TravelWithHeather.com

Yesterday I embarked upon a trip to East Java with a group of expats who live full-time in Bali. Following domestic guidelines for COVID-aware travel, we started out in Bali and will do our entire trip by car. There are 6 of us total.

I’ve inserted a few photos of the actual trip so far.

Updates will follow, but here is the itinerary:

(Copied from David Metcalf – note we left one day later than on the itinerary):

“OCTOBER 22 – 29 2020 – 7 NIGHTS 8 DAYS

OCTOBER 22

Depart Ubud at 8 am and drive 3 hours to Gilimanuk Port, West Bali.

Arrive at the beautiful Solong Hotel in Banyuwangi at approx 1 pm for lunch.

After lunch, we head to Baluran National Park, East Java where we will be met by our local guide who will tell us about the fascinating and unique savanna land of this park, which is home to 150 species of birds and other wildlife including the wild peacock, the Javan leopard, the rare Banteng and Java mouse-deer. The beach is pristine (bring your swimmers) and we will visit the mangroves.
We will catch the sun setting over the surrounding volcanos and see many features of this extraordinary landscape.

Back to the Hotel for dinner and our overnight accommodation.

OCTOBER 23

Up early for the sunrise over Bali, which we can see from the grounds of the Solong Hotel.

Then we head to Mancur fishing village to meet the Madura fisherman and see them return with their catch from the previous night’s fishing. This is a very colourful, fascinating scene and a great way to start the day.

Back for breakfast and check out around 12 noon.
We then head to the De Djawatan Forest – plenty of time to photograph these unique and unusual trees.
Onto the Alas Purwo National Park where we will stay for the night in a local homestay, and catch a beautiful sunset on the beach.

Overnight in Homestay.

OCTOBER 24 :

Alas Purwo which means ancient forest is a very unique and special National Park.
It is Java’s largest reserve that looks like a misshapen club foot. The area is most known for its gigantic Sawo Kecik trees which grow to a diameter of 1.5 metres.
This area is known to have special spiritual energy and many locals come and spend weeks in the meditation caves in this area. We will spend the day here.

Overnight in Homestay.

OCTOBER 25 :

We leave after breakfast and head further along the coast to Sukamade and the Meru Betiri National Park.
There are leopards in this park and magnificent hornbills which nest in the tall trees around the edges of the valley.

We will stay on the beach in a homestay and will be up early to watch the female turtles lay their eggs on the sand. If we are lucky we may witness a giant turtleback who lives in this area and often appears.
We will learn about the turtle conservation project.

Overnight in Beachside Homestay.

OCTOBER 26 :

Leave late morning and head up to Mount Ijen where we will stay at the beautiful Taman Gandrung Terakota Resort, with unique terakota dancing life-size statues in the rice fields.
The resort is located on a cultural and artistic preservation heritage site, which is surrounded by not only rice fields but the mighty Mount Merapi, Mount Raung and Mount Ijen the owner of this resort, Mr Sigit Pramono, is a retired banker from Jakarta and a professional photographer.
He has put his heart and soul into supporting the local Osing community and his great passion is keeping the traditional dance and music traditions alive – hence his terracotta statues which number around 400.
This is a very unique place. One of the highlights of the trip will be to witness one of these special Osing dance performances at the resort and learn more about the traditions of the Osing people.

OCTOBER 27 :

A day of cultural activities including the traditional Gandrung dance performance.

Overnight at Taman Gandrung Terakota Resort

OCTOBER 28 :

Up early at 3 am to head up to Mount Ijen to climb the volcano and return to the hotel around 12 noon.

The hike to the top takes around 2.5 hours, and we will witness an incredible sight as the sun rises over East Java.
It feels you are on top of the world.
There is the option of hiking down into the crater to see the famous “blue flame” for those with lots of stamina.

We will meet the quarry and sulphur workers as they make the daily return trip to fill their baskets with Sulphur rocks.
Those baskets can carry up to 80kg, so be respectful when asking to take a photo.
They are busy at work.

We then visit a nearby waterfall and relax at the hotel and discover more of the surrounding area.

Overnight Taman Gandrung Resort

OCTOBER 29 :

We leave the hotel after breakfast and head back to Bali arriving back in Ubud around 3 pm

October 14, 2020. Honestly I don’t know where to begin. 2020 has been a cluster fuck of massive proportions – personally, and for the world. Once the pandemic was declared, after I had my first existential crisis of said year, I thought I would be writing a lot about what was happening, how I was feeling about it, etc. etc. etc. But what the fuck actually happened???

