Family Rendezvous, Cobras, & "Ocean Herpes".

Dear Wilson,

Today is the day. We take a boat to a tiny island called Ceningan. It's a 1 hour boat ride across the ocean from Bali. Chris, Larrel, Lilly, Finn, and my mom, all are flying to Bali today. They meet us tomorrow on the island. 

We arrived on the island and road in the back of a truck to the “yellow bridge”. This bridge is only wide enough for walking and motorcycles. So we walked across to ride in another truck. Finally arriving to our Airbnb. Once we arrived, I realized that this may be the farthest away from home I will ever be. That's a feeling that is hard to describe. Is it a good thing? Maybe, depending on the moment and how you think about it. We are… well… way the fuck… The house was super nice and definitely had the island vibe.

The next morning was much anticipated. Our family was arriving to see us. Honestly it's just a super cool feeling when you know they are only moments away. Almost feels like it's going to be a mirage or something. Just a few more minutes and they should arrive. 

Then we saw the “truck”. It's quite special to see people you love show up in such a far away land. Such a breath of fresh air. Holy shit. People we know and love. There they are. They speak English too as a bonus! Wow… That was a very special moment for the 5 of us. The official first rendezvous. We honestly needed that after about 70 days without seeing a soul we knew. I will truly remember that moment forever. 

The island of Ceningan seemed like the "perfect" remote island to meet family. It was beautiful and the people were very kind. The food was… well ok, it was fucking terrible… Also, we had a few small issues, lol. A few nights in and there was a HUGE brown recluse spider in Chloe and Brandts room. Since I was born with a penis, I was voted to be the "spider killer". Lucky me… I did successfully kill the spider after missing the first swing with a flip flop. I had to chase it around the room a bit. Super fun to chase an 8 legged death machine around the room on a remote island by the way… Kill successful… 

The very next afternoon, we are walking to the outdoor living room area and Erica yells "snake"!

I run over and see about a 12" long snake. Again, I am the chosen one to "relocate" or "destroy" the snake. I elected to try to relocate it. While attempting to do this it went into a tiny hole under the house. This was unsettling since we had kids and a baby. I didn't know what kind of snake it was. We took a few pictures of it before it got away. According to google based on the location, it was most likely a King Cobra, Spitting Cobra, or rat snake. Hmmm…. So 2 out of 3 will kill you. I still figured it was likely a rat snake though. What are the chances I see a cobra in the wild right by the living room after all? I wanted the snake out of the hole so I heated up some water till it was almost boiling and poured it in the hole. 2 minutes later, out comes the snake. Yeah, that was a genius move, I know… lol. I tried to scoop the snake up with a rake and then the snake raised up with it’s “cobra” hood. At that point , the verdict was out. It was DEFINITELY a cobra. Pretty scary to see even though the snake was tiny. I wasn't sure if it was a spitting Cobra so I decided to quickly kill the snake with the rake. After it was dead, based on better photos, I'm 90% sure it was a spitting Cobra. Pretty crazy. I'm not scared of snakes but it's nuts to see something like that especially knowing that you are soooooo far away from a hospital. That was the last of our deadly creature adventures on this island. A little scary but good for the blog haha. 

Oh, I forgot to mention one thing. Remember that beach we went to in Bali where I scraped my legs on the coral from the waves? Yeah… So the day I got to Ceningan island, I noticed a knot forming on my leg with a sore in the center. It got progressively worse very quickly and created quite a bit of pain. On day 2 I went to a doctor on the island. By the way, the “highest rated doctor” on the island had an office in a shed in his backyard. I can't make this up. Cars are not allowed on this island so I took a motorcycle across the “yellow bridge” to another island about 20 minutes away. When I arrived, it was a residential home. A lady motioned to me to walk to the shed. I walked in and a man met me inside. Such a crazy experience… The doctor cleaned the sore and gave me an antibiotic and sent me on my way.

