Episode #200 - Bali

Welcome to the Mastering Midlife podcast where we talk about all the crazy fun things that happen when you are a midlife mama. I'm your host, Heather London. Ola guapas. One thing I love the most about traveling in Southeast Asia is like I don't even really brush my hair or anything like that. What's the point? Like there's so much

humidity here and s and you're in the ocean, the salt like it's just there's no point. You just have like beach hair all the time and it's okay. And I wear the same clothes all the time, not gonna lie, because nobody sees me the like and I'm not seeing the same people. And I bought some merino wool, so it means like you don't have to wash it for a couple of weeks and it doesn't smell. And I just brought a teeny little suitcase. So I am loving these parts.

of my travel journey is like I am super low maintenance and I don't even care. I just put my hair up in a ponytail or not even. It's just so wonderful. I love the chill.

So when I last talked to you, we were just leaving Singapore. And going into the airport, I was just so happy to go to the airport and I'm never happy to go to the any airport because it's always a thing. And I was my stomach was a little off. I think from all the food that I had.

um, in Singapore, which again was like twenty different dishes and amazing food and my stomach was a little bit off and I'm like, I just need some toast, like bread and a hot tea. And there was a little stand and it was called like Toast and tea. th like Singapore always delivers and they I had a little thing of French toast and the local tea with some of their milk and I felt better. But I love hanging out at the airport there. It was it's like a dream. So from there

I went to Bali. Now this is one of the places where I was gonna stay for a long time, but I had heard that Bali is very much um Overdone. It's so busy, so many people, beaches are dirty, beaches are crowded, that kind of thing. So I wanted to pop in there and just see what it's about. Because I've heard so much about it. And and then I thought I'm gonna go to another of the islands.

But I have to check out Bali just because I've heard so much about it. And Bali is the way it is because it's a um really high Hindu state so the people that live in Bali are mostly they mostly follow Hinduism, which is the law of karma. So you get that type of person which is Whatever you put out comes back. And so those are really kind, awesome people. And that's different than the other surrounding most of the other surroundings.

um islands are Muslim, which is they're very kind too and they have their own philosophy, but it makes for a different experience. It really does. And none is right or wrong or better. There is just different and I wanted to experience that because most of the places I've been have been highly Muslim. So I wanted to experience that.

And I wasn't even gonna go to Ubud. Like I'm staying away from the main cities because people are like, it's crazy there. And so I wasn't gonna go to Ubud, which is in the very center, but People kept saying, It's magical, it's magical and when I was in Cambodia, I met this really cool Chilean guy. And he was like, you know, when you meet people and you're just like We are so the same. Oh, I forgot to tell you about Ah, see this is the thing when I wait too long to

post these is I forget all these cool stories. But I'm okay. I met this really cool Chilean guy who was just leaving, literally, and he's like He had just been in Bali and he's like you have to go to Ubut, it's the most magical experience. And because we were similar travelers, had the same ideals and stuff, I'm like, okay, I'll go there for two nights just to see what it's about. As in the mountains and normally I'm a beach person. Um

And I'm trying to stay away from the busy spot. So I went there purposely because of him. And I was gonna go there for two night.

Now, I'm gonna pause there and I'm gonna tell you a cool story about Malaysia because when I was talking about the Chilean guy, he reminded me of this guy that I met in Malaysia. Now I had the best hotel there. There was okay, I wa This is such a funny story. I was in my hotel and they're like, Hey, there's this pool.

Go see the pool. And so I went to see the pool and on the in the elevator up there was this really nice guy and he's like, Oh, are you going to the gym? I'm like, There's a gym? He goes, Yeah. He goes, I'll show you where the gym is. I love that I'm showing you around because he'd been there for a couple of days. So we went to the pool.

And the pool is an infinity pool and it all lights up at night and you can see the city and at the very end of the infinity pool there's this old church and all you can see is the lit up big fat cross at the end of the infinity pool and then it's like lined by these gorgeous palm tree. It was just the most beautiful and I'm not a pool person, but I swam in that pool

every night. And the guy's like, Oh, and also there's a sauna I'm like, What? This place just keeps getting better and better. I never would have known there was a sauna He goes, It's kind of like a secret, but it's in the girls' change room over there so you can check that out And so He just like made my day by giving me all these bonuses. So when I was in Malaysia I worked out every day and I went for a sauna and then I swam at night and it was just so magical and it was funny because

Um when I went into the sauna, there was one girl in there. And I sit down and I'm like, hey, how are you? And you know, I'm trying to feel she was Are you Heather? I'm like, what is happening right now? How do you know my name? She goes, Oh, my husband said that uh to watch out for you of watch out for my new friend Heather. You might see her walking around the pool or something like that. So this was my friend Alexa's wife, and so every night I would see her, we would do the

