I had to debate with myself about whether to post my holiday romance here. Fears of losing opportunities with perspective girlfriends down the line make me reluctant to talk of past encounters. And I'm aware that writing about such things may only give enjoyment to me, not to the readers, so I’m afraid I may just be indulging myself.
However, as I’m aiming for honesty and openness on this blog, and since this experience was such a big part of my trip, perhaps the best part of my trip, I’ll share my experience and some videos which don't really relate to what I've written, but give you a feel for the place.
A couple of nights before Karol was scheduled to return to London, he and I were having another of our fast-becoming famous "convenience store parties". Oh, and for your information, a convenience store party is one in which you simply buy your booze from the convenience store and hang around outside. Talking to any people that visit or pass the store is the goal. I play music from my smartphone, Karol does his funny dance, and we both use tons of Irish charm to get a fun party started with other fun people. Convenient store parties are great because
A. They're super cheap
B. It's much easier to talk to people because there's no loud pub music.
C. And, uh, they’re cheap.
Anyway I digress...
So, we were having a convenience store party in Ubud, Bali and the party was really happening. We’d a few people drinking cheap beers with us, mostly Europeans. The convenience store workers loved us (I think) because we were strongly promoting their special 2 Bintang Beers for 33,000 rupiah. We were also sharing our hip flasks of Jameson whisky, so the following meeting I describe is based on hearsay and flashbacks.
A young Asian girl walked past us with a yoga mat. I started chatting to her and found out that she, Sujin, lives just a few blocks from me in Seoul. Quite a coincidence considering the size of Seoul and that she was the only Korean I had met in Indonesia.
After seducing Sujin with my seven Korean phrases, including “you’re pretty” and “more rice please sir”, she joined our convenience store party. Success!
Actually Sujin turned out to be awesome. She had been studying art at Hongik University (Korea’s best), but got sick of it, dropped out (almost unheard of to do that in Korea) and moved to Bali. She was renting a beautiful bungalow just outside Ubud, spending her days studying yoga, painting, creating new types of art (using sea salt!) and hanging out with friends in funky cafes.
We all drunk together that night and although Karol seemed to hate her (I suspect jealousy), I really took a liking to her. By the time Karol left for London two days later, we’d become close and Sujin let me stay in her countryside bungalow for the next week. Following three weeks of cheap guesthouses, home-stays, Karol’s snoring and Ronan’s tickling, it was heaven to move in with a girl.
The next week was one of the best I’ve ever spent “on the road”. The place she lives is so peaceful and relaxing; with a natural green backdrop as you can see in the video.
It’s rare for me to feel relaxed in the company of a person or people without taking time to myself or finding “my space”. But with Sujin I was totally content without it. Even the simplest things like having a healthy, organic breakfast and Bali coffee on the veranda were so enjoyable. My usual attitude of eat quickly and “let’s do something!”, dissipated to the point where I might’ve even seemed lazy.
We had no routine to our days, but always managed to do something fun. Yoga class, meditation class, hiking in the rice fields, visiting the great cafes and restaurants she’d discovered in the last four months, or meeting her friends.
We often spent evenings alone on her veranda drinking hot whiskies made with lemon, sugar, cloves, cinnamon and the final bottle of the Jameson. Relaxing to chilled beats like The XX or Gotan Project, we watched fireflies dance around the palm trees below us.
I struck up a friendship with the owner of a new, but cheap arung (family-run restaurant) in ‘our’ neighborhood. A passionate artist, like many Balinese, he had decorated his restaurant so that it was like a living room and the atmosphere was very cozy and welcoming. We dined there several times and he always came to chat with us, showing genuine interested in both Ireland and Korea.
Despite being only twenty-three, Sujin was contemplating opening a Korean restaurant/bar. Her plan also includes making her own makgeolli (korean fermented rice wine). Anyone that knows about my life in Korea will know that I am absolutely crazy about makgeolli. I drink it almost every day. It’s so cheap and healthy and tastes great.
