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| Neil at the Suka Nusa Hotel on Lembongan |
Landing last week in Denpasar, Bali, after a day-long journey from Taiwan was a bit jarring. We were back in a country where we didn't speak the language. There were prayer rooms everywhere (often confused by us for bathrooms). We were surrounded by Aussies and, a bit surprisingly, quite a few tourists from mainland China.
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| Chinese and Australian tourists juxtaposed |
We took a short taxi ride to Sanur, passing small restaurants, car dealerships, and a huge Cartier showroom. It's always a bit disorienting to arrive in a new country after dark. The kids were so tired, they could barely stay awake to eat. I watched a medium sized rat cavort along the kitchen wall as we waited for our food at a restaurant near our small hotel. "We have too many rats here on Bali," said the owner, with a wry smile.
Due to a minor misunderstanding at the hotel, the kids slept across the street in the owner's house, while Neil and I had a room in the hotel proper. Not a problem, but I prefer not to sleep two locked gates away from O&R.
The next morning, after pedicures and pancakes, we happily boarded a speedboat to Lembongan, an island off the coast of Bali. In terms of development, Lembongan supposedly resembles what Bali was a few decades ago. Gone are the large villas, resorts, fancy retail and traffic. Lembongan's main village has one paved road, many small hotels and restaurants, a number of Hindu temples, dive/surf shops and massage places, and a thriving local community. Aside from tourism, seaweed farming is the main industry. From the sounds of it, chicken farming seems popular too. Coming back from the beach one day, we passed a French creperie, and then, some people hosing off a dead pig. A wrong turn from the yoga shack took us through the village itself, full of thatched huts, kids, and drying seaweed.
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| The main road on Lembongan |
Not knowing where exactly to stay, we booked online and lucked out. The beach is 3 minutes across the road. Within a 10 minute walk along the road itself, are yoga, surf lessons, massage, a large screen dinner/movie place, and restaurants galore. Bike rental is available right across the street, although everything except beaches at the other end of the island is walkable. (Lembongan is only 4 km long and not very wide.)
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| Oscar hiching a ride to a beach on the other side of the island |
For better or worse, our hotel, the Suka Nusa, is brand new. The restaurant has already been voted (deservedly so) on Tripadvisor as best on the island. The owner is very eager to please. Have a scary lizard living in your bathroom? It will be killed! (We begged for its life but stopped seeing it around.)
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| Outdoor showers are the norm |
When the wifi router wasn't working, the owner had a technician here within 30 minutes. Even more shocking, the problem got resolved! The day after I asked for a fan, they bought fans for every room. Ditto, clothes hangers. A hairdryer mysteriously showed up one day too. Neil and I found a can of insect spray on our porch. The kids and Melinda got cans of Glade. Granted, some of these things should have been provided in the first place. But I'm a sucker for apologetic service with a smile.
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| Working |
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| The surfers |
What did we do during our time on Lembongan? I got my yoga fix. The others got really good at surfing! We ate, drank, rode bikes, slept, read, and played poker. We did some world class snorkeling and even saw a pod of dolphins go by. We watched some movies (Jurassic Park, Wayne's World Two). Oscar officially "finished" 8th grade (he took math and Spanish placement tests for fall). Neil got the best massage of his life. Melinda got a little work done.
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| Going home from the reef |
Tomorrow, we're off to Singapore to pick up (Ni)sid (Melinda's other half and our good friend from college). Then, we're off to Cambodia and Laos. Ready!
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