And I would see her. And um such lovely human beings. They're so kind. And it's funny, the reason he popped into my brain is because he um he's a Buddhist. And I'm like, that's why he's so kind and lovely and instantly a friend. Like just oh. So anyway I had these friends in Malaysia but I would they were my hotel friends so I would hang out with them at night when I'm working out and swimming and that was a f so f that hotel was really

That was a wonderful experience. Anyway, so back f fast forward back to we're going to Bali. And so I fly into the airport and then you gotta drive. Like to drive, it's like 30 kilometers, but it takes an hour and a half. Because of the traffic. There's one road, there's two lanes, one going each way, and it's bumper to bumper the whole entire way. And I keep waiting for it to kind of like thin out a little bit and it just never does. Like this is Anyway we get into Uba And the guy drops me.

at the end of a street. There's a there's only one street and he's like, Okay, I can pull in here really quick, this little tiny alley he's like, but you gotta walk to the end and just follow the signs and ask people along the way how to get to your little hotel. It's like a home stay, so it's just like A house and a and a room and a house.

And so that's where the adventure starts. You get out and you just stalking down the alley and there's all the little vendors selling all their stuff and they're like wanting you to look at their stuff and then you just see a little sign and then a little arrow and it's like you're you're on a an adventure for sure.

And I finally find the place'cause there's like four of them all together and you can't tell which is one and which is the other. And they're so lovely when you arrive and they show they show me to my place in my little room, which is super cute. But it's like I have this thing when I was I think traveling in Africa, West Africa, when I went into like the dungeons where all the slave trading happened and that it had a certain smell to it. Like we're talking like mold, rock.

uh cellar like that kind of dungeony smell and this had that. And a lot of places here kinda have that because there's so much moisture. So there's a lot of mold.

And it's you can't help it, you just gotta keep the air flowing. But this one really smelt like that, like it just was triggering something in me and um But the people there were really nice and in the morning they would bring you a breakfast on your little balcony and there the thing about Bali and I get it is like there's so many temples and rice fields and just it's beautiful.

But when I went to explore there was literally that one road and cars zooming up and down like non-stop traffic and the sidewalk was like teeny tiny little sidewalk and it was just like vendor vendor vendor vendor vendor and there was nowhere to go and I instantly was like Heart attack Cydia, I have to get out of this place. So

I went for a walk in because when I oh I forgot forgot to tell you all this this other story. It was so cool. See us I As I tell one story. Another one I remember from when I was in Singapore. I had done all my tours and that and I'm like, I want to go to the rooftop and have a drink and look at this beautiful city because at night it's just gorgeous. So I went to this really nice rooftop where you pay like twenty five

And um I was sitting by myself and another guy was sitting by himself. So I just chatted him up and asked, Thank could I sit with you and talk? And he so he would just he had just come from Bali, uh from Ubud. And so he He said I I asked him, Where's your favorite place to go? and one was um this little cafe. And so when I was there I looked up Cafe.

And so when I was walking through the rice fields, I purposely found this little cafe and you sit and you have a little tea or something and you're just looking at rice fields. It was so peaceful and beautiful. But I had found that out from the night before from this guy that I just met on the rooftop of Singapore and he was from

Germany Anyway, and just all these people laughing and talking and the the waiter there, this old guy, he just kept chatting me up and he was so sweet and so I had ordered this drink called the Purple Wave. They make this really cool drink and then there's purple foam with a with a dried mango. It was like a delicious. That was my$25 drink. It was delicious. And the glass, it was so cool. And he just kept he's like here.

You have this purple wave and you're gonna be surfing home. It's gonna be so strong and you're just gonna love it. And this guy, the waiter was so lovely. But it was just such a wonderful experience. Like the way that now I'm talking about Singapore rooftop, like just what you would imagine, like a whole bunch of people hanging out, laughing, having a good time, people with a whole bunch of money, all these rich people.

It's exactly what you can imagine and it was awesome and I just went by myself and made a friend and then just looked at as the sun set, just the lights came up and the city was absolutely gorgeous and beautiful. So It was really a fun experience. I forgot about that in Singapore. How I went to I just had to see the nightlife, like a three sixty view and and they do it upright.

It was amazing. It was really cool. And also in Singapore there'd be like all of the Indians, they would just uh sit on the ground and eat their dinner, like in groups, just on the ground, wherever it was. It was like a cultural thing. I'm like, whoa the heck is happening here? Like every culture has its different things. It was really quite a bit. Okay, so um that's why

That's how my uh like a lot of the times when I'm traveling I talk to people who have been where I've been and I get tips from them. So that's why I ended up in this little cafe by the rice field.

uh eight T E I G H T eight T and you just have your T and you look at the rice feels so cool. But I couldn't get out there fast enough. I left a day earlier. I'm like keep the tomorrow's thing and I want my money back. I just gotta get out of here. It was so I felt so overwhelmed. Like out of all my travels, I've done a lot of things, being in Ubud was the most overwhelming and uncomfortable thing I've ever experienced.

