Diving and Gili T. (Feb. 27, 28, 2015)

Feb. 27, 2015

Today I got picked up for diving around 8:00 am. I had a simple but decent, breakfast from the hostel before I left. It was an omelette with some tomato, onion and peppers and was included though I didn't realize it came with breakfast. Plain but a good start for a day of diving. I went across the street with all my bags, to meet the dive people and set out for my day. Since I arranged to have them drop me off at one of the islands I want to stay at, as part of the price, I took all bags, which wasn’t many, because my suitcase lives at Reza’s and I only had my backpack. 

Front of hostel in Senggigi

On The Way Hostel welcoming group

View into hostel from front door

We left in the equipment van, to go to the harbour where the boat was parked, for going over to the islands and dive sites. The ride was about 45 minutes or so, and then we arrived. They loaded the stuff onto the boat, and we were off. I was the only diver for the morning dive, which was great because I had two Dive Masters with me. They are usually good on air, so I was thrilled. We descended at the first site, got down to the bottom with a very strong current, were down for about 20 minutes, and then the current switched and we had to swim very hard against it. This happens sometimes, but you don’t want to remain down there when this happens because it wants to take you out further, then you meet up with a down current and can’t swim up, which is very dangerous. I didn’t mind at all that the guides decided to come up, get back onto the boat, and go to another site to try it, where there was less current. So that’s what we did. The first site was called Sharp Point, but we couldn't stay there. I forgot what the second place we went was called.

The second place was a lot better and we had a great rest of the dive. I think all together, we stayed down for over an hour, which was perfect. I saw many colourful fish, and a very large pregnant Puffer Fish. I had seen most of the fish before, but it’s always so interesting to see the coral, the plants and the size of the fish moving around the reef. Each place has its own character so it’s very cool. Oh, I also saw a lovely turtle on this dive. The conditions were great. It was about 20 meters visibility and around 27 degrees celsius water temperature. There were so many colours, textures and shapes to see. This really is a beautiful area for diving. You were right Jo, I definitely needed to visit these islands and go diving.

We stopped for lunch between the first and second dives we were doing. We stopped at the island of Gili Trawangan, which is the island I decided to stay on, after we had eaten here. The diving crew took me to a local Warung on the island for lunch. One that they go to regularly, is very authentic and fresh. I was fine with that, and excited to see what they had to choose from, as it was Nasi Campur. My favourite…..lol.

I had my lunch, and while I was eating, I started chatting with this woman about my age, sitting at the next table. I asked her where she was from, and she said, Guelph, Ontario. I told her I was Canadian as well, and another guy sitting alone at the next table said he was from Montreal. It was really cool and we all chatted while we ate. It turned out that Joanna, the Canadian woman, has lived in Bali for the past 20 years, has two kids and several silver jewellery businesses. One of them is on this island, hence why she was here. Anyway, a long story short, we hit it off, and I said that I hadn’t decided which island to start on. She said that if I got dropped off here, and started on this island, that we could have dinner and wine together, later. She was very interesting so I decided to do just that. I had originally asked the dive guys to drop me off at Gili Air, which is one of the three islands, but smaller. Since Gili T. is the furthest island, then Gili Meno, then Gili Air, I thought it would be fine to go from furthest to closest, for a visit.

When we were finished lunch, I said goodbye to the two Canadians, and got back onto the boat to go for the second dive. This dive was incredible. It was just me and one Dive Master who had the best eye for pointing out underwater life and being able to find it. We saw two large Moray Eels, which were about 2 meters in length and about half a meter thick. They were massive. We also saw two turtles, courting in the water. It was very sweet, and they would swim towards one another, give kisses to each other, then swim away again. It was almost a shy interaction, but wonderful. It must have been mating day, because we also saw two octopi, a male and female, having some kind of physical relations. The boy had one of his long arms, up and underneath the female. After a few minutes, she would move to disengage the arm, and he would move closer and creep his arm back to where it was. It was super intriguing. I didn’t even know they did this kind of thing. I saw a huge Box Fish, the biggest I’ve ever seen, as well as 5 very large Lion Fish, clustered together, which you don’t usually see. It was fantastic and we saw so many things. We stayed down for over an hour again, and had a really nice, relaxed dive. The visibility was a bit less than the first dive, but still really good, and didn’t impede the dive at all. 

