Balibaba | La Isla Bonita, Nusa Penida

Where should I begin?  Ah Nusa Penida, a place so close to paradise.

You probably have seen these pictures on Instagram a million times already. Me too, but it was only when I got there that I realized what a wonderful thing to be alive and witness all things of beauty in person.

I don't know why would we decide to go party the night before, knowing that we need to get up at 5 am the next day. But if you follow my wife on social media, you would see some of our infamous photos with blurry faces and #poordecisionmaker hashtags. To her, it all makes sense.

So when the driver showed up in front of our door as scheduled, I was still sound asleep on the sofa where I passed out last night. We literally got ready in less than 10 mins. ( We even showered! I know, respect!) When Bali slowly wakes up at 5:10 in the morning, we three packed a beach bag and headed to Sanur in the dawn.

Guys I really want to help and put out a link, but when I asked wifey for the links, she just sent me two phone numbers, and for privacy reason, I will not post their numbers here but do drop me a line if you would like to know their name and contact to book your adventures too! Our driver in Nusa Penida for the day was an actual angel sent from Heaven, what am I saying, we were in heaven!

Nusa Penida is the largest of three islands off the southeastern coast of Bali, the others being Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. We took the boat from Sanur and 45 mins later, we arrived on the island, our driver Ketut was already there waiting for us. His smile made the sky brighter and can cure any sadness in the world. I had a feeling that "today is gonna a good good day! "

Kelingking Beach

The first place we went to was Kelingking Beach. This is probably one of the most photographed site ever. The viewpoint can make you have an excellent grasp of the dinosaur shaped cliff edges. It does look like a T- Rex, doesn't it?  We would love to go down to the beach, aka the most beautiful beach we've ever seen. Papi Diego was like let's go down there and swim. What wifey and I said was "we didn't have the swimsuit with us. " He was soooo mad, I know, right? How could you not wearing the swimsuit knowing you are going to the beach! I am mad at myself too!" What was I thinking! So he left us and ventured down 45 mins to swim in that secluded, beautiful turquoise green water. There's one more plus point to this hidden gem, even though it's right down there, not so many of us had the courage to trek down the bamboo railing and so the beach is tranquil and has almost nobody there. Heaven!

Ok, so we learned our lesson the hardest way possible. Bear in mind that it is a very hard trek down, however I am sure it will worth every step of it, but Luiza and I both wore flip flops while all the other people prepared with their backpack and hiking shoes, and I wore all white outfit which is an epic fail, the outfit turned into dark grey in just 10 mins time. And car parking is pretty far from where we were and it's impossible to return and change and back on the trek again. So wear your swimsuit already if you want to go down all the way.

We decided to wait for Papi until he returns, and went to the car to change our outfit. We stopped at one of the shops and had the most delicious coconut! The shop lady told us that she got them just this morning from her uncle's yard. She asked us where we were coming from. When I told her I'm from China, she started to sing a song that's very popular back in the day from a TV drama, and I sang along, it was pretty surreal. She had a great voice by the way.

Angel's Billabong

I thought we were heading to the broken beach, but Ketut took us to this place first, I didn't know this place and only during our visit I learned that it is called Angel's Billabong and it's simply breathtaking.

Me and wifey are the masters of winning at life, why are we wearing all these inappropriate shoes! It was quite slippy and dangerous to walk down, let alone swim. So we just sat down and simply admired the view! We are coming at a low tide time and it's relatively safe to swim actually.

Angel's Billabong is a rock formation with nature built-in rock pool. Nusa Penida is famous for its coastline and from Angel's Billabong, you can have this infinity pool view of the Indian ocean coast! As hard as we tried, we got the shot with just each one of us, but please keep in mind that you will almost never have the pool alone to yourself.

Just a kind reminder that it takes about another 45 mins drive from Kelingking cliff to here so be easy on the coconut water intake. We almost peed our pants but we made it to the closest toilet which is, ...here, 45 mins later, so, just thought it's useful and helpful to share, no? TMI?

