Pool and Drawing (Feb. 8, 9, 2015)

Feb. 8, 2015

Yesterday, Reza’s friend dropped off a motorbike for me to rent. It was very reasonable, $60 for the month. It’s a cute little scooter and will help in making my getting around this island a lot easier. Once Reza’s company arrives, and I need to go elsewhere, I will be happy to have a bike. So, today we took the bikes out together, and I used the GPS on my new phone to try it out. It worked really well, and we went to a hotel with a pool, in an area called Kuta. It is a pretty touristy area, and if you buy a drink, you can stay all day and use the pool and WiFi. So, that ’s what we did. Check out the pool and hotel area. There is a pool bar that you can sit at or lounge on one of the chairs alongside the pool.

Reza at pool bar

Me on chair overlooking pool abar

Me

Here is the back of my bike, so that I can recognize it when it’s parked with five million other bikes, and I forget which one’s mine…..lol. I will go to the Police Station tomorrow and get an International License so the police have one less thing they can stop and fine me for. It may not help anyway, but at least it won’t be as easy for them. Apparently that is one of the big ones they get foreigners for, so I would like to reduce that risk if possible.

My rented bike

Later on, Reza went to visit his friend and I used the GPS, after hanging around the pool a while longer, to get myself home. It worked perfectly and I had no problems navigating my way. I think I am becoming a little bit familiar with the area as when the GPS lost the signal, I could still recognize some landmarks and continued on the right path until the signal resumed. It was really nice to have that independence and mobility.

When Reza met me at home, he was quite upset because he got his IPhone wet at the pool. He has this plastic, waterproof case for it, but realized, a little too late, that it had a small hole in it. When he went to use it, the screen went black, but you could still hear that it was receiving texts and notifications. You just couldn’t see them. So, we put it in a bag of rice overnight to see if that would help dry it out and possibly remedy the problem.

We went for some chicken, then watched a movie later and turned in.

Feb. 9, 2015

Today I finished my drawing while Reza went to the Apple Dealer to see about his phone. The overnight in rice didn’t do the trick and you still couldn’t see the screen. He was gone for several hours, but I didn’t mind because I had my bike if I wanted to go anywhere, as well as my drawing. I decided to draw the view I had, from the open air hallway/balcony where I do yoga every morning, and sit in the shade, looking out, when it’s too hot to go outside.

By the time Reza got back, he had a working IPhone, but had to buy a new cover plate for the front. The processor apparently got a little damaged too, but still seems to work. It is just a bit slow when he flips from screen to screen, but as the day progressed, I think it got a bit better. Anyway, he had to pay $180 to get the new screen, but at least didn’t have to get a new phone. He was relieved by this, and happy to have it fixed.

We decided to go to his Dive Center to confirm our scheduled diving trip for tomorrow. We were to be going to Nusa Penida, which is a location just off the island of Bali, by boat. One of the dive sites is called Manta Point, because it is famous for seeing Manta Rays. I sure hope we see one tomorrow.

The dive was on, and we will do three dives tomorrow on this trip. I am very excited as I love diving and am ready for another experience.

We went to eat something afterward, just down the street from the Dive Center. We had Nasi Campur again, which you never get tired of, and I chose a mixture of chicken livers, stringy spinach and bamboo shoots. There was hot chili and peanut sauce as well. It was really yummy.

After our lunch, we went for a ride to see about an underwater disposable camera for me to take on my dive. Jon sourced a place out to buy it, so we decided to check it out. On the way there, we stopped at the Dive Shop where they sell diving equipment. I looked at the equipment and Reza showed me the different pieces and which were good, compact, small, etc. I will have my own stuff one day, but not at this time.

They also had the disposable underwater camera’s, the same kind as the other shop that Jon found. With Reza’s instructor discount, they were a tiny bit cheaper so we bought it there. Thanks J for sourcing that out for me. Great idea. As well, Reza has a large underwater camera, but hasn’t used it for a year because the housing had a crack in it and it leaked. We went to a huge Home Depot type store and bought some marine glue epoxy, to try and cover the crack and make it usable again. When we got back home, he mixed the two components and covered the crack. He will try to use the camera tomorrow on our dives to see if the glue did the trick to make it waterproof again. That would be great because then we’ll have two cameras to use. Mine is only good until 10 meters or so, which is fine because the site we are going to is a shallow site and we won’t be going down very far in any case. It will be fine to use there.

If we dive at any deeper sites, which we probably will, then it won’t be useful, so I hope Reza’s camera is working so I can share some of the underwater beauty with you. His camera is digital too, and you don’t need to get the photos developed as you do with the disposable one. Anyway, we will see what happens!

We came back home after our shopping expedition, watched a movie, and I made popcorn. We went to bed early as we are expected at the Dive Center at 8 am tomorrow. Yeah!!!!