DAY 17: New friends!

DAY 17: I woke up feeling 90% better, and after getting some plain toast and a couple pieces of fresh Balinese fruit, I was up to 100%! So, Aaron and I rented a scooter again and drove over to Dream Beach, but not before Aaron loaded my hair with these flowers that grow in the courtyard of our hotel. He always slips one in my ear in the morning, but today, he went a little crazy!

As we were eating breakfast, we saw this boat pull in with supplies for all of the local stores. They unloaded the supplies onto the shore...

and then the women from the town loaded them onto their heads and WALKED them to their stores in the deep powdery sand and blistering heat!

As we were driving to Dream beach, I snapped this picture of a local TV area! When sports are on, all of the locals pile into these community TV bungalows and huddle up, nice and close, to watch and cheer together! I love this idea and the way it brings people from the community together!

Finally, we made it to Dream Beach!

After the ride, I was feeling a little yucky, so I layed here in the shade for a while....

... while Dan and Aaron sat and talked sports in the sun!

Most of the day, at Dream Beach, was spent swiming and crashing in the waves! The water is crystal clear, and the sand is fluffy and white! It's a beautiful place!

As we were playing in the waves, we met 2 Canadian girls from Vancoover, Kelsey and Jaime, (the only other people in the water!) both 20 years old. They are traveling all over Asia as well! They are awesome, and a lot of fun!

There were 4 local Lembongan boys who came over to play with us in the water too! Dan and Aaron were throwing them into the air, so they would splash into the water! They loved it. This one was trying to surf on this broken surf board (He only had 1/2 of it) and yes, he was doing it in his undies! :)

The 5 of us jumped on our scooters and rode through the island, over to the yellow bridge, so we could all jump together! Aaron and I were sooo excited when we saw Nyoman and Kadek in the street, talking with some friends! When we asked them if they wanted to jump with us, they said "Of course" and off we went to the bridge!

We took the jumping pictures on Dan's camera... so sorry, you'll just have to imagine what we looked like! We all went together, at the same time, which was really fun! FYI though: If you're ever going to jump off a bridge, don't land in the splits! I'm walking with a limp and can barely move my left leg and it's been over 12 hours now! (Don't worry mom.... it' just a soar muscle!)

Kadek found this amazing starfish in the deep water, when we were swimming to shore! It looked like it has hershey kisses glued to it and was really heavy!

The whole crew~ Aaron, Me, Nyoman, Jaime, Dan, Kelsey, and Kadek after we all jumped!

We all went back to our places to take showers and meet back up for the cock fight on Penida Island, but as soon as we met up to ride over there, it started pouring rain... so Dan and Aaron and I all decided to lounge around in the courtyard of our place instead!! I got through 100 pages of my new book (The 5 People You Meet in Heaven, by the same author as Tuesdays With Morrie!) As you can probably imagine, it rained the rest of the night! We welcomed the rain with open arms, since it cools off the place and gives us a break from the heat!

It's 8:20am right now, here in paradise... Unfortunately, there are gray clouds above us, so it may rain again today. We're not going to let it ruin our last full day here though! We'll make the best of it, like we always do! We're leaving on the morning boat tomorrow to Sanur and then will head to the airport, where we'll catch a plane to Hong Kong. Then we'll be in Hong Kong for the night... Hopefully we'll get out and see the town while we're there! :)

Until next time...

DAY 16: Sleeping

Day 16 was spent feeling nautious and sleeping from my food poisoning! Luckily I had Dr. Aaron to keep me company and take care of me. He was a great doctor and sat by me all day, reading, so I wouldn't be lonely when I woke up! :) We saw Dan later, around 7pm, and he gave me some medicine for food poisoning, and it worked like a charm! I was able to sleep through the whole night. :)

Today (Day 17) I'm feeling almost 100% and am ready to get back out and enjoy the last couple days of my vacation! We were planning to leave Nusa Lembongan yesterday morning, to see Nusa Dua, but since I was sick, the thought of getting on a boat wasn't too appealing, so we stayed. Now, since we only have 2 days left, we've decided to stay here on the island! Besides, I think we've found the hidden treasure of Indonesia... So why leave, right?!