She had a meeting scheduled in the south of Bali with a Korean businessman to get some advice. Upon learning of my interest in makgeolli, she invited me to join. I gladly accepted and we took an overnight trip to Seminyak, a popular beach-town. The meeting was very interesting and I might write about it later.
Following that we walked along the beach and promenade keen to do the beach bungee jump. But at over one hundred dollars, we decided not to. We visited a trendy Spanish bar/restaurant on the beach, and I mean literally on the beach, with funky big cushion-chairs to sit/lie/melt on while drinking beers and eating tapas to house music and the sound of waves.
After a few beers we found a cheap and nasty room and then headed out in even more nasty Kuta, the famous beach and party place of Bali. I’d been here at the start of my trip, but hadn’t experienced the infamous nightlife. For all the beauty, tranquility and warmth Bali has to offer, Kuta has none of it. Drunken people everywhere, horrible-looking bar-girls (of the prostitute type), drugs sold openly and lots and lots of dodgy-looking characters walking up and down the strip, seemingly looking for prey. We hit a few clubs and Sujin enjoyed the dancing, but I found it hard to relax or drink in that atmosphere.
We spent the next afternoon haggling for cheap sandals, enjoying lunch beers on the beach and swimming in the big waves. And then shared a “transport”- private taxi with a German family, the father of which had envious haggling skills and got us all a great price.
The great thing about Sujin was that although we basically spent twenty-four hours a day together for that week, I never saw a bad side to her. She never got annoyed, and there are plenty of things to get annoyed at in Bali, not least the ogling eyes of locals and their comments. I never heard her complain, show any negativity or put anyone down. It was very refreshing and naturally had a similar effect on me.
And she was a wonderful, caring host. Always good beer in the fridge, nice organic food; plenty of cheese and vegetables. And generous too, often picking up the bill in restaurants, including in our most expensive eatery (the Korean restaurant in Seminyak).
And although Sujin will live her life in Bali and I in many other places, I’ll always keep those fond memories.
However, as I’m aiming for honesty and openness on this blog, and since this experience was such a big part of my trip, perhaps the best part of my trip, I’ll share my experience and some videos which don't really relate to what I've written, but give you a feel for the place.
A couple of nights before Karol was scheduled to return to London, he and I were having another of our fast-becoming famous "convenience store parties". Oh, and for your information, a convenience store party is one in which you simply buy your booze from the convenience store and hang around outside. Talking to any people that visit or pass the store is the goal. I play music from my smartphone, Karol does his funny dance, and we both use tons of Irish charm to get a fun party started with other fun people. Convenient store parties are great because
A. They're super cheap
B. It's much easier to talk to people because there's no loud pub music.
C. And, uh, they’re cheap.
Anyway I digress...
So, we were having a convenience store party in Ubud, Bali and the party was really happening. We’d a few people drinking cheap beers with us, mostly Europeans. The convenience store workers loved us (I think) because we were strongly promoting their special 2 Bintang Beers for 33,000 rupiah. We were also sharing our hip flasks of Jameson whisky, so the following meeting I describe is based on hearsay and flashbacks.
A young Asian girl walked past us with a yoga mat. I started chatting to her and found out that she, Sujin, lives just a few blocks from me in Seoul. Quite a coincidence considering the size of Seoul and that she was the only Korean I had met in Indonesia.
After seducing Sujin with my seven Korean phrases, including “you’re pretty” and “more rice please sir”, she joined our convenience store party. Success!
Actually Sujin turned out to be awesome. She had been studying art at Hongik University (Korea’s best), but got sick of it, dropped out (almost unheard of to do that in Korea) and moved to Bali. She was renting a beautiful bungalow just outside Ubud, spending her days studying yoga, painting, creating new types of art (using sea salt!) and hanging out with friends in funky cafes.