Broken Beach

Broken beach, just as its name implies, was broken. It's not actually broken, the reason why they named it "broken beach" is because of the arch. Sometimes you just have to hand down to the mother nature for the wonders she created that no human can ever achieve. Thousands( Insert Liya: Try millions Jooj.) of years of erosion made the broken beach a spectacular site for us traveling half of the earth to pilgrimage today.

Although, because of the name, I couldn't help but wonder if mother nature was indeed heartbroken at that time. And if she was, what was it about? The war, the damage we did to her? Plastic in the ocean, iceberg melting?

Yes Joey, now that was a thinker.

Crystal Bay Beach

Crystal Bay beach is just as beautiful and the only beach that is approved by Ketut for us to swim. Boy was he right! The current was not crazy and temperature perfect. I even went in for a dip too!

While Papi was holding my hands in the water cuz I was still a bit scared, we saw something very sweet, a girl was trying to teach her mom how to swim, and it reminded me of my own mommy and how much I wanted to write her a letter from this island. We always thought mom knows everything and can do everything for us until one day she asks us for help, maybe an English menu that she can't read anymore, or how to online shopping, and those were the moment that made me understand that it might be true each mom is a superwoman, it also feels nice to be protected by her child too. My mom always says I'm stronger than a boy and has a brave heart, and that she's proud of me. I know behind all these words, she knows she can rely on me and I know I will protect her.

With all those thoughts in my head, I fell asleep by the bay and had some marshmallow cloud dreams. You know, like somewhere over the rainbow.

When it was time for us to leave the island and head back to Bali, Ketut helped us negotiated a deal and got us to sit on the deck of the boat!

As the boat started to head back home at full speed, I took a final glance of the fascinating island over my shoulder, the sun started to set into the coconut trees and somewhere by the port, a group of girls was singing a sad old Chinese song.

"In that place wholly faraway..."

All photos by me and Diego Gonzalez shot in Nusa Penida, Indonesia.

by juliette

Balibaba | Never Say Never

Right.

I know I said not long ago that I would most probably never return to the magical island that is called Bali.

Well, I'm happy I used the phrase "most probably", because, not only did I return, I might go there again and again in the future.

My wife moved to Bali early this year in the middle of the night. Sorry to make it sound like she fleed to the island, but that's basically what happened. She packed a suitcase and flew to a 30+ degree jungle, and left me and the furry babies in February Shanghai.

"Big leaver with the stupid suitcase" (Insert Joey on Chandler's leave) aside, I am excited to have a home in a tropical island now, and when the first of May long weekend approached, me and the girls packed our bags and headed down south. Oh, one of the girls is my Papi (haha sorry not sorry Papi Diego).

I learned my lesson last time and ran to the immigration counter once we got off the plane, and it worked! I used 20 mins to get out of the airport. Last time at night, I waited in line for like 2 hours. It was crazy. So run Forest, run!

As short as it was, I am so glad we did it!  It was, without a doubt, one of my best holidays ever! I like to travel solo. I did this time as well, I met up with the girls in wifey's Villa, briefed them about the  "No Zones" (Insert: Canggu, Ubud, etc. Papi accidentally mentioned Holly Spring Temple and I started to tear up, not cool.) and the #GirlsTrip adventure began.

This time, instead of writing the essays, I am going to put up a travel guide for you. Expect a lot of beach snaps coming at you, because that's all we did.

Where to stay:

Well, I am always useless in this department, I stayed in my room technically. My wife's beautiful villa is located in a charming little village called Ungasan. But the other day we accidentally walked into a villa that's very close to the Badung beach. Yeah, that's the closest help I can get for you guys, go figure it out. Haha, just kidding, but Uluwatu honestly has so many Villas, you should totally stay in one of them.

Where to eat: 

Sake no Hana Bali, by Hakkasan Group, offers modern authentic Japanese cuisine with stunning panoramic views of the Indian Ocean. I am very into the interior design of the place. We were enjoying the vast ocean view through the wood crafted open-air cage while the Grand Staircase below offers an alternative more relaxed environment under the minimalist contemporary light installation which emanates a golden glow throughout the entire restaurant. The food is excellent too. Ps, look for my wife when you are there!

