Jump. Fly. Land.

The Stories of This Vagabond

Friends and Luxury

Hi Gram,
Another day in paradise! I woke up early this morning to pack my bags and prepare myself for the afternoon. Today, we checked out of this hotel and headed up to Munduk. But I’m getting ahead of myself. After my productive morning, I headed off to brunch with David, Mark, Amy and Matthew. The restaurant was more than walking distance, so I grabbed my helmet and hired a Grab scooter – similar to Uber back in America, but you can get a ride on the back of a scooter instead of in a car. They have car options, too, but I opted for the scooter this time. I don’t know how these guys make any money. The ride cost me around a dollar, maybe less, for someone to drive over, pick me up, carry me to my destination, then go along his way, all while maintaining his equipment and keeping it fueled. I’ll often tip where the tip has been more than the cost of the ride.

We all safely reached our destination, a nice little cafe tucked back in some lush landscaping. Matthew and Amy were already seated and welcomed us to their little hideaway. The next few hours were full of authentic conversation, delicious food, beautiful backdrops, and attentive service. Matthew and Amy eat there a lot, so the staff know them well and just bring the dishes that they’ve refined over all of their visits. The time flew quickly, but we had a driver meeting us at the hotel, so we all said our goodbyes and headed back. My driver took me back through the monkey forest along a walkway meant for pedestrians – a very common occurrence in Bali – which added a whole new layer of excitement, dodging branches and monkeys while we navigated past scooters and pedestrians coming the other way.

With my heart still racing, we reached the hotel where I had just enough time to grab my suitcases before the cars arrived to take us to Munduk. Our friend Shaun has been in Indonesia for a few weeks, originally for a diving trip, but he hurt his ear on one of the first days of diving. He’s filled his time with tours and side trips and had just flown back to Bali this morning. He and a driver that he’s been using for the past few weeks picked up our other friend Leelama, then headed to grab Mark, David and I at our hotels. They had a whole fun day planned for us on the drive up, which included a lot of sightseeing and eating.

Our first stop was a chocolate factory, although there was no chocolate being made there. I think it was more of a chocolate outlet store, with many different flavors and varieties. We each sampled many options, compared our opinions with each other, then bought some for the road. Back on the road, we had switched occupants of the cars, which led to different conversations on our way to the next stop. We pulled into a big multi-story glass house restaurant that had decent food and many instagram photo opportunities. We sat at a large wooden table with benches, looking out at a mountain in the distance and watching all of the staged photos going on all around us. It was really entertaining watching people line up for their turn to have the “random chance” picture taken. After finishing our meal and wandering the grounds a bit, we loaded back in the cars and headed along our way.

We stopped at a picturesque overlook of twin lakes for some more photos before getting to the hotel. Holy crap, let me tell you about this hotel. Mark, Shaun and I reserved rooms here but David and Leelama got rooms at a place down the road. There were either 4 or 5 villas total, looking out over rice fields towards a mountain in the distance. On the way to the villas, we passed an infinity pool looking out over the same rice fields with a deck on which to sunbathe. Once I got to my villa, I could hardly believe it. This was a small apartment, not just a hotel room. The dining room table could easily seat six people and was carved out of a single hunk of wood, as were the benches. The kitchenette had a cooking range, refrigerator, and sink. The living room looked out floor to ceiling french doors that I dared not open. There was no balcony or railing out there, just open the doors to nature and a ten foot drop. The bathroom had an enormous shower and beautiful fixtures, and the bedroom had its own balcony with floor to ceiling windows and doors. I was blown away at how grandiose and opulent it felt, without being garish or “too much”. It was just a simple, well done, well appointed villa that didn’t leave me wanting for more.

I snapped out of the spell and unpacked, then walked into town with Mark and Shaun. I don’t think they’re used to visitors up here, because everyone waved and said hello. The few kids that we saw ran up and waved and wanted fist bumps, and everyone was just friendly. We each got some cash and groceries, then headed back to our place. We checked out Shaun’s place for a bit, talked about investing vs speculating on stocks, then I went back to my villa. Knowing that I had a gorgeous view out my window with no other buildings in sight, I turned off all the lights, opened my curtains all the way, and crawled into bed so I could wake to a sunrise over the rice fields.


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