South of Bali

Monday, September 10, 2018 / Fabian

While I spent my diving day on rough sea, Mrs. Berger treated herself to a wellness day with a massage and eyelash extensions.

I can't describe what happened there, so let's talk about my part, the diving excursion. What was a great experience for me turned into a nightmare for others 😬. Even on the bus ride there, people were already taking motion sickness pills! It didn't help much, as the boat looked like a battlefield after the rough journey and the fish probably had a feast of the century! The motivation to dive remained only with the locals, the diving instructors, and me! Fortunately, I didn't get sick even without a pill and I was able to enjoy the day to the fullest! I think that eating so much Fisherman's food turned me into a sea bear and made me immune 😜! That's the only plausible explanation.

I don't need to explain to you again that diving in Bali is unique 🐟🐢. Besides moray eels, mantas, and turtles while diving, we were also greeted by a group of dolphins during lunch. They circled calmly 50m away from the boat 🐬! This wildlife is truly unique and I enjoyed it to the fullest🤩.

Our current location Nusa Dua in the south of Bali is not very enjoyable. Unfortunately, I was flat on my back all day the day before yesterday, and Gianna wasn't doing well either.

After waiting 2 hours for our ordered pizza to arrive, my wife had a very very very rare need for chocolate and dessert!

So, with my last bit of energy, I dragged myself to an Asian market (it gets pitch dark at 6:30pm, so you don't go out alone anymore!) and patiently waited for the lady to make her selection.

With a stomachache from too much pizza, she fell asleep without dessert...😏

But the next day wasn't any better either. Our overly enthusiastic neighbors tried to conceive what felt like 262739 children, and thanks to the Balinese architecture with walls about 10cm thick, we were right in the middle of it acoustically instead of just being present😒.

Our lunch at McDonald's also fell through due to a total neighborhood power outage.

Of course, by now, a missed lunch doesn't bother us anymore, we are used to setbacks and simply enjoyed exploring the area. It can hardly get any worse..think again!

After a visit to the beach, I couldn't find my scooter key anymore..I thought I had left the key on the scooter, but I wasn't completely sure! So, I searched until I found it, with my heart in my mouth, what now!?!

So, I approached some locals to ask if they had found anything? Oh, and behold - my key!! As kind as he was, the fine gentleman wanted to hand me the key back for a small fee 😂! We didn't pay anything and drove off..Not the most honorable way to steal a key!

The next beautiful beach didn't convince us either.

The location would be great, but the 2 beach clubs blare their lounge music at such a volume that you can hardly speak..👎🏼 That's not relaxation..But the water at this Karma Beach was wonderfully clear.

As you can tell, we're not quite warm with the south and we will travel a bit higher to the Kuta / Semanyak region for our last 4 days. Although we have gotten quite used to riding scooters, we will use Grab. Grab is something similar to Uber, private taxis at a much better price than regular taxis with tourist surcharges.. We could also ride the scooter but it's very tedious with 2 huge backpacks. Riding scooters is going quite well now and as the saying goes, the braver one has the right of way! That's really how it is 😬 Right of way or general traffic rules don't count here, only the red light can sometimes (!) be trusted. But don't worry, we're being careful!

Now we hope for better days, working credit cards, and underwater cameras..! At least we're always warm 😄.