So I'm like I gotta get out of here and so I was headed to Sunor which is uh on the east coast, east south because it's it's not a busy place in Bali, so I purposely picked this because it's not busy and they have a little tennis. So I went, I got a drive. And I went there and I'm like, oh, this place, at first, it it grew on me. I didn't love it at first.

But then it grew on me and I'm like, oh I really do like this place. The thing I didn't like about Sonora like it's it's they call it Snor because there's not a lot going on, but there were a lot of people there. There were a lot of tourists. The whole beach is lined with a walkway, like a whatever you call it, promenade or whatever. So you can walk end to end on this promenade, which is beautiful. You can rent a bike and you can bicycle all the way up and down. So I love that.

But the beach itself is dirty and you can't really swim like seaweed and it's not the nicest beach to swim in. Like you can't get you could surf but you've got to take a boat out to get to the surf.

So the I didn't love the beach for like swimming every day. You just kinda go in and duck down, like it only goes up to knee high and you duck into it before the seaweed and so it's not the best swimming experience. So I didn't love that. And the beach was dirty and there's lots of dogs. When I was sitting uh like there's the restaurants all along so you can watch the sunset, it's beautiful. And when I was sitting, um

having a drink, watching the sunset, I saw this dog pee on everybody's bag at least four times. It was just'cause there's dogs running around everywhere. So that was a real turnoff. That just grossed me. Um and you get hassled a lot. The women there, like that are my age and older, they're really hardcore, they're tricky, like they're they have their nice smile and they're like, Hello madame everybody says Madame'cause the French influence which is

Instead of like, Hey lady, Madame is always like seems like a nice respectful thing. Where are you from? Oh What's your name? Like to get you in with that conversation. They're experts at it. They're expert sales ladies. And then we don't want to be rude and they know that. And then like come and look at my shop. Come and look at this one lady. When she was relentless, she's like, Come look at my shop and then um I went to look at our shop to be polite.

Which was my mistake. And then I'm like, I don't want anything but I've bought all my stuff and l and then she just gets mad. Then they're like, Oops, not nice anymore. I'm like, These ladies are cutthroat. Like they they reel you in with their kindness and then they just like cut you off. when you don't buy anything. So I really like Sonora because

they had a tennis center there. They had that beautiful long promenade. Lots of restaurants. It was I really it grew on me, like I said. I ended up staying there for like maybe four or five nights and I changed places. Um walkable, bikeable. And All of a sudden in the middle of the beach you're walking along, there's this huge massive mall.

two years old Icon Mall. It's brand new. It's got anything you could ever possibly want. It's like going it's like being in Singapore, like this huge high-end mall with all the food court stuff with all the Unique Lo and Vans and like all the rest

brands man and a movie theater. I went to a movie because I love movies and it hadn't been a long time. And then a movie theater there and I went there and I you buy the popcorn and that and he's like, go your seat, I'll bring it to you. And I'm like, what what is even happening? I felt guilty, came and You know, been down, brought me my popcorn and anyway that was a good night'cause For when sometimes you're tired of

being international and travelling, you go to this mall and it's like being in back at home and it has everything that you could ever possibly want, including air conditioning. So It was really it's like a dichotomy of like traditional Bali and then Western world. Like just so strange. But they also had

some great restaurants, they had uh work co-working places and then my favorite the reason I went there is because they had League of Tennis and I went to sign up for tennis. I'm like I'm gonna stay here for a week and I'm gonna do tennis lessons every day.

Now I got there on a Saturday, and so Saturday and Sunday I was just emailing trying to reach out to them. So I didn't take a lesson. That was my mistake. I should have gone there right away and got On Mon they're like on Monday we have this ladies thing and you do an hour lesson and then you play.

What level is it? And she's like, We don't let beginners in so it'll be like, you know, intermediate. So I went and they were all beginners. It was not good. Like I did some drills, whatever, and then we played Well it was not good. They were all beginner.

And then the next day I had my lesson. So I had this one lesson with a guy named, with a kid named Boy. And again, he was so positive, gorgeous smile, so kind. And he helped me a ton with the one-hour lesson. But I liked that. I wanted to stay there and take more lessons. Um but I had already planned to move on because when I first went to the first time.

like this or not. But it did grow on me. I did like it. Um the only thing I didn't like was the actual beach, like I had said. But they have everything else you could possibly want. fire shows and any kind of restaurant, all the foods, lots of activ Oh, here's a funny story. When I was at my first place, I'm like, how do I get to tennis? And it I could see on my global uh or my um on my Direction place.

