Some new and familiar experiences

Amed was pretty spectacular. My last post however missed a few important points from the weekend.

One in particular was the 5.4 earthquake in the Gilis and the shakes we felt on the beach on Saturday. It was pretty crazy to hear all the villagers shout “pinuh!!” (Meaning: alive) while the earth rolled back and forth. We all looked out to sea for a moment, and then I realized Seth was out there…

At 2:00 Seth was diving and heard some loud rumbling, as if a large boat was passing overhead. He had a visual of the surface and saw nothing, just listened to it groan for a good 15 seconds.

Fast forward to Sunday and our slow efforts of leaving Amed. We snorkeled again in the morning, lunched and showered and even did a detour through Kintamani. Crazy thing on the windy roads up there was the jeep in front of us missed a turn and drove straight into the rice paddy! Seth jumped out and helped the poor shaking Balinese kids out of their muddy car before we raced off for a quick dinner and then Seth to the airport.

Today things were much calmer… Ellie and I played with friends at the pool and hung out in downtown Sanur in the afternoon. We had dinner with friends tonight, which will probably be the plan for the rest of the week.

Ah, Bali…

Bali or Bust

Feels good to be back in Bali.

Two Weeks in Bali

We’re going back. Some may ask, but aren’t you living in Bali? Oh no, my friend, we most certainly are not. We live in Bogor, West Java. We may be living in the same country as Bali, but on a completely different island, surrounded by a completely different religion and culture.

We love Bali. Love! Luuuuurve. And we are so beyond excited to return for two full and uninterrupted weeks of pure vacation. As a reminder, the last time we were in Bali, I worked the entire time (plus prepared my graduate portfolio for my master’s degree).  Albeit I had a few chances to get out and explore, I was most certainly not on vacation.

Now, back to these two beautiful weeks we have to look forward to… We’ve had thoughts about trying to make it over to the Gilis. We have talked about these islands non-stop for the past year, have great referrals on where to stay and how to get there, but haven’t made the jump quite yet in reserving anything. You see, it can add up a bit, island hopping. And we’re on a budget. But we like to go with the flow, so we’re open to whatever unfolds.

We want to spend more time in Ubud. We will be staying in Sanur again, but we’ve only had a couple of days in Ubud and it’s just magical there. I’m hoping to get in a Wayang puppet show and a legit Kecek dance. Any chance to hear more gamelan music, we’ll get. We also want to pick up some art in the traditional markets to help decorate our home in Bogor.

I’m sure there are more waterfalls to see. Food to taste. We definitely want to see more of the westside of the island, specifically Canggu and Seminyak. Seth hasn’t experienced the most southern tip of the Bukit (specifically Balangan Beach), so I’m excited to take him there.

Ellie’s priority is deciding which barbie to take and to be able to “swim all by myself”. Swimming has really become important to her, which is great, of course. We just need to squeeze in a few more lessons before she’s really able to jump in the deep end (without us scrambling and jumping in after her).

So get ready, friends and family, for a feast of the eyes. The fun starts Sunday!