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Eastern Bali


Last week we left Flores and Kanawa behind, and made our way to Tulamben, in Eastern Bali.  Toulamben is home of a volcano that was last active in 1965, USAT Liberty wreck just offshore, and black sand/rock beaches. 

We stayed at the lovely Minabali Bunga'lo, owned and run by a French couple. We only had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful wife, Christine. She was fun to talk to and hang out with. She's a great cook too. For breakfast, she mixed it up and we had crepes, pancakes, muesli, homemade bread with homemade jam, and fresh turnovers. For dessert, we had homemade ice cream, with bananas from her garden. Yum!

Christine had some wonderful guests, and we met some great people, most of whom were French. I enjoyed practicing my very rusty French. This will please my mother.

Christine (far left) and two lovely French guests that we made friends with

We had a blast playing with Christine's funny dog, Nina. Nina loves to play fetch. If you're going to Minabali, bring some orange tennis balls for Nina! Any color will work, but green tennis balls get lost in Christine's garden.

Nina loves to cool off in the swimming pool,


and the koi pond.


We enjoyed the company,




and the pool,


altough one of the pool statues made us do a double-take, especially since we didn't have our glasses on.


He's playing a flute. Get your mind out of the gutter! 

You may have noticed a change in trajectory for this holiday. We're not usually beach-goers for our holidays, but this trip hasn't turned out like we hoped (more on that later) so we've decided to stick to the beaches and get our snorkeling on. It's been a ton if fun, as I'm sure you've gathered from my last few entries.

The black sand makes snorkeling (and diving, I imagine) quite freaky. When we went to snorkel at the Liberty wreck, I got quite freaked out, and had to focus on the fish. At low tide, the wreck is only 100 feet offshore, and the end is only feet from the surface. It was cool until it started getting freaky. I think the black sand added a huge layer of freak because it was absorbing the sunlight instead of reflecting it.

Christine took us to the white sand beach, which was on a gorgeous cove. And we swam with a turtle!

Today we left Tulamben, and went to a small island southeast of Bali, Nusa Lombogan, a 40-minute boat ride from South Bali. It was a very choppy ride, with swells ranging from four to ten feet, and us going against the current for almost the entire way. We made sure to be the first people on the boat so we could get window seats in the middle of the boat. Everyone else closed their windows, but I stuck me head out to watch the water and enjoy the air and the spray. Imagine a dog in a car -- that was me. Minus the floppy ears,

Before we got on the ferry, we stopped at Bali's water palace, Tirta Ganga, in east Bali. The palace is cool, but it's basically just status of animals, many of whom are vomiting water.



Others are strange in thier own right.



There's also a swimming hole with lots of local children.


Yesterday we arrived on lovely Nusa Lombogan. After just one night, and barely 24 hours of being here, we both agree that this is our favorite place. It has amazing water, white sand beaches, and great locals.

Look for more on this place soon. Of note,check back soon for photos from the mass cremation that will happen tomorrow. Over 500 locals are expected for the cremation of a dozen people. It looks to be an exciting day.

For now, it's back to my Bintang while I enjoy the sunset.


Cheers!





Comments

  1. Glad you're having fun! Even though I've done a fair amount of scuba diving, even fairly deep (125'), I've had that feeling of fear creep up on me in the ocean too - in deep water I think snorkeling is actually scarier than scuba diving. When I'm underwater I feel more in control than on the surface, can see better/farther so I have a bigger and hence less scary field of vision - even when sharks are around if I'm near the bottom or near a reef (i.e. not open water) it's fine and even enjoyable when diving.
    Miss you and can't wait to catch up when you get home!
    Muah! Kiss Tadashi for me too..

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