Day 20: 3 countries in 3 nights!

It's crazy to think I will have slept in 3 different countries in 3 consecutive nights! Ahhh, the life of a traveler.  I could get used to this!

So, as you can see, I made it through the night in our crazy Hong Kong hostel!   We both woke up early and were ready to get out of there and head out into town to see what we could find to entertain ourselves!

We both really hate to admit this, but we went to McDonalds for breakfast!  In our defense though, it was literally the only place open to eat at 8:30am and we were starving!  We noticed this "Say No To Straws" sticker on the straw dispenser!  Glad to know Mickey D's in Hong Kong is doing it's part to stay green!

After breakfast, which again, we hate to admit it, but it was delicious, we headed for Fa Yeun Street Market, which we heard had some good, inexpensive shopping, and noticed right away that you could find a lot of random stuff there...

There were one of a kind paintings...

One of a kind foods... (I have no idea what this was, but it smelled rancid!)

Traditional Chinese clothing for children...

Character thongs for men... Aaron thought the tuxedo one was pretty clever!  

Pig hooves... 

Full fried ducks...

Weird sausages of every shape, size, and animal...

Traditional Chinese party decorations...

Nuts of every kind and candy from all over the world...

and delicious tropical fruits!!!! 

I have to say though, my all time favorite find were these Victoria Secret-Roxy slippers, which were obviously in the midst of an identity crisis! 

We were able to play around the city for about 5 hours before jumping on the bus back to the airport!  As we were walking to the bus stop, we spotted this Popcorn Monster place that offered every disgusting flavor of popcorn you could ever imagine. You think I'm joking?!  You could buy anything from dill pickle cream to watermelon flavored... we settled for some caramel, which happened to be delicious!

We made it to our flight, with plenty of time to spare!  I'm now laying, comfortably in my own clean bed, in my welcoming and cheerful Korean apartment, sad to have said goodbye to Indonesia, but content with being home and enjoying the comforts that it brings, like warm showers!!

I speak for Aaron, and myself, when I say this.  Indonesia will always occupy a piece of our hearts, and the people of Lembongan and Ceningan Island will have an especially special place in them! 

DAY 19: "Hello, Transport?"

We got up nice and early for our last morning on Lembongan Island and said goodbye to all our local friends at the hotel. Dan was up early, eating breakfast, before his big scuba dive, which was a nice treat for us to be able to say goodbye!

We jumped on the crowded boat and lounged for an hour and a half till we arrived back in Bali, at Sanur Beach. We had 6 hours till our flight left, so we shopped around a bit (Lynzi, I found something for Blakely!), but were hounded, the entire time by taxi drivers asking, "Hello, Transport?" It makes sense, since we were holding our bags, but I honestly don't think it would be an exagerration to say we heard it over 70 times in the couple hours we were in Sanur!

... and ate some delicious Balinese sweet corn for breakfast!

When it was time to go, we hailed a cab and headed for the airport. We were both a little hungry, so we stopped here for lunch, just outside the airport. I say this, because I think it's worth saying that when you order food in Indonesia, your personal meal will NEVER, ever, ever, come out at the same time as your friends! Look at Aaron's plate (completely finished) just as mine was placed on the table.

We had a little bit of Rupiah (Indonesian currency) left, and knew it wouldn't be worth it to exchange it back to won, after paying the fee... so, we decided to do some shopping in the airport... but unfortunately, "I Love Bali" shirts weren't exactly something we wanted to add to our wardrobes, so...

in true fat kid fashion, we walked over to Dunkin Donuts and spent our last couple dollars on...

a 1/2 dozen donuts and laughed at how fun it was to splurge, while we ate each one of them! hahaha!

Our flight to Hong Kong was easy, comfortable, and just under 4 hours, with lots of movies and TV shows to keep us entertained!

Since I was still limping along with my gimp leg, and Hong Kong was a gigantic airport, Aaron offered to carry all the bags! (And no, I never asked him to! It's just the southern gentleman in him!)

When we finally found our way out of the airport, we got on a bus, headed to Mong Kok area... not sure, really, what we would find there or where we would stay! (We didn't do any research on Hong Kong before we arrived - adventure style!) We spotted a hostel, right away, but it was full. We were handed a business card and told to "Try this hostel." So, we went there, and it was full too! At this point, we were exhausted and just wanted to set our bags down. The lady could sense our exhaustion and said, "I have 1 room, but you have to check out at 9:30am" Great, we thought! We'll take it! We can do that! So, we followed her to the room... and quickly realized it wasn't at her hostel, but rather another one about 5 blocks away! She walked with us the first 2 blocks and then handed us over to this older woman who guided us the last 3 blocks!

After you see "the room" we were offered, you will probably be about as speechless as we were!! I honestly couldn't stop laughing, and knew right away that this would be something I wouldn't soon forget!

We literally walked into the storage room, that just happened to have 2 beds, neither of which had any bedding on them... so, Aaron helped her make my bed! I was trying soooo hard not to laugh at this place!

Too bad I didn't need to do any sewing, huh?!

Yes, that's a dead roach outside our bathroom!