After that, they dropped me off to Gili Trawangan and I checked into the hostel that I had looked at, during our waiting time at lunch. It is called Aquaddiction, which is a hostel and dive center. It was reasonable, and available, so I grabbed it. Nothing special, but clean, with showers, and no bugs.

Once I was checked in, I texted Joanna that I had arrived and was free for dinner. She invited me to come to her apartment to meet her, which was over her shop. The shop was really cute, had clothing, jewellery and a little workshop in the back for silver making classes. Wendy, you would love it. I’ll take a photo of it later if I remember. We chatted, and I used her fast WiFi. Then we went for a walk found a bottle of wine, and went to a beach restaurant to have some munchies with the wine. You can do that here. Oh, I should tell you that there are no motorbikes or cars on the island. Only bicycles and pony drawn carriages for transportation. If the carts are for carrying people, they have a Tuk Tuk type attachment, and if they are for carrying goods, they look like the one below. It’s lovely. You can ride a bike around the island in about an hour.

Only vehicles allowed here

Small streets in Gili Trawangan

The place that we sat to watch the sunset, was lovely. By the time we got there, the sun was almost down, but still lovely.

View from restaurant where we had
our wine and munchies

Selfie of Joanna and me

Photo of us at evening restaurant

Then we decided to go for some barbecued fish from the market. Since Joanna speaks fluent Indonesian, it is really fun to go to wherever she suggests, and watch her strike a deal. She is really good at it! We ended up having a wonderful Red Snapper and some fantastic prawns, all for a dirt cheap price. To finish off, we had this traditional dessert that she raved about. They make it right in front of you, including the cake, and fill it with melted chocolate and peanuts. It’s so fantastic.

Our Red Snapper

The Prawns

The Dessert

After that, we were both tired, as she had just arrived today from Bali, and I had done two dives already today. Joanna also has two kids, and was married to a Balinese guy, but is now divorced. The kids are why she still remains in Bali, but wants to move somewhere else when they are older. She is super interesting and has a ton of different businesses here. She lives in Ubud. 

Feb. 28, 2015

Today I woke up early, around 5 am, to the call for prayer by the nearby Mosque. I didn’t mind though because I wanted to do yoga on the beach. I stayed in bed for a while, then got up and walked to find somewhere quiet and shady to do my yoga. I did find a place, and felt much better after doing the yoga. I find that my body feels more pliable when I practise yoga, and not stiff or sore anymore. It is a lovely paradise with white sand and blue water to look at while practising. Amazing.

Friend on my wall

The terrace of my hostel in Gili T.

View from terrace of hostel

Hostel sign

I'm on the bottom

After I finished, I decided to go to see Joanna and rent a bicycle from her. She was going over to Gili Air today, to investigate the possibility of securing another retail spot for her jewellery shop. I think she’s already got about three or four shops, already, plus she is part owner of a Western School. She wanted to know if I was interested in being a teacher or administrator of the Junior High they intend to open, in about three years. I kept her number, but really don’t know. 

Anyway, I took the bike, with its huge tires, for a spin around the island, and through the little roads in the middle of the island, which is the town where all the locals live. It was really nice and interesting to explore.

Goat on a wire (look closely)
Shall I do the 'Goat'?

Beach art that I passed on bike

Monster bike for riding in sand
though it is still really hard.

I will meet up with Joanna again tonight when she returns. We will probably go for dinner, but I’m going to send this now, as the WiFi seems to be decent and may not be later. I can always add to this post, later….lol.

