This morning, I woke up and grabbed breakfast with Andre, Ben, and Maria. The shower and faucet in Andre's and my room were not working. Strange, but apparently it happens. Once we ate, we headed over to the villa, where we joined the rest of the group for some champagne and sorbet. Nice way to start the day, huh?
Today was pretty much a lazy day for me as my knee was still not in the greatest shape after yesterday's little spill on the road. I didn't want to go to the beach and get sand in it. So, some of us hung out by the pool by the villa, while others went to the beach.
Jess had an underwater disposable camera, so she convinced a few folks to stick their faces in the water, so she could take a picture from under the water.
I actually got a video of it, too. 'Twas pretty entertaining. Fredrik took some good photos, too, I think. Look at these newlyweds.
Jess and Fredrik's families left today, so they took them to the airport. While some folks chilled at the beach, a handful of us stayed at the villa. I promptly fell asleep for a good hour on the patio.
By the time I got up and lounged around the villa, checking email and such, it was almost time for dinner. Jess wanted to take us to a beach club to watch the sunset, but with most folks down at the beach and no way of communicating with them quickly, we had to go and hunt them down. Quite a gorgeous view awaited our two-man search party.
Teun, one of our Dutch friends, and I found them in a small hut on the beach, eating and drinking. Looked like fun, but we had to run, so they quickly paid, and we headed back up to the waiting car. Their view was plenty nice, though, and I would've been perfectly fine staying there for dinner.
On the way back, we ran into yet another one of the many stray dogs in Bali. Apparently, Indonesia is home to the largest population of stray dogs in Asia, and subsequently, is also home to the highest rate of rabies. This poor little puppy though...he looked so sad and scared. There are a few small shelters opening up to take in the stray dogs, but it seems like there are many more dogs than can be taken in at this point.
We were able to fit everyone into the long van, but it was still a tad bit cramped.
Since the sun had already pretty much set, we decided to skip the beach club and headed straight to Old Jimbaran, which is an area in Bali where you can eat right next to the beach.
The seafood was so fresh and so cheap! The food we ordered for about 15 people — giant prawns, red snapper, crabs, and clams — cost only about 600,000 Rupiah. That's less than $60 US!
I was bummed I could not eat the shellfish, but we ended up also ordering chicken and vegetables. So, I was plenty satisfied with my food. It was undoubtedly one of our top meals since arriving — and the view is just magnificent.
Before we even sat down for dinner, though, Jess recommended getting a grilled corn on the cob from the dude on the beach. What a brilliant idea, because for less than $1 US, I had an amazingly flavored grill corn.
Our final bill for all the food and drinks came out to about 1.2 million Rupiah, which is about $120 US. When you divide that by 15 people, it's absurd to consider, since we'd eaten like kings and queens.
After dinner, we decided to pick up some beers and have a little party back at the villa. We stopped at a small supermarket, where I finally found the postcards I've been searching for. I will be spending most of my morning writing postcards. The notes will be rather short, as I need to get to the airport for a flight at 2:15 PM.
One of the girls had her ATM card eaten by the ATM, though, so that was a bit stressful for her. We felt awful, and Jess tried her best to help figure out how to resolve it. One of the things I learned early on in traveling abroad is to always have a back up ATM card linked to your main bank account. But, since then, I've pretty much stopped doing that. Our fingers are crossed that she'll be able to get it back tomorrow.
We hung around the villa for a bit and just enjoyed our last night together in this palace on the hill. Tomorrow, everyone has to check out, even if they are sticking around a bit longer in Bali or Indonesia. Since we still had some lanterns left over from the wedding, we went down to Balangan Beach again to send them off. We had loads of fun doing it!
Bali has been pretty magical, and I am definitely coming back again some day. I read a Bali guidebook today and realized just how little of the surface of Bali I had scratched since coming on Friday. Sure, we saw a lot, but there is much more to Bali than just the beaches, resorts, and food. I wish I had had time to go see Ubud, where the giant rice terraces are. But it just means I will have to come back again someday.
