This trip to Bali has been amazing in every way but today was one of those TRULY incredible days that really hit it out of the park. It’s amazing how certain events and circumstances put you in the right place at the right time. Jo, our travel companion from New Zealand, wasn’t supposed to be in Bali alone, but her travel plans changed and she just happened to bump into Joya in Ubud and they became fast friends. She’s been with us ever since. She and I head out and sight see together while Joya is working and neither of us are traveling solo, which is awesome!
After yesterday’s scooter escapades we told Joya she HAD to rent one and we decided to pony up a quite hefty $4 to continue to use ours for another day. I did mention how incredible prices are here, right? $10/night per person for a beach bungalow including breakfast. $4 dinners. $4 scooter rentals. $2 snorkel gear rentals. $.50 for a liter of petrol. Amazing!
We’ve been minus internet access since arriving in Amed and Joya was a bit anxious that she couldn’t finish necessary work. We got her a scooter and convinced her to take it as a sign that she needed to take the day off and get out. It didn’t take long for her to figure out why Jo and I were on such a high yesterday.
Joya on her new scooter!The scooters are a blast! They’re such a fun way to explore the neighboring areas. And… what do you know? Not far up the road was not only a coffee shop with lattes (and good ones at that!), but also broadband internet access cards!! Voila! Joya and I are now back online! And we had fabulous coffee!
We spent the day scootering around the area and every time we’d pass through town the locals who rented us the scooters would stand up and cheer and clap. It was all too funny. They must have thought we were crazy zooming back and forth all day with huge smiles on our faces. We rented snorkeling gear and spent an hour in the early evening swimming with beautiful schools of salt water fish in our own little version of the Discovery Channel. My first reef snorkeling experience and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Every kind of electric blue, bright yellow and iridescent green fish you’ve ever seen in salt water fish store aquariums are here. And there are tons of bright blue starfish too. I’ll definitely be buying an underwater camera tomorrow to get some pictures.
We finished the day with a fantastic dinner in town and narrowly averted a near disaster when Joya got a little daring on her scooter in a tight corner with gravel. I swear she was full skid for a solid 5 seconds or more. Thank goodness for those mountain biking skills!
We were born to be scooter models!