In early January I was finishing a trip around Europe with a man/ friend/ unidentified partner of sorts. We did a whirlwind “drive by” tour of the bigger cities and sites of Germany, Spain, France, and Italy. It was great; it was difficult; it was boundary-stretching, exhausting, exhilarating, and so much more. He is Australian, so we watched with horror from a distance as Australia burned with wild fires (how long ago does THAT feel???).

I arrived home to Bali January 12, and news of “The Corona Virus” was starting to spread. It seemed like it could be something big, but it took a while to gain traction. At the end of the month I turned 51, feeling the best physically I had in my life, and grateful for so much. 2020 was looking like a busy year for weddings, I’d just taken a once-in-a-lifetime trip. I looked forward to traveling to the US to celebrate my parents’ eightieth birthdays at the end of July, and to spending a week with my nephew in Atlanta in August. Life was interesting and full of promise. Looking like the year would be busy, and getting more so.

In late February I met a man who took me completely by surprise. He was here in Bali for a vacation, having moved himself and his son to Australia from England for his son’s “working holiday” year. He planned to move back to Bali in April, and we planned to see each other. I was very excited about him and getting to know him better.

March came and our virus was named “COVID-19”. It was declared, by Imperial College of London, to be a potential super-killer. Worldwide travel ground to a halt. In Bali, we were asked to make our yearly one-day “no one out of the house” holiday into two days. International flights were stopped. Domestic travel halted. I panicked a bit, but realized that Armageddon was in reality probably more than a year or two out. I stocked up on dog and cat food, gas for the stove and motorbike, drinking water, frozen foods, and cans of tuna. Bought 4 kilos of coffee…

Plan A for work for me in 2020 was to continue to be a wedding celebrant. Cancelled. Plan B – my rental house in Colorado. Basically cancelled. Plan C – the stock market. Plunged. Again, panic, but not complete despair. My rent in Bali was paid until January 2021 so I had a roof over my head. My new love interest and I decided to keep going in a long-distance relationship, believing truly that June or July would mark an end to the “closed borders” madness and allow him to get to Bali.

At some point during this time New Zealand and Australia completely shut international borders, albeit in different ways. Lots of foreigners had to leave Bali for fear of being “stuck” here – most of our governments recommended that if we could get back to our countries, we should do so. Many foreigners also left fearing that Bali’s medical system could become stressed to the point of collapse under the pressure of COVID-19. Much of this fear was generated by bad information, as it still is today….

Conversely, mentally, something incredible happened to me. For the first time in about twenty years, I truly rested. Even though “fight or flight” was under the surface and threatened to rear its head every once in a while, I was relaxed. My soul felt refreshed for the first time in SO long. I was positive, full of hope, looking forward to the future, knowing that everything would resolve and be okay. I did a TON of mind and body work – physically and mentally I became the strongest I’d been maybe ever.

May came and went, and Bali remained relatively untouched by COVID-19.

June came and went. Same. We were wondering why we were waiting here on a deserted island for life to begin again in the world. Lots of businesses closed their doors.

Then in July Bali re-opened to domestic tourism with little fanfare. Sometime in here the governor of Bali proposed a “re-opening” date for international travel on September 11th (yes, an auspicious day in many ways, including on the Balinese calendar). Domestic tourists came, and were promptly blamed for bringing COVID-19 with them as Bali’s COVID numbers increased. More businesses closed.

Then August…. September 11th was looking like a pipe dream. COVID-19 cases in Bali went up a lot, but hospitals were not over-strained. More businesses failed and closed.

September 11th came and went. Meanwhile lots of foreigners had to deal with uncertain visa statuses, confusing information from visa agents and immigration. Immigration closed completely for a week or so due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in the offices.

But visas were sorted, and people who wanted to get to Bali badly enough were beginning to see options for how they could do that… for a price. My “significant other” was finally going to be able to join me Bali – but by then he had found someone who he wanted to pursue in Australia. All of our together plans went “poof”! (Thanks heaps, 2020).

Mid-October. I’ve maintained my physical and mental health against all of the odds. I’m still sober (more than 500 days) with no intention to drink any of my daily challenges away.