Before I touch on some of the negative things, I wanted to mention was a very special experience Erica and I had. One of the days we were on the island, Erica and I saw a boy dancing on the side of the road. I had noticed this boy one time before when I was on my way to get some drinks on the motorcycle. He was about 8 years old and just seemed so happy just dancing on the side of the road. He was selling jewelry and assorted handmade objects. I guess dancing was a way to draw in bypassers. Anyway, we took a ride on the motorcycle about 5 minutes down a road specifically to patronize this boys makeshift shop on the side of the road. We pulled up and he was so happy to see us as if he knew us. As we browsed the shop (about a 6’ wide table), his mother walked up. She was so sweet and thanked us for stopping. They did not pressure us at all, which was rare in Indonesia to be honest. We asked about a few pieces of jewelry and the mom modestly mentioned that she sells this stuff so her boy can have items for school. I have been to a lot of places and I understand the hussle in 3rd world countries. However, this lady and her son were different. They were so fucking genuine. I knew she meant what she said. Weirdly her words were not spoken to sell to us. She was just telling the truth. I don't know. It was just a special moment. We picked out a few necklaces. One was for my dad that we thought he would like and we wanted a piece that represented the moment that we figured he would appreciate. There were a few animals carved out of coconut shells there. I asked the boy which one was his favorite. He enthusiastically said he definitely liked the sea turtle the best. He seemed so excited that we asked for his opinion. So we bought the sea turtle as well. We asked how much for everything already knowing the total based on the prices we saw. We were fully willing to pay full price so I pulled out my wallet. The lady said she couldn't charge us full price since we bought multiple items so she gave us a big discount. I told her we don't want a discount and paid the full amount. She and her son both thanked us in the most sincere way.  From their eyes I must be the richest person in the world. Yet they wanted to give us a discount to show their gratitude. Wtf… The entire initial transaction was only about $12 USD. At this point, we both knew the right thing to do. I handed the boy an additional tip. About $6 USD. They hugged us in the most genuine way a human can hug another. It was indescribable… This was not an act and we felt the emotion from both of them. I then proceeded to hand them another $12 USD. The mom teared up and thanked us profusely. They both gave us a lengthy hug. At this point, I can't stay any longer. I'm about to fall apart and then Erica completely loses it. We got on the motorcycle and rode away. Erica said “what the hell”. I know what she meant. The emotional experience we just had was intense. No one else will ever know how impactful that was. That little boy and his mom were sooooo special to us. I have a big regret, honestly. I should have gone to an exchange and gotten $1,000 and given it to that lady for her and her son. It just happened so fast and we couldn't handle staying any longer. Those 2 were the kindest humans in such a desperate situation. We had to hand them money, hug them, and ride away. The experience was so special for Erica that in the following days, she proceeded to get a tattoo of a sea turtle to represent the experience. So if you see the sea turtle on Erica's arm, that is why. These are the moments that make travel so fucking special. These moments come at random and are usually unexpected. I just wanted to share that experience. I can only talk about this in a blog. I wouldn't be able to discuss this in person. It's just too much emotion and I prefer to keep it bottled up in text form. Just being real. 

Ok, next topic. Come to find out it wasn't a super great idea to come to this island for a few reasons. (Even bad ideas are worth it just to be clear. That's the beauty of travel.) No cars or golf carts are allowed on the island. That meant motorcycles only. Motorcycles are great for 1-2 people. Not so great for a group of 10 with kids though. Also, the food was terrible and it was just too isolated with no practical means of transportation. So we elected to leave the Airbnb 4 days early and stay in Bali. We wanted to go back to Canggu beach where we had stayed before we went to this island. Plus the antibiotics were not working and my leg pain was getting worse pretty fast. 

We arrived in Canggu, Bali. I'm so glad we did. I went to see a real doctor the next day. Not a fun experience but it was necessary. I won't go into detail but basically they cut open my leg and squeezer the fuck out of it. Then he prescribed the strongest antibiotic that was available via pills. Yeah, not fun. He said if what he did wasn't effective I would have to be hospitalized with stronger antibiotics with an IV. Long story short, the procedure worked. Ok, enough about that. Basically the moral of the story is to NOT get “ocean herps” as I called it. The rest of the trip we all joked about ocean herpes lol. 

Aside from better medical care, we got to enjoy the amazing beaches again. We all had so much fun in the insane waves of Canggu beach. I highly recommend this area if you come to Bali. Just don't get “the herpes” haha. 

Anyway, not much else to say about Bali. Just thankful that we got to see our family and spend time at an awesome beach. 

Note: I feel like this blog and maybe the previous blog was somewhat boring for readers. I think from here on out, I will just give a summarization of our destinations. I will probably give personal thoughts of overall travel and feelings. Basically I'm just going to give more genuine personal thoughts from my viewpoint about life and travel. The destinations are honestly very similar from an experience standpoint and no need to keep talking about similar experiences. For the sake of not being repetitive or boring, I will try to change my approach for the remainder of this trip.