DAY 15: Swiming, Eating, and Vomiting! :(

DAY 15 started of beautifully with blue skies, sun, and lots of happy Balinese locals.

Please forgive me... I've been sick all night, and am still feeling nautious, so I'm just going to gently skim over what we did and saw...

This is Ahleet, the bartender at our hotel.

We swam for most of the day at Mushroom beach and Aaron taught me how to do flips and handstands in the water!

We hiked up to this temple at the top of the hill on the island... (By law, Indonesian cities have to erect 3 temples per city.)

... and jumped down!

This is the volcano we rode the scooter up to when we were staying in Ubud. It's extremely rare to be able to see the top without any clouds! (Sorry it's sideways)

When we got back to the hotel, we grabbed our books and headed for the comfy chairs in the courtyard. I overheard a guy say he was from the US while talking with the scuba instuctors at the dive center next door and I started up a conversation with him to see where exactly he was from. This is Dan! He's 25 and is from DC and was working as a researcher for a law firm before he decided to travel for 9 months, all over Asia, staying a month in each country! (again, sorry it's sideways... not sure what's going on with this program.)

We ended up having dinner with Dan at our place and had a great time talking about life and traveling with him...

More to come later...I was up all night with food poisoning from the sandwich I had at dinner and am still not feeling well.

DAY 14: Eat, Read, Rain!

DAY 14 was one of the most relaxing days we've had yet on our trip, but also one of the most adventurous!

We started the day off with breakfast together on the beach. Then, I grabbed my book and indulged in some reading...

...while Aaron indulged in some sun on the beach below me!

I asked Ahleet, the bartender at our place, where I could get a massage and he walked me over to this woman, down the beach about 100 feet. I enjoyed an incredible Balinese style massage while listening to the waves crash behind me, the roosters crowing, and the locals chatting on the benches behind me. She used so much oil that when I left, I looked like one of those gross body builders at their competition (minus the GIGANTIC muscles!) It was a great experience!

The girls who work at my hotel were all sitting near the reception desk making these beautiful flowers and baskets out of Coconut Tree palm frawns. I sat for a while, with them, watching the intricacies of this art. They said they make them 2 times a month for God. Once at full moon and once at "dead moon."

When we got hungry for lunch, we jumped on the scooter and headed down our favorite road....

Yes, these are the views we can enjoy while riding around the island. My hotel is down there where all the red roofs are.

We stopped at Mushroom beach, where we had lunch overlooking the water! 

After lunch, we headed over to Ceningan Island to pay Nyoman's sister back for some snacks we bought last night before the cock fight and ran into Nyoman and Kadek, who were sitting outside of her store. Nyoman caught this baby chick for me to hold! What a little smooch, huh?!

We hung out with the guys for a while and went to some places we hadn't checked out yet.

They said this is a blow hole, but the waves weren't big enough to come up through it that day. Aaron was braver than me and went down into it.

Minutes later it started pouring down rain! This was the 1st rain we had had in days and were refreshed by it's coolness! The guys wanted to keep showing us stuff, so we followed them on our scooters, through muddy and very slippery jungle roads, to some of the most beautiful viewpoints I've seen to date! Since it was pouring rain, I couldn't take any pictures... They'll have to stay in my memory, and you'll just have to do your best to imagine them. :)

Remember that beautiful turquoise sarong I bought yesterday?! Well, turns out, when it gets wet, it bleeds green! Yep, this is me... The green monster! I had to scrub and scrub and scrub to get it all off! Today, it's folded up in my hotel room... :)

We had dinner on the beach and read on comfy lounge chairs in the courtyard of our place until all of the hotel employees had left to go to sleep! We love this place and hate having to end our days!

Not sure what we're going to do today, but I only have 19 pages left of my book, which I love (Thank you Cassie for sending it to me!)... so I think after breakfast, I'll finish that off, and then we'll be on yet another adventure around the island!

DAY 13: Bridge jumping, Snorkeling, and Cock Fighting!

DAY 13 started with delicious french toast at our on-site restaurant, overlooking the water... Then, we hoped on the scooter, bought 1/2 of a watermelon for a dollar, and headed over to the bridge to meet Nyoman and Kadek. First, we stopped for me to pick up another sarong! I love these things, and would live in them if I ever moved here!

This was the view the store employees got to enjoy everyday! Can you imagine?!