Senggigi, Lombok (Feb. 26, 2015)

Feb. 26, 2015

Today went really well. I got up early, showered and got my stuff together to take my motorbike to the airport to catch the flight to Lombok. When I got up, it was raining really heavily, but by the time I had to leave, it had lightened up and was totally reasonable. In fact, it was only spitting by the time I left. I made it to the airport without taking any wrong turns, which was unbelievable. Yulia had given me some really clear directions and landmarks for where to turn etc. Reza had given me a little map of where to park the motorbike at the airport. It was bit tricky to find, but with his map, I had no trouble and parked the bike indoors, and left it there while I will be away. It only costs 1,500 Rupia to leave it there for as long as you want, which is about $1.50 CAD. It was quite a long walk to the terminal, but I found it easily and checked in with plenty of time to spare. The flight was a bit late, but nothing too serious. I arrived in Lombok, and found the public DAMRI Bus, which filled up with Indonesians, and two other Spanish foreigners, then left shortly after I got on. I had read that sometimes it sits for a very long time if not full and won’t go, but that wasn’t the case today. 

It was about an hour or so ride into Senggigi, but was lovely scenery and very enjoyable. It’s nice to just have to sit, and look out. Here are some photos from the ride.

Fields and mountain scenery

More

Rice paddy 

Small town on way to Senggigi

Nasi Campur I had for lunch

My view while eating lunch

I looked around for a hostel or guesthouse and asked the bus driver before getting off if he knew of any possible places. He pointed me in two directions and I set off to take a look around. The first one I went to was inexpensive, but looked like it might have bugs so I quickly left and sought out the second choice he had suggested. It was a lot nicer, though more expensive, and only had a ceiling fan. I took it anyway because it looked clean but was a bit disappointed about the lack of Air Con as it’s very hot here. 

I walked around the town a bit and dropped into a couple of dive centers to find out about diving costs. I had pretty much figured out the best rate I would get, and while I was at the last dive shop, I saw a nice little hostel that looked like it had just opened, across the street. I dropped in to see how much it was and take a look at the rooms. It was cheaper, and had Air Con, so I booked the dive, then went back to the guesthouse I had checked into, and told them I couldn’t stay there because it was too hot and no Air Con. They refunded all my money but $2 for the two hours I had left my backpack there. I thought that was fair, and was super happy to have an accommodation with Air Con and comfort. Since it’s low season, there are only two others in the dorm, and they are far down the way from me, so it’s like I’m alone. It’s great, and even with the $2 I had to pay to leave the other place, it was still a little cheaper. I don’t care, because I’d rather have a good sleep than be hot and uncomfortable.

The hostel is called the On The Way Hostel and is really sweet. The WiFi seems great, and the beds firm and new without remnants or indications of any bugs. Yuck! I am paranoid about this and look at the mattresses all the time. If there are any black smears where bugs have been, I opt out. There were none here.

I’m really excited about going diving tomorrow and I also arranged for the dive boat to drop me off at Gili Air, one of the small islands I want to visit, because we dive near there. If I have to get myself there, it requires a long taxi ride and boat fee. So I thought I might as well strike a deal with the dive shop to get dropped off without an extra cost, and they agreed. 

So tonight I will go for some dinner, and get a good night’s sleep so that I can enjoy my diving tomorrow. Yeah! Apparently, I am the only Fun Diver that has certification so I will go with one Dive Master, which means I will get a good tour, and be able to stay down for longer…….I hope.

Dutch Friend and Turtle Island (Feb. 24, 25, 2015)

Feb. 24, 2015

Today I had a great day with Selina, the Dutch girl I met last night, and shared a room with. She is really sweet and today we slept in because we were just two in the room, and no snoring. I skipped yoga today for the lovely sleep in, which was fine. 

I got up quite a bit earlier than her, and had a nice FT with family. I certainly do enjoy that to start off my day. When Selina got up, we had some breakfast, then decided to walk to a nearby temple that is by the beach I did yoga on. The temple was small so it didn’t take us very long to walk down there, take a look, and get some photos. Then we just walked for a long time down the beach, stopping for a swim here and there. It was really lovely and very chilled out.

Selina quit her job to travel, and was the Food and Beverage Manager for two restaurants in a large 5 Star Hotel in Rotterdam, Holland. She is very capable, smart, and funny, but is still running on full steam and hasn’t yet come down. She just got to Bali, on her way to Australia, and only quit her job less than two weeks ago. I look at her and totally understand where she is coming from as she still feels that she has to get stuff accomplished in order to be productive and ‘on’. We talked about this and I told her that it took me at least a month or so before I felt that I didn’t have to be doing something all the time anymore. Our day at the temple, beach, and riding around on our scooters, was really enjoyable.