I'm adventurous, but I decided I could wait another 18 hours till I got home to take a shower! This was just a bit much for me!

We kept the TV on all night as a night light, because this place was soooo freaky!

We had to pay $200 Hong Kong dollars, which is about $30 USD (a decent price for Hong Kong hostels), but it was twice the price of the place we stayed on Lembongan Island! Crazy huh?!

We were given 2 toothbrushes... probably as a peace offering! I kinda wonder if the lady felt bad for offering us such a shady room!

We ended up dropping our bags and heading out for the night! The less amount of time we stayed there, the better! So, we walked, talked, shopped, ate, and drank until 1:30am, living it up in Hong Kong!

DAY 18: One Last Trip Around the Island!

As it turned out, DAY 18 was fabulous! The gray clouds moved their little selves out of the sky around 9am, and all we could see was blue the entire day! What a wonderful treat for our last full day in Indonesia!

We rented the scooter again and decided to take one last ride around the entire island... Here are some pictures I took along the way of the locals:

Nyoman's neice after her shower...

Some local junior high age boys getting ready to jump off the bridge connecting the 2 islands...

A statue of a Hindu god, with a fresh offering laid before it... 

... a young Lembongan boy, watching his older brothers play volleyball...

... walking along the village road

... a humble offering outside the entrance to a home where a Hindu ceremony was taking place...

... a beautiful woman who lived in Lembongan.  We met her when we stopped the scooter to play with some puppies along the road.  She saw us, and brought her own puppy over to meet us!  He was even cuter and MUCH cleaner than the ones we were attempting to catch and play with...

... he did like to bite though!!  :(

A boy, with his dad, riding through the island...

About 100 women, carrying offering baskets on their heads, down from the temple on the hill.  They do this twice a month: once at full moon, and once at 1/2 moon.

A family commune where seaweed is their livelyhood...

One of the oldest men on the island, walking his bike along the quiet road...

Arizonans... Can you believe it?!  Lantana flowers grow here, and they're everywhere!!!

This young boy lived in a small shack along the sand...  He was playing, alone, on his bike, while his mother cooked behind him.

"Oh my gosh, I think that was a pig!" was what I said when we rode by this big old pot belly along the side of the road! 

Not sure where his pants are, but he does have some candy!  :)

Their own personal take on a punching bag gym!  I think this scenery would make anyone want to exercise!

This was the scene right behind our hotel, in the alley where we would park the scooter.  It was a common reminder of how I should always be thankful for what I have!

A bored, young Lembongan boy, waiting for his dad to finish working at a motor bike maintenance shop.

(Probably a brother and sister) playing under a gigantic banyan tree in the village.

After making our way completely around the island, we stopped by Mushroom Beach, just to bid it farewell, and then headed to Dream Beach where we spent almost the entire day again! We both agreed it was our favorite beach in Indonesia, so, it seemed fitting that we spent our last day there!

Aaron found a comfy hammock, and I layed my sarong, on the sand, 1/2 way under him for some shade, and left just enough room at the end for my toes to dangle into the powdery sand! It was great! We both had our books with us, and only ever put them down when the water was calling our names! :)

As we were reading, we saw Tick (the name we gave her), a stray puppy/dog, who lives at Dream Beach. We gave her the name tick, because, well, she has ticks; lots of them, in addition to a skin disease and something that makes her limp around!  

We saw her the day before, and loved on her for a little bit. When we left, she followed us all the way to our scooter, which made me sad to say goodbye. So, we were thrilled that she remembered us today!  She layed with us ALL day, right next to me in the sand! :)

Can you tell we're both HUGE animal lovers!?

When we left the beach, we rode about 200 meters away, to a grassy area with a beautiful view. When we got back on the bike to head out, look who we had found! TICK!!!   She limped all the way over to where we were!   What a little smooch, huh?!

We said our long goodbyes, and then rode over to Ceningan Island to watch one last cock fight, but it was canceled for the night. We were still glad we headed over there because we were able to see, and say goodbye to, Nyoman and his brothers, who we have become close with over the week!

** One cultural side note that's worth sharing: Hindu's use a cast system... So, they will always ask you things like: Where you are going? Where did you come from? Where are you staying? What birth order are you? and... Are you married yet? It helps them know where to place you in their Hindu cast system. So, being that Aaron and I were always together, we would often get asked if we were married yet.   Apparently, you should never just say "No." Rather, you should always answer by saying, "Not yet," even if you have no intentions of ever marrying!  If you say "No" it throws them for a loop, and they don't know where to place you in their system. So, we would always answer, "Not yet" and start laughing! Then they would say they wanted to come to our wedding, which made us laugh even harder!  It made for some fairly awkward, but funny moments with the locals!

We rode over to Sunset Beach...

... just as the sun was setting, to watch the waves crash and, of course, the sun set! Unfortunately, there was a gigantic cloud in the way, but the small area under the cloud filled the sky with blues, reds, and oranges... and that was beautiful enough for us!

We had dinner back at Bungalow No 7 with Dan, Jaime, and Kelsey, and then bid farewell for the night!