bali was a truly an amazing get away but like all holidays, it was just too short. so now it is back to work for dirk, enough time to wash clothes and pack once again for vung tau, vietnam. indonesia was filled with warm welcoming people, a wonderful culture, and a religion dirk and i knew nothing about. it is 65% hindu, 25% muslim, and 15% christian. their culture is surrounded by family and religion which is very apparent when traveling the streets of bali. we were told by our wonderful tour guide that there is a maximum number of children per family, it used to be four and now is two. there are 4 million people in bali, indonesia... about the same as singapore. the exchange rate while we were there was 11,2000 Rp to $1 USD.
so here is a recap of our trip:
day one- tour guide of bali
black sand beach at the temple in the water
we toured southern bali by personal driver. we went to the city of ubud which is known for its shopping and paintings. dirk and i found a painting for our one year wedding anniversary present... i could not believe we actually agreed on the same painting (once it is framed i will put up pictures). we traveled to see the rice terraces, temple in the water, monkey forest, the city jimaran for an amazing beach dinner of fresh fish and prawn, then to an unforgettable balienese couples massages (for people that know dirk, know he is not a touchy feel person but he LOVED the massage, we even got another one the next night)
click on the picture to see all our of guided tour through southern bali:
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| Bali Tour |
lion fish
we did two drift dives which were an hour away from nusa dua. the water was amazingly clear... the clearest i have ever seen! it was our first drift dive and i would have to say it is the way to go, not much work involved just to take in all the sites. we were able to see a 5ft reef shark, lion fish, unicorn fish, and starfish.
click on the picture to see all our underwater pictures:
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| Underwater Bali |
lobby of the hotel- melia bali
the hotel we stayed at was melia bali villas & spa resort (http://www.melibali.com/) and it was phenomenal. we stayed at a five star for only $100 usd a night... i could not believe it. some of our favorite things included the all inclusive breakfast (they had pancakes with bananas inside them), the beach with the clearest & calmest water we have ever seen, and the service was amazing. things we figured out a little too late: don't take american money and if you do get small NEW bills otherwise they will not take them, put sun screen on even if you are not in the sun, and always bargain with them.
click here for more pictures of the hotel:
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| Melia Bali Hotal, Nusa Dua |
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