Selina and me in our required sarongs

The Temple we visited

Me on our walk along the beach
Do I remind you of anyone????

Later on, we came back to the hostel to cool off and have a cold drink. Then I received a text from Yulia as we had planned to meet for dinner after her work. She finished late, and the traffic was bad, so we met at a nearby McDonald’s for an ice cream and chat. It was nice to see her, but I had to cut it a bit short because the lightening began, and looked as if it were going to come down like crazy, in a short while. I didn’t want to be on the scooter, going back to the hostel at that point, so I told her that I was leaving before the downpour. Lucky I did, too, because just as I arrived at the hostel, it came down super heavy with loud thunder and very strong winds. It continued well into the night and I was happy I was warm and dry. About a half hour after I returned, Selina came in, soaking wet, saying that she got drenched coming back from using the WiFi at Starbucks.

I went to be fairly early in order to get up in good time for yoga, and to go to Reza’s before he left for the day with his guests, so that I could pick up some items I would need for my journey to Lombok and Gili Islands on Thursday. As well, I have to go and pick up my passport from being processed for my Visa Extension.

Feb. 25, 2015

Today I did my yoga early, got ready and went to Reza’s place to get my snorkel and mask, plus a few other things. I had planned to go to see him first, then to go to his office to get my passport. As my great luck had it, Reza’s guests weren’t ready to go when he thought, and he needed to go to the office to get something. He said that he would pick up the passport for me and return right away as the guests and he were going to a Water Park for the day. I was thrilled, drank a nice coffee, got my stuff together, and waited for him to return. Shortly he did, gave me the passport, and I left for the hostel. Yesterday, Selina and I had spoken to a tour guy and asked about possible outings. An interesting one that sounded cool was a snorkelling trip, in a glass bottom boat, and a visit to Turtle Island. I had texted Selina from Reza’s place when I realized I would be done sooner than I thought. I said that maybe we could do this trip today if she was up for it. She was, and when I returned, we got ready and the driver came around 11:00 to pick us up. 

We went snorkelling, and then to Turtle Island which was so cool. There were many animals and reptiles and birds there that you could touch, take photos with and hold. We saw giant turtles, a toucan that was so cute, a big Python, some fruit bats, and a few others. It was a really great trip. I took a good part of the day, including the lunch, and drive to and from the hostel. We arrived back, happily tired, but satisfied. 

Turtle Farm petting the Iguana

Holding the Hawk

I want to keep this guy.....he's amazing.

Beautiful Pythons

On our way to Turtle Island

Selina and me on the boat

It was a great day, and left enough time to get things organized for tomorrow’s trip to Lombok. I haven’t booked a hostel because everyone says that it’s better to go and speak to the owners there in person, to get the accommodations that aren’t listed, and to get better prices as it’s low season. So that’s what I will do. I am taking a flight there in the morning. The flight is 30 minutes, then taking the Airport Shuttle to Senggigi, Lombok, and will stay in Senggigi for the night. Then I will decide whether I want to stay longer, or go to Gili Air, or one of the other Gili’s. There are three islands just off the west coast of Lombok, to choose from.

I am looking forward to seeing these places. More news once I arrive.

Day with Friends and Orthodontist (Feb. 22, 23, 2015)

Feb. 22, 2015

Today I spent the day hanging out with Reza and Yulia. We went for lunch after Yulia finished church, to a yummy restaurant that Yulia knew of. We had initially wanted to go to one that we had been to before, but it was closed, so instead we went to a this one. 

The food was excellent, it was that Chinese Indonesian restaurant that Yulia took me to before. I don’t think that Reza had been there previously, but I had, and knew it was great. We had a huge fish between the three of us, with delicious sauce, and some Cap Cie mixed vegetables in the traditional Chinese style, cooked just a little, still crunchy with great sauce.

After that, we took a ride to see some notebooks that Reza wanted to price, then stopped and bought 7 new DVD movies off this guy selling them in the parking lot of a restaurant. The 7 movies cost $5 CAD and were of decent quality with fancy jackets. We went back to Reza’s place to watch movies, eat popcorn, and have ice cream. Yulia is an ice cream freak, so she and Reza stopped to buy a little carton for the movies.