In the eight months I’ve basically been “stranded on a deserted island”, I’ve actually accomplished a lot:
1) I’ve been taking twice-weekly Indonesian lessons. Speaking is still difficult, but my knowledge of Indonesian is growing.
2) I’ve committed to helping my pembantu Putu’s little community survive, and have fund raised about 50 million IDR from my beautiful friends from around the world to help provide them with food packages.
3) I’ve read a million books, and listened to hundreds of hours of podcasts. Self-help, news, true crime – you name it. I’m a podcast junkie.
4) I’ve researched the hell out of the stock market, and done decent job making some money trading. I’m not going to be rich any time soon, but I’ve learned a ton and am 90% sure that I won’t ever be broke.
5) I’ve maintained my mental health. I’ve taken some online courses about relationships and attachment styles; addressed some personal trauma and difficulty; learned how to control my thinking (most of the time). I’ve come OFF anti-depressants and not needed to go back on them.
6) I’ve maintained my physical health. I had some menopause-related challenges that I’ve tackled with the help of an amazing doctor. I am still working out 4-5 days a week. I’m walking the dogs on the beach 3-4 days a week, 4-8 kms. All three of us are in great shape!
7) Dixie has gone from a “no way” motorbike rider to a pro. So I can now get her AND Evie wherever we need to go, on my own, no stress.
8) I’ve fostered eight kittens. The original five have been adopted (unfortunately we lost Tenacious Teddy). Three are still with me and wreaking havoc on my office.
9) With the help of some amazing colleagues, friends, and new friends/ colleagues, I’ve started (just barely) Bali Kids Klub, my dream after-school activities center.
10) I’ve come up with a new business idea for Bali, and proposed it to a friend who is enthusiastic about it. I think we can get that go somewhere, but it’s going to be a lot of work upfront. What do we have but time?

It’s looking like weddings MIGHT return to Bali second quarter, 2021, but we can’t be sure of anything. Like the rest of the world, we continue to wait for “what’s next.” I don’t think any of us ever dreamt this crisis would last so long, nor affect the world so much.

To me, there are many silver linings in this crisis. An ironic one that I think about most is that it seems that COVID-19 has decimated mass-tourism as we knew it. Having participated in mass-tourism in Europe in late 2019- early 2020, and living in it in Bali for the last nine years, I cannot say I am sad about this. I hope what emerges in its wake is a kinder, less crowded, more socially and environmentally aware tourism. We have an opportunity to learn and grow from this experience, and I certainly hope that we take advantage of that opportunity.

March, 18, 2020.

I unlock my front gate and step out into the gravel street. I look to the right, uphill towards the rice fields. And then down and left, to the abandoned temple construction site. There is no one around. Though I’m relieved on the one hand about that, I’m also worried. I have no idea who has survived and who has not. I’ve heard birds and dogs in the streets in the last few weeks, but I have not heard any human voices. I’m not sure what has happened to my neighbors.

I turn around and lock my gate behind me. In my backpack I have a bottle of water (dirty, from the bore), what cash I put aside before the event, a useless credit card, my i.d., passport, and cell phone and charger – even though there is no service and the battery is dead. I have a small grubby towel, a toothbrush, and some soap. Of course, my face mask. I’m wearing my running shoes, long pants, a hoodie and a hat. I’m hoping to be mistaken for a little boy – that is, if I see anyone. My clothes are filthy – there’s been no electricity or water to wash clothes for as long as I can remember.

After weeks of rationing, I’ve just finished my last cans of tuna and beans. With no water or electricity, the rice and pasta I bought in preparation for this time is useless. I need to look for food before I get weak. I know I’m too thin, but I didn’t step on the scale before leaving my house. It’s just too depressing.

I walk down the hill towards the main road when I start to smell and see my neighbors. They are down on the ground, seemingly where they died. I don’t know if they died of the virus, of starvation, or of a combination of the two. Their houses look bombed-out and looted. I keep walking with my head down, only seeing what the brim of my hat doesn’t block.

The Pecalang see me walking down the hill and they motion for me to stop. I freeze in my tracks and raise my hands, not sure what to do next… I want to cry for joy that there are live humans around, but I’m not sure if I should also be afraid. They approach me…

On March 18th, Dixie State University history professor Jeremy C. Young tweeted:

The Imperial College team plugged infection and death rates from China/Korea/Italy into epidemic modeling software and ran a simulation: what happens if the US does absolutely nothing — if we treat COVID-19 like the flu, go about our business, and let the virus take its course?… Here’s what would happen: 80% of Americans would get the disease. 0.9% of them would die. Between 4 and 8 percent of all Americans over the age of 70 would die. 2.2 million Americans would die from the virus itself… It gets worse. People with severe COVID-19 need to be put on ventilators. 50% of those on ventilators still die, but the other 50% live. But in an unmitigated epidemic, the need for ventilators would be 30 times the number available in the US. Nearly 100% of these patients die. (https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/influential-coronavirus-pandemic-report-read-a-summary-of-the-staggering-projections-that-moved-us-government-to-act.html)

This projection was reported on a morning news show that I watch regularly. I kind of half-heard it on my way out the door to go to the gym, and it triggered me. Wow, did it TRIGGER me!

