July 27, 2014 – left Shangri-La spa and resort. A bit sad to leave such a beautiful place but have stayed inside the resort the entire 17 days during the yoga teacher training and am ready to see the outside world. Carpooled with Deanna (fellow student) and her husband Lee and really enjoyed the trip with them. Dropped them off in Lovina and headed to my destination in Pemuteran. My driver, G’day, took me to a couple of temples along the way, one of which was very beautiful. Arrived at my new hotel, Suka Sari. It’s simple, a bit too simple for me but has a beautiful outdoor bathroom. Signed up for my “try” at scuba diving for 4pm today at Macro Bali Diving Center across the street. I checked the box “yes” for asthma and when I went back, Renault said it was not a good idea for me to dive with asthma as it’s dangerous. So I opted for snorkeling the next day. Went for a reflexology treatment, which was really just a foot massage, but it was wonderful. Booked a massage for the next night. About $13 each! Had a bit of dinner and went back for some rest.
July 28, 2014 – Woke to rooster’s crowing, the call to prayer at the mosque, snoring neighbors. The walls are very thin here…felt like they were snoring in the bed next to mine it was so loud. All this pierced through my ear plugs! Tired but excited to go snorkeling at Menjangan Island. Boy was I not disappointed! Went by car to the dock and boat to the island. The water was so blue! Jumped in to a whole new world. It was like swimming in an aquarium. So many colorful fish, schools of them at your fingertips. I could hear the sound of my breathing and felt like I was in another world. Meditation! So relaxing. First round was amazing, second, not so much. Very rocky seas on the way back so I planted myself on the front of the boat and basked in the sun and waves. I was pooped! After showering, I had a bite to eat. Love peanut sauce and the lumpia (deep fried vegetarian spring rolls) are served with it. Yummy! Another female solo traveler that I had seen a couple of times sat down close to me and we struck up a conversation. Frederika is from Germany and in Bali for a few weeks. We had a great dinner later that evening. It’s so fun to meet new people from all over the world.
July 29, 2014 – Slept well last night but still tired. Roosters, couple leaving next door and more roosters…gonna make some rooster soup! Up early and catching up on emails. I’m excited to leave here…not much to do, and head to Canggu to see Stephanie (from USM) and hopefully Crystal (from yoga training) and to get settled for the next leg of my journal. Met up with Freidika to go snorkeling off the shore but it wasn’t great. I was spoiled from yesterday’s trip to Menjangan Island.
My driver, G'day picked me up at noon and off we went. We drove through a mountain pass and the view to the valleys below was breathtaking. Rice and vegetable fields, cloves, and flowers. Our first stop was to coffee making place where they make this “special” coffee. The Lamak coffee. The Lamak, an animal that likes these certain types of beans, eats the beans and shits them out. The people collect the shit, dry it, pull the beans out and peel the shell out of the beans. It is then dried, roasted and ground for coffee. They charge 50,000 rupiah per cup and 300,000 per half-pound bag. I couldn’t bring my self to try it or buy it.
Next stop was the waterfall in Manuk. Beautiful and so nice to get out of the car, walk and breath some really fresh mountain air. There’s a lot of traffic everywhere else and emissions testing has not reached Bali. Next viewing sites were Lake Tamblignan, Lake Buyan and the Pura Ulan Danu Bratan temple in Lake Bratan. All three lakes are very very close to each other. It was a zoo there, filled with Japanese tourist/buses. I took a quick look, a few snapshots and back outta there!
A little over an hour later, in Canggu, at the Voyager Creative Retreat. Met the owner who I think was waiting for me to get arrive. We chatted for a minute and I told him I needed to go to Kuta the next day to pick up my passport. I had to extend my visa since I was here more than 30 days and that required giving it to the agency. He promptly informed me that because of the end of the Muslim holiday Eid, that all government offices were closed until August 5th. OMG! Immediate panic but nothing I could do til morning. The room was cool but the owner forgot to give me the wifi password and since he closes the café on Tuesdays, he left for the eve. Kinda frustrating! He did direct me to a cool restaurant, Betelnut Café, for dinner and I ordered a green drink, beetroot burger with a gluten free bun and fries. The burger was interesting. It was dark in the restaurant so I puled out my flashlight to look at it and it looked red and tasted ok but didn’t seem right. Sure enough, halfway through they walk up with MY burger. I was eating beef and full gluten. Not too happy about this since I haven’t had meat in quite awhile and didn’t want any so I asked them to take care of my meal. In Balinese fashion, an hour later, after they called their manager at home, said they would pay for my burger but not my juice. Okay…move on. They do have good Wi-Fi though so was happy to catch up a bit and may go back with my computer tomorrow if Wi-Fi at the hotel isn’t great.
July 30, 2014 – Up early. Feeling anxious about the passport situation. Went for a walk to get rid of some of the energy. Later in the morning went to Kuta to see if I could get my passport….emails and phone calls to them went unanswered. I haven’t felt this much anxiety in a long time. I have a flexible ticket but knew that I was ready to leave Bali. THANK GOD they were there and I had my passport in my hands! Off to meet Stephanie Tarolli for lunch. We had a wonderful lunch and spent the whole day together. Back to Canggu with Stephanie and back to Betelnut Café. Had a great experience and actually had the beetroot burger and it was yummy! It was so nice to spend the day with Stephanie too! We talked for almost 12 hours and we had a little slumber party!
July 31, 2014 – I’m leaving today – yay! I love Bali but am ready to move on after almost five weeks here. Had breakfast at Betelnut – yes, again! It’s really good and healthy food! Then I packed and hung at the pool for a bit before heading to the airport. Copenhagen, here I come!
Will try to post more daily updates, especially as I'll be moving a lot over the next month. Also, almost figured out the phot thing :-).
Love to all