I am much more attracted to the popcorn and started to munch out on that. Well, lo and behold, as I was enjoying all my popcorn, I hit a kernel right on my ortho wire and it broke the glue that was holding it. The wire was sharp and right away, I felt my teeth ache as they did when they moved with the braces. I thought, ‘Oh no, what am I going to do here?’. I searched Orthodontists in Denpasar, found a clinic that looked half decent and searched out the location to visit there tomorrow.

As luck would have it, I also had to go to Immigration tomorrow to get my photo and finger prints taken for my Visa Extension. I was planning on visiting Lombok and Gili Islands on Wednesday, but luckily, the ticket didn’t process properly and I wasn’t confirmed so I didn’t receive a ticket for Wednesday. 

Anyway, that stuff was for tomorrow. Today, for the rest of the evening, I stopped eating popcorn, put in my night retainer, and finished watching two of the seven movies we got. Then Yulia went home as she starts her new job tomorrow and needed to be organized and fresh. I had the two errands on my mind, plus getting into the hostel tomorrow as Reza’s company from Iran arrives tomorrow too.

Feb. 23, 2015

Today was a fast and furious day. I got up at 6 am to do yoga, and prepare myself for a potential day of being lost, running into issues, and completing all of my chores. Well, really, I had no major problems to speak of. I went to that Ortho at 10 am as their website indicated. The sweet girl at reception spoke a bit of English and told me that the Ortho guy only works from 5-9 pm as he teaches dentistry during the day. Ok, so I took an appointment for 8 pm, a little disappointed that I had to return at night, as it’s really far from the hostel. Probably an hour or so, if I’m not wrong. I took the receptionists info for texting and told her I was going to see if I could find someone closer, and if I did, that I would text to cancel. She was fine with that.

Then I made my way to the Immigration Office which was swarming with foreigners and locals, doing their paperwork, photos and associated business. Reza processed my Visa Extension through his office, which costs a bit more, but is much less of a headache, and in the end usually costs less because of all the mishaps most people encounter dealing with the Indonesian system and corruption. Anyway, I met Agus, a nice young guy, who was taking care of my case. He invited me to sit down and wait until they called my name, which they did soon afterwards, for photo and prints. While I was speaking to him, I noticed that he had braces, and asked him about his Orthodontist. I told him what had happened and that the office I had found was in Ronan, and I was staying in Seminyak. He said that his ortho was very close to Seminyak and excellent. He offered to help me, by calling the office, finding out the times she worked, and giving me the address. It was such a stroke of luck, because later on, after getting my backpack and checking into the hostel, I made my way there and met with the Orthodontist and her assistant.

Luckily, with the help of the GPS, and the Google Translator, as well as the assistant speaking a bit of English, they were able to see the problem, and fix it in about 10 minutes. The other office that I originally went to quoted me about $50 CAD to fix it, which I didn’t think was too bad. Well, after they fixed it at this local office, I paid $30 and was home by 8:30 pm. I was a bit concerned about the quality of the work before going in because the office was a very plain, kind of run down place with plastic chairs filling the waiting room and a TV. Yet, the place was packed with people. The way it works it whoever comes in first, gets seen, in that order. So, when I arrived, there were about 5 or 6 people ahead of me which made my wait about an hour. Not too bad, considering I just showed up. I guess that’s what everyone does here, though it is quite foreign to me.

Anyway, they did a really great job, and I was happily surprised at the quality of work. Both the Orthodontist and the assistant were really thorough, seemed to know exactly what was needed and completed it in record time. I was really relieved and that can be a real pain……..literally and otherwise. A lucky day for me, getting my passport processed, as well as meeting Agus, who happened to have braces. You sure don’t see a lot of people here wearing glasses or braces. I imagine that both are too prohibitive cost wise, for most people to consider.

When I was finished, I made my way back to the hostel and relaxed, processing my crazy, yet wonderfully productive day. A nice Dutch girl is my room mate tonight. We lucked out and they were full in the large mixed dorms, so they put just her and I together in a four bed dorm on a sunny, lovely floor, upstairs. A fantastic end to my great day.