The scenario above sprung into my head on my ten-minute motorbike ride to the gym. If this virus could take down the US in this way, what could it do to the rest of the world? How might it affect my beloved Bali home? I am NOT a fearful person, and I don’t have apocalyptic ideations. In fact, that was my first and last.

Thankfully, I had been learning about and practicing some mind work, so I was able to back out of this ideation by entertaining the following questions and thoughts:

1) What is the chance of this REALLY happening? Pretty much zero.
2) If it were to happen would it be in one week? No. Two months? No. Six months? Maybe getting there. A year? Two years? …. okay, could POSSIBLY happen by then. But still not likely.
3) All I have to do is get through the next week or two. Then things will be clearer. Then I can stock up on what I need to, or not. Then I can make plans for the future…

I went and worked out for an hour, which always calms me down. But over the course of the next week I found myself creeping into pre-panic attack territory. Again, I used my new mind work skills, and I walked my way out and down.

In the days before Bali’s yearly day of silence, Nyepi, March 25 this year, the local government asked us to take an extra day after the holiday to stay home. To stay put not one day, but two.

Meanwhile, some Balinese gathered in very large pre-Nyepi ceremonies – of course photos of these were splashed all over social media. Some Banjars held only closed small prayer meetings. Local authorities were pretty much given license to govern their Banjars as they saw fit.

And many foreigners – both in and out of Bali – went CRAZY “predicting” that all those Balinese who had gathered together in prayer would be sick and would make the rest of us who live here sick in no time at all. “SHAMEFUL!” people yelled. “They need to do it like they are doing it in other countries!” “Just wait – you will see!!!” And we waited. And waited. And waited…

It’s now May 16th – two months after I first had that apocalyptic vision – and here are the statistics on COVID in Bali:

4 people have died
3 new cases today
346 total cases
243 recovered

Here again, critics say that the statistics are underreported because of lack of testing, and they are correct. But what’s been amazing to witness is how the local governance system in Bali has worked to mitigate this crisis.

But this is not my point.

Nyepi, our yearly day of silence, put me into a kind of calm space that’s difficult to describe. After feeling so worn out and fatigued for the two months before (I suspect I came back to Bali from Europe with a very mild case of the flu), I finally was feeling physically rested, and mentally at peace.

Being a natural introvert, spending time alone at home is not a new thing to me. Nor has it been a hardship. Here in Bali we have a lot of freedom to move around and do our daily activities. Social distancing has been suggested since March, as have masks and vigilance about hand hygiene. These measures have been mandated more and more as the desa asli (original villages) of Bali move to protect their villagers as well as the foreigners who live therein. There is limited movement between other islands and Bali, and into Indonesia from other countries. However, the return of Indonesian workers from overseas has resulted in quarantines (some effective, a few not) and a few new cases. Every day there are a couple of “local transmissions” of COVID as well. But none of the doom and gloom predictions for our island have come to fruition. The nay-sayers STILL bang on, “Just wait!!!” And we do.

I’ve used this time to calm my brain. The peace of Bali is as I would imagine it was 30 years ago, before mass-tourism arrived. (I could describe the decimation of the local economy that’s happening, but that’s something for another time…) Birds are singing. The skies are BRIGHT blue, as air pollution has been all but eliminated. Traffic is a dream.

The Balinese are worried, but not panicked. Indonesians from other islands who are still in Bali are maybe a bit more worried, being far from home and their families, but again, they are not panicked.

I was “warned” by my government to return “home” when the pandemic was declared. But Bali IS my home. Where am I to go? Who will care for my animals? What about my life and business in Bali? When might I be able to return?

I chose to stay put, and so far I’m very happy with that choice. I feel safe; I’m involved in a small effort to provide food relief to locals; I’m keeping an eye on my business (optimistically re-scheduling weddings for next year); and fostering kittens.

What is actually going on here with this pandemic? What exactly is COVID? What is the “proper” way for governments and the world to react to it? When and how might we move out and forward from this crisis? There are so many questions. And yet the only truth is that time will tell.