12.18.23
Part III, and our last chapter of Bali, 2023. This is our first SE Asian stay as we begin our journey to this part of the world, and this place set a VERY high mark to beat as we go to the next half dozen. The people, the food, the amazing ruins everywhere, plus, of course, the water, which is divine. We left the city of Sanur, and we really, really liked it and will definitely return. We found a great “homestay,” which is what they call the hotels, and we may come back for a month at some point. Meanwhile, this is what happened as we left the Bali mainland: we had no rain for about 10 days, until we got in a taxi and headed for the ferry port to take us to the island of Nusa Lembongan, which is where we are now. Halfway along the ten minute drive the skies opened up and it poured just as we got to the ferry office. But, the rain Gods smiled, and by the time we got onboard the 35 minute ride, the skies were clearing.
Our first impressions of this very small (8 sq km) island is good, but it is primitive compared to where we just left. Nusa Lembongan is all of 12 km from the main Bali island, and there are several OTHER islands within short ferry trips. We’re not divers, but we’ll do some snorkeling and get a scooter to check out the area, and go to the adjacent island and (hopefully) swim with the manta rays! We have a week here and then we’re off to the Philippines next week for ANOTHER island stay, Palawan, for one month.We were particularly happy that the sand here does not get hot, and we have not found any sand fleas. However, the flies are pretty prolific- “crazy,” my beautiful wife says, especially after it rains. We visited Dream Beach on our scooter, which people raved about, and found an amazing private beach with cliffs and a very cool restaurant/ resort where we got a day pass for all of $3.22. Sweet! We also visited the adjacent island next door, called Ceningan, which is accessible over a very narrow yellow bridge
PS and BTW:
Okay, we have been raving and gushing over this island nation since we arrived on Nov 2, but we recently found the second downside of Bali. First is the cost of alcohol, which is crazy! Local beer is reasonable, and their native beer, Bintang is quite good, especially the Radler which is lemon flavored. Their coconut rum, one of the few alcohols that we get, was about 50% more than what we were paying in Albania, so we’re skipping that for now. But I got a second shock when I went to the pharmacy to get some prostate pills.
I have been taking these pills for several years, and since we go to so many different countries I get them from the pharmacist without a prescription. In Mexico they were about $6 for a box of 30, and in Croatia about $10; ditto Albania, the last place I stocked up. So I almost fell over when they quoted me $45 for a box of 30. Ouch.
Okay, that’s the end of my complaints. Everything else in this magical country is beautiful and brilliant!