Until then...on to Singapore!
Today was pretty much a lazy day for me as my knee was still not in the greatest shape after yesterday's little spill on the road. I didn't want to go to the beach and get sand in it. So, some of us hung out by the pool by the villa, while others went to the beach.
Jess had an underwater disposable camera, so she convinced a few folks to stick their faces in the water, so she could take a picture from under the water.
I actually got a video of it, too. 'Twas pretty entertaining. Fredrik took some good photos, too, I think. Look at these newlyweds.
Jess and Fredrik's families left today, so they took them to the airport. While some folks chilled at the beach, a handful of us stayed at the villa. I promptly fell asleep for a good hour on the patio.
By the time I got up and lounged around the villa, checking email and such, it was almost time for dinner. Jess wanted to take us to a beach club to watch the sunset, but with most folks down at the beach and no way of communicating with them quickly, we had to go and hunt them down. Quite a gorgeous view awaited our two-man search party.
Teun, one of our Dutch friends, and I found them in a small hut on the beach, eating and drinking. Looked like fun, but we had to run, so they quickly paid, and we headed back up to the waiting car. Their view was plenty nice, though, and I would've been perfectly fine staying there for dinner.
On the way back, we ran into yet another one of the many stray dogs in Bali. Apparently, Indonesia is home to the largest population of stray dogs in Asia, and subsequently, is also home to the highest rate of rabies. This poor little puppy though...he looked so sad and scared. There are a few small shelters opening up to take in the stray dogs, but it seems like there are many more dogs than can be taken in at this point.
We were able to fit everyone into the long van, but it was still a tad bit cramped.
Since the sun had already pretty much set, we decided to skip the beach club and headed straight to Old Jimbaran, which is an area in Bali where you can eat right next to the beach.
The seafood was so fresh and so cheap! The food we ordered for about 15 people — giant prawns, red snapper, crabs, and clams — cost only about 600,000 Rupiah. That's less than $60 US!
I was bummed I could not eat the shellfish, but we ended up also ordering chicken and vegetables. So, I was plenty satisfied with my food. It was undoubtedly one of our top meals since arriving — and the view is just magnificent.
Before we even sat down for dinner, though, Jess recommended getting a grilled corn on the cob from the dude on the beach. What a brilliant idea, because for less than $1 US, I had an amazingly flavored grill corn.
Our final bill for all the food and drinks came out to about 1.2 million Rupiah, which is about $120 US. When you divide that by 15 people, it's absurd to consider, since we'd eaten like kings and queens.
After dinner, we decided to pick up some beers and have a little party back at the villa. We stopped at a small supermarket, where I finally found the postcards I've been searching for. I will be spending most of my morning writing postcards. The notes will be rather short, as I need to get to the airport for a flight at 2:15 PM.
One of the girls had her ATM card eaten by the ATM, though, so that was a bit stressful for her. We felt awful, and Jess tried her best to help figure out how to resolve it. One of the things I learned early on in traveling abroad is to always have a back up ATM card linked to your main bank account. But, since then, I've pretty much stopped doing that. Our fingers are crossed that she'll be able to get it back tomorrow.
We hung around the villa for a bit and just enjoyed our last night together in this palace on the hill. Tomorrow, everyone has to check out, even if they are sticking around a bit longer in Bali or Indonesia. Since we still had some lanterns left over from the wedding, we went down to Balangan Beach again to send them off. We had loads of fun doing it!
Bali has been pretty magical, and I am definitely coming back again some day. I read a Bali guidebook today and realized just how little of the surface of Bali I had scratched since coming on Friday. Sure, we saw a lot, but there is much more to Bali than just the beaches, resorts, and food. I wish I had had time to go see Ubud, where the giant rice terraces are. But it just means I will have to come back again someday.
Until then...on to Singapore!
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