Bali - The off season

"What?! You guys are going to South East Asia end of October, beginning November?!!!

"Uhm..... yeah. Why?"

"Are you crazy? Don't you know it's the beginning of the rainy season over there? You guys are going to spend your vacations soaking wet - I'd pack a rain coat instead of my bikini if I were you"

It's true that all the guide books warn travelers against coming to this region between Oct and March - the "mouson" (rainy season) can really put a damper on your vacations - ha ha. But it was too late for us, we booked our tickets BEFORE reading the guide books (we tend to be morons like that, remember Golden Week in Japan?), so all we could do was resignly shrug our shoulders and pack our raincoats... AND our bathing suits.

It has to be said, there are actually many positives about traveling in the off season. Obviously, prices everywhere are so much cheaper. We were able to find hotel rooms in top hotels for less than what a cheap hotel in Paris costs - no matter the season. This is how we came to stay in a five star hotel resort in Nasa Dua, an amazing villa-like room in the middle of the rice paddies in Ubud, a luxurious bungalow on the beach in Candi Dasa and a pretty colonial hotel in Siem Reap. All of these places are normally out of our price range, but because of the potential "sucky weather" situation, they suddenly ran in the European Youth Hostel price range, meaning, affordable for us.

Traveling in the off season also means we were mosty alone. Of course, this is nice when you're visiting sites that typically make Disneyworld in the summer look empty; all of a sudden you're all alone to watch the Tanah Loth temple at sunset from the front row, or explore Ta Prohm without pesky tourists queing to take their picture in front of the tree that was in the Lara Craft Tomb Raider movie or reach the top of the Angkor temple without running the risk of being accidentally bumped over the edge due to an overcrowd.

It sure is nice to get the first row on the plane and virtually no lines at the airport and almost any at the post office when you're buying stamps. It's so cool that all your pictures come out "tourist-head free" and that shops have no lines at the check-out counter.

And it's ultra mega totally awesome to have the hotel's swimming pool all to yourself. Every day. At any time of the day. Or night.

But of course the flipside to all this means you better be prepared to become the center of attention of a hungry tourism industry, which is the case during the offseason.

And trust me, this can get overwhelming. Like when you go out to eat dinner at a restaurant and you're the only table in the entire place - that can be pretty creepy... or gloomy. Hubby and I found ourselves in this case several times throughout the trip and it just felt weird. It doesn't help either that in these cases the entire waiter staff will stop by your table every five minutes to check that everything is going well with your meal, refill your bread basket, take away finished plates (and sometimes UNfinished!), ask if you want more butter, etc. Call it EXTRA good service, but frankly I could do without most of this - or maybe I'm just too used to French waiters who blantly ignore you until you desperately tackle them on their way to the kitchen in order to get your check.

Still in the 'alone in the restaurant' example, the thing that irked me the most is that everytime you take a sip from your drink a waiter pops out of nowhere to refill your glass from that beer can that's sitting only a few inches away from your hand and which you are perfectly capable of reaching yourself. That's very nice of them (although Hubby says this is done mainly to hurry you up finishing your drink so you'll order another one) but quite frankly it irked me to no end. I eventually started waiving the use of a glass alltogether and simply drinking directly out of the can/bottle, which is not very classy I know, but at least we got some sort of peace in that respect.

Being a single walking-target in places that are used to receiving thousands of foreigners in the high season meant we got ambushed twice as much due to lack of other potential customers; from the endless taxi drivers that line the streets of Ubud yelling at you to take them (even though you just said no thanks to the guy right next to them), to the lady that follows you all around the shop suggesting you buy this and that and that and that (even though you just told her "we're just looking").

So yeah, traveling in the off season can be a really good option though tiring at times. It all depends on your tolerance level and the amount of "calm" you're looking to get from your vacation.

And in case you're wondering, those raincoats have stayed at the bottom of our bags the entire trip so far. Can't say the same about the bikini though. ;D

Fned.

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