Bali, Indonesia

 

If only we had more time... we would surely spend it here in Bali. Although we've been a bit at odds with the rain (Rain 1.5, Us 1) - Bali has beautiful beaches, tons of tourists, fabulous hospitality and great restaurants and bars. We've been staying at a wonderful hotel in Kuta with lovely pools and a pretty fantastic breakfast. To escape the crowds we headed to a beach in the southern part of the island called Nusa Dua, home to the five star resorts and a much quieter beachfront setting. Last night we went to a traditional Balinese dance show where a group of 30 men impressed us with their hour long acapella chanting and singing. In the middle there was a fire dance with the actors portraying a Balinese legend of sorts. Regretfully, we won't be headed to Ubud (I was hoping to get all "Eat, Pray, Love") but we have really been enjoying ourselves and the time to unwind from the earlier, more hectic, parts of this trip. Tomorrow morning we will try to score one more on the rain and then head to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

P.S. Something funny to note about Asia - Asians take A LOT of pictures. This has become one of our favorite jokes - the absurd pictures we see people taking - in front of an exit sign, at the McDonalds, striking a strange pose in front of a trashcan, and the ever popular, picture with the random white girls! Yes, I believe we are now in approximately 100 random facebook pictures with random Asian people... sometimes they ask, and we kindly oblige them, and sometimes we catch them pointing their cell phones in our direction while their friend stands conveniently close to us. However the other night, we decided that the group of Indonesian girls at the beach were taking a really fun picture, jumping up and down in the waves... so just this once, we'll give them credit  - sometimes their bizarre behavior actually makes for a cool photo.

 Bin Tang!

Poolside at Masa Inn

Balinese Dancers

Sunset at Kuta Beach