Early to bed last night after a lovely snapper dinner overlooking the ocean! We found a nice road with no cars past the Grand Bali hotel (we cut through it back to the boardwalk). This was an old hotel from the 1950s, of course, redone since then!
We were up and about by 6 a.m. to get a bicycle to ride along the boardwalk. But of course she wasn't open (she had told us 6!)!! And the neighboring bike shop had rented out everything for the day. So we went to the adjoining hotel (with the beautiful grounds, pool, beach) where we had checked in - I guess they both are owned by the same people; ours is the humbler abode!!
They had two bikes there so we rented them for the day and wheeled them out to the boardwalk. When I discovered MINE had only ONE pedal!! Back we went to return them and headed back to the other bike shop. She was open and rented us each an old clunker (VERY squeaky brakes!) for 24 hours. Down the boardwalk we headed. And of course, tons of people were out biking, running, walking even at 6:15 a.m. It's cool then so there's not much choice. By 10 all the bikes were in for the duration.
The sunrise coming up over the big and two little islands off our coast, where boats head back and forth all day long, taking divers, snorkelers and tourists over to the island. Haven't decided if that's worth doing tomorrow or not. It's $55 just for the RT speed boat ride for the 30 minute trip. Then maybe snorkeling! Betty's not a confident swimmer so she's not too keen on doing it anyway.
We must have ridden maybe 5-6 miles past many locals swimming in the low tide and tons of fishermen out again (they were casting last night as well) until we came to a canal and turned toward town. It was quite a bumpy ride with many speed bumps (my friend Pat calls them "sleeping policemen") and zigzag metal bars that slowed us down. And lots of sand over the bricks. But still I enjoy that so much more than just walking!
Our maps we've collected for this area are pretty minimal so we weren't too sure where we were. We ended up by a couple of policemen where our road joined the by-pass of town. Four lanes with a divider! Cars and scooters were scurrying to work, mostly to the left toward the capital Denpensar, where our airport is for Friday. The policeman STOPPED the traffic both ways and got us across. Then we rode with the flow of traffic! We had taken two short rides in Ubud on the back of Darta and Wayan's scooters! But this was pretty breath-taking riding! But everyone seems to go with the flow and look out for each other. After about 10 minutes we took a left to get off the highway and onto the main road (we think) through the town where we had walked last night some. Then we guessed and took a cutover back to the boardwalk and home.
Sumi, the very happy, always smiling lady who works here and fixed our eggs for breakfast today, is just here. So I stopped to take her picture and then she had to take a picture too of us. People are so friendly!
I showed them some pictures. She doesn't have any children; her husband was sick for 3 years and died. She will be working tomorrow and then has 3 days off she said. We're leaving Friday at 5:30 a.m. anyhow to get to the airport for our 7:55 a.m. flight to Kuala Lumpur anyhow so we wouldn't be having breakfast. We had just come back from the beach so I just have a shirt on over my swimsuit! Looks weird! I had to keep this long sleeved shirt on when I swam as I got a BAD sunburn on my arm and chest yesterday! I was in the shade except for quick dips in the ocean and pool! But I forget we are on the equator. So I will be more vigilant with Blue Lizard sunscreen!
At the beach we sat on the lounge chairs in the shade and watched the men chainsawing up a huge tree trunk that must have washed in with the tide. They may use the wood for carvings? who knows? There was a group of European-looking some English speaking kids - with a couple of maybe nannies. I think the moms were all sitting behind us in a lounge area. Reminded me of the kids' club in Puerto Morelos that Jackson and Sarah loved!!
I'm really happy with our choice to come to a beach area for these 3 days! Feels like real Bali!
We were up and about by 6 a.m. to get a bicycle to ride along the boardwalk. But of course she wasn't open (she had told us 6!)!! And the neighboring bike shop had rented out everything for the day. So we went to the adjoining hotel (with the beautiful grounds, pool, beach) where we had checked in - I guess they both are owned by the same people; ours is the humbler abode!!
They had two bikes there so we rented them for the day and wheeled them out to the boardwalk. When I discovered MINE had only ONE pedal!! Back we went to return them and headed back to the other bike shop. She was open and rented us each an old clunker (VERY squeaky brakes!) for 24 hours. Down the boardwalk we headed. And of course, tons of people were out biking, running, walking even at 6:15 a.m. It's cool then so there's not much choice. By 10 all the bikes were in for the duration.
The sunrise coming up over the big and two little islands off our coast, where boats head back and forth all day long, taking divers, snorkelers and tourists over to the island. Haven't decided if that's worth doing tomorrow or not. It's $55 just for the RT speed boat ride for the 30 minute trip. Then maybe snorkeling! Betty's not a confident swimmer so she's not too keen on doing it anyway.
We must have ridden maybe 5-6 miles past many locals swimming in the low tide and tons of fishermen out again (they were casting last night as well) until we came to a canal and turned toward town. It was quite a bumpy ride with many speed bumps (my friend Pat calls them "sleeping policemen") and zigzag metal bars that slowed us down. And lots of sand over the bricks. But still I enjoy that so much more than just walking!
Our maps we've collected for this area are pretty minimal so we weren't too sure where we were. We ended up by a couple of policemen where our road joined the by-pass of town. Four lanes with a divider! Cars and scooters were scurrying to work, mostly to the left toward the capital Denpensar, where our airport is for Friday. The policeman STOPPED the traffic both ways and got us across. Then we rode with the flow of traffic! We had taken two short rides in Ubud on the back of Darta and Wayan's scooters! But this was pretty breath-taking riding! But everyone seems to go with the flow and look out for each other. After about 10 minutes we took a left to get off the highway and onto the main road (we think) through the town where we had walked last night some. Then we guessed and took a cutover back to the boardwalk and home.
Sumi, the very happy, always smiling lady who works here and fixed our eggs for breakfast today, is just here. So I stopped to take her picture and then she had to take a picture too of us. People are so friendly!
I showed them some pictures. She doesn't have any children; her husband was sick for 3 years and died. She will be working tomorrow and then has 3 days off she said. We're leaving Friday at 5:30 a.m. anyhow to get to the airport for our 7:55 a.m. flight to Kuala Lumpur anyhow so we wouldn't be having breakfast. We had just come back from the beach so I just have a shirt on over my swimsuit! Looks weird! I had to keep this long sleeved shirt on when I swam as I got a BAD sunburn on my arm and chest yesterday! I was in the shade except for quick dips in the ocean and pool! But I forget we are on the equator. So I will be more vigilant with Blue Lizard sunscreen!
At the beach we sat on the lounge chairs in the shade and watched the men chainsawing up a huge tree trunk that must have washed in with the tide. They may use the wood for carvings? who knows? There was a group of European-looking some English speaking kids - with a couple of maybe nannies. I think the moms were all sitting behind us in a lounge area. Reminded me of the kids' club in Puerto Morelos that Jackson and Sarah loved!!
I'm really happy with our choice to come to a beach area for these 3 days! Feels like real Bali!
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