I can’t really say how climbing Mount Rinjani, an active volcano, ended up being my one and only item while on Lombok. Honestly, doing something like this is completely unlike anything I would have done before. Read More
Author - Julian James
“Would you like to try something special?”
Wayan, the driver I had hired for my last day in Bali, said with a sly smile. Not quite sure what he was hinting at, and certainly not wanting to commit to something “special” sight unseen, I asked for a bit more info. Read More
If there was one thing that was clear from my brief time in Ubud, it’s that the people of Bali are very connected to their spiritual side. So it seemed like a worthwhile idea to do some wider sightseeing of at least a few of the many Hindu Balinese temples (referred to locally as “puras”) in the area. Read More
I honestly may have a problem when traveling someplace new, in this case the town of Ubud on the island of Bali. I just find it impossible not to land without some kind of preconceived romanticized idea of what a destination will be like. As you can imagine, this has a tendency to sometimes leave me feeling disappointed after I’ve explored around a bit. Not that I don’t like what I find. Quite the opposite actually. It’s just different.
So when it came time to start planning for Ubud, thoughts of rolling rice fields, healthful organic cuisine, and endless yoga studios began to dance around my head. All very relaxing.
Call me an optimist. Call me a romantic. Call me a…sucker? Read More
There was something about Stone Town that really drew me in from the moment I read about it. A cultural mishmash of crumbling buildings, all connected by a honeycomb of impossibly narrow alleyways. It sounded so enticing, so mysterious, so different than the cosmopolitan streets of San Francisco I had grown up around.
As soon as it was clear that we’d be traveling to Zanzibar, I knew I had to see it for myself. Read More