We all drunk together that night and although Karol seemed to hate her (I suspect jealousy), I really took a liking to her. By the time Karol left for London two days later, we’d become close and Sujin let me stay in her countryside bungalow for the next week. Following three weeks of cheap guesthouses, home-stays, Karol’s snoring and Ronan’s tickling, it was heaven to move in with a girl.
The next week was one of the best I’ve ever spent “on the road”. The place she lives is so peaceful and relaxing; with a natural green backdrop as you can see in the video.
It’s rare for me to feel relaxed in the company of a person or people without taking time to myself or finding “my space”. But with Sujin I was totally content without it. Even the simplest things like having a healthy, organic breakfast and Bali coffee on the veranda were so enjoyable. My usual attitude of eat quickly and “let’s do something!”, dissipated to the point where I might’ve even seemed lazy.
We had no routine to our days, but always managed to do something fun. Yoga class, meditation class, hiking in the rice fields, visiting the great cafes and restaurants she’d discovered in the last four months, or meeting her friends.
We often spent evenings alone on her veranda drinking hot whiskies made with lemon, sugar, cloves, cinnamon and the final bottle of the Jameson. Relaxing to chilled beats like The XX or Gotan Project, we watched fireflies dance around the palm trees below us.
I struck up a friendship with the owner of a new, but cheap arung (family-run restaurant) in ‘our’ neighborhood. A passionate artist, like many Balinese, he had decorated his restaurant so that it was like a living room and the atmosphere was very cozy and welcoming. We dined there several times and he always came to chat with us, showing genuine interested in both Ireland and Korea.
Despite being only twenty-three, Sujin was contemplating opening a Korean restaurant/bar. Her plan also includes making her own makgeolli (korean fermented rice wine). Anyone that knows about my life in Korea will know that I am absolutely crazy about makgeolli. I drink it almost every day. It’s so cheap and healthy and tastes great.
She had a meeting scheduled in the south of Bali with a Korean businessman to get some advice. Upon learning of my interest in makgeolli, she invited me to join. I gladly accepted and we took an overnight trip to Seminyak, a popular beach-town. The meeting was very interesting and I might write about it later.
Following that we walked along the beach and promenade keen to do the beach bungee jump. But at over one hundred dollars, we decided not to. We visited a trendy Spanish bar/restaurant on the beach, and I mean literally on the beach, with funky big cushion-chairs to sit/lie/melt on while drinking beers and eating tapas to house music and the sound of waves.
After a few beers we found a cheap and nasty room and then headed out in even more nasty Kuta, the famous beach and party place of Bali. I’d been here at the start of my trip, but hadn’t experienced the infamous nightlife. For all the beauty, tranquility and warmth Bali has to offer, Kuta has none of it. Drunken people everywhere, horrible-looking bar-girls (of the prostitute type), drugs sold openly and lots and lots of dodgy-looking characters walking up and down the strip, seemingly looking for prey. We hit a few clubs and Sujin enjoyed the dancing, but I found it hard to relax or drink in that atmosphere.
We spent the next afternoon haggling for cheap sandals, enjoying lunch beers on the beach and swimming in the big waves. And then shared a “transport”- private taxi with a German family, the father of which had envious haggling skills and got us all a great price.
The great thing about Sujin was that although we basically spent twenty-four hours a day together for that week, I never saw a bad side to her. She never got annoyed, and there are plenty of things to get annoyed at in Bali, not least the ogling eyes of locals and their comments. I never heard her complain, show any negativity or put anyone down. It was very refreshing and naturally had a similar effect on me.
And she was a wonderful, caring host. Always good beer in the fridge, nice organic food; plenty of cheese and vegetables. And generous too, often picking up the bill in restaurants, including in our most expensive eatery (the Korean restaurant in Seminyak).
And although Sujin will live her life in Bali and I in many other places, I’ll always keep those fond memories.
1 comment:
absolutely idyllic! how could you leave?
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