Today is April 2- one year since we got engaged! And also Betty and Adele’s birthday! :) Wish I was at home.
Day 1- Friday, March 14
Brent woke up in Taipei and was in Bali by early afternoon (after 40 hours of traveling). He spent the day exploring the area and doing a little body surfing.
I arrived in Bali at around 9pm (a little later than planned) and Brent was at the airport waiting for me. It’s always exciting to see each other after so long!Day 2- Saturday, March 15
This was our first day in Legian (the area just north of Kuta in Bali). We woke up at about 9am and had a buffet at the hotel.
It was a pretty nice place (about 10 minutes from the beach) called the All Seasons Hotel Legian.
We had a pretty relaxing day- doing some bodysurfing and walking along Kuta beach in the evening. There were a million surfers out all the time, so it was fun to just sit and watch them.
It was a bit hard getting used to EVERYONE hassling you to buy things (necklaces, massages, pineapples, transport, sarongs, etc…), but we survived. We had a nice dinner at a restaurant/pub down the street from our hotel called ‘Posers’ that night.
Day 3- Sunday, March 16
SURFING Day #1!. We got up pretty early and had a great $2 breakfast at ‘Posers’. Then, we headed to the beach covered with sunscreen and zinc! We had a great day of surfing, but the waves were so big that we mostly stayed in the “small” break and rode the already-broken waves. They were still HUGE for my standards tho! I got standing a bunch of times and Brent looked like a real surfer! He he he. Unfortunately, we were so caught up in the surfing that we didn’t notice all our sunscreen and zinc had washed off! We both got HORRIBLY burnt (in really bad patterns cause of our board shorts and rash guards). We were peeling and bubbling for the next 10 days!!! We definitely learned our lesson the hard way this trip.
Day 4- Monday, March 17
Brent woke up with a fever and we were both feeling very swollen and burnt so we ended up spending the day in the air conditioned room reading and napping. Brent’s fever went away with ibuprofen, but kept coming back every few hours (we BOTH happened to bring thermometers with us this trip- lucky!). We only left the room for breakfast at Posers and a nice mexican/indonesion dinner at a place close by (recommended in the Lonely Planet) called Joni’s bar. We watched movies that night until we fell asleep. It definitely wasn’t the craziest St. Patrick’s Day that we’ve ever had. ;) he he he.
Day 5- Tuesday, March 18
After a buffet breakfast at the hotel, we packed up our stuff and hired a car to head over to the east coast of Bali- to a place called Sanur. We were staying at a cute little (well hidden) hotel called the Bumi Ayu Bungalows for $50/night. The staff thought we were on our honeymoon, so they brought us a big pot of flowers and a card saying “Happy Honeymoon”. It was pretty funny.
We relaxed at the hotel that day and planned some day trips for the next week. We played a lot of chess, explored the area and the beach, and relaxed around the hotel pool. While we were lazing in the pool that afternoon, we randomly met 2 Australian couples (probably in their 40’s or 50’s- so yes Dad, they were very young) who were there together on holidays. After chatting for a while, we discovered that one of the men (who happens to look exactly like John Goodman) knows the Australian Attorney General really well. He said that he’d talk to him for us and try to sort out our immigration problem! I know it is another long shot- but at least it is something for us to be hopeful about. Neville (the Australian man) was very optimistic, but I’m sure he is thinking that his immigration department is a lot more logical than they actually are.Anyway, the other couple that we met had apparently been to Bali 59 times- so they were great to have around. That night, they invited us to dinner with them at the local Sanur market (which Lonely planet tells you to stay away from), but is great if you have a ‘guide’ with you. We had AMAZING dinners (rice and chicken satay, bottled water, and fried bananas) for under $2.
We were probably the only non-Indonesians there, but it was a really neat experience nonetheless. On our way home we stopped by a bar on the beach with the Australians, and had a Bintang (Indonesian beer) before heading back to the hotel. Brent still had his fever. :(Day 6- Wednesday, March 19
We were up early to go WHITE WATER RAFTING on the Telangawaja River in northern Bali (about 1.5 hours away).
The river had white water for 14km straight including one 4m drop near the end (Class III and IV rapids). We had a great guide and an AMAZING time.
At the end, they also served us a really great Indonesian lunch at a small restaurant with a great view over a valley.That afternoon Brent was still not feeling well and his fever was getting worse- so we decided to call a doctor. We both thought it was just an upper respiratory tract infection- but he couldn’t seem to kick it and the fever was getting worse, so we thought it might be good to get some meds. Anyway, the doctor showed up in no time with a giant suitcase of gear (including all kinds of meds). He was initially worried about Dengue Fever (which would have really sucked- and I didn’t even think about), but decided that we hadn’t been in Bali long enough for that to be the case. He agreed that it was an upper respiratory tract infection, so gave Brent a bunch of meds to get him better! (antibiotics, steroids, paracetamol and something to loosen the mucous in his airways...) All of this (including all the meds) was only $100- but it was covered by insurance anyway, so we were glad we called.
We spent the rest of the evening at the hotel and Brent rested up. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant (which wasn’t very good), but Brent didn’t have much of an appetite anyway, so it was a good time for a sub-par dinner.Day 7- Thursday, March 20
We got up really early again- but this time for a day-long bike trip down one of the volcanoes in northern Bali. We were paired up with a nice couple (about our age) from Holland. On our way up the volcano- we stopped at the ‘Botanical Gardens’ (not quite like Sydney’s Botanical Gardens!) for some fresh coffee (yuk), tea and hot coco.
We were also served a small breakfast at the top of the volcano, overlooking one of Bali’s biggest lakes, called Lake Batur.
The rest of the day we spent biking down the volcano, going through lots of villages and passing lots of rice fields. 
We stopped several times along the way for our guide to tell us about the area and about some Balinese traditions. About 2 hours into the trip, it started to pour rain. We stopped for some shelter for a while, but it just kept raining, so we ended up biking the rest of the day in the rain! 
It was pretty “memorable” to say the least. We ended up making it all the way to Ubud (a well-known town in Bali) where we had another nice Indonesian late lunch. 
Back at the hotel we spent some time in the evening with Neville and Dave (the Australians). We had our last dinner in Sanur that night at a restaurant called Piccadilly’s.
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