Mama San Kitchen Bar & Lounge, by Sarong Group, a great place for quality South East Asian food. We traveled to Kuta for dinner and it was worth it! Staff is friendly and the atmosphere great. Marble top mah-jong tables and oversized tan leather chesterfields, in a purpose designed industrial high ceiling warehouse. Mama San in all her glory staring down at patrons while dining and ponder over a travelogue of old style photographs. Colorful displays of retro-inspiredflowers tower up to vintage clocks and a Chinese patterned mirror.

Where to have fun?!

Omnia day club Bali is right next to Sake No Hana, in fact, a lot of people wouldn't know that there are two separate venues in there, but there they are. As I said before about Sake no Hana, Omnia is also atop of the cliff 100 meters above the Indian Ocean. We were lucky enough to arrive there on their last day of the first-anniversary celebration and Claptone was playing! I don't know how many times I write to his tracks! Dancing to our favorite German techno next to the DJ himself under the fireworks with some of my favorite people is an indescribable feeling. We couldn't help but repeat to each other the next day that"I wish I can relive yesterday again! "

It was that good!

Address: Jl. Belimbing Sari, Pecatu, Kec. Kuta Sel., Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80364, Indonesia

Opening Hours: 11am-10:30pm

Phone: +62 361 8482150

Single Fin is a beach club that was highly recommended by my wife:), The place is filled with surfers from down under and the music is great too. If I remember correctly, the happening nights are Wednesdays and Sundays. The bar is set on the cliff and overlooking the famous surf break, We were there at night, but I would love to come here to see the sun sinks in the Indian Ocean. It must be majestic.

Address: Pantai Suluban, Jl. Labuan Sait, Pecatu, Uluwatu, Kuta Selatan, Pecatu, Kec. Kuta Sel., Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia

Opening Hours: 8am-11pm

Phone: +62 361 769941

La Favela is a... I don't know exactly how to describe it. It's a bit of everything. It's an underground party place. Using the words of the husband and wife team, Gonzalo and Sandra Assiego, "From the architecture to the street art. From the lighting to the music, the concept of La Favela has always been to bring to Bali the very first underground party scene. No techno, no house music. Just music that everyone loves and can dance to. Old school but never cheap.

Address: Jalan Laksamana Oboroi No.177X, Seminyak, Kuta, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80561, Indonesia

Life is a beach!

Island holiday is all about beaches right? All you need to wear is bikinis and a beach bag with sunscreen and books!

Badung beach is a very quiet and serene place, which is the exact beach I like. The grandpa who we rent the tanning beds from can only speak a word of English, "Yes", "How much are these beds?" "Yes" "The price is for two beds? " "Yes" But he's smiling the whole time even though he didn't understand a word of what I was saying. What a happy island!

I finished the book <Love Begins in Winter> by  Simon Van Booy and took a long nap on this beach. It was pretty chilled.

I finished the second book of this trip, <Anil's Ghost> by Michael Ondaatje on the Pantai Melasti Beach. This beach is my wife's favorite beach and to be honest the most beautiful one I have ever seen. It's just 10 mins scooter ride from the house and what a view along the ride!

There are SO MANY Chinese couples having their wedding photoshoot taken on this beach, it is indeed, the most beautiful, dreamest location possible.

The current of the ocean was powerful and I got my legs cut by the rocks, but this is the best souvenir I can get from an island right?  Scars and a gorgeous tan. It's like the younger days in summer, you were at your grandparents' in the countryside. Climbing mulberry trees and picking lotus seeds. My legs were always covered in bruises and cuts. And thanks to the summer sun, I always had tanned skin, compared to all the other kids. I guess something will never change!

On this beach, by the vast Indian Ocean, we three never felt more of Charlie's Angles. Except maybe our Papi is way more exotic than the original Charlie!

All photos my own shot in Bali, Indonesia.

by juliette

Vancouver | North By Northwest

I will always remember the day I crossed the Capilano Bridge, twice.

My last morning in Vancouver, my friend A and I were sitting in this Dutch breakfast place by the waterfront. Looking out, it was a picture perfect postcard that I've seen in my aunt's house once. Different shades of blue and thousand layers of green, meticulously decorated by some white roofs of North Vancouver in the uphill and the seaplanes in the water and up in the sky. I can still smell the crispy, fresh, fall ocean air from this picture.

