Tidbit of Surprises in Ubud, Bali (Indonesia)

After a two-hour bus ride (a coaster, really) from Kuta, rolling through rice paddies, hills and artisan shops, I arrived at an almost deserted bus station in Ubud in the Gianyar regency of Indonesia. I somehow felt disoriented, but there was a map on hand. I walked, reluctant to take any tuktuks. Along the way, chanced upon a pond filled with lotuses, surrounded by a golden field of rice. It was little piece of rural Philippines, with specks of differences. After all, I don't have rice paddies beside my house, nor a pond brimming with flowering water hyacinths. 

In the middle of the pond was a fountain that no one seemed to notice... but me? The wonders of Ubud in stages of surprise.

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The Cute Puppy From Vang Vieng (Laos)

ລູກໝາ

The second time I visited Vang Vieng - population 25,000 - was on the month of September. I was curious if the sedate atmosphere was still there: backpackers too lazy to think outside alcohol; floating along the Song River on a tube, a dash of hashish in the fray, and just letting their hair down. I opted to stay this time at one of the riverside hotels which was far nicer than my previous Vang Vieng guesthouses. How times have changed indeed. I don't scrimp too much anymore since I've learned to get comfortable with the monetary exchanges and foreign expenditures. 

I had to cross the suspension bridge again, pay a minimal fee for doing so, and headed to the village just across. This part of town was quiet and fewer tourists stay in this area. Then I encountered a playful puppy who, after a few coaxing, walked over and had his belly scratched! It was the cutest thing.

While I adore dogs (I grew up with half a dozen dogs roaming inside the house at anytime during my childhood), I have learned to steer clear from them during travels because some of them aren't the warmest creatures, even without provocation. And Laos, particularly Savannakhet (south of Vientiane), has oodles of these unfriendly strays.

Meanwhile, Vang Vieng, situated between Viantiane and Luang Prabang, is gradually losing its relaxed atmosphere with the influx of more tourists. In a couple of years, commercialism would totally pop the surreal riverside bubble. Isn't this sad? Probably not for the locals who will eventually benefit from this steady parade of fun lovers.

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Nam Song - the Song River - and Vang Vieng's dramatic Karst Mountains.

Cua Dai Beach - Sheer Isolation Away From Hoi An (Vietnam)

Hoi An, An Hoi, Cao Dai, Cua Dai. Chiang Mai. Chiang Rai, Chiang Saen. Don Det. Don Kho, Don Khong. Having fun yet?

Like many places in Asia, particularly Thailand and Laos, terminologies and nomenclature in Vietnam are essentially word plays, and sometimes easily interchangeable. But in the ancient royal city of Hoi An in central Vietnam, one could visit an island called An Hoi, just across the river bank, navigable on foot through a bridge. But that's not what I'm writing about here.

SHEER ISOLATION

Four kilometers northeast of Hoi An, situated in the Cam An area, is Cua Dai Beach which boasts of a surreal combination of raw beauty - golden sand as fine as powder, clean waters, spotless beach, wind swept pines, relatively inexpensive resorts, and the feeling of sheer isolation.

No one was there when I visited. You'd probably find visiting this beach essential after trying to exhaust your coupon system in Hoi An; an exasperating ticket system that, for 120,000 dong ($6) allows you to visit only 5 local attractions (one museum, one old house, one assembly hall, the handicraft shop or a traditional theater, and either the Japanese Covered Bridge or the Quan Cong Temple). They require these tickets for entry. After racking my brains deciding on which places to see and which to get rid of, I ended up buying 2 of those darn tickets. That way, I didn't have to decide which places to scrap off the list. How's that for being thorough?

Cua Dai, which literally means "big sea mouth", is easy to remember if you've visited that weird religious congregation near Saigon south of the country, the Cao Dai church. The 3-kilometer beach has moderate slopes and equally moderate waves, a curiosity considering the strong winds that rush to the shore in these part of town. I hired a motorbike taxi to take me there. "You could walk northward to get to Da Nang," informed my mild-mannered driver. If that was a suggestion, I'd say "no thanks".

Am not walking 30 kilometers from here.

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