is right next to Thailand, and quite accessible once I left Thailand. As a UNESCO world heritage city, Georgetown has a lot of history!

But the real reason why I stayed more than a day in Penang, is that it is the hawker food capital of Malaysia! While staying at an amazing guesthouse near Chinatown, I discovered this huge hawker center near the guesthouse, and resolved to stay until I had eaten every single food at the hawker center.

I stayed here for an entire week. When you can get two or three delicious dishes for about $3 USD, it’s hard to walk away.

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