Asia Adventure 2012: Bali

The day began with an impressive display of thunder and lightning. But it was short lived and Greg’s idea of getting out of a good jog along the beach, was totally thwarted. This time we headed out in the opposite direction. Yes, I hate to admit it but we went “to the right” this time. ;-) It was a good choice because we saw some impressive hotels that went on and on and on, right around the point. These hotels are all within the gated strip of hotels, secured by armed guards.

Breakfast at the Palace Club was amazing. I tried to be extremely good with the egg white omelet, only to be extremely bad with the whole wheat toast slathered with French butter. Suppose that ying and yan in my diet are constantly trying to achieve balance.

There’s a gaggle of geese here that are treated with high esteem. Once they assemble on the lawn beside the restaurant and bellow loudly, staff run to the supply of dried bread crumbs to quell the bellowing. It really is quite amusing. If the staff take ever so long, one brave goose will enter the restaurant as if to say, “hello, we’ve been waiting to be served for at least 30 seconds now.”

We both ratta-tatted away on our laptops until 1pm or so, when the ocean called to us ever so gently, reminding us that the outbound tide would commence and our time to enjoy the ocean was quickly slipping away. We complied.

While lounging ever so lazily by the Indian Ocean, our laziness was interrupted by a watch merchant. Greg took the bait and perused his way through dozens of watches, all knock offs of course. Suddenly, he came upon a Rolex watch sporting a blue circumference and he began haggling. In the end, he paid $25. Away walked one happy beach merchant and one happy tourist who now has a cheap knock off watch that will likely outlive the two pricey ones he owns. ;-)

Time for High Tea had arrived, so we headed to the Palace Club for treats and tea. Afterwards we lingered there well into cocktail hour, when endless drinks and nibbles appear. I started to feel awkward when cleaned and tidy guests arrived and we were still in our swimwear and t-shirts. So we slipped out the back, cleaned up and headed out to dinner.

The Chess Club Beach Front restaurant called to us again, but this time we had the seafood extravaganza which was so incredibly delicious. There’s nothing so soothing like listening to the sea rushing into the shore. We enjoyed a short walk along the jetty afterwards before turning in.

Sorry this post is rather mundane, but it was a day of rest, and rest we did!

One fruit I have really enjoyed here is the sweet mangosteen, with white sections hidden behind a very bitter, thick pink/ruby peel. A flower under the fruit shows how many sections will be found in each fruit, which is usually somewhere between five and seven.