We rode over the bridge and met Nyoman and Kadek, who were waiting with some friends on the beach! They asked "Are you ready to jump?" and the rest was history! Nyoman and I went first. As you can see, I was feeling a mix of pure fear and excitement!

Then, the boys all counted and wala... I jumped! It felt like it took forever to reach the crystal clear water! What a rush! And as promised, Nyoman held me hand the whole way!

Then it was Aaron and Kadek's turn! They were more brave than me and jumped from the top of the rail!

Everyone did it!

After jumping, we rented some snorkeling gear, found a guy to charter a boat for us for $10.00 and waited here in this seaweed farm for him to bring the boat over. The main source of income on this island (yes, more than tourism) is seaweed. They sell it to Japan, where it is turned into make-up! Each of these areas of seaweed is about $24.00 for them.

Ready for some ocean snorkeling on the reef!

This was the water we snorkeled in. At points, we were in 30 plus feet of water and could see perfectly, all the way down to the bottom!

Aaron, ready to go! We played games in the water, ie: Find the Starfish, where whoever found the 1st giant blue starfish would win! I won! :) We saw fish I've only ever seen in huge salt water fish tanks (but obviously much bigger) and fish I never knew ever existed, and corals of every possible shape and size! It was incredible! The current was sooo strong that we ended up, sometimes at least 300 feet away from our anchored boat, which was pretty scary. I made Aaron hold my hand almost the whole time, because I didn't want to get separated way out there! Being the nice guy that he is, he obliged! Notice how far out we are! We were definitely out in the ocean!

When we got back from snorkeling, we talked with Ahleet, the 20 year old local bartender at our place, who told us about the Cock Fighting on Ceningan Island. He said the whole town comes out to watch, so we knew we needed to experience it!

When we arrived, we were welcomed by everyone, and handed chickens to hold! It was really awesome!

This is what they do to prepare the cocks for fighting! They put them in front of each other, and bounce them up and down until they become angry.

Nyoman and Kadek were there, so we hung out with them, and asked them lots of questions about what was going on.

Everyone brings their cocks in bags, like these!

They look like little purses to me! I have no idea how they squish them into these little things...

Once the biggest and strongest are chosen, this knife is a attached to their talons.

Nyoman and his grandfather, who was sitting off to the side... Obviously not there to watch, but rather only to gamble. When I asked Nyoman how old he was, he said he had no idea... but his brother, who was standing nearby said he was 120 years old. Not too sure he was quite that old, but he was definitely old!

After the cocks have the knife attached, and the betting had taken place, the fight begins. There were 3 last night. The 1st one lasted about 5 minutes, and the last 2 were VERY quick.

The cock who is considered about to die, is taken to this man where it's head it smooshed by his foot, and he pounds it's body with his fist in order to assist in a quicker death... Then he takes the knife off of it's talon. It was a fairly gruesome experience, but it's their culture... and if I want to experience a day in the life of the locals, than these are the things I need to see. Nyoman said the cock fights are every night!

This was the sunset, happening behind us!!!

After the fight, Nyoman invited us back to his house, which was about 100 feet down the road. He gave us the grand tour, and I think we were both shocked to see how poor they are here. This is the entrance to the temple outside his home where he, along with his family worship 2 times a day (6am and 8pm - EVERYDAY!)

This is the well where Nyoman scoops water from...

... then he pours it into the square hole in the wall, which then pours into a small pool in the bathroom. He uses the black scooper to pour the water over his body in order to shower. Oh, and I think it's worth mentioning that it's SALT WATER, straight from the ocean.

There's another well on the opposite side that collects rain from rain gutters, which is then used for their drinking water (filtered only by a small net at the end of the rain gutter).

As we were walking through his makeshift garden, he pointed up into the tree and said "This is where the chickens sleep." haha! I had no idea chickens slept in trees in the wild!

We rode the scooter back in the dark, which was really scary, but we made it safely back to Bungalow No 7! We ate dinner, by candlelight and moonlight, and talked for a while at our table, overlooking the water! It's definitely magical here, and since meeting Nyoman and Kadek, it's becoming a little more like we're part of the community! It's going to be hard to eventually leave. This is quickly becoming my Railay, Thailand part 2!