I can't remember what it's called right now. I could see that um my Google where it was like oh it's only like a 13 minute walk it's not far I'm like okay I'm gonna walk it And I walked and I'm like, oh this is easy. I could ride my bike because the lady lent me a bike there. I'm like, I could do this every day and ride my bike. But then right before the tennis place, there was this busy street and it was actually a bike.

There's no lights, and if you know the traffic in anywhere in Southeast Asia, it's like fast, fast, fast, go, go, go. There's no lights, there's no stopping. And so there was one little break like in the barrier in between. And I'm like, damn, I gotta get across this. It's two lanes. Hundred miles an hour, nobody's stopping, you gotta you gotta frog her to the first thing and then the direct the traffic's going the other way and then you gotta frog her across.

And hope for the best. And I was trying to like run beside a motorcycle so that I didn't get run. I'm like, how am I gonna do this with a bicycle? I couldn't do it with a bicycle because

Like if I'm running at least I'm more agile but with a bicycle I'm like this is never gonna happen. So it was like I took my life in my hands to get across it and it was the tennis center was like right across from there and there's no overpass, nothing. So when I was at the tennis center, which they were so lovely And you get a free coconut after you play and oh it was so good. I loved it there.

But I'm like, how do you get across here? She goes, there's a light down there at McDonald's at the McDonald's. But when you walk down, so I'm like, okay, I'll go back that way because that seems like safer. I don't want to die going to play tennis. So I walk down it. First of all, you're walking like there's no sidewalk. You're walking like right on the little shoulder of the Bible. And

Cars don't go in lanes, they just go like across, like five across. So you're taking your life in your hands. It's coming from behind, so I can't see who's coming at me. and there's no sidewalk and cars are parked right along there so sometimes you gotta go into traffic to get around it and where where you walk there just all of a sudden drops off and it's like a sewer, a big, huge, like four by four square sewer just drops off every every like

twenty feet or something like that. It is insane. And that took like a ten minute walk. So again, I w took my life in my hands to to like walk back. I'm like, I can't do that. This is insane. So what I did was Because I really wanted to play tennis. I just hired a little um, you know, when you get a grab, like an Uber here, it's called grab or go jump, you just do a motorcycle.

and you hop on the back of a scooter and it costs a dollar and they just zip zip zip zip they do all the hard work and you just close your eyes and hope for the best and that's how I got to and from tennis because it was like See in my brain I'm like, oh that's close enough. I can walk because that's what I feel like. I'm lazy if I don't walk. But then it's like that's dangerous. I'm taking my life in my hand.

this way I'm giving somebody a job and I'm getting there safely. So I would I would do that. I would just jump on the back of somebody's scooter and and go there. So Senour really did start to grow on me after a while and I'm like, oh I could stay here. Maybe I could find a better part of the beach because the beach was so long, I'm sure there's at least one good part where you could go in and swim and not feel like icky or gross. Um so I did like Seneor. I did. I felt sad that I was

leaving, especially for the tennis part, but that was the main reason why I would stay there. Um and then so then from there I was planning to go to my next location. So

That was an adventure in itself. When I was planning to do this, I'm like, how do I get from this island to this island? I'm going to the island next to it. And they're like, you gotta take a boat. But the boats crash all the time. So you wanna get on the big ferry'cause it's the safest one. So that's how my adventure started is like, how do I get on this big That was a ten out of ten adventure. I loved every moment. I'm sure like there was so many other cool things that happened but

You can see as I'm telling one story, another one comes back because I'm like, Why did I go to this place? Oh, it was that guy I met on the rooftop in Singapore. Like it was just so like that's how the adventures happen. Like I'll in I'll tell you about the story about how I met other people when I was going to my next destination. But I'll leave it at there. I'll leave it at that for there because

Um right now I'm in an I'm in a resort and I don't go to resorts so it's like a one day and it's hell like how how do people go to resorts? It's just a pool. There's nothing to do, big like lots of Breakfast, all you can eat, all these cool things, and that, but it's like not, it's just not my jam, and so I thought I'll catch up on my podcast because. I'm at a resort. I don't know. Why do how do people do this?

torture for me. Anyway, but it allows me to catch up. So I hope that you found that highly entertaining and that you feel like you're coming on the adventure with me and I want you to be like, what's the next adventure? What did she do next? Because the the next adventure has already And I'm just trying to catch up on it, but we're getting there. Anyway, I will tell you next time. So thank you for listening. As always, love yourself first and have an amazing day.