I was born in October, and I always had this theory that people tend to like the season they were born in the most. Autumn is always my favorite season. It's a season to put on your snowy flavored hand cream, to wear your chunky knit and sweater, to fruit, to harvest, and to fall in love.

Maybe now autumn is the season for me to challenge myself as well.  While I was very much enjoying this view over some delicious Dutch pannekoeken, I was also dreading the fact that we are going to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.

There's a free shuttle bus to take you from Canada Place to the Park, and it only takes 20 mins from Downtown Vancouver to get there, which is very convenient. The driver would tell you history and stories about different buildings and streets while we passing through town, our driver is a great guy with such a sense of humor, and we had a great laugh along the way, without noticing the time passing, we arrived in our destination in no time.

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is located in North Vancouver firstly built in 1889. The Bridge itself is 140m long and 70m above the Capilano River. It might sound like nothing to some, but I have a crazy fear of height, any building over 10 floors high, I can not go near the window, honestly. I enjoyed the London Eye by sitting on the bench and holding on to it. I didn't see a thing of London from above, what a shame. So at the beginning of this trip, I already told myself that I would go and walk through the bridge, I have to get over myself and get over the fear. It's such a silly thing that you let your fear to take control of your mind, and I know it's time for me to conquer this little silly thing and prepare to welcome a brand new Juliette! That being said, I still waited until the absolute last minute that there is simply no more room for negotiation. I just have to hit the road and go for it.

Here we go.

It would be a complete lie if I told you that I walked through the bridge so easily and that I just cured my fear of height, like magic. The truth is, I cried, in the middle of the bridge, yes, I cried.

It was okay to walk on in the beginning because you are around people and you will have to move forward as people behind are trying to pass through. But it was when I was halfway through, I found out that I'm all by myself and not a single people were around me. I know in many traveling scenarios, I would be thrilled to have the place alone all by myself, but not under this circumstance. I tried to hold on to the handrails as tight as possible but the whole bridge was shaking and it would do me no good, my friend was way ahead of me and I couldn't move my feet, I started to panic and out of breathe, the fear of falling off the bridge was so strong that I started to cry, I didn't know what to do.

But after the tears come to the senses, what is the worst thing that could happen? Falling off? If that's meant to be, that's meant to be. I don't have problems to take a flight, and that is much higher than 70m. And what are the chances that I'm going to falling off? If the bridge is still firm and running, It should be safe right? Deep breathe and I put one foot in front of another and walked slowly through the rest of the journey.

My friend applauded when I reached the end of the bridge, and I started to cry again, but happy tears! Like the time when I finished 800m run and won first place in high school. Knowing that I have to do it again on the way back, I started to prepare myself and decided that I would walk the second time in confidence and pride! Haha.

I had such great fun in the treetop adventures among those towering evergreens and the cedar-scented rainforest! I could only imagine how beautiful this place would be with the lights on at night. I've decided already that I will come back for Christmas, it must be the most magical time of the year in the park! The air, oh I am so obsessed with the air! You can smell the forest and feel the freshness in your lung. At some point, I could hear my cells breathing.

And I did it! I walked my way back through the bridge with confidence and pride! I walked so fast that this time I waited for my friend to arrive! I know I'm like a kid, but I couldn't be more proud when I received the certificate of "Across world-famous Capilano Suspension Bridge!" Actually, I had it framed and now it's hanging in my living room next to my art pieces. (Judging you for judging me now.)

I wonder if I would enjoy the forest this much if I didn't finish the journey. I guess we will never know. When we crossed again back to this side of the park, there was the Cliffwalk waiting for me. The new Cliffwalk follows a granite precipice along Capilano River with a labyrinth-like series of narrow cantilevered bridges, stairs and platforms and only 16 anchor points in the cliff supporting the structure! Exciting and scary, isn't it? But at this very point, I practically think I can rule the world and I can fly. So I walked faster than ever and across the narrow cantilevered bridges like nobody is watching!

The experience did cure my fear of height. When I say cured I mean now when I go to my balcony at home (17th floor), I can go without shaking knees. I can look far to see the skyline from Pudong, and I can also look down to see the changing colors of the leaves on the street, the warm steam from the breakfast place. There are cars, there are lights.

Down there, there is life.

And all these were made possible because I crossed a 140m long suspension bridge.

To me, it's pretty magical.

All photos my own shot in Vancouver, Canada.

by juliette

Vancouver | Something Old, Something New

Note

"I woke up to a series of messages asking where is my next blog post from the other side of the Pacific Ocean this morning. LOL, I am so lazy I can't even.

So tonight, after the cocktail in the gallery, I changed the plan of going to The Avengers Endgame, and hit "Adele" Playlist button instead of Daft Punk."

And now it's the end of May, and I did watch The Avengers Endgame, The Big Bang Theory finished too, and Game of Thornes, but not my post!

I won't bore you with my excuses because Beyoncé got things done too, and she's like sooo busy.

Here it goes, the actual body of this post begins!

My friend A is an actual angel on earth. The rainy day I arrived in Vancouver without the suitcase, he already bought an outfit for me, just how thoughtful!

It was one of those nights that I didn't sleep at all and cried like a baby after a phone call, he immediately took my jacket, saying let's go for a walk. I really thought it would be a walk around the neighborhood, so I didn't shower, no makeup, puffy eyes and dark cycles, you name it. And we came back around midnight...

Stanley Park

I stayed in a lovely cozy apartment on a charming little street called Alberni, and right at the end of the street, locates the biggest city park in North America, Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is a work of wonder by nature. It was not built by a landscape architect or designer but rather the evolution of a forest and the urban space over the years. You would be amazed to see the trees here that are easily a hundred years old. I still think I want to be a tree when I come back next life. You can just stand tall and look over the lives under, all that drama would have nothing to do with you. How great is that!

There are trails everywhere in the park, people would really use their lunch break and come to jog here. At a cross in the middle of the park, A asked me to choose a path, surely he was not just asking about the directions here but in life too. I walked to the left and A smiled, "I knew you would choose this one." He pointed out the name of the trail on a stick that I did not notice before.  It engraved  " Lovers". I might be incredibly naive and hopelessly romantic, but that's the path of life I choose, and I would forever follow. Who wouldn't?

Love wins.

Always.

The Seawall

I would be lying if I told you the path was easy, the walk was not challenging at all. It was actually a long hike with downhills and uphills. Again, there are many different paths inside the forest, it's your choice, and decision lead you where you want to go. We came out to the lookout point, where you can see Lion's gate bridge and the West Vancouver across the ocean. We then went down to the beach. Yes, people, Vancouver has beaches! The one we went to called "The third beach". I like the name, it's very Canadian.:) I love the fact that they are using the old maple tree trunks as the tanning seats! So original and environment-friendly.

If I haven't said it before my friend A is an actual Angel. He talked to me when I needed him to speak and remain silent when I needed to be left alone. I did some thinking. When you sit in front of the grand ocean, you always just have some kind of enlightenment, an epiphany if you will. I later went down further and stood on the rocks when the ocean waves come again and again to erode them, and we know that after a thousand years of erosion, the rocks would be gone, vanish. The ocean might turn to the mountains and we would just be the dust in the wind.

I crossed my fingers and noticed the ring on my right hand was missing. I was so sure it fell into the ocean and the waves took it away. That triggered the tears, and the tears dropped into the sea, salt water met salt water, they belong together, and I started to believe, started to accept,  started to truly let go, started to grief, and more importantly, started to gain the courage to begin again. After all, we are all alone in this world, each one of us. Maugham figured out long ago, we need to walk our own paths, alone.

I consider Vancouver a very romantic city, they have their Seawall, Skytrain, Sea to Sky Highway. Just listening to those names make me want to embrace nature more than ever.

It was a warm sunny October day in Vancouver, everything looked like diamonds under the sun. It was so beautiful that a girl from the city where she always dresses up for, didn't shower, makeup, had the most wonderful and meaningful day with her bare face, and a naked heart.

She understood now that coming back to the past can't really trick the time, when she goes back home, where there's the future, she already know what to do, and that's something she learned from the past, a past she took a 13 hour flight for, and it was absolutely necessary.

That.

All photos my own shot in Vancouver, Canada.

by juliette