Furniture and Fini

My sister decided she wanted the furniture, so I got another driver and went back and bought it – that was stressful, but now that it’s in the new apartment it looks great, and I want some Indonesian furniture for my own new apartment! Of course, I don’t know when or where or what that will be, and I already have a lot of rugs to incorporate, so I am getting way ahead of myself.

Ubud is also known for the walks that you can take from it – I did part of one of the ones recommended in the book, past a temple with a lotus pond, a bridge, another museum (this one the home and studio of a painter named Blanco, a.k.a. The Dali of Bali) and a little village. Had lunch at Casa Luna, another renowned restaurant; this time nasi campur, a mini-rijstaffel with five little dishes.


How do you get ready for an overnight flight that leaves at 1:00 am? Maybe with a massage, body scrub and body mask! At least that’s how I did it, and it probably helped. Back for more reading on the sleeping platform, a repeat dinner at Three Monkeys, and again, some sadness at the thought of leaving. I know I have a tendency to say I want to return to every place I visit, but in the case of Bali, it was a stronger tug than it was for the others. As opposed to I’d like to go back, I hope to come back. I loved it there.



I had the driver who had take us on the excursion and driven me to Ubud drive me down to the airport – relationships matter; I knew he’d be there to get me. Leaving was not easy emotionally, nor was it easy physically. I had picked up a few things here and a few there and when it all came together, I had to expand the suitcase, but everything fit. Not good enough for the staff in the Bali airport – instead of just paying for an overweight bag, I had to buy an additional bag at the airport and redistribute the weight (I was far from the only person doing this). Heavy-duty cloth bag (orange – back to reality soon enough, when orange is a Princeton color) but not a sturdy one, and no lock – I had to figure out not only what would fit in there and what would be enough to lighten the load but also what I could live without seeing again if I had to – it would be on one flight, would sit by itself in Osaka airport all day, and then be on another flight. Had I known, I would have mailed things back from Bali, but I thought it would be all right to wait to mail it from Hawaii in the good old U.S. mail. I precision-spent my money, too – I had just enough for that bag and the departure tax. Once it left my possession, though, I ceased worrying about it – after all that good will and happiness, I wasn’t about to change my mood! It was all in Allah’s and – is Vishnu the preserver? – then Vishnu’s hands. And once I stopped worrying about the luggage, I also stopped being sad about leaving – returning, or traveling elsewhere, is also in the hands of the fates. And sure enough, when I got to Hawaii it was all there.

So ends Southeast Asia – so ends Asia, since I’ve already talked about my day in Japan. December 5 to January 14, five and a half weeks - It was long enough for the kind of trip where you travel to a bunch of places, but not long enough to really experience it – I found myself wondering how and when I could get back there, and I guess the Universe figured out a way for me to get back there for another six months. We’ll see if post-Philippines travel in the region is to come. It was a great way to celebrate the end of my Peace Corps service as well as my birthday – but I didn’t do too much reflection, because I knew that the adventure was going to continue – an entire additional adventure (or set of further adventures) awaited in the United States!