New Glasses and Manta Rays (Feb. 20, 21, 2015)

Feb. 20, 2015

Today I got up early, well rested, and did yoga on the balcony. The weather was really weird today. It was super windy, enough to bang the doors and shake things, yet it was partly sunny and still hot. It felt like a storm was brewing, but I think it actually was passing, and rained down during the night, while I slept. It was nice to do yoga with the strong breeze though as it cooled me down as I worked up my morning sweat. I know, what a life, but someone has to do it…..lol.

Then Yulia came by to have lunch with us. She is in the middle of Chinese New Year, with family. That was yesterday, hence why she didn’t join us for diving. We were sorry not to have her, but kind of glad that she didn’t spend the money for such short dives. We will all go tomorrow to Nusa Penida which will be great because Reza, Yulia and I all use the same amount of air more or less and can dive longer.

Wall hangings at restaurant

Wall hanging #2

My lunch of meat soup and red rice

Reza and Yulia's Nasi Campur

We didn’t really do much else except that I took a ride to go and get Baby Shampoo for our diving masks, and lost my white glasses that I got in Argentina. They dropped when I was on the bike, and I did go back to look for them, but couldn’t find them. I returned to Reza’s place and told him of my adventure. He said, ‘So let’s go now and get a new pair ordered.’ Thankfully, I had brought my prescription with me, and it’s very recent, so off we went around 7 pm to look for frames so that I could get a new pair made. I was so sorry to lose the ones from Argentina, but looking back, maybe it was time to get a different pair and funny enough, it was 5 years almost exactly that I got those ones. Weird. Anyway, we did find a pair, ordered them and will pick them up after diving tomorrow. Great that Reza knows the city so well, as he took me to a local area for optometrists, that was very reasonable and will do the trick without paying a mint. The final cost to replace the glasses with Crizal lenses, including frames and a one day turn around, was $65 CAD. That’s pretty good I think.

I am super excited to be going diving again tomorrow and look totally forward to a great day with my two friends!

Feb. 21, 2015

Wow, today was the most fantastic day for diving so far! We got up early and met Yulia at the Dive Center around 8 am. We all got ready, and when the other divers who were going showed up at the Center, we took the 5 minute car ride to the beach, then boarded the boat and began our 45 minute boat ride across giant blue waves, to the diving site. We went to Nusa Penida again, which is an amazing dive area. Yulia hadn’t yet been there, so it was really cool that she was coming along. Chris, the guy we dived with two days ago, wanted to come, but there was no longer room on the boat, which I was happy about. As it turned out, both of our dives were over an hour in length and he would never have been able to stay down that long.

Take 2

3 Diving Friends

Reza brought his camera and just filmed for the full two dives. We saw so many amazing things today. Our first dive was at Crystal Bay, which is fairly shallow, but as the name indicated, super clear visibility. In fact, I think that we could see between 15-20 meters under water at that site, today. The temp was 25 celsius which I am starting to feel is cold…..lol. Without a wet suit under the water, you start to shake at this temperature.

For this dive we saw a baby lobster or shrimp, that kept attacking Yulia’s stick as she spread open the anemone where it was living, while Reza took photos. It was really cute and a spectacular thing to find. Also we saw a huge school of Surgeon Fish, a Sea Snake, a Flat Fish that goes along the bottom and looks like the sand unless you look really carefully. It was great and so sunny that we saw everything in bright, wonderful colours.

Three diving buddies

Me going in

Back roll into the sea

Yulia and me

Guess who this is for?

Clown Fish.....Nemo

Beautiful Angel Fish

For you Liviah

Angel Fish

Baby Lobster in Anemone

Little black and white Nudibranch's

We stayed on the surface for the required interval, got ready again and went in to the next dive site, called Manta Point. I was at this site a while back, but didn’t see any Manta Rays. Well, today, we saw a huge one, circling us just below the surface, while we were underneath him. He was about 1.5 - 2 meters across and absolutely graceful and lovely to watch. He went around about three times before leaving the area, and we all just hung in the water with our faces turned to the surface to observe this fantastic creature. What a gift to see this fish.

In addition to this, we saw a turtle, several Blue Spotted Stingrays, many different coloured Nudy Branchs, and an anemone that looked exactly like the one in Finding Nemo, complete with two parents, and a baby. The parents again started to attack Reza’s camera when he tried to film them at too close a distance. They are really quite brave as they are tiny, with no teeth to speak of, yet determined to ward off the impending danger of the large video camera. 

This dive site was only 21 degrees and very chilly, but I was focused on seeing more of the underwater world and just dealt with it, though I was shaking in my wetsuit. I didn’t care, because all I had to do was think about you guys, in winter, in Canada, and my troubles disappeared…..lol. It was a great dive and Reza took lots of photos of us, and the fish under the sea.

Teletubbie hair style so I can see
under the sea

Giant Manta Ray spotting

Blue Spotted Stingray 

Blue Spotted Stingray #2

After we finished diving, it was still fairly early afternoon. Yulia said she had a surprise for us, and took us to a really cool movie house, called Happy Movie, that has a bunch of separate rooms with couches, that you rent for $8 CAD and can bring as many friends as you wish. They have a huge binder with all the movies you can choose from, though none are immediate new releases, only ones that have made it to DVD. Anyway, we went there, ordered some drinks and food that they brought into the room for us, and watched The November Man, with Pearce Brosnon, which was really good. The equipment has surround sound and a really large screen, so it was fantastic, and I didn’t even need my glasses, which was good. We went to pick them up afterward because it was on the way home.

Movie Theater

Welcome Mat

Three great friends before the show

Wow, big screen

Inside our private theatre

Three drinks during the show 

 There was a Warung right next to the movie house that Yulia wanted me to try. It had some traditional Indonesian food that she liked and some different food for me to try. She had found some Cow Nose for me to try, though she wouldn’t try it in a hundred years. It was fantastic. Kind of gelatin like, but delicious, mixed with veggies, and rice dumplings in a peanut sauce. Reza had a traditional soup with stomach etc in it, and Yulia had an egg and tofu dish. All were really great and I greatly enjoyed my dish. I didn’t even have to share, as neither Reza or Yulia were particularly taken by it.

Rujak Cingur (cow nose)

Tahu Telor (egg and tofu)

Tahu Campur (mixed soup)

Yummy cow nose....before mixing

Then, one the way home, we picked up my new glasses, which were from the children’s section because I need such small frames, are purple plastic, with small flowers on the arms, and a bling diamond on each temple. Really cute, fresh, and youthful. Well, that’s the consensus from my two friends, which is a good sign. They go with all my outfits that are purple, orange etc, so that works as well. I am kind of happy to have some new ones that are really fun and not very serious.

View #2

New glasses view #1

Yulia drove us home, then came in for a while to look at the photos from diving, that Reza had taken. Since his Mac Air doesn’t have a drive for memory cards, I get lucky because we load them onto my computer, look at them, then make a folder for him to put onto a memory stick which he can use on his Air. I end up with all the dive photos, which is great and my fantastic luck.

A wonderful day all in all. Tomorrow, Yulia will go to church in the morning, then meet us afterward for lunch. She starts a new job on Monday, and Reza is having a guest come in from Iran on Monday evening, with other family members. They are renting some other units in Reza’s complex for the time they are here, but one fellow, who isn’t married, will stay with Reza. I am going to stay in the hostel for a couple of nights while I finish processing my Visa Extension, then go to Lombok by air, which is about a half hour flight from here. I will visit that island, and also go to Gili Islands which have amazing diving and are beautiful. I have booked a ticket over there, but don’t yet know  when I will return. Yulia wants to go diving with me to Ahmed, an area on the east coast of Bali, for a couple of days, but thinks it will be around March 16 or 17th. That works well for me, as I’d like to see some of the other islands and was told by Jordana, that I must see Gili Islands. They are paradise and great diving. So, that’s what I will do. I have to go to the airport to see about the ticket I bought, though. They processed it, charged me twice on my Visa, then messaged me that the transaction hadn’t gone through. 

I will go tomorrow to straighten it out. The cost was very minimal, $21 CAD, but I don’t need to be charged twice, and would like to have the ticket since I did pay for it……lol.