Tanah Lot temple built on an ocean cliff on the West Coast of Bali
My first full day in Bali started off at 11am with a bus ride to Ubud, a temple city made famous in the book "Eat, Pray, Love". It was during this ride that an auspicious set of coincidences changed the course of the rest of my stay in Bali.
I sat at the front of the bus next to an older man from Montreal named Richard.
By the afternoon, I met his whole family: his ex-wife, Gaytienne, who lives in Bali; his son, Max, who is visiting Bali for two weeks; and a local Balinese guy named Matti who is friends with the family and knows pretty much everybody in Ubud.
By the evening, I had booked a night at a $15 hotel in Ubud (recommended to me by Matti) and we spent the night eating and drinking in the city I was now judging to be paradise.
The next morning, I had breakfast with Jo, a 30 year old woman from England who had also quit her job and was travelling the world alone. Needless to say, we had a few things in common.
It was probably the most surreal span of 24 hours I've ever experienced and it totally confirmed my decision to travel alone for some of the trip. Such spontaneous good luck tends to come only to lone travellers.
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I was in Bali between January 14 and 18. One thing I learned there, unless you're a douchey college kid who wants to drink and party all day, don't stay in Kuta. It was my mistake to book a hotel in this hellhole when there are so many other beautiful places to be.
