The Great Dopamine Rush of 2025

Today started with another terrific breakfast at the Kawi resort in Ubud. After getting all or stuff organized, Brian and I loaded up our scooters and went to go check out the Ceking rice terraces. It was a cool little hike, and we got to see a Kivet. Which if you didn’t now is the little forest ferret cat thing that eats the coffee beans and shits them out. Which creates an incredibly expensive coffee called Luwak.

From the rice terraces we drove the rest of the way to Ubud, and returned our scooters. I had a bit of an unfortunate incident with a bungie cord, when I was untying my bag from my scooter. I had mistakenly let go of it, and it came around the bag at about 200kph and hit me square in the face. God I felt like such an idiot, and the Balinese guy from the scooter place wouldn’t give me any room to breathe standing and staring at me like I was made of glass.

Leaving that embarrassment we called a Gojek and headed the 2 hours from Ubud to Seminyek, to me Brian’s friend Bryan. Who has lived in Bali for several years. After checking out his incredible apartment, we went to a beach club called Mana for a bite to eat. I had a pulled beef sandwich on fresh focaccia, with the best damn fries I’ve had in my memory. Two times now in Bali I’ve had French fries that were just unreal.

I said goodbye to Brian and Bryan after we ate and grabbed a car to take me to my airport hotel. When I arrived, I was a little disappointed with the shabbiness of the front of the hotel, as it did not look like the photos. After checking in, my disappointment deepened as I was led to a room with no windows, a faucet that never stopped running in the sink, a stink of mildew, and absolutely filthy bedding. Now never in my solo travels have I actually walked on a room, so I went to the front and asked for another room. This one had windows, but is about all it had going for it. There was the same mildew smell, the bedding was filthy and stained, and the walls were covered in dirty fingerprints. It was the most disgusting hotel I’ve ever stepped in. With my bags still on my shoulders I got online and found a room at the Hilton down the street. Now when I say I ran out of there I mean it. I kind of tossed my key card on the desk as I left, saying I couldn’t stay there.

It was was so F*#king gross. Anyways I was able to get a room at the Hilton for next to nothing thanks to Agoda. And after a decent meal of lamb Nasi Goreng with lamb chops and some fresh fruit, I quickly was able to push the shitty hotel from my mind. It was a pretty weird energy day for me, after being solo for a month, I found spending every minute with a friend for a few days kind of taxing. I napped pretty hard in the Gojek and have felt sorta out of wack all day. It may have been the fact I had ice cream with my breakfast, but I doubt